How to Eat Your Way to an Amazing, Acne-Free Complexion

You may want to look younger, but having spots like a greasy teenager probably wasn’t what you had in mind. Acne is a common problem, especially if you have oily skin, but there are ways in which your diet can help.

 

1. Pick up more protein: Your skin cells react and recover faster from infections with a high intake of protein, as these prevent the secretion of oil onto your skin. This hampers the main cause of acne, as well as causing your skin to replace old cells quickly and become more light and soft.

 

2. Choose the right kind of fats: You might think fats aggravate your skin problems, but in fact you need a 1:3 ratio of omega-3 and omega 6 fatty acids to help your brain work properly and also fight acne. For omega-3, turn to olive oil, flax seed oil, fresh salmon, etc., while you can get omega 6-fatty acids from beef, red chicken, all nuts and peanut butter.

 

3. Find your favourite fruits: No food is better than fruits for skin wellness. Try apples to gradually reduce acne, or apricots for the vitamin A, vitamin B complex and fibre you need to control and fight spots. Bananas are a known boost to anti-ageing wellness, as their high content of potassium acts against acne-causing bacteria, while cherries help to cleanse your blood, which is vital in suppressing spots and pimples. For vitamin A and C try cantaloupe melons, or else pick papaya and other citrus fruits.

 

4. Eat vital vegetables: A strong way to clean up acne is by eating raw vegetables, especially the key players. Carrot is beneficial as it contains vitamin A, carotene and magnesium, while the nutrients in cucumber (notably vitamin A and vitamin C) control your acne and enrich your skin tone. Spinach is a skin superstar, providing you with iron, vitamins A and K and antioxidants, and finally garlic can control your skin’s oil balance, so you might want to add it to dishes or even directly apply garlic juice to the spots themselves.

 

5. Choose acne-treating carbs: Carbohydrates have a huge impact on your body’s inflammation and the balance of your blood sugar. This means that the carbs you eat have to be suitable for acne; low-glycaemic carbohydrates. These carbs don’t exacerbate inflammation, so try to get your carbohydrate fix from beans, legumes, oats, barley and quinoa, and eat them along with protein to effectively treat your acne.

 

6. Make sure you get all your vitamins and minerals: We’ve touched on this with the fruits and vegetables sections, but vitamins and minerals are so vital to your skin health that it bears repeating. The essential vitamins for preventing acne are vitamins A, C, D and K, while your non-miss-able minerals include magnesium, potassium and zinc. The reason why these nutrients are so important is that they have the properties you need to fight against harmful bacteria, exfoliate your skin of any dry and nasty bits, act on those persistent pimples and eliminate the inflammation on any skin rashes you might have. You’ll probably get all the vitamins and minerals you need if you eat a decent amount of fruit and veg – especially those listed above – but if not, talk to your doctor about deficiencies and the possibility of vitamin and mineral supplements.

 

7. Limit your consumption of dairy and processed foods: Milk products antagonize your affected skin, because they are high in saturates animal fats. This means that they promote the growth of bacteria, and so you’ll never protect your wellbeing against acne. Processed foods likewise promote the growth of acne and skin problems, as these contain skin-harming preservatives.

Categories: acne, fatty acids, nbsp, processed foods, Protein, skin, skin problems, vitamin, vitamins, vitamins and minerals

Scratching that Itch: How to Reduce Your Symptoms of RLS

Remember that scene in Friends when Phoebe and her sailor boyfriend (played by a pre-tiger blood Charlie Sheen) had chicken pox and had to wear oven gloves to stop themselves scratching? There’s nothing more irritating to your wellness than having an itch you can’t scratch, and no one understands this more than those whose wellbeing is affected by Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). The neurological health concern gives you the irresistible urge to move your legs, as well as annoying symptoms like tickling, feeling of itching, or crawling. So, short of strapping on the oven gloves, what can you do to deal with RLS?

 

1. Resistance is futile. Even though giving in to your desires only provides momentary relief, it’s worth it if RLS is keeping you up at night. Get up and walk around before trying to get back to sleep and chances are that it won’t bother you again.

 

2. Relax your muscles. Muscle tension is a factor involved in RLS, so relax your muscles by taking a warm bath and massaging your legs and feet.

 

3. Do light exercises. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, you’re more likely to develop RLS. However, if you start your day with a light jog, swim or bike ride, you can improve the blood circulation throughout your body without over-stressing your legs.

