6 Tips to Improve Your Body Image

We have all had problems with our body image, whether it's just before the party season or just after. Everyone has had some issue with how they look at some point in their lives. Today our lives are filled with visual images of how we are supposed to look or we are being introduced to the 'latest' diet program making us take a closer look at our bodies.

Here are 6 tips to help you become less obsessed about how you look:-

1. Stop avoiding your body - The best way to avoid negative body image is to face up to how you body looks and to start getting to know it, lumps, bumps and everything in between. If you usually avoid mirrors, now is the perfect time to start approaching them. Look at yourself as a whole person - don't just focus on the bits you don't like. Spend some time with yourself naked! Try new activities that you would normally avoid like going to the beach. The more time you spend in contact with your body and accepting your body the way it is, the more you are likely to develop a better body image.

2. Stop constantly checking - This is when you are constantly checking your body for evidence of continued 'disgustingness'. A person might study their body in the mirror for hours, or pinch their sides to check on their 'fat'. Write a list of your checking behaviours and recognise what you are doing by making a point to refuse to check or at least try to cut back.

3. Stop comparing yourself - One form of the checking behaviour is when you also compare your physical attributes to other people. It can be challenging to stop negatively comparing yourself to others. Make a note of when you compare, who you compare yourself to, and what you say to yourself when you do it. What effect does this have on how you feel when you do it? What can you say to yourself that can be more helpful and uplifting?

4. Check your assumptions out - Some people can interpret normal everyday evidence as 'fatness'. For example, a lot of women think that if their thighs or stomachs wobble, this means they are 'fat'. In fact, this wobbliness is part of a normal female's characteristics and can be normal fluid retention leading up to a premenstrual cycle but many view this as a 'sign' that they are putting on weight.

5. Separate the feeling bad from feeling fat - When you are having some weight issues, it can sometimes be challenging to separate your feelings of how you feel about your body. For example, if you've just had a fight with your partner you may start to feel 'fat' and unattractive. Try and identify what the real issues are and keep them separate from your body image issues. Another example when people feel 'fat' is just after they have eaten. When this happens remind yourself that your weight and appearance are the same before you started to feel this way. You may feel different but your weight hasn't changed.

6. Practise self acceptance - When you have a negative body image it's like having you own personal critic inside your head. This critic makes you feel awful because you end up believing it. When you feel terrible about yourself, you may look for ways to feel better. You may eat something which you feel is 'naughty' but gives you some momentary pleasure, but then the critic is back to comment on what a pig you are. To change this negative body image persona you need to kill the critic in your head and learn to love yourself for the way you look. Cognitive techniques can be a very effective in helping you identify and change your critical thinking.

By learning to accept and love yourself for who you are and the way you look, you will find yourself happier and more appreciative of how your body looks and feels. We all want to look our best and have a healthy body but a healthy body comes in many shapes and sizes. Make sure your lifestyle consists of a healthy eating plan and regular exercise that will help boost yourself image; self esteem and of course increase your energy levels.

 Source: 

11 Signs Your Body Needs More Magnesium

10 Myths OF Homeopathy That Most People Do Not Know

Homeopathy is the second most popular medicine in the world. However, most people really do not know too much about Homeopathy. This article will help clear up some misconceptions associated with homeopathic medicine.

1) Homeopathic medicines are nothing more than sugar pill that contain no measurable substance.

Certain homeopathic medicines have no measurable substance. However, many remedies do have measurable substances. In medicine that is 24X or 12C has no measurable substance. However, some medicine potency such as 6X, 6C, 12X will have a measurable substance.

2) Homeopathy has never been successful in large scale well designed trials. Trials have only worked when homeopaths were doing the trials or poorly designed trials with quite a bit of author's bias.

Trials in Homeopathy is a very mixed bag. Sometimes people are looking at the wrong information source. Many skeptics will take successful trials and point out that when looking at larger trials in the study, homeopathy does not seem to work. Although, the conclusions of the authors were that homeopathy seems to works better than a placebo.

However, some trials that were successful were fairly large. Oscillococcinum trials were quite large and well designed but still yielded a positive result in shortening the flu duration. Similar studies with Osccillococcinum were replicated as well. The idea that homeopathic remedies have never been successful in a large scale well designed trial is not true.

