Great skin is something that nearly everyone can cultivate. Our skin is affected by our:
. Genes
. Inner nutrition – what we eat and drink
. Exercise
. General health and well-being
. Emotional health, and
. Outer nutrition – how we take care of our skin
While we can’t alter our genes, we can improve our skin by making the necessary adjustments in the areas we can influence. Read on to discover the basic components of a healthy outer nutritional plan for your skin.
If you seriously want great skin the very first thing to do and wear a hat and good quality sunscreen when out in the sunshine. Having said that, let’s move on to understand the next three basic foundations to great skin.
If you want your skin to look and feel great, careful cleansing is very important. This should be done first thing in the morning and last thing at night to remove pore-clogging dirt. Don’t cleanse enough and you could find yourself prone to spots. Cleanse to often and you could be stripping away essential oils and be susceptible to dry skin or even eczema. Understanding your skin type (normal, dry or oily) and using a cleanser to match is the best foundation for great looking skin. Remember to rinse your face with warm water after using a cleanser, as any residue will continue to work on the skin if not completely removed.
Our grandmother’s used soap and water…isn’t that good enough? Soap is not very good at removing makeup because it does not contain enough oils to dissolve the staying power that most cosmetics have today. Remember the ‘tight’ feeling after your have washed your fact with soap? Soap can be very drying on your skin and may wash away essential oils. Another reason not to use soap is that it is not matched to the natural balance of our skin. Soap is generally alkaline, whilst skin is naturally acidic.
The second step to great outer nutrition for your skin is to tone. Toners are designed to remove any last traces of cleanser, while also helping to tighten and refine pores and prevent the build-up of dead skin cells. After toning your skin should fee and look revitalised and refreshed, and ready to be moisturised. Again you will need to apply a toner that matches your skin type.
The third foundation step is to apply moisturiser to help restore the moisture loss caused by the drying effects of sunlight, central heating, wind, cold and pollution. A good daytime moisturiser would contain a sunscreen and will be easily absorbed into the skin. At night you should use a richer, more nourishing cream, as this is when your skin more readily absorbs moisture.
Despite the plethora of products on the market and the myriad of additives…. the most important ingredient of any moisturiser is water! If water is just splashed on the skin it will not say there. Moisturisers are basically oil and water emulsions which contain a humectant (a substance added to another to make it moist), which attracts water and helps ‘fix’ it in the upper layers of the skin.
Moisture that is lost firm the skin needs to be replaced quickly so that the surface of the skin is kept both soft and smooth. The living cells in the layers need water so that they will not shrivel up and die. A moisturiser can protect the skin by providing a varier between the skin and the external environment. It also prevents the loss of moisture from the deeper layers of the skin.
Should people who have oily skin use a moisturiser? Moisturisers are particularly recommended for people with dry skin but everyone can benefit from using a moisturiser. You simply need to ensure that you choose the correct moisturiser for your skin type. People with oily skin should choose a moisturiser that hydrates their skin whilst helping absorb any excess oil.
(c) Copyright Kim Beardsmore
Kim Beardsmore enjoys the flexibility of working from home. Are you interested in earning money from home? We’re looking for individuals who have basic phone and internet skills to join our team of work-at-home-ers. If you’re serious about earning money from home and are willing to work (this isn’t ‘get rich quick’), then we’d like to help you grow a profitable business. We offer complete training, online and offline resources and a partnership for success. http://free2liv.com/?refid=EA-567883386
-id=5062.htm 334 Health-and-Fitness Weight-Loss Why Does the Weight Come Back?
Before many Australians recently, a devastating story unfolded on a popular current affairs program.
We watched with compassion as the fattest man in Australia told of his most recent, serious attempt to lose weight. Approximately 12 months earlier and weighing close to 300 kilos, he under went surgery and had his stomach stapled.
I doubt there would have been one person watching not moved by this man’s depression and plight. Despite undergoing the surgery, today he could barely get through each day, both physically and mentally. He shared with us his sense of hopelessness and wanting to end it all.
It was not only his size that was causing his depression. He had to deal with a heart broken by disappointment.
You see, the stomach stapling had been a success.
He soon lost well over 50 kilos post operation and he and his family rejoiced. But then the unthinkable happened.
The weight came back. Today he weighs well over 300 kilos – more than before the stomach stapling.
This is an extreme case, but nonetheless raises a question that so many people continue to battle with.
After a diet, why does the weight come back so quickly?
To answer this we need to understand how much energy a body requires. For each pound you weigh, each day you need 12 calories to maintain your body weight. If you weigh 120 pounds you will need 120 x 12 calories, that is, 1440 calories per day to maintain that body weight. If you eat or drink more calories than your body requires, the excess energy is stored as fat. It takes 3,600 excess calories to make one pound of fat.
In this example, if your typical daily calorific intake is 2000 calories, in around 30 days you would put on between 4-5 pounds of fat!
Let’s say, you then decide to go on a restrictive diet and halve your calorific consumption to 1,000 calories per day. You stay on this diet for around a month and lose 10 pounds and now weigh 110 pounds. You feel fantastic about losing the weight but can’t keep up such a restrictive regime because you are irritable and have no energy.
So you go off your diet and go back to your usual routine of 2,000 calories a day. Remember you are lighter now and your body requires less energy to maintain its new weight. You would now require 110 x 12, that is, 1320 calories per day.
In this instance, by consuming 2000 calories daily, because you are lighter than before, you would put the weight back on in just 24-25 days!
If you want to keep the weight off you must develop a consistent change in eating habits to ensure you do not consume more than your body requires. You cannot continue to eat the same quantities and/or combinations of foods that caused you to be overweight in the first place. This will require developing an understanding of the nutritional content of food and raising your body’s metabolism through increased muscle mass and exercise.