Health for life

Are you looking for acne solutions that really work? The good news is, whether youre a teenager or an adult suffering from acne, you dont have to live with it. Here you can find 10 super easy and effective ways to get rid of acne.

1. Do not pick, press or rub your pimples. These actions actually increase the sebum production and rupture the membranes below your skin. The infection and sebum will spread underneath your skin and cause more pimples. Also, you risk increasing the chances of leaving scars on your face.

2. Wash your face twice a day using a mild soup. It is even better if you can buy sulfur-based soap especially for acne. If your skin is too oily, use a soap with benzoyl peroxide. Do not use rough sponges, brushes, or anything similar on your face. You shouldnt, however, over-wash your face because it will actually stimulate your sebaceous glands to produce more sebum which will increase your acne.

3. Check if it is because of the food. For many people, food allergy can cause very serious acne condition. You should avoid eating too much oily and spicy food. Recent studies have shown that acne can also be caused by milk which contains hormones as well as seafood with relatively high levels of iodine. If possible, cut down on those foods. Other foods you may consider avoiding are: sugar, dairy products, deep-fried food, meat, nut butters, etc. On the other hand, it is believed that green vegetables, vegetable juices and foods rich in zinc can help alleviate acne condition.

4. Drink more water every day. "Eight glasses of water a day can keep acne away." says Jennifer Thoden, a respected acne expert. The reason is that water can carry waste material out of our body and it really helps heal and prevent acne flare-ups.

5. Do not wear makeup if possible. Makeup products can clog your pores, cause more blackheads and pimples. If you have to wear makeup, make sure it is water-based. Be sure to clean your makeup brushes regularly and cleanse your skin before you sleep.

6. Do not use oily products. Avoid products such as hair pomades, intense oil-based facial moisturizers, and oily cleansers.

7. Keep your face clean. Do not rest your chin on your hands or constantly touch your face. Regular shampoo your hair and keep it off your face, especially when you sleep.

8. Exercise moderately as it helps in blood circulation and elimination of toxins.

9. Stay stress-free. Studies have shown that stress not only worsens acne flare-up, it also worsens the overall skin condition. Talk to your friends, listen to your favorite music, or take a walk in the park. There are many things you can do to be stress free.

10. Get Sunshine and fresh air. Sunshine stimulates vitamin D in the body, an essential vitamin for healthy skin. Fresh air and sunshine can also reduce stress (tip #9) and increase oxygen to the skin. Dont get burnt in the sun though. Burnt and heavily tanned skin forms a layer on the skin that doesnt exfoliate quickly enough and can lead to blocked pores.

Article by : Nicholas Ahern

Article Source : 10 Easy and Natural Ways to Get Rid of Acne

Mint green-tea is famous among North African countries where it has a longstanding history; this traditional beverage is normally consumed all the day long, by all people regardless of their social status. Whether they are members of the royal family or just ordinary commoners, Moroccans’ love towards this reshing and unifying beverage is unshakable.

Mint green-tea is an ordinary green tea prepared along with fresh spearmint and some sugar. What makes this beverage so exceptional is that it comprises synergetically two fabulous herbs: green tea (Camellia sinensis) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). Both of them have a howling array of beneficial properties
With about 2,500 studies in its capital, green tea is surely the most studied food-beverage so far. No other food can even come close to its firm standing in the face of a myriad of skeptical studies. I don’t think if there is anybody who still needs further proof to embrace this new green tea-mania.
Nevertheless, some people may still ignore the full range of green tea’s health benefits. Some of them have already been known for centuries by religious monks and healers while others have juts been discovered lately by up-to-date science.
Green tea has been scientifically credited to cure a lot of illness, such as reducing high blood pressure, preventing and treating diabetics, lung protection for smokers, preventing and treating cancers, rejuvenating body from heart strokes, clearing obstructed arteries, boosting immunity, losing weight and preventing tooth decay.
Besides its pleasant aroma and freshness, Mentha spicata can add more healthy proprieties to your cup of tea. Spearmint is an excellent antioxidant. It has also some unique anti-androgenic properties suitable to treat hirsutism in women. Spearmint is used to treat gastrointestinal ailments, as well as gas and fungal infections.
1.Wash your fresh spearmint
2.Put about 2 whole stems in a glass.
3.Put your tea bag and some sugar.
4.Pour hot water and wait 5 minutes.
5.Enjoy it.
PS: this is the most basic method, and the best-known, normally some people would add some absinthe.

Moroccans do not add peppermint; they use a local cultivar closely related to spearmint but has a more pungent aroma. In other words, classical Moroccan green tea contains spearmint and sometimes they add another kind of local "peppermint" which is related to spearmint with some sort of peppermint aroma. But they never add the "western" well-known peppermint.
_http://only-healthy-ideas.blogspot.com/2011/07/mint-green-tea-is-famous-among-north.html

Transitioning to the omnivore lifestyle from thirteen years as a vegetarian is not easy. Well, okay, in some ways it is fabulously easy – ordering at restaurants is a delight, and getting enough protein is a breeze. But, of course, there are complications.

