Be a Natural Beauty - Look and Feel Great

Want natural beauty? It starts with natural products: you avoid chemicals in your food, so avoid them in skin care products and cosmetics too.

Here's how to be a natural beauty.

1. Choose a Natural Soap
Start by choosing a natural, organic soap. Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It's delicate, so avoid harsh chemicals in your soap.

Natural soaps are made of products like olive oil, essential oils, and herbs. My current favorite is a milk and honey soap with neem oil.

2. Choose Natural Facial Skin Care Products to Cleanse and Moisturize
As with soap, choose natural facial skin care products. Here's a fast and easy skin cleanser: rose hip oil. Smooth the oil on, and remove makeup with a witch hazel-soaked cotton wool ball.

Rose hip oil is a natural source of Retinol A, which researchers say eliminates surface wrinkles, fades age spots, regenerates damaged skin, and softens and reduces the appearance of scars and stretch marks.

Rose hip oil makes a great moisturizer too.

3. Choose Mineral Cosmetics
Mineral cosmetics are wildly popular, and there are many different ranges of these products. Mineral cosmetics are made from all natural, finely ground real-earth minerals. They're totally free of all the chemicals, dyes, and preservatives which you find in traditional cosmetics.

Some dermatologists have said that mineral cosmetics are better for your skin because they chemical-free.

Give them a try, to see if they work for you.

4. Choose Natural Sleep: Get Lots of Rest
There's a reason they call it "beauty sleep." You can't look and feel great if you don't get enough sleep. Did you know that missing out on sleep can even lead to weight gain?

Get at least seven hours of sleep a night: it's not a luxury, it's an investment in good health, and in your beauty.

5. Choose Natural, Unprocessed Food
As the saying goes, what you eat today walks and talks tomorrow.

Just as you avoid putting chemicals on your skin, avoid them in your food too. This means eating natural, unprocessed foods.

Choose bread that's made of wholegrain flour, and avoid all packaged foods.

You can be a natural beauty: just ensure that you stay as close to nature as possible.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Be-a-Natural-Beauty---Look-and-Feel-Great&id=1687465

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Banana Diet Tips and Warning!

Here are some banana diet tips and a warning. First off, the banana diet CAN help you to lose a lot of weight. But some people don't do it right and when you do it wrong, it gets UGLY. So read this now to get things straight so you can enjoy losing weight on this really effective diet.

Banana Diet Tips and Warning
1. Warning: The banana diet has nothing to do with eating bananas as your main meal.

You'd be crazy if you ate bananas as your meals. Uh, you need protein and fats as well for your diet. If you ate nothing but bananas, you'd so many nutrient, mineral, and vitamin deficiencies. Besides, this would be pure torture to eat only bananas.

I know you're more intelligent than that, but I just wanted to be sure for those who get a little too aggressive with their dieting tactics.

2. Tips - There are 2 ways to do this diet and a combination way

You can eat 2 bananas, 3 separate times a day as snacks between meals. You can eat 2 bananas with your meals... 1 before and 1 after each meal (I don't advise this way). OR... you can do a combo in which you eat 1 banana with each of 3 meals and 1 banana 3 different times as a snack.

If I was to choose, I'd either do the first or third way... probably the 3rd way. Why? First, you need to use bananas as snacks. By using them just at your meals, you'd be opening up some problems when it comes time to snack between meals. So it's vital to use them as snacks.

Also, it's important to have them with meals because the live enzymes bananas contain help you to digest your foods better. Good digestive health is critically important for long term weight loss progress.

This is just a brief article, but hopefully I gave you some ideas on how to use the banana diet effectively to lose weight.

If you're SICK and TIRED of getting the same old boring weight loss advice... you know, like "Eat more fruits and vegetables, drink 8 glasses of water, jog, and Blah Blah Blah", then...

