Homemade Remedies for Skin

Your skin plays an important role in your life.  Not only does the skin protect our bodies and our internal organs, the skin has a great impact on our appearance and how others see us.  Because of this, most of us are constantly on the watch for ways to improve our skin or repair skin damage such as rashes, sun damage, eczema issues or dry skin.  Although there are a countless number of easily available skincare products that claim effortless skin repair, there are also many natural skin remedies that can safely give you comparable effects for a fraction of the cost.

Here are a few of the common epidermal concerns that many of us suffer and the homemade remedies:

Dry flaky skin – Proteins, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin E and vitamin C can assist with peeling skin by providing the body with requisite nutrients and oils. Salmon, eggs, carrots, milk, cheese, green vegetables, and citrus fruits should be consumed on a daily basis in order to provide the body with the vitamins and minerals it needs.  Juices can also be used for further nutrients, but make sure they are pure juice with no added sugars!

Eczema  – The skin condition eczema can be harmful on several different levels because it often brings about the irrepressible urge to scratch.   This can result raw or scraped skin, which may increase the chances of developing an infection.   I recall when my little girl had terrible eczema breakouts.  I would see where her little nails had
scratched into her tender skin.   Taking 1000 mg of flaxseed oil daily can offer protection against eczema occurences.  Certainly, keeping the affected area moisturized with oils and/or butters such as coconut oil or olive oil will also help.

Razor burn  -  The easiest way to avoid razor burn is by careful shaving.    Warm water should be used first to help soften the hairs, making shaving easier.  Using shaving soap or gel is a must, as it can help the razor to glide over the facial skin, resulting in less nicks and cuts.  If razor burn does develop, crush a few strawberries and mix them with one tablespoon of sour cream.  This mixture should be applied to the affected area and left on for 10 to 15 minutes.  Apply daily until the razor burn is no longer an issue.  Surely, if you are sensitive to strawberries, this remedy should not be tried! Add some sugar to the leftover portion and you’ve got a neat dessert!

Sunburn  – There are a few of homemadecures that may minimize the pain from a harmful sunburn.  Aloe Vera gel, which is readily available in drug stores, is one of the most familiar natural remedies for sunburn.  Apply the aloe vera gel to the painful area.  Or you might try the cucumber and milk natural remedy:  Place slices of raw cucumbers to the burned area for relief and a reduction in skin inflammation.  Soak a napkin or washrag in milk and gently place on to the skin.  Milk tends to have a calming effect on irritated skin.

Dry skin – A squashed ripe banana is a perfect way to alleviate dry skin on the face and neck.  Though it will work on the entire body, it might get a bit messy.  Other easy ways to remedy dry skin on the entire body are taking a milk bath (use the dry milk that comes in packets) once or twice a month or the addition of oils to the bath such as olive or avocado oil.

Fruits and vegetables have a season, just as your healthy snacks should have a season. Although fruit

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juice popsicles are a great snack, no one wants that in the dead of winter. Instead, try granola bars, cheese, grapes and whole fiber crackers along with 100% juice. Store these healthy items in individual serving sizes in a zipper bag to easily hand out. You can also create your own healthy trail mix – since my daughter is allergic to many nuts, I only use almonds and all my children enjoy my mixture of whole grain pretzel nuggets, goldfish crackers, dried banana chips, almonds and semi sweet chocolate chips.

If you don’t have the time to create your healthy snacks, many supermarkets have a bulk food section as well as individually packaged trail mixes and granola bars. Just be sure to read the label so that you approve of all the ingredients.

Eating healthy is not difficult, but does take some planning. Rest assured that the extra effort you put into creating or purchasing healthy snack foods for your children will pay off in the future in good eating habits.

So what to do when you turn the television off? For younger children, this is the time to engage them in various activities that they may do on their own when they get older. As a mother of three children 5 and under, this is a time when I can play with them while also teaching. Following are the games and activities that I use with them.  Most, if not all of these games can be purchased from your local Target, Walmart, and of course ToysRus.

