Amazing Edible Masks For Your Face

There are all types of skin care products currently on the market, most of which contain ingredients that can't even be pronounced. Chemicals, synthetic materials, and even oils are found in many face washes and masks on the market, which can be hazardous to your skin and even cause allergic reactions. They can get pretty pricey too, especially if you buy one that you end up throwing away because it doesn't work well with your skin type. Luckily, there still is a way to keep your skin looking great without having to worry about what you're using on your face.

Making your own natural skin care recipes is not only simple, but it can be so much fun. You can even use the leftovers for a snack while you relax, and let the natural ingredients go to work. You don't have to visit a specialty store or buy products online to make your own edible masks; you can actually find everything you need at your local grocery store. Fruits, vegetables, and even oatmeal can work wonders on your face, as long as they are used correctly and mixed with the right ingredients.

Cucumbers are a great way to reduce any puffiness you may have under your eyes, and you can eat them right after you use them if you life. Take two thin slices and place one on top of each eye, and leave for about five minutes. When done on a daily or weekly basis, your eyes will be looking great in no time.

Oatmeal is another food item that works wonders for the skin, and it can be used as a mask or a scrub. Strawberries, watermelon, honey, and even eggs make great masks, or you can add some salt or olive oil to turn them into exfoliating scrubs. The possibilities really are endless when it comes to using food on your face.

Honey is one of the best products to use on your face. Use a warm wash cloth over you face to open your pores, and then smear on the honey on your entire face. You can add some oatmeal if you have oily skin, since it works to soak up any extra moisture. Leave on your face for about 20 minutes, rinse with warm water, and apply a wash cloth with cold water to close your pores.

Raw eggs also make great face masks, and you can use either the yolk or the white. The yolks work best for dry skin, while the whites are better for oily or normal skin. Beat the portion of the egg you want to use, and apply to your face and neck. Leave on until it dries, and wash off with warm water. Your skin will feel smooth, tight, and flawless after using a raw egg mask.

Watermelon and strawberries are great for the skin, since they are both packed full of rich vitamins and nutrients. You can mash up some watermelon in a bowl, and make sure to remove any seeds. Adding strawberry juice to the mix if you have sensitive skin or sunburn, since it works to soothe and repair your skin. Apply the thick juice to your face, and leave on for about 30 minutes while the juices tighten your pores and cleanse your skin. Your skin will feel naturally smoother and tighter after your first application, and works just as well as facelift creams found in beauty stores.

Papaya works as a great ingredient in exfoliates, since it is packed full of vitamins and enzymes. You can mix the fruit with oatmeal and water, and your skin will be naturally smoother and blemish free after only a few applications. You can make a thicker paste formula and use it as a mask with the same ingredients, just by adding less water and juice to the oatmeal. Leave on until it dries, and wash off with warm water for the full effect.

Brown rice flour mixed with a small amount of lemon juice makes a wonderful mask as well, and works great for those with extra oil on their skin. Mix about 2 tablespoons of the flour with a small amount of lemon juice into a paste, but make sure you include some of the pulp in the mix. Leave on for about 15 minutes or until it is dry, and your skin will be tighter, smoother, and free of excess oil.

Many of the food items that are healthy to eat are also healthy for our skin. Fruits, vegetables, and many other ingredients give our skin the rich vitamins and nutrients it needs to look healthy, and it doesn't cost a lot either. Next time you are at the store and need to buy facial products, head for the food section rather than the face wash isle.

Ken Black is a writer and owner of the Skin Care Reviews website. Visit this exciting site for more information on natural skin care recipes.

Womens Heart Health - The Scary Truth About Womens Heart Health

Womens heart health is a subject that should be on the tip of everyone's tongue, but for some reason not too many people seem to be talking about it. Unlike other womens issues that have people mobilized and raising awareness, when it comes to the heart there doesn't seem to be too many people championing the cause. It seems as though I can't drive anywhere without seeing a car with a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon magnet attached to it, but where are the magnets for heart problems.

You'd think that there would be tons of soccer moms concerned with womens heart health, especially given the fact that heart disease is the number one cause of death today for American women. I'm constantly hearing about how men die of heart attacks, but more women than men die every year in the United States of cardiovascular disease. Additionally, 23 percent of women over the age of 40 who have heart attacks die within a year. When you compare that to the 18 percent of their male counterparts, it's hard to understand why this isn't more of a women's issue. Where are all of the specials on Oprah? Where are the races for cures?

