Quit Smoking In Natural Way

Can you quit smoking without drugs? Can you quit smoking without adverse side effects? Is there a natural way to quit smoking?
When you decide to quit smoking cigarettes, you may want to avoid using yet another harmful substance, like a drug, to help you. After all, you have compromised the functioning of major organs of your body such as your heart, lungs, brain and liver for years with smoking, so now it is time to get natural.
An excellent way to quit smoking is to consider herbal remedies that take the edge off of your cravings with something that is all- safe and natural. One natural herbal ingredient that seems to be used in many parts of the world to curb the desire for smoking is to chew on licorice sticks.
This may have started in the West Indies, where people routinely chewed sugar cane. Using licorice sticks is also a good substitute for the oral gratification of having something in your mouth.
Another way to quit cigarettes is with an aversion approach. When the urge hits, dip the tip of your tongue in chilli oil. Aversion therapy is when you learn to associate the habit of smoking with something unpleasant. Chilli Oil is one way to do it, but there are other aversion therapies you can use, such as snapping a rubber band on your wrist whenever you get the urge to take a puff. The small pain inflicted will help your subconscious mind link smoking to something unpleasant.
A combination of Fenugreek and Thyme, an age-old remedy for respiratory ailments, is also useful to reduce your urge for nicotine. Since smokers have respiratory problems from the irritation of their bronchial tubes, this can be a potent double benefit.
Improving your diet is good for the body and great for smoking cessation. Smoking increases the acidity in your body. Eat foods that are highly alkaline - such as spinach, beets, greens, lima beans, raisins and figs. You also need to reduce or eliminate refined sugar, white flour, commercial baked goods and refined foods.
That is good advice for improving health even after you quit smoking!
Another popular herbal remedy in China is to grate a fresh radish and mix that with two teaspoons of honey in small amount of water and drink the mixture.
A Japanese study found that certain smells reduce the urge to smoke - particularly peppermint, cypress and lemon. You can find these in sprays or buy small vials of essential oils and keep them at your desk or in your pocket or purse. If you feel the urge to smoke, take out the essential oil and get a good sniff to curb your cravings.
Vitamin C takes a beating trying to combat the free radicals in your body that are caused by smoking. Even people exposed to secondhand smoke have serious depletion of Vitamin C.
As you quit smoking, add more Vitamin C to your supplementation. Don't just depend on a vitamin capsule, either. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of Vitamin C.
Another pleasant way to curb smoking sensations is with a steamy hot cup of herbal tea. Your best choices are raspberry, blueberry, persimmon and sassafras teas. An old-fashioned herbal tea used for smokers, called lobelia, may work well - but can become as addictive for some people as the cigarettes they're trying to eliminate.
Note: If you're taking any medications, discuss these alternative stop smoking therapies with your doctor. Depending on strength and type, some herbal teas don't mix well with prescription drugs.

How to Care for Your Hair Naturally

We all want shiny healthy hair. But can we achieve it with natural products and ingredients, or do we really need the whole range of shampoos, conditioners, treatments, styling products and more that we see advertised every day?
Well the answer is - "Yes" you can have gorgeous healthy hair and still keep it natural.
Here are 5 tips for naturally shiny, healthy hair -
- Feed your hair from the inside
Did you know that your hair and skin are last in line for nutrients? So if your diet is lacking, it will show here first. Make sure you are eating a balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean protein, "good" fats from nuts, seeds and oily fish and drink plenty of water.
- Watch the "product"
Too much styling product, colour and the like can damage hair. Many products coat hair and build up so that you then need harsh shampoos to remove them, which only damages your hair. Take it easy with how much and how many different products you use. As hair becomes healthier, you may find you need them less and less.
- Gentle cleansing is best
Use gentle, sulphate-free shampoos and conditioners on your hair. These do not "coat" the hair, which can make it look flat and dull over time. Instead they gently cleanse without stripping out all your hair's natural oils, The result - healthy clean shiny hair.
- Oils are not always the enemy!
Many people view oil in hair as a disaster and wash to remove all of this for "squeaky clean" hair. As for your skin, your hair needs some of the natural oils to help keep it healthy and shiny. Even if you have very oily hair, gentle cleansing is still best so that your scalp does not over-produce oil to compensate for the oil you are stripping out.
- Give your hair a healthy treat
It is easy to give your hair an extra treat if it feels dry, coarse or lifeless. Try a warm (not hot) oil treatment by working jojoba oil through hair to the ends, then covering with a shower cap (or cling film) and a towel to keep the warmth from your head in. Leave for a couple of hours and then wash as normal.
Follow these tips and you should have healthy gorgeous hair in no time.
Treat your hair with gentleness and natural products and see the results!

