Category: Articles

The health benefits of castor oil are numerous, which is why this wondrous oil has been used for health and beauty purposes since old times. Did you know that the consumption of castor oil internally and its external application on the skin treats a lot of diseases and disorders and promises a healthy life? First and foremost, know why castor oil is good for your health and what all nutrients

• Castor Oil abundantly contains ricinoleic acid, which when consumed internally or externally, brings therapeutic results and therefore cures a lot of disorders.
• Anti-microbial properties of this oil make it a powerful cure for yeast infections and guard the skin and body against any kind of bacterial infection.
• Vitamin E and essential fatty acids are a boon to the skin and is especially effective in keeping the skin younger for longer periods of time and also smooth and moisturized.

Moisturize Your Skin

Massaging your skin every day with warm castor oil is an effective way to combat dryness in the winter season or even otherwise. You could apply it on your skin before going to bed and an quick way to extract maximum benefits from this oil is to add few drops of it into your bathing water.

Control Your Hair Breakage

If you have been tired of gathering heavy bunches of hair strands from your comb, then do not lose heart. Massage castor oil on the scalp and leave it overnight. Try not to rub the scalp too harshly as it would result in even more breakage. Wash off in the morning and use a natural conditioner after washing. Do this treatment thrice a week for best results.

Increase hair Volume

Staring at the thick braid of the girl walking in front of you or wishingly gazing at the flowing tresses of your colleagues would not make your own hair grow stockier! Regular massage of castor oil would boost the growth of your hair and thicken the hair volume.

Effective Dandruff Cure

Dandruff harms your scalp terribly as the growth of your hair stops, the natural moisture of the scalp goes away and the dry flakes clog the hair roots and prevent them to absorb nutrition. Apply 3 tea spoons of lemon juice along with 3 tea spoons of castor oil to your hair. Let it stay for 3 hours and then wash off with warm water.

Guard Against Yeast Infection

Yeast infection often makes your scalp and skin grow itchy. The infection also carries a risk of infecting the other skin areas of the body. Treating the skin with castor oil with camphor powder mixed in it cures yeast infection quickly and effectively.

Treat Blemishes and Dark Spots

You certainly would not be happy living with those ugly dark spots and blemishes, not to mention acne scars which make you look and feel so undesirable. Regular use of castor oil on the skin can minimize these imperfections greatly. Also when mixed with honey and few drops of lemon, it also brightens the skin complexion.

Ease Your Skin Inflammation

If you are constantly being troubled by skin rashes, redness, swelling, breakouts and intense itching on the skin or on the hair scalp, try using castor oil overnight on it. The oil kills away any bacteria present on the surface and its moisture content soothes the irritated area.

Get Relieved From Arthritis

Because castor oil is blessed with anti-inflammatory properties and is also rich in ricinoleic acid, you now possess a chance to ease your joint pain and arthritis by massaging warm castor oil with a few drops of clove oil into it. The pain would vanish almost magically and the tissues would become even stronger.

Bye-Bye Constipation

Castor oil was used as an intense laxative in past by the people. While it did ease the bowel movements, there was a risk of getting kidney disorder as it interfered in the natural functioning of the excretory system. However, if used in minimum quantities while cooking, or applying castor oil externally on the naval area, you could benefit greatly and can bid good bye to constipation forever.

Say No To Dysmenorrhea

Stomach cramps during your menstrual cycle is a very common problem in women and is often experienced by every third woman in the world. If you massage your naval, stomach area and the pubis seven days before your periods are due, it would reduce the pain up to a very large extent.

Do NOT Use Castor Oil:

• You are in the phase of pregnancy or are in the midst of lactating period. This is if you are planning to consume it through food.
• The people who are suffering from intestinal blockage or appendicitis should also not consume castor oil
• While castor oil is great for the skin, do not use this oil on your face too frequently. The oil is too dense and could lead to breakouts on the skin due to clogging of skin pores.
• If you have an eye infection or your eyes are sensitive to inflammation, then it would be better if you keep this oil away from the eye area and the eye lashes.

Author Bio :

Julia Taylor is a blogger for Skintagfree who contributes her knowledge on various skin care issues. Actively attending affiliated seminars and networking events in the world of beauty. For more details visit http://www.skintagfree.com/what-causes-skin-tags.html

The late Margaret Thatcher, who served as Britain’s Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, once said that, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” This also includes when it comes to your health, such as battling cancer, a potentially deadly disease that stems from abnormal cell growth.

