Steroids Done Right

People are always asking me why I make my own ice cream (I have done so for years and have a neighbourhood reputation for it lol). So in short and very simply, this is why I never buy ice cream any more and why I am always telling people to stop buying and start making.

1. Ok I love ice cream and so do my children. As a family we eat a lot of it even in winter. It’s costly to buy regularly. It all adds up. When I make it, I make it cheaper, so it saves on the food bill.

2. Having kids I am now more conscious of being ‘green’ and kinder to the planet. Making my own ice cream, is one way I can decrease my food miles. And instead of paying for ice cream to travel halfway around the country to me, everything I use for it I get on my own doorstep.

3. I get to know exactly what is going into my kids mouths. There are no additives or preservative in my home made dessert. Only natural goodness no artificial rubbish.

4. Allergies are not a problem. More and more friends and family these days seem to suffer from some sort of allergy or another. Well I can usually just leave out what they are allergic to, and replace it with something else.

5. I’m never stuck for something to bring to a friends for dinner. I usually make up a batch specially to bring along for dessert.

6. I get the kids involved too. They love it and sometimes bring their friends over especially to make ice cream. It’s great on a rainy day when they are hanging around the house looking for trouble.

7. For me it can be a great way of getting in some sneaky nutrients into their diet. They love fruit on their ice cream in funny shapes, I sprinkle nuts over it, and I even sprinkle oats on it sometimes.

8. I always make my ice cream with lower fat cream or half and half. Honestly they don’t notice the difference. It’s so much less calorific than store bought.

So there you have it in a nutshell. It tastes great and you get to experiment with all kinds of flavors. So I say to all my friends, stop paying for all that artificial rubbish in fancy cartons, and have a go at your own.

Acai berry products are plenteous on the Internet and at health food stores. It seems that the planet has caught on to the reality that the acai berry has one of the uppermost nutritional profiles of any food ever found on earth.

Many fantastic products out there entirely employ the innate nutritional value found in the acai berry. However, some products out there have utilized mediocre processing methods. As a result they will not give you the full nutritional benefits.

The acai berry is very perishable, for that reason it must be processed within 24 hours of leaving the tree or it loses most of its nutritional value. There are two main methods of processing these berries, a excellent method and an substandard method.

Freeze-drying is the outstanding mode for processing the berries. The berries are picked and then quickly flash frozen and dehydrated. What you end up with is a freeze-dried powder that maintains all of the advanced sustenance of the fresh acai berry.

The other method that is often used for processing is a spray-dried. Spray drying the berries significantly reduces the nutritional value. Spray drying uses heat, which destroys many of the nutrients immediately. Then it utilizes maltodextrin as a drying agent. Maltodextrin is a short-chained starch sugar. When you buy spray-dried acai berry products you are receiving a mixture of the fruit and maltodextrin, rather than just the nourishing fruit.

Another widespread sight on the ingredient list of many acai products is the words “proprietary blend”. This means that the company is not really telling you how much authentic acai berry you are receiving in the product. A blend is a mixture of actual acai berry extracts or powder along with some inert ingredients. Look for a product that is detailed in the literal amount of acai berry incorporated.

Be aware of “other ingredients” such as magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, rice or silica. These ingredients are just fillers and flowing agents and they diminish the nutritional value of the product reducing the amount of the actual nutritional value of the fruit.

Supposing that you are looking for the fantastic nutritional results that are promising with acai berry products then make sure that you get a product that is freeze-dried powder with the maximum intensity of the actual acai berry.

We certainly live in stressful times. It is not easy to assess whether our era is the most stressful, but we do have plenty of daily stress. The job, the home, the kids, the relatives, and the economy - all these stresses add up and yet we wonder why we have so many aches and pains.

So many ailments are stress-related. Americans are notoriously overweight. Overeating is a stress-coping mechanism.1 Headaches and backaches are often associated with increased stress. There is a strong correlation between high blood pressure and stress, ulcers and stress, and even cancer and stress.

What can we do? The external stresses in our lives aren’t going away. Our activity-filled lives are busy and complex - there’s always going to be stress. The key is to help avoid or ease the physical effects of stress. Interestingly, chiropractic treatment can be of great assistance in reducing the effects of stress on the body.

