Saturday, December 29, 2007

Natural Weight Loss

In today’s world, being obese is one of the biggest complications that almost 3 among 10 in USA are going through this problem and the condition is on continuous rise. In UK, a recent study estimates that nearly 10 million adults and 1 million children will be suffering from obesity by the time of 2010. There are various medications available in the market for treating obesity; however, a natural weight loss procedure has no alternative. It is mainly because, in most of the cases, the medications used to control weight have inevitable side-effects, whereas there is a wide range of natural weight loss programs focusing the same goal but without any apparent negative outcomes.

Prior to our discussion regarding different methodological approaches of weight loss, we should know what a natural weight loss approach offers in general compared to the traditional chemical-based medicinal approaches. Most essentially, it puts emphasis on a holistic system which considers elimination of wastage products from the system to restoring healthy body weight. It doesn’t focus only the elimination of the symptoms of the problem; rather it tries to encounter the problem from its roots, contrary to conventional artificial treatment policies. Now let us discuss few of natural weight loss approaches which have received significant recognition irrespective of demographic differences and cultures.

Therapeutic Fasting

Fasting is known as the most ancient process to keep your system healthy and to restore health as well. It is indeed a natural healing mechanism. Fasting facilitates a complete cleansing process incorporating each and every cell and tissues in our body. Within duration of less than 24 hours of food intake, enzymes produced within the body start entering into intestine and blood stream instead of stomach and these enzymes in the course of their movement gulp up all kinds of waste particles including dead and spoiled cells. Meanwhile, they resist entering different microbes, pollutants and metabolic wastes. Quite obviously, at this stage all organs and glands become able to relax and the tissues get rejuvenated and their functions get restored. However, therapeutic fasting is essentially directed with the help of expert health practitioner in order to promote it for natural weight loss approach.

Herbal Solution

Since ancient ages, a wide range of herbs are well-respected for their ability to alleviate symptoms of various complications associated with our health system in general. This is truly applicable for obesity also. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is useful for suppressing appetite. It has the ability to curb your appetite so nicely that you do not need to feed much. To have a good control over your consumption of food, you can add fennel in your diet or you may have fennel tea. You can also have sage or thyme substituting fennel.

Have Light Food

Depending on green vegetables with a plentiful of water can always be beneficial for your health. Green vegetables help you to have required nutrition, whereas water helps cleansing your system. If you are really inclined on natural weight loss process, you may depend on beet green, lettuce, Swiss chard, collards, turnip greens and other leafy vegetables. You may feed yourself with bulgur wheat, because its constituents include protein, niacin and iron. It is a great source of fiber, whereas low in sodium and fat. Soup and low calorie meal are beneficial for being aligned with natural weight loss program. While having your soup, you must not have cream ones in order to avoid being obese.

Regular Exercise

If you truly desire about loosing your extra weight, you must be truly honest to your goal and required actions to achieve your goal. A safe well-balanced healthy diet in addition to regular exercise has no other alternative for natural weight loss. Make a daily schedule and follow it rigorously for performing exercise. You may make a minimum of one hour walk everyday to make you feel healthier and more active. It will help you to burn extra calories from your system and promote a healthy system eventually.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Weight Loss Supplements

All of us dream about having a perfectly shaped body, irrespective of where we locate or in which culture we belong to. This inherent desire leads the weight loss supplements to take a graceful entry to the consumer market. These products generally include pills or herbs or any other medicinal alternatives that claim to help individuals loosing their weight. Some of these products even declare that the users of their product may get the result even within fortnight. However, there are lots of debates associated with this type of declaration. This article will discuss about different issues related with weight loss supplements and their role in the weight loss process.

Types of supplements

There are different types of fat burner weight loss supplements available in the market that claim to make you thinner within a specified time span. Here is a brief overview of few popularly used weight loss supplements.

Chitosan: This is derived from lobster’s shell, as well as from shrimp and other shellfish. It is actually an indigestible fiber. The mechanism it follows is fat-binding followed by absorption. However, there are no enough studies conducted to support the claim. Rather different researchers concluded that there are few side effects associated with the intake of chitosan such as constipation, gas and allergies.

Chromium: In most of the cases, it is available in chromium picolinate format. Its function includes boosting of lean mass as well as reducing body fat. A large number of studies confirmed about the safety of the usage of this substance, however, there are lots of debates associated about its consideration of one of the useful weight loss supplements.

Citrus Aurantium (Bitter Orange): This is herbal extract and is considered as a substitute for ephedra. However, there is no concrete study supporting its claim as a weight loss supplement.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): It is found in organic dairy products and beef. Its use as weight loss supplement is acclaimed by different studies; however, none of them assure safe usage for long run. It also helps in increasing lean body mass.

Guarana: It functions as an appetite suppressant. Overdoes or prolonged usage causes insomnia, anxiety and restlessness.

Plantago Psyllium: It is a water soluble fiber. It is found in Plantago ovato seeds. If you take it prior to your meal, it will give you a sense of fulfillment, hence results you eating less. It has been identified causing constipation problem. However, there is no sufficient proof in the support of its use as a weight loss supplement.

Safety Issues

Being obese is such an issue that is directly linked to social stigma. In our society, being obese is generally not appreciated and self-image matters quite a lot in social interaction. The individuals suffering from obesity problem lack self-esteem and self-confidence. Weight loss supplement claim that they can reduce weight of an individual. These types of weight loss supplements are really popular among the masses, especially among those individuals who care to have a magical impact in their life. But, not in all the cases, these types of products are safe to use, particularly it may result significant negative impact in long term and may cause harm to body quite a great extent. There are a wide range of products that are actually found to be ineffective and also their side-effects are really critical in long term usage. So, it is always advisable that you should consult your doctor prior taking such types of weight loss supplements. In case of herbal supplements, there are insufficient and conflicting studies and reviews available in the market. These products are widely known as fat burners that work on melting calories and boosting body’s metabolism. In most of the cases, these types of weight loss supplements are strongly discouraged by medical practitioners and research workers for insufficient labeling of ingredients and radical increase in blood pressure and cardiac problems. Moreover, in the long run, prolonged using of these weight loss supplements may cause different psycho-physiological complications.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Weight Loss Recipes

If you are overweight or you really care about maintaining your weight rigorously, you need to follow a well-balanced diet chart. To make a well-balanced diet, you should put a little effort on selecting good recipes that assure you not consuming extra calories in your body. In simple terms, weight loss recipes provide you a healthy fat-free cholesterol-free diet. Let us prepare a simple but delicious healthy recipe for your weight less diet. After finishing this article, you will understand that compromising with fat and cholesterol; you need not really compromise with flavor.

Appetizer

Appetizer refers to the selection of food or drink that enhances the appetite by stimulating it. In simple words, appetite is used to enhance your sense of hunger. There are plenty of weight loss recipes suggested by renowned cook and dietician around the world. Here, I am discussing a simple recipe called crispy potato skins which is 100 percent fat-free and cholesterol-free. To prepare crispy potato skins, you need 2 medium-sized russet potatoes, butter-flavored cooking spray, 1 tbsp crushed fresh rosemary and ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper. Before you start cooking, you need to preheat the oven at 375°F. Now you wash these potatoes and prick them using a fork. Place the pierced potatoes in the oven and bake them until the peels become crispy and crunchy. You need to put the potatoes for at least one hour. Now you need to cut the potatoes into halves and scrape out the inside pulp. Leave approximately 1/8 inches pulp with the skins around and keep the pulp for other uses. Now spray the skins with butter-flavored cooking spray. Mix the rosemary and pepper with it and place it to oven once again for another 5 to 10 minutes. It is now ready to serve.

