How to Treat Acne

Acne is something that worries most teenagers, and a condition that can linger right through life.  

But, how does acne occur and why?

The whole surface of our epidermis is covered by pores, which include glands. These glands create a  form of fat called sebum. When the glands produce the proper amount of sebum, every thing is okay. But once they become stimulated and begin to develop excessive sebum, the pores become clogged. This leads to an accumulation of sebum and bacteria in the pores and skin, which leads towards the formation of pimples.   The reason why acne most often occurs in puberty is mainly because at this age the sex hormones that stimulate the glands are most active, and also the reason why it can flare up in women around menopause.

Acne is not a major physical problem, though in serious cases can lead to scarring, but often causes a loss of self-confidence which is equally as damaging.  

Here are a few simple tips to help keep acne under control, and eradicate it: 

    * Wash your face 2 times per day with soap and warm water gently without rubbing hard or you can irritate the skin further and then dry it gently, but thoroughly with a clean dry towel each time.

    * Keep all chemical and synthetic products away from your skin including accidental transference from your hands from hair gels and sprays.

    * Avoid cosmetics that are oil based – mineral make up is usually the best. 

    * Resist the urge to touch infected areas, and never ‘op’ any pimples.  If you do the bacteria will penetrate deeper into the pores, resulting in a lot more pain, redness and possibly even scars.

    * identify any food allergies that may aggravate your skin – check after eating to see if any change is visible in your skin and then avoid that particular food or drink.  

 * Stress can aggravate acne so reduce it wherever possible in your life. 

* Sunlight is generally considered helpful in dealing with acne, due to increased vitamin D levels, but do it gently and carefully and never when the sun is at its hottest.  

These simple tips will help, and so will keeping your immune system strong and healthy.  Follow a natural wholefood diet, get plenty of exercise and fresh air and you should see some improvement and if it is persistent then consult a practitioner such as a homoeopath who may be able to offer more help.

Sapphires & Diamonds Womens Perfume and Cologne by Elizabeth Taylor

     After experiencing lots of success as a young Anglo American actress in the 1940′s-1960′s, Elizabeth Taylor is considered an icon and one of the top 10 actresses of all time. As a young beauty, she was able to open up doors and capitalize on the opportunites that had presented themselves to her. In her latter years, she has made many tabloids with her Hollywood lifestyle, many marriages, and her close friendship with Michael Jackson. With all her success, she has also come out with an entire line of womens perfume and mens fragrances throughout her lifetime. These widely popular designer womens fragrances for women are known throughout the world and we are going to cover just about all of them today in our article

     The first womens discount perfume debuted under Elizabeth Taylors name was called Passion designer perfume for women. This fantastic womens perfume was introduced in 1987 and was an instant smash with the feminine community. With perfume notes of jasmine, woods, vanilla, moss, and & floral aroma’s, its not hard to tell why this women’s discount perfume was able to take off so quickly and was greatly loved by the feminine community. This perfume is still in circulation today and typically you can still find it a some of the major department stores. The mens cologne version called “Passion Cologne” hit the scene a few years later in 1989. This also happens to be the only mens cologne fragrance that Elizabeth decided to release. This mens cologne fragrance carries ingredients of ginger, clove oil, nutmeg, jasmine and vanilla. The ginger really sets this mens fragrance apart with just enough ginger spice to get people’s heads to turn.

     Next on the list of Elizabeth Taylor’s womens perfume was called “White Diamonds” perfume for women. Another fantastic fragrance from Elizabeth Taylor, White Diamonds discount perfume was released in 1991 and heads for a more casual type of womens scent. Fragrance perfume notes in this specific womens perfume are lily, rose, amber, oakmoss and sandalwood, making for a great fragrance that can be worn just about anytime of the day or night. White Diamonds perfume has been a great signature fragrance for women now for almost 20years!

     1993 brought about three new womens perfume fragrances from the Elizabeth Taylor line of discount fragrances. The 3 fragrances we are getting ready to write about are some of the best selling womens fragrances of all time. Diamonds & Sapphires is more of a day time scents with floral bouquet freshly cut smell of lily of the valley, jasmine, ylang-ylang, spice, and rose ingredients with later hints musk sandalwood tops it off. Number 2 included Diamonds & Rubies perfume for women. These specific womens fragrances come equipped in a clear bottle like the others covered in a red box with black and gold trim. Carrying perfume notes of lilac, rose, peach, orchid, amber and vanilla, this womens perfume makes for a fantastic evening occasion. Diamonds and Rubies makes your selection of perfume appear that, thats exactly what you have just found! 1993 also included our 3rd perfume introduced in this year called Diamonds & Pearls. A 3rd very popular fragrance for Elizabeth Taylor, this specific womens perfume is very laid back and casual with ingredients of green floral top notes with white rose, water lily and gardenia, with lower notes of carnation and jasmine to make a beautiful womens fragrance to wear anytime.