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Banana-Diet-Tips-and-Warning!&id=1590976

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Best Weight Loss Program

If you want to lose weight I am going to tell you best weight loss program. I will tell you what a weight loss program should include. A real weight loss program should not promise fast or rapid weight loss. As rapid weight loss programs never give long lasting results. So prepare your mind if you want to have a success in your weight loss program. The real weight loss program will never be fast you have to be patient as losing weight is a slow process.

Always consult a weight loss doctor or a dietician before starting your weight loss program as performance of an individual varies. You should make some small changes if you want to have great results. Try to count your calories in every meal you eat. Stick to a regular exercise program which is a key part of a weight loss program. Try to enjoy your exercise program. You can exercise outdoors or you can exercise during listening music if you will enjoy your exercise it will boost your weight loss program.

Eat lot of green vegetables and fruits it will help you in your weight loss program as green vegetables and fruits give lot of vitamins and minerals. If you want to lose weight and if you want that your weight loss program should give you great results drink plenty of water. Successful weight loss program always need lots of water. If you want to lose weight water should be your best friend. Losing weight is a slow process a slow and steady weight loss program never promises losing more than three pounds per week.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-Weight-Loss-Program&id=861589

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Several Nutrients For Healthy Eyes

A lot of people suffer from different eye health issues. Whether you are nearsighted, farsighted, or suffer from eye fatigue, you can benefit from numerous eye nutrients. Taking care of your vision is very crucial. Your eyes are a part of every single task you complete. So be sure that you spoil your eyes with the right type of vitamins and minerals.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are two very important cartenoids. Since our bodies are unable to produce these two compounds, we have to rely upon supplements and other foods to provide us with an adequate amount. These two compounds are very valuable when it comes down to the prevention of macular degeneration and cataracts. Vitamins A and E are also very valuable when it comes down to vision. A deficiency in vitamin A can lead to night blindness. Furthermore, proper intake of this particular compound is beneficial in relieving eye dryness. Vitamin E on the other hand supports healthy blood vessels. Vitamin C also prevents blood vessels from braking and it aids in new blood vessel growth.

Zinc is important for eye health because it helps the liver release vitamin A. and when vitamin A is released then it can become absorbed by other body organs, such as eyes. Fish oil also provides the body with vitamin A, as well as vitamin D. this particular compound helps the eye produce protein pigments. And last but certainly not least is magnesium. Magnesium is responsible for adding more blood flow into the eye. So as you can see, every single nutrient plays its own important role in the health of the eyes. Therefore, it is important to take all of these compounds in their recommended dosage every day.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Several-Nutrients-For-Healthy-Eyes&id=1420298

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Knowing What Eye Vitamins Are

Eye Vitamins for Healthy Eyes
All our lives we've been told to take care of our eyes, eat plenty of carrots and take vitamins, etc. Today we see many magazine articles or television advertisements about ways to take care of our eyes. Many of these ads are giving the virtues of eye vitamins and telling us the importance of good eye care. Research has shown that eye vitamins cannot only help keep our eyes in good shape but can also help prevent them from being affected by diseases.

Limit you Fast Foods
The foods we consume on a daily basis contain plenty of vitamins and minerals as well as other nutrients needed by our bodies. However, some foods are better for us than others are. Fast foods, for instance, may be very popular with many on-the-go people, but lack some of the important ingredients our bodies need. Although there are vitamins in fast food, it's provides our body with a lot of bulkiness and not as many vitamins as it should. If you're concerned about your eyes, and most of should be, consider taking eye vitamin supplements. They are not very expensive and will help replenish our bodies with the vitamin content we need. In addition, many of these eye vitamin supplements can be bought without a prescription.

