TabsMagic

Have you ever even comtemplated making your own shampoo? I must admit I never have!!

But,people making herbal shampoo at home are claiming that it is making their hair grow faster. Although hair loss is a natural, although unwanted result of getting older, many people go to great lengths (excuse the pun) to stop it disappearing. Several herbs have been discovered to help in reducing the extent of hair loss and actually encourage healthy hair to grow faster.
 
Natural herbal shampoos work by enabling the herbs to be absorbed into the scalp and it is the effect of these herbs that lead to hair growth. The reason why homemade shampoos are proving more successful over their commercial counterparts is because they do not contain the damaging chemical agents that the commercial one does.
 
The main advice given to anyone wanting to get their hair back is to clean their scalp with a mild cleansing soap that does not contain any petroleum products. Castile is recommended. Essential oils or herbal tinctures can then be added so long as they are alcohol free. Add one teaspoon to the soap base. You will be able to get these from any health store.
 
If you are making a shampoo for more than one session, then make a volume of soap base and add the herbal tincture, herbal nettles (dried is fine) or Rosemary to the base and store it in a glass container. When taking a shower it is wise to take the amount of shampoo needed in a separate plastic container into the shower with you, sop as to avoid the chance of breaking the glass.
 
As homemade shampoo is totally natural and has no preserving chemicals it cannot be kept at room temperature .

So thats the report- its healthier- and cheaper to make your own shampoo, I will be trying this and will report back, and i hope that some of you will do the same and let us now?

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has discovered that 92% of mothers are duped by artificial food labeling. Only 8% of mothers rejected all claims made by food companies on their packaging labels. This was the result of mothers being shown a variety of slogans that are found on popular foods that kids eat. They were asked if the label meant the food was healthy to eat or not. The BHF chief executive, Peter Hollins, said: ”Mums are having the wool pulled over their eyes by food manufacturers,” adding that ”Smoke and mirror tactics means that foods targeted at children and high in fat, salt and sugar are being disguised with partial health claims suggesting they’re a healthy choice.” Such slogans such as ”a source of calcium, iron and six vitamins’,” can be found on the side of milk bars and Coco Pops ceareal when in actual fact they contain more sugar and saturated fat than a chocolate cake. ”Regularly eating these types of foods could have serious implications for kids’ future health.”,” says Peter Hollins. Nestlé’s Honey Shreddies are described as ”wholegrain” and can ”keep your heart healthy and maintain a healthy body”, despite the fact that a serving of 45g contains 13.6g of sugar. A ring doughnut has 9.2g. The answer says the BHF is for the traffic light labeling system to be used by food manufacturers on the front of the products. ”Partial health claims and the mish mash of food labelling systems serve only to confuse shoppers about the nutritional value of what they’re putting in their shopping baskets,” said Hollins. He gave a clear message to food manufacturers by saying: ”It’s time for food companies to stop making excuses, support one system and ensure shoppers are given ‘at a glance’ information about the foods they’re giving their kids.”

Scientists are concerned that there is no safe level of trans fat consumption. Despite a large amount of negative press about trans fast, they are still being widely used by food manufacturers in the UK. Scientists say that that they are not even necessary as an ingredient in food and a safe level of trans fat consumption does not exist.
 
The majority of people are now aware that fats essentially fall into two categories. One is good fats that are unsaturated and the other is bad fasts that are saturated. The saturated fats are mostly found in fried foods, dairy products and meat and eating too much of them puts the person at risk of heart problems and stroke. Unsaturated fats such as polyunsaturates and monounsaturates are mostly obtained from plants and are beneficial to health.

Trans fast are industrially produced trans fatty acids and are much more damaging to the arteries and heart than saturated fats. They are created by turning liquid vegetable oils into solid fats via an industrial process called hydrogenation. For this reason trans fats are also known as hydrogenated fats. For more than 100 years food manufacturers have been using them in products such as cereals, pastries, cakes, chips, biscuits as they provide a longer shelf life.
 
In the UK, there is no legal requirement for retailers or food manufacturers to mention that their products contain trans fats. However, they are obliged to mention the presence of hydrogenated fats. (They are the same thing.) These will be listed as Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (PHVO) or hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (HVO). Also the word ‘shortenings’ indicates trans fat content.
 
