An Acne Diet You Should Follow

For those who don’t know if there is a relationship between your acne condition and the foods you eat, let me tell you that there is. You might have heard that oily foods cause acne, but this isn’t entirely true. Oily foods have caused internal changes including high cholesterol levels, but they don’t really have a huge impact on the skin condition. When does oil affect skin conditions such as acne? The only time oil would affect your acne condition, is when you use cosmetic products that have animal fats, oils and additives. Most of the makeup products and skin care products on the market today have oils added to them.

One thing you should begin doing is purchase herbal skin care products that contain no oils or preservative chemicals. These additional chemicals and oils will only cause harm to your skin condition. For those who have acne, it is never a good idea to use tons of makeup. Makeup may seem like a great way to hide your acne, but it surely does not make things any better. The types of food you eat will affect your overall acne condition. The following are some of the foods you should and shouldn’t limit on a daily basis, if you intend on controlling your acne.

The calcium rich fluid we all love drinking could be bad for your acne condition. Milk has been a great addition to any breakfast meal, but it could lead to your acne getting worse than it already is. Since milk originally comes from cows, there is a significant amount of fat and hormones which could cause an imbalance in your acne condition. I am not saying that you should stop drinking milk, but it would help if you could limit your daily intake. If you are someone who drinks milk several times a day, it could be a problem for your acne.

The one type of oil that is considered to be a helper in your acne condition is Omega 3 fat oils. All types of fishes have this fish oil in them, and they have been known to prevent acne and keep skin looking fresh. Whether you are cooking the fish or simply having some sushi, it is considered to be great for your skin and overall health. Apart from the acne benefits of fish, you would also be taking in some much needed proteins.

Oranges and berries are two amazing types of fruits you should eat at least once a day. When I say berries, I mean all sorts of berries; whether it is strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or blackberries. Berries and oranges have high antioxidant content along with nutrients that help with skin development and acne prevention. By eating such fruits, you’ll be able to get rid of the bad skin cells, which allows for new skin development. During skin development, one thing you should do is drink lots of fluids. Water and concentrated juices are the best, as they give your body the hydration, vitamins and energy.

I hope this you can incorporate parts of this acne diet into your everyday meals, so that you can get rid of all the acne and live a young and healthy life.

8 Rules Of Christmas: Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

First of all, before anything else is said, let’s agree on a couple of things.
Sharing good times with friends and family is part of what the holiday season is all about. When these groups get together, it is often in the presence of delicious, scrumptious food. This food tends to be available for snacking all day. Personally, I would immediately call the Vatican and nominate anyone for sainthood who could truly enjoy all the festivities and be awash in the total ambiance of all the season inspires while ignoring the lavish plates of goodies while walking around munching on a stick of celery.

Oh yeah! You’re going to sample Aunt Millie’s mincemeat pie, Uncle Bob’s specially prepared fried turkey, and probably a glass of Alka-Seltzer or something similar.

Unfortunately, I am here to remind you of a few things; you are on a diet, you want to lose weight, all that stuff that is so tempting is fattening, and this is the hardest time of the year to be good. So, let’s just pick up on a few rules to help you get through the season.

Rules For Healthy Holiday Eating:

Before we get started, I want you to get comfortable, so put some turkey on your plate, get some of that great dressing (don’t forget the cranberry sauce), fight Cousin Ed for some of that green bean casserole my niece, Sharon, makes so well, and tell Grandma to save a piece of pie for you. Have a seat, relax, enjoy your meal (while balancing a soggy paper plate on your knee) and I will give you the rules to help you survive the season.

1. Forgive yourself in advance and give yourself permission to have a good time: Look, this stuff isn’t poison! You didn’t take 10 years off your life just because you ate more than you should have…and then went back for seconds. You are only human, and you are here to have a good time! One of the reasons you want to lose weight, or keep it down, is so that you can enjoy life, and this is one of the most enjoyable times of the year. So, as they say, live a little. Whatever happens over the next few days will not kill you, and whatever damage you do manage to do can be rectified.

2. It’s just a couple of days: Okay, for some families, it may be a couple of weeks…twice…

Thanksgiving and Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanza. Whatever it is for you, it is finite, it WILL end, and it is mainly limited to a certain time of the year. Who you are in terms of health, fitness, and weight loss is determined by the overall accomplishments of the year, not by a few weeks in the fall.

3. Stay with your program: You will definitely minimize the effects of all the dinners, cookies, and snacks if you can still get in your walks, aerobics, weight training, or whatever else you have been doing. During the holiday season, it can be difficult to get everything done the same as in the rest of the year, but two days of exercise Thanksgiving week, while not as good as three or five, is still better than none. Simply knowing you have not abandoned your plan will help you get over any depression you might have because of your holiday eating, and will help reduce any negative effects from all the delicious, gooey calories you have “accidentally” consumed. If you cannot stay on a formal program, squeeze in a walk, even if it is a high-speed shopping trip through the mall. By the way, this is the reason I love yoga. When everything’s done, I can retire to my bedroom and not only get the physical benefits of the yoga session, but I relieve some of the stress I may have built up during the day. That helps with the eating too.

