Healthy Home Guide

How to Eat a Balanced Diet as a Vegetarian

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of any balanced diet. But nutrition experts also recommend eating a certain number of servings of meat and dairy products each day. It’s not surprising that many people who are considering becoming vegetarians hesitate because they fear that they will not get adequate nutrition.

The truth is that vegetarians can eat balanced diets too. It takes careful planning, but it’s not as difficult as one might imagine. The key to eating a balanced diet as a vegetarian is to know what foods give you the vitamins and nutrients that most people get from animal sources.

Include the following in your daily diet…

Calcium

Calcium is important because it strengthens our bones. Most people associate calcium with milk and cheese, but these are not the only sources of the important mineral. There are many vegetables that contain calcium.

Leafy green vegetables are one of the most popular sources of calcium among vegetarians. Broccoli and beans are also rich in calcium. Soy products provide lots of calcium as well, as do fortified fruit juices.

Lacto and ovo-lacto vegetarians can consume milk and milk products, so it’s easier for them to include calcium in their diets. But vegans can get the calcium they need for strong bones as well.

Protein

A common myth about vegetarianism is that it is extremely difficult to get enough protein. The fact is that although vegetarians usually eat less protein than those whose diet includes meats, meat-eaters often eat too much protein. Plant proteins can also be healthier, because they do not come with the large amounts of fat and cholesterol that animal proteins someetimes do.

Beans are a great source of protein for vegetarians. Grains, nuts, and seeds are also protein-rich. Even many vegetables, such as corn, provide a large amount of protein.

Vitamins

One thing that vegetarians usually get plenty of is vitamins. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with them, and many of these foods have several different vitamins in one delicious package. But there are a few vitamins that vegetarians need to take extra care to include in their diets:

- Vitamin B12 is one important vitamin that is usually obtained through meat, eggs or dairy products. Lacto and ovo-lacto vegetarians do not need to worry about getting enough B12 in their diets. Vegans, on the other hand, might want to consider taking B12 supplements.

- Vitamin D is also often lacking in vegan diets. Those who consume dairy products that are fortified with Vitamin D do not have to worry about it, but strict vegans usually don’t get much of the important nutrient. Two solutions are to get plenty of sunshine, which causes our bodies to create Vitamin D on their own, or to take Vitamin D supplements.

Eating a balanced diet is no harder for a vegetarian than it is for anyone else. Getting all of the vitamins and minerals we need requires us to eat a variety of foods, and to make sure those foods have enough of the things we need in them. By educating yourself about which foods have the nutrients that vegetarian diets often lack, and making it a point to include those in your diet, you can be a healthy vegetarian.

What are Common Causes of Acne?

Acne is not a life-threatening condition, but it can be extremely annoying.  Many of us struggled with acne in our teens, but it’s also quite common among adults.

There is much that still isn’t known about acne.  But there are some factors that often contribute to its appearance.  Some of them are easy to control, while others are difficult or impossible to do anything about.

1. Bacteria and Sebum

Bacteria and sebum are the root causes of acne.  The bacteria P. acnes is found naturally in the skin, and so is sebum, which is produced by the sebaceous glands to moisturize the skin.  Clogged pores, excess sebum, and the P. acnes bacteria can combine to cause damage to the pores, which shows itself as blackheads, whiteheads or pimples.

While it’s fairly straightforward how acne forms, the harder question is why it forms.  Studies have shown some factors that contribute to the process:

2. Hormones

One of the most recognized factors that causes acne is hormones.  This is why acne is so prevalent in the teens.  With the onset of puberty comes an increase in hormones – including androgen, the male sex hormone.  A number of studies have linked excess androgen to acne.

Other hormonal changes can also cause acne.  For example, many women experience breakouts right before their menstrual periods or when using (or ceasing to use) hormonal birth control methods.  Some women even find that pregnancy triggers acne for them.

3. Diet

Claims that eating chocolate and greasy foods causes acne have been around for many decades.  But these have been found to be questionable at best.  Studies have found, however, that dairy products seem to contribute to acne.

The reason that dairy products are a factor in acne is unclear.  But some scientists believe that it is due to the hormones present in cow’s milk.  Even milk from cows that do not receive hormone treatments contains some natural hormones.

4. Other Factors

There are many other things that are said to contribute to acne.  One that women often experience is using the wrong cosmetics.  Some makeup is greasy and can block pores, facilitating the formation of pimples.  This problem can be avoided by using cosmetics that are marked as non-comedogenic or non-acnegenic.

Skin irritation is also known to be a factor in acne.  This can occur as a result of scrubbing, chafing, or squeezing existing pimples.  As with the cosmetics, these things can make it easier for pores to become clogged.