Stress causes muscles to tighten. This is an unconscious reaction. Tight muscles cause a cascade of further muscle tightening, shortening of muscles and ligaments, and a resulting decrease of mobility in joints, particularly shoulder joints, hip joints, and joints of the spine.2,3

This overall mechanical effect of stress has a number of additional consequences. All the extra unconscious muscle activity wastes precious nutritional resources and uses up energy needed for critical body functions. Lactic acid accumulates, irritating nerve endings and further increasing muscular tightness. And, importantly, the losses in spinal joint mobility lead directly to increased levels of pain. This, of course, leads to more stress.

This vicious circle of stress, muscular tightness, and pain can be relieved and reduced by chiropractic treatment.4 Chiropractic therapy is specially designed to improve joint mobility of the spine and pelvis. This gentle, effective treatment gradually restores maximal spinal motion. Muscle tightness is alleviated, metabolic processes begin to return to normal, and nutrients become more available to help maintain healthy functioning. Levels of pain are reduced, and we become better able to withstand the physical effects of stress.

Your chiropractor will explain the many benefits of treatment, and can provide instruction in stretching techniques and specific exercises that help maintain the positive results of therapy.

There will always be stress. but we can learn how to reduce the physical effects of stress, and become stronger, healthier, and happier in the process. ——————————————————————————–

Take a Break! A few quick tips -

You can get up out of your chair or leave your workbench and walk over to an open window. Change your point-of-view. Breathe some fresh air. Go for a five-minute walk, either in the corridors of your building or out-of-doors. Call a friend and chat for five minutes. Close your eyes, clear your mind, and take an imaginary vacation - relaxing on a warm beach, deep-sea fishing on a beautiful yacht, or skiing down a gorgeous mountain.

These short, focused breaks will help reduce muscular tightness and physical stress, and can also help your brain recharge so you will be more creative and productive!

1Marchesini G, et al: Psychiatric distress and health-related quality of life in obesity. Diabetes Nutr Metab 16(3):145-154, 2003 2Weickgenant AL, et al: Coping activities in chronic low back pain: relationship with depression. Pain 53(1):95-103, 1993 3Burns JW: Arousal of negative emotions and symptom-specific reactivity in chronic low back pain patients. Emotion 6(2):309-319, 2006 4Hurwitz EL, et al. A randomized trial of chiropractic and medical care for patients with low back pain. Spine 31(6):611-621, 2006

At least 70% of America’s 30 million elementary school students use computers, according to a recent New York Times article. As a result of this increased usage, doctors of chiropractic are treating more young patients suffering from the effects of working at computer stations that are either designed for adults or poorly designed for children. Many children are already suffering from repetitive motion injuries (RMI) such as carpal tunnel syndrome and chronic pain in the hands, back, neck and shoulders.

A recently published study conducted by a team of researchers from Cornell University found that 40% of the elementary school children they studied used computer workstations that put them at postural risk. And the remaining 60% scored in a range indicating “some concern.”

“Emphasis needs to be placed on teaching children how to properly use computer workstations,” stated Dr. Scott Bautch, past president of the American Chiropractic Association’s Council on Occupational Health. “Poor work habits and computer workstations that don’t fit your child’s body during the developing years can have harmful physical effects that can last a lifetime. Parents need to be just as concerned about their children’s interaction with their computer workstations as they are with any activities that may affect their children’s long-term health,” added Dr. Bautch.

What can you do? To reduce the possibility of your child suffering painful and possibly disabling injuries, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and its Council on Occupational Health offer the following tips:

If children and adults in your home share the same computer workstation, make certain that the workstation can be modified for each child’s use. Position the computer monitor so the top of the screen is at or below your child’s eye level. This can be accomplished by taking the computer off its base or stand, or having the child sit on firm pillows or phone books to reach the desired height. Make sure the chair at the workstation fits the child correctly. An ergonomic back cushion, pillow or a rolled-up towel can be placed in the small of the child’s back for added back support. There should be two inches between the front edge of the seat and the back of the knees. The chair should have arm supports so that elbows are resting within a 70- to 135-degree angle to the computer keyboard. Wrists should be held in a neutral position while typing - not angled up or down. The mousing surface should be close to the keyboard so your child doesn’t have to reach or hold the arm away from the body. The child’s knees should be positioned at an approximate 90- to 120-degree angle. To accomplish this angle, feet can be placed on a foot rest, box, stool or similar object. Reduce eyestrain by making sure there is adequate lighting and that there is no glare on the monitor screen. Use an antiglare screen if necessary. Limit your child’s time at the computer and make sure he or she takes periodic stretch breaks during computing time. Stretches can include: clenching hands into fists and moving them in 10 circles inward and 10 circles outward; placing hands in a praying position and squeezing them together for 10 seconds and then pointing them downward and squeezing them together for 10 seconds; spreading fingers apart and then closing them one by one; standing and wrapping arms around the body and turning all the way to the left and then all the way to the right. Your child’s muscles need adequate hydration to work properly and avoid injury. Encourage your child to drink four 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Carbonated beverages, juices and other sweet drinks are not a substitute. Urge your child’s school or PTA officials to provide education on correct computer ergonomics and to install ergonomically correct workstations. “If your child continues to complain of pain and strain from sitting at a computer, see a doctor of chiropractic,” urges Dr. Bautch. “A chiropractor can help alleviate your child’s pain and help prevent further injury.