     Rising upon her success, Elizabeth Taylor launched her next womens discount perfume in 1996 called Black Pearls. Black Pearls perfume is another great designer daytime perfume fragrance with aromas like soft sweet spices, white rose, and amber, accompanied by fruity notes of fresh citrus and melons. Can’t go wrong with this one. The designer notes speak for themselves White Diamonds Sparkling perfume hit in 1999 with a more hip, blue and white box and clear bottle. More of a sparkling type of personna. Also a daytime scent, this womens fragrance resembles notes of a fresh buy yet soft fragrance which also has flowers with hints of citrus fruits. A more fruity womens fragrance. A couple of years after that, White Diamonds Brilliant perfume was introduced in 2001. Arriving in an all white box with elegant black trim, this womens perfume includes a soft, powdery floral type of scent, perfect for a night out.

     The last two of Elizabeth Taylor’s discount perfume line include “Forever Elizabeth” and “Gardenia”. The first to be debuted was Forever Elizabeth perfume which hit in 2002 with Gardenia following in ’03. Arriving in a beautiful red box with an elegant bottle design, Forever is a casual womens aroma with dewberry, amber and jasmine with creamy amber and musk, making for a feminine and soft scent. Arriving in a green box, Gardenia perfume for women is a casual fragrance with ingredients of gardenia, jasmine, lily of the valley, orchid, rose, white peony, carnation, and musk. Absolutely fantastic!

     The name Elizabeth Taylor has now been branded and built into a women’s fragrance, cologen, and cosmetic empire. Her name bill be recognized for many years to follow. A fair amount of people still swear by her products and praise her line of fragrances. Alot of the time, you can find her items at just about any name brand department like JC Penny’s, Dillard’s, or Bloomingdale’s. Also you can hop online as there are typically great deals to be found. Thats actually the only place we shop now for name brand items whether its perfume, cologne, watches, purses, or just about anything. Some reputable online discount fragrance companies that we have found include IcyFragrance.Com, DRH Fine Gifts, and PerfumeFuzion.Com. Vast inventories with fantastic pricing. They all carry Elizabeth Taylor!

HRT Linked to 42% Increase in Cataract Risk

The Europeans and the Americans do seem to take a different approach to HRT, with the former being more sceptical and sometimes disagreeing with US findings. This is the case with some new research from Sweden which has reported that women who receive hormone replacement therapy appear to be at a higher risk for developing cataracts.

The research was funded by the Swedish Health Council and is an eight-year study of more than 30,000 postmenopausal Swedish women from 1997 to October 2005. The women initially completed a questionnaire about hormone status, HRT, and lifestyle factors. Lead researcher Birgitta Ejdervik Lindblad, MD, of Sundsvall in Sweden and her colleagues later compared these records with registers of cataract operations.

Compared with women who never had HRT, the risk of needing cataract surgery was 14% higher among those who received HRT at any point their lives and 18% higher for women currently taking hormones. The risk becomes even higher the longer a woman is on HRT, and if you have more than one alcoholic drink a day, then the risk rises to a staggering 42%.

Naturally occurring (endogenous) oestrogen is thought to protect the eyes from cataracts, and oestrogen receptors have been found on the lens, the part of the eye damaged by cataracts. Certainly the prevalence of cataracts is known to be higher in postmenopausal women compared with men of equivalent age. One reason why this research contradicts that in the US, which found that HRT lowered cataracts or had no influence, depending on the type of cataract, is that HRT dosages and types of oestrogen used vary in different countries, so comparison between the studies is difficult. Also the oestrogens in HRT are not natural but chemical and this again is probably an influencing factor.

If you are taking HRT it is advisable to have regular check ups with an optician as cataract screening is normally an automatic part of the process, but do mention it just in case.

Breast Cancer Survivors and Soy Foods

Because we know that breast cancer is promoted by oestrogen, any woman who has had breast cancer tends to avoid foods that contain it such as tofu and soy milk. The most common source for many women is soy, a plant that has chemicals with oestrogen-like and anti-oestrogenic properties — which makes it a tricky area if you are a regular soy consumer.