My vegetarian menu was pretty ethically uncomplicated – I shopped local when I could, cooked for myself from mostly unprocessed foods, and bought my eggs from farmers I could chat with about the chickens. I wasn’t striving for sainthood, just trying to make the best choices I could. But with meat, those choices are much more complicated. And the implications are much more intense.

It crystallized the other night in the local supermarket aisle. My boyfriend and I were picking up a few things for dinner – we had kale in the fridge, so the main question was, my propensity for bowls of cheesy kale aside, what else we would eat. “What about meatballs?” he asked. “I liked those meatballs you made the other night. I can buy the meat”

The other night I’d come home with a bounty of on-sale local, grass-fed beef from Whole Foods. Now, under the C-Town fluorescent lights, I looked toward the meat case and paled.

“I have some of the Whole Foods beef in the freezer still. I can thaw that out.”

“But you bought that, that’s yours. Let me buy some for tonight.”

We walked over to the meat case. The ground beef told us it was Made in the USA, but not much more. The local butcher shop, where I get my miraculously cheap local, organic chicken, was closed.

I’ve ordered meat in restaurants. I’ve eaten chicken and beef and pork that lived who-knows-how. I know ethically-minded omnivores who eat no meat in restaurants, a restraint I’ve felt guilty for not having. But in that supermarket aisle, I found my personal line. We went home with a carrot, and I took the last of my grass-fed beef out to defrost.

This super-sale grass-fed beef was $5/lb (discounted from $8). Ground beef in the supermarket costs less than half that. I can’t always afford that. Paired with a nice pile of cheap, filling vegetables like onions and kale, you can still get a good serving of meat for under two bucks, which I didn’t even realize until I wrote up this recipe, and which I will remind myself next time my chest gets tight for budget’s sake when my boyfriend goes back for seconds.

The sale at Whole Foods ($5 for what costs $2 at the supermarket) is going on a little longer, and we’re going to stock up while we can. Beef I feel okay about eating is kinda expensive, but it’s also really, really tasty. (In case you pale at the slightly high fat count, by the way, keep in mind that grass-fed beef is much higher in super-healthy Omega-3s, that [nutrition nerd alert!!] the link between saturated fat and heart disease is in fact kinda dodgy, and that the nutrition counts are for uncooked beef – plenty of fat stays behind in the pan.)

~~~

If these look good, you will surely enjoy:

• Autumn Sausage Casserole
• Italian Turkey Sliders
• Spiced Chicken Skewers

~~~

Meatballs!
(serves 3)


3/4 lb ground beef (grass-fed/pastured if you can)
1/4 medium yellow onion
1/4 medium carrot
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
a few shakes/grinds of pepper
dash of paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

1) Preheat your oven to 300. Line a baking sheet (or 9x12 dish) with aluminum foil and set aside.

2) Dice 1/4 onion and 1/4 carrot very finely.

3) Put ground beef in a bowl. Add onion, carrot, ketchup, marjoram, thyme, basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika. Mix with your hands.

4) Shape the meat mixture into balls, about an inch in diameter. Don’t squish them – just gently shape them with your hands. Place these on a plate.

5) Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the meatballs – without crowding – you may have to do this in batches – to brown. DO NOT TOUCH THEM. (That’s how you get a nice brown crust.) Once the bottoms are browned, after a minute or two, turn the meatballs over to brown the other side. Once that’s done, brown a third side, if you can get them to balance.

6) Remove the browned meatballs to the foil-lined sheet, and stick that in the oven. Repeat with the rest of the meatballs, if necessary.

7) Cook the meatballs until they’re done – not pink inside any more. This time hugely varies for me, depending on how long the meatballs were in the pan, from 2-10 minutes.

8) If you’re cooking vegetables for your meatballs to nest in – I like kale and onions – cook those in the leftover meatball/olive oil, for extra deliciousness.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving: 
250 calories, 17.5g fat, 0.8g fiber, 19g protein, $1.26

