6 Easy DIY Skin Care Tips!

Skin is the largest organ in the body. So it’s important to take care of it and it will surely take care of you!

Here are a few easy skin care tips to keep your complexion smooth and stress free!

1. WATER WATER WATER!

The most important thing to remember about skincare is that it starts from taking care of your internal needs!

Meaning make sure you’re drinking enough water. Drinking at least 2 liters of filtered water daily will help your skin improve. You flush out any toxins in your body from anything that you eat and drink which in turn will help clear up your dry skin, blackheads, and acne!

Even if you can’t drink 2 liters of water a day, at least drink 1-2 bottles of water daily. A little is always better than nothing!

2. YOUR DIET

Eating foods filled with sugar is believed to lead to breakouts, even sometimes headaches and mood swings! Try cutting back on eating sweets if you want your skin to clear up!

Try using Stevia or natural honey if you need to sweeten a beverage or food item.

Also try eating leafy greens daily to help keep a clear complexion!

3. TEA TREE OIL

Tea tree oil is an anti inflammatory which relieves irritated skin and is a great remedy for acne.

To use, dilute 1-2 drops of tea tree oil with 20-40 drops of witch hazel. Apply to affected area once or twice a day with a cotton swab.

4. SLEEP SILKY

Sleeping with a silk or satin pillow case can help your skin stay healthy and smooth. It also helps reduce the appearance of facial wrinkles.

An added bonus is that a silk pillowcase will also benefit your hair by reducing frizziness!

5. FACE MASK

Try applying a DIY face mask catered to your skin problems. A lot of the ingredients required for these masks can be found right in our kitchen! So check out the link and give it a try!

DIY Face Masks

6. PAY ATTENTION

Do your best to listen to your skin.

For instance, if you are getting pimples in one spot on your face, try backtracking to see if you are adding something new to your diet that is causing this breakout. It could also be related to stress or a new skin product that you may be using for example.

Try paying attention to your daily habits to see what might be causing your skin dilemma. Remember if you take care of your skin, it will take care of you!

Hope these tips were helpful! If you have any other recommendations for maintaining clear skin, feel free to list in the comments below! 😊

6 Signs You’re Not Drinking Enough Water!

You skin is dry

Skin is the largest organ of the body. Without proper hydration, skin becomes dry and dull. By drinking more water, it’ll help flush out toxins and replenish your skins tissues hydrated and moisturized.

You’re thirsty

An obvious sign of dehydration is feeling thirsty. When we are dehydrated, our body borrows water and allocates it to the body parts that are in need of hydration. As a result, this causes us to become thirsty.

You have dark urine

If your urine is a darker yellow, you are likely to be dehydrated. Your kidneys have to work harder to keep urine concentrated to retain as much water as possible.

Bad breath

The saliva you’re body produces to clean and lubricate your mouth kills bacteria. If you’re not drinking enough water, you aren’t producing enough saliva to get rid of bacteria. This as a result causes bad breath.

Frequent headaches

When dehydrated, the tissue in our brain loses water, which results in temporary brain shrinkage. As this happens, our brain contracts from our skull, setting off the pain receptors, resulting in a headache. Dehydration also decreases blood volume which reduces blood flow and oxygen to the brain, leading to headaches.

Mood and alertness impaired

One reason dehydration impairs your ability to focus or respond normally is that certain processes in your body are being compromised. Water transports nutrients to the brain as well as flushes out harmful toxins for increased efficiency. Without enough water, this can lead to a lack of focus, moodiness, lethargy, and brain fog.

Source: msn.com

5 Easy Ways To Drink More Water and Stay Hydrated!

Summer is here folks! The weather is starting to heat up and we need to make sure we’re staying hydrated so we won’t pass out!

If you don’t like drinking water or need to increase your water intake, check out these helpful tips to get you on track!

1. Eat Your Fruits and Veggies

You can keep your body hydrated by consuming fruits and veggies that contain 85 percent or more water. Even though fruits are great sources of water, they’re also high in sugar and can have unwanted calories if you eat too many.