Wendy Mackay is a qualified Aromatherapist and member of the International Aromatherapy and Aromatic Medicine Association (IAAMA). Wendy and her husband David run Essence of Wellbeing a successful Aromatherapy & Massage Supply and Pure Natural Skin Care business, based in Mornington on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula in Victoria Australia.

The Right Shoes For Back Pain Management

Footwear is one of the many possible causes of back pain. Because the body is a system of intricately connected parts, a problem in one area can cause problems in another.

There are a few ways in which your shoes and back pain may be related. One is simply having worn-out shoes. With every step you take, you transfer force to the ground; the ground in turn reciprocates a force on your body. Though this force is generally mild while walking, a long day on your feet can lead to jarring of the spine and other joints if there is nothing between your feet and the ground to cushion the shock.

It is also important to make sure you have the right kind of cushioning for your body. Understanding a few body mechanics basics is necessary in order to make the right shoe purchase. The ideal step occurs with the heel contacting the ground, rolling forward and transferring weight across the arch to the bigger toes. These toes push off to propel you forward. This motion allows you to take a step with efficiency.

Steps become inefficient when the foot rolls inward or outward. When the foot rolls inward, flattening out the arch and transferring force mainly to the biggest toe, this is called over-pronation. With the arch flattened and the weight ending up on the inside of the big toe, the foot cannot push off the ground with optimum force.

The hips and lower back must come to the assistance of the foot by swinging the leg forward. If these muscles are being used with every step, they can become strained, as well as the tendons and ligaments of the lower body. This can cause knee, hip and lower back pain.

Supination is the opposite of over-pronation; it occurs when your weight is transferred along the outside of your foot, leaving you to push off with your smallest toe. This makes for an inefficient push-off, along with strain to the ankle, knee and hip joints. As with over-pronation, supination forces the lower back and hips to swing the leg forward in order to take a step.

To see if your step suffers from either over-pronation or supination, grab an old pair of shoes that has been worn in and assess the wear pattern on the bottom and/or inside. You can also place them on a flat surface pointing away from you and see if they tilt inward or outward.

People with over-pronation benefit most from shoes with good arch supports. This will counteract the arch's tendency to flatten out. Supinators need shoes with cushioning in the middle of the sole; this can help balance the foot. If you have an especially high arch, you may need custom shoes. People without supination or over-pronation simply need shoes that can cushion their feet throughout the day. Keep your activity level and the surfaces on which you walk in mind when purchasing shoes.

Heart Disease Prevention - How to Reduce Your Cholesterol Levels

Doctors worldwide will tell you that cholesterol is one of the primary factors for heart diseases. Unhealthy levels of cholesterol in the blood can increase weight problems and probabilities of a heart attack.
Here are some easy tips that can be included in the daily life routine to help live a life free of cholesterol!
1. Follow a diet controlled by the expertise of a professional dietician / doctor.
2. One of the most effective and healthiest of all tips to control cholesterol is undoubtedly Exercising.
3. Why? Because Exercising increases the heart rate thereby improving the metabolism of the body allowing improved expulsion of harmful oils, detrimental to an individual's health.
4. The type of exercise to be done will depend largely on varied factors including medical history. The deciding factors also include age, gender and weight.
5. Needless to mention, those beginning exercising must first consult a physician and ensure safety in doing them.
6. Heart ailment patients might be advised against any rigorous exercises but could resort to simpler alternates like stretching, weight lifting, walking, etc.
7. If a physician allows some high impact exercises, participate mandatorily in swimming, running, bicycling, aerobics, etc.
8. Consult a doctor to sketch a fitness plan in detail and ensure adherence to the same with the guidance of a professional fitness trainer. Following the plan duly is in the hands of the patient!
9. Results of such plans normally become evident within a week or two. Very soon bad cholesterol will start getting reduced in the body, replaced with good cholesterol leading to a considerable reduction in the body weight.
10. Exercising has less or no side effects as compared to consuming drugs which potentially has a lot of side effects on the body.
11. Brisk walking in the early morning or just before going to your workplace is highly recommended to those who do not have time in their daily schedule to go to a gym.
12. Whenever exercising in any form or format, consuming lots of water is highly recommended as it helps a great deal.
13. This prevents the body from dehydration and repercussions thereby like exhaustion. For this, one doesn't need to run up to the fountain time and again; instead carry a water bottle! While working on a machine or participating in a group activity, this really helps and moving from one place to another time and again really doesn't help!
14. Some organizations these days encourage their people to walk up 1 or 2 flights of stairs, instead of using the elevators to go up & down only a few floors.
Lower Cholesterol definitely means lower probability of a heart ailment!