 

4. Don’t neglect nutrients. Some people have managed to move past their RLS by increasing their intake of magnesium, iron and vitamins. You can get these from supplements or by adding more spinach, beans, oysters and other rich sources of vitamins to your diet.

 

5. Eliminate bad beverages. Caffeine and alcohol wreak havoc on your nervous system, so you should avoid them – especially before bed.

 

6. Watch out for your medication. If you are on antidepressants or anti-psychotic drugs, you may inadvertently be aggravating the RLS. Talk to your doctor about any medications you are on, and see if there are alternatives or a more efficient solution.

 

7. Start some pre-sleep stretches. Stretching your calves, hamstrings and gluteal muscles before bed may help to reduce the amount your sleep is disturbed.

 

Categories: Blood, exercise, legs, muscles, nbsp, oven gloves, restless leg syndrome (RLS), sleep, vitamins and minerals

Scratching that Itch: How to Reduce Your Symptoms of RLS

Remember that scene in Friends when Phoebe and her sailor boyfriend (played by a pre-tiger blood Charlie Sheen) had chicken pox and had to wear oven gloves to stop themselves scratching? There’s nothing more irritating to your wellness than having an itch you can’t scratch, and no one understands this more than those whose wellbeing is affected by Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). The neurological health concern gives you the irresistible urge to move your legs, as well as annoying symptoms like tickling, feeling of itching, or crawling. So, short of strapping on the oven gloves, what can you do to deal with RLS?

 

1. Resistance is futile. Even though giving in to your desires only provides momentary relief, it’s worth it if RLS is keeping you up at night. Get up and walk around before trying to get back to sleep and chances are that it won’t bother you again.

 

2. Relax your muscles. Muscle tension is a factor involved in RLS, so relax your muscles by taking a warm bath and massaging your legs and feet.

 

3. Do light exercises. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, you’re more likely to develop RLS. However, if you start your day with a light jog, swim or bike ride, you can improve the blood circulation throughout your body without over-stressing your legs.

 

4. Don’t neglect nutrients. Some people have managed to move past their RLS by increasing their intake of magnesium, iron and vitamins. You can get these from supplements or by adding more spinach, beans, oysters and other rich sources of vitamins to your diet.

 

5. Eliminate bad beverages. Caffeine and alcohol wreak havoc on your nervous system, so you should avoid them – especially before bed.

 

6. Watch out for your medication. If you are on antidepressants or anti-psychotic drugs, you may inadvertently be aggravating the RLS. Talk to your doctor about any medications you are on, and see if there are alternatives or a more efficient solution.

 

7. Start some pre-sleep stretches. Stretching your calves, hamstrings and gluteal muscles before bed may help to reduce the amount your sleep is disturbed.

 

Categories: Blood, exercise, legs, muscles, nbsp, oven gloves, restless leg syndrome (RLS), sleep, vitamins and minerals

Following the Herd: Would You Try Cow Colostrum Skincare?

Pure, milky skin is often a sign of an excellent anti-ageing regime, but would you actually want milk-y skin? The makers of Immupure skin products are hoping you would, as their cow-colostrum products are now available in 17 countries around the world. Colostrum is the pre-milk produced by mammalian mothers in the first 24 to 72 hours after giving birth, which may leave you wondering if your anti-ageing wellness is really worth it.

However, colostrum is packed with the nutrients, antibodies and general goodness that a newborn needs in its first hours of life, and so it stands to reason that it could benefit your wellbeing too. This fact was recognised by Detlef Fuhrmann, a German economist who spent decades working in the pharmaceutical industry in the US, and so he developed Immupure; a range of anti-ageing skincare products that claims to rejuvenate cells, smooth wrinkles, firm elasticity and supply the skin with essential nutritional elements and vitamins.

Consisting of a cleanser, eye serum, wrinkle smoothing serum, daily moisturiser and night cream, the range was launched three and a half years ago at Henry Bendel’s on New York’s Fifth Avenue. It only took a year for Immupure to become the best-selling skincare line in the history of the store, which, it’s probably worth noting, has been around since 1898. So should you be following the herd?

The makers of Immupure use colostrum from cows, as it is approximately 30 to 40% more potent than colostrum from other mammals. However, if you’re concerned that there are calves out there being robbed of their necessary nutrients, don’t worry. While a beef cow produces about six gallons of colostrum and a milk cow produces about eight gallons, a calf only needs the first litre after it is born. Immupure only takes the colostrum after the first day when the calf has had its fill, and the company also has a system in place where they can track every gallon of colostrum back to the cow that it came from.

