Suprising benefits of Aloe Vera

 Aloe Vera is really a medicinal herb that was cultivated by humans for years and years. I will share to you three very valuable medicinal uses of Aloe Vera used for years to come and/or pass the data on to others. Aloe Vera is really a succulent, soft plant which includes many pointy leaves that happen to be thickest in the bottom, then work their far to a very sharp point. There are also many little shiny white teeth on both sides in the leaf just like a serrated blade. The first on the medicinal uses of Aloe Vera that I'm going to share together with you is the most commonly known, burn/wound/sunburn application. If you ever possess sunburn, a normal burn or perhaps a minor wound…applying the sap from the inside in the aloe vera leaf can be extremely soothing indeed as well as provide healing and rejuvenating results. Other medicinal uses of Aloe Vera include one study that showed Aloe Vera traces were accountable for lowering the blood glucose levels of diabetics. People can eat Aloe Vera yoghurt or drink it in special herbals. Finally, the last with the medicinal uses of Aloe Vera that I will give out today. Aloe Vera extracts have already been used to treat ulcerative olitis and contains successfully reduced the redness. There are many other medicinal uses of Aloe Vera that I might go on about for pages…from creams, ointments, soaps, yogurts, sunscreen, sunburn relief and healing etc. No wonder people happen to be cultivating this very helpful herb for hundreds of years. Which one with the medicinal uses of natural aloe-Vera would you benefit most from? It could never hurt to possess one around!

Brighten Your Skin Using Natural Remedies

               Hydroquinone, the most common ingredient in skin lightening creams has been linked to cancer and ironically ochronosis, also known as skin darkening. Yikes!  Dark and dull skin (The dark patches) are in fact Hyper pigmentation, a sign of sun damage caused by an increased melanin production, which happens when the skin is trying to protect itself from over exposure to UV ray, environmental pollution, a medical condition and the only way to truly reduce dark patches is to ex-foliate regularly: Removing surface layers of damaged skin with lighten dark spots over time as new skin replaces damaged skin. And you can save yourselves time and money by using natural remedies that will effectively brighten and lighten your skin complexion.

1.     Yoghurt

         Yoghurt, a by-product of milk, has many nutrients that are good for the skin. It also contains lactic acid that has bleaching properties. When applied externally helps to clear the skin and moisturises it.

Simply spread some fresh yoghurt onto your face and let it sit for 20 minutes. Rinse off as usual. As an alternative you can also try mixing yoghurt with a tablespoon of honey or lemon for best results.

    

2.     Lemon 

           A natural exfoliator, comes into play in this skin lightening remedies. After cleansing, slice open a lemon hold one half by the rind and rub the juicy side all over your face, being careful to avoid your eyes. The alpha-hydroxyl acids (AHAs) in the lemon encourage ex-foliation by sloughing away the outer layer of the dead skin cells, improving circulation and stimulating new cell growth. The fruit acid dissolves the old skin cells and making room for the new. Leave the juice on for five minutes or less, if the stinging is too much then rinse off. This treatment is even more effective in a steamy bathroom or sauna.

3.     Honey

         Honey helps to bleach skin while also acting as a moisturising agent. Dry skin is a common factor that contributes to uneven skin tone. Honey also has antibacterial properties that can help fade age spots and acne scars. Apply Pure honey to your face and just don’t give into the temptation to lick it all off. Leave the honey on for as much as 20 minutes the rinse off with lukewarm water. This remedy will help remove dead skin cells, making your skin appear brighter and fresher than before.

4.    Orange

        The most important ingredient in skin care is Vitamin C, which you can get in abundance form oranges. Plus, Oranges have bleaching property that can lighten your skin tone. It has been found that regular consumption of fresh orange juice can greatly improve the overall texture of your skin as well as its suppleness. Grind dried Orange peels into powder mix with Yoghurt and apply to your face and neck to get brilliant skin brightening results. You can also mix a tsp of honey to lighten pigmentation marks and to help unveil soft shining skin tone. It should be done twice a week.

5.     Aloe Vera

         Aloe Vera can alleviate hyper pigmentation and restore your skin’s original colour. Also the cooling effect of aloe Vera helps regenerate new cells and rebuilds damaged tissue, which is important for healthy skin. This simple remedy using aloe Vera can lighten dark spots and improve your overall skin complexion. By rubbing the inside of the plant (the gel part) on your face, you will make your skin feel brighter and refreshed.

6.     Tomatoes

 Remember when our mothers endlessly emphasized on the benefits of tomatoes for skin? because tomatoes can actually whiten and moisturise your skin naturally. They make your skin glow and appear fairer than ever before. Consuming one raw tomato on . Apply the mask every two days once and watch the magic happen!daily basis, you can also make a mask out of freshly crushed tomatoes with yoghurt.

With regular use, these remedies can improve skin texture as well as reduce brown spots and wrinkles but only if you continue to protect your skin from the sun. Avoid Prolonged use of Chemical bases Cosmetic product. Oh, and keep a hat handy for sunny days. With a bigger brim than mine! 