Why You Need To Eat Fresh Raw Garlic And 3 Tips You Can Use To Be Free Of Bad Breathe

I don't know if there's enough I can say about the benefits of Garlic, but here are 3 tips you can use so you can eat fresh raw garlic daily and NOT get bad breathe. I'll give you these tips at the end, but first you've got to know why people avoid eating fresh raw garlic even though it is probably the most powerful medicinal veggie in the world!
Garlic is THE Number One BAD BOY in the vegetable world. Not because of all the good it can do you, but because of the stigma about it being the WORST cause of bad breathe. This is quite ironic since many cultures even today, still worship garlic because of its medicinal powers. I'm no anthropologist, but it stands to reason that these same cultures must have lived without it, and then discovered it, to know the powerful difference it makes.
Don't take my word for it though. Look at and consider the following reasons why you should be a garlic-eating worshiper enough to worry about bad breathe! Here's what history and medical science have to say:
Historical Use
Garlic is used as both food and medicine in many cultures, and has been for thousands of years, dating at least as far back to when the Giza pyramids were built.
Garlic comes up in the Bible and the Talmud. Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny the Elder, and Dioscorides all mention the power of garlic to remedy many conditions, including parasites, respiratory problems, poor digestion, and low energy. Its use in China was only first mentioned as late as AD 510, but today China is the world's top producer!
It was eaten on a regular basis by ancient Greek and Roman soldiers, sailors, and rural classes (Virgil, Ecologues ii. 11), and, according to Pliny the Elder (Natural History xix. 32), by the African peasantry. Galen promotes it as the "rustic's theriac" (cure-all) (see F. Adams' Paulus Aegineta, p. 99), and Alexander Neckam, a writer of the 12th century (see Wright's edition of his works, p. 473, 1863), recommends it as a remedy for heat stroke.
The legend of Korea's establishment as a nation, tells of gods who were said to have given mortal women with bear and tiger temperaments, an Immortal's black garlic before mating with them. This black, six-clove garlic gave to all women who ate it, supernatural powers and immortality. This garlic is still grown in Korea today.
Early in the 20th century, it was used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Health Benefits And Medicinal Use
Just look at the nutritional statistics for Garlic, raw:
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy
623 kJ (149 kcal)
Carbohydrates
33.06 g
- Sugars
1.00g
- Dietary fiber
2.1 g
Fat
0.5 g
Protein
6.39 g
- beta-carotene
5 μg (0%)
Thiamine (Vit. B1)
0.2 mg (17%)
Riboflavin (Vit. B2)
0.11 mg (9%)
Niacin (Vit. B3)
0.7 mg (5%)
Pantothenic acid (B5)
0.596 mg (12%)
Vitamin B6
1.235 mg (95%)
Folate (Vit. B9)
3 μg (1%)
Vitamin C
31.2 mg (38%)
Calcium
181 mg (18%)
Iron
1.7 mg (13%)
Magnesium
25 mg (7%)
Phosphorus
153 mg (22%)
Potassium
401 mg (9%)
Sodium
17 mg (1%)
Zinc
1.16 mg (12%)
Manganese 1.672 mg
Selenium 14.2 μg
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient database
In vitro studies show garlic as having antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal effects. Garlic has also been shown to help prevent heart disease (including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure) and cancer. Garlic is used to prevent certain types of cancer, including stomach and colon cancers. It has also been demonstrated that, in countries where garlic is consumed in higher amounts, because of traditional cuisine, people in those countries have been found to have a lower prevalence of cancer.
Early studies in humans suggest possible cardiovascular benefits of garlic as well. A Czech study found garlic consumption reduced accumulation of cholesterol on the vascular walls. Another study had similar results, with garlic consumption significantly reducing aortic plaque deposits and inhibiting vascular calcification.
In 2007, the BBC reported that garlic (Allium sativum) has other beneficial properties, such as preventing and fighting the common cold. This, "may have", assertion has the backing of a long tradition in thousands of years of herbal medicine, which has used garlic for hoarseness and coughs. The Cherokee also used it as a preventative medicine for coughs and croup.
