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Nowadays, you see numerous acai berry products being hawked on television shows, infomercials and online sites and it can really confuse even the most jaded of buyers. After all, how can you choose from a wide variety of acai-related products and choose which one is the best, much less which one is the real?

Well, you are to be commended for taking acai supplements for indeed the newest kid on the health food block has been proven time and time again to be effective. However, it must be emphasized that said efficacy does not come from the sole use of the acai-related products themselves but on other factors as well.

Of course, we all know by now of the benefits of acai products on our health. It boosts the immune system, lowers the risks for cardiovascular diseases, protects against certain forms of cancer and even promotes faster weight loss. Again, however, there are certain things that must be done to maximize these health benefits for indeed acai is not a miracle pill for eternal youth.

Choose Wisely

Not all acai berry items are created equal, sad to say. You will find acai manufacturers riding on the wave of acai fever through unscrupulous means. They will offer supposedly pure, organic acai that are, in fact, so fake, so synthetic that you are only exposing yourself to sickness of the body and of the pockets.

Thus, when looking for acai products – and you should try looking for them, if you are not yet doing so – always look for acai berries that come from South American countries like Brazil. The acai palm is native to that region and you are assured that the berries used are indeed of the purest quality.

Take Prudently

Now, if you have chosen the right acai supplements for your budget and needs, the next step is to take them prudently. And by prudently, we mean following the manufacturer’s dosage recommendations.

Of course, we understand if you want to just jug down the acai juice or swallow a whole bottle of acai capsules. However, keep in mind that anything good in excess is still toxic so try to control your eagerness for acai products. Plus, there is also the proven fact that an excess of antioxidants in our bodies can lead to more damage than even an excess of free radicals ever will. You want to benefit from antioxidants, not be in harm’s way because of them.

Live Healthy

Last but not least, you must lead a healthy lifestyle. Although the abundant quantities of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and antioxidants are good for your general health particularly for your cardiovascular and digestive systems, these beneficial substances can be quickly overwhelmed by the toxic pollutants you introduce to your body.

Thus, you have to follow a healthy diet consisting of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains and cereals and low-fat dairy products, exercise more often, stop smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, manage your stress and get sufficient numbers of hours sleep.

When you have adopted all these steps, then you can consider yourself ready to enjoy the benefits that acai berry products provide for those who take it. So, why not try them now and see for yourself?

Only the finest acai berry products made from pure acai berry are found at AcaiBerryJuice.org. After a painstaking search now you can order online the finest quality acai products and have them delivered right to your door. You’ll benefit from all the nutrition, health and weight loss properties of the acai berry. Make sure you try the pure acai berry juice, its great and good for you!

Knowing how to do a home facial using your favorite homemade facial recipes is a brilliant way of giving your skin a quick pick-me-up, to exercise it by activating circulation and for bringing nutrients and oxygen to the surface. You can do a home facial using homemade face masks or you can do a steam facial. Nearly all face masks contain a high percentage of water; the rapid evaporation that follows application causes them to be cooling, soothing and contracting. Doing a home facial is an excellent way to pamper yourself, relax, and improve your complexion.

Follow these professional steps to do a home facial, it takes about half an hour.

Step 1 Smooth your hair away from your face and neck, tie or clip it back out of the way.

Step 2 Apply a cleanser using skin contouring motions (see below):

Neck: use long alternating strokes from your collar bone to jaw line.
Cheeks: from the centre line, smooth upward and outward from your chin to your ears, nose to temples; stroke your nose bridge downwards and the sides outwards.
Forehead: stroke upward, in high arcs to your hairline.
Eyes: using one tip, finger pat, starting in the centre between your eyes, making a semi-circle going outward both above and below your eyes.

Step 3 Tissue or rinse off depending on cleanser.

Step 4 With a cotton wool pad, apply your toner to remove last traces of the cleanser.

Step 5 Dot a light moisturizer on your forehead, cheeks and chin; blend in.

Step 6 Rinse with clear lukewarm water.

Step 7 Apply a mask all over your face and throat; leave a free circle around your tender eye area.

Step 8 Cover your eyes with cotton wool pads soaked in milk or a non-alcoholic freshener. Leave the mask on and relax lying down for 20 minutes.

Step 9 After 20 minutes remove all traces of the mask, blot your face and throat with a towel; finish off with a thin film of moisturizer.

Homemade Facial Recipes

You can use the following natural homemade facial recipes when do a home facial; leave them on for a minimum of 20 minutes, and then thoroughly rinse off with clean lukewarm water.