Many countries have banned the use of trans fats but in the UK there is only a “Voluntary agreement adopted by the British Retail Consortium, representing 85% of retailers in the market, to phase out trans fats as an ingredient in their own-brand products. However, there are no sanctions for those producers who drag their heels, and the voluntary commitment does not cover imported foods.”

So at the moment it seems that the consumer will have instigate the boycott!

Yoga for Kids is taking off in the UK, with the rising obesity levels linked to inactivity in children, this is surely a good thing?

Britain is also experiencing an increased interest in yoga for children. One such programme is called Yoga Bugs. Founder and director Fenella Lindsell recently turned down a £200,000 funding offer from the Dragons on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den. She works with children up to age 13 and has 40,000 of them taking her classes via the franchises she is licensing.

She says the way to keep the little ones interested is by asking them questions at the same time as they are doing the class…..that way she can keep their attention……..and a bit of education at the same time!

Fenella adds, “Yoga is truly holistic. Children get physical, emotional and mental benefits from it. Sporty ones can improve their performance. Not-so-sporty children can find a flexibility they didn’t know they had,” adding that “We also teach the techniques to teachers, who use them in short bursts throughout the day in order to calm children down, or energise them.”

Sosend them off and await the return of a calm and relaxed vibe!!

Motivation is a key issue in the world of a personal trainer….

I think that the most important part of my job is to find what motivates my client to rech their goals- and to work on exploiting that as much as possible so to maximise their gains.

Many people are motivated by a particular date, be it a wedding to lose weight and get in shape for, or a sporting competition to train for…….

Many people are motivated by a certain ‘life awareness’ event that has made them realise that they need to optimise their experience on earth and being fit and healthy will help them do this,……..

Many people gain extra motivation just  out of paying me!! So many clients say to me ‘well, i have paid you to help me do this now so i sure as hell am going to do it!!’

I think that the fact that personal training  is an option above the run of the mill getting fit is what makes it work, i have never yet had a client that i have not got to their goal…..

Digestive health therapy is a way of making sure that you have the right type and amount of digestive enzymes. Although the body manufactures its own digestive enzymes in the pancreas, a lot of help is received from the enzymes that exist in the food you eat. However, due to eating over processed or over cooked food most if not all of the enzymes contained in the food are destroyed. This means that the body has to work harder to compensate for the lack of natural enzymes. It also means that the food is not digested as completely as it should be.

enzymes also help in building strong bones, purifying the blood, fixing connective tissue, detoxifying the body and reducing inflammation. The enzymes most concerned with digestion are amylase, lipase, and protease. The biggest source of these enzymes is from fresh raw foods such as fruits and vegetables. As they are often destroyed in cooking a lot of people are taking to a raw food diet; if not completely then partially.

Another reason why the raw food diet is becoming more popular is because it is predominantly alkaline and as the body itself is more alkaline than acidic, there is a natural synchronicity. The more that food is processed and cooked, the more it becomes acidic and brings with it potential digestive problems. Moving to a completely raw food diet may be a huge undertaking, but just a little fresh food will go a long way to assisting your body with what is a pretty huge task; that of digestion.

However, it is not to be said that gains cannot be made just by slight modifications to your existing diet, steam and stir fry veg a bit more, add a little salad to your sandwich, and much on an apple a day…….

UK researchers have conducted experiments that resulted in the discovery that mint tea can relieve pain. Brazilian mint tea otherwise known as hyptis crenata appears to have equal analgesic qualities as proprietary pain killers.
 
A team of researchers from Newcastle went to Brazil to discover how the Brazilian tea medicine is traditionally prepared so they could recreate the same thing at home. They found that the most common method of preparation was to boil the dry leaves for 30 minutes and allow the concoction to cool before use.
 
Graciela Rocha, the lead researcher of the project said: “Since humans first walked the Earth we have looked to plants to provide a cure for our ailments – in fact it is estimated more than 50,000 plants are used worldwide for medicinal purposes. Besides traditional use, more than half of all prescription drugs are based on a molecule that occurs naturally in a plant.”

So, there! Here is me wondering how hard the pharmaceutical companies are going to be working to sit on that one!!

They certainly are not too forthcoming about shouting the benefits of sports massage for long term pain relief!

How do you feel?