It has been shown that garlic is also alleged to help regulate blood sugar levels. Regular and prolonged use of garlic, lower blood homocysteine levels and has been proven to prevent some complications of diabetes mellitus, but people taking insulin should not consume medicinal amounts of garlic without consulting a physician.
In 1858, Louis Pasteur discovered garlic's antibacterial activity, which went on to be used as an antiseptic to prevent gangrene during World War I and World War II.
More recently, clinical trials demonstrate that a mouthwash containing 2.5% fresh garlic produces good antimicrobial activity, although the majority of the participants reported an unpleasant taste and halitosis (bad breathe)!
Of course you are going to get bad breathe from drinking or eating garlic alone! --and this is the key word here: alone. I'll get right back to this concept shortly, when I show you 3 tips for eating garlic properly, so you don't get bad breathe when you eat it.
Garlic cloves have been, and are still used as a remedy for infections (especially chest problems), digestive disorders, and fungal infections such as thrush. Garlic can also be used as a disinfectant because of its bacteriostatic and bacteriocidal properties.
In 1924, it was discovered to be an effective way to prevent scurvy, because of its high vitamin C content!
Garlic supplementation has been shown to boost testosterone levels!
A 2010 double-blind, parallel, randomized, placebo-controlled trial involving 50 patients, strongly suggests that garlic is superior to placebos in lowering systolic blood pressure similarly to other current first line medications!
So now that you know how powerful garlic is and all the reasons why you should be a garlic-eating worshiper, now it's time to put to rest your fears of getting bad breathe when you start!
First, consider for a moment: by just eating fresh raw garlic as an effective preventative which would stop you from ever getting cancer and a whole variety of different ills, wouldn't it be worth trying it in exchange for a little bad breathe?
But you won't have to worry about bad breathe again after following these 3 tips for eating fresh garlic the right way:
Tip#1: Eat small amounts daily. It only takes a small amount of garlic (like one half clove or one half teaspoon!) eaten fresh every day to get ALL its powerful preventative medicine.
Tip#2: Never eat garlic alone. This doesn't mean it is dangerous to eat garlic by yourself, it means, always eat your small daily amount of fresh garlic with other fresh foods such as, in a salad. Always eat your fresh garlic before your main meal. The other fresh veggies, and then the cooked food you eat, as your main supper, will simply neutralize the garlic aroma so you have, "no breathe"!
Tip#3: You only get "garlic breathe" from cooked garlic and garlic pills. So AVOID them! If you are worried about bad breathe from eating fresh garlic, then remember that garlic eaten properly (in small amounts with other main course foods gets its aroma neutralized--see tip#2) and is NOT you main concern. Never consume alcohol, tobacco or coffee. These are the only things guaranteed to give you bad breathe, aside from eating vomit and excrement! Ouch! Sorry to be so blunt, but this is a proven fact! Now I'm sure you do not eat vomit or excrement, but there's a good chance you may be addicted to, coffee, tobacco or alcohol. If you are not willing to give up any one or all of these three "breathe devils", you can only mask these fumes with fresh fruit, or breathe gum, or "slips" that dissolve on your tongue. If you are still experiencing bad breathe issues even when eating garlic properly, and you do not consume tobacco, alcohol, or coffee, you have other digestive or gastrointestinal issues that must be addressed. You can resolve these easily, but that's a topic for another article coming soon!
Now that you are armed with these 3 tips, go ahead eat the most powerful preventative medicine known, without fear of getting bad breathe, and you will enjoy the benefits of garlic with a long life, and good health!

