Acne Dont’s: The 7 Things You Should Never Do To Your skin When You Have Acne

July 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

You skin is the largest organ in your body. Besides helping the body in the process of toxic elimination (One of the main acne contributing factors), it also protects your body against temperature changes, and from harmful invaders.
 By working with your skin and not against it you pave the way to an enhanced healing of the skin. Your skin will look and feel better; it will become more even toned and vibrant.

On the other hand, by constantly doing the following, you are weakening the natural protecting capabilities of your skin, you are slowing the healing process of your skin, and are making your skin look bad and making your acne worse:

1.Smoking

Besides lung cancer, heart disease and early aging of your skin (e.g. wrinkles), smoking causes the contraction of the small capillaries and blood vessels of the skin, thus depriving your skin from the essential oxygen I needs for the creation and maintenance of healthy cells.

2. Using Topical Steroids

Over the counter or prescription cortisone based creams, especially the potent types, can eventually thin your skin and worsen your acne condition in the long run in addition to the irritation, redness and other side effects steroid creams can cause. Moreover, topicals by definition address the symptoms of acne (inflammation, itching, puss), they do not treat the root cause of the disease. Nevertheless, taking care of your skin externally is highly recommended but should be performed gently using pure natural ingredients such as diluted tea tree oil.

3. Taking Antibiotics

Antibiotic treatments like tetracycline aggravate your acne in the long run and also severely damage your internal system in the process. Antibiotics destroy all the bacteria in your system including the good, probiotic bacteria like acidophilus that have many essential qualities that promote clear skin. One of these qualities is the ability to protect your digestive tract from parasites and fungus (that constantly stress and damage your liver, one of the most important organs responsible for the healing process of your skin).

4. Shaving with Four-In-One Razor blades

Never use these four-in-one razor blades when shaving especially if you have large bumps and painful cysts. The reason is that blades that guarantee the “closest shave” will cause severe irritation and will damage your skin. Always use a single blade when having “live” acne.

5. Picking Your Skin (popping and squeezing included)

Never, never and ever touch, pick or squeeze your blemishes, regardless of how temping and “safe” it may seem. By doing this unprofessionally, you make your acne worse by aggravating your existing inflammation and pushing the puss deeper and wider into the skin. There are in fact very effective and safe ways of dealing with small whiteheads or blackheads but I would strongly recommend leaving that to the professionals if you care for your skin and wish to prevent further scarring.

6. Taking excessive amounts of Vitamin A

Vitamin A from natural sources (green leafy vegetables and beta carotene fruit and veggies) and in small quantities can significantly enhance the healing process of your skin but when taken excessively it can seriously damage your liver and cause severe health problems and side effects.

7. Use over the counters for your Rosacea

That one is a no-brainer. Taking over the counters that by definition make your skin red and irritating is definitely not something you want to do when surfeiting from rosacea. If you suffer from rosacea, always consult your dermatologist prior to applying over the counters on your already inflamed and highly sensitive skin.

Acne No More Book

Mike Walden is a certified nutritionist, independent medical researcher, natural health consultant and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Acne No More- Open The Door To An Acne Free Life.” Mike has written dozens of holistic health articles and has been featured in ezines and print magazines, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Mike’s Holistic Clear Skin program, visit: http://the-top-solutions.com/AcneNoMore

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Quick Acne Treatments Exposed: The Truth Behind Miracle Acne Cures

July 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Can acne be cured quickly and without effort? Is there really a revolutionary acne treatment overlooked by the medical establishment that wipes off acne in days?

The recent proliferation of quick fix acne treatments, miracle cures, and instant acne formulas, has caused consumers to wonder if these alternatives are actually worth their hopes and hard earned cash. Can there be an overwhelmingly easy to follow and quick acne treatments that produce results in days?

The difference between simple and easy

If someone has mild to moderate acne that is uncommonly triggered by allergy to certain foods, then they can often begin to clear their acne very quickly and easily, relative to their previous disappointing results. All they have to do is improve their nutrition by eliminating these acne-aggravating foods and a quantum leap can often be made.