According to Fuhrmann, ‘Our main target group is ladies in their 30s or 40s, which means they are likely to have children and they know what colostrum is. We are seeing an extremely strong shift towards natural products. The more educated people get, the less they want to put all these chemicals on their skin. Our product is hypoallergenic and free of oils and parabens, which means it can be used by pregnant women, lactating women and by patients that have survived cancer, because once you have survived cancer, you cannot use anything with parabens in it.’

Categories: cow colostrum, Immupure, vitamins and minerals

Study Says Vitamins Make Trivial Difference in Heart Health

If you have had a heart attack, taking a combination of high-dose oral vitamins and minerals will not do much in the way of preventing or reducing your risk of having another one. This is according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 62nd Annual Scientific Session, which showed that, on their own, vitamins and minerals do not exhibit a significant reduction in recurrent cardiac events, but they may provide additional benefit when combined with active chelation therapy.

The NIH-funded Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of both EDTA chelation therapy and high-dose vitamin/mineral supplements in individuals whose wellbeing had been damaged by prior heart attacks. 1708 patients were randomly assigned to an active or placebo chelation group and an active or placebo vitamin group, which allowed the investigators to clarify the independent contributions of each treatment.

Gervasio A. (Tony) Lamas, MD, lead author of the study and chief of the Columbia University Division of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Centre in Miami Beach, commented, ‘We did not see a significant benefit of vitamins alone for patients who had a heart attack. Interestingly, patients who received both high dose vitamins and active chelation compared to placebo of both appeared to have additional benefit, but more research is needed to understand the results.’

The patients were treated for 18 months, and followed up on an average of four years. Roughly half of the patients enrolled in the trial stopped taking the vitamins during the study follow-up, which the researchers explained was mainly due to patient preference, as they were required to take three pills, twice a day. When it came to recurrent cardiac events, including heart attack, stroke, coronary revascularization, hospitalization for angina and death, these occurred in 27% of those who only received vitamins, but in 30% of those receiving the placebo.

When comparing the four groups, those who had had both the vitamins and minerals and chelation therapy, which involves multiple intravenous infusions of a synthetic amino acid called EDTA that binds to certain minerals and metals such as calcium, lead and cadmium, had 108 (26%) events and the placebo/placebo arm had 139 (32%) events, the difference of which is more significant statistically.

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Study Says Vitamins Make Trivial Difference in Heart Health

Categories: recurring cardiac events, Research, vitamins and minerals

Vitamin Essentials: Do You Know Your A, B, Cs?

Nature has given us all we need to get vitamins and minerals from our diet, so why should we bother taking supplements? It’s not always possible to live as healthy as we’d like, especially when our lives go through busy periods that could result in sleep deprivation, eating infrequently and choosing high sugar foods so we can get a quick energy fix. This is when supplements can come to our aid, although it’s useful to know if our diets are already giving us the nutrients we need.

A

It’s easy to feel run down when we don’t have much time to relax, with some of us suffering near-constant fatigue, colds and other viruses. Our immune systems could suffer, making it important to include vitamin A in our diets. This will strengthen our immunity and protect our vision too. We can get it from milk, oily fish, eggs, cheese and yoghurt. It is available as a supplement for when we don’t get to include these foods in our meals. The NHS recommends taking 0.6mg a day for women and 0.7mg for men

B

B vitamins have so many uses in our body and there are lots of different types including folic acid, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12. They help to release energy from food, protect our nervous system and assist the movement of oxygen throughout our bodies. Folic acid is also recommended during pregnancy as it can prevent neural tube disorders. Vegetables are a good source of B vitamins, especially green leafy varieties. Eggs are another potent source for the nutrient, as are breads and cereals that have been fortified. There are lots of supplements available featuring B vitamins if we want to add them to our diets, with our GPs able to offer advice on recommended doses for each vitamin.

C

Nearly every process in our bodies begins in our cells, which is why it’s important to protect cells from damage. This is one of the main roles for Vitamin C, explaining why it can give us such a health boost. The nutrient is also linked to the health of our internal tissues and studies show it can shorten the duration of common colds. It’s important to try to include this vitamin in our daily meals because we can’t store it. If we eat plenty of citrus fruits, such as strawberries, blackcurrants and oranges, as well as potatoes, broccoli and brussel sprouts then we are likely to get enough dietary Vitamin C.

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Vitamin Essentials: Do You Know Your A, B, Cs?

Categories: nutrients, Supplements, vitamins and minerals