A study has been ongoing since 2002 in China to study the effects of soy on breast cancer and analysis of the research suggests that eating soy, even in large amounts, may not be harmful after all, and may even reduce recurrence and death from the disease. Researchers based at Vanderbilt University in Houston, Texas and the Shanghai Institute of Preventive Medicine have looked at the first four years of follow-up of two groups of women breast cancer survivors. The first group consumed soy from naturally occurring sources, such as tofu or soybean and took in more than 15.3 g of soy protein a day and the others who had less than 5.3 g per day (less than half acup of soy milk, which has 7 g of soy protein.)

The women who had the higher intake had a risk of death from breast cancer four years after diagnosis of 7.4% and the risk of recurrence was 8%. Women who had the lower intake had higher risks: a 10.3% risk of death from breast cancer and an 11.2% risk of recurrence. Although not all experts are convinced that it’s safe to begin advising women to add soy to their diet, they do agree that there is no need to avoid soy altogether – particuarly in its natural forms – though supplements should be avoided by those who have had breast cancer until more analysis of the research has been done.

Home births as safe as hospital delivery

Women who give birth at home do not have any higher rate of complications or death than women who give birth in a hospital. This research was carried out in the Netherlands where one-third of women choose to give birth at home, due to a government encouragement of the policy.

Because the Netherlands has one of the highest rates in Europe of infant death during or just after birth, some researchers have suggested that home births might be unsafe, but when researchers examined data from 530,000 births attended by midwives, they found no difference in the risk of mother or infant death between home births and hospital births.

The study looked only at low-risk women, defined as those going into labour with no known complications, and did not include hospital births attended by a doctor rather than a midwife.

The researchers found that a full one-third of women who began their birth at home eventually had to be transferred to a hospital but in such cases neither the mother nor infant was at any higher risk of dying than in any of the other births in the study.

Breast cancer awareness month

October is Breast cancer awareness month and as this is the most common cancer, and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women, it is timely to pay attention.

There are 45,500 women diagnosed with it every year and one woman in nine will be affected in her lifetime. You can get involved in various events or contribute by buying yourself – or someone else – a fit that contributes to breast cancer research. Among my ‘wish list’ are Debenhams ‘bling piggy bank’, a special edition ipod cover and earphone set or – assuming we are ever going to get some more rain – Asda’s tickled pink wellies and slippers.

If you want to do something more active, then undertake a Friendship Walk to raise funds, or try ‘STEP ON IT’, which is one of Breast Cancer Campaign’s new individual walking challenge. You are asked to walk a step for each of the 46,000people who will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK this year.

More details from the website at www.breastcancercampaign.org/how/fwalk_resources/

Men are better than women at dieting

Most men do not embrace the concept of dieting unless pushed to it by a health problem or a few gentle (ie nagging) remarks from their partner. But research shows that when they do decide to got it they are better at it than women.

Men have not been well served by the diet industry, partly because of inertia, but also because of embarrassment. The traditional dieting aids for women like slimming groups just do not attract men. Do not despair though because I have found a couple of resources that can really help.

First is a clever woman who realised men don’t like dieting in public, for example asking for a gin and slimline tonic still isn’t quite the thing – and actually from a health point of view that slimline tonic is worthless. It may have fewer calories but it also has a cocktail of chemicals in it – go for the real thing and get the benefit!

Jeni Blaskett decided to create a slimming group in which men would flourish and lose weight. One that meant that men could go about their daily routines without feeling they were losing face so she set up a website www.Beltdown.com exclusively for men

Beltdown’s key diet plan principle is unique, and couldn’t be easier to follow – ‘If you can’t wash it, try to avoid it’. So a cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms makes it onto the tick list, cake and biscuits do not. The website has plenty of info aimed specifically at men, such as which are the lowest calorie beers and curries, and the format allows for men to stay totally anonymous, whilst still getting the challenge, competitiveness and interaction of a group – but online.

If you have an internet connection, it costs £8 a month membership and is available 24/7 – so no more excuses skip over to www.beltdown.com

Men only

If you want a programme designed by a man who has been there and done that himself, then I can recommend Robert Paterson’s book ‘Warriors’. He found the same problems in going to slimming groups as Jeni describes so he put together a very successful programme that has all the elements needed for successful weight loss. It is particularly aimed at those who have found success in their careers but who, due to hectic lifestyles and lack of time, have lost their healthy body in the process.

