Skin care: Tips for healthy skin

Don't have time for intensive skin care? You can still pamper yourself by acing the basics. Good skin care and healthy lifestyle choices can help delay the natural aging process and prevent various skin problems. Get started with these five no-nonsense tips.

1. Protect yourself from the sun

One of the most important ways to take care of your skin is to protect it from the sun. A lifetime of sun exposure can cause wrinkles, age spots and other skin problems — as well as increase the risk of skin cancer.

For the most complete sun protection:

• Use sunscreen. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15. Apply sunscreen generously, and reapply every two hours — or more often if you're swimming or perspiring.
• Seek shade. Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun's rays are strongest.
• Wear protective clothing. Cover your skin with tightly woven long-sleeved shirts, long pants and wide-brimmed hats. Also consider laundry additives, which give clothing an additional layer of ultraviolet protection for a certain number of washings, or special sun-protective clothing — which is specifically designed to block ultraviolet rays.

2. Don't smoke

Smoking makes your skin look older and contributes to wrinkles. Smoking narrows the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin, which decreases blood flow. This depletes the skin of oxygen and nutrients that are important to skin health.

Smoking also damages collagen and elastin — the fibers that give your skin strength and elasticity. In addition, the repetitive facial expressions you make when smoking — such as pursing your lips when inhaling and squinting your eyes to keep out smoke — can contribute to wrinkles.

If you smoke, the best way to protect your skin is to quit. Ask your doctor for tips or treatments to help you stop smoking.

3. Lack of exercise:

It makes you fat of course and that introduces very many more health problems but it also plays a role in the lack of luster in your skin. There isn’t enough flow of blood which is essential for the oxygen to travel across the body to each cell including the skin cells.

4. Bad eating habits:

The skin needs different nutrients and those fast food joints you love are not where you will find it! Feed your skin the right food and it will respond with that lovely look you want. Tit for tat!

Now that you know what you need to stop doing. Here are the tips for healthy skin.

How to get healthy skin:

Tip 1: Minimal makeup

Ladies, can you please minimize makeup usage? It is really not necessary to always use a blush, concealer, foundation, mousse or whatever it is. It may add a fine coating to your skin making it glowing skin, but what about your real skin? Is it really glowing? No matter how expensive the brand is, it damages your skin to a large extent. We are not asking you to throw them off your shelf; keep those away for special days. The rest of the days, tone and moisturize your skin, use sunscreen. Let your skin breathe.

Tip 2: Face cleansing

This has been told by all beauty experts umpteen times when asked how to maintain healthy skin. Even if you are too tired after a long party, cleanse all dirt and makeup from your skin. Your face needs to be cleared of all the chemicals in makeup. The makeup acts as a tight mask on your face keeping your facial pores clogged. If you go to bed with all these makeup on, you’ll wake up the next morning with a huge embarrassing pimple.

Tip 3: Slather on sunscreen

Sunscreen is a must for your skin. The rays of the sun are harmful beyond thoughts. Skin cancer, premature aging, skin rashes all of these are caused when your skin gets too much exposure to the sun without any protection.

Use a big dollop of sunscreen with SPF on your face whenever you are going out to protect your skin of all the anomalies caused to your skin by the harmful sun rays. Do not care for the season or whether the sun is out today or it’s cloudy. Use sunscreen always. Beauty experts also advise using sunscreens even if you are at home or inside a car or even if you on a flight. Celebs swear by SPF measured sunscreen to keep skin healthy and free from any diseases or ugly tanning.

Tip 4: Exfoliating face

All the healthy skin tips for women say that you should exfoliate your face at least twice a week. Scrubbing your face will rid your facial skin of all the dead cells that might have clogged your pored leading to acne breakouts, blackheads and whiteheads. Scrubbing your face will also improve your complexion, adds a glow to your skin and also clears your skin of all toxins. Don’t keep your skin scrubbing daily, it will make your skin look even drier.