There are as many types of cancer as there are body parts, but the most common is skin cancer. It appears when your body is unable to repair DNA damage to the cells making up your skin, which occurs mostly from ultraviolet rays from either the sun or tanning beds.

What to Look For and Where to Look For It

This damage triggers mutations and defects that cause skin cells to multiply so rapidly that they form tumors which are almost always malignant. The new cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year outnumber the occurrences of breast, prostate, colon, and lung cancer combined.

An estimated 20% of Americans will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime. The trick to overcoming this disease, as with so many other health problems, is early prevention. While many people think to look on their arms, back, and neck, here are five other places you should watch out for early signs of the disease.

1. Behind Ears – Of the most common places to find basal cell skin cancer, the area behind the ear ranks in the top three. It is the second most common area of the ear for the disease to occur. Checking is easy by grabbing a mirror or a trusted friend or family member.
2. Between the Cheeks – Not the cheeks on your face, but the buttocks. A wide range of skin cancers can appear here, so use the two mirror approach to check. Stand with your back to a full-length mirror and use a hand mirror to look behind you for all symptoms, including unusual rashes.
3. Mucous Membranes – Keep an eye on your lips, the inside of your mouth, your nasal passages, and genital tissue. Both squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma can appear in these areas, although melanoma is more common with lower amounts of pigment in skin.
4. Between the Toes – You should look between your toes on a regular basis, even if it’s just to clean between them during a bath or a shower. Another option is to get pedicures on a regular basis by the same person so you have a second set of eyes to look for dark spots, lesions, or other signs of skin cancer.
5. Feet and Hands – In addition to the toes, signs can also appear on the soles of your feet. They could also appear on the palms of your hands and in your nail beds. As with regular pedicures, getting regular manicures – whether by yourself or a professional, can more quickly alert you to abnormalities.

Getting Enough Vitamin D while Avoiding Skin Cancer

Vitamin D is a vital part of a healthy immune system, and the best source of it is ultraviolet light, such as the rays of the sun or the light from inside a tanning bed. Because ultraviolet light is the most likely source of skin cancer, avoiding it can create a Vitamin D deficiency.

Some research, as reported by the Skin Cancer Foundation, claims that unprotected exposure to ultraviolet rays can prevent certain times of cancer, because it gives the body a boost of Vitamin D. But there are safer ways to get the Vitamin D you need to stay healthy without the risk of skin cancer.

Foods like fatty fish such as salmon or tuna, fortified cow’s milk and other dairy products, fortified orange juice, egg yolks, fortified cereals, and beef liver are all chock full of Vitamin D. However another safe and healthy way to get this vital nutrient is through the use of supplements.

The Importance of ‘Choosing the Right Supplement

While supplements are no substitute for a healthy diet, they can make up the difference for any nutrients that your diet lacks. For example, you may suffer a medical condition like a food allergy or lactose intolerance that prevents you from eating a well balanced diet.

The supplement you select should be approved by doctors and employs the use of third party testing to verify the ingredients. You might also look for supplements that offer added boosts of antioxidants, like glutathione which help fight free radicals, damaged cells behind diseases that occur more frequently as we age.

Bill Lawrence spent the first twelve years of his career in the pharmaceutical industry. After watching one product after another treat the mere symptoms of health problems, he left to create his own site, www.healthtraits.org, dedicated to providing answers, support, and most importantly — the results of taking vitamins and antioxidants, like glutathione. Bill holds a BSC from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

Healing with crystals is not something new. Crystals have been around since well before modern medicine and probably since will before much of the ancient world. As a complementary medicine or a supplement to all of the other treatments you may be undergoing, crystals will do better than just make you feel better. In general though, keep the following in mind. Though it’s not 100% true, crystals enter into the Reiki picture along with another historically unrelated practice: the study of chakras and the chakra system.

Like the chakra system, the practice of handling and healing with crystals is generally not taught as part of the Reiki tradition. It’s well known that Reiki comes from a Japanese tradition and while it is hardly strict, it is a well-defined and well-delineated practice. Crystals, while they fall outside of that practice, are still a big help to the laying on of hands that takes up the majority of any Reiki practitioner’s time. So we’re actually looking at hybrid of many different practices and traditions in an effort to get to the best results. You play a big part in determining not only the successful achievement of those results, but also in determining what those results should be.

