Female Care

Okay Mom-to-Be, who said you couldn’t still enjoy a luxurious spa like treatment at home? If you are experiencing any kind of discomfort, this would be the ideal time to relieve some stress. Do you have aching muscles or just feel like you need a little lift? The doctor needs to order a spoil-yourself- treatment. There’s no room for guilt. Who said being a mom meant no more spoiling just for you? Besides the feel good hormones that will run through your body from pampering are perfect to ensure a healthy happy baby. In order to have the benefit of happy hormones, you need to spoil yourself more than just once.

Your body now more than ever needs the perfect skin treatment. Your skin is stretching and it is important to moisturize, moisturize, and moisturize some more. A yummy selection of body butters, scrubs, and foot and hand creams that smell so good you’ll want to eat them, are at your fingertips. But remember this is only for your skin, not your tummy. Hey, have fun with it and have berries, bananas, or other fruits to match the indulgent fragrances. Continue reading »

They’re popping up and showing their sunny yellow faces, bringing smiles to the enlightened. At last, Spring has arrived! Time to start gathering, and cleaning the winter sludge from your body.

This is NOT just a useless weed! Dandelion has been safely used as a medicinal herb and food for centuries. Dandelion (taraxacum officinale) – The name of the genus, taraxacum, is derived from the Greek word taraxos (disorder), and akos (remedy), because it was considered to be a cure all for every health problem. Native Americans were using Dandelion long before the discovery of America for a wide variety of ailments.

Traditionally, this abundant weed has been used as a tonic and blood purifier, for constipation, inflammatory skin conditions, eczema and acne, joint pain, and liver dysfunction, including liver conditions such as hepatitis, cirrhosis, gout, and jaundice. Continue reading »

Becoming a vegetarian is a difficult thing to do; it’s hard to go from being a carnivore to the veggie life. It’s getting a little easier now you can buy; mock meats, soy dairy products; even fake fish at almost any grocery store. More restaurants are starting to cater to the vegetarian community, places like Denny’s, The Hard Rock Café, Ruby Tuesdays and TGI Fridays all have veggie burgers on their menus. You can buy frozen meatless beef patties all the way to soy Buffalo wings. Finding the foods isn’t the problem; it’s being able to stay healthy doing it. Here are some steps to make sure you know what you’re eating, and how to do it without hurting your body.

1. Try easing your way into your new diet. Cook your favorite meals, but instead of using meat try substituting with mock meats or vegetables. For example when you make spaghetti, instead of using ground beef put crumbled veggie burger or ground meatless beef. Don’t jump right into vegetarianism; you might rob your body of vitamins and essentials proteins. Add a lot of vegetables to your diet, dark leafy greens are a high source or fiber and proteins. Like with all diets it’s good to avoid a lot of junk food and drink a lot of water. Variety in your diet is important for being a healthy vegetarian. Eat lots of; fruits, vegetables, nuts seeds, and whole grain products. Be creative and mix it up. Continue reading »

During the summer months, it’s rare to see anyone who isn’t wearing a pair of flip-flops. Although many people consider flip-flops to be a comfortable alternative to real shoes, the popular summer footwear could be causing more harm than good.

One problem with flip-flops is they can cause overpronation. Overpronation is a condition where the arch of a person’s foot flattens when they step down on their foot. This causes the foot to roll inward (toward the center of the body). Everyone’s feet pronate naturally; however, because flip-flops are made of spongy foam, they allow your feet to pronate more than normal. Over time, overpronation can cause pain in your feet, legs, and back.

In addition to causing overpronation, flip-flops can also cause you to trip easily. Because of their loose fit, it is easy to trip on your flip-flops while walking, especially when walking on uneven ground or when walking up or down a set of stairs. In addition, the straps often break while walking, further increasing the risk of tripping. Doctors treat numerous patients each summer for injuries caused by wearing flip-flops. Continue reading »

Sunshine, not food, is where most of your vitamin D comes from. So even a healthy and well balanced diet, that provides all the other vitamins and nutrients, is unlikely to provide enough vitamin D. To get enough vitamin D you need to spend some time outside with some bare skin on most days during the summer months.

How is vitamin D different to other nutrients?