Soup

There is a wide range of weight loss recipes which promise you to feed less fat or less cholesterol, however, pumpkin soup is the one which contains very less amount of cholesterol and a real non-significant amount of fat in it. Here is how to prepare it exclusively for you. To make a one standard soup bowl, you need 1 cup of pure drinking water, 1 finely sliced fresh onion, 1 finely sliced green onion, 1 can of pumpkin puree, 1 cup of vegetable broth, ½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, 1 cup of fat-free milk, and 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper. Now take a large saucepan and pour ¼ cup of water into it. Mix onion slices in the water and put it to boil until it becomes tender. Be little cautious, drying out of onions is not at all intended. Now add pumpkin puree, vegetable broth, cinnamon, nutmeg and remaining water into the saucepan. Put it in light heat and boil for around 5 minutes. Now add the milk and stir it thoroughly. Cook it to heat. Now garnish it using pepper and green onion and serve it hot. For one serving of this soup, you will get only 1mg of cholesterol and less than 1 gm of total fat. Quite obviously, you can note it down as one of the weight loss recipes.

Meal

Surprisingly, there are so many people around the world who do even fasting so that they can possibly avoid gaining extra fats or cholesterol, but there are so many delicious weight loss recipes around designed with the same purpose. Here is a recipe called broiled white sea bass which is a low-fat low-sodium cooking. You can have it with a bed of sautéed spinach. This is high in vitamin A, iron, calcium, folate, and riboflavin. To make it, you need two White Sea bass fillets of 4 inches each, 1 tsp of minced garlic, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, ¼ tsp salt-free herbed seasoning mix and ground black pepper according to your own preference. First you need to preheat the broiler by positioning the rack 4 inches apart from the heat source. Now apply cooking spray on the baking pan and put the fillets into the pan. Then sprinkle the lemon juice on the fillets. Now delicately add garlic, herbed seasoning mix and pepper as well. Broil it for 8 to 10 minutes till it becomes tender and serve hot.

Now, if you take these three weight loss recipes in one of your daily diet, you will consume less than 100mg of cholesterol and less than 5g of fat in total. Isn’t it really a weight loss diet?

Monday, December 24, 2007

Weight Loss Herbs

Possibly there is no one on the face of earth who does not wish to stay physically fit and steady. To be physically fit, the first thing you must need is a balanced system. A balanced system always demands for a good healthy figure without any fat accumulated in it. In today’s world, the technological advancement offers us plenty of facilities; however, it puts us in an equal risk as well. Our changing lifestyle, dependency on fast and junk foods, anxiety and stress – all contribute negatively to our health system. The most adverse effect of all these is weight gain. Statistics reveals that Americans are gaining weight faster than anyone else on earth. So it is a high time to look upon exploring different types of weight loss herbs that are effective in managing good health.

Dandelion

Dandelion is considered as one of the most excellent weight loss herbs. It is a good substitute for minerals. It has the ability to take away LDL as well as total cholesterol as well as fatty acids prior getting absorbed into fat cells via bloodstream. It acts as a gentle laxative. It is beneficial for diuretic usage; however, prolonged use of dandelion may result in electrolytic imbalance like any other diuretics.

Licorice Root

This herb is ideal for initial use, however, strictly not recommended for prolonged usage. Initial use is acceptable because of its sugary flavor which satisfies the craving for sweets. But it has side effects associated with it. It influences cardiac condition adversely including muscle pain, potassium depletion, a sense of weakness, etc.
Garcinia cambogia
It is referred to as one of the best weight loss herbs. Till date, no single possible adverse effect of Garcinia cambogia has been reported. It functions as a metabolic stimulant. It helps the body by integrating a slow metabolic action with an increased potential. It is an excellent appetite suppressant, which helps you to have a good control over your food craving.
St. John’s wort
Most commonly it can be seen that at the time of stress or acute depression many people increase the amount of their food intake. In other words, emotional stimulants can directly affect dietary condition in some of the cases. It contributes significantly in gaining weight. St. John’s wort is useful for treating mood disorder, depression and anxiety. But it should not be taken without consulting any health expert. It is mainly due to its possible adverse effects on health.
Psyllium
It is rich in soluble fiber. Quite obviously, it is a good source for lowering cholesterol level in your body, especially LDL cholesterol. It functions as a great laxative. It is an excellent source of dietary fiber. A wide range of studies actually affirmed it as one of the best weight loss herbs promoting weight loss without any permanent and acute side effects. It offers a sense of fullness with a reduced energy intake. It lowers the chemical responses associated with glucose and insulin digestion and absorption. It regulates the nutrients’ time to reach to the intestine and body cells. As a result, your weight gain process will be slower or even you may apparently lose weight as well. Truly there are various weight loss herbs, but psyllium can hold a significant place on the list. It is used to design healthy diets especially for people suffering from overweight and obesity problem.
However, these weight loss herbs are useful for losing weight if and only if you maintain an overall healthy lifestyle. You should follow a regular exercise schedule with a fat-free, cholesterol-free diet. You should not expect any drastic overnight result while you are using these herbs, rather you should understand the value of time and patience. You must also understand the possible side effects associated with each of the herbs. So it is always advisable that you should consult with health practitioner about the required dosages and possible adverse effects prior taking any of these weight loss herbs.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Herbal Weight Loss

Truly there are plenty of options available in the market intended for weight loss, but among them herbal weight loss can be considered as the best of the rest. It is mainly due to the increasing awareness in terms of benefits without any apparent side-effects associated with the usage of herbal products that make people to get more inclined day by day for using herbal weight loss remedy. Herbal products ensure loosing the extra weight by following a time consuming but effective procedure.

Overview of herbal remedy

In the fast paced world, we hardly get the time for ourselves during which we take a great care of us. Different daily hassles, hard competition and life style affect our diet very profoundly, which results our dependency over fast foods, snack and junk foods. The ultimate outcome leads to experiencing obesity, increasing blood cholesterol level, cardiac problems and other difficulties.

Apart from the health issue, obesity is directly linked up with social stigma. It affects everyone, especially women. Its effect is so profuse in one’s life, that an individual suffering from obesity may take any drastic step to reduce her weight. It may range from having hotchpotch diet to non-verifiable artificial weight loss supplements as well. This may, in turn, result to severe side-effects by disputing metabolic system, while apparently resulting in temporary weight loss.

Herbal weight loss supplements in association with herbal weight loss programs are considered to be the most effective solution for acquiring a perfect health. It is particularly beneficial for those who want to be aligned with Mother Nature. However, there are great varieties in herbal weight loss products, and there is no specific guarantee of its effectiveness. The efficiency also largely depends on the type of the product chosen and on its specific requirement for its user. The consumers must be gather sufficient knowledge regarding possible side-effects regarding the product both in short term and long term.
Weight loss mechanism

Essentially, the herbal weight loss supplements work best following three mechanisms. The product increases the amount of the discharge of urine and stool, thus, helps cleansing the body by protecting against the accumulation of bodily wastages. It also enhances and rejuvenates central nervous system and helps promoting homeostasis through holistic approach. It also increases the serotonin level in the body, which eventually makes an individual more vigorous and serene in mind and health.
Variety of herbs used

Most commonly a great variety of herbs are used in the weight loss programs. However, there are few that actually got the crown to receive the honor. Let us verify few of them here.
Ma-huang: This is also known as ephedra. This is one of the most common ingredients used in the various weight loss supplements, however, the health research units and medical practitioners highly discourage its prolonged usages by putting a special emphasis of its harmful side effects on health.

Cascara: It holds a significant place in most of the herbal weight loss supplements. It is generally used as an internal cleanser. However, it has side-effect as well. It is supposed to create disturbances in electrolytic balance.

Aloe Vera: Aloe Vera is well-respected among the mass for its versatile qualities. It is commonly found as an important ingredient of weight loss supplement. It also helps cleansing body. However, there is no clinical evidence found yet to ascertain long term benefits of weight loss from Aloe Vera.
Glocomannan: This helps absorbing glucose from intestine, hence creating a feeling of fullness in an individual. Quite obviously, it results in less intake of food. It is effective in reducing weight effectively; however, the impact of this herb is not free from side-effects. It may create gastrointestinal complications in long run.
Dandelion: It works as an effective natural diuretic as it helps releasing water from body. But one needs to be very careful about drinking a plentiful amount of water while taking this herb. If the amount of water intake is insufficient, the individual is on high risk of having dehydration and allergic reactions.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Weight Loss Foods

Being overweight in most of the cases is very embarrassing, especially due to its associated social stigma, that makes us completely reluctant even taking a minimum amount of food, hence it results in different complications such as gas, acidity and many others. But simply switching to weight loss foods can really help you to get a control over your weight and help you to maintain an optimum health system with full of energy and vitality.