Helping Children Overcome Obesity

          Ten Year old Helen, a pupil of Haviborah Secondary school in my community is obese, and her mom says the fight over her weight started when she was a toddler. Her mom who is slim and tall reveals how she has tried to curb Helen ravenous eating habits but to no avail.

       She said my Husband and I are not fat although my mother was a bit on the fat side. I’m not very knowledgeable in that area of genes and DNA, but I know that my daughter’s challenges with obesity are because she finds it hard to control what she eats. I’m really pained about her weight.

       “I couldn’t allow my daughter to starve. But I knew I had to do something. So, she tried getting a nutritionist, someone has to monitor her food intake. After sometime the man gave up on her, I have decided to leave the matter, hoping that she would lose the body fat as she grows older,” she said

      Obesity is a condition where a person has excess fat that has accumulated to the extent that it may have a negative effect on your health, thus parent should balance the calories their child eats and drinks with the calories used through physical activity and normal growth.

Getting  your child involved in Physical activity has a great deal of effect on your Child obesity but, most children feel tired and misinterpret your caring nature for hate or punishment, making it difficult to control her weight.

Then try making their favourite meals healthier and focus on reducing calorie-rich temptation is the best measure.

Avoid using food as a comfort measure: this is one mistake parent make. Whenever a parent wants his or her child to do something or behave in a certain way, they offer the child food. That attitude is wrong especially to Obese Children.

            A Lot of Fruits and vegetables should be incorporated into the diet of children to avoid weight. During meal time provide plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grain products for your child. Also include Low-Fat or non-fat milk or dairy Products, Fish and Beans for protein. Beans is extremely rich in protein, encourage your child to love beans. When serving their meals, serve reasonable sized portions.

According to experts, cooking at home allows one to choose healthy ingredients and control portion sizes.

Children also enjoy fizzing and sweet drinks, they don’t enjoy drinking water but encourage your child to drink lots of water and limit sugar sweetened beverages

Another note to parents with obese children should put a limit to their children’s television viewing time. There is a direct relationship between the amounts of time spent watching T.V and degree of weight gain, this habit is also common with adults. You can sit in front of a T.V and finish a packet of biscuit quickly. T.V Viewing can directly cause obesity through replacing your physical activities.

         Childhood Obesity is a complex health challenge that is due to several factors, some of which are genetic, lack of activity, improper food choices or a combination of two or more of these factors. Sadly Overweight children are at a high risk of becoming overweight adolescents and adults, placing them at risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes later in life. Children need about 60 minutes of physical activities a day and it does not have to happen all at once.

Encourage your child to join in sports and other moderately intense activities like jumping rope, playing soccer, swimming and dancing.

  

Children grow at different rate at different times so it is not always easy to tell if a child is overweight, Body Mass Index uses height and weight measurement to estimate how much body fat a child has and can be used to screen for weight and obesity problems from the age of two. However BMI may be a good indicator, it may not be a perfect measure of body fat and can be misleading in some situation. 

"Childhood Obesity isn't some simple discrete issue. There's no one because we can pinpoint. There's no one program we can find to make it go away. Rather, it's is an issue  that touches on every aspect of how we live and how we work - Former First Lady, United States, Michelle Obama"

Episodes of Back pain and remedies

So It is fortunate that episodes of back pain heal with time. However, back pain can be a temporary but recurrent pain that is indeed a very uncomfortable occurrence. It has a way of interfering with your daily routine, aside making you very uncomfortable. It is important to identify the causes of back pain and know the remedies to help deal with it.

POOR POSTURE

This is one of the major causes of upper and lower back pain. This pain usually occurs along with neck pain or shoulder pain. Poor posture puts on strain on sensitized muscles and soft tissues leading to increased tension in the muscles which most times results in pain.

Remedy: 

The simple remedy for this is to correct your sitting and standing posture to help alleviate some of the muscle tension causing you back pain. Avoid slouching or hunching your back when sitting. Also try to do exercises that strengthen your core muscles, buttock muscles, check muscles, neck muscles, rear-shoulder muscles and back extensions (exercises like bridges, back extensions, side-lying stretches, planks etc.), this will help improve your posture.

When standing, balance your weight evenly on both feet (don’t lean on one leg), keep your shoulders and back relaxed, pull in your abdomen, keep your feet apart and straight but knees relaxed, and try not to tilt your head forward, backward or sideways.

STRENUOUS PHYSICAL WORK AND EXERCISE

Jobs that involve lifting, pushing, pulling or twisting with the low back can cause injury and back pain. These jobs especially affect the lower back and cause lower back pain.

Also, there are some physical exercises that contribute to back pains. Exercises like the ‘touch-your-toes’ hamstring stretch, hurdler’s stretch, leg raises, sit-ups, crunches and high impact aerobic exercises.