Veggies with high water content:

-cucumber

-celery

-radishes

-tomatoes

-cauliflower

-spinach

-broccoli

Fruits with high water content (eat in moderation)

-watermelon

-strawberries

-oranges

-grapefruit

-kiwi

-cantaloupe

Here is a list of more fruits and veggies with high water content:

Fruits/Veggies With High Water Content

2. Limit Alcohol Intake

The more alcohol you ingest, the more your body will become dehydrated. When you consume alcohol, urination occurs more frequently. This causes the body to lose more fluid which in turn causes dehydration. If you decide to drink alcohol, make sure to drink water in between your alcoholic beverages.

3. Add Flavor!

To make your water more enjoyable, squeeze lemon and/or lime juice into your water. It gives it a much more pleasant taste! Citrus fruits not only make your water taste better, it also a good source of vitamin C, improves skin quality, freshens breathe, and aids in digestion!

4. Dilute Your Drinks

If you can’t resist the urge and have to drink juice or a sugary beverage, water it down a bit by adding water to your drink! Try going for a half water, half juice ratio so you can still taste the sweetness but can also have the dose of water that your body needs.

5. Track Your Water Intake

If you have a hard time drinking water, try using an app to remind you when to drink your recommended cups of H2O!

Apple Daily Water App

Droid Daily Water App

I hope these tips help you get more water intake! Good luck with your water journey!

Sources:

How To Drink More Water

Ways To Hydrate Without Drinking Water

10 Easy Ways To Lose Your Gut For Summer!

1. Stock Up On Cinnamon

Researchers found that the spice’s main compound, cinnamaldehyde, improves thermogenesis and can help fight fat. Sprinkling a bit of cinnamon on your oatmeal is a good way to help lose your gut!

2. No More Added Sugars

A study in the British Medical Journal found that increased sugar intake showed a response of an increase in body weight and reducing sugar resulted in lower weight. So try to stay away from added sugars and sweets!

3. Open-Faced Sandwiches

Instead of giving up sandwiches or burgers because of the bread, just toss the top slice! This will help cut about 100 calories from your meal!

4. Drink Lots Of Green Tea

Several studies suggested that the flavonoids and caffeine in green tea can help increase your metabolism, increase fat oxidation, and even improve insulin activity. Drinking about 2.5 cups per day can help you lose that belly fat!

5. Use Smaller Plates!

Using smaller plates can help you cut back on the amount of food that you serve yourself. Another helpful tip is to use red plates which can help you eat less based on a study published in the journal Appetite.

6. Fill Half Your Plate With Veggies

By eating your veggies before anything else, this will help take the edge of your hunger, eat less overall calories, and still have you feeling full and satisfied!

7. Eat Wild Salmon!

Wild caught salmon contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are healthy fats that can help you lose your gut! For added weight loss benefits, add cayenne and garlic to your salmon for an added boost to your metabolism.

8. Slice Up Some Kiwi

Kiwi contains prebiotic fiber, which preps the gut for healthy digestion. This results in more bowel movements and helps to get rid of your stubborn gut!

9. Drink Water Before Meals

Drinking two glasses before you sit down to eat can help you feel full. This helps you cut back on the amount of calories you’ll consume!

10. Make It Spicy!

Capsaicin is a compound that is found in spicy peppers like chilis, jalapeños, and cayenne, has been shown to boost your metabolism and help you drop unwanted weight. Swap ketchup for sriracha, add jalapeños to your stews, marinate meat with chili paste, add hot sauce instead of salt and pepper. Just experiment with the spiciness!

Give these tips a try! You don’t even have to lift a dumbbell or run on the treadmill to lose your gut!

All you have to do is adjust your eating habits a bit and you’ll be on your way to a nice flat tummy to show off this summer! It’s all up to you and how bad you want it! Good luck! 😊

Source: msn.com

5 Common Winter Health Problems And Their Solutions! Part 2 – *Catching A Virus*

While the cold weather doesn’t have a direct effect on your chances of contracting a virus, it does force people indoors with centralized heating. The close proximity of many human beings can allow viruses to spread easily.

Solutions:

1. Wash your hands

Dr Nicola Goddard, clinical scientist at the Public Health Laboratory Service, says: ‘Although most infections are mainly carried in the air and transmitted by the “aerosol” effect when someone sneezes, germs can be transmitted by physical contact and enter the body when infected hands touch vulnerable parts like our eyes, mouths and noses.

