Spring into Spring
Visualise hitting the reset button this minute. Visualise feeling renewed, refreshed and revitalised today.
Browsing category: Food, Inspire-Me, Wellbeing
7 Habits of highly healthy people
Have you tried incorporating tea into your beauty routine?
Did you know that tea can provide the same beauty benefits, if not even better results, than commercial beauty products, without any of the harmful chemicals? From a clear complexion to glistening hair, the results from incorporating tea into your beauty routine are significant. Try adding these 5 powerful teas to your skin- and hair-care routine:
HIBISCUS TEA For Skin: Hibiscus tea is a wonderful all-around anti-aging product. It is rich in anthocyanosides and vitamin C, both of which are powerful antioxidants that protect the skin from UV damage, reduce pore size, increases skin elasticity, and reduce skin inflammation. Hibiscus also contains natural hydroxy acids that help firm, soften, and brighten the skin. Plus, hibiscus is rich in mucilage polysaccharides, which moisturize the skin and form a protective barrier to keep skin healthy. Use a cotton ball to apply the tea on your face, or pour the tea in a spray bottle and spritz onto your skin morning and night after washing and before moisturizing for the best anti-aging results. Leftover tea can be kept in the refrigerator for up to four days. For Hair: The natural hydroxy acids in hibiscus tea reduce dandruff and scalp irritation, and the mucilage polysaccharide content moisturizes hair and reduces tangles. This tea has a strong red-purple hue that can add beautiful red highlights to dark hair–however, be aware that it that can stain blonde or gray hair, so fair-haired ladies should be careful. To reap the benefits of hibiscus, pour a cupful of on your hair after washing and conditioning, and rinse out if you don’t want highlights. If you want reddish highlights, make an extra strong cup of tea by using three or four tea bags per cup of water, then leave the tea in your hair and style as usual. It may take several weeks of consistent use for the highlights to appear. CHAMOMILE TEA For Skin: Chamomile tea is perfect for all skin types. It calms the skin, reduces redness, balances the skin’s oils, has antibacterial properties that reduce acne, and it may reduce the symptoms of eczema and psoriasis. Apply the tea with a cotton ball or spritz onto your face using a spray bottle after cleaning and before moisturizing morning and night. Leftover tea can be kept in the refrigerator for up to four days. For Hair: Chamomile tea brings out subtle golden blonde highlights in blonde, redand brown hair. To use, make an extra strong tea by using three tea bags per cup of water. Pour a cupful of chamomile tea over your hair after washing and conditioning. Leave the tea in your hair for the best results. It generally takes a few weeks of consistent use to see results. GREEN TEA For Skin: Green tea is a perfect toner for oily skin. It reduces excess oils and helps dissolve blackheads. Another benefit of green tea for all skin types is that it is rich in polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants that can reduce UV damage to the skin. Apply to your skin morning and night if you have oily skin, and in the morning only if you have normal or dry skin. Leftover tea can be kept in the refrigerator for up to four days. For Hair: If you have oily hair, rinse your hair with a cupful of green tea after washing and conditioning to help reduce the oils on your scalp. Rinse the tea out for the best results. You can also do a green tea hair rinse between washings to freshen your hair and reduce scalp oils, without drying out your hair. ROSE TEA For Skin: Rose tea is wonderful for all skin types, and it is gentle enough for those with extremely sensitive skin. It calms and soothes the skin and reduces redness, and is an excellent moisturizer, making the skin feel soft and smooth. Rose tea also has antibacterial properties, which can be helpful for reducing acne and rosacea. For Hair: Rose makes an excellent clarifying and moisturizing hair rinse. It also smells delightful. Pour a cupful of rose tea in your hair after washing and conditioning to moisturize and detangle, to reduce dandruff, and to add shine and bounce to your hair. For best results, do not rinse the tea out of your hair. BLACK TEA For Skin: Black tea is rich in antioxidants and high in caffeine. The antioxidants help prevent UV damage and the caffeine helps reduce redness in the skin and puffiness under the eyes. Use a cotton ball to apply the tea on your face or pour the tea in a spray bottle and spritz your face after cleansing and before moisturizing for a quick pick-me-up that leaves your face feeling and looking refreshed. For Hair: The caffeine in black tea stimulates the scalp, which can reduce hair loss. Black tea also adds a beautiful shine to hair, and its dark pigmentation make it a natural hair dye. To darken your hair with black tea, make an extra strong brew by adding four tea bags to a cup of water. Pour the tea in your hair after washing and conditioning, and let sit for 45 minutes before rinsing out–or don’t rinse at all. It may take several weeks of continued use to see full results. By Integrative Nutrition
Juice Plus
There is no substitute for eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, at least 7-13 servings every day. But if you’re like most people, you don’t eat enough fruits or vegetables or enough variety. And those fruits and vegetables that we do eat tend to be over processed, over-cooked, or too far removed from the field. That’s why there’s Juice Plus+. It’s a convenient, affordable, and natural whole food based nutritional product providing nutrition from 17 vegetables, fruits, and grains. Juice Plus+ is not a vitamin supplement, providing a limited number of handpicked nutrients. Juice Plus+ is a whole food based product providing the wide array of nutrients found in a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains. It’s the next best thing to fruits and vegetables…because we don’t get nearly enough of the real thing every day. I have been taking Juice Plus for several years now, and there is no turning back. It delivers everything it promises, and I recommend to anyone who wants to optimise their overall beauty, health and well-being.