Dental Bleaching Can Help Whiten Your Smile

As people age their bodies lose some of the essential nutrients that help to make them look young. This is true in the case of teeth, where the perfectly white surface of the enamel gradually fades. As well as being the result of natural ageing, teeth can lose their whiteness due to staining caused by bacteria, colours in drinks or foodstuffs, and smoking. All of these changes make the white smile of a young person gradually fade into something more off-white. Rather than accept these changes as a natural part of ageing, many people choose to try teeth whitening services that aim to make the enamel of teeth seem younger.
There are good reasons for choosing to use a teeth whitening service. The first is obviously that it can improve your appearance giving you a brilliant white smile and making you seem younger. The second is that whitening the teeth can make a person seem healthier and more attractive to the opposite sex. As noted, stains on the teeth are often caused by bacteria, smoking, or dyed foods. These can all contribute to lack of health in other areas, so people will judge someone's fitness as a mate by the whiteness of their smile.
Those anxious to whiten their teeth may have tried previous methods of dental bleaching, such as a gel which is designed to be used by people overnight. Others try a kind of cosmetic surgery which involves applying bleach to the surface of the teeth, and then exposing it to light, increasing the power of the bleaching agent. While this is a popular device of celebrities, who use it to get a bright white smile, it can at the same time be very harmful, as it exposes the user to UV light which can age the skin and increase the risk of Melanomas.
Another alternative is to use an oxidizing gel. This is placed onto the teeth rather like the bleach, but the dentist then uses a laser to intensify the gel, heating it up so that it makes the enamel whiter. By using a teeth whitening method which doesn't use excessive amounts of light, you avoid damaging the skin around the mouth, and you don't have to worry about skin changes which could lead to cancer. The laser works effectively, and can last for several weeks. When you need to change the whiteness of your teeth, either for an important date, or to get the job you always dreamed of, then you should consider using laser technology to whiten your smile.

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Different Types of Hair Loss: Where Does Yours Belong?

Hair loss does not mean that your hair simply falls off in excessive amounts. There are actually several types of hair loss brought about by a list of causes. Let us go through them quickly to give you an idea to where your condition might belong to.
Alopecia Areata
This is an auto-immune hair loss condition. By that it means your own body, specifically your white blood cells, is attacking your own hair follicles which cause them to fall excessively.
It initially presents itself as a round and bare patch, at least an inch in diameter. This is why this is characterized as the patchy type of hair loss.
Although this is a treatable type of hair loss through continued use of medications until the condition stops.
Tellogen Effluvium
This condition may sound so fancy, but it is actually very common among many. In fact you may have experienced it yourself when you experienced severe bouts of stress. This might be in the form of crazy demands at work, childbirth or sometimes when you immediately stop your birth control pills.
The good thing about this kind of hair loss is that it can be remedied once you relieve yourself from the stressors which caused it. So learn to take a breather, and this temporary phase will just come to pass.
Trichotillomania
This type of hair loss is due to the uncontrollable urge to twist or pull hair out. This stems out from a psychological disorder that needs to be cured first in order to grow hair back.
Women are more likely to experience this than men. Trichotillomania also results to uneven bald patches all over the head. Some may even pick on their eyelashes, eyebrows and body hair.
To be cured from this excessive hair pulling condition, this person can undergo behavioral therapy, habit reversal or take medications such as SSRIs.
Androgenetic Alopecia
This is also known as male/female pattern baldness which is caused by a hormone called DHT (dihydrotestosterone). DHT is a result of the male hormone, testosterone, after it is converted by the enzyme 5-alpha reductase.
You might be wondering why this would also happen to women when DHT is only derived from testosterone. But what most people don't know is that women also have minute amounts of this male hormone in their system.
To treat this type of hair loss, medications and hair transplants are the effective measures taken. Weaves and wigs can also be used as a quick way to conceal balding.

For a permanent answer for those disturbing patches, why not choose a hair transplant procedure at one of the most credible hair clinics in Singapore - The Hair and Laser Clinic. Dr. Tyng Tan, who is an internationally trained hair surgeon, heads our team and is fully driven to give hair loss sufferers a brand of confidence. We make sure that you receive natural-looking results like you never had any hair woes before! For more information about us and our service, you can check out our website by clicking the link above.