2. Zinc, Garlic, and Vitamin C

The mineral zinc is essential to help fight colds and provide a boost to a flagging immune system. Good food sources include meat, oysters, eggs, seafood, tofu, black- eyed peas and wheat germ.

Vitamin C also helps to boost up your immune system. Try eating bell peppers, strawberries, oranges, broccoli, tomatoes, or kiwi to get your dose of Vitamin C!

Garlic helps ease chest complaints, and small amounts taken daily may also reduce the frequency of colds and flu.

3. Drink Plenty

Doctors recommend we drink about eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy. Rehydration expert Dr Susan Shirreffs says: ‘Water helps the kidneys function properly and flushes out the toxins that accumulate in our bodies.’

If you have a cold, being dehydrated makes your mucus drier and thicker and less able to cope against invading bacteria and viruses. If you’ve already caught a cold, drinking plenty of fluids will help flush out the infection.

Source: Ways To Avoid Cold And Flu

Hint for Part 3: the cold dry winter air may cause your chest to be tight and may make it hard for a person to breathe. What do you think is next?!

3 TIPS TO EAT & STILL LOSE WEIGHT!

You might think that I’m crazy when I say that I lost weight without working out right? Well I guess I’m crazy because it really happened! Let me tell you how!

So I was in my freshman year of college, and there is this saying of “the freshman 15” which means you’ll gain at LEAST 15 pounds and by golly I sure did! haha! It’s bad enough that I love to eat on top of this phenomenon of gaining weight as a freshman. Anyways, we had 2 cafeteria facilities on campus. So I would alternate eating at both and since I loved food, I would always pile my plate super high or would get like the deluxed size deli sandwich ! I had a meal plan for each semester so I didn’t have to pay out of pocket for each meal, I would just swipe my card and that’s it! I’m ready to chow down! NOM NOM! I noticed that my cheeks were becoming chubbier and my stomach had a few more roles than normal, and my skin was breaking out like crazy! I told myself, “I need to get it together before it’s too late and I’m more than 15 pounds overweight”.

Being in college, you tend to get lazy, well lazier than normal LOL. I wasn’t really motivated to go to the gym we had on campus, even though it was like a 5 min walk from my dorm (laziness to the extreme!) and on top of the fact that it was snow everywhere at the time so I wasn’t going anywhere. I had the idea of trying to eat better and then start going to the gym when I muster up the motivation ha! And lo and behold, I began to see results, my cheeks weren’t as chubby, my belly was getting flatter, and I had more energy. This is what I did:

1. SMALLER PORTIONS!

I started to see a big change once I started making my portions smaller. I still ate the things that I wanted to: pasta, burgers, pizza, fries,etc… but I would eat half of those portions instead of the whole thing.

2.  EATING GREENS!

Once I started shrinking my portions, I was realizing that I liked how this felt. You know taking care of my body and what not! My plate looked so bland so I decided to start eating salads to add some color!

Salads are not for everybody, I know! But the trick is that you have to add all the good stuff to it! Experiment with grilled chicken, nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts), fruits (mandarin oranges, apples, raisins, cranberries), cheese, other vegetables (corn, tomatoes, carrots), different types of salad dressings or whatever you feel like adding! Make it your own and make it fun and enjoyable to eat!

3. H2O!

Water can be your best friend if you learn to love it! I started drinking more water and cutting out juices and sodas. I would make rules for myself. If I wanted to drink juice or soda, I would  tell myself that I can drink juice/soda but I would need to drink at least x amounts of water that day. By doing this, I was still able to enjoy myself and still do the right thing by drinking water too!

Now yes I know water can be very boring but you have to spice that up too! Add different fruits to your drinks, citruses are always a go to for me! I usually add lemon or lime to my water which helps add a more pleasant flavor. Plus lemon water is good to aid in digestion, boosts energy, and has a lot of other benefits as well.

 

Once you start improving the way you eat, you will be motivated to want to eat better, so that means cutting back on the greasy foods, eating more fruits and vegetables and actually enjoy it, and eating leaner meats. Another suggestion if you can’t make it to the gym is to try and walk more: park further from the entrance, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. I hope this helps! Leave a comment below of what type of salad recipes you tried or if you have any other suggestions on how to lose weight!

*Remember everyone has to start somewhere so keep your head up and keep pushing forward, you got this! =)