Top Ten Weight Loss Tips
Swap your breakfast for a protien packed smoothie. I love starting my day with a blend made with Avocado, Berries, Coconut Water, Spurilina & Kale ect. This provides you with the essential fuel and fibre until your next meal without making you feel hungry.
Eat Real Carbs: Replace refined carbs (white bread, pasta, cereal, bagels ect ) with complex carbs like Fruit, Veg, Legumes, Wholegrains, nuts and seeds. Fruit and Veg are high in fibre , which slow down digestion and promote stable blood sugar levels.
Drink Water: Hunger can be confused with dehydration. So limit soda, booze & caffiene, drink 2 glasses of water before meals to zap the hunger pain, and have a glass of water instead of a snack.
Choose Healthy Fats: The body utilizes dieatry fat for energy, health of hair, skin, nails, vitamin absorbtion, and normal function. Good fats promote several health benefits, protect against heart disease, cancer and lower blood pressure. Fab sources of good fat include avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil and fish.
Emphasize Lean Protien: Our bodies require protien to continually renew and replenish our cells, stabalize our blood sugar, and give us energy. Our bodies are made up out of amino acids that make up protien in our food. The best sources are fish, eggs, beans, nuts, seeds, and little amounts of free range chicken, grassfed beef and lean turkey.
Move your body: Daily movement boosts your mood, decreases body wieght, lowers heart rate, shrinks the stomach and gives you a good glow.
Keep Track of meals choices and balance calorie intake. Plantbased foods are packed with nutrients and have lowest calories density which also curb cravings for sugar. The more the merrier
Learn to cook. Home cooking allows you to control your portion sizes and quality of ingredients.
Get you ZZZ: Less than 5 hours a sleep at night can cause wieght gain. It can lead to inefficient body regualator of energy balance, metabolism and appetite. Sleep more= Eat and Weigh less
Be a Food Detective: Keeping track of what you eat encourages you to choose healthier options and think twice about the twix bar 
Is a raw food diet best for your skin?
We’ve all heard the expression “you are what you eat.” When it comes to our skin, there may be more truth in that statement than you think! While skin is the body’s largest organ, including nutrients in our diets that are good for the skin is often overlooked. One diet that has been touted as a miracle worker for skin is the raw food diet. If transitioning to a completely raw diet doesn’t sound like the right option for you, don’t worry! Eating a diet that consists of just 50% raw foods is a great way to keep your skin looking its best. The enzymes in raw fruits and vegetables can keep the skin looking younger by improving elasticity. Fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens and yellow or orange-colored veggies like bell peppers and carrots, are full of antioxidants that draw free-radicals out of the body. They also contain a high percentage of water, which helps keep skin hydrated and wrinkle free. The enzymes found in raw food can also help clear up acne, and even diminish acne scars. If fruits and vegetables are loaded with skin-healthy enzymes, why can’t we eat them cooked instead of raw? The answer is simple. Cooking food eliminates most, if not all, of the enzymes in food. While our internal health can still benefit from the vitamins and minerals found in cooked food, they’re not as beneficial for the skin as raw foods.Get your greens
“Green vegetables such as kale, broccoli and spinach are incredibly alkalising, and are packed with all sorts of essential vitamins (A, C, E, K and B6 to name just a few.) They help to build the blood aiding body oxygenation, and also supply the body with a wide range of necessary trace minerals and other phytonutrients. Broccoli, for example, supplies the body with a nutrient, sulforaphane; a chemical which, research has shown, offers some measure of protection against stomach ulcers, certain types of cancers an asthma. The plant kingdom abounds with copious quantities of plants that have tremendous healing power. Yet for a large percentage of the population the extent of their green vegetable consumption is the lettuce leaf on their burger!” Water for Health
Green Veg has had tremendous effects on my body physically, mentally and emotionally. To reap the benefits of greens, I try to consume at least 2lbs a day by eating, juicing or snacking. My skin is glowing, I am free from colds, and have loads of energy.