With that distinction made, let me state unequivocally that achieving permanent clear skin is never really “easy”. There is always effort and discipline involved, as there is with any worthwhile achievement. Endlessly searching for an easier way, a fairy tale quick fix, a miracle cure, a holy grail, is a misguided quest and it will lead you nowhere.

Curing acne is very simple, but for most people it is not easy. There’s a big difference between simple and easy: “Simple” means the process is not complicated - if you do x and y you’ll get the desired result. “Easy” implies that something can be done with little or no effort. Anyone who tells you they’ve discovered an “easy” or “very quick” way to clear acne is simply and boldly lying.

You can only reap what you sow

Achieving lasting clear skin requires two things:

1) You must be willing to put some effort

2) You must be patient

The problem with many people is that they are terrified from anything that appears to involve some work. They’re always looking for short cuts. As soon as they see something that promises to cure their acne “quickly,” “easily,” “effortlessly,” “while they sleep,” and so on, they whip out their wallets and take the bait.

Make no mistake; people who are prone to acne and have beautiful clear skin, especially celebrities and famous models, have worked very hard to get where they are. Many famous people with acne prone skin who now have flawless complexions have made a sacrifice to get there.

It’s an absolute law of the universe that you can’t get something for nothing. Your acne will fade away and your skin will become clear and glowing in direct proportion to the amount of effort you put in. You can only reap what you sow.

Acne No More Book

The 5 crucial components to an effective clear skin plan

An effective clear skin program must have five crucial components:

1. Internal and external cleansing

2. Internal strengthening and rejuvenating

3. Hormonal balancing

4. Lifestyle optimization

5. Goal setting and motivation

Except for those with acne triggered by allergies to food, it‘s extremely difficult (if not impossible) for most people to achieve permanent clear skin in days and without effort.

So there you have it. You have a solution. It’s simple (just follow the steps) but it’s not always easy. From here you decide what to do with your acne and your health. Like everything, in the end, it all comes down to your choices.

Mike Walden is a certified nutritionist, independent medical researcher, natural health consultant and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Acne No More- Open The Door To An Acne Free Life.” Mike has written dozens of holistic health articles and has been featured in ezines and print magazines, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Mike’s Holistic Clear Skin program, visit: http://the-top-solutions.com/acnenomore/

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Prepare yourself to Stop Smoking

July 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

It is a well known fact that smoking is highly addictive, and many smokers have a very difficult time quitting. Besides the physical component of the addiction, there is also a psychological one: smoking is socially acceptable in many situations, and, of course, entirely legal. For these reasons it can be doubly difficult to quit smoking, especially if you have friends who smoke, or you regularly go to places that you associate with smoking. One of the first things you should so when attempting to quit smoking to adequately prepare yourself. Quitting doesn’t begin with merely stopping one day - you should prepare yourself in advance in order to ensure success.

The psychological element of your smoking addiction has a lot to do with daily habits. The reason that smoking can become so difficult to quit is because the act entrenches itself into your daily life and routines, to the point where you give it little thought. Before they start to seriously think about quitting, most smokers will likely agree that smoking is simply something they do - it’s not something they are particularly aware of on a day to day level.

So the first thing you should do to prepare yourself to quit smoking is to change your smoking habits: switch the brand of cigarettes you smoke, smoke at times of the day you don’t normally, smoke with your other hand. All these things work towards making you more aware of what you are doing when you smoke, and making smoking integrate itself less seamlessly with your other activities.

Another good example of this is to make the following rule for yourself: when you smoke, you are not allowed to do anything else. So for example: no smoking while reading, no smoking while using the computer, etc. Force yourself to do nothing but sit and think about cigarettes when you smoke. This exercise will serve too functions: first of all, it will make you think about smoking much more, and ideally about how you’re going to quit smoking; and second, depending on how much you smoke, it will make you aware of the time you waste doing it. For most people, the habit will seem much more severe - and thus there will be much more motivation to stop - when you add up all the minutes spent doing it.