Anyone can maintain a good health just by following two essential points – (1) have fat and cholesterol free healthy diet and (2) do exercise (or simply walk). Health practitioners usually do not suggest their clients to stay on fasting, rather they prefer to suggest them having nutritional food that eventually contribute to weight loss.

Although there are a great variety of options available for weight loss foods that you can actually add in your daily diet, I am here describing few among them which I find commonly suggested by health experts.

Chilled Soups

Cold or chilled soups can serve the purpose of low calorie dishes. It can include gazpacho or cucumber-dill, which are typically rich with plenty of green vegetables. It is excellent to take prior having meal. Also several health researchers confirm that having this type of low-calorie broth-based soup can actually minimize the amount of meal you can intake by providing you a sense of fullness.

Watermelon

Most of the health experts recommend having watermelon if you are really serious about loosing or maintaining your weight. Watermelon, being one of the best weight loss foods, satisfies your demand for fluid in the body while providing you a sweet flavor and a sense of fullness. Watermelon contains carotenoid compounds like lycopene and beta carotene that offer a wide range of health benefits ranging from immunizing against cancer to preventing from sun-burn. The juice of watermelon in combination with cucumber is an excellent delicious weight loss choice.

Grilled Veggie

Without a dish of grilled vegetable on your dinning table, your diet plan with weight loss foods may not be adequate enough. You may add grilled onion, eggplant, carrots, garlic, zucchini and asparagus as a part of your healthy diet. You can have those in the form of veggie salad or in combination with other healthy recipes like ricotta, fresh herb pasta or frittatas.

Salad

No one can possibly avoid having salad in their daily diet if he or she really cares to stay tuned. It is not only one of the healthy weight loss foods, but also easy to prepare. A handful of toasted nuts with whole grain roll, salad greens, ginger vinaigrette or raspberry can provide you a wonderful delicious salad with a promise of well health. You may try having whole grain salads prepared with wheat berry and tabouli. You may garnish the salads using herbs from your kitchen garden and a sprinkle of the herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley can make all the difference.

Low or no-calories beverages

When you are having ice cream or cold drink, it offers you a smooth and slow effect that gradually captures your level of satisfaction; however, it offers a radical increase in your body mass.

It is always advisable that you should drink liquids as much as possible. For that, you may simply count on having plentiful amount of water. Apart from that you may take several health drinks that never blow your diet. These may include root bear, white wine spritzer, tart lemon pom spritzer and many others. Mostly these beverages are prepared with lemon juice, and pure drinking water. In case of white wine spritzer, you need to add white wine. To have a tart lemon pom spritzer, all you need to mix pomegranate juice and ice sprinkle in the mixture.

Fruit Desserts

Most of us feel that without a dessert at the end of the meal, the meal seems incomplete. But desserts have a high risk for promoting fat and cholesterol to our health system. If you prepare them with natural fruits such as grilled white peaches mixed with blackberries and honey, it will definitely add no extra calories to your diet and offer you an experience of weight loss foods in return.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Hair Loss Treatment

Although hair loss problem is a common problem among all individuals around the world, but not every one feels really comfortable about the ultimate symptom of hair loss. Truly for someone baldness is a style statement, but for most of the individuals the hair loss phase is actually frustrating and embarrassing. Thinning of hair or diffused hair pattern is also associated with social stigma. An individual suffering from hair loss problem may undergo through low self esteem and lack of self confidence. But this is also true that in most of the cases, we are not enough aware of the critical aspect of the condition and may neglect it by considering a normal phenomena. However, when the problem persists, we usually ask for help in possible hair loss treatment from hair experts.

There are a great variety of possible hair loss treatments available in the face of the earth and no one can identify only single one as the best possible solution for everyone. That means, hair loss treatment differs on individual preference and needs. You may have suffered from hair loss problem due to internal malfunctioning. In that case, the primary role of the health experts is to first identify the inherent cause of your problem as the first phase of the hair loss treatment. On the other hand, if you need to undergo through surgical intervention, only use of medicine might not be proven beneficial for you. This article focuses on various types of available hair loss treatment policies.

Anti-androgenic therapy

This therapy is particularly beneficial in the cases of hereditary hair thinning. The prevalence of hereditary hair thinning is one out of four among women in USA. In case of women, the version of this hair loss treatment is known as cyproterone acetate (CPA). In the case of man, excessive secretion of Di-hydrotestosterone (DHT) is found to be responsible for causing baldness as well as hair fall. If you are identified with the hair loss problem triggered by excess DHT secretion, it is quite common that your doctor will suggest you to undergo anti-androgenic therapy as the part of hair loss treatment. It is a time-consuming therapeutic approach that may last even for one year or more.

Hormonal Balancing

It is quite possible if you are going through hair loss problems that you are having hormonal imbalance in your health system. It may occur due to menopausal stage, or if you have experienced recent pregnancy. Even acute stressors or traumatic experiences and anxieties may also cause hormonal disturbances. Specifically hormones secreted from pituitary gland and thyroid gland may cause hair loss problems, if imbalance occurs. In that case, you need to undergo through prescribed medicinal treatment as suggested by your doctor.
Hair Transplantation

Hair transplantation is considered as one of the advanced therapeutic technique as a part of hair loss treatment. It can be done on both men and women. It promises you to provide fine line hair treatment which restores hair areas. In some cases, it is even hard to identify the area in the post-operative period. It is mainly done by stimulating hair follicles. This type of hair loss treatment is really expensive and is tough for everyone to take advantage of this treatment. Likewise any other surgical intervention, hair loss transplant includes a degree of risk associated with it. However, with the advanced technological help in medicinal area the risks have been possibly limited. Only, there is a chance of catching infection or pain during or after surgery. In some cases, bleeding also becomes an issue during surgical intervention.
Alternative Treatment

Not everyone is really willing to depend on chemical based treatment, especially at the initial phases of the problem. Those individuals largely depend on alternative approaches like herbal or Ayurvedic treatment procedures. These types of treatments prescribe using a wide range of herbs such as Basil, Holy Basil, Neem, Tulsi, Aloe Vera and many others.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Female Hair Loss

Hair loss problem is a universal problem and there is possibly no one under the sky who never undergoes through this problem in entire life time. Although hair loss is a common issue that has become an embarrassing problem for unisex, but female hair loss pattern largely differs from male ones. Hair is known as an ideal indicator of one’s optimum health. If you have healthy, shinning, growing hair, it means you have a healthy health as well. So any change in the condition of hair, be it falling than normal or looking dull, should be considered very seriously, because it may function as a warning sign of upcoming physical hazards. So if you are suffering from any unusual amount of hair fall or uneven hair texture, you should not be late to consult with health expert regarding this problem.

Female hair loss pattern is different from male hair loss pattern. It has been categorized mainly under three heads – Androgenetic Alopecia, Alopecia Areata and Telogen Effluvium.
Androgenetic Alopecia

This pattern is considered as the most common in female hair loss. This is also known as female pattern alopecia. Alopecia refers to baldness. But this differs from male baldness. If someone is suffering from alopecia, it doesn’t mean that she is suffering from complete baldness. Alopecia is featured as hair thinning, most prevalently on the top and crown part of the head. The onset of the complication is identified as the shrinking of hair follicles and leading to cause finer hair within a short life span. Gradually, the cells in these areas stop producing hair. This type of female hair loss is actually occurred during hormonal changes such as during pregnancy or post menopause phase. You may also suffer from female pattern alopecia, if you take birth control pills on a regular basis or if you undergo through prolonged stress.