CandyLand – (Standard version) I purchased the original version of CandyLand with no special characters. This is a simple game that everyone, even my 2 -year old can play with assistance. The color cards indicate where the player is to move and the picture cards move them backwards or forward on the board. By playing this game, children learn about taking turns and good sportsmanship. The game itself is inexpensive (under $10.00) and is easy to set up and play.

Chutes and Ladders – This game is perfect for my four year old and my five year old as it has little “lessons” included in the game. In addition, it teaches counting as well as good sportsmanship. Although it is a game of chance, where the players are depended on the spinner to determine where to move, the pictures on the board give lessons – don’t play in the rain without your boots, or you’ll catch a cold/ clean up your room and you’ll get a reward, etc. You can discuss these lessons with your children as you play the game.

The Memory Game/Concentration – This is the simplest of all. Lay out the cards face down and each player turns over two at a time. The object is to get matching pairs. This game not only improves memory (especially mine) but also improves players’ focus and decision making skills. Again, I purchased the generic Memory Game without any television tie-ins.

Mancala– A game that can be as hard or as easy as the players make it. I’ve played this game with my son and my husband, and lost many times! It’s easy to play, but difficult to win. Mancala Gameplay.

I was able to purchase all of these games at Target. You may also find these games at a TJMaxx or Marshalls, and if all else fails you can purchase them online. Here’s wishing you great game playing!

Due to a scarcity of butter in 1869, Frenchman Napleon III offered a prize to anyone who could invent an inexpensive substitute for butter. Hippolyte Mege-Mouries won when he presented his beef suet and milk called oleo margarine. Although flavorful, the margarine was an unappealing, grayish color so Hippolyte added yellow food coloring to make it more appetizing. It was a huge success in France, which motivated the manufactures to begin marketing their inexpensive product world wide.

In the 1870s, the grayish butter substitute made its way to America and was becoming quite a hit. Well, at least until in true capitalistic spirit, the US dairy industry lobbied against it. They asked the federal government to restrict the sale of margarine, tax it, and ban the yellow food coloring so that the putrid gray color was the only color that Americans would see. This lobbying was effective in keeping sales down until the 1930s, and then all bets were off.

By the 1960’s, margarine sales were solidly gaining market share because it was inexpensive. Conversely, butter sales were quickly melting. During World War II margarine went on to become an American staple because it was branded as a “healthy alternative to butter.” Albeit- healthier when vitamin A and D was eventually added to it. Everyone was happy and healthy with this cheap new substance- or were they? Cardiologist soon discovered that margarine was anything but nutritiously healthy.

At the beginning of the 1900s, deaths from heart attacks were extremely rare. Conversely, during the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s, middle aged men and post menopausal women were frequently dying from heart attacks. Cardiologists linked these deaths to the increased consumption of margarine due to the hydrogenated oils and trans-fatty acids that it contained. What are trans-fats?

According to the FDA, trans-fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil–a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats and it creates the right “feel and texture” in your mouth. Trans-fats are found in most baked goods such as cakes, cookies, crackers, salad dressings, candies like sprinkles, breakfast cereals, shortening, margarine, and potato chips, etc. While these foods’ shelf lives will probably out live us, and they taste sinfully good- are they good for us?

The answer is a blood curdling NO. As mentioned earlier, trans-fats are linked to cardiovascular disease and it restricts blood flow through the arteries. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, a resent research paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology makes the possible consequences of this situation scarily clear. Australian investigators gave subjects three different meals containing measured portions of fat. The first meal came from a deep fryer in a restaurant, the second meal had the same amount of fat but it was uncooked, and the third meal was low fat. Four hours after the meals, the researchers measured the blood flow through the brachial artery- the main artery supplying the arm. They found significant restriction of blood flow in subjects who ate the fast food meal, some blood flow restriction in those who ate the uncooked meal, and no restriction from the low fat meal. They interpreted that the restriction of blood flow was due to the oxidative stress resulting from toxic compounds entering the blood after eating the high trans-fat meal from the restaurant.