Eye Vitamins for Good Eye Sight
Eye vitamins are probably the most versatile vitamins on the market. Their dosage and be varied depending on what each vitamin contains as far as vitamin and mineral content. In addition, there are different kinds of vitamins you can take as eye vitamins such as Vitamin A, E, B2, C, and more. Selenium, Zinc and Lutein have been used as excellent eye vitamins. Lutein is great for its antioxidant properties but it's not fully determined how beneficial it is as an eye vitamin, although Lutein can be found in our lens and retina as well as macula. Cigarette smoking and its affect on these eye parts has been noticed with smoking causing a reduction of Lutein. In addition to the other negatives regarding smoking, it also negatively affects the eyes. If you are a smoker, you should look for eye vitamins that do not contain beta-carotene as smoking and beta-carotene has been linked with some diseases.

Organic Foods and Eye Sight
The positive affect of organic foods on our eyes has been known for quite awhile now. In addition, organic foods contain many eye vitamins. Bilberry is an herb that is known to help maintain the eyes. Many natural herbs can be taken to promote good eye care. When you are buying eye vitamins, also check on the contents and labels on the bottle, and not just the price. Make sure the eye vitamins you take are ones that are giving you the nutritional supplements you need.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Knowing-What-Eye-Vitamins-Are&id=1477627

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How to Get Fairer Skin

Have you ever longed for fairer, brighter skin? Strange isn't it? How some very fair ladies feel they look sickly and bask in the sun for a so called healthy tan. They were healthier pale than browned because a tan is a sign of sun damage. If you are born brown, then you would be the envy of these women. Then again, the grass is always greener on the other side. Dark girls often want to be fair.

Modern technology is amazing. A pale girl can get tan skin without even stepping out in the sun. Thanks to self tanners in the form of lotions or even pills.

Likewise, dark girls can go fairer. Going to a plastic surgeon for skin bleaching can give you very drastic results. Your best bet is to stay out of the sun and use sun protection and wear long sleeves and pants by day to allow your skin fade to the color you were born with.

An old home remedy to fade away the freckles and dark spots with lemon juice. It is a risky thing because lemon juice is very acid pH2. Sulphuric acid is just 1 point away at pH1, so you can imagine how acidic lemons are. You could end up burning or irritating your skin with lemon juice. At very least, it would make your skin more sensitive to sunlight. UV exposure triggers off melanin production. If your skin is continuously irritated, not just by sunlight, but by pollutants and allergens, your skin will react by producing more melanin and darkening even further.

Basically, your skin gets dark because melanin is produced by your skin, to shade it from the sun. The freckles, dark spots and even the even tan is due to melanin clustering together to protect your skin.

To get fair, you slowly exfoliate off the darkened skin over time and prevent the new skin from darkening.

There are several things commonly used to lighten the skin.

Hydroquinone is one of them but in higher concentrations, it can cause irritations and may even be carcinogenic. It makes skin lighter by preventing melanin from being formed.

Alchemilla a plant popular amongst the alchemists in the Middle Ages, slows the release of melanin pigments to your skin, hence slowing down the darkening of your skin.

Kojic acid is used to to prevent melanin formation.

Black-Out Yeast Complex, a formula by clinique, used extensively in its Derma White range breaks down the melanin clusters so that these can be disposed of via exfoliation and defuses irritants that would otherwise darken the skin, through its delivery of antioxidants. Most importantly, it prevents more melanin from forming by blocking away the signals to produce melanin.

Then there are the skin bleaching treatments by a plastic surgeon using AHAs or retin-A amongst other things. These are for more drastic results. For something gentler, I suggest you get a skin whitening range from your favourite skin care brand.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Get-Fairer-Skin&id=1429001

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Seven Simple Skin Care Tips For Beautiful Skin

Have you read one skin care tip after another and felt unsure about which one you should follow? If you open up magazines or surf the web, you will find loads of skin care suggestions and oftentimes it's simply hit or miss.

When you want to get skin care tips, avoid consulting magazines. Mainstream magazines are partial to big brand products that pay to have their name mentioned. It's hard to know what is really effective unless you try it yourself but here are some surefire tips that will have your skin looking clear, young, and beautiful in no time.