Crushed strawberries: use them alone or mixed with oatmeal.
Ripened pears: give an astringent action to oily skin.
Cabbage leaves: apply the juice from a few green cabbage leaves.
Cucumber mask: grind or mash enough to cover your face; this is refreshing.
Honey mask: 2 tablespoons of honey and ½ teaspoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar.
Brewers’ yeast facial: 1 teaspoon of powdered yeast and 2 teaspoons of warm water; adjust consistency so it spreads like a paste.
The beaten white of an egg – with the optional addition of ¼ teaspoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar; good for oily or balanced skin.
Another version of an egg-white facial is to beat it with a tablespoon of skimmed milk.
Mix an egg yolk, a few drops of cider vinegar and a little vegetable oil; good for dry skin.

Steam Facial

You will find giving yourself a steam facial is stimulating. Steam encourages the pores to push out dirt and impurities; it promotes perspiration and stimulates circulation.

If you have sensitive skin or broken veins do not be tempted to do a home facial without seeking advice from a professional first.

Steaming with herb infusions is most beneficial. Pour boiling water over herbs in a bowl; make a towel into a head tent and steam your face over the bowl for 10 minutes. Blot your skin dry, tone, then moisturize.

The following herbs cans be used individually when you do a home facial or combined for your homemade steam facial:

For cleansing, soothing: camomile, lady’s mantle, nettle, rosemary, thyme.
For tightening: peppermint, elderflower, tincture of benzoin, gum arabic.
For drying: yarrow.
For healing: leek, comfrey, fennel.

When the mask is taken off, you will notice the blood vessels have expanded and your skin looks rosier; fluid from the enlarged blood vessels plumps up the inner layer, smoothing the skin and compressing the pores.

There will be a definite improvement in the appearance of your skin, and although this ‘mask effect’ is temporary, the skin is exercised and stimulated.

Experiment with different facial masks to find which suits your skin the best.

Be warned though; don’t do a home facial using a mask you haven’t tried just before a major event such as your wedding or an important date. The action of the mask will bring all the impurities in your skin to the surface. This could mean you will have a mild breakout for a few days.

If you have oily skin you need to use a mask twice a week, if you have dry or normal skin, you only need to do a home facial once a week.

To hydrate your skin for a more youthful, firmer appearance follow these 5 simple steps to kick-start your anti aging skin care program for dramatic results…

Copyright http://beauty-secrets4u.com

Following an alkaline diet and eating alkaline foods is one of the very best things you can do for your health. It can prevent disease and illness and keep you looking young and full of vitality, as well as help you to lose weight

Check out this list of 7 wonderful and easy to find alkaline foods that you should include in your diet almost every day:

1. Spinach – In general, all dark green leafy vegetables are alkaline foods. Spinach fall into this category and is highly alkalizing. The chlorophyll contained in the green pigment is pure sunlight energy and highly alkalizing to our bodies. It is most beneficial eaten raw, in salads or even juiced with some other alkaline foods, such as…

2. Avocado – one of the only alkaline fruits, it makes a great smoothie when blended with spinach, cucumber and pineapple (pineapple is not alkaline but we are looking to achieve a 70:30 balance between alkaline and acidic foods, so this is ok). Avocado is also packed full of essential omega oils, for a healthy heart and great skin, hair and nails, as well as maintaining good joint functionality.

3. Celery – With virtually zero calories in it and full of nutrients, you can’t really go wrong with celery. It’s great to eat celery sticks raw with hummus dip, or chop it up in your spinach salads, with some seeds and almonds, or make a cabbage and celery soup if you like. Celery loses its bitter taste when cooked but remember that cooking also destroys some of the vitamins and minerals and makes it less alkaline.

4. Tomatoes – our little round red friends are fantastic alkaline foods and, like avocados, one of the only alkaline fruits. Tomatoes contain lycopene, which can help to prevent against heart attacks. However, lycopene it is not well absorbed into the body unless the tomatoes are cooked. Thus, the best sources are concentrated tomato products like tomato paste, ketchup and tomato juice. Also, vine-ripened tomatoes contain more lycopene than ones that are picked before they fully ripen.

Tomatoes can be found everywhere ad they’re pretty cheap, so you should be eating them all the time, as a main staple in your alkaline diet!

5. Broccoli – broccoli contains loads of cancer preventing/fighting anti-oxidants and it is also a good source of folate, iron, fibre, potassium and vitamin K, and has more calcium than a glass of milk (milk is acidic by the way too).