In fact, Reiki practitioners, and even practitioners trained in chakra theory, are always working with hundreds of energy centers and networks in the body, not simply those delineated in chakra theory. But for simplicity’s sake, most practitioners from any background will concentrate on the chakra system. It’s largely understood, and helps to delineate the major networks and energy points in and around the body. It provides some basic guidelines and isn’t canceled out by any competing theory.

Hopefully, you have a warm, open relationship with your Reiki practitioner already. If not then get one. Talking and openness and sharing are all part of the process and they’re important to the healing process. Use the following points to start a discussion with your practitioner and don’t hold back. Make sure you cover all the finer points from a personal point of view and ask your practitioner for a professional opinion.

1)       At an elementary level, at the level of elements, crystals are among the most pure of substances. They are concentrated but they are made up of many of the same things that you are made of.

2)       Geometry: Crystals are simply arrangements of the elements and minerals into regular geometric shapes. There is order in each of them, though each is unique. Geometry is used as a basis for architecture and design, but all geometry originates in a study of natural forms and systems. You’re a natural form and a system, too!

3)       Stone: Like elements and minerals, the very basis of life is set in stone and provides the foundations on which you can build. Crystals, which are simply the purest of stones, remind you not just of purity but of strength, too.

4)       The chakras: Like the geometry mentioned above, your own body and the energy moving through and around it are also organized in a system of points and sub-points. Crystals – and hands – can be used to intensify or change the movement and flow of that energy.

Many practitioners will recommend using a specific crystal for each chakra. These can vary and in many cases this is where the most interesting and complicated discussions can take place. It all depends on your goals, the results you’re looking for, the nature of the treatment and even the personality of the practitioner. Stones, colors and qualities can vary greatly, and the better you know the crystals you’re handling, the better you can decide how to use them and where to place them.

Your practitioner may also want to use a grid by arranging them in a pattern beneath the table or near to the body. This can also provide an interesting and experimental “constant” to what could seem like an otherwise cerebral process. That’s one of the real advantages to working with crystals. Simple patterns could include a Star of David pattern or a simple triangle. Finding one that really works could mean increasing the intensity of the experience or it could mean longer relief from pain or worry.

It is a good practice to purchase your own crystals. Most Reiki practitioners will agree. Your practitioner may be able to advise you on which stones and from where, and it might even make a nice change of routine to go together and find some. Develop your own relationship and understanding with them, cleanse them yourself and work with them outside of your Reiki treatments. After all, it’s YOUR energy that your practitioner is focusing on.

This article was written by James Tomon. James is a writer working out of Mexico City who believes that everyone has the energy within them to heal themselves.

While scientists speculated that some of the top reasons why people are sleep-deprived are excessive TV viewing and use of computers, they were amazed to find out that there was another reason – rather, two other reasons.

It was discovered that spending long hours at work is one of the top reasons why people lack sleep. Another reason is lengthy commuting hours. Going to and from work can drain a great amount of time.

According to these experts, it is ideal to keep your commute by car, along with other errands, to 40 minutes or less a day. They explain that every additional eight minutes you spend in your commute means you lose about 15 minutes of sleep every night.

Why Artificial Light Can Prevent You from Sleeping Well

Another factor that may cause sleep disruption is light. Nowadays, artificial light is common in homes, and they can greatly impact your sleep patterns. Naturally, you are designed to sleep during the night and wake up during the daytime. This is why it is important to sleep in complete darkness. Once this happens, your body is prompted to produce melatonin and serotonin, your body’s sleep hormones.

This is why it is important to get rid of any source of light that may interrupt your shuteye. This includes night lights, gadgets, television, computers, and other sources of light. You can use blackout drapes or curtains to keep the light from entering your room. Other experts recommend using sleep masks to make it look darker.

How Temperature Impacts Sleep

Aside from light, temperature is also a big deal. Experts found that when you sleep, your body temperature drops to its lowest level. If you room has a different temperature, you might experience difficulty in getting some rest. It is best for your room temperature not to exceed 75 degrees Fahrenheit and not lower than 54 degrees Fahrenheit.

The ideal temperature is between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Apart from adjusting your room temperature, you can also take a hot bath or shower, which will raise your body temperature. As soon as you leave the bath, it will drop and signal you to go to bed.