So use your noggin! The next time you go food shopping, don’t just look at the label-also read the list of ingredients. If you see any ingredient with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil of any kind, run in the other direction (while you still can) and find a healthier alternative. Lastly, try to avoid eating in restaurants as much as possible because 99% of the time, you will be eating a sinfully delicious cocktail of cancer causing preservatives, and blood pressure raising salt, and artery clogging trans-fat.

References

(2003, September-October). Revealing Trans Fats. FDA Consumer Magazine .Vol 37, Number 5. Retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.fda.gov/fdac/503_toc.html

Nestle, M. What to Eat. New York. North Point Press, 113-11.

Weil, A. Eating Well For Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Food, Diet, and Nutrition. New York. Random House, 79 and 90.

FYI About the Author:  Toni Hall Parker graduated from Smith College with a psychology degree and managed recruiting for various pharmaceutical companies’ North American region.  She began self-studying nutrition in 2003 and attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York in 2008 to become a Holistic Health Counselor.  She now resides in Dallas, Texas with her family. For more information, please visit her website at www.myfoodtherapy.com

You’ve all heard that the skin is the largest organ on the body; not only does it help protect your body; it is an important part of your appearance. However, it can be difficult to keep the skin healthy at all times – rashes, sunburn and acne may occur and compromise the health of the skin. When this happens, it is not always necessary to reach for an over the counter remedy that may or may not work. Natural remedies are often better for the skin and are more effective.

Natural remedies are safe, but it is also important to proceed with caution where the skin is concerned. They should be treated with the same caution as an over the counter remedy. Each person’s skin reacts differently to different medicines, including the ingredients in many home remedies.

“Natural” does not always mean that it’s right for everyone. After all, arsenic is natural! Don’t use any natural remedies that contain an ingredient to which you are allergic. In addition, be careful with large portions of the skin that need to be treated. For example, if your arm has broken out in an eczema rash, test on a small part of your arm before covering the whole area. By doing this, you ensure that the natural remedy that you use will not irritate the skin condition any further.

Here is a quick list of natural oils that are good for the skin:

Shea Butter – A product of the shea nut, shea butter can be used on the skin for the treatment of sunburn, eczema, stretch marks, scars and wrinkles. Shea butter may be combined with a liquid oil to improve skin “spreadab

lity”. Of course, it is advised to do a small patch test on your skin to determine there is no allergic reaction.

Hemp Seed Oil – Products that contain hemp seed oil can help reduce inflammation in the skin, such as what occurs in eczema outbreaks and penetrates deep into the skin to help alleviate dry skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

Virgin Coconut Oil – An excellent oil for the skin, virgin coconut oil (VCO) may help delay wrinkles and serves as a great moisturizer for the skin. VCO is also wonderful for skin massage.

If you try these natural oil remedies for the skin or products that contain these natural oils, you may find out that they work better for you than those over-the- counter remedies.

Please note that this information is not meant to diagnose or treat any skin condition or disease, nor is it meant to give medical advice. Contact a medical professional on advice on how to treat your specific skin conditions.

I suppose I always wanted to give birth naturally. We never pretended to have a cesarean. I’d never heard of very many birth stories either. The only birth stories I remember were from my mother and grandmother. My mom talked about how I was born via cesarean and how she didn’t see me until 3 days after her surgery. Besides having me to show for the experience, there wasn’t any joy surrounding it at all.

My grandmother told me how my mom came so quickly that she had her in the elevator. She looked at my grandfather and said, “Sammy, the baby’s here”.

When I became pregnant with my first child at 20, I knew two things right away. I was going to give birth naturally (un-medicated and with minimal interventions) and I was going to breastfeed. I knew my grandmother breastfed all 6 of her children but she was sick by the time I had my first daughter so I couldn’t go to her for support. I’d only known 1 cousin who breastfed her child, so there really wasn’t an abundance of practical support available, but in my mind, breasts were for feeding babies. Breastfeeding was free and I was going to use mine for that purpose.

I felt that being a woman, God made my body able to handle the process of giving birth, so I set out to do it without all the interventions commonly used in the hospital today. I am far more concerned about the possible side effects of interventions used on me and my baby than I am about the discomfort of labor.