You make vitamin D under your skin when you are outside in daylight, which is the reason vitamin D is sometimes called the sunshine vitamin. By definition, a vitamin is a nutrient that we cannot make in our body. Vitamin D is actually a hormone rather than a vitamin. Very few foods contain vitamin D naturally.

What does vitamin D do in your body?

Vitamin D makes sure you absorb enough calcium for your bones and teeth. Even if you have a calcium-rich diet, without enough vitamin D you cannot absorb calcium into the body. Its importance as a hormone is also being recognised. It helps maintain a healthy immune system and reduces the risk of some forms of cancer. Population studies suggest that lack of vitamin D may increase the risk of chronic health conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
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How much weight gain is appropriate during pregnancy depends on your pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). For a pre-pregnancy BMI of 18.5 to 25, the ideal weight gain should be somewhere between 25 and 35 pounds. An initial weight gain of 2 to 5 pounds is usually followed by a weekly gain of 1 pound in a normal pregnancy. If you have twins the gain usually falls between 35 and 45 pounds. Women who were overweight at the time of conception usually gain around 15 pounds and those who were underweight gain between 30 to 40 pounds. In case of obesity, your gain should not exceed fifteen pounds.

The most obvious impact of the weight gain can be seen in the form of pains and aches that you will have as your pregnancy progresses. A back ache is the most common complaint, followed by an awkward walk (thanks to your new found tummy). Another complain is of swollen legs, but that has nothing to with weight. It is a result of increased blood flow. Continue reading »

Once you have made the decision to try for a baby, chances are you don’t want it to take forever and would like to know how to get pregnant fast. Fortunately, there are a number of simple steps you can take which will maximize your chances and get you on the right track not only to conceive quickly, but healthily too.

Body Weight

Being outside the normal healthy weight range for your height (whether underweight or overweight) can have an adverse effect on ovulation, with both groups displaying disruption. Steps should therefore be taken to get within the healthy weight range. If you are overweight, even slightly reducing body fat can help and if underweight, just a little gain can trigger ovulation. Continue reading »

Vitamin D is an important part of a healthy diet. New benefits of this vitamin are being discovered every day, but many people still do not receive enough vitamin D to reap the wonderful benefits it can provide to their health. Vitamin D is most famous for its contribution to joint and bone health by helping the body absorb calcium. It has been shown that people who take in enough vitamin D are less likely to suffer from osteoporosis and joint pain. This vitamin can also slow the affects of arthritis and lessen back pain in many individuals. Studies have shown that vitamin D can also prevent certain types of cancer.
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Vitamin E is one of the more well-known vitamins that is included in most vitamin supplements. Its antioxidant powers are particularly strong and are beneficial in different ways than other antioxidant vitamins, so it is good to be aware of the specific health benefits of vitamin E.

One of the benefits of vitamin E is its ability to improve the health of the skin. This benefit can be reaped by taking a vitamin E supplement or by directly applying vitamin E oil to the skin. When used in this way, vitamin E can help to heal scars and burns, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in the skin, and can also relieve the scratchy, itchy feeling of dry or irritated skin. As an antioxidant, vitamin E protects the body from free radicals and provides a boost to the body’s immune system. This can not only fight the aging process, but it may also protect against certain types of cancer. Studies have shown that Alzheimer’s patients who maintain high levels of vitamin E see a slower progression of the disease. Vitamin E also benefits the health of the eyes by helping to prevent cataracts and macular degeneration. A few studies have even shown that vitamin E may improve the health of your heart by lowering the level of bad cholesterol in your body and by preventing blood clots.
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Vitamin K is commonly known to aid in blood clotting. When the body is injured, vitamin K initiates the process of healing by slowing and stopping the bleeding. For this reason, vitamin K is often given to patients before surgery to prevent excessive bleeding. Although this is the primary function of vitamin K, this vitamin has several more health benefits.

Vitamin K helps the body absorb the beneficial mineral calcium. Recent studies have suggested that vitamin K can help prevent or treat osteoporosis and the loss of bone density. If you have a family history of osteoporosis, it is important to make sure you maintain healthy levels of vitamin K.

There are also recent studies that have suggested that vitamin K also has preventive and treatment benefits for cancer. Several human trials have shown that vitamin K may have anticancer effects.

Vitamin K also prevents the hardening of the arteries, which aids in preventing heart disease and heart failure. Continue reading »