There has been an enormous growth in sophisticated, plant-based skin care products and a virtual movement by indie skin care formulators that are making magic with nature’s assets, leaving behind cheap lab-produced shortcuts and opting for the realthing. When distilled, pressed and extracted for their essence, these ingredients make powerful friends with your skin.

Here are a few of the latest skin superstars you should be on the lookout for: Continue reading…

Any change of diet – particularly one that involves as drastic move away from high levels of carbohydrates as The Snack Box Diet one does, are bound to cause some sort of resistance from the body as it gets used to it’s new regime.

For many people, the fact that they are no longer eating vast quantities of pap and mush means that their digestive system actually has less to do.  It’s no wonder then that it slows down and so going to the toilet becomes less frequent.
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In real terms, the slowing down happens a little behind the  reduction in food eaten, so for a time it can seem that you’re not going to the toilet as you think you should.  At the same time the digestive system – used to having to work overtime – can for the first few days ‘over process’ the food that you’ve eaten.

This means that not only is the quantity of poop reduced but that which eventually does come out the other end is drier and harder than what may be normal for you.

This is not true constipation – it’s more the body retuning to another way of working.

That said, whilst constipation is rare when following a diet like this properly, it’s not unknown, so worthy of further gentle help.

One of the first things to do is to make sure you are drinking enough fluids as dehydration and constipation are firm friends.

Also, make sure you are eating a reasonable amount of fibre. That’s obvious but sometime we forget.[/private_silver]

Cheese, Cream, more cheese, in fact everything and anything dairy can be found on many lowcarb plates.

We would be lost without it.

But, as this article shows, eating dairy is more than just a way to cut down on carbs…

Eating high calcium, higher fat dairy foods, have been a long term stable tenant of the low-carb way of eating, and for good reason – it works – as part of a healthy low carb regime.

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Each day we make as many as 200 food choices.

These are influenced by many things, even the folk we’re eating with.Even though each of those choices may only represent a small contribution to our final health – they all add up to making an immense difference.

Although the most serious causes of food poisoning like Salmonella come largely from animal products (for example, most foodborne-related deaths have been attributed to poultry), millions of Americans are sickened by produce every year, thanks to noroviruses. Noroviruses canspread person-to-person via the fecal-oral route or by the ingestion of aerosolized vomit, which together may explain most norovirus food outbreaks. But a substantial proportion remained unexplained. How else can fecal viruses get on our fruits and veggies?

The pesticide industry may be spraying them on (See Video here).

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A healthy diet, physical activity and brain exercises can help slow mental decline in older people at risk fordementia, a new study suggests.

On the other hand, a high body-mass index (BMI) and poor heart health are significant risk factors for age-related dementia, the researchers said. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.

The study included 1,260 people in Finland, aged 60 to 77, who were considered to be at high risk for dementia. They were randomly selected to receive either regular health advice (the control group) or to be part of an intervention group.

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How you set up your kitchen—from décor to utensils to where you keep treats—can make a substantial difference when it comes to losing weight. There’s a reason Google “strategically designed” their campus cafeteria using behavioral economics to “make it easy for people to make healthy choices.”

You don’t need an entire kitchen overhaul to make a difference. Many revamps take just a minute. Here are simple ways to start:

Make It Easy to Reach for Healthy Foods
Make healthy snacks like nuts, pre-cut veggies, fruit, and Greek yogurt easy to grab when you’re hungry.

Hide the Junk Food
If you must keep treats in the house, stash them where you don’t see them all the time.

Stock Your Spice Rack
Spices and herbs are bursting with flavor. That’s why research shows getting creative in the kitchen and adding them to foods (cumin on your carrots, red pepper flakes on Brussels sprouts) can help replace some fat in your cooking—without you even realizing it’s missing.

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Living your life with a strong sense of purpose may lower your risk for early death, heart attack or stroke, new research suggests.

The finding is based on a broad review of past research involving more than 137,000 people in all.

“Psychosocial conditions such as depression,anxiety, chronic stress and social isolation have strong associations with heart disease and mortality,” said study lead author Dr. Randy Cohen, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospitals in New York City.

Recently, however, attention has focused on the impact that positive emotions have on overall health and well-being, he said.

“Purpose in life is considered a basic psychological need, and has been defined as a sense of meaning and direction in one’s life, which gives the feeling that life is worth living,” he explained.

The research team reviewed 10 published studies. The average follow-up was 8.5 years.

Compared to people with a low sense of purpose, those possessing a strong sense of purpose had a 23 percent reduced risk of death from any cause, the researchers found.

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Look around these days and you will find that 90% of all food is processed and dead, void of all nutrition. You will also find that at least half of that food contains at least some genetically modified ingredients, and this means you’re eating organisms grown and mutated in laboratories, including bacteria and insect cells. Are you becoming “the fly”? You know, that giant man/fly hybrid that Jeff Goldblum turned into in that creepy movie from 1986?

Is your DNA now designed to kill insects and weeds? Will mosquitoes stop biting you next summer or will you have the strangest, hyper skin reactions to weeds? Who knows, right? Besides the food that’s labeled certified organic, what are you getting? Many rural folks find local and organic food at their farmer’s markets or they grow it all themselves. Others still barter and trade services for foods, or trade crops and seeds for rotation. In parts of the USA, some people still live like our grandparents did, eating food that doesn’t contain pesticides, on the inside and the outside. Think about it. Plus, most people eat food from boxes, toxic cans and sealed plastic every day. Ever heard of BPA poisoning?

Continue reading…