Just make sure you wear socks, because your feet often have the poorest circulation. Doing so will reduce the coldness that your feet will feel. Studies also report that this can lessen the occurrence of sleepwalking.

What You Can Do When You Have Sleep Problems

When plagued with sleep problems, some people immediately resort to sleeping pills or medications. This is not advisable, as there are many adverse effects associated with these drugs. Before resorting to this extreme measure, you should first explore natural options – those that entail changing certain things in your lifestyle. This is definitely the safer and healthier option.

Here are some things you can do to sleep better:

• Avoid eating foods rich in sugar and starch. These foods will make your blood sugar rise and make you unable to sleep. When it drops later on, you may wake up and find it difficult to go back to bed.
• Don’t watch TV before going to bed. It will stimulate your brain too much, making it hard to sleep.
• Go to bed early. It is advisable to sleep by 10 p.m. to give way to your body’s recovery processes. Your body often does most of its healing between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.
• If you should eat, consume foods rich in protein. You should do this several hours before you go to bed. This can provide L-tryptophan, which is essential in the production of melatonin and serotonin.

Stefan Morillez is very familiar with sleep problems because of his lifestyle and family. Because of his work, he is required to work night shifts. He is often sick and unable to sleep because of this. He researches various methods to help him recover from this problem. What he finds, he makes sure he shares with other people. Stefan, a huge fan of Dr. Mercola also writes about his journey to sleep recovery in his personal blog.

For many men, male pattern baldness is a sensitive subject. Loss of hair can also lead to loss of confidence and self-esteem. But it’s important to remember that hair loss is extremely common. At least one in every three men will experience signs of male pattern baldness before reaching the age of 30, and even more will encounter it after this point in their lives.

So, if you think you’re going bald and you want to try to halt the process completely, is there anything you can do? Unfortunately, for many men, hair loss is a one way street. Once the process is underway, there isn’t much you can do to stop it as you get older. However, there are some things you can do which can help to slow down the process in some cases.

With that in mind, here is our list of essential do’s and don’ts for those men worried about losing their hair:

Do… Talk to People About it

As we said earlier, this isn’t a problem unique to you. A third of all men suffer the same problem, so talk to your friends about it – even talking to your female friends might help to put the subject into perspective for you. A lot of men tend to be anxious that losing their hair will make them less attractive to the opposite sex – but this isn’t the case for a lot of women. Many even find baldness an attractive trait in a man.

Don’t… Grow it Long

Having long hair when you’ve got a bald patch or a receding hair line will only accentuate the fact that you’re losing it, so resist the temptation to keep it long.

Do… Keep it Short

Maintaining a closely cropped hairstyle will provide better coverage for men experiencing hair loss. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you could even fire up the hair clippers and go for the full-on all-over shave. You never know, it might be a look you like.

Don’t… Cover Up With a Hat

It might be tempting to wear a hat all of the time to cover up your hair loss – but doing so will cause your head to sweat more, and provide a breeding ground for bacteria, ultimately causing your hair more stress and causing it to fall out quicker.

Do… Talk to Your Doctor

Some men may find that prescription hair loss treatment benefits them, and helps to reduce the rate of hair loss – some have even claimed that it has successfully stopped the process completely for a time. However, medications such as these are not suitable for everybody, and can cause side effects. If you’d like to find out more about the potential benefits of hair loss treatment, talk to your GP. They may also be able to suggest lifestyle or diet tips to help you keep your hair healthy and strong.

Don’t… Stress Yourself Out with Worry

Hair loss can be a vicious cycle at times – hair falling out makes you worry, worry makes your hair fall out more, and so on. So try your best to keep your stress levels down. Address your work-life balance if you’re exhausted or pushing yourself too hard, and make some changes. Your hair will be better for it in the long run.

This article is written by Alex who has suffered hair loss in the past due to which he was prescribed medicine from uksafemeds.com. In his free time, he loves to walk his dog through the many national parks up and down the UK.

There is an old Irish proverb which states, “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” Believe it or not, that statement is not far off the mark. So go ahead and hit the snooze button in the mornings – your body can use the extra Zzzz’s.

Why We Need Sleep at All

Getting enough sleep at night is a vital part of human health. Our body needs enough sleep during the night so that we can have the energy necessary to make it through the day ahead. Sleep benefits every part of your body, from the brain in your head to the soles of your feet.

