There are many ideas and old wives tales on how you should treat acne but the truth is you simply need to know the facts about your skin and how it works.
How your skin works... - Your skin is made up of millions of little skin cells - These skin cells die and flake off as they age - The dying skin cells are continuously replaced by new ones - Your skin has small pores all over it - Your skin produces oil which continually flows up through your pores and onto the surface of your skin - This oil keeps your skin moisturised and protected
A common myth is that excess oil causes acne. To put it simply, it doesn't. Oil is absolutely and completely essential to the health of your skin. Without it, your skin would age quickly and dramatically and would fall prey to all sorts of infections from the bacteria you come into contact with every day.
Acne is only created when your pores are blocked somehow. No one sends a memo to your skin telling it there is a blockage so it thinks everything is normal and keeps making oil and shooting it up into the pore.
Since the oil can't get out, it starts building up inside your pore. Once your pore is full, it expands sideways until it's all puffed up full of oil like a water balloon. Now that you've got a nice pool of oil built up in your pore it is a magnet for bacteria. Bacteria then swarm around and feed off the oil, creating pus and infection. Voila - now you have a lovely big pimple!
So what causes blockages...?
1. A sudden increase in oil production When your skin suddenly produces more oil than normal, your pores cannot release it fast enough. This creates a build up of oil in your pore, attracting bacteria and blocking the pore. 2. A decrease in the speed at which your skin cells fall off When your skin cells reach the end of their life cycle and die but do not fall off quickly enough they block your pores, trapping oil and bacteria inside.
The thing to note is that so long as your skin is functioning normally neither of these situations should occur. But common issues like puberty, severe stress, pregnancy, hormones, poor diet and menopause can affect your skin health and make the above two situations more likely.
If you have acne, it will be caused by something (like fluctuating hormones) which is affecting your skin health. It will certainly help reduce future breakouts to tackle whatever the issue is but to deal with the acne you already have, you need a plan.
The best plan to get rid of your acne is to (a) kill the bacteria that are already inside your skin and (b) avoid future blockages. From a skincare perspective this means you need to: - Kill the bacteria that is multiplying and living in your pores - Dissolve the blockages already inside your pores - Reguarly cleanse and remove excess dead skin cells - Regulate your oil flows - Get your skin healthy so the pores are well supported
Understanding your skin is the first step to eliminating your acne and pimples. From there, proper care and the correct products will complete your plan and give you clear, blemish-free skin.
There is no need for you to live with acne or pimples a minute longer. Start on your plan today.
?I WANT SPAGHETTI!?
Granted, transformation doesn't take place overnight, but if you're trying to increase the fruit and veggie consumption on the home-front, these tips may help the process along:
1. Avoid Criticism At All Costs and Simply Be the Change You Want To See
Ghandhi said, ?Be the change you want to see in the world.? We don't need to inflict or impose our changes on our loved ones. Just embrace the positive changes yourself, enjoy the new-found energy and health and offer, don't insist.
Making others feel ?wrong? for their food choices is unhealthy in itself. Talking about the evil poisons of cooked foods when others you love are eating it is poisonous. Don't make raw food a religion or you will create resentment and hostility. Just beam in your fruit and veggie glow and create a positive space for others around you.
So, that's what you *say* and the environment you create. Here's what you DO, even if ever so subtly, to promote the consumption of massive amounts of fruit and veggies in your home:
2. Make Fresh Fruit and Veggies Easily Available Often
Leave billowing bowls of melon, grapes and other fruit out on the counter for grazing. The fact is, sometimes kids are just too busy to want to stop. I often will stick a gigantic bowl of berries, sliced apples or other favorite fruit in the middle of my kids? play space. I'll come back half an hour later to be delighted by the sight of an empty bowl. I know that if I'd called them to come upstairs and eat that same bowl, they'd have told me they weren't hungry, or gobbled 5 quick bites before racing to get back to their game.
Don't worry about your kids ?ruining? their appetite for supper by feeding them wholesome snacks of fresh fruit and vegetables. If they're not hungry for ?supper,? it's because their nutritional needs have already been met by the best foods on the planet. So relax, smile, and know you've done them and their bodies a service.
3. Make It Beautiful
There is no food more beautiful and colorful than raw fruit and vegetables. Nature intended them to be this way to get our attention! The best chefs in the world know this and use slivers and slices of them to make their platters beautiful.
So what happens when you bring a rainbow of fruit and vegetables together at the table?
Eyes light up and mouths open in sequence.
You can do some fancy research online if you want, but with the use of some bigger fruits that can hold the weight, kebab sticks and sliced fruit of all shapes, colors and flavors, you can make edible works of art with your food. Not only is this a fun activity that is likely to get the kids involved with their food and nibbling while they work, but food that looks good is simply more enjoyable to eat.
4. Blend it!
The best way to get lots of fruit and veggies into those little critters is by conducting science experiments with the blender together. So, everything I've said above about looking pretty, just forget it. It doesn't apply here. We're in for the full flavor experience when pulling out the blender. This is also a more cost effective way of consuming fruits, because you can use frozen fruits blended with fresh fruit for some dynamite combos.
Skip the soy milk, honey and protein powder. There is nothing more tasty than bananas and frozen strawberries blended together with a bit of water.
Adding things like soy milk, does not make for easy digestion. Fruit digests quickly and easily in the body. It's better to keep concentrated sources of protein out of the mix, or the result is fermentation and gas ? NO ONE wants that.
VERY IMPORTANT: Don't forget the straw: You'll need a thick one, but they'll always eat more with a straw.
5. Get Creative
You can put things like spinach leaves into a fruit smoothie and still get an amazing taste! If you're going to experiment with greens in your smoothies, stick to the leafy greens. Things like lettuce, spinach, chard, and even parsley will mix well and cause no digestive upset at all. But I wouldn't recommend a banana-broccoli combo. Celery also blends well with all fruit.
The first time I decided to try these green smoothies on my kids, I was nervous. They looked at it a bit strangely, but as soon as I told them I'd battled aliens in the back yard, then broke into their spaceship and stole their recipes, and that this recipe was their favorite, they grabbed the cup out of my hands before I could say, ?Alien Juice.?
I don't care if you call it Shrek's Swamp Slime, or The Grinch's Grumpy- Busting Cocktail, get creative. Make health a game and you will be blessed with happier, healthier, calmer, more emotionally balanced children.
Start now by substituting processed snacks and sugary treats that are void of nutritional value, with nature's perfect foods and you will immediately see the difference in your children yourself.
For me, health is the best gift we can give our children, and to see them live disease-free lives in a body that thrives on good food, is the best gift they can give to me.
Tera Warner has sinced written about articles on various topics from Detoxification, Vitamin and Mineral Supplement and Acne Treatment. Want to use this article in your e-zine or website? You can, as long as you include the following juicy bits: Writer and online entrepreneur Tera Warner, is co-creator of ?The Raw Divas.? She and her co-diva, Amy De Wolfe, have created the sassiest (and t. Tera Warner's top article generates over 4400 views. to your Favourites.