To quit smoking is a serious undertaking, and you want to do everything in your power to ensure a high chance of success. Too many smokers simply try and quit cold turkey, and while this can be effective for some people, for most it doesn’t work, and when you fail it will become harder to work up the morale to try again. By thinking of your plan to quit smoking as a long term one, you do yourself a lot of favors. So remember that the act of quitting smoking begins long before you stub out the final cigarette: you should adequately prepare yourself for weeks beforehand by making abrupt changes in your smoking habits.

End your smoking habit now with the Easyquit System.

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3 Tips for Weight Loss - A Weight Loss Formula

July 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment

There are so many overweight people out there and their number is increasing at such a fast pace with every passing year that it is obvious that obesity has become a common problem rather than an exception. As if that was not enough, the number of weight loss products that claim to provide quick weight loss are increasing in a rather awfully faster pace! It were good if these solutions indeed worked, but unfortunately, most of them come high on claims and provide little help in reality! If you ever buy them you are sure to lose more money than fat. A few of those weight loss products do indeed work but they are very hard to find out!

If you are still wondering which weight loss pill or supplement to choose, STOP. Stop wasting your hard earned money on fake and useless stuff, if you are insistent on trying a pill, then choose Hoodia Gordonii. In this article I will tell you about a weight loss program that should definitely work for you.

1. Sleep more: Are you depriving your body of the all-important sleep since the past couple of years? If yes then it doesn’t come across as a surprise to me that you are overweight. In order to be able to stay slim, your metabolic rate should be high. Studies have pointed out that people who sleep for four hours or less have a slower metabolic rate than those who sleep for more than seven or eight hours. No wonder that these people eventually gain weight.

If you are not sleeping because of your busy ‘job’, you need to understand that in the list of priorities your health comes first before anything else. God forbid, but if tomorrow you lose your life because of obesity (and it happens) what do you think would happen to your job? Do you think that your office would be shut down just because you are no longer there? Or would they hire someone else to work in your place instead? So start sleeping a little more and see how it affects your body weight positively! Who knows - perhaps sleep is the only thing you need to lose weight?

2. Evening exercise - What’s that?: People have been taught time and again that morning is the best time for exercises. Believe it or not, this is a bunch of B.S. There is no set time for exercise; you can do it any time. In fact evening exercise is even more important than the morning exercise, because studies show that our metabolic rate is slowed down during the evening (after 7pm). And remember that you need to maintain a high metabolic rate in order to lose weight?

3. Choose a weight loss program that doesn’t promote crash dieting: Crash dieting and meal skipping are going to do more harm than good to your body. While both these methods would thrill you by making you lose some pounds at the onset, you will quickly gain back all of them once you start eating normally. Isn’t it then a good idea to start eating normally right from the start?

And by normal eating, I obviously mean keeping the junk foods away from your reach. Choose a weight loss program which asks you to eat three or four small meals per day instead a couple of large meals. This is because eating small meals frequently is one of the best ways to increase your metabolic rate and you know what will happen when you have a high metabolism!

I also need to emphasize the fact that you should replace fried and oily foods with lean chicken meat! Snacking is not a bad idea, but the kind of foods you usually eat in the snacking period - potato chips, chocolate bars, cold drinks, etc, should be replaced with fresh fruits, raw vegetables (such as carrots) as well as water!  To lose even more weight, you may want to consider the Calorie Shifting Theory. This program encourages you to eat 4 meals per day and this actually helps you lose weight.

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Ugly Belly Fat? Learn 3 Ways To Get Rid Of It

July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Losing weight is not too hard, but if you don’t follow certain rules and guidelines, then it might seem like an impossible target to achieve! Remember that weight loss is a form of science, and any science comes with its own set rules and regulations that one must follow in order to master it. If you want to master weight loss, or let’s say, want to get slimmer, you must follow these three simple and easy rules.

Get family support: You may have perhaps a lot of friends supporting you in your weight loss efforts already; however, nothing beats the support that you get from your near and dear ones, your family. Having your family by your side either by supporting your weight loss endeavors or modifying their lifestyle according to yours will make you feel better about yourself. Try to request your family members to do away with junk and fatty foods. Explain to them how bad it is for their health, how they will get obese by eating the fatty foods, and how obesity will kill them slowly but surely.