Achieve new wellness with baby steps, not deprivation
Many people who wish to improve their health take an all-or-nothing approach. They quit their favorite foods overnight, work out incessantly, fill their minds with negative thoughts of imperfection, and occasionally even resort to diet pills or laxatives. Not only is this dieting approach stressful and cruel, it is also ineffective and produces only temporary results, if any. Real change happens gradually, with patience, commitment, and self-love. When you take the time to implement a healthy lifestyle—as opposed to forcing yourself through a quick fix before returning to your old habits—you will experience a transformation that leads to beauty which shines from the inside out.
Focus on one thing at a time:Don’t try to be a superhero and implement a dozen changes all at once—it doesn’t work! Start with simply drinking more water or eating more greens for a few weeks. Once you’ve done that, commit to working out 3 times a week in a form of fitness that you enjoy. The key is to not get overwhelmed and make each new healthy practice part of your “new normal” before making further changes. This may take some time, but it will be a much smoother transition and will help make the adjustments more permanent.
Be kind to yourself:Use supportive and loving language in relation to yourself, think positive thoughts, and take a break when you need it. Remember that the ultimate point of these efforts is that you simply want to feel good, so start by learning to feel good about yourself first, and see how naturally the outward changes follow to fit that uplifting new mindset.
Ask for help: Whether you need to reduce your workload at your job, ask your mother to watch the kids while you jog, or find a Health Coach to provide ongoing wellness support, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. You might be surprised by how many people say yes when you just ask.
Be holistic:Authentic wellness is about much more than what you eat or how much you exercise. It’s about following your passion, having nurturing relationships, feeling comfortable in your home, and being balanced in all areas of life. Take a moment to ask yourself what might be out of balance for you, and what you can do to make it better. Sometimes what you really crave has nothing to do with what’s on your plate.
By:Integrative Nutrition
Red Alert
1 Red Pepper
1/2 Cucumber
1 Apple
2 Handful of Beets
3 Carrots
Packed with fat-flushing nutrients, this bright blend is the ultimate detoxifier, instant energizer, and skin soother.
7 ways to fight winter blues
Does your mood tend to drop along with the temperatures outside? It’s totally normal to feel a bit down during these short days and long nights—there’s a reason this is the time of year when many animals go into hibernation mode. Luckily, when you hone in on the mood-boosting qualities of certain foods, you create a positive ripple effect on your body and mind. To reap these benefits, try to choose more “happy” whole foods that have an uplifting combination of antioxidants and essential nutrients.
Navel oranges: The vibrant orange peel and flesh of this sweet, juicy fruit may be enough to make you all smiles. Zest the orange or slice it up to get the benefits of folic acid, an effective blues-buster. Temple, mandarin, and navel oranges give you a natural dopamine-releasing sugar rush, and they’re also a solid source of vitamin C, which has been found to improve mood.
Sea Veggies: High in iodine and selenium, sea vegetables such as nori, dulse, kelp, and kombu are a great way to balance your hormones and mood. They’re also energizing and nourishing, thanks to their supply of omega 3’s, fiber, and iron. If you don’t like the taste on its own, try sprinkling dried varieties on a rice dish, or scoop some kelp powder into your morning smoothie.
Chai tea: Can’t get out of a funk? Grab a cup of Indian chai tea that contains cardamom. This invigorating spice has long been used by those who practice Ayurveda to stabilize mood and treat symptoms of depression. Just smelling the combination of cardamom and cinnamon in the tea can provide an instant pick-me-up.
Pinto Beans: These little pink legumes are an amazing source of folic acid, a common treatment for mood swings, depression, and anxiety. Just a ½ cup serving is full of folate and stocked with other nutrients including magnesium, potassium, and iron. Other beans that are rich in folic acid include mung beans, lentils, and chick peas.
Sundried tomatoes: Grab a handful of sundried tomatoes for a snack. All tomatoes are a good source of the antioxidant lycopene, but sundried ones actually have the highest concentration per serving. Lycopene is a phytochemical that may fight inflammation that causes depression and low mood. Consider using some tomato paste, cherry tomatoes, and even an all-natural ketchup to benefit from this blues-busting compound.
by Integrative Nutrition