1. Many skin care tips out there recommend over-cleansing your skin. The truth is that you only need to cleanse your skin in the evening before you go to bed. Splashing your face with warm water in the morning is sufficient. Over-cleansing can lead to dryness and irritation.

2. This is probably a skin care tip you've already heard, but moisturize your skin frequently. Use both a day cream and a night cream for the best results. Look for natural and effective moisturizing ingredients such as grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, avocado extract, and shea butter.

3. Of the many skin care tips that are overlooked, one is the importance of using a deeply hydrating mask for a periodic hydrating boost. Simply applying creams day to day is not enough in order to give your face and neck the deep moisturizing treatment they need.

4. Another skin care tip that involves mask is using a deep cleansing treatment. Look for a deep cleansing mask that contains bentone gel and kaolin clay to remove the build-up of dirt and grime from your pores.

5. Don't apply just any cream to your eyes. Look for a light eye gel specifically for use around the eyes. Keep an eye out for ingredients like Eyeliss and Haloxyl, which are scientifically proven to reduce under-eye circles, wrinkles, and bags.

6. Avoid using creams that contain an SPF factor. Most of the skin care tips you have heard all your life surely preach the importance of SPF factors in skin creams but the truth is that SPF factors can cause skin problems and have been linked to cancer. To avoid sun exposure, use a wide brim hat and sun umbrella instead.

7. If you want to whiten your complexion, look for a cream that contains extrapone nutgrass. Unlike other whitening ingredients, extrapone nutgrass does not cause irritation. You can enjoy its whitening effects without experiencing any harmful side effects.

Do yourself a favor and follow the skin care tips listed here in order to achieve young, beautiful skin. Your best bet is to follow these tips religiously and if you do so, you will look in the mirror and see the skin you've always dreamed of having in no time, guaranteed.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Seven-Simple-Skin-Care-Tips-For-Beautiful-Skin&id=1511786

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Secrets of Flawless Skin - Simple Beauty Tips

Skin, the largest organ in human body, not only protects all the internal body parts, but makes men and women look good! Your skin defines your personality. There are very few who have no desire for flawless skin.

Is flawless skin god gifted? Is it ever possible to overcome skin problems? Yes there is. Flawless skin is god gifted, no doubt. But proper skincare can turn a mediocre skin flawless too. Hence, to achieve a Flawless Skin, all you need to do is take care of your skin adequately.

The very first step of skincare is the skin type identification test. Skincare treatments and facial products depend on the skin type of individuals. Identifying your skin type is of paramount importance. The product that works well on oily skin may not be equally useful for normal or combination skin. Take a test to know the skin type you have.

'Care your skin' - that is the only way to make it flawless and there is simply no shortcut. Performing the basic skin care treatments regularly makes the change. Routine skincare not only retouches the defects, but delays aging too. Facial skin care specific for your skin type is what you need. Let us discuss the steps of Routine Skincare one by one.

Steps of Routine Skincare for Flawless Skin:

1) Cleansing:
Cleansing is essential to remove excess oil and dirt from your skin. Cleansing is done with specific solutions, known as cleansers. Cleansers are mixture of oil, surfactant and water. Oil dissolves the oil, surfactant cleans the dirt and water washes out all the garbage giving your skin a fresh look and feel.

All cleansers may not go with your skin type. The ratio of oil to the surfactant and water defines how your skin would response to the cleanser. Excess oil content may block pores while lesser oil often leads to dry skin. Get yourself a good cleanser that suits your skin type. Visit online drugstore to buy a suitable product.

2) Exfoliation:
This process removes dead skin cells that make your skin look dull by changing your natural complexion. When you exfoliate all the dead skin cells are peeled off along with the outer layer of skin. This makes your skin look fresh and more youthful.