Alopecia Areata

Not as common as Androgenetic Alopecia, but it is identified as a round bald patch initially followed by an inevitable progress of total hair loss in the entire scalp area. The primary cause is identified as autoimmune disorder that may be elicited by several factors like high fever, acute stressors, allergy, bacterial, viral or fungal infection and traumatic experience. However, it is seen that the hair follicles remain alive but non-active for an indistinct period of time. So there is always a possibility to avoid from this type of female hair loss and to enhance follicles for re-growth if proper therapeutic measure is taken on time. In practice, it doesn’t really depend on the reason of hair loss all the time, but you can be free from any sort of female hair loss if the hair follicles are not destroyed.
Telogen Effluvium

This is also referred to as diffuse hair loss. If you are suffering from recent thinning of hair throughout your entire scalp area, it is a high chance that you are susceptible with this type of female hair loss problem. In general, it is triggered by internal health complications such as nutritional deficiencies, hormonal disturbances, elongated and intense experience of stress, chronic illness and others. This type of female hair loss does not necessarily promote a complete baldness and can be cured totally if proper intervention is taken to correct underlying malfunctioning.

However, at the onset of hair loss we may not be as careful as required. Most of the time, we simply underestimate the condition and give it a light and secondary priority. This makes the problem getting worse day by day. Hence, it is highly recommended that if you feel your hair is falling than usual, you must not neglect the condition and take immediate action. The treatment of hair loss largely varies depending on several factors. It may be done with chemical-based medicine or using herbal supplements, depending on preferred health-expert’s advice, individual preference and individual health condition. In the severe case, the treatment may include surgical intervention as well.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Vitamins for Hair Loss

Hair loss is an inevitable condition that almost every one of us has to face at least once in entire lifetime. Some research studies put great emphasis on the intrinsic relationship between diet and health of the hair, however, few studies do not actually agree with this conclusion. But this is true that there is a strong relation between our healthy hair and our health system in total. This is why if we are sick from inside, it affects the health of the hair profoundly. Hair is nourished by the nutrients available in the blood stream. These nutrients are required for healthy growth of hair. These nutrients are nothing but vitamins for hair loss, without them we may not enjoy our bouncing hair fully.

Practically, our health system is more or less negatively partial about the distribution of available vitamins in the body. That is, the required vitamins for hair loss are needed in other areas of the body; our system considers hair as one of the last priorities. Second problem lies with the vitamin extraction from hair. Say for example, if you are not feeding yourself with sufficient vitamins and minerals as required by your system, the system will derive extracting vitamins from the hair itself to fulfill the requirement. This is not that system will extract vitamins only from hair, but from other areas as well, to fulfill the survival demand of the needed areas.

Generally speaking, a great deal of water and a proper healthy diet can provide you all required nourishing vitamins for hair loss, below few of them are discussed.

Para-Aminobenzoic Acid (PABA)

This comparatively lesser known nutrient from vitamin B complex family is found to be beneficial fighting against premature graying of hair. Studies showed that animals develop grey hair in the absence of this vitamin, whereas color is restored as soon as the animal is reintroduced to PABA. Deficiency in PABA in combination with Folic Acid and Pantothenic Acid may result in discoloration of hair at premature stage, whereas diet rich in vitamin B complex can restore back the color in time. Liver is the best place to find this vitamin, whereas you may have whole grain, yeast and kidney to fulfill the demand.

Inositol

This is one of the major vitamins for hair loss. This also belong to the group of vitamin B. When animal research was conducted, it was found that lack of Inositol causes baldness in animals. Also there was a remarkable gender difference observed, which showed that male animals loss their hair in a higher increasing rate than that of female animals. Studies show that with the appropriate application of Inositol one can really arrest his or her hair loss problems, almost all sorts of, even in some cases hair growth is also noticed. Inositol appears to reduce high blood cholesterol as well.

Biotin

This is also known as vitamin H and it is one of the essential vitamins for hair loss. This actually belongs to vitamin B complex group. It works by metabolizing fatty acid which is an indispensable element for various bodily functions and growth of hair. Biotin is commonly found in egg yolks, liver, kidney, yeast and milk. Biotin affects baldness in terms of enhancing hair follicles and promotes hair growth.

Vitamin E

This nutrient is considered as one of the best vitamins for hair loss. It is believed to slow down the ageing process. There are various instances around the world that shows after taking vitamin E supplement individuals can actually retard their ageing process, enhance their hair quality and promote new growth of hair. Vitamin E can be naturally derived from wheat, soy bean, broccoli, spinach, and egg.

Apart from that, there are several other health supplements such as zinc and proteins that contribute to the maintenance of hair and improve hair quality and hair growth. However, a healthy diet, low in fat and cholesterol, in addition to plenty water help nourishing your hair from inside.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Natural Hair Loss Remedy

Hair loss is a natural phenomenon that is prevalent globally, irrespective of gender, race or culture. There are various hair loss treatments available in the market. It can be treated using chemical based medications or using hair transplantation mechanism. However, the later one is not accepted by every one due to its radical character. Some people even do not prefer to adopt chemical based medicine due to its inevitable side effects. However, a majority of individuals actually depend on natural hair loss remedy. This remedy is not limited to any particular herbs or nature derived vitamins, but the area is truly vast and is found to be effective in most of the cases without any apparent side effects associated with it. This article focuses on some of the useful common herbs and their role as natural hair loss remedy.
Green Apples

A natural polyphenol compound derived from green apple is found to be effective in promoting the growth of the hair. This is especially beneficial for men in their male pattern baldness. Research has shown that the appropriate and continual usages of this naturally derived polyphenol for a minimum period of 6 months can effectively prop up both vellus and terminal hair growth in a significant fashion. Vellus hair refers to the short hair which never grows longer with time. On the other hand, terminal hair refers long hair that keeps increasing. A various number of studies have reported that it is beneficial for majority number of individuals. These studies also confirmed that after using this natural hair loss remedy, the quality of hair also improves quite significantly. Studies also showed that only apple extract can work well for new hair growth, it also nourishes hair naturally.

Omega 3 and Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Omega 3 and Omega 3 fatty acids are rich with anti-inflammatory property. These are useful for treating hair problems as well as for maintaining healthy hair. Research has shown that if you increase the quantity of omega 3 fatty acid to a substantial amount, it can actually help in hair loss. You may have it from soybean oil and canola oil, which you directly apply on your scalp by mixing it with coconut oil. Also you may have salmon, mackerel, sardines, lake trout and albacore tuna in your diet to fulfill the demand for omega 3. This wonderful natural hair loss remedy not only help having you a real healthy silky hair, but also help you to stay tuned from inside.

Ginger

This natural hair loss remedy is well-respected in herbal study since ages because of its ability to stimulate the hair follicles, hence to promote hair growth. It is also useful for preventing hair to become thinner. It is rich with fatty acid, so it also helps preventing premature hair loss and premature baldness.

Capsicum

It has the ability to increase the growth of the hair up to 50%. It also enhances blood circulation on the scalp. It releases histamine that effectively stimulates cell division. Hence, it also augments hair follicles as well as it promotes new growth of hair.
Rosemary

We all know that dandruff is of the major causes for hair fall. Rosemary, the valuable natural hair loss remedy, helps fighting against dandruffs. If used regularly on the scalp, it lowers the possibility of having dandruff by 80%. The circulatory movement of rosemary also removes sebum accumulation on the scalp. Rosemary is thus really effective care for fighting against your hair loss.
There are not sufficient scientific studies conducted in the support of the actual usefulness of these herbs on hair. However, it is seen that these herbs can be used for maintaining the quality of the hair and from preventing hair loss by slowing it down than before. If you like to use these herbs for enhancing your hair growth, you may consult with your doctor for their best usages. But this is always advisable that you should not exceed recommended dosage as prescribed by the health practitioner.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Herbal Hair Loss Treatment

Hair loss is a problem that is quite prevalent around the world. Most commonly, it is seen in adults, but in some cases, adolescents are also suffering from hair loss problems. Many individuals do prefer to let their baldness show it to the world, hence prefer to keep it untreated and unhidden, whereas there are many who really bother about their hair loss and prefer to get a hold with various strategies and possible treatment policies. Among all other treatments such as chemical-based medications or surgical intervention, herbal hair loss treatment is known as best possible solution.