Many women know that hydration is important, but few women know how to properly manage it. And mastering your hydration status is critical when learning how to get skinny arms.

How did drinking water become a mind field? I personally believe the root cause is caffeine. You see, caffeine does a very good job at masking the effects of dehydration and makes it very hard to optimize water intake.

Most women are suffering from low grade dehydration without even knowing it.

So without further ado, here are 5 solid reasons for learning how to manage your water intake for getting thin arms:

1. Heat dissipation. Once your body gets hot it’s a downward spiral. Overheating makes you fatigue very quickly. And fatiguing quickly translates into less exercise time.

2. Decreased blood volume. Blood is the lifeline that carries all energy to all tissues in your body. And guess what it’s mostly made out of? Water!

3. Waste accumulation. Almost every single reaction in your body requires water. And so does the removal of waste.

4. A decreased metabolism. A fast metabolism is the holy grail of thin and skinny arms. Unfortunately, insufficient water intake will lower your metabolism.

5. A decrease in mood. Water effects your mood. And this is probably the most overlooked aspect of dehydration and it’s also the most detrimental. Anything that decreases motivation and worsens your mental output must be avoided like the plague.

6. Less work capacity in the gym. It’s extremely difficult and in some cases very painful to exercise while dehydrated. Your muscles need water to function properly without cramping.

Water does many more things in the female body. So please do not assume that this list is comprehensive! Ultimately, your body is mostly made of water so any level of dehydration is likely to affect many systems. So make sure you carry a source of water with you at all times and slowly drink from it during the day.

Going to to the gym, you will think you can get relaxed and muscles will grow by themselves. Working your muscles through weight training is not the only factor, neither is physically working out.

Don’t underestimate the effect that sleep has on your workout. You need to rest properly, and that’s not just between workouts. Altering your sleep schedule to ensure getting a steady and sound night’s sleep each night can produce drastic transformations in the outcomes you observe with bodybuilding.

For many reasons sleep is one of the most important factors for successful bodybuilding. Though fatigued, your body’s muscles recover during sleep. This lapse of time is important when some parts of your body aren’t functioning, it’s when your body recovers from damages.

Without enough of this quality rest, simply put, your body won’t have enough time or availability to repair old muscle and build new muscle. You will be severely inhibiting your gains by not allowing your muscles to heal, mend and grow properly.

Adequate sleep is vital for keeping your mental focus sharp and your energy level high. A lack of mental focus can destroy your results while you’re in the gym. You can be motivated, but if you don’t have your work out planned out you will not have a successful workout.

Although you might not have the energy or be motivated enough to have a great weightlifting session. There’s only so much your body can handle over the course of a day with a tiny amount of sleep. With everything else going on in your life, its working out that often takes a backseat.

Another reason why it is so important in bodybuilding is that trough sleeping your body restores the energy and you maintain a good rhythm with your hormones. Proper metabolism and muscle gain require sleep. At the same time, sleep also inhibits other hormones that can lead to fat gain and other unseemly consequences.

No matter what you want to maintain a consistent sleep schedule, that means that sleeping for 2 hours on Friday night and then sleeping for 12 hours on Saturday night doesn’t amount to the same benefits as sleeping 7 hours both nights in a row. And that’s what you should shoot for, at least 7 hours a night. Remember, no sleep leads to no gains for bodybuilding, and you’ll be ruining your chances at success before you even get started!

Drug and alcohol dependency is a major health concern all over the world as it is very difficult to treat and cure. Addicts are known to use even detoxification drugs to get their daily dose of high. A new trend is being noticed all over the world as natural detoxification herbs are being used to treat and cure a person of his/her addiction.

Therefore it is easier to do blood cleansing fast during spring and summer. Maybe the