Among various processes of exfoliation Scrubbing is quite common and popular. Scrub cleaners take the dead cell layer off your skin gently. A considerable number of people prefer peeling treatments as well. Exfoliation should be done at least twice in a week.

3) Moisturizing:
Whether yours is oily or dry, you must moisturize your skin. Moisturizer moistens your skin by locking water on the surface. If your skin often becomes dry and your face seems to be stretched tightly, perhaps it lacks moisture.

4) Sunscreen:
Sun damage is often irreversible. The best way to protect your skin from sun burn is using sunscreen. Avoiding exposure to direct sunlight may not work. UV rays of the sun are active on cloudy days too.

Sun damage is one of the main reasons of early wrinkles. After applying all the basic facial products, use a sunscreen. Alternatively, you can use a moisturizer with sunscreen for the daytime and purchase a moisturizer without sunscreen for night.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Secrets-of-Flawless-Skin---Simple-Beauty-Tips&id=1050675

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Find Out Why Weight Lifting Delivers Top Health Benefits

Weight lifting is not just for building muscles. You can build muscles by lifting weights, but you can also reap many other health benefits, and you do not have to build muscles, just keep them strong and healthy.

Lifting weights is an exercise, like many others that work your body, and it can help you ward off many health problems which might come in later years, by keeping your body well toned.

Using your muscles keeps them strong, and at the same time, keeps your entire body healthy. You can build bone mass by lifting weights, which may ward off osteoporosis in later years.

Another benefit is weight loss. When you do any kind of exercise you will lose body fat and at the same time, tighten and tone your muscles. By weight lifting exercises and by controlling the amount of calories that you put into your body, you can lose extra weight. Also, as you exercise you will notice that you do not get as hungry.

You will not get big muscles simply because you lift weights. If you add the right kinds of foods while you are lifting weights, you can grow bigger muscles. This is not the only reason for lifting weights, however.

As you begin to lift weights more, you will increase your metabolism. This means that you can eat more food and still retain your weight, if you do not need to lose pounds. Stress levels have been shown to be reduced by exercising, as well, which helps to keep your mental health sound.

Regular weight training has also shown to reduce the incidence of resistance to insulin, reduces high blood pressure, and slows the incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and even some kinds of cancer. The heart is a muscle, and it needs to be exercised as well as the other muscles of the body.

Bones, muscles, and tendons are the framework that holds our body together, and each of these body parts can be strengthened by weight training. Weight lifting is a very good overall body exercise, to keep your body in tip top shape. Exercising, by lifting weights, can help your body stay young, and keep you in better health for a longer period of time.

There are many people who have lifted weights and exercised their entire life, and when they reached old age, were still very active. It has been proven that the human body definitely needs exercise to keep it healthy and working right. If everyone would eat correctly, make fruits and vegetables the main part of their meal, eat smaller amounts of meat, and lift weights for exercise, we would have healthier bodies, and there would be less incidences of some of the major diseases in our society today. It takes a mind set on being healthy, and a great amount of self-control, to stay with a strict exercise or diet program for good health, but we must challenge ourselves to do so, if we truly want to be healthy.

There are many places on the Internet to research information about health, fitness, and body building, but Muscle Fitness Userreports uses reviews from real customers to show others how these products actually work, rather than how they are supposed to work.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Find-Out-Why-Weight-Lifting-Delivers-Top-Health-Benefits&id=1633764

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How to Grow Abs Faster Than Ever

If you want to know how to grow abs, then you have to forget some of the things that you have learned about abs. Regardless of what people think, sit ups and crunches are not the way to get abs. You do not need some expensive workout machine to get those results either. I am about to tell you something that not that many people know about how to grow abs and finally make them show the way you want them to.

A lot of people do sit ups and crunches all day and wonder why the never have major results. First of all, your body gets used to the repeated motion of sit ups and crunches and it become ineffective after a while, and that is not how to grow abs! Your abs will never show if you have a body fat percentage that is to high. You have to bring that body fat percentage down to about 9% before your abs will start to show. Many people waste their time with all these ridicules workout machines that promise to get you huge abs by working them out in some crazy way. Those do not work and are a dead waste of your money!