6. Cucumber – like celery, there are virtually no calories in cucumber, just water, nutrients and chlorophyll. Cut up into crudit’s and dip in hummus, or chop into salads. The most alkalizing part of a cucumber is its dark green skin, so eat all of it.

7. Lemons – many people are surprised to learn that lemons are an alkaline food. A fantastic and cheap way to make alkaline water is to squeeze the juice of a couple of lemons into a large jug of fresh water, or a lemon and a lime and drink.

Would you like to know more about alkaline diet and alkaline foods? Get instant access to my free 38-page Alkaline Diet Recipes eBook by going here: Alkaline Diet Recipes Book.

Laura Wilson is qualified advanced fitness and dance instructor and has researched and implemented optimum health and an alkaline diet for over 10 years, which has enabled her to lose weight, compete in many athletic events and maintain youth and vitality.

Prevention therapy is one way of reducing the negative effects of stretch marks. Although a common problem in pregnant women and people experiencing rapid weight gain it is nonetheless something we can do without. Many women are embarrassed to wear certain clothing after pregnancy for fear of their stretch scars showing. People who have also experienced rapid weight loss and want to show their new body to the world find themselves shortchanged by their unsightly striae marks. Although not everyone gets them since they can be hereditary it is very likely in cases of pregnancy because it is a known statistic that over 75% of women who give birth end up with stretch marks.

Preventative measures are varied but the best place to start is with your diet. Keeping skin hydrated is especially important because a stretch mark is actually scar tissue that has been produced by the dermis layer of our skin to heal or patch up skin that has been damaged from stretching. Skin is a remarkable organ and is actually designed to stretch but our modern diet is not conducive to keeping skin healthy and elastic to withstand the stretching from pregnancy or weight gain.

Apart from drinking lots of health giving fluids and staying away from diuretics like coffee, soda and tea there are supplements that can aid in the skin’s rejuvenation. Vitamin C is particularly important to the formation of collagen in the skin and 1000 milligrams a day in calcium ascorbate powder form in a glass of juice or water would be sufficient. Fresh fruits that have lots of water like melons are also good to have in the morning. Raw carrot juice and other raw vegetables like cilantro and cucumber in juice form are particularly good drunk fresh. Vitamin A and E can be taken orally in pill form as well as used in a topical cream that will keep the epidermis moist and pliable. These creams are not dermal scar tissue removal creams but simply moisturizing creams that will allow your skin to stretch to a certain extent without getting damaged.

The best way to deal with this dermal scarring is to engage in preventative measures that keep them from forming in the first place. The diet regimens suggested are not terribly difficult to stick to and will result in the long term benefit of knowing that you did your best to keep your skin healthy resulting in beautiful skin that is relatively free of marks. The vitamin supplements regimen is also easy to follow. You just have to remember to take them at mealtimes. You can avoid the stress of procedures like laser stretch marks removal or stretch mark removal surgery by sticking to these regimens or creating some of your own. However you proceed you should also know that these garish looking marks are not in any way a serious condition that is life threatening.

Vera M suffered from stretch marks during her rapid weight gain as a teenager and has always advocated prevention over cure. She feels that people who are in there youth don’t understand the way their bodies work and are sometimes aghast at what could have been prevented had they known. You can read more about stretch mark removal and preventative measures that allow you to stave off laser stretch marks removal procedures that are effective but can damage the dermal layer of skin.

The acai berry is a small fruit which grows on the acai palm.  The acai palm is a tree native to Central and South America.  The majority of acai palm trees are found in the Amazon rainforest.  The little berry is packed full of some of the most effective and potent set of antioxidants known to man.  To give you a sense of the potency and efficacy of these antioxidants in a comparison to grapes the acai berry has ten times more antioxidants and in comparison to a more traditionally favored fruit the blueberry it has twice as many antioxidants.  This makes the acai berry probably the most effective antioxidant known to man.

However, this is not all.  The acai berry, remarkably, has many other healthy characteristics.  The fruit is a rich source of fiber, which aids detoxification of the body and a cleansing of the intestinal system.  It is rich in iron, an essential bodily requirement and one that cannot be stored by the body.  It has an unusually high proportion, for a fruit, of protein and perhaps more importantly essential fatty assets, including Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9 fatty acids which are notable as powerful antioxidants that can assist the body in dealing with free radicals which in turn allow improved cell regeneration resulting in improved energy levels and a more youthful appearance.  Finally the berry includes a multitude of trace minerals all of which ensure you get your recommended daily allowances of important dietary elements.

