Vitamin A is essential to keep skin’s elasticity, prevent dryness, wrinkles and aging of the skin. A person deficient in vitamin A will have flakiness, itching and possibly pimples. Vitamin A can be found in meat, milk, cheese, eggs, spinach, carrots, squash and broccoli.
Of the vitamin B complex group, biotin is the most important for healthy skin. It is available in bananas, eggs, oatmeal and rice. The body also produces biotin.
Vitamin C keeps skin well-toned. A deficiency can cause wrinkles and skin discoloration. As skin ages, more vitamin C is essential to maintain elasticity. Broccoli, kale, cabbage, strawberries and cantaloupe are all full of Vitamin C.
Vitamin E restores moisture to skin and slows the aging of skin cells. Vegetable oil, green leafy vegetables and nuts are good sources of vitamin E.
Iron transports oxygen in the blood to hair and skin. Magnesium helps the absorption of other vitamins and minerals. Zinc helps prevent sagging and wrinkles.
You know the kind of books that you pick up and can’t stop reading until it’s completely finished? I had that experience with Chantel Hobb’s Never Say Diet this past weekend. She lost 200 pounds the hard way…naturally. Love that! I loved the book so much because of the great common-sense advice she gives in regard to diet and exercise. The key to her success (and to everyone who has ever stayed successful in fitness) is simply to reduce your caloric intake and exercise an hour a day. People seem to get caught up in trying to find the “secret” to weight loss. It’s no secret. Take in about 1500-1800 calories a day and workout for about an hour a day at least five days a week. Secret revealed! Whether you need to lose 10 pounds or 200 pounds, that’s the way to do it. Mix up your workouts with cardio and strength training …and throw in some Pilates and yoga for fun on other days. It’s really that easy.
Being somewhat of a health/fitness enthusiast, it makes me mental to read books about the “secret” to a great body. It’s no secret. Yes, you’ll need to embrace hunger a bit. If you are used to taking in lots of calories each day, you’ll need to embrace hunger a lot. At least at first. Not to worry, it goes away eventually. The feel good endorphins your brain will release from exercise will actually help curb your hunger pangs.
Nothing tastes as good as being fit and healthy feels.
“We write to taste life twice, once in the moment and once in retrospection.” Anais Nin
Journaling is my thing. I started journaling when I seriously started working out, about six years ago. Initially, it was for tracking purposes only; Wednesday I do cardio, Thursday I do upper body, Friday I do lower body, etc. Then I realized how beneficial it was to record my meals. When you start keeping track of your caloric intake, it gives you a huge look inside yourself. When your skin is starting to look bad, you can look back and see what’s going on in your life. Are you eating too much junk food? Too many glasses of champagne? The answers are all right there, you just have to find them.
My journaling went one step further. It started innocently enough, just notating if I had a headache that day, noting any blemishes or anything strange happening. Not only did I get to know my body really well, I got to know my own mind better.
Why did I always seem to be super moody one day a month and very weepy? Why do I get a blemish about every third or fourth month right in the same place? Why did I feel like I could eat like an animal some days, while other days I’d barely take any calories in and felt great? Why was the libido through the roof on some days of the month? Well, the short answer is hormones. But I was never able to understand why my body was doing what it was until I started tracking it in my journal. It turns out, those problems happened the same day, month after month. It’s sort of like a science experiment. Guess, test, and revise.
You can also go one step further and write your feelings down. It’s really cool to reflect on old postings and say to yourself, this is where I was, then. This is what was happening in my life, good or bad, and this is how I dealt with it. As if it’s a guide saying, this is what worked in the past for me….this is what didn’t.
Journaling is definitely one of those things that you don’t “get” until you try it. It’s a huge gift to have that sort of insight, to reflect on yourself. Try to wrap your brain around it and get started. You’ll love it once you get going.
There are online journals, such as www.LiveJournal.com. I generally prefer to type over handwriting, but in this instance, I like writing things down. It just feels more cathartic somehow. I can appreciate a beautiful journal. I adore beautiful books and journals, and it’s always the perfect gift for me.
Check out the journal section next time you are at the bookstore and purchase your favorite one. Get into journaling. It’s like a window, looking inside yourself. It’s an easy and powerful way to accelerate your personal development.
This is one of my favorite yoga stretches, albeit, one of the hardest stretches. It’s an amazing hip opener. If you are a woman, you should be able to bend down further than the man in this video. We are just programed to be more flexible than men, so go down as far as you can…and breathe into it. Just when you feel like you can’t take it another second, take a deep breath and breathe again. Try to stay in the pose for a full 30 seconds. The more you breathe, the more you’ll feel your hips relax.
Not an aerobics fan? Consider this: Aerobic exercise not only burns calories, but also curbs cravings. Researchers at the University of Chile Clinical Hospital reported that people who ran or biked for 20 minutes three times per week for 10 weeks had reduced appetites due to increased levels of neurotrophic factor (a protein in the brain that may suppress hunger) from the workout sessions compared with when they were sedentary. Rev up your cardio routine and rein in your snack attacks.
One in 10 gymgoers checks her cell phone while exercising, hindering fitness focus and stress relief according to a survey by Standard Life Healtcare. Leave the Blackberry in your locker or car …out of sight, out of mind.
“Topical Vitamin C can prevent the consequences of prolonged sun exposure which can lead to skin cancer,” says Karen E. Burke, MD, in a news release. “Supplementation with natural Vitamin E in 400 mg per day has been noted to reduce photodamage, wrinkles and improve skin texture.”
