Hoodia gordonii is a plant that is grown in the desserts of South Africa. It has been known for centuries by the local population to be an effective appetite and thirst suppressant which can be a very helpful tool when you are trying to lose weight. Hoodia comes in capsule, liquid, soft chew, and even tea form and is readily available at health food stores and online. Hoodia isn’t a brand, it’s an ingredient so you have many brands to choose from, just make sure that you find a brand that has only pure hoodia and check the concentration since it can range from 250 mg all the way up to 1,000 mg per tablet and that is one factor that can cause a variation in hoodia results.

There are approximately 20 varieties of hoodia but the appetite suppressant is only found in the hoodia gordonii which is often referred to as a cactus, but in reality it is a succulent and can take up to 5 years to mature and be harvested.

In all the years that it has been sold as a diet supplement, there have been no signs of any negative side effects associated with the consumption of hoodia, and if you look at the bushman of Africa who have been eating the plant for centuries with no ill effects it would seem to suggest that this is a safe diet supplement. It’s important to remember that one of the side effects is also a decrease in thirst so make sure you drink plenty of water throughout your day, even if you don’t feel thirsty.

There haven’t been many studies done to ascertain the true effectiveness of hoodia. The only one that I have been able to find took 18 subjects and divided them into two groups, one group received a hoodia supplement and the other a placebo. After 15 days the group who was given the hoodia had lost weight and were eating an average of 1,000 calories per day less than those taking the placebo.

There was also a test done on rats which injected the hoodia directly into their brains with the effect being a reduction in the amount they ate. That study has to be taken with a grain of salt since it was performed on rats and since the hoodia was directly injected into their brains rather than administered via pill form as would be the case for humans.

While there is no real substantiated medical proof that hoodia is an effective diet aid, the anecdotal evidence, while not scientific, would seem to suggest a correlation between hoodia intake and a reduction in appetite. The bottom line is this: even if there is limited scientific study that backs up the claims of what hoodia can do, there is also a lack of evidence suggesting it can be harmful so what have you go to lose? Why not give it a try for yourself and you can find out what hoodia results you get… which is all that really matters anyway!

Tags: Africa, Appetite Suppressant, Brains, Bushman, Cactus, Calories, Calories Per Day, Centuries, Concentration, Consumption, Desserts, Diet Supplement, health food stores;, Healthy Diet, helpful tool, Hoodia Gordonii, Ill Effects, Losing Weight, Placebo, Pure Hoodia, Rats, South Africa, Succulent, Thirst, Variation —

Creating A Healthy Skin and Clearing Acne Naturally
Lena Sanchez

Creating A Healthy Skin and Clearing Acne Naturally
By Lena Sanchez

Acne affects more than 20 million teenagers, and hundreds
of adults according to the AAD (American Academy of
Dermatology). It is the most common problem in the United
States. Many over the counter remedies exist and hundreds
of thousands of dollars are spent yearly on them. I have
come up with some inexpensive home remedies that work
perfectly well and are healthier for the skin.

ACNE Symptoms: Persistent, recurrent pimples or
skin blemishes on the skin. Acne is commonly found
on the face but can also occur on the chest, shoulder,
neck and upper portion of the back.

What is going on? Usually because of clogging of the
pores in the sebaceous hair follicles, from oils and dead
skin cells that build up bacteria in the blocked follicle,
thus causes inflammation in that area.

Prevention: Keeping the area clean, eating less fatty
foods and sugars will most times prevent acne.

Cleanse::

Cleanse (not scrub) your face at least twice daily with
a gentle natural anti-microbial herbal soap such as calendula
(Calendula officinalis), lavender (Lavandula officinalis)
for both treatment and prevention.

After cleaning, apply one drop of tea tree oil – a natural
anti-microbial – to each blemish. *For an overnight treatment
that will dry and heal, use a clay poultice, worn all night.
Use either green clay or bentonite as a base. (Can be
obtained at most health food stores). Combine 1 teaspoon
of clay with enough water to make a paste the consistency
of toothpaste. Mix in 3 drops of tea tree oil and apply to
blemishes. Rinse off with warm water in the morning.