There is much that is not known about acne, but there are many treatment options available today.  Those who are predisposed to acne may not have the benefit of a cure, but these treatments can often greatly reduce or even eliminate breakouts altogether.

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Five Natural Glass Cleaners

It is shocking how many dangerous chemicals the average person has in their home. Everyday cleaning products often contain substances that can be harmful to the environment, pets and humans. Making our own cleaners allows us to control what is in them, but it can be tricky to figure out what ingredients can be safely used on what surfaces. Making your own glass cleaner is a good start. Here are five natural glass cleaners that you can mix up at home:

#1: Vinegar is a great window cleaner. You can either use it full strength, or mix it half-and-half with water. The scent takes some getting used to, and it will burn if you get it in your eyes, but vinegar is very safe and effective.

#2: 1/2 cup of lemon juice and 2 cups of water makes a pleasant-smelling glass cleaner. You could also add in a small amount of castile soap for greater effectiveness.

#3: Many naturalists use cornstarch in their natural glass cleaner mixtures. It is said to reduce streaking. 1 tablespoon of cornstarch can be mixed with a quart of warm water and 1/4 cup of white vinegar. For best results, clean windows with this mixture when it’s shady so that the sun doesn’t cause them to dry too quickly.

#4: Rubbing alcohol is good for cleaning windows, and it helps prevent frost in the wintertime as an added bonus. 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol to 1 quart of water is enough to be effective. Be sure that the area is well ventilated when cleaning with rubbing alcohol, and keep the mixture out of the reach of children.

#5: If you have been using store-bought cleaners to clean your windows, a natural cleaner could cause streaks due to the residue left behind by those cleaners. To prevent this, wash windows with a mixture of 1/4 cup of castile soap, 1 cup of vinegar, and one gallon of water. After this initial cleaning, your natural cleaners should do a nice job of keeping the windows clean and streak free.

In addition to making your own natural cleaners, cleaning windows with old newspapers has several benefits. It is cheaper than using paper towels, it further protects from streaking, it doesn’t leave lint behind, and it reduces waste.

Making our own homemade natural glass cleaners is a great way to make our homes safer and help protect the environment from the harsh chemicals that can be found in commercial formulations. You probably have most or all of the ingredients you need in your home already, and if you don’t they can be purchased very inexpensively at a grocery or discount store. While it’s always a good idea to keep cleaners where children can’t reach them, most of these cleaners are non-toxic and virtually harmless.

Five Popular Uses for Witch Hazel

Witch hazel has been used for many generations to treat skin problems. It has even made its way into a number of mainstream skin products over the years, from respected companies such as Pond’s. Herbalists have also used it internally to treat some conditions, although there is some debate as to its safety when used internally.

Witch hazel’s pleasant fragrance and easy care makes it a popular shrub. It can also be found in various forms in herb shops.

Here’s five of the most popular uses for witch hazel:

1. Witch hazel can be used on sores, bruises and swelling. For this purpose, witch hazel is often used in a liquid astringent form. It can be applied several times a day to provide soothing relief to injuries.

2. Witch hazel’s antioxidant and astringent properties make it effective against acne. For the treatment of acne, witch hazel is also often used in its astringent form. It is gentle and non-drying to the skin, unlike many harsh acne medications found in drug stores.

3. Skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema can be treated with witch hazel. These conditions are unsightly and painful, but witch hazel can soothe both the visible symptoms and the pain associated with them. These characteristics also make witch hazel a good option for sunburn. For these types of conditions, witch hazel may be better used in a cream preparation.

4. Witch hazel is a good choice for treating exposure to poison ivy. Witch hazel is gentle yet effective against the itching and swelling of the outbreaks that result from contact with the plant.

5. Witch hazel is effective against hemorrhoids and varicose veins. The herb’s anti-inflammatory properties can shrink hemorrhoids and bulging varicose veins. It can also provide relief from the pain associated with both conditions. Witch hazel is available in the form of pads for hemorrhoid relief, and these can also be used on the varicose veins if desired.

How Do I Use Witch Hazel?

If you’re growing your own witch hazel, you’ll need to make a tincture or tea out of witch hazel leaves. The tea is made by steeping 2 to 3 grams of witch hazel leaf in a cup of boiling water for about 15 minutes. Tincture is obtained by placing the bark in alcohol, allowing the alcohol to extract the beneficial oils of the plant.

Witch hazel can be found in stores in the form of astringent, medicated pads, creams, toners and facial washes. It can also be found in some shaving products due to its numbing properties.

Witch hazel is one of the most useful herbs in existence. It can treat a wide variety of skin conditions gently yet effectively. Used properly, it has few side effects.