Since ages Ayurveda is recognized to offer best herbal therapy for a wide range of diseases, so is true for hair loss problems. In particular, subcontinents of India are highly rich with varieties quality herbs that have the power to enhance hair follicles from its root. Herbs like Amla, Tulsi, Basil, Yasthi Madhu, Bringraj, Henna, Brahmi, and Neem are well-recognized for their abilities to nourish hair and ideal ingredients for herbal hair loss treatment. These herbs are particularly beneficial for producing various hair supplements, hair oils and hair tonics for providing you protection from possible hair loss by strengthening health of your hair roots. Below is a brief description of these herbs.

Amla

Amla, rich with vitamin C, works as a great nourishing tonic for hair. In the course of herbal hair loss treatment, it is believed to be used to protect hair from premature graying. It also protects our system internally by lowering cholesterol, enhancing vision, strengthening lungs and respiratory system. The scientific name of amla is Emblica officinalis.

Tulsi

Tulsi is used as the effective measure for hair loss and it is considered as one of the essential ingredients of herbal hair loss treatment. It is extensively used for protecting hair from falling and early graying. Tulsi seed in combination with castor oil is a useful remedy for hair lice. It also helps making the hair root stronger, thus reducing hair fall.

Basil

Basil is an effective herb used in the herbal hair loss treatment. If it is applied on the hair and scalp, it stimulates hair growth. Also it has the ability to condition hair.

Yasthi Madhu

Yasthi Madhu is a multi-purpose utility herb that is used as one of the essential elements of herbal hair tonic and in the herbal hair loss treatment. Hair fall is also caused from liver malfunctioning. Yasthi Madhu has the ability to make you healthy from internally as well by providing you a relief from gastrointestinal and liver malfunctioning.

Bringraj

Since ancient times, Bringraj is recognized as the best ingredient in herbal hair loss treatment. This is the major herb used in the Ayurvedic hair treatment. Considered as an essential element for herbal hair supplements, it rejuvenates hair follicles, strengthens the hair roots, and hence provides protection against hair fall. It also prevents premature graying of hair and bald. It promotes re-growth of hair.

Henna

This is the second best essential herb used in Ayurvedic hair treatment. It helps growing your hair than normal if you can use it regularly. You can use it twice monthly as herbal pack on your scalp or you may use it processed within hair oil. In both of the cases, you will get good results and eventually you will be free from your hair loss problems.

Brahmi

Brahmi brings wonder to mental health. It has the ability to work on an individual’s cognitive ability. Apart from that, it can induce a feeling of peace and calmness when used. Brahmi oil is effective for protecting from hair fall and premature graying. It also helps in re-growing of hair. It has the ability to make the hair root stronger. It is beneficial to enhance the health of hair.

Neem

Dandruff can cause hair falling. Neem can be used on the scalp to remove dandruff. It can be effectively used to remove lice as well. Either you can use its Neem juice directly over your scalp or you may apply it mixed with hair oil.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Weight Loss Diet

Obesity is a truly complex health hazards that may affect any individuals irrespective of age or gender. It can be a serious health problem that may in time prove itself a life-threatening disorder and put an individual suffering from obesity in a high risk for developing cardiac problems, cholesterol or diabetics. If you are overweight or you just wish to maintain your figure, weight loss diet certainly works best for you, if you can follow rigorously.

Analyze your emotional state

If you are really serious about your overeating problem and make a good control on it, you should first start taking a diary on your food habits. The diary can include three columns initially. In the first column, you write the name of the food you are taking. In the second column, you write the temptation that you have experienced before attaining the food and in the third column, you should write about the emotional satisfaction that you have derived after having the food. Now it is the time to compare between your short-term gratifications that you acquire immediately after having (or rather during having) and the long term impact that you actually gain in your health system. It will certainly help you to switch to weight loss diet.

Provide little extra time to control your impulse

If you feel like eating now, provide some extra little time to get a hold on your impulse. Say, for example, you feel that you need to feed now and hunger is hitting you up badly, try to give yourself at least 10 minutes time before you actually turn yourself into any action. It helps.

Have plenty of water

Drink a minimum of 6-8litres water daily. Especially, you try not to forget drinking water before your meal. It will reduce your hunger and provide you a ‘full feeling’. Not only that, pure drinking water has the ability to purify your system. It helps maintaining the homeostasis of the system with appropriate water retention while increasing the discharge of body wastages through urination.

Quick but effective weight loss diet program

However, not always recommended if you are going complications other than obesity, but there are few quick but effective weight loss diet programs available in the market. In 1985, General Motors Inc in cooperation with John Hopkins Research Centre formulated a wonderful weight loss diet program for their employees and family members. According to the research, this program is effective and almost flawless. It is structured in a fashion that the followers of the program will be able to loose their weight to a remarkable extent, say, 10-17lb per week, without loosing their energy or stamina.

This is a seven day program; however, research has shown that there is no apparent harm related with it and this weight loss diet program can be repeated several times to get the desired result. If you are willing to follow this program, the first thing you have to do is to refrain from alcohol or any kind of alcoholic beverages. Additionally, you have to drink ten glasses of water every day.

In the first day of the program, you need to feed yourself with a variety of fruits except banana. The program suggests having lots of watermelon and a loupe to have good result. The second day comprises with vegetables. You may have raw or cooked one depending your own personal preference. To fulfill the requirement of carbohydrate, you may start with potatoes with little butter on it. Third day is a day of mixing. You have the combination of fruits and vegetables. But you are not allowed to have banana. Third day of the weight loss diet program is not allowing you to have potato as well. In the fourth day, you may have a combination of banana and milk. But you are limited with 8 bananas and 3 glasses of milk. On the fifth day, you may relax a bit because it offers you to feed your appetite with beef and tomatoes. Have 10 oz of lean beef with 6 tomatoes. But do not forget to increase your water intake by 1qrt. Sixth day is really lovely for you because you may have as many beef and vegetables as you want. In the seventh day, you may enjoy your weight loss diet by having brown rice, vegetables and fruit juice. Now measure your weight, and please do not forget to write a review of this weight loss diet program.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Diet to Lower Cholesterol

Cholesterol is produced in our liver. This is waxy, fatty substances that aids in strengthening cell walls, forming nerve sheaths, and producing hormones. However, excessive production of cholesterol is harmful to our body and eventually it is apparently fatal in most of the cases, because it heightens the risk of heart diseases and strokes. A healthy diet is known to reduce the risk of raising high blood cholesterol. So you should always take a great care of your regular diet. If you have a high cholesterol level, you should go through strict healthy diet to lower cholesterol along with medication. Research shows that a controlled diet increases the possibility to lower cholesterol level to a great extent. But it is not mandatory that if you follow a strict diet to lower cholesterol level in blood, it means that you are compromising with your taste. Rather the situation can be entirely different. You may experience an exciting healthy diet to lower cholesterol. Let us find how:

Eat breakfast rich in fiber

Prepare your breakfast by adding fruits, oatmeal as well as whole grain muffins. To make an effective preparation, you may count blindly on oat bran and rice bran, truly. Oat is especially effective because it contains soluble fiber. It particularly reduces low density lipoprotein (LDL), that is, the ‘bad’ cholesterol. Soluble fiber is also available in kidney beans, apples, psyllium, pears, prunes, barely and brussels sprouts. It is always recommended that you should switch to wholegrain breads, muffins, waffles, pancakes, and bagels.