He created a specially developed ‘business plan’ to show you how to: – Set targets you can meet – Devise sensible day-to-day eating plans – Motivate yourself when the going gets tough – Achieve long term success – Treat your body as your business

Robert was an international banker weighing 22 stone who lost 8 stone on his regime, and kept the weight off. He is now Chairman of the Emerging Markets Group and Chairman of Performance Consultants, Brasil. He is a spokesman for the British Heart Foundation and regularly competes in events to raise funds for them. You will find his book on Amazon by typing in his name and Warriors in their search box.

Complete Exercise Kit for Pregnancy

Celebrity mums go overboard in trying to return to their pre-baby shape, but there is a simpler solution that any pregnant woman can turn to.

Exercise is available to everyone through classes and videos, but there is a new solution in The Miracle Box. This kit contains an exercise/birthing ball recommended by midwives for core strength, posture and back pain relief during pregnancy and can also be used during labour to help with pain and to get baby in the right position.

The kit has three specific wall charts, one for exercise during pregnancy, one for postnatal exercise and one for general toning along with access to online charts showing you the exercises to make sure that using the exercise/birthing ball is both fun and effective. You also get a free DVD to show you simple, safe and effective core and pelvic floor exercises to strengthen muscles and get you back in shape.

Good for any expectant mum, and an ideal present so find out more at The Miracle Box website at www.themiraclebox.co.uk

Weight gain and increased breast cancer risk

It’s a natural tendency for women to gain weight as they go through menopause and the body lays down fat cells to provide the oestrogen that is lacking from the natural cycle. We know that the highest risk group are women over 50, they comprise around 80 percent of cases, but there are now two new studies that show that a woman’s risk is increased if she is seriously overweight – whatever her age.

Previously it was believed that postmenopausal women were the most at risk but the study by scientists at Geneva University, Switzerland, have shown that it is a woman’s lipid profile and oestradiol levels related to her weight are also determining factors. They found that in their study of women aged 25-80 years old that obese women presented significantly more often with stage III and stage IV cancer and the figures are extraordinary:

** these women were a staggering 180% more likely to have later stage breast cancer than women of normal weight.

** they were also 240% more likely to have tumours that were equal to or greater in size than 1 centimeter

** their chances of having positive lymph nodes were 510% more likely than normal weight women and this suggests cancer may have spread to other parts of their bodies

Not only does obesity clearly increase breast cancer risk, but other research has shown it shortens the time between return of the disease and lowers overall survival rates. In 2007, Italian researchers went presented evidence that a hormone found in fat cells called leptin significantly influences breast cancer development. Leptin is a hormone derived from fat cells that sends messages to the body that it is time to stop eating. Obese people often do not have a clear signal from the leptin receptor and it is this failure that has previously been shown to be involved in the development of breast cancer. Leptin has been found in 86.4% of primary breast tumours. This is because it increases the amount of oestradiol in breast tissue and we know that excess oestrogen is associated with breast cancer.

Normalising leptin function is therefore critical in cancer risk individuals as it is the single most important hormone for controlling our body weight control. Because leptin regulates our thyroid, insulin, growth, and adrenal hormones it is vital for regulating all our metabolic processes.

What can you do?

Anyone with a pattern on consistently overeating will become leptin resistant, which means that leptin is unable to deliver its message to the brain to stop eating. To regulate and redress this you need to first drastically cut out any consumption of processed carbohydrates and focus on a diet of natural whole foods. A good night’s sleep is also important and light interrupts leptin function so make sure your bedroom is really dark and don’t put on lights to go the bathroom but put in a low plug light to show you the way. Exercise in a moderate will help, and so will reducing any stress in your life. My own stress book is now available as an ebook for immediate download at www.sortingstressout.com but if you prefer a real paperback I have some copes available, just email me.

If sugar is an addiction for you, then speak to a herbalist and look at some of the herbs like Gymnema sylvestre, and Inula racemosa to help reduce the desire for sweet tasting foods and help bring the taste system back to natural balance.

Heart disease risk for women increased with exposure to plastic food containers

New research presented in Washington in June has shown that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA)– a chemical found ion plastics – causes abnormal heart activity in women. It is the oestrogen receptors that are responsible for this effect in heart muscle cells.

BPA is an environmental pollutant with oestrogen activity, and is used to make hard, clear plastic and is commonly used in many plastic food containers, including water bottles.

Even low doses of BPA markedly increased the frequency of arrhythmic events the researchers found and it was made worse when exposed to estradiol, the major oestrogen hormone in women.

BPA is already linked to neurological defects, diabetes and breast and prostate cancer.

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