3) Homeopathy should not be used to treat life threatening diseases.

Homeopathy can treat life threatening diseases with the help of a well trained homeopathic physician. Also, the general medical doctor and other specialists involved in treating the disease should be included on the treatment plan. Medical doctors should always be seen if you have a life threatening illness. Homeopathy can not cure all life threatening diseases.

Many people with life threatening diseases have fared well with Homeopathy. Homeopathy malaria trials show that in trials that homeopathic medicine worked as well as conventional medicine in treating people with malaria.

4) Homeopathy and modern medicine can not work together

Homeopathy can be quite complementary to modern medicine.Many patients under going chemotherapy have seen their side effects reduced when taking homeopathic remedies. Trials with reduction of cancer treatments provided encouraging results.

5) Homeopathy, Herbal, and Ayurvedic medicine are similar.

Homeopathy, Herbal and Ayurvedic are forms of alternative medicine but these forms of medicine are not similar in any other way. Homeopathy use diluted substances to treat patients. Every medicine has been diluted in water or alcohol.

Herbal medicine is medicine based on the use of plants. Ayurvedic is an ancient system of medicine started in India that operates with the theory that all materials of vegetable, animal, and mineral origin have some medicinal value.

Ayurvedic use these materials to treat patients. Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines are used quite a bit in India so that creates some confusion in people thinking they are the same thing.

6) Homeopathy is slow to work

Acute conditions such as flu, colds, motion sickness and pain relief can be treated quickly using homeopathic medicines. Chronic conditions are slow to work because they are complicated to treat. Chronic conditions would be acne, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and other conditions will take longer to treat.

7) Homeopathy is only for human use.

Actually, petmeds is one of the fastest growing use of homeopathic products. Homeopathy offers a safe and inexpensive way to treat your pet of acute conditions such as allergies, anxiety and joint stress relief.

8) You can get a book on Homeopathy and treat yourself.

This may be the case in acute conditions such as cold and flu. However, more complicated and chronic cases will require you to see a homeopathic doctor. Chronic cases involve generally taking quite a few remedies in the course of a treatment. A book can not tell you which homeopathic remedies to take and how much to take when your condition starts to improve or worsen.

9) Homeopathic remedies are not widely available.

This may have been true a few years ago. However, many remedies can be found pretty much all over the US. Walmart, CVS Pharmacy, Target and larger retailers carry combination homeopathic remedies for acute conditions such as cold and flu and insomnia.

Single remedies which homeopaths claim to work the best are not as readily available. These remedies can be found in health food stores, natural pharmacies or on the Internet. They are more specialized and generally most people taking single remedies have some homeopathic knowledge or a doctor has prescribed that medicine.

10) All homeopathic remedies work the same on all people.

Homeopathy works different on different people. Classical homeopathy treats different individuals with different remedies according to their personality type. One person may use one remedy to treat a illness, while another person would use a different remedy to treat the same illness.

Homeopathy assumes everyone is different so using the same remedy to treat everyone will not work according to Classical Homeopathy principals. Modern medicine generally gives everyone the same medicine for general conditions.



 Source: 

Spotting the Signs of Anorexia

Eating disorders are dangerous illnesses that affect both physical and mental health. More and more people become the victims of eating disorders nowadays. A disturbing fact is that eating disorders such as anorexia (Anorexia Nervosa) and bulimia (Bulimia Nervosa) have high mortality rates. Around ten percent of people with anorexia die from starvation and malnourishment.

The persons with anorexia usually deny the facts of being confronted with a problem. They start by feeling constrained by their body weight and physical appearance and then end up by developing obsessions with food, weight and staying thin. They indulge in harmful behaviors, carefully portioning and restricting the amount of food they consume. People with anorexia also have a false perception of their body image, living with the permanent impression that they are fat, even if they are underweight.

Anorexia, just like other eating disorders can be treated. However, in order to overcome the illness, people with anorexia need all the help they can get. Although at first they may refuse any kind of intervention from the exterior, it is important to encourage them and to provide them with care and support. In order to prevent and to overcome anorexia, it is vital to keep an eye on its signs. If you suspect that someone you know may be suffering from such an eating disorder, it is very important to know the signs of anorexia.