Soluble fiber works following a complex mechanism of reducing absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. The mechanism is based on the binding of bile and dietary cholesterol in the body so that it can be excreted from the system. Hence if you can add soluble fiber in your diet, it will definitely switch your regular diet to a healthy diet to lower cholesterol level in your body. If you can add 5-10gm of soluble fiber in your diet, it will certainly reduce LDL cholesterol to 5%. If you take a minimum of one and half cup of cooked oatmeal, it will give you 4.5gms of fiber. So positively it will enhance your body system by lowering your cholesterol level.
Add walnuts and almonds to your diet

Walnuts contain high polyunsaturated fatty acid that aid in reducing blood cholesterol significantly. It also enhances blood circulation in the body by making the blood vessels more elastic. Almonds also play the same role and it shows result even within 4 weeks span.
If one-fifth amount of calories in the diet to lower cholesterol comes from walnut, it will certainly lower the cholesterol level in the blood more than 12 percent altogether.

Nuts are really useful and healthy for diet because only a handful of them truly suffice for optimum supplement of calories in our body. Instead of having diet full of saturated fats such as meats, cheese or croutons, it is always advisable to replace them with almonds or walnuts.
Have Fish with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Research reveals that Eskimos have a lower degree of heart problems than any other individuals living at the same continent. It is shown in research data that Eskimos consume less saturated fat in their diets and depend on more omega-3 fatty acid based diet. This is usually found in fish whale as well as in seal meat. Apart from that, you can add salmon, mackerel, sardines, lake trout and albacore tuna in order to make an ideal diet to lower cholesterol.
Omega-3 fatty acid is well-recognized for its ability to lower triglyceride consumption in our system. It also helps protecting heart by reducing blood pressure and risk of blood clots.
Well, it is not that you can switch your diet to that of Eskimos, but certainly you can do something to feed you up with omega-3 fatty acid, so that you can take a real good care of your heart and health. You can easily find omega-3 fatty acid in walnuts, soybean oil and canola oil.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Weight Loss Tips

If you are really worried about your increasing weight and you have decided to make a serious U turn on it, the first and foremost important thing you need to follow is to have a positive approach in your life. For that purpose, you should follow some well-structured and well-designed weight loss tips in your life.

Truly, loosing weight following effective procedure is quite time consuming. Unfortunately, it is also true that for some individuals it is really tough to achieve. But if you are really serious about loosing your weight, practicing safe weight loss tips in addition to support from your near and dear ones may do wonder for you.

Make your mind

You might understand how important it is to make your mind at first whenever you try to act on something. You should be determined about your goal and focus your mind for attaining every single element of it. You should realize that you own has the ability to achieve it, no one else in your surroundings can do it for you. It is your ability on which you should keep your trust and this trust can make you stronger and achiever day by day.

Think positive, be positive, act positive

If your view is positive to the world and to yourself, the possibility to achieve your desired goal is certainly higher than if your view is negative. Negative thoughts only create blockages in the way to success, whereas positive thoughts always take you one step ahead towards progress.

Our health system is not a physiological system only, but a psychological system as well. How you think or how you feel has a great influence on our health system. If you have positive thoughts about yourself and about your goals, it will unquestionably allow you to develop a positive self-esteem about ourselves. Positive self-esteem always nurtures self-confidence and definitely it is the self-confidence that motivates you to drive towards your goal.
Eat light and healthy

Ideal weight loss tips recommend you to acquire best diet with low fat, complex carbohydrate and high in vitamins or minerals. ‘There is no shortcut for success’, we all know, same is with weight loss procedures. But following good weight loss tips can facilitate you to adopt a low fat diet and gradually make it an integral part of your life. The ideal diet that you may follow while loosing your weight must include whole grain cereals, pasta, fresh fruits, breads, green vegetables, beans and nuts. But you should strongly avoid having any junk food or fried foods.

Good weight loss tips also suggest you to follow good habits throughout the day. You should fill your appetite with plenty of pure drinking water before your meal. Start your day with a heavy but fat free diet such as cornbread with Taramasalata, you will feel comparatively less hungry throughout the day.

However, there are plenty options available in the market that focus on weight loss ideas, but the best weight loss tips always consider on smart food selection. In some cases, you may wonder watching someone working on weight loss program without any effective output in practice. This causes mainly due to the reason that the calorie intake for that individual is higher than he expend, hence no result as such.

Do scheduled exercise

Exercise helps you to burn extra calories from your system. Practicing a scheduled exercise may actually be a fun and amusement. Do not ever turn it as a sweaty or punishing job for you. Exercise helps you to make you more energetic and restore your fitness.

Walking is the best exercise for everyone. It helps improving blood circulation in our body, hence improves overall health system.

Be slow but steady in your approach

Ideal weight loss tips ensure you a detailed approach. You should never follow any crash course for loosing your weight. It doesn’t really help to loose but to gain weight whenever you come out from the program. So it is always advisable that you should follow a thorough but steady approach for loosing your weight.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Food to Lower Cholesterol

Food plays an important role in managing the cholesterol level in your body. Apart from a well-managed lifestyle or proper medication, it is mandatory that you switch to fat-free, cholesterol-free healthy diet in order to manage the level of cholesterol. If you are suffering from high blood cholesterol problem, quite obviously you are having a high level of LDL; then you should consider about three important factors concerning your selection about food to lower cholesterol. These three factors are – saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. It is always advisable that you make your meal absolutely free from these three factors. Otherwise, you must limit the intake of these three components in your food.

This article enlightens on the important food to lower cholesterol level in your body. You may add any of the following foods to your diet to manage your blood cholesterol.
Beans, Peas and Lentils

This is an appropriate food to lower cholesterol level. All of them consist of high soluble fiber, which effectively manages cholesterol level in your body. You can always prepare a colorful salad dishes using these nutritional substances and keep yourself and your loved ones healthy. Apart from that, you may eat apples, carrots, barely, and oats to fulfill the demand for soluble fiber.

Soy

It contains high protein. Isoflavones, naturally found in Soy products, are believed to mimic the role of hormones that help in regulating cholesterol level in the body. If you really care about lowering your cholesterol level, it is a must that you take a minimum of 25gms of soy proteins as a part of your daily diet. You may take soy yogurt, soy burgers, ground soy, soy nuts, soy milk, tofu and tempeh in your regular diet.

Fish

Fish is an ideal food to lower cholesterol level. It meets the demands for omega 3, which is beneficial for lowering high blood cholesterol. It especially provides protection against LDL cholesterol. Omega 3 fatty acids are commonly found in mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines, tuna and halibut. Truly fishes are the perfect option for getting omega 3, but you may also opt in walnuts, flax seeds or almonds to have the same benefits.

Olive Oil

Mono-saturated fats can effectively lower the level of high blood cholesterol, especially ‘bad’ or LDL one. It also has the ability to raise the amount of HDL cholesterol in the system. Olive oil is rich with mono-saturated fat. Hence, you can switch to this wonderful food to lower cholesterol, especially while cooking or preparing salads.

Flax seed

Flax seed is a perfect food to lower cholesterol level. It constitutes high protein, soluble fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. It also consists of useful component called lignans. Lignans offers protection against cardiovascular problems by means of lowering LDL cholesterol level. Apart from that, it is assumed that flax seed has the ability to fight against few types of cancer like breast and colon cancer. It also helps protecting body from diabetes.
Garlic

Garlic is known as kitchen’s pride. Its medicinal property is highly respected among different cultures for several hundreds of years. It has the ability to fight against different cardiovascular diseases such as high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, and high blood pressure. According to the results found in different scientific studies, garlic helps lowering cholesterol level. Garlic has two compounds, known as allin and allicin. These two compounds are assumed to intrude with the cholesterol metabolism function in the liver. Additionally, garlic also regulates the amount of cholesterol released in the blood stream.
Vitamin C and E

These two vitamins are well known for their anti-oxidizing property. They can also help in minimizing the level of cholesterol in the body. The primary sources for deriving vitamin C are cabbage, oranges, potatoes, peppers, kiwi and strawberries. On the other hand, for having vitamin E in your diet you can easily depend on various healthy foods such as avocados, broccoli, mangoes, Brazilian seeds, peanuts, almonds and sunflower seeds.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Foods that lower cholesterol

High blood cholesterol problem may lead to the critical complications such as cardiac problems that may be proven fatal in the due course of time. You may have high blood cholesterol due to several reasons. You may control some of the factors, but some of them you can’t also. You may control your lifestyle, which is known as one of the most significant factor leading to high blood cholesterol. However, it is commonly found that people going through a perfectly healthy lifestyle may suffer from high blood cholesterol. The major factor playing its role here may not be the lifestyle then, but something else such as heredity. Heredity is known to be one of the most significant factors influencing cholesterol in our blood stream. Normally, our body produces a certain amount of cholesterol. The individuals, who are predisposed with the risk for high blood cholesterol problem, can only depend on medications as prescribed by expert health practitioners. Of course, they need to maintain their lifestyle as well. But these are not everything. You need to have a full balanced diet comprising of healthy foods that lower cholesterol. This will certainly help you to go through a cholesterol-busting dietary journey.