Just take 60 seconds. Sit  or stand, take a deep breath, and as you breathe out, think about how you FEEL. Not the  superficial short term feelings that your immediate surroundings are affording you, annoyance at your boss, stress of doing too much, or the itch at the back of your knee. How do you feel underneath all this?

This can mean both psychologically and mentally and the two are not necessarily independent either. For example, if you feel the long standing back pain that you have been having physically does it really surprise you that you have felt irritable and grumpy recently?

If you feel that familiar headache in your temples, is it any wonder that you might feel psychologically drained today?

If you feel lethargic and dull, is it on par with your current fitness level?

The point is that you can get to used to feeling a certain way that you begin to feel this as ‘normal’. You begin to ignore your body’s warning signals. Our bodies do not feel without reason, if you feel pain in an area there is always a reason for this.

Would you ignore someone else trying to tell you something? You can be just as rude by ignoring yourself!

So listen a while, then, in the same way you would advise a friend in pain, depressed, despondent or stressed,  take action to mend things.

As a personal trainer I recognize that it is often hard enough to listen to something you have too long been blocking out. It is even harder to chance your life, your attitude and your routine in order to address the problem. So I do it for you.

Massage may be all you need to rid your body of the tension spots that have been causing you headaches, back pain, knee pain or that stiff neck.

I provide the motivation needed to start or modify that exercise regime, or change those long ingrained eating habits…….

In practicing, massage, remedial massage, personal training and nutrition, I have the pleasure of seeing people change their lives for the better in many different ways, I see the ease of movement when the stiff muscles ease, the change in  mood when the long term nagging headache is dissolved. The increase in energy levels as the body gains fitness, and the boost in confidence that follows accordingly.

So, next time someone asks you how you are feeling, take a breath, feel, and ask yourself how could a little magic  help you feel better?

I have had a few ladies raise the issue of water retention and ways to combat it….So have done some looking….

Water retention problems arise when fluid is not removed by the lymph system properly, it is retained in the body tissues where it causes swelling (edema). Water retention in the body is most common in the feet and legs, but it can occur in the hands, arms, abdominal cavity (ascites) and around the lungs

Tips for Preventing and Treating Water Retention

• Increase your intake of vitamin B supplements which are known to be beneficial for water retention. If you are overweight or suffer with obesity, try to take the appropriate steps to lose weight and slim down to a healthier weight in a safe and natural manner.
• Avoid salt
• Eat Bananas!! Go ape !. Slice ‘em on your cereal, make a smoothie, or just peel and eat them plain. Bananas contain high amounts of potassium, which helps eliminate fluid retention. Not a banana fan? Gobble down a handful of raisins instead.

In some instances, and a loss of progesterone can attribute to water retention in menopausal women. Unless the weight gain is excessive, it should not be a cause of concern and can be self-managed.

I have looked into the effectiveness of water tablets and It seems studies do show that natural remedies can really work well….

Researchers at the University of Reading (UK) took a group of women suffering from fluid retention and gave them 320 mg of natural anthocyanidins each day for 16 weeks. The women kept symptoms diaries and also went to the university clinic for regular assessment. Many of the women in this study experienced gradual relief of their symptoms, particularly after 8 weeks of taking the tablets. Women on a placebo (dummy pill) saw very little change in their symptoms.

HRI Water Balance tablets do very well in reviews and to me look good in the indredients stakes….

However, there is a lot to be said for green tea, dandelion tea, cabbage, garlic and other food sources that might just so the same job, the overall consensus seems to be that you actually need to drink more in order to combat ‘the bloat’…..

Any experience or comments here gratefully recieved!!

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I have many clients who admit that they have put up with pain for a long time, mainly because they were uncomfortable with asking for help.

This happens in all the fields in which I specialise, people who know that they have a dietary issue but carry on regardless, letting the effects worsen and letting their physical and mental health suffer as a result. People suffering back, shoulder, neck or any other muscular pain who are continuing in their daily lives without seeking pain elimination. Not only do they suffer physically for this, but mentally too. Pain can be very tiring and draining and can make sufferers irritable, short tempered and hard to be around. Others who can see themselves getting progressively out of shape but lack the motivation to change their lifestyle, again the obvious physical affects, but also the mental depression and resulting lack of energy effects the social life.

Its usually as simple to solve as asking for help………..so ask!