Does the acai berry live up to its billing as a superfood?  I think you can probably decide for yourself, but the facts are certainly compelling.

My name is Lizzy Hatpail and have produced a comprehensive source of information about the acai berry [http://pureacaiberryjuice.co.uk/], why acai berries are so important and where we should go to find the best quality acai berries to make your acai berry juice [http://pureacaiberryjuice.co.uk/amazonacaiberryjuice/] and dietary supplement.

Making your Slim Smoothie

What you will need

• A blender
• Raw, whole vegetables and sprouts
• Raw, whole fruit
• Frozen fruit and/or ice cubes
• Water
• Rice milk and/or soymilk
• Herbs and supplements
• A transport container with lid

RECIPE:

• 1. Fill your blender container halfway with raw vegetables and sprouts.
• 2. Fill your blender the rest of the way with fresh fruit and frozen fruit and/or ice cubes.
• 3. Add approximately 2 to 4 cups of water and a ½ cup of rice milk or soymilk.
• 4. Blend the ingredients until liquefied.
• 5. Drink and enjoy!

HELPFUL HINTS:

If the Slim Smoothie comes out too thick, I add extra rice milk or water to thin it out. Most blenders create heat during processing that can destroy some enzymes, and that’s why it’s important to add ice cubes and/or frozen fruit and enough water during blending to keep the food cool, preserve the enzymes and help make the drink fluid and drinkable.

BEGINNERS AND CHILDREN:

At this level, use more fruit and sweeter fruits such as bananas, cherries or pears. The recipe should initially contain selected mild vegetables such as carrots, Napa cabbage, and cucumber, and fewer vegetables overall. Additionally, water with soy or rice milk should be added to the drink.

INTERMEDIATE HEALTH ENTHUSIASTS:

A blended recipe can include proportionally more veggies as compared to fruit and water as the base without juice, rice or soy milk. Use a very small amount of sprouts (1/8 to ¼ cup) since the taste may become too strong to make the drink enjoyable.

ADVANCED HEALTH ENTHUSIASTS:
At this stage, the Slim Smoothie should contain more vegetables, very little fruit and some sprouts blended with pure, filtered water – no added rice milk. You may add your supplements and green herbal blends to the drink. Advanced students may also choose to add sprouted sesame seeds, sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted flaxseed, sprouted beans, or sprouted grains.
Just like in any other endeavor, in health it is very important that you progress by mastering one stage or step at a time. That is why there are beginning, intermediate and advanced blending stages for the Slim Smoothie. The first time you make the drink, it must be tasty enough so that you will continue to drink it everyday. Everyone, regardless of their overall health or age, should start as a beginner and then progress to the advanced level as soon as their comfort level permits the changes in taste and texture.

My blended Slim Smoothie energy drink recipes are different almost every morning or noontime. A typical Slim Smoothie might include watermelon, with two to four carrots, one vine ripe tomato, one apple, blueberries, strawberries, a banana and sugar beets. I recommend growing your own sprouts, but if you don’t have time to grow sprouts, you can buy packaged sprouts at the market.
Some people have been led to believe that it is best to not combine fruit with vegetables. However, in over twenty years of helping people to embrace this concept of blending rather than juicing, I have noticed the addition of fruit is necessary to keep the drink palatable. I also suspect that primitive man probably foraged through the rain forests gathering various vegetables and fruit and mixing them by eating them together without concern about digestive juice mixing or other confusing beliefs put forward by certain health advocates.

With a daily Slim Smoothie in your diet, your blood sugar will be perfect. If you are diabetic, blood sugar levels can be improved with a daily Slim Smoothie containing more vegetables than fruit, combined with a decrease in the intake of fatty greasy, concentrated sugary foods during the rest of the day. I have measured the insulin and blood glucose levels of hundreds of people who drink a blended Slim Smoothie everyday, and there have been astonishing results and improved levels within nine days.

Nick Delgado,

Ph.D., CHT, Diplomat American Academy Anti-Aging Medicine

One of the world’s leading experts in anti-aging and author of ten books, Dr. Nick Delgado is a media personality who lectures about how to restore vitality and zest of life to youthful levels. Called ”the Tiger Woods of Anti-Aging” by Ronald Klatz, President of the American Anti-Aging Acadamy. Nick has quickly been gaining notoriety as a champion of stem cell research and is a pioneer in the field of stem cell treatment for the purpose of Anti- Aging.

http://www.UltimateMedicalResearch.com