Remedy: 

For physically strenuous jobs, try to avoid heavy lifting, pushing, pulling or twisting your low back as much as you can. If you must do heavy lifting try to bend your legs and keep your back straight when lifting something heavy. Also, you should often do exercises to stretch and strengthen your core, back, neck, shoulder and buttock muscles.

For strenuous exercises, avoid strenuous physical exercises like the ones mentioned above and swap them for more back-friendly exercises like side-lying stretches, reverse curl-ups, swimming, walking etc.

MENTALLY STRESSFUL WORK

Mentally stressful work tends to cause stress and anxiety which are two of the most common causes of back pain. Stress and anxiety drastically increase muscle tension, which in turn increases pain. The back contains a variety of muscles that tense during stress and anxiety, which increases pain and leads to a mild or severe back pain in the upper and lower back.

In addition to this, anxiety and stress also cause changes in behaviors that lead to back pain. These include changes in posture (there is a tendency to slouch more, hunch your back etc.), inactivity (there is the tendency of decreased healthy physical activity and mobility) and hypersensitivity (stress and anxiety tends to make you more sensitive to physical sensations which makes them feel more severe and harder to ignore).

Remedy: 

Stretching your muscles regularly, watching your posture, occasional massages, exercising and being mobile can help reduce stress or anxiety-related pains in your back. But for a more permanent treatment, you should learn ways to cope with stress and anxiety. This can be done by identifying your stressors and what triggers your stress and anxiety, then finding ways to avoid it if you can or accept and adapt to it if you can’t. Taking breaks can also help, relaxation and meditation exercises also included. Try to eat a balanced diet, sleep well and limit caffeine or alcohol.

PREGNANCY

During a healthy pregnancy, women usually gain between 25 to 35 pounds which the spine has to support. This can lead to lower back pain for most women during pregnancy. Also, the weight of the baby and uterus puts pressure on blood vessels and nerves in the pelvis and back, which in turn increases pain and leads to back pain. In addition to these, posture changes, hormone changes, muscle separation and stress during pregnancy can also contribute to back pain during pregnancy.

Remedy: 

The good thing is that the back pain experienced during pregnancy gradually eases before birth, however things like safe exercises for pregnant women, applying heat and cold compress to your

back at intervals, working on improving your posture during pregnancy, avoiding high-heeled shoes, and not sleeping on your back can help treat and alleviate the back pain.

SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE

A sedentary lifestyle tends to cause increased stiffness and weakened muscles which can cause or worsen back pain. Being sedentary keeps you inactive and makes you miss out on the benefits of regular physical activity which helps to nourish spinal discs, soft tissues and ligaments.

Remedy: 

Perform regular strengthening exercises, stretching and low-impact aerobic exercises for the muscle of the back and abdomen to help provide better support for your spine. Move around more and engage in healthy physical activities.

The Health Benefits and side effects of Vinca Plant

The Health Benefits and Side effects of Vinca

            Vinca plant also known as periwinkle with a scientific name Catharanthus roseus is a very common plant that is known to be a native of West Indies and is comfortably grown in Asia, West African, Southern Europe and North America. Surprisingly it is an endangered plant in the wild because of slashes and burn cultivation.

            This plant is mainly used in Chinese Traditional Medicine and Ayurveda for its anti-tumor effects. This herb contains 2 types of active compound such alkaloids and tannins, and about 150 alkaloids are isolated chemically, and particularly an interesting group of about 20 bisindole alkaloids which contains those having anti-neoplastic activity, including leurocristine (vincristine) and vincaleukoblastine (vinblastine) which have some health importance.

Uses

             Vinca is mainly used against certain types of cancer such as Leukaemia and Lymphoma and Hodgkin Disease. It has a marked cytotoxic effect and makes it effective against growing cancers either alone or in combination with other drugs in chemotherapy.

             Despite serious safety concerns, periwinkle is used for brain health (increasing blood circulation in the brain, supporting brain metabolism, increasing mental productivity, preventing memory problems).

            It is also used for treating diarrhoea, throat aliments, tonsillitis, chest pain, intestinal pain and swelling (inflammation) and water retention (edema). It is also used for promoting wound healing, improving the way the immune system defends the body.

How to use:

          Vinca alkaloid extracts are available as tinctures which must be used only under medical supervision because the doses are highly specific and can be dangerous if taken excess.

Side effect

          Vinca generally causes side effects such as vomiting, headache, nausea, bleeding and fatigue.

Toxicity

Periwinkle is potentially toxic and has been known to cause dyspnea.

         The related Vinca minor has been declared “unsafe” for human consumption by the FDA.

References:

•        Evans, W.C. Trease and Evans Pharmacognosy, 16^th ed; Elsevier, New York, 2009.
•       Duke J.A. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, Boca Raton, FL; CRC Press, 1985.

Disclaimer: The topic provided on this blog is for information purpose only and is meant to supplement, and not to replace advice from your doctor or Health provider. This information does not cover all Side effects and method of use. You should always speak with your doctor or health care professional before you start, stop or change a treatment that is right for you