4. Remain in touch with reality: You will hear people speak of “mindful eating”. Be aware of what you are doing. Have you ever heard someone say, “That is so good, I just have to have some more.”? Of course, YOU and I never say things like that! Well, the truth is that you DON’T have to have some more, and, if you do, it doesn’t need to be right now. Just because the food is there right now doesn’t mean it has to be eaten right now. You know what’s good for you and what isn’t. One piece of pie today is not going to kill you or destroy your weight loss resolution, but do you have to have that pie? Isn’t there a healthier treat you could have, or could you just wait until the meal has settled, or after you take a walk to rev up your metabolism and burn off some of what you already ate. Why not take a piece home with you and have it as a treat for later…when you aren’t as full as a tick.

5. Food is not love: Many people tend to equate food and eating with love. You cannot change the others, but you can change your own attitude. Refusing seconds of Grandma’s turkey does not mean you don’t love her. If she is hurt because you normally stuff yourself and this year you’re not doing her food “justice”, just say that you are stuffed but will have more later. Take control of YOUR life. Others will have to take control of their own.

6. If you are the cook: Choose healthy dishes prepared in a healthy manner. If you have found a new diet-friendly food that you enjoy, share that with others. This will give you one more healthy dish on the groaning board to select your own meal from.

7. Alcohol: If you enjoy wine, beer, egg nog like my Uncle Wilbur liked, or other drinks containing alcohol, just slow down and cut back. Try slipping in a glass of water between drinks. Drinks containing alcohol are sneaky calories. They do nothing for you nutritionally, but they do have a lot of calories. A few drinks with friends can give you more calories than a Big Mac…and you probably have these drinks while snacking or eating a meal! Oh well! At least if you are a beer drinker, you can try some light beers. It will give you an excuse to sample.

8. Be happy to be where you are, doing what you are doing, with the people you love: If you fall head over heels off the wagon, have fun. What you do throughout the year will have more effect on your weight and health than what happens between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

Best Way To Lose Weight

Many people who attempt to lose weight do so by trying to cut back on the amount of food they eat. Now while this may work to a certain extent in the short term, it certainly is not a long term solution and definitely not the best way to lose weight. There is even a chance that if you cut out too much food from your diet that it could have a negative effect on your health. On top of this a large drop in calories is associated with starvation mode, which will actually prevent you from losing weight successfully.

Crash diets are probably the unhealthiest ways to lose weight. When your body doesn’t receive an adequate amount of calories, it slows its abilities to burn calories effectively. This can often lead to feelings of ill health, a weakened immune system and potential illness. If your body does not receive enough calories through eating, it will have to find them from somewhere else. Your body will take the calories from the protein in your muscles. This will results in your muscles becoming much weaker and smaller, leading to more tiredness. You may lose weight this way but most of it will be muscle weight and not fat weight. It is the fat that needs to be shifted and not the muscle. Nobody has ever felt bad or had low self esteem because they had too much muscle.

When it comes to changing your diet so that you can reach your weight loss goals there are 2 things that you need to do. Firstly cut out all the calories from unhealthy foods and replace them with calories from healthy foods. If you feel that you are consuming too many calories regardless of the source, and then simply cut out no more than 500 calories per day from your diet. Anything around 300-500 will be fine. Cut out too many and yes you’ve guessed it: you hit starvation mode. The second thing that you will have to do is to eat more often. This means instead of consuming your daily calories within 2 or 3 meals spread them out to 5 or 6 meals. This needs to be done because your body can only digest a certain amount of food. Any extra will be stored as fat. Smaller meals have less chance of being stored as fat because your body can digest and use most of it.

Exercise is a must if you want to lose weight. You should engage in cardio and resistance exercise. Resistance exercise involves training with weights. Training with weights will increase the size of your muscles. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn, so if you increase your muscle mass, you will increase the amount of calories you burn, and this equals fat loss. Cardio exercise is also required for fat loss. Apart from losing weight other benefits will include a stronger heart, better oxygen intake, more energy, and general all round health.

This last step should have actually been the first step but I left it until last because it only becomes a problem a few weeks after starting a weight loss program. This is the question of motivation and willpower. Many people fail to keep up the motivation to lose weight after a short period of time and give up trying. One of the main reasons behind this is due to having unrealistic goals. These probably come from the way many diets and weight loss products are advertised. If you expect to lose 30 or 40 pounds a month, you can forget it! Your body cannot lose this amount of weight in a safe and effective way.

You must set realistic goals, losing 2 or possibly 3 pounds of weight a week is a more realistic view. Your body can cope with this amount of weight loss and mentally so can you. This may not sound like a lot when you compare it to what some dubious weight loss products or diets claim. However it is precisely those people who use these types of products and diets, that fail to lose weight and give up trying. A realistic approach will ensure that you lose weight on a regular basis and ensure that the weight will stay off. All this can be achieved without having a negative impact on your health, and with testing your motivation and willpower too much.

You don’t need diet pills, weight loss supplements or popular fad diets to lose weight. All you need is a realistic approach, a healthy diet, and a good exercise program consisting of cardio training and weight training. This without doubt is the best way to lose weight.