Facial Steam:

Give yourself an herbal facial steam treatment twice a
week to gently and deeply clean pores. Into a heat-proof
bowl pour 1 quarts of boiling water over 2 tablespoons
of dried lavender, which is both and anti-microbial and
anti-inflammatory. Cover your head and the bowl with
a large bath towel, steam your face for 10 minutes,
taking care not to burn yourself with the steam.

Natural Alpha Hydroxy:

From your own kitchen comes a great natural alpha
hydroxy healer.
~ Wash well and put into a blender: 2 or 3 ripe
unpeeled pitted apricots,
~ 2 large or 3 medium sized fresh Strawberries
preferred, but frozen will work as well,
~ of a medium to large avocado (equivalent
to a 3″X 2″ piece,
~ 1 heaping tablespoon of honey.
Put in blender and liquefy until frothy. Apply to face,
leave on for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Rinse with warm herbal soapy water. Then
open a capsule of vitamin E and apply to face.

If leftovers, store in a glass jar for no more than
7 days. Use this facial twice weekly for soft
blemish free skin. To remove small wrinkles
leave on overnight.

Natural Blemish Healing Astringents:

Apply Lemon juice and let dry, apply as often as
you wish. Acts as an astringent and a healer. Lemon
has a drawing affect and will help heal blemishes as
well as prevent pores from becoming clogged. For
abscessed pores apply a piece of lemon peel directly
on the spot, skin side out. Can be left on up to three
hours.

My sister and I had this favorite thing to use as
teenagers.

Take 1 raw egg and 1 tablespoon of lemon
juice, whip until frothy and apply to skin, let dry then
wash off with herbal wash and cool water. Egg is a
great drawing healer. Do this two or three times
a week, will help keep your face free of blemishes
and blackheads. I have never experienced the black
heads and acne others have, could it be due to this
habit as a child and teenager and the fact that I
don’t ingest dairy foods?

Natural Preventions;

*Lotus Root tea two or three times a day will improve
blemishes.

Take 30 to 45 mg of zinc a day and Antioxidants helps
the regeneration of skin tissue!

If you, like me, tend to have very dry skin you have probably
spent lots of $$$ on lotions and potents that don’t
give lasting effects. Well I live in a very arid part of the
world, which does nothing to help my dry skin but
rather made it worse until I discovered something to
nourish and restore it:

Bath in a luxurious 15-minute bubble bath two to four times
a week with 1/4 cup Life Transfusion Liquid Ionic 84 Minerals.
Such softness and smoothness you can not imagine as
well as the relaxation it does for my mind If you don’t
know where to obtain liquid minerals
mailto:[email protected]?subject=LocateIonicMin

Oriental medicine has a teachingblemishes or
pimples on the different body areas correspond to
specific organs or parts of the body before they actually
show up. Areas being:
A) Forehead indicates a problem with the intestinal tract.
B) Cheeks indicate lung or breast problems.
C) Nose indicates heart area.
D) Around the mouth indicate reproductively area.
E) Jaws indicate kidney area.
F) Upper back indicates lung area.
G) Shoulders indicate digestive area.
H) Chest indicates both lung and heart area.
Not to panic anyone but this only indicates that people
with blemishes/pimples should improve their overall
health as the road to ridding the body of blemishes!

A good start is by eliminating some of the dairy products
saturated animal fats and sugars, ad daily minerals and
vitamins. The medical profession for the most part, says
diet has nothing to do with it. Do you want to believe that?
There are far more studies and histories that prove otherwise!

Take charge of your own life and treatments for your
own optimum health.

Go out and get healthy Now!

