Female Care » sugar

Natural Beauty

Martin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:28:17 +0000

When it comes to beauty, many of us will admit to spending a large amount of hard earned cash on a variety of beauty products. They all claim to make our hair extra shiny, our skin blemish-free, younger-looking and suppler. The simple fact is that there is often no need to look much further than the household cupboards, where many of these important ingredients lie waiting to be discovered for use in our daily beauty regimes.

There are many foods, especially fruit, which can be used to make face masks, lip balms, skin exfoliators, moisturisers, spot treatments and potions to reduce puffy-looking eyes. The good news is that they are a number of recipes available for all kinds of beauty products using natural ingredients, which have all been tried and tested and can be made in the comfort of your own home.

Sugar, for example, is a hot new ingredient used in body scrubs these days. It is a very effective exfoliator, which gently removes dead skin cells without causing any irritation to even the most sensitive skin. By mixing equal portions of sugar and vegetable oil and a little essential oil of your choice, you can make yourself an excellent skin potion for use in the bath or the shower.

Why not reach for your pot of baking soda from the kitchen cupboard. This can work wonders on your skin. It will remove dead skin cells and neutralize acid on the skin. It also eliminates oils and perspiration.

Honey has been regarded as a gift of nature for many centuries. Created by the honeybee, this product is a natural humectant, which draws moisture to the skin from the air. It can cleanse and soften the skin by attracting dirt from the pores and dead skin cells from the surface of the skin. A teaspoon of warm honey and a tablespoon of milk can be mixed together and used immediately as a beneficial cleanser. Honey can also achieve excellent results when used as one of the ingredients in a face mask.

Another product obtained by the honeybee is beeswax. This can also help to retain the skin’s natural moisture balance. It is a very good ingredient to use in creams and lotions too, as it is good at bonding certain ingredients together.

Cocoa Butter is derived from the cocoa bean and has been used as a skin care product in Africa for years. It helps to retain moisture and restore hydration to the skin. It is well known for healing sun burnt skin and can soften the appearance of stretch marks and wrinkles. Aloe Vera can be used for similar purposes. It is the gel on the inside of the leaf that holds the beneficial properties. It stimulates the epidermis and accelerates tissue repair and normal cell growth and can be particularly good at treating acne too.

Tea Tree oil is another product with immense beneficial properties. It has anti-fungal, anti- virus and anti-bacterial benefits and is excellent at combating acne. It is also known for helping to prevent head lice in young children. A couple of drops of the oil can be added to the shampoo and conditioner, or a couple of drops can be added directly on to the hair and brushed through using a hairdryer to enhance the aroma, which the lice dislike.

Fruits hold a wealth of useful properties. So, instead of just eating it, try putting it on your skin too!

Bananas – Relieve dry skin conditions. Try placing slices on your face for about 20 minutes to nourish and moisturise it. For a nourishing hand treatment, mash a banana and mix it with butter. Then simply rub into the hands.
Oranges and lemons – These have a high acid content, which makes them natural drying agents. They help to remove access oil from the pores.
Peaches – These are rich in vitamins A and B and have a high water content. They add extra moisture to your skin.
Papaya – These contain proteins and enzymes, which help to promote the flaking of dead skin. Smooth the pulp over your face and leave for about five minutes, and then wash off with a damp face cloth.
Strawberries – Are excellent for clearing up acne and oiliness from the skin. They can make skin younger-looking and smoother, reduce puffiness around the eyes, leave hair shiny and conditioned and even whiten your teeth!

The list of potential beauty treatments goes on and on. There is literally no end to which natural ingredients can be used in nourishing face or body treatments. Once you begin to experiment with your own lotions and potions, you will probably never need to buy any expensive products again. Before using any product over the whole of your face, it is always advisable to test it out on a small area of skin first, just in case of any sensitivity.