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Witch Vera Gel

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4 Health Benefits of Adding Soy to Your Diet

Soy has long been used as a healthy substitute for many food ingredients. The bean has been touted for decades as a source of numerous nutrients, including protein, amino acids, calcium and fiber. And more recently, it has been discovered that soy also contains phytochemicals that boost its benefits to our health.

1. Soy Benefits the Heart

Scientists have been studying soy’s benefits to the heart since 1909. Soy has been found to lower LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, while preserving HDL (good cholesterol) levels. Soy also contains lecithin and Vitamin E, two natural antioxidants that are good for the heart.

Another heart benefit of soy is the fact that it contains the isoflavone genistein, which is thought to reduce blood clotting. This could help prevent both heart attacks and strokes. Genistein is also believed to help prevent the formation of artery plaque.

2. Soy Protects Against Cancer

Many types of cancer have been linked to elevated hormone levels. Excess estrogen, for example, has been associated with numerous types of cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. The isoflavones found in soy, genistein and daidzein, are being studied in relation to the prevention and treatment of these and other hormone-related cancers.

These components of soy are believed to prevent and sabotage the growth of cancer in a number of ways. They can prevent estrogen from entering cells, and they may block genes and processes that are necessary for cancer to take hold, grow and spread. Studies have also shown genistein to activate helpful genes that promote the self-destruction of cancer cells.

3. Soy Helps Create Healthy Bones

Calcium is one of the most important nutrients we can consume for healthy bones. Using soy as a replacement for animal foods allows us to keep calcium in our diet, as a number of soy foods are high in calcium. In addition to calcium, soy contains magnesium and boron, two nutrients that enhance the effects of calcium.

4. Soy Fights Hot Flashes

Hot flashes and night sweats are two of the most bothersome symptoms of the menopause. Research has shown that menopausal women who consume soy flour each day have a large reduction in symptoms such as hot flashes.

How Can I Add Soy to My Diet?

There are many foods available that contain soy. Soy milk can be used as a substitute for cow’s milk, and soy flour is a healthy substitute for wheat flour. Tofu is a popular soy-based food that can be eaten alone or used in recipes. And fresh green soybeans, known as Edamame, can be cooked and eaten alone or used in recipes.

Soy has numerous health benefits. It provides us with several essential nutrients, and studies have proven it helpful in the prevention and treatment of many ailments. Adding soy to your diet is very worthwhile, whether you are battling health problems or just want to improve your overall health.

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Soy Isoflavones Extract

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Foods that Raise and Lower pH Levels in the Body

Proper pH levels are essential to good health. If our blood is too acidic or too alkaline, it can trigger defense mechanisms that may compensate for the problem at hand, but could potentially cause other problems. We can protect ourselves, and possibly turn these problems around, by eating foods with the proper pH.

Acidosis occurs when our blood pH is too low. It is associated with fatigue, and it is also found in sufferers of many chronic diseases, including cancer.

Some foods that can help raise your pH level and restore good health are the following:

Slightly Alkaline Foods:

Note: These foods are only slightly alkaline, and can be used when your pH is only slightly low.

* Peas
* Watermelons
* Apples
* Blueberries
* Pears
* Grapes
* Onions
* Bananas
* Raspberries
* Peaches
* Tomatoes
* Oranges
* Lemons
* Apricots
* Grapefruits
* Potatoes (sweet or white)
* Strawberries
* Tangerines
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How to Clean Your Kitchen the Natural Way

The kitchen is often one of the most complicated rooms in the house to clean. Most households have numerous cleaners just for the kitchen. These include floor cleaners, oven cleaners, dish detergent, and one or more surface cleaners. This is often not only expensive, it can also results in a lot of added chemicals in our homes.

Making our own natural cleaners can save money and avoid the hazards of cleaning the kitchen with harsh chemicals.

Here are some natural cleaners for your kitchen that you can make easily at home:

Oven

To keep the oven from getting so messy in the first place, try sprinkling a generous amount of salt on spills right after they happen, while the oven is still hot. Once cooled, you can usually scrape the spill up easily.

For regular cleanings, a mixture of equal parts baking soda and hot water is safe and effective. This will make a paste that you can apply and let sit for one minute before scrubbing and rinsing off.

*For tough stains, add an equal part of salt to the mix, apply and heat the oven to 500 degrees for one hour, then let it cool and rinse off.

Dishes

If you wash dishes by hand, adding baking soda to liquid soap makes a cleaner that can be more effective and less damaging to the environment than regular dish detergent. There are also organic dish detergents available in health food stores. In the dishwasher, washing soda and borax are a good home-made alternative to traditional dishwasher detergents.