Prior selecting healthy foods that lower cholesterol, you need to work on some important factors such as weight management. Let us explore some of them.

Loose weight: You need to check your body weight regularly. If your weight is increasing, you should better be careful before it’s going too worse. If you find yourself overweight, take the appropriate measure immediately to loose your weight.

Stay active: Assume a hypothetical situation that you work for 8 hours long sitting in front of the computer, and then you come back and take a nap for some time, have your dinner and then go to bed for sleep, you are in danger. You are in high risk for having several complications like cholesterol. Even doing some simple exercises such as walking for an hour daily can help you to manage your cholesterol level. If you can include exercise in your daily schedule, it means you are on your way to manage level of triglyceride and blood pressure.

Avoid fat: You should always depend on foods that lower cholesterol and avoid taking food that includes saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. You can either completely eliminate these elements from your diet or you may at least minimize the consumption of the same.

Good Food

Now switch your diet to good foods that lower cholesterol. If you are having high blood cholesterol or if you are highly susceptible about having the same, the first thing doctor will suggest you to undergo through food high in soluble fiber. Soluble fiber particularly helps managing your high cholesterol by absorbing it and then extracting it out of the body throughout the digestive system. Apples, blackberries, oranges, apricots, peas, beans, broccoli, grapefruit and sweet potato are known to be the good source of soluble fiber.

Next that comes in line is of course omega 3 fatty acids. These are well-respected foods that lower cholesterol up to a significant level. You can have mackerel, salmon, sardines and many others in your daily diet to fulfill the demand for omega 3 fatty acids in your system. Omega 3 fatty acids also help minimizing cardiovascular problems. If you do not like to take so much fatty fishes, you can always depend on substitute foods that lower cholesterol such as walnuts, soybeans and ground flax.

Besides that, you may add sterols in your healthy diet. Sterols are nutritional substances that you may find in nature. Typically, it is found in the plant cell membranes. Pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds and wheat germ contain high volume of sterols. Sterols actually resemble the chemical structuring almost similar to cholesterol. If you take sterol in your diet, it contends cholesterol for accessing receptors located in the small intestines. Thus it minimizes the production of cholesterol by effectively blocking its access to the small intestines. Hence it results in effective management of cholesterol level in the body.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Cholesterol Treatment

With the modern technological advancement, we are continuously getting benefited in our life. Consider those times, when our ancestors walked miles after miles to reach to their destined place, they couldn’t even imagine of a vehicle for them. However, today we are totally dependent on our car even for a little move. Certainly it is advantage. But disadvantages are also there. By holding the hand of advancement, many negative attributes like stressors, unhealthy competition, anxiety, frustration, depression are constantly knocking at our door. This profoundly affects our health system, both physiologically and psychologically. Quite obviously, it heightens the risk of various life threatening complications like high blood cholesterol, heart problems, strokes and many more.

Among these all, cholesterol is believed to be the most independent complication which may directly cause other health complications. Here, in this article, we will discuss different issues regarding cholesterol treatment.

Objective of the treatment

The primary objective of cholesterol treatment is to lower the low density lipoprotein (LDL) level which is directly associated with the increased risk of heart block or hardening of arteries. Generally speaking, if your LDL level is high, you are at risk of having life threatening complications like heart attack, stroke and others.

There are various risk factors that actually contribute to the development of higher LDL level. They are – cigarette smoking, chronic high blood pressure, low high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, family case study of heart complications and obesity problems, as well as age factor.

Medicinal treatment and beyond

If you are suffering from high blood cholesterol, your family doctor must try to control it by altering your lifestyle. A regular disciplined lifestyle aids a lot in cholesterol treatment which may include a scheduled exercise module for loosing weight, healthy low cholesterol diet, and cessation of smoking. However, this may not suffice your cholesterol treatment, if you are a diabetic patient or you are suffering from heart disease. In that case, you may need more aggressive approach for treating the problem.

There are several prescribed drugs available in the market for cholesterol treatment. These medications are particularly useful when you are experiencing high blood cholesterol level even after improving your life style pattern.

Generally, the medicines used for treating high blood cholesterol are Statins, Bile Acid Sequestrants, Nicotinic, Fibrates and Ezitimibe. All of them are very useful for lowering LDL cholesterol level. However, Bile Acid Sequestrants do not usually used individually, but added with Statins for effective result. Nicotinic and Fibrates are particularly effective in increasing HDL cholesterol level. Ezitimibe works within intestine for blocking absorption of cholesterol.
In some cases, alternative cholesterol treatment approaches such as herbal or Ayurveda is found to be beneficial. Let us explore few arenas of alternative treatments for lowering high blood cholesterol level.

Ayurvedic treatment for cholesterol

In Ayurveda, heart disease is known as hridoy roga, which is caused by building up cholesterol in the coronary arteries. This accumulation of excess cholesterol in the body system can be reduced by following several Ayurvedic approaches. There is a famous herb called arjuna (Terminalia arjuna) used in the study of Ayurveda. It has the property to reduce the accumulation of excess cholesterol in the body. This herb is available in various forms. Two major among them are Arjunarishta and Arjuna Ghritam. Other commonly used Ayurvedic medications are Hridayarnava Rasa and Prabhakara Vati. If the accumulation of cholesterol is too abundant, usually Mrigamadasava is suggested. Apart from that several other herbs like Manjistha, Parijat (Night Jasmine), Guduchi (Indian Tinospora), Phyllanthus, Indian Sarsaparilla, niruri are used for cholesterol treatment. These herbs have the ability to purify blood, muscle tissue, and bile secretion. They enhance blood circulation system profoundly by eliminating building blocks in the fat tissues.

Yoga is an integral part of Ayurvedic treatment. So there are yogic suggestions for cholesterol treatment as well. Yoga helps in enhancing blood circulation properly, which in turn eradicates the accumulation of bodily wastages as well as cholesterol from the body system. Ardhamatsyendrasana, Shalabhasana, Padmasana and Vajrasana are proven to be beneficial in lowering high cholesterol level.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Low Cholesterol Recipes

Although cholesterol has great significance in our body functioning, especially in the area of hormone development, protecting cellular walls or forming nerve sheaths; but too much production of cholesterol certainly leads to experience a wide range of life threatening complications. But only making few changes in our daily recipes, we can actually keep ourselves safe from any hazards. This article focuses on providing its readers an outline for low cholesterol recipes. You can have them in your breakfast table, in lunch time or in dinner.

Actual Cornbread

This is one of the easy-to-prepare low cholesterol recipes that contains absolutely zero cholesterol and zero (0%) saturated fat, whereas it is rich with proteins, fibers, vitamins and minerals. If you like to have it for you in the breakfast, then start your journey with half cup of creamed corn along with one fourth cup of whole wheat flour. Well, you may add salt in whichever quantity your taste permits, but generally speaking, one teaspoon will do everything.
Now mix all of the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl very well. When you find the mixture very smooth, put it in microwave for one minute, however, this time slightly varies depending on the type of microwave. You should carefully observe the pattern of color change and also whether it becomes little fluffy. Not necessarily you need to make it very fluffy, but you should be careful that it is not liquefied. The taste is wonderful, and the food is healthy too. It is one of the ideal low cholesterol recipes for you if you have high blood cholesterol or if you are suffering from obesity problem.