Your might think that your body is totally at rest while you sleep, but your mind continues working long after you slip off into dreamland. Sleep helps strengthen cognitive function and improve memory, which is especially important for older adults facing a condition like dementia or Alzheimer’s.

Creating Your Best Sleep Zone

However you do not have to be “old” to enjoy the benefits of getting enough sleep. From infants to elderly, everyone benefits from the rest and relaxation that comes with sleeping through the night. Here are five tips for making sure you get the most of your night after your head hits the pillow.

1. Use a Bedtime – Going to bed at the same time every night helps get your body into a routine. Once you start going to bed at your designated bedtime, you will soon find yourself physically winding down and feeling sleepy around that time.
2. Set an Alarm – Using a bedtime should allow you to wake up at the same time each day without an alarm. But sometimes we repeatedly hit the snooze alarm until we are late to begin our morning routine. Get up when your alarm goes off the first time every day.
3. Keep the Same Schedule – When you stray from your normal routine, your body has a hard time compensating afterward. This is true whether you stay up too late watching sports on a weeknight or sleep in on weekend mornings. Keep the same schedule all week long for the best sleep.
4. After Dinner Activity – The human body is prone to slowing down after eating a big meal. However exercising before bedtime can cause insomnia. Instead try some other stimulating activity, like cleaning the kitchen, or getting things ready for the next morning.
5. Read Actual Books – If you like to read before bedtime, read from a hard copy of a book instead of an e-version on a digital device. The backlit display decreases the amount of melatonin that our bodies need to regulate sleep patterns.
6. Sleep in the Dark – Keep your room as dark as you can for the best quality sleep. Use heavy curtains and turn off all electronics in your bedroom. If possible, keep your laptop, cellphone, iPad, and other devices with a backlit display in another room completely.
7. Use White Noise – White noise, like the muted sounds of city traffic or the rain falling outside, can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep once your body reaches that state. White noise machines are fairly inexpensive and worth the investment.
8. Turn Down the Heat – There is a reason why a lot of people prefer the cool side of a pillow when they lay down their head at night. Turning the heat down in your bedroom by a mere five degrees allows you to sleep better than if the room is too warm.
9. Replace Your Mattress – If you are not sleeping well then the problem could be your mattress. Talk to your doctor about what mattress is best for your health in regards to spine health, allergens, and overall quality of sleep.

It is not uncommon to hear about people who “fight sleep”, whether it is a child at naptime or humans of any age at bedtime. According to the National Sleep Foundation, humans are the only mammals that delay sleep on purpose.

However avoiding sleep is the last thing we humans should do. Staying up past your bedtime only risks having you wake up grouchy the next day. If you get a good night’s sleep, on the other hand, then you can wake up refreshed and ready to tackle any task while at peak performance.

Carol Newman has one goal in life – helping other women live the healthiest lifestyle possible. She frequently shares tips while hosting the BioGirl Health Show as well as on her website, www.biogirlhealth.com. Carol finds that putting clean, organic things into her body via the foods she eats results in having more energy, sleeping better, and being healthier overall.

For many lucid dreaming is something quite intangible – mainly because they’ve never heard or even had a lucid dream. However, we’re going to take you through what lucid dreaming is, where it comes from and how it works and also provide some tips on how to lucid dream yourself.

What is it and how does it work?

Lucid dreaming allows you to control your dreams and though many people would consider this quite a bizarre notion – it’s only because they haven’t experienced. In fact, it’s quite simple to prepare yourself and practice techniques that allow you to lucid dream.

Essentially, in a lucid dream you are aware that you’re dreaming – it allows you to realise that the experience you’re having is not a real one and that you’re asleep. By understanding this you will be able to take control of what’s happening and consciously do what you wish to do within the dream.

Dreaming and therefore lucid dreaming tends to occur during the REM phase of sleep. Science doesn’t really understand dreaming, let alone lucid dreaming and many argue that it’s impossible to take control of a dream. However, the numbers of people who would suggest otherwise would signify that lucid dreaming is quite real and very possible. Of course, you can try it and see for yourself.

How to Invoke a Lucid Dream

There’s no sure fire way of lucid dreaming – however there are plenty of techniques that can be performed that increase your chances of having one and encourage them. So, let’s take a look at some techniques used for lucid dreaming.