How to Manage Gestational Diabetes

Adam — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:02:02 +0000

Gestational diabetes occurs in approximately 5% of pregnancies. Several complications arise for both the baby and the mother if gestational diabetes is left uncontrolled, including large birth weight and difficult delivery, preeclampsia (high blood pressure), and the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life. For the expectant mother recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes, the revelation and information regarding treatment can be overwhelming. However, there are several steps a woman can follow to minimize the complications.
Maximize Food Choices
The diet for a woman with gestational diabetes does not restrict her food, but only the amount of carbohydrates she can have throughout a day. She can choose to have a brownie or ice cream, but she must do so with the understanding of the carbohydrate count of each food item. A two-inch by two-inch square brownie, without icing, is about one carb serving. If she is on a diet which allows for three carbohydrate servings in a meal, the brownie would count as one, as would one slice of bread or a half-cup of cooked rice. When deciding on what to eat, the pregnant woman would be better served by finding the food choice which will meet her dietary requirements and nutritional needs, as well as satisfy her hunger.

Keep A Journal
One way that an expectant mother can help with the treatment of gestational diabetes is to keep a food journal with her charts of blood sugar readings. The mother can track everything eaten for each of her meals and snacks to see how well she has kept to her prescribed diet. Along with this, she should write down her blood sugar readings after each meal. This will help her chart which foods create a blood sugar spike so she can modify her diet accordingly.

Walk It Off
The experience of gestational diabetes can be stressful with the dietary changes and prescribed medications. Exercise is a key not only in helping to regulate gestational diabetes, but also to help alleviate stress. This may become more difficult as the pregnancy comes to term. However, an exercise program which keeps the doctor’s guidelines in mind will benefit both the mother and baby.

Build The Support System
Expectant mothers may feel like they live in a vacuum regarding their diagnosis, with little understanding from family and friends. In order to keep up with the treatments prescribed, the mother should bring a close family member or friend to the doctor’s appointments and meetings with the dietitian. She can cook carbohydrate-friendly meals for her family to show how one can be healthy and enjoy good food at the same time. She can also allow her family to experiment with the glucometer, taking their blood sugar readings and comparing them with hers.

A diagnosis of gestational diabetes does not have to cast a shadow over an expectant mother’s pregnancy. With these simple management tips, she can assist her doctor with controlling her blood sugar levels while enjoying all of the experiences of a healthy pregnancy.

Gestational Diabetes: Treatment

Adam — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:50:55 +0000

Once diagnosed with gestational diabetes, treatment for the pregnant woman will begin quickly. The first thing your doctor will do is counsel you to visit with both an endocrinologist or perinatologist and a nutritionist. Your team of specialists will work with you with the ultimate goal of lowering your blood sugar levels to those that are considered in a normal range for pregnancy.
Some women can control their blood sugars through a special low-carbohydrate diet and exercise, while other pregnant women will require either oral medications or insulin injections to help lower blood sugar levels. All pregnant women however, will be advised to follow a special diet comprised of meals and snacks with a carefully monitored carbohydrate level. In addition, testing your blood sugar levels on a regular basis may be required.

Your special diet will include plenty of whole grains rich in fiber, as well as ensuring that you consume some protein with each meal to help deter blood sugar fluctuations. Exercise may also be advocated, as this will help your body to use the extra glucose without having to take insulin shots. This will also help avoid insulin resistance.

Carbohydrates or other foods high in starch or sugar, are turned into glucose during digestion, therefore they have the highest impact on blood sugar levels and consumption needs to be strictly counted. The nutritionist or dietician will counsel you on how many carbohydrates you should be consuming at each meal and snack, and will educate you on what kinds of foods are better sources of carbohydrates than others.

Eating at the same time each day and not skipping meals or snacks will help maintain blood sugar levels, and eating fewer carbohydrates at breakfast is always a good idea because that is the time of day when typically insulin resistance is at its greatest. Women with gestational diabetes should avoid fruit and fruit juices at breakfast for this very reason.

Reading nutritional labels will become second nature to the woman with gestational diabetes. Every food has the potential to contain carbohydrates, and it is only by looking at the nutritional information that these can be accurately counted. Likewise, it is helpful to have a kitchen scale on hand for measuring weights so that you can get an exact number of carbohydrates per serving.

While having gestational diabetes is certainly a concern, most women easily manage it with the help of their health care team. Careful monitoring of blood sugar levels will reduce the chances of any adverse affects on the baby, and will help ensure continued good health for the mother as well.