The signs of anorexia are usually easy to identify, due to dramatic changes in physical aspect and behavior. The most obvious sign of anorexia is inappropriate body weight. Most anorexics weigh a lot less than they should. The persons with anorexia are constantly preoccupied with their weight, the amount of calories contained by the food they consume and with keeping drastic diets. Anorexics tend to bring issues regarding food and body weight into discussion in every conversation. They sometimes do it unknowingly, due to their need of expressing their obsessive, troubling thoughts.

Other signs of anorexia are excessive physical activities like jogging or work outs. Also, people with anorexia tend to isolate themselves from the world and they refuse to participate in many activities due to their complexions of being fat and repulsive. Anxiety, agitation and even violent impulses are also signs of anorexia.

Women and girls that suffer from anorexia experience irregular menstrual periods. Low body weight and menstrual problems or infertility are obvious signs of anorexia in girls.

Anorexics usually have unpredictable reactions and they quickly jump from one mood to another. They may appear to be relaxed and calm at one moment, while the next moment they may burst into tears. Emotional instability is therefore another sign of anorexia.

Other signs of anorexia are unusual hair loss, internal disturbances like stomachaches, burns or constipation, migraines, low blood pressure, unstable body temperature, heart problems and dehydration.

Keep in mind that in order to prevent an anorexic from causing further damage to oneself you should quickly spot the presence of the disorder by paying attention to the signs of anorexia.

Source: 

Break Habitual Anxiety & Panic Attacks Naturally

Anxiety is a tension builds due our reaction to fear of uncertainty & fear of unknown. It is our instinctual reaction to the future threat. A person suffering from anxiety repeats in his mind (what will happen?), knowingly or unknowingly.

Anxiety may be there about Catching a train, Giving an examination, Meeting a new person, Socializing, Disease, Giving a speech, Going into Sex, Business Deal, etc. It may increase even to inability to go for a shopping, to handle the guest etc.

Anxiety actually is not wrong in itself because it is the way of to protect us from undesirable events. If a snake is passing bye near our foot and suddenly we watch it, we will jump out without giving a thought to it. Our breath will speed up & body will become tense. But this kind of anxiety is normal & is a safety device for us.

Anxiety when caused due to some seed of thought about future uncertainty, then it is pathological. It can be a creative phenomenon if we understand it properly. But generally we are lead by its affects.

If we try to relax when we are anxious, which is just not possible as our engine of though is very hot. It is like as if to put break to a car & at the same time pressing the accelerator. It can create an accident. Like wise to relax during anxiety, can lead to panic attacks.

What can be done then? If we can understand the whole process then, it will be lot easier for us to use the opportunity constructively & break the habitual pattern of anxiety in turn.

 Source: 

Novice Guide To Yoga

For many people in the west, yoga can seem like a very strange practice. Doing yoga has many benefits and as you read this article, you will learn more about yoga and the benefits of beginning yoga.

Points I cover in this article:

* History of yoga

* Benefits of yoga

* Beginning yoga

History of Yoga

The history of yoga dates back to the Upanishad's. The Upanishad's a part of the Veda's and form part of the Hindu scriptures was written before the 7th century BC, which makes it one of the oldest texts known to man!

For many people in the west, the meditation aspects of yoga is known, however, there is more to yoga. Doing yoga for many people practicing yoga, is also a way to spiritual growth, and spiritual enlightenment.

Benefits of Yoga

When you start to do yoga, you will find many benefits, not just spiritual or physiological, but also psychological, and biochemical, not to mention the many more benefits of you doing yoga.

Some of the benefits of yoga, you may be able to get are your mood improves and subjective well-being increases, your level of Anxiety and Depression decreases, sleep improves, pulse rate decreases, and your weight normalizes. This is only a very small handful of the benefits of doing yoga.

For people who may be looking for the health benefits which can help heal certain ailments, you may be glad to know glucose and sodium levels in the body go down because of doing yoga. So the steps you are taking now can greatly benefit your health in a positive way.