Take a Nap

One of the easiest ways to encourage lucid dreams will be favoured by those who love their sleep. Simply, wake up a half an hour earlier than you would usually and stay awake for 15-20 minutes before going back to sleep. As you don’t fully wake up the chances of you returning and quickly entering REM are high, increasing the chances of a lucid dream.

Only in Dreams

Another very easy way to increase the chances of lucid dreams is to ask yourself if you’re dreaming during the day. This tends to mean you will be more prone to asking whether or not you’re dreaming when in a dream and so improves the chance of a lucid dream.

MILD

The MILD technique, otherwise known as Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreaming is a longer term approach and takes a little more effort. Here’s how to do it:

• If you wake up from a dream, try and recollect it completely and in detail – writing it down in a dream log if needs be. After you perform this try and keep the last moment of the dream in your mind before returning to sleep. Ideally, you want to re-enter the dream at this point.
• If you succeed you then try and let yourself know it’s a dream and try and by doing this take control within your dream.

Lucid dreaming allows you to take control of your dreams and though there are some who downplay its existence, there are plenty with the opposite opinion. The only way for you to find out is to try it – so go right ahead.

Cormac Reynolds has worked and written on the area of lucid dreaming for years. He enjoys sports and relaxation.

Everybody likes to be taller than what they already are. If this sounds like you, you should know there’s absolutely nothing wrong in that wish. Usually, the common knowledge about height is that it becomes stagnant after the age of 18, which for some lucky people is 25 years. However, there is no need to despair if you feel you are too short and would like to gain a few inches. There are a few things that you can do increase your height naturally.

Workout

It is a well known fact that working out helps you shed all the extra weight in your body. Not only that, with the right exercises, you would be able to gain a few inches in your height as well. However, you should include exercises such as stretching, swimming, etc into your workout regime. These exercises are known to increase your height. You could also try standing on your toes and try to stretch.

Yoga

Believe it or not, doing regular yoga comes with many health benefits. And it is one way to increase your height naturally. There are many different poses in yoga that not help your overall health, but also to gain some inches to your height. In fact, since yoga consists of a lot of stretching postures, it is one of the best ways to try and increase your height.

Healthy Diet

Another easy way in which to increase your height naturally is to take good care of the food that you are eating. It is necessary to ensure that you do not have too many carbonated drinks or saturated fats. Having food products like fish, eggs, milk, etc would increase the chances of increasing you height.

Sleep

Sleeping is one of the most underrated things that people do. To ensure that you have a good overall health and development, it is necessary that you have ample sleep every day. If you neglect sleep, then you will have a stunted growth, which will affect your chances of increasing your height.

Posture

The way you sit and the way you stand also go a long way in deciding how tall you can grow. Having a bad posture would mean that the spinal cord would be suppressed and not let you grow to your full height. A good posture means that the head and the neck should be aligned.

Alcohol and Tobacco

It is a known fact that too much consumption of alcohol and tobacco will have adverse affects on your health. If you either smoke or drink, then the chances of you gaining any more inches in your height would be very small. Therefore, you should try to stay away from them to not only improve your health but also your height.

Sunlight

The sun is the best source for our body to get some Vitamin D. Therefore, you should try to be in the sunlight as much as possible as Vitamin D is a very important component that helps in increasing your height.

Plan for a healthier 2014

Tis the season to…make New Year’s resolutions and for many people these will be based around getting fit and losing weight. But making your resolution is just the first step on your journey to a fitter, faster you in 2014.

Get SMART

Resolutions without goals won’t help you lose weight or get fit. In fact they will just leave you feeling guilty when you cave in to the first temptation that comes your way in January. The key to successful goals is to add some SMARTs to them. This stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound.

Be Specific

Just saying ‘I want to lose weight’ or ‘I want to get fit’ is way too vague. It’s time to get specific. If you feel like you’ve put on some weight then maybe you’d like to get back to a weight where you felt happy with yourself. If you want to increase your fitness put some specific goal around it like working towards running a 5k in 40 minutes or less. If you aren’t sure where to start then signing up to a beginner’s running programme can help you stay motivated and injury free.