With proper family support, you will no longer feel that you are on a ‘diet’, or that you are ‘different’ from the rest of the family. You may not realize it now, but this one change will boost your motivation to lose weight in a big way! Studies have pointed out that people with strong family support tend to lose weight faster than others!

Do not try to heal your wounds with food: We all have our own set of problems, and we need to learn to deal with them instead of taking shelter in under the cover of food. Food is not and can never an answer to your emotional problems. Food can never heal your mental pain; if you believe otherwise then you are simply deluding yourself! Far from giving you any kind of happiness, food will only make you unhappy by making your overweight!

There are a lot of ways you can use to beat stress, anxiety, depression, etc., but the two best medicines are exercise and yoga. If you don’t feel like exercising then yoga can be a good alternative for you.

Enjoy your workouts: Speaking of exercises, most people don’t want to exercise because of one big reason: they don’t want to do it. You cannot force your mind to do something that it is not inclined to do. So, if you don’t feel like jogging, don’t do it. Try some exercises that you love. Also, exercising doesn’t mean hitting the gym. It can also mean indulging in any kind of sports that is your passion. The bottom line is that try to enjoy your exercise program, because unless you enjoy it, you won’t do it, and if you don’t do it, you won’t be able to shed pounds!

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How to Quit Smoking? Think of yourself as a non-smoker.

July 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Almost everyone who smokes understands the serious health consequences involved, and how addictive the habit is. A sign of the powerful nature of a cigarette addiction is that almost all smokers, when you ask them, say they would like to quit smoking. And yet, of course, they continue to smoke. To quit smoking is a difficult thing and a serious undertaking. With the exception of a few lucky people, to quit smoking requires a multi-faceted plan and mental dedication. One of the hardest things that people run into when they try to quit smoking is being able to summon the willpower to stay smoke free, especially when around other smokers or in situations that they associate with smoking.

When you first quit smoking you should do your best to avoid prolonged social situations where you can smoke and are surrounded by smokers. Inevitably, though, a time will come where you will be tested. Every ex-smoker’s fear is the first time you are offered a cigarette or drag by an unaware friend. One of the best willpower ticks to deal with this is to think of yourself as a non-smoker. So as soon as you quit - even if you only quit yesterday - define yourself as a non-smoker. When someone offers you a cigarette, you should be able to easily say “no thanks, I don’t smoke.” In a similar way, when you find yourself craving a cigarette, think to yourself “why do I want a cigarette? I don’t smoke.”

Although this trick may seem a little silly, it can work wonders. The reason it is effective is because a smoking addiction has a serious psychological component, and if you’ve smoked for many years a large part of how you define yourself is through smoking. You think of yourself as a “smoker” even after you’ve quit. If you don’t employ some mental tricks to try and break this habit, you’ll find a return to cigarettes much more tempting and logical - if deep down you’re still thinking of yourself as a smoker, then it will entirely make sense to you that you occasionally crave, or even have, a cigarette.

Mental tricks like this are important in maintaining your willpower when trying to quit smoking. Unlike like a chemical addiction to an illegal substance, or one that is socially unacceptable, a smoking addiction is very difficult to break because you are being constantly tempted: you see smoking ads in magazines and people smoking in the movies. When you go out to a bar or restaurant there will be people smoking.

As a smoker who is trying to quit, you will be faced with these sorts of temptations each and every day, and it is imperative that you come up with a mental strategy for dealing with them. One of the most effective mental tricks in your arsenal should, therefore, be the idea that you become an instant non-smoker the minute you butt out your last cigarette. This will do wonders for you willpower, and greatly increase you overall chances for success in your attempt to quit smoking. If you need help in quitting, you may want to try the Easyquit System to stop smoking.