*** Lena Sanchez Author of “Handbook Of Herbs
To Health & Other Secrets,” “Antibiotic Alternatives To
Preventing Mega Bacteria,” & “Dangers & Secrets Doctors
Refuse To Tell You.” Found online at
http://www.antibiotic-alternatives.com and
Editor of “Natural Environmental Health Facts & Your
Home Business Coach” ezine subscribe at
http://www.envirodocs.com/newsletter.htm

About the Author

a retired Medical Office Administrator/nurse and Medical Office consultant
editor of Natural Environmental Health Facts &
Your Home Business Coach ezine
http://www.envirodocs.com/newsletter
She continues her goal in life of helping people
regain their health and wealth. A brief bio at
http://www.antibiotic-alternatives.com/experiences.htm

Tags: Academy Of Dermatology, acne;, alpha, American Academy, American Academy Of Dermatology, Author, Bentonite, Calendula Officinalis, Clean Pores, Clearing Acne, consultant, dairy products;, Dead Skin Cells, Dried Lavender, editor, Fatty Foods, Green Clay, Hair Follicles, health food stores;, Healthy Skin, Heat Proof, Herbal Soap, Home Business Coach, Home Remedies, inflammation, Lavandula Officinalis, Lena Sanchez, Medical Office Administrator/nurse and Medical Office, Natural Environmental Health Facts, Oriental medicine, Poultice, Skin Blemishes, Steam Treatment, Tea Tree Oil, whip, Your Home Business Coach —

Advice on choosing health food and healthy foods and reading nutrition labels
Chris Robertson

Health food doesn’t need a definition, does it? We all know what
health food is it’s yogurt and granola, whole-grain cereal and
organically grown vegetables and fruit. It’s 100% natural, no
preservatives or dyes, unadulterated, pure. When you put all
that together, you should have healthy food, yet all too often,
what’s marketed as health food these days barely classifies as
food, let alone health food.

Take a look at one of our favorite health food choices – yogurt.
It hit supermarket shelves in the early seventies, though it had
been available before that in health food stores and
restaurants. Real yogurt has two ingredients: milk (whole, skim
or low fat) and live yogurt cultures. That’s health food –
calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, protein. Next time you’re at the
supermarket, take a look at the dairy case. You’ll find row
after row of hyper-sweetened brightly colored rainbow swirled
and candy-sprinkled yogurt packaged in ways that appeal to our
littlest consumers – children. Millions of parents buy the
enticing packages, secure that because it’s yogurt, they’re
buying food that’s healthy for their children.

One look at the label, though, and it’s clear that these kiddy
yogurts (as well as most of the yogurt that’s marketed to
adults) are a far cry from heath food. Some of the most popular
yogurts for children contain anywhere from 3 to 10 added
teaspoons of sugar. Considering how many teaspoons of yogurt are
in a single serving, you might as well hand your child the sugar
bowl. In addition, most yogurts include “natural” ingredients
that have little to do with health food. Ingredients like pectin
(to thicken yogurt), carrageenan (a seafood extract that gives
some yogurts their body, and annatto (for color) add little
nutritionally to yogurt. They’re in the mix to serve one main
purpose: to help yogurt survive its trip from the factory to
your table.

You’ll find the same situation with other foods that originally
made their debut as health foods in the seventies. Granola has
become granola bars with chocolate chips and gooey caramel.
Whole wheat flour is bleached and denuded of its flavorful
kernels. Sunflower seeds are roasted in oil and salted. Even
brown rice comes in the instant variety.

Healthy food not health food

The secret to feeding your family (and yourself) a healthful
diet of healthy food is to read the labels. The United States
Food & Drug Administration has laid out strict guidelines for
nutritional labeling of all food products. The nutrition label
will tell you all you need to know to choose real health foods.
Some things to keep in mind when reading nutrition labels for
health foods:

* In the ingredient’s portion of the nutrition label,
ingredients are listed in order by amount. The ingredient that’s
listed first is the main ingredient, followed by the next
largest amount, etc.

* The nutrition facts label must list each of the required
nutrients even if the food provides 0% of the recommended daily
value.

* The nutrition facts label must list what portion of the food’s
calories is derived from fat, from sugar, from protein and from
carbohydrates. It will also break down the fat into saturated
and unsaturated fat.

Reading labels on everything you feed your family is the best
way to tell whether a food is really a health food – or just
masquerading as one.

About the author:

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon
International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on
the web. Visit this Food Website
and Majon’s Food
directory.