Measure for measure

Measuring your success as you work towards your goal can really help you stay on track. After all if you’ve just tracked a weight loss, or clocked a new personal best time there’s less likelihood you’ll sabotage that by hitting the junk food. You can measure fitness in lots of convenient ways using fun, easy to use gadgets from Fitbit, Jawbone UP or Nike+ FuelBand. These fancy bits of fitness tech track your movements using accelerometers. The information is then synced with your smartphone helping you track increased fitness and even compare your progress to other people.

When it comes to measuring your progress towards weight loss keeping a food diary is another time tested winner. But you may not find the old-fashioned paper and pen method much fun. Luckily there are plenty of free food diary apps out there to try and if you join a slimming club like Weight Watchers or Slimming World they too have apps that will help you track what you eat on a daily basis.

Don’t reach for the impossible

Set yourself goals that are attainable. So if you are starting an exercise programme from scratch set yourself a goal that can be reached in a healthy way. If you set a goal that is too big you’ll lose motivation. It’s much better to set mini goals and work towards something bigger. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about your goals. Putting it out there and knowing they are all rooting for you can really help you stay on course.

Realistic doesn’t mean pessimistic

Being realistic about your goals doesn’t mean you can’t make big changes. This is about acknowledging that change happens over time and takes a lot of hard work and commitment. Make sure you do some research online about healthy levels of weight loss and increasing exercise in a way that lowers your probability of getting injured. You should always consult a doctor before making any drastic lifestyle changes.

Set a timeframe

If you are losing weight it helps to have an event in mind such as a wedding, holiday or anniversary that you can use as an end date for your efforts. Without an end date you’ll find your commitment to change will dwindle pretty quickly. The same goes for setting exercise goals.  Take a look at running events near where you live and sign up for one that you can realistically achieve in the first half of the year.

The most important thing to remember is – don’t give up! If you slip then just try, try and try again.

What are your goals for 2014?

Catherine is a keen blogger with a huge passion for writing. Working with leading health organisations Catherine creates informative, educational content around lifestyle and fitness.

Juicing has gained somewhat of a rather unsavoury reputation within the weight loss world, with many citing it as being a fad, ineffective or simply unhealthy; yet the fierce advocates of juicing will contest these criticisms with vigour, stating that it does work, can be undertaken long term and is in no way detrimental to your health. So with all these conflicting arguments, what is the truth about juicing? Can it help you lose weight? And more importantly will it damage your health? In this guide we take a balanced look at juicing as a weightloss option.

The pros of juicing for weight loss

It can be healthy

For a person that incorporates juicing into a healthy diet, they can gain the benefits from all manner of fruit and veg, even the ones they don’t like. Whilst juicing typically produces juice that is lacking in fibre, a healthy diet should consist of solid food that has multiple forms of fibre.

Use up fruit and veg that is about to go off

Juicing requires a significant amount of fruit and veg to produce even a glass of juice. However this can be perfect for using fruit and veg that is about to go off.

It can be used as a singular meal replacement for those that bloat

Juicing is great for people who have a tendency to bloat from solid foods. However caution should be taken; we would suggest that juicing shouldn’t replace more than one meal, per day.

The cons of juicing for weight loss

It can be unhealthy

Juicing has gained a bad reputation because people sometimes abuse juicing to the extent that they have no other intake of food. Such a situation is particularly dangerous. There are some nutrients that simply can’t be gained from juicing alone, no matter what fruit and veg you use. Additionally, because it is impossible to juice certain elements of fruit and veg (such as the skin and/or pulp) your diet can miss out on the best and most nutritional part. We would suggest at http://detox-fit.com/ that juicing shouldn’t replace more than one meal, per day.

Juicing is expensive

Not only does juicing require more fruit and veg than if they were eaten in their original form, but there is also the initial investment in the juicer itself. Typically speaking a good juicer ranges from around £50 however they can be as much as £300.
It may not be as calorie free as you think

Regardless of what fruit and vegetables are contained within a juice, it will always be a condensed version of the calories found within them whist they are in their original form.

It requires dedication

As with any type of dietary change, juicing takes dedication. It can take a relatively long time to prepare your juice and then clean up afterwards.

Whilst juicing for weight loss can produce results, it should be approached with caution. Whilst some see juicing as a drastic weight loss option, the long term impact of relying on only juice (regardless of the fruit and veg content) can be extremely detrimental to your health. However by incorporating it into a healthy diet, the advantages can far out weight the disadvantages.

Cormac Reynolds has written a number of articles on juicing and health in the past. He’s a writer and a lover of the gym and well being.