Tip 5: Moisturize

Yes, other than keeping yourself internally hydrated, also use a good moisturizer to feed your skin. Moisturizers do not add a great deal of moisture by themselves but they lock in the present moisture and are hence essential to keep your skin hydrated. After a bath, make it a routine to moisturize your face daily to keep it hydrated. Before bedtime, place a towel soaked in warm water on your face and keep for some time. This way the pores of your face will open allowing the moisturizer to soak into your skin.

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7 Superfoods For Your Heart

In fact, eating the right kind of foods can even reduce your risk for atherosclerosis (the hardening and narrowing of arteries), a common cause of heart attacks and strokes.

There are many healthy foods that you can include in your daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner to keep your heart functioning well. A heart-healthy diet is one that is rich in lean protein, whole grains, fruits, and veggies and low in sodium, unhealthy fats, and bad cholesterol.

1. Salmon

Salmon and other fatty fish such as sardines and mackerel are the superstars of heart-healthy foods. That's because they contain copious amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, shown in studies to lower the risk of arrhythmia (irregular heart beat) and atherosclerosis (plaque build-up in the arteries) and decrease triglycerides. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish and preferably fatty fish at least twice a week. Omega-3 fatty acids are also available as dietary supplements.

2. Oatmeal

Oatmeal is high in soluble fiber, which can lower cholesterol. "It acts as a sponge in the digestive tract and soaks up the cholesterol so it is eliminated from the body and not absorbed into the bloodstream," says Lauren Graf, a registered dietician and co-director of the Cardiac Wellness Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Graf recommends avoiding instant oatmeal, which often contains sugar, and heading instead for old-fashioned or even quick-cooking oats. Other whole grains such as bread, pasta and grits are also good for the heart as long as they still contain the entire grain.

3. Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are a nutrition power house that offer maximum nutritional benefits and minimal calories. Just a spoonful of chia seeds helps reduce bad cholesterol and aids in the reduction of plaque buildup. It also helps lower blood pressure and triglycerides.

Chia seeds can be eaten by the spoonful, blended into smoothies, or stirred into soups. They also make a great salad or yogurt topper.

4. Blueberries

Blueberries contain a good amount of beta-carotene and lutein (carotenoids), anthocyanin (a flavonoid), ellagic acid (a polyphenol), vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, potassium and fiber. All these healthy nutrientssupport heart health.

People who eat at least one serving of blueberries per week are 10% less likely to develop high blood pressure. You can add fresh or dried blueberries to cereal, pancakes, or yogurt. Cranberries, strawberries and raspberries are also good for heart health.

5. Oranges

Oranges contain beta-cryptoxanthin, beta- and alpha-carotene, lutein (carotenoids) and flavones (flavonoids), potassium, folate and fiber, all of which are heart healthy nutrients.

Oranges are also an excellent source of vitamin C, a potent protector against strokes by improving blood flow to the heart. This sweet, juicy fruit helps control high blood pressure, improves the functionality of blood vessels and reduces artery inflammation.

You can get these benefits from either eating oranges as a fruit or drinking orange juice. You can enhance the natural sweetness with cinnamon and lime juice.

6. Walnuts

Walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, magnesium, folate, fiber and mono- and poly unsaturated fats that promote healthy hearts.

Eating just a small handful of walnuts each day may lower your cholesterol and reduce inflammation in the arteries of the heart. They also reduce the risk of diabetes.

Try to eat unsalted walnuts as a healthy snack between meals to enjoy its health benefits. For variety, walnuts can be added as a flavorful crunch to salads, pastas, cookies, muffins, and pancakes.

Adding these “best of the best” heart-healthy foods to your diet plan will help keep your heart functioning properly for years to come.

7. Purple Sweet Potato

Potatoes have a bad reputation for being high in calories. But white, red, purple, and sweet spuds are rich in potassium, fiber, calcium, and B vitamins like B-6 and folic acid (folate). These can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Cook potatoes with the skin on because it contains the highest amount of nutrients. A December 2013 study in the Journal of Biomedical Science found that quercetin, a flavonoid in potato skin, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. 

Potatoes get their bad rep because of the toppings we tend to load on them, Taub-Dix says: “It’s all about the company you keep.” She advises using Greek yogurt as a topping for your potato instead of butter and sour cream.

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