For the rinse cycle in the dishwasher, adding vinegar will keep your dishes spot-free. It’s also good for keeping the dishwasher itself clean. The rinse compartment in many dishwashers will not hold vinegar very well, so you might want to add it at the beginning of the rinse cycle.

For pots and pans that are greasy or have food stuck on them, soak in a solution of baking soda and water. Coarse salt and lemon juice work wonders on copper pans.

Drains and Garbage Disposals

Clogged drains can often be cleared by pouring a cup of baking soda and a cup of table salt down the drain, followed by half a cup of white vinegar. Let that sit for ten minutes, then flush out with boiling water.

Baking soda and vinegar are also great for cleaning the disposal. Pour those ingredients down the disposal, let sit for ten minutes, then put a few ice cubes in the disposal and run it. Citrus peels or cut up citrus fruits that are going bad will freshen the disposal between cleanings.

Floors

Floors can often be cleaned with nothing more than a damp mop. If you need something more potent than water, white vinegar is effective and safe for almost any type of hard flooring. Dish detergent also does a good job.

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High Quality Green Cleaning Products for your Kitchen
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Benefits of Starting Your Own Herb Garden

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If you go to the spice section in the grocery store, you will see many types of herbs. How many of those do you use in your cooking? Did you know that you can grow many of them in your own garden?

Herb gardens are great for cooking purposes, but they can also be home to medicinal and fragrant plants. And if all of those benefits aren’t enough, they are quite beautiful as well.

Cooking Herbs

There are many cooking herbs that you can grow in your garden. Basil, bay, dill and chives are just a few of the many delicious spices that come from easy-to-grow herbs. Most plants grow large enough to provide a bountiful harvest that you can share with friends and family.

Fresh herbs are much tastier than the store-bought ones because they haven’t sat around long enough to lose flavor. So a little bit goes a long way. Some cooking herbs are perennials, so they will come back for you to enjoy year after year.

Medicinal Herbs

Many herbs are known for their medicinal qualities. Yarrow, St. John’s wort, and hyssop are some of the most used medicinal herbs. Herbal remedies can be found for almost any common ailment, and they are less expensive and often have fewer side effects than traditional medicines.
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Product Review Name: Gaiam Balance Ball Chair
Rating: 9
Where to buy:Gaiam Balance Ball Chair

Description: This is a piece of office furniture that brings fitness and comfort together. It includes a removable balance bar, adjustable support bar, easy to move casters and even an air pump.

Review: I sit at my desk all day working on my computer. By the end of the day I can hardly move when it comes time to get out of my desk chair. After months of being stiff, hurting and having to take 5 minutes to get it together just to move I decided enough was enough. I went looking and found the perfect chair.

The Gaiam Balance Ball Chair is made so that you can have fitness and comfort all in one place and all day long.

The adjustable back support bar is my favorite part. Most of us have a tendency to slouch when sitting at a desk most of the day. This causes a lot of back problems. With the support bar I can easily adjust the chair to give my back support wherever the problem might be. I can move it up to support across my shoulder blades if I’ve been leaning over my desk. I can lower it to support my lower back if I have been slouching. It leaves me feeling comfortable and able to move even after a long day at the office.

The balance ball is great for exercising. I always hear about doing this exercise or that exercise while sitting at my desk. I have never tried any of them for various reasons. Because I work most of the time, I find very little time to exercise at all, so the balance ball is great! There’s even a desk guide that includes exercises you can do while sitting in your chair and working. No more feeling bad because there’s never enough time to exercise.

It also includes four casters. The great part about this is two of them are locking casters that attach to the back legs. If you have small children who will definitely want to climb on such a cool chair this aspect cannot be beat. I enjoy them because it keeps me from moving all over the room when I start to get antsy after a long afternoon.

This chair is easy to assemble and the air pump makes inflating the ball easy and fast. I love my balance ball chair and we do have a lot of fun showing it off to new people in the office. It is quite the conversation piece. Best of all I feel just as good when I leave my desk at the end of the day as I did when I first came to work. It’s the best investment I’ve made in a long time.

Criticism: The only downfall I see is the ball. When you first receive the chair you have to wait for the vinyl to warm up before you can inflate it. The bad part about this is the anticipation of getting it put together just you can try it out. After about 4 hours mine was ready to go and my patience held out to the end.

Burning Love Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons oil
1 C. rice, uncooked
1 clove minced garlic
½ C sliced green onions
2/3 C. chopped, canned hot chilies
½ C. diced fresh tomatoes
2 C. low-salt broth (vegetable or beef)

Directions:

Heat oil in a heavy skillet and sauté rice. Stir until rice is golden brown. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer thirty minutes. (Serves 6)

Low calorie, low fat, low salt