Instead of worrying about working out your abs, you should be thinking about nutrition and how you can lose that body fat. Think about full body workouts instead of just ab workouts. That is how to grow abs the right way. You cannot do it unless you start taking nutrition seriously.

Anybody can get a great set of abs. You simply have to know how to grow abs in the right way. That right way starts with proper nutrition and good full workouts. You can find a great guide for this nutrition and a workout guide here: How To Grow Abs. That is the best online resource for how to grow abs by far in my opinion. It really helped me reach my goals.

How to grow abs is just like anything else. The more you put in, the more you get out of it. It is all about hard work and determination. You can do it if you really want to. Absolutely nothing is stopping you! Thank you for reading and good luck!

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Grow-Abs-Faster-Than-Ever&id=1634293

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The Relationship Between Insulin and Bodybuilding

There are several reasons why any good health expert will tell you that insulin and bodybuilding do not mix well. Even so, many athletes use insulin while bodybuilding. They think that it improves their performance, but it can really cause permanent damage and harm to them.

Of course, there is no doubt that insulin is a great way to get more stamina and endurance, if you're an athlete. Nobody would disagree with that. After all, aside from its performance enhancing qualities, it is also cheap and hard to detect. The trouble with insulin and bodybuilding, though, is that it can be a lethal combination.

To understand how insulin affects your body, you need to understand what it is, first. Insulin is a hormone that occurs naturally in our bodies. It comes from your pancreas, which uses it to control your blood glucose (sugar) levels. Diabetic patients, for example, have to get injections of insulin because their pancreas is not secreting it in the right amounts. If you inject yourself with high amounts of insulin, in order to improve your bodybuilding abilities, you're asking for trouble. It can cause you to sweat and shake, if you're lucky. Worse than that, though, it could cause you to go into a coma, or even die!

Of course, through the years, many athletes and bodybuilders have used insulin. It has lots of qualities that make it appealing. For example, insulin causes glycogen, which is also known as a "power pack ", to form in your body. That can really give you an added boost during training.

Insulin injections can really bulk up your muscles. It is a proven fact. They can do two very helpful things for your body. First, it increases glycogen and bulks up muscles and second, it can keep the protein in your muscles from breaking down. That means that you can easily use insulin and bodybuilding to make more muscle.

Just because insulin and bodybuilding have gone hand in hand in the past does not make it right or safe, though. There are lots of cases to prove that insulin and bodybuilding is dangerous, including a case in Yorkshire where a man went into a coma. It can also lead to diabetes or death, according to health experts.

Using insulin is very dangerous. You should not try it. Most athletes that do try it use way too much and cause themselves a lot of harm. Even in small doses, though, combining insulin and bodybuilding is very dangerous, so you should not risk trying it at all.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Relationship-Between-Insulin-and-Bodybuilding&id=1633763

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Foods That Build Muscle For You

There are certain kinds of foods which help the body to build muscles. These foods are more effective as compared to the regular foods which are consumed by the body. Consumption of these foods, aid the body to gain mass and muscles so that the growth of muscles also happens. There are certain foods which help the body to gain healthy fat also and these foods should be then avoided by people who are trying to gain muscles but lose fat. These foods are ideal for those who are thin and want to gain both muscle and fat.

There are healthier options of fat available along with healthier carbs that help in gaining muscles without gaining fat. Your target for muscle building is the decisive factor for choosing the right kind of food for your muscle training program. But irrespective of the muscle training program, healthy eating is essential so that the body can replenish its lost fluids and energy to continue with weight lifting and other muscle building programs. Without the right diet your body will become prone to ailments and other diseases and also result in fatigue.