Tags: alone health food, Annatto, Author, chocolate chips, Choosing Health, Chris Robertson, D Vitamin, Dairy Case, Favorite Health, favorite health food choices, food choices;, Food Ingredients, Food Products, food;, Health Food, health food stores;, Healthy Food, Healthy Foods, heath food, Internet Marketing, Majon International, Natural Ingredients, Nutrition Labels, oil;, Pectin, Sugar Bowl, Supermarket Shelves, United States Food & Drug Administration, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Whole Grain Cereal, Yogurt Cultures, Yogurts —

The pH miracle diet is a revolutionary new way to look at how you eat. The essentials of the diet are to keep the ph balance of food intake at 80% alkaline with 20% acidity. The goal with this diet is to match the ph level of the bloodstream, which runs on the alkaline side. This task can be daunting for many because foods that most people love to indulge themselves on are considered high in acidity. The goal in adding more alkaline into your diet is to identify good sources of alkaline. Creating a comprehensive list of alkaline producing foods will help you make the most of the pH miracle diet.

Alkalizing foods have a tonic effect on the body. By neutralizing the acidity in the bloodstream, alkaline foods act as a breath of fresh air to the system regenerating and restoring damaged cells. Diets high in acidic foods cause the body to break down prematurely, the bloodstream carries these acid bombs throughout the system wreaking havoc in their wake. By determining what foods have an alkalizing effect on the body, we can incorporate them into our diet in larger amounts, setting the pH levels in the bloodstream to the optimum level. On average, the pH level of human blood is between 7.35 and 7.45; levels 7 and above are considered alkaline.

Vegetables and fruits are the easiest ways to get more alkaline into your diet. Vegetables that are alkalizing are: alfalfa, barley grass, beets, beet greens, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chard greens, collard greens, cucumber, dandelions, eggplant, garlic, green beans, green peas, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mushrooms, mustard greens, nightshade veggies, onions, parsnips, peas, peppers, pumpkin, radishes, rutabaga, sea veggies, spinach, sprouts, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, watercress, wheat grass, and wild greens.

Fruits that have an alkalizing effect are: apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, berries, blackberries, cantaloupe, cherries, coconut, currants, dates, figs, grapes, grapefruit, honeydew, lemons, limes, muskmelons, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapple, raisins, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, tropical fruits, and watermelon.

Protein can be a problem when attempting to add more alkaline into your diet. All protein derived from animals is acidic. It is possible to add protein to your diet that will have an alkalizing effect in your bloodstream. Proteins that are alkaline are: almonds, chestnuts, millet, tempeh, tofu, and whey protein powder.

Food is nothing without the spices, herbs and sweeteners that give it that extra bit of character. You can add these alkalizing additions to your culinary efforts to bring your PH levels into balance. Alkalizing condiments are: cinnamon, curry, ginger, mustard, chili pepper, sea salt, stevia, miso, tamari, and all herbs.

Minerals are essential to optimum health. Paying attention to which minerals have alkalizing effects can add the proper balance to your blood pH. Minerals that have an alkalizing effect on the body are: cesium, potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium.

There are other incidentals that can make adding alkaline to your diet even easier. Other ways to add alkaline to your diet are: apple cider vinegar, alkaline antioxidant water, bee pollen, lecithin granules, molasses, probiotic cultures, soured dairy products, green juices, veggie juices, fresh fruit juice, and mineral water.

Knowing which foods and supplements that add alkaline to your pH levels is just the beginning. Implementing them is the next step which takes planning and commitment. After adding these healing foods to your diet you can test your bodys pH levels with a saliva strip test available at most health food stores. Keeping your pH level between 7 and 8 is the target for good health.

Remember the goal of the pH miracle diet is to have the alkaline intake higher than your acidic intake. This does not mean that you cant enjoy the foods that are higher in acidity, quite the contrary; the balance of your diet should be geared toward alkaline producing foods. By maintaining a proper pH balance you can ensure that your body is performing at its optimum level.

Tags: Atkins, dairy products;, food intake;, Fruits And Vegetables, health food stores;, Healthy Diet, Vitamins And Minerals —