Calculations:
¾ lb ground grass-fed beef (85% lean): 640 calories, 45.3g fat, 0g fiber, 56g protein, $3.33
¼ medium yellow onion: 9 calories, 0g fat, 0.4g fiber, 0.3g protein, $0.07
¼ medium carrot: 7 calories, 0g fat, 0.4g fiber, 0.1g protein, $0.10
1 T ketchup: 15 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, 0.3g protein, $0.05
1 t dried marjoram: 2 calories, 0g fat, 0.2g fiber, 0.1g protein, $0.04
1 t dried thyme: 4 calories, 0g fat, 0.6g fiber, 0.1g protein, $0.03
1 t dried basil: 2 calories, 0g fat, 0.3g fiber, 0.1g protein, $0.03
½ t garlic powder: 5 calories, 0g fat, 0.3g fiber, 0.2g protein, $0.02
½ t dried oregano: 3 calories, 0.1g fat, 0.4g fiber, 0.1g protein, $0.02
¼ t salt: 0 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.01
a few shakes/grinds of pepper: 0 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.01
dash of paprika: 0 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.02
1½ t olive oil: 63 calories, 7g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.05
TOTAL: 750 calories, 52.4g fat, 2.3g fiber, 57.2g protein, $3.78
PER SERVING (TOTAL/3): 250 calories, 17.5g fat, 0.8g fiber, 19g protein, $1.26

The Onion’s AV Club recently asked its writers about art they discovered too late – stuff that could have been life-changing at 17, but meant zilch at 27. A few contributors mentioned video games and Star Wars. Another, Harry Potter. One woman claimed Bob Dylan did nothing for her, having been subjected to so many bad impressions before hearing the actual thing.

It was kind of a bummer, honestly. (A life without Star Wars is a life without joy.) But it got me thinking about things I waited too long to try, and how that timeframe affected my appreciation for them.

Let’s see. Emo music is definitely one. What I might have found romantic and charmingly melancholy at 20 sounded like self-indulgent whining at 25. Same goes for everything on Cartoon Network. In 2000, it could have been revelatory. In 2010, I just want Tim & Eric to get to the point already.

The big tuna: I read On the Road when I was 27, about ten years after I should have. It came highly recommended, and the prose was all it was cracked up to be – weird and gorgeous, evocative and elusive.

The problem came with the message. Instead of, “Let’s hop in a Chevy, ditch this town, and fill our time with freedom, just like Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity!” I thought, “What irresponsible jags, leaving their families and responsibilities for such silliness. Those beatniks need some damn jobs.” Harsh, man. Harsh.

The experience made me happy I caught One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest my sophomore year of college, and Catcher in the Rye in 9th grade. They’ll always be two of my favorite novels, probably because all teenagers relate to alienation. Sometimes I wonder if I would find them foolish now, if I had just picked them up for the first time. How sad.

It’s such a relief, then, that the opposite happened with food and cooking. They meant nothing to me as a kid; they were means to an end. The less time they took, the better. But age has made me appreciate vegetables and cast iron pans, spices and the pleasures of a good roast chicken.

There’s no easy way to segue into a White Bean Dip here, so I’ll just awkwardly cut to the chase: this recipe is tasty, fantastically easy, and dang addictive. It’s barely even cooking, actually – more like alchemy. Just a few ingredients thrown together to create manna.

That aside, what about you, readers? What did you discover too late? How do they differ from the things you found later, but appreciated immediately? What do you look forward to getting into? Its all about possibilities, isnt it? And if something doesnt connect, thats okay. But what a thrill when it does.

~~~
If you like this recipe, you might also appreciate:

• Baba Ghanouj
• Lemony Hummus
• Roasted Eggplant Spread

~~~

White Bean Dip
Makes 6 servings of 1/4 cup each.
Adapted from Ellie Krieger.
(This is actually a picture of CHGs hummus, because ... uh, technical malfunction? They look pretty much the same, though.)


1 19-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Puree. Taste and see if you like the results. If not, add more of what’s missing. Serve.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
115 calories, 4.5 g fat, 4 g fiber, $0.28

Calculations
1 19-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained: 440 calories, 0 g fat, 24 g fiber, $0.99
1 clove garlic: 4 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.05
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil: 239 calories, 27 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.23
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice: 8 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.40
Kosher salt: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
Freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
TOTAL: 691 calories, 27.1 g fat, 24.2 g fiber, $1.69
PER SERVING (TOTAL/6): 115 calories, 4.5 g fat, 4 g fiber, $0.28

You know when its August, but your iPod thinks its December, and it plays "Do They Know its Christmas," and you find yourself silently mouthing "Tonight thank god its them, instead of YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" at a nice Asian man who clearly thinks youre about to steal his bag of lychees?

I love that.

I also love bread, but have never in my whole puff attempted to make it until this summer, assuming it was roughly as complicated as re-wiring the Hadron Collider. Then, it dawned on me that, a few years ago, Mark Bittman  published a recipe for five-minute, idiot-proof, no-knead artisan bread. Its since been updated and ined by half the population of Guam, but the essentials are there: four ingredients, a bowl, a pot, and time. So I tried it myself, and whaddayaknow? Its the best. Seriously. In all seriousness. Squared. I will eat this and nothing else until I die, presumably, of choking on bread.