Even scarier, 64 percent of women who have heart attacks and die suddenly have had no previous symptoms. It's truly a silent killer, striking otherwise healthy people when they least expect it. Also, after the age of 40 the lifetime risk for cardiovascular disease is more than 50 percent in women. The worst part is that diagnostic tests and procedures that work well for men don't work as well in women. This is particularly true of ECG tests, which is also known as the exercise stress test. All in all, more people need to be aware of womens heart health.

For more information on womens heart health, visit the Womens Health Forum. It's free to become a member, so visit http://www.WomensHealthForum.org/ and join today!

Stress and Debt: Is Credit Too Easy?

I found a website that offered 'on line' applications for payday loans from $100 - $1500. It let the user pick payment terms, amount, and even interest rates. It started me on the topic of credit.

Our parents dreamed of being out of debt by the time they retired. Most of our generation will be looking for ways to lower their monthly payments and interest rates. The stress of carrying debt is taking its toll on our health and our mental well being.

Faxless Payday Loans may not be the answer for everyone. But, we are so use to free and easy to obtain credit that it makes me wonder if we should fight the system - or learn how to benefit from it. Last year the USA had 70 banks close because of high debt loads. However, the UK is thriving under their debt mountain. They obviously learned something we haven't about carrying debt.

I am not sure if we will be out of debt when we retire, but I do hope that we will be able to manage the debt we do have without missing payments and struggling to make ends meet.

Look To The Internet For Emotional Wellness

My father was a 'walking dead man.' He retired about 10 years ago, and until this summer he did nothing but veg in front of the television. He worked as much as possible for friends, but for the most part, his depression robbed him of his vitality and interest in life.

This ended last summer when my son, in a most unusual way, 'woke him up.' How? I have parental control on my computer. My parents don't. So, my dad walked in on my son playing online casino. There was no cash involved, but my dad, in his 'guy' fashion decided to teach my son how to play.

Now, they are often visiting sites like pro360 looking for new poker sites. Of course, the rule is no cash involved. And, the rule is sticking. Even though my dad and son live so far apart they can only meet once a year, they meet every night on a different poker site.

Would I have chosen this venue? Never. But, it has worked for both of them. My son is learning how quickly lady luck turns, and my father is involved in his grandson's life.

The beneficial effects of Terminalia Arjuna

The beneficial effects of Terminalia Arjuna needs evaluation can be related to one or more of the elements that have cardiotonic (glycosides) or free radicle scavenger (tannins, flavones) properties. Studies have shown that adjuvent Terminalia Arjuna therapy in patients with heart failure, related to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

The conclusion of the above report was simple Terminalia Arjuna “appeared safe and caused long lasting improvement in symptoms and signs of heart failure” The report ends by stating “We believe that these preliminary observations open a new vista for future research in therapy of myocardial failure.”

With all the trendy herbs and Fad treatments, it is good to find something that has research and clinical reports behind them. Simply searching the web reveals dozens of reports that repeat the claims made in the two offered in this blog, there are long term benefits, and patients experience an increased quality of life. This is the most important aspect. Prolonging life, without maintaining an acceptable lifestyle, does place the herb or drug among today’s most successful drugs.

No matter how many testimonials are listed on websites that sell drugs, vitamins, and extracts, reading actual clinical reports, a testimonial is still a biased opinion offered by an uninformed, non-medical person. It does not hold the validity that a clinical report does.

Green Tea Extract

No other herb or drug has earned the respect or the impeccable track-record of green tea. While many of today’s natural products are viewed with skepticism by the medical industry, green tea is one of the few which has proven its effectiveness, both in 4000 years of medical use, and in modern clinical trials.

Proven Benefits:
Prevents disease
Reverses the effects of aging
Burns calories

Effective against:
Various types of cancer
Rheumatoid arthritis
Lowers high cholesterol levels
Helps prevent cardiovascular disease
Reduces infection
Fights depression
Treatment for headaches
Helps patients with impaired immune function

Scientific research in both Asia and The West has provided clinical evidence proving the claims made regarding the health benefits of green tea. In 1994, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study that suggested that green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer by sixty percent.

Another printed report from The University of Purdue recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also independent research that indicates that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.