There are various kinds of supplements available in the market that helps the body to gain muscles. These supplements are usually the protein supplements that are available in different food forms. But it has been seen that the protein which is derived from direct animal and plant sources is the best form of gaining muscles and mass on the body. The protein which you get from protein shakes and other forms of supplements should be reserved for times when you are not able to access other forms of food. Also natural supplements of proteins are better than the drug supplements.

There are various kinds of foods that fuel your muscles the best so that you can build muscle fast. These specific foods provide nourishment to the muscles so that your body recovers faster and you put on muscle faster. It is essential to remember that protein is the best form of food that helps to build muscle. But one factor which most people forget is that amino acids are needed to break down that protein and heal the muscles. These Amino acids are found in most protein rich foods like eggs and fish and pulses.

Those who consume a lot of chicken, both boneless and skinless, turkey and red meat will be able to get the protein required to build muscle fast. Fish is another rich source of protein and vegetarians can get added potassium from strawberries and bananas, which are also sources of protein. This potassium in these fruits helps your body recover faster.

Also various kinds of fatty foods are needed to build muscle but these fatty foods need to have healthy fats. Although lean meats and fruits and vegetables help in building the desired muscle theses fatty foods can be gained from different kinds of nuts.

For attaining good health and healthy muscles it is essential to eat a balanced diet which includes essential ingredients for the nutritional requirement of the body along with high sources of protein that helps in building muscles.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Foods-That-Build-Muscle-For-You&id=1541009

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Food For Thought: The Best Eats for a Brain Boost

In our on-the-go culture, we’re all searching for that something to give us the extra energy – both physical and mental – to get through the day. Now, new research is showing that what you eat (and when you eat it) can make a big difference in how well you concentrate, your memory, and your motivation.

So as you get your kids ready for back to school and get back into the post-summer routine, take heed of these four simple, time-tested principles of healthy eating that will boost your memory and cognitive capacities on a daily basis - not to mention keep you feeling fueled and energetic from morning to night.

In the A.M.
We’ve all heard the research that skipping a morning meal will make you sluggish and less energetic throughout the day. But eating breakfast doesn’t just prevent lethargy, but actually improves your mood, memory, and energy levels all day long.

Breakfast foods including cereal, toast and fruit raise blood glucose levels, which in turn fuel the brain after a night without food. Glucose not only revs up your mind, but it makes acetylcholine, which works in the brain to help your memory.

Obviously, you want to eat foods that offer a slow release of energy, rather than a quick sugar fix. Skip the donuts and try oatmeal, high-fibre cereals, and whole grain breads.

Don’t Skimp on Snacks
Your mind needs more than just three square meals a day – in fact, it thrives on constant fueling. Try a snack every three hours between meals, to boost your blood glucose levels and keep them stable all day.

Combine a carbohydrate, like crackers or fruit, with fat to keep you satisfied until your next meal. Many energy bars are easy for on-the-go women, and offer a good mix of carbohydrates, fat, and essential vitamins and minerals.

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies
Study after study has show that those who eat more vegetables (leafy greens especially) and fruit (blueberries and apples are the standouts) have improved cognitive function and slower rates of mental decline. Some research on blueberries has even shown them to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Add green vegetables like kale or spinach to salads instead of iceberg lettuce, and top that breakfast oatmeal with fresh blueberries or a sliced apple.

Focus on Iron
Most women are cautious to get enough iron in their diet, and iron-deficiency anemia is an all-too-common affliction among female athletes. But even if you aren’t anemic, a low blood level of iron can impair your concentration and memory levels.

If you avoid red meat, be sure to get daily servings of enriched foods, beans, tofu, and nuts. You may also want to incorporate a supplement into your routine.

With the right proactive steps, you can boost your memory and concentration on a permanent basis – making it all the easier to manage and navigate your busy lifestyle.

Source: http://www.heractivelife.com/women/comment/food-for-thought-the-best-eats-for-a-brain-boost/

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