Taramasalata

While we are talking about cornbread, we should not restrict ourselves discussing about Taramasalata, a Greek and Turkish dip. It is really very easy to prepare and it will be really tough for you to forget its unbeatable delicious flavor once you dip your cornbread into it.
So let us begin our preparation of Taramasalata, an one of the ideal low cholesterol recipes, with 1 medium sized potato, 2 tablespoon of mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon of organic olive oil and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. You may add salt and pepper according to your taste. Now wash the potato thoroughly. Put it to microwave and keep it there for 5 minutes or less. You may now peel off the potato and keep it in a bowl. Then use a fork to crush it up fully and mix mayonnaise with it. Blend it thoroughly. Mix olive oil with it. Again blend it extremely well. Now mix salt and pepper to your taste. Your very own Taramasalata is ready.

But wait until you garnish it a bit. Put your Taramasalata in a serving plate and place sliced cucumber and red pepper around of it. Still looks something missing? Well, place a mint or cherry on its top, whatever you like most.

This is perfect as a dip with your cornbread and also for raw vegetables. It contains only 1% cholesterol, 7% carbohydrate and 9% dietary fiber. It is also rich in vitamins and minerals. No need to say, if you have your cornbread dipped in Taramasalata, it will definitely help you manage your cholesterol level. Indeed, this is one of the best low cholesterol recipes.
Homemade Wine

When you are sitting on your balcony and watching the greens all around, a glass of wine in hand can certainly be a great addition to style and serenity. If it is made up at your own home with absolute zero cholesterol, rich in protein and carbohydrate with a total fat level less than 13%, it definitely feels like you are holding a piece of vast blue sky within your palm.
So let us start moving to prepare this one of the low cholesterol recipes by combining ¼ ounce of active dry yeast, 4 cups of sugar, and 12 ounces of frozen juice concentrate. You are just free to add any flavor but citrus or thawed according to your preference. Put all the ingredients in a sterilized gallon jug and then add three and half quarts of cold water into it. Shake the jug very frequently so that all the ingredients may blend with each other very nicely. Place a rinsed balloon with small needled hole on the top of the jug. Within a day, the balloon starts to expand and within 6 weeks of span it will be ready to drink.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Weight Loss Exercises

There are plenty of options available around us for losing weight; however, a well-balanced healthy diet and regular exercise have no alternative. In most of the cases, exercises are suggested by health practitioners, not only if you are obese, but also if you want to stay fit and active. There are various weight loss supplements and various unique methods of loosing weight present in the market. However, most prevalently people depend on weight loss exercises for loosing their weight fastest and effective way.

Since ages, various researches had been conducted to ensure and establish the integral relationship between weight loss and exercises. There are various sorts of weight loss exercises that an individual may opt in according to their own preference and capacity. But if you are serious about initiating your exercise module, it is highly recommended that you should consult your doctor first. If he consents, you may care remembering few useful tips prior initiating the session.

Few Useful Tips

You should begin your session by measuring Body Mass Indicator (BMI) or your weight. You may keep the track of your BMI or weight in a 15 days or 1 month interval. It will help you to analyze your progress. You should maintain a daily schedule and you should also be particular about the time. It is better that you follow a specific time, either in the morning or evening, to execute your weight loss exercises. This will help you to stay focused to your goal. You should make a weekly diet plan. If you are doing exercise, but not taking enough care of your diet, it is very unlikely that you will get any effective output. It is not always a good idea to talk to everyone that you are in weight loss planning, but you must share it to your near and dear ones so that they can help you by providing sufficient positive motivation. Motivation is crucially important for achieving your desired goal. You should set a rational and realistic goal. Conditionally, it should be short-term, say for a fortnight, to have an effective output, in practice.

Best exercise for weight loss

When you have gone through useful tips, it is the time to focus on your exercise module. You need to know which one is best to your needs. There are plenty of weight loss exercises, but the best one you will choose for you must satisfy two criterions – firstly, you will enjoy doing it and secondly, it must make you sweat to some extent. You may be creative while choosing your weight loss exercises. It may be playing with your kid for hours long, which of course help burning your extra calories.

You may also like to walk. A simple walk can do a real wonder. It in not only the easiest of the bulk, but the most effective of all weight loss exercises. You can walk any time you want and you do not need to have any special equipment for it. Walking is not only beneficial for reducing extra weight, but it also helps strengthening cardiovascular system.

Stationary cycling is considered as one of the effective weight loss exercises. It functions in a similar fashion as walking, while impacting the body metabolism rate and burning fat at a faster rate. If you have this instrument at your own home, you may enjoy it while watching movie or listening music. So you can do it even in your free time, while burning some extra calories from your body.

Aerobics are useful when you are focused loosing extra pounds from your body muscles. It’s a kind of rhythmic exercise, which enables you to move your body following the rhythm of the background music. It helps in boosting your muscular activities and physiological capacities.
However, it is important to do regular exercise to stay fit, but you must remember not to make yourself overstressed with it. In addition to regular exercise, healthy low calorie diet and plenty of water in addition to sufficient rest can only make the difference.

Cholesterol Lowering Diets

Cholesterol refers waxy and fatty like substance that is formed in the body. Our liver is primarily responsible for developing cholesterol in our body system. It is an important substance that supports various vital functions in our body such as maintaining healthy cellular walls, building hormones and vitamin D. Also, it helps in building bile acids in our body that gives support to the digestion of fat in particular. However, there is a saying that “too much of anything is good for noting” and it is also true in this case. Sometimes, our body produces cholesterol more than actually required. High level of cholesterol in our blood stream always puts us in high risk by increasing the possibility of heart diseases and strokes.
Diet plays a significant role in the management of cholesterol in our body system. The level of cholesterol in our body increases if we eat excessive amount of saturated fat in our diet. The saturated fat is common in animal based foods like meat and dairy products. So it is always recommended that you should maintain a healthy diet in order to have a good control on your level of cholesterol. Let us discuss few guidelines for cholesterol lowering diets:
Diet low in saturated fat
In general, the food we take in our regular diet is a combination of saturated and unsaturated fat. Saturated fat actually increases the cholesterol level in our blood. It is primarily found from animal products such as meat, dairy products, and lard as well as also from few vegetable oils like coconut oil and palm oil. So it is always advisable that you should stay away from all these substances if you have a high cholesterol level or even if you have a family history of the same. You can always alter your diet from these apparently harmful substances to cholesterol lowering diets full of green vegetables and fruits – they are really beneficial for your health.
Diet low in total fat
It is always recommended that you should have a minimum level of fat in your regular diet. It is because the food high in total fat has a high level of saturated fat. It is always better that you must substitute your fat food with unsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat for saturated one. If you like to include unsaturated fat in your diet, you may depend on having olive oil or canola oil in your cholesterol lowering diet, whereas, for polyunsaturated diet, safflower oil, sunflower oil or corn flower oil can be a good choice for you.
Diet low in cholesterol
Dietary cholesterol increases the level of cholesterol in your blood. So it is always advisable that you select your diet low in cholesterol. Generally, animal products are high in dietary cholesterol, so refrain from it in your cholesterol lowering diet as much as possible even if you have a family history of high cholesterol level.
Diet high in starch and fiber
It is highly recommended that you must add starch and fiber in your regular diet to make it a cholesterol lowering diet. It is available in green vegetables, fruits, breads, grains, corns, dry beans, peas and cereals. It offers a low calorie diet compared to high fat food. Not only that, it also aids in deriving a good amount of vitamins and minerals. If you are able to switch your diet from saturated to the diet full of starch and fiber, certainly it will enhance your health condition. Of course, it will help you lowering the level of cholesterol in your blood. The bright colored fruits also help in preventing cholesterol from being chemically altered due to its antioxidant property.
Following a low fat diet always increases the possibility to have a healthy system. It will help you reducing calories, extra fat and weight from your body. Obesity is truly threatening for developing heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. Overweight definitely increases the risk high blood cholesterol level. To fight with obesity, you must maintain a healthy cholesterol lowering diet along with regular exercise.

Subscribe Now: standard

Powered By Blogger