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How to Plan and Execute the losing of 10 Pounds

July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment

There are many different reasons why someone may want to lose weight, but it’s a pretty safe bet that almost everybody will want to at some point in their lives. Losing weight will make you feel and look better, and will increase your self confidence. An excellent place to start for most people is to set a goal to lose 10 pounds. Like in many other aspects of life, the key to achieving your goal - to lose 10 pounds - lies in proper planning and execution.

Everybody is different. We all have different lifestyles, schedules and abilities, and it’s important that this is kept in mind when approaching your project of losing 10 pounds. Before you actually begin trying to lose the weight, you must decide on a realistic plan that is right for you. The worst thing you can do is set a plan that is difficult to achieve. If, for example, you’re an extremely busy working parent, don’t create a plan for yourself that entails exercising 15 hours a week, as chances are you’re going to fail, which will only end up making you feel worse about yourself.

Every weight loss attempt should ideally compose both dietary changes and an increase in exercise. Depending on your situation, you may want to focus on one more than the other. If, for example, you want to lose 10 pounds but don’t have time for lots of exercise, you might want to focus on your diet, which after all requires more discipline than time.

When looking at your diet, do some research and come up with some healthy meal ideas that you don’t normally eat. Plan to eat these new meals on a regular basis. You want to break your plan into as many small steps as possible, so that you provide yourself with many small, achievable goals. For example, you may decide to research your new meal on Monday, buy the ingredients on Tuesday, and make it on Wednesday. Not only does this split the work up - if you leave it all to one day it’s far more likely you won’t have the time to do it - but it creates a constant sense of accomplishment.

Now let’s say your plan to lose 10 pounds is going to be mainly through exercise. Again, don’t plan to “exercise 10 hours a week” because what will probably happen is you’ll put it off all week and then won’t have time for it. You want to plan to exercise for an hour a day, and you want to try and incorporate that exercise into other activities.

At least half the battle with trying to lose 10 pounds is one of discipline: as anyone who has been on a diet or exercise regimen will tell you, it’s easy to start a diet but hard to stick with it. The worst thing you can do when trying to lose 10 pounds is to set yourself up for failure, as this is a cycle that tends to repeat itself. By creating and executing a well thought out and realistic plan, you give yourself a huge advantage in your ultimate goal of losing 10 pounds. You may also want to check out www.calorieshiftingtheory.com which has a calorie shifting diet where you can lose up to 9 pounds in 11 days. The great thing about this diet is that it has an online diet generator where you choose the foods you want to eat and it automatically creates your menu for the duration of the diet.

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2 Diet Pills that Work - Hoodia and Caralluma Burn

July 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment

It is a sad but true fact: when we look at a person, we regard his physical features more than his mental abilities. We would rather judge a person on how short, tall, thin or fat he is rather than checking his IQ. That is how the society works.

Obesity kills for more than one reason- first, there are obvious negative physiological consequences associated with obesity, such as diabetes, kidney problems, heart attacks, etc; and secondly, and this is even more dangerous, since they are almost hated in the society as if they are outcasts, the obese people tend develop an apathy toward society or try out some quick fix solutions just to see if they can lose weight quickly and regain back their former prestige.

Such people are in urgent need of support. They need to be supported by their family members and friends so that they feel better about themselves. They must be motivated to lose weight- not because the society frowns upon them, but out of health concerns. There are actually a variety of ways to lose weight but if you are looking forward to losing only a few pounds then diet pills can be your best bet. In this article I will tell you about two well known diet pills that indeed DO work!

1. Hoodia: If you have already started dieting, you know how painful it can get at times. Forget about the monotony of the diet itself, you are not even allowed to eat full stomach. The end result? You feel hungry too often and sometimes it becomes quite impossible to control those hunger pangs! This is where an appetite suppressant like Hoodia comes to your help. Hoodia is actually a cactus plant that grows on the Kalahari desert of South Africa; it will help you by suppressing your hunger in such a way that you will feel like you have gorged on a whole cow even when you haven’t eaten a morsel!