Understanding Green Tea

While there is no doubt that green tea is has valid medical properties, people need to understand that the green tea used in clinical tests is not the same green tea sold in a grocery store or even health food stores. In fact, it is not even the same green tea that is sold in Chinese pharmacies. Like most herbs, green tea looses its effectiveness over time. A health food store may purchase high quality leaves from a reputable, organic, supplier, but as time passes, the herb dries out, the oils evaporate, and the heath benefits are lost.

Green Tea is linked to “The French Paradox.” Researchers have been puzzled for years by the fact that the average French person consumes a diet rich in fat, but they have lower incidences of heart disease than Americans. Researchers looked for the one compound in their diet that could explain the factor. The answer was found in red wine, which contains resveratrol, a polyphenol. These limit the negative effects of smoking and consuming a fatty diet.

In a 1997 study, The University of Kansas’s researchers concluded that EGCG was twice as powerful as resveratrol in preventing heart disease. This may explain why the rate of heart disease among Japanese men is low, even though approximately seventy-five percent are smokers.

Green Tea as a Drug

Green tea, which looks black after it is processed, is a leaf that is taken from a plant. Like all plants, there are several species of the plant, and even hybrids that have enough ‘green tea’ DNA to still carry the label green tea. Tea takes a long time to grow. Most ‘real’ tea plants need to grow in mountain soil, some in volcanic soil, and in certain climates. To make the product more marketable, the original tea blends are blended with hardier plants to make a hybrid. These hybrids can be grown on plantations, and produce more yield per plant. However, the final tea has dubious medical benefits, if any at all.


This is why it is important to buy pharmaceutical grade green tea. The best place to buy this is in an extract. Several different Chinese teas come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Green tea is set apart because the leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. Most teas are fermented changing the EGCG compound. When green tea is processed for mass market consumption, the original method of preparing the tea is changed, hurried, and modernized. This may also change the EGCG properties.

It Takes Time to Repair The Body

The first thing to consider when you are starting a fitness program shouldn’t be weight loss. It should be body repair. Think of an overweight body as a car that has not had a tune up in several years. The oil is dirty, the engine is clogged, there is no washer fluid left, the transmission is out of fluid, and the tires are low, all making a very uncomfortable drive.

If you owned this car, and you wanted to go for a long drive, you would not expect to fill the tank with gas and take off. Instead you would repair what was broken, clean up the system, top up the fluids, and then head out for a long drive.

Heal The Body

Common sense dictates the same thing for your body. There are many supplements and foods that can help. Pepper and beats, or extract supplements, can help clean out the arteries. Other vitamins can make the muscles work more efficiently. Making sure the balance between calcium and vitamin D is correct is vital to healthy bones and muscles.

Think about it. How can you start jogging if the muscles in your calves and feet have not been strengthened enough to carry your weight and act as shock absorbers? Sooner or later something will give - and it is usually the fitness program.

When I finally got started I enrolled in Tia Chi. It was nice and calming. I could make my body follow the instructor as close as possible, without forcing it to over stretch or work too hard. I had fun. I made friends. I felt great about myself. It took almost a year before I was strong enough, and healthy enough, to turn the movements into real, muscle working exercises. That didn’t matter. I left the classes feeling good about myself. Even though I was over weight, I was keeping up with the class. I left class feeling good about myself and looking forward to the next week.

Addictions and Fitness

The first step to a new, healthier you, is understanding the foundation of your weight. Overeating is an addiction. Society is quick to offer help to smokers and alcoholics, because they recognize these types of addictions. The same people who will hold super while a smoker steps outside for a few puffs, will condemn an obese person for eating four donuts at lunch break.

I found an article that you might like to read. It explains that the region of the brain which tells people they are full, and do not need to eat anymore, are the same ones that trigger cravings for drug and tobacco addicts. This news comes as a relief for a lot of people. It is sad that scientists are just now linking cravings, over eating, and emotions together.

I know many people who could have told them that they must eat. Not only that, they must eat 'comfort food.' It wouldn't be so bad if the brain could be tricked into craving carrots and celery. However, it wants comfort food, which is usually high in carbohydrates and fat.

People who are overweight need to seek counseling for their 'addiction.' They need the same professional help that a drug addict or an alcoholic would receive. The first step is to accept the fact that you have an addiction. It is never easy to break an addiction, but it is not impossible. It just takes a clear understanding of the problem, determination, and people to support you - even if they are councilors.