When labor began and I got to the hospital, I was in for a big surprise. My birth plan was simple. I wanted to be free to move about and be able to squat and push the baby out so that gravity could assist me. My birth plan was completely ignored as I was taken through whatever the attendants at the hospital felt was necessary. I was laid flat on my back, not allowed to use the bathroom, hooked up to IV’s and given pitocin. It turned into a huge fiasco that ended with my baby being pulled out of me with a vacuum extractor. If I’d been able to stick to my plan, there would have been no need for any of the interventions used. My new birth plan for future births became quite simple- Stay away from the hospital!

I went away from my first birth scarred physically and emotionally. My next birth was a very healing and peaceful birth center birth which was followed by a joyous homebirth. I’ve written small memoir detailing my 3 birth experiences entitled, Empowered to Birth Naturally: One Woman’s Journey to Homebirth.

www.empoweredtobirthnaturally.com

Choosing a skin care cream is a matter of personal preferences, which accounts for the fact that there are so many lotions available on the market. It seems though, that many consumers prefer a non-greasy skin care cream as opposed to a heavy, oily cream that may leave the skin feeling coated and greasy. Furthermore, as the natural products trend continues, consumers are even beginning to read the labels to choose a skin care product that contains more natural ingredients.

A skin care cream choice is personal for the consumer. If a person is suffering from dry, cracked skin, it is much better to choose a product that is more natural. Natural ingredients have been in use for years – there should be no reason to choose an artificially created ingredient when a natural product will do just as well, or better.

Cocoa butter is a great emollient. It can help fade stretch marks and keeps the skin moisturized and flexible. It is also used in many natural skin care products but careful reading of some of these labels show that while cocoa butter is featured on the label, it is not high up on the ingredient list. The same goes for shea butter or other exotic oils/butters that are being used in skin care products. More often than not, mineral oil or petrolatum jelly are the main “emollients” in these natural products.

The best choice is to choose a cream or lotion that has the most natural ingredients possible with a minimum of extra chemicals or preservatives. Read your labels and be aware of what you are putting on your skin.

Going to the supermarket these days can be a confusing experience, especially for those who are trying to select the healthiest food available for their families.  There is an astounding array of different kinds of foods labeled ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ or ‘hormone free’.  Products like eggs, mean, fish milk and fruits/vegetables can also be confusing – brown eggs, white eggs, free-range, organic, natural…who can figure it all out? What difference do these labels make and how does it effect the quality of the food, if it does at all?   Are these labels merely a marketing ploy?  Once you learn what these specific labels mean, you can make an educated decision about whether you want to spend the extra money on these products.

Natural vs. Organic

Natural is a term that is most commonly associated with fruits or vegetables.  By definition, natural has a number of definitions:  “not artificial” and “relating to or being natural food”.  By extrapolation, we can surmise that this means found in nature – i.e., not man-made.  Therefore, labeling a fruit or vegetable as natural is redundant – as far as I understand all fruits and vegetables come from nature.  (This is of course if the fruit/vegetable is not genetically altered, a discussion that I will not get into here.)  In addition, natural is not a term that is regulated by the United States federal government and therefore means little to nothing when placed on a label.

If you see the label “organic” on a food, then it DOES mean something.  In the United States, an organic food is food that has been certified by the United States government that they have been grown and/or produced under certain conditions such as no conventional pesticides and no genetic engineering.  In the case of animals, the livestock must be fed organic grain and not be treated with growth hormones.  In addition, the livestock must be able to go outside to graze.   Finally,, any synthetic  substances–such as vaccinations or medicine for a sick animal or pesticides –used with these foodstuff or livestock must be from an approved list.  (USDA Organic Production and Handling Standards, http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3004445&acct=nopgeninfo)

Free range chicken or meat merely indicates  , a label on eggs and meat can indicate if the animal was caged or penned. This does not make a difference in the quality or nutritional value of the meat, but is simply a matter of animal rights. These products may be a bit more expensive, but if you want to make humane decisions, that is the way to go.

Reading the label and making healthy choices can sometimes be difficult, but learning how to do so can help you make the best choices for your diet.