Hoodia is available all over the world in the form of capsules; however, it is unfortunate that most of the capsules that are sold with the name of ‘Hoodia’ are actually fake pills that wouldn’t help you curb hunger. Capsules with original Hoodia extracts are a rarity, as well as expensive! A good Hoodia product is Hoodia Gordonii which has also been reviewed over at Hoodia Diet Review.

2. Caralluma Burn: Caralluma fimbriata is a succulent plant, in the cactus family, that has been used as a natural appetite suppressant in India for centuries. It’s a new arrival in the family of cactii and succulent plants that are becoming increasingly popular for their appetite suppressant, and weight loss properties, as well as their ability to lower blood sugar. Supplements made from the popular hoodia gordonii cactus from the Kalahari Desert in Africa, are, for example, growing in popularity and usage in the U.S. and Europe.Like hoodia, caralluma fimbriata has been used to suppress appetite, and as a portable food for hunting. It is used to suppress hunger and appetite, and enhance endurance throughout India. Learn more about Caralluma Burn

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Try To Quit Smoking and Stick with It

July 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Nicotine, as most people know, is a drug with highly addictive properties. It takes very little time for the body to get addicted to it, and the addiction is very difficult break, as any smoker will tell you. For this reason alone it can be very difficult to quit smoking, but to complicate matters, smoking also has a social element that other addictions lack. Because smoking is both legal and in many situations socially acceptable, it is an extremely hard thing to get away from completely, and many smokers have a very difficult time trying to quit smoking.

One of the reasons that quitting smoking is such a difficult task is that many studies show that the average smoker requires multiple attempts before they quit for good. Almost any smoker will tell you of times where they’ve quit for a period before taking the habit up again. Usually there is an excuse associated with beginning again: “I quit for 3 months” the smoker will say “but then I broke up with my girlfriend and started again.”

The problem is that when you try and quit smoking, you are playing with your own sense of self-esteem. When you honestly say to yourself that you want to quit, and then you fail, it’s hard not to think of yourself as a failure, and that much harder to try quitting again. This is why it’s extremely important that you don’t give up if you have a lapse while trying to quit smoking. Remind yourself that this is normal - that this is nothing to be ashamed of - and immediately try to quit again.

You do, however, have to be somewhat careful with this concept: taken to its extreme, it becomes easy to justify a lapse in your non-smoking whenever you choose. Be careful, therefore, to avoid this line of thinking: “all smokers need a few tries to quit, so I should start again now because I really want to.”

Instead, you have to strike the right balance between understanding that a lapse in your attempt to quit smoking is all too common, while at the same time doing everything in your power to avoid this. You should never, ever, think of a lapse as part of the overall plan: don’t think when you quit smoking that you’re just going to quit “for a little while.”

If and when you do break down and have a drag or a cigarette after you’ve quit, don’t give up, and make sure that you immediately quit again. Far too many smokers quit for some time, have a bad night where they smoke some cigarettes, and then give up completely and start smoking again in earnest. Instead, if you lapse, remind yourself that it is normal, and is not an indication of overall failure. Stick with your plan to quit smoking, and most importantly: you should still think of yourself as non-smoker.

By understanding that an attempt to quit smoking is a long term process that requires a healthy dose of stick-to-itiveness, your chances for success are raised considerably. To help in the process of quitting smoking, you may want to try the Easyquit Stop Smoking System.

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How Do You Measure Body Fat?

July 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Body Fat can be measured a number of ways but the most common is called body mass index or BMI.

As a general rule, a high-risk waistline is 35 inches or more for women, and 40 inches or more for men. The body mass index formula assesses the body weight of a person in relation to their height.  It is a useful, indirect measure of body composition, because in most people it correlates highly with body fat.  Weight in kilograms is divided by height in meters squared (kg/m2).  Body mass index values less than 18.5 are considered underweight while having a body mass index value that is greater than 25 and less than 30 mean that one is overweight.

When you have a body mass index value of more than 30, you are considered obese. However, having a body mass index value of more than 40 means that you fall into the “extreme obese” category.

A popular game for the Nintendo Wii called “Wii Fit” uses the body mass index (BMI) in their game to show players where they stand and what “games” to play to work towards bringing their BMI down.

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