As always, remember to get these health benefits from yoga, you will need to remember to keep to practicing yoga regularly. If you have old health issues, then also make sure you speak to your doctor before embarking on any new healthy health exercise regimen, such as yoga.

Beginning Yoga

Beginning yoga is much easier today, thanks to the major interest in yoga over the last few years, more and more yoga classes are being started. The first step in beginning yoga, is to decide to start! At this point, most people may wonder if they have what it takes to start yoga, what will be involved etc. Relax, yoga classes can teach you from beginning, even if you do not know the first thing about yoga.

Whether you want the spiritual benefits of yoga or the physiological benefits of yoga, you can get them by doing yoga at a yoga class. It is best to go to a yoga class to learn how to correctly do yoga. There are many great books and videos about yoga, and they can be beneficial. However, a yoga class can help you get the right yoga postures, and get the full benefit of yoga.

Finding a yoga class can be as easy doing a search online to find local classes. Perhaps speak to someone who you know who has an interest in yoga, check local adult education institutions. As more and more yoga classes are available, you can find a local yoga class.

Source: 

Anxiety: 7 Foods to Reduce Your Anxiety

Anxiety & Food

Foods that reduce anxiety is actually not a new concept. In the health industry and before modern medicine natural products including food have been used for many years to heal all kinds of ailments, but can it really help to reduce anxiety and improve our mental well-being?

Scientific evidence suggests that depression and anxiety can be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Serotonin which is a chemical that helps send messages from one brain cell to another is how the cells in the brain communicate. If serotonin levels become imbalanced then communication can be disrupted which leads to depression and anxiety.

Pharmaceuticals have found the solution to this with antidepressants so your brain can perform at its best and there products help restore a fine chemical balance. Interesting marketing, no wonder food and natural remedies are overlooked to improve mental wellbeing.

I do not advocate for people who are prescribed antidepressants to stop taking them. I think antidepressants can be very useful in the right circumstances and for a period of time. However if like me you would like the opportunity to explore all your options you may wish your doctor had told you this before writing a prescription for medication. For some people a healthy diet will need to be part of a holistic plan that considers medication, talking therapies and other help.

Food is the most abused anxiety drug so if you have been suffering for years, struggling to face the day, experiencing chronic tiredness at different parts of the day, beating yourself up and feeling like a failure. Perhaps you are thinking could food really be the cure for my anxiety but I want to show you how changing your food can change your mood.

7 Foods to Reduce Your Anxiety

1) Substitute processed grains for wholegrains. Substitute white bread, white pasta and white rice for Wholegrain pasta, rice and bread. They are rich in magnesium. Magnesium deficiency can lead to anxiety. Wholegrains also contain tryptophan which becomes serotonin a vital chemical for the brain. Avoiding complex carbohydrates like white processed foods will create a healthy energy while reducing your hunger.

2) Increase your super foods. Blueberries & acai berries both contain antioxidants that are extremely beneficial for relieving stress. They are also full of vitamin C which is great stress buster.

3) Omega 3. These fatty acids help keep cortisol and adrenaline from spiking when your feeling tense. Salmon is one of the best sources of omega 3 and spinach is also good too.

4) A handful of Almonds each day. Contain zinc which is good for maintaining a balanced mood and have iron and both healthy fats. Low iron levels can increase anxiety. They also contain vitamin B2 and E which boost the immune system.

5) Drink plenty of Water. Dehydration is known to cause more anxiety. However generally drinks plenty of water is good for you. Aim for at least 1.5 litres a day.

6) Avoid caffeine. Any stimulant will increase you anxiety. Substitute tea and coffee for herbal teas. Valerian and Chamomile are good for creating a calming effect.

7) Treat yourself to chocolate. I bet you thought you would never be encouraged to eat chocolate and yes there is a but. Dark Chocolate reduces cortisol the stress hormone that causes anxiety and it contains other compounds that improve your mood. Preferably dark chocolate with no added sugar or milk.

If you have been in a desperate place for long, then these simple steps could be a life changer, a message of hope. It is hard to believe that something as simple as food can be unbelievably successful in treating anxiety. This really does work to calm your anxious mind but it also will improve your mood and end cravings.

 Source: