10 Steps to Health and Beauty

It's all about pink: October Awareness

We, the women are true survivors. Together, we can brave devastating disease like breast cancer. Being well-informed, being up-to-date and being watchful not only prevents disaster, but also can help restrict the extent of damage in our daily life --- be it breast cancer or just apparently usual stuff that we do every day. So, when we are all talking about things like breast cancer right now as October is the The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM)**; I thought why not talk about few simple things of a woman's daily life that can make a huge difference?

• 10 simple things that we, all women out there should pay attention to:

1. Healthy eating (and drinking):

I know it is tough (tell me about it, lol!), but there are plenty of scientific evidence out there that clearly shows that eating at least 3-5 potions of fruits/vegetable a day keeps our body healthy, full of necessary antioxidant/vitamins/minerals and other nutrients that are soooo vital for the well-being of our skin, hair and energy level. So ladies, select a number of fruit/vegetable items (say 15 of them) that you can see yourself consuming (I say that as I know some of you out there may simply HATE the idea of eating certain vegetable/fruits! For example, I hate broccoli --- I know, I know, I am so bad). Then make a rotating routine of which fruits or vegetable you are going to eat in next 10 days. If you stick to 3 a day, that means you can go 10 days without eating the same stuff again! Try it!

Water is also known as "life". Some of us may be surprised to know that more than two third of our body is made of water, that alone should tell us how important it is for our survival and of course, beauty! Please ladies, we have to drink close to 2.5-3 liters of water everyday! It helps us flush out all the toxins that our body generates as an engine to keep us running! Many of us likes a drink or two of wine or other alcoholic beverages. But moderation is definitely the key here. While there is some scientific evidence that drinking a regular glass of red wine has certain good health benefits (helps our cholesterol and heart), too much of alcohol is detrimental to our health causing liver problem, obesity, skin problem and what not!



2. Healthy sleeping:

Researchers say sleeping for 5-8 hours per day is adequate depending upon individual requirement. Everyone is different, and may have different requirement, while sleeping less (than 5 hours) per day has been associated with serious health problems (anxiety, heart problem, high blood pressure etc), sleeping more than 8 hours on a regular basis may not be necessary or sign of good health either! The best time to sleep is between 9 pm and 6 am. Depending upon our needs and daily routine, we should curve out our own sleepy time during this period of the day. Lack of sleep is common place, be it for the new baby, sick baby, education or shift work for us; we have to make sure that we minimize this as much as possible. Please remember, lack of sleep does catch up and for the well-being of our body, we should respond to it and get enough sleep/rest. While late nights here and there is part of our life, we should make sure we do not make them the regular routine as it eventually takes the toll from our body, mind and of-course our look.



3. Dream it, Believe it, Work it: Impossible is Nothing

Our modern life is about problem solving, making choices in every walk of daily life and striving to be successful in different ways. Be it making a great apple pie for a bunch of guests who we don't want to disappoint or making sure we get the grade in school that is so important for our near future career choices. Tension, frustration, anxiety is part and parcel of our everyday life. But, what makes it more painful is if we always think about the negative side of it and keep dwelling in a world of negativity ... it is infectious, too!
So, all of us, please be mindful that making every little thing "the end of the world" scenario does not help us. Sometimes, it is helpful to be nice to ourselves! We should give our best in whatever we want to do but we never keep thinking about the outcome, we have right in our doing and honest efforts, but the result is not necessarily a guarantee! So enjoy whatever you do and do it whole heatedly --- be it preparing for exam, trying out a new complex recipe or writing up something for your blog! Leave the rest upto time. While nothing is impossible (or, in other words, impossible is nothing!), the undue expectations should not spoil our positive attitude. Whatever happens in anybody's life, happens for a good reason; it may not be apparent or even comprehensible but if we follow up with time, most of the time we will realize that it is true.



4. Exercise:

 Free hand, aerobics, instrumental or yoga --- whatever our style is, we must do some exercise daily. While our usual day activity might seem like a lot of exertion and work out, there is not alternative to a routine of appropriate amount of physical exercise daily --- even if for few minutes. There are plenty of information out there on websites, Youtube videos etc. The common mistake some of us (including me!) may make is trying to do some exercise that might not suit our body structure, physical abilities or simply our daily requirements. So find a good exercise program, preferably find a mentor or instructor to guide you to start with and start! Be it for shedding some extra calories, keeping physical fitness or just simply feeling fit --- excising regularly has no second option. As individual goal and requirements can be very different, no one shoe fits all, so we should design our own schedule by means of available information on the web/other resources.



5. Reading a book:

Reading a ~300 page book (that is not related to or required by your job, career or educational goals) at least once over every month should be part of our routine. It not only serves as a "mental exercise", but also exposes us to novel thoughts, ideas, information and pleasure. Whether we are a digital geek or a old-fashioned hard-cover book reader, we should not have problem finding a good book every month. Searching the web for a review or two before selecting our next reading pleasure item should not be hard. We really under-utilize our local libraries, do pay a visit one day --- We are surely going to be pleasantly surprised to see how much they can offer!



6. Computer and IT health:

 Smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops are all part of our body now-a-days to connect to facebook, twitter, blog, email, youtube and internet in general which is part of our abstract existence on this planet. Many may argue that "life was better when apple and blackberry meant two fruits only", I beg to differ. While it is true that technology brings power to us and without the sense of responsibility, it can be destructive; we should not blame the advance technologies for our uncontrolled behavior. Maintaining a strict routine of maximum time on internet, in front of TV or on phone (except for calls related to work, unless can be helped!) per day should be adhered to. If we go reckless, we may hurt ourselves in many different ways. Too much time in front of desktop computer screen can damage our facial skin quality because of the bright light and heat from it. Try taking time facing away for couple of minutes in every 20-30 minutes, cold water rinse of the face and using a computer screen guard may all help. Mind our back, too. Computer users are the commonest people complaining of chronic low back pain. Remember to keep a straight spine and good posture while using computers. Excessive use of cell phones of a certain type gave birth to the term "blackberry thumb", do I need to explain further? The heat generated from laptops and tablet can affect our reproductive health, so keep these away from our "lap".



7. Microwave use:

While microwaves can be a real time-saver convenient tool of our daily life, it does come with its own risk packages. Microwave machines (specially the old ones) does emit harmful radiations that can hurt our body over a period of time if exposed regularly. So, my simple tips is to stay away from the microwave, when it is on --- no point looking at the timer impatiently, lol, it is not going to work faster! Also, please do not use plastic containers inside the microwave to heat up food/drink (even though it says "microwavable"), the plastics can leak harmful chemical in extremes of temperature in the food that it contains. These chemicals can lead to devastating hormonal problems and even cancer in the long haul.



8. Wearing protective gears:

None of us are invincible. No matter how tough we are (or we think), simple mistakes of recklessness can really hurt us big time. Please be mindful to wear thermal-protective gloves for your oven work, barrier gloves for your cleaning job in the kitchen or bathroom --- specially when you are working with harmful chemicals, like bleach! Few drops of these chemicals may be enough to burn your beautiful skin or cause irreversible damage to your eyes. So, wearing a eye protector shield or protective goggles (remember science labs in school!) can prove to be a big savior one day. When working with chemical sprays for the purpose of cleaning and stuff, it is only wise to wear a mask. Although, these chemicals are unlikely to cause conspicuous adverse effects in few days, the harmful effect on our body often adds up over time!



9. Healthy skin care

Well, yes! if we are healthy, active, happy from inside, we will have blooming skin. Still to really have flawless skin, we have to maintain a proper regular skin-care plan. To elaborate, we have cleanse, exfoliate (once a week) and moisturize our skin regularly. Not to mention, we are not talking about face only; we should take care of our neck area, hands and legs as well. Glowing skin is the prime marker of our beauty. On another note, have you seen "5 of my quickest skin-care remedies in budget"?





10. Removal of make up:

We are all naturally beautiful, in many different ways, in our own ways. However, the role of beauty products, makeup etc is undeniable in our daily life. While it is desirable, if not essential that all the beauty adjuncts will help us become and remain more beautiful, it comes with a price. And I am not talking about the price-tag here. We have to all remember that barring some freshly made organic natural beauty products, all we use on a daily basis are chemicals --- often they have serious health risk. So, when we are done with their service (after the party, get-together, dayout etc) we must wash them off from our skin as soon as possible. Too much or too long makeup literally suffocates our skin and can cause skin irritation and destruction. So we have to make it up to the natural skin after torturing it with our so called beauty products. This concept is also applicable to makeup products like eye shadows, eyeliner, mascara, contact lenses etc. Be reasonable, be careful and always be quick to remove all these add on stuff from our body. Cleaning with gentle soap and water is the best, use of alcoholic wipes (or make up remover with alcohol) on the face must be bare minimum, if at all and must followed by rinsing with water.
 

I know! I know! I have written a lot this time!!!
All the best.
XOXO


**The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) is a collaboration of national public service organizations, professional medical associations, and government agencies working together to promote breast cancer awareness, share information on the disease, and provide greater access to services.For more info, visit the organization at: http://www.nbcam.org

Tweet