Heres how you make it. (Do it! Well have a bread party.)

First, gather your ingredients. They are:

• 3 cups of bread flour


• 1 little packet of active dry yeast


• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt


• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

If you plan on making this baby a lot in the future, bite the $4 bullet and purchase a package of yeast from CostCo or something. It is approximately four billion times cheaper than buying it envelope by envelope, a.k.a What Im Currently Doing.


Second, you get a large, non-reactive mixing bowl and combine your dry ingredients, a.k.a. The Ingredients You Didnt Get From the Tap.


Third, add water and stir until it becomes a spongy, dough-like mass, a.k.a. Mr. Squishy. Dont overstir, or something bad will happen. Im not exactly sure what, but arent you scared now?


Fourth, cover that baby. With plastic and rubber bands. Then, leave it out for at least four hours, but for as long as several days, rigerating after those first 240 minutes. (Note: The longer it sits, the better it will taste. Ive gone up to three days.) If you have a cat thats prone to eating dough (er, not that I know any cat like that) ...


... hide it somewhere, like the Cave of Caerbannog, where it will be guarded by a rabbit so foul, so cruel, that no man (or cat) has yet fought with it and lived.


A cabinet will also be sufficient.

Eventually, your dough will expand like crazy, to about three times its former size. It will also appear softer and slightly wetter. (Note cat in lower part of photo, stalking wet dough for potential lunching. His lobotomy is scheduled for tomorrow.)


Fifth, cover a clean cooking surface (a counter, mayhaps) with a thin sheen of olive oil. Turn the dough out on to the surface, and fold it over two or three times. Cover everything with plastic wrap, and let it sit at least 30 minutes, but for up to 2 hours. If its been rigerated, it must be given enough time to come to room temperature. It must!


Sixth, while the dough lounges around, move your oven rack to the lower third of your oven. Then, preheat that sucker to 450 degrees F. Grab a pot or Dutch oven, cover it, and stick it in there, to warm along with the oven.

This is mine. Its a 3-quart hard anodized piece of Calphalon, but Im fairly sure any sizable, oven-safe covered pot will do. (Have doubts about yours? Look it up on the interwebs.)


Seventh, once everything is good to go, CAREFULLY remove the hot pot from the oven and VERY CAREFULLY place the dough into it. SUPER CAREFULLY cover it, and COLOSSALLY CAREFULLY place it back into your oven. Bake for 30 minutes. I CANT EVEN EXPRESS HOW CAREFULLY YOU SHOULD remove the cover. Bake an additional 15 minutes, or until the top of your bread is nicely browned. If you see it starting to burn, get it out of there.

Eighth, flip the bread out on to a wire cooling rack. It should look something like this:


And one more time, in black and white, for posterity:


Ninth, once its cool enough to handle, eat that bread. It may seem like a big loaf at first, but I promise on all that is good and pure, none of it will go to waste. Heres the above loaf, 30 seconds later:


And finally:


Happy baking!

Have you been stymied by health cares complexity? Are you unable to find that one intervention that predictably leads to a desired outcome? Are your best laid plans being upended by countervailing poverty and undereducation? Do you want to make a big splash that portrays your health care chops?

The Disease Management Care Blog says "No problem!" because the fix is simple:

Find a catchy health care motto.

Among the more famous are Richard Nixons "War on Cancer" and the geneticists "Personalized Medicine." The latest candidate is the term "AIDS Free Generation" embraced by Secretary of State Hillary Clintons at the International AIDS 2012 Conference. Ms. Clinton really stepped up with a compelling vision thing, got some major jumbotron time and launched a new nostrum into the global miasma of big government solutioning. Its enough to give the DMCB goosebumps. If this keeps up, humanity can look forward to a future where we all die of nothing.

Dont get the DMCB wrong. $150 million will save many lives, but the idea that HIV transmission will be completely halted in 2015 seems fantastical, naive and a little dishonest. Contrast that with William Bennetts reframing the "War On Drugs" with a more honest stretch goal of a "50%" reduction in U.S. drug abuse.  It didnt end well, but give the guy credit for telling it like it is.

The DMCBs conclusions:

1. Beware politicians with little reality-tested experience taking advantage of our desire for easy answers wrapped in short catchphrases. While our aspirations should exceed our reach, the DMCB cautions that we need to be on the lookout for health policy hope being undercut by hype.

2. Ms. Clintons political skills are considerable.  The DMCB finds it unlikely this political impresario will simply fade away.

3. This false god of health care perfection summed up with easy answers may be one of the reasons why all those local QI programs aim for "100% HEDIS compliance" and "zero" hospital readmissions. Who can blame them when our political class is leading the way?

The DMCB felt so strongly about this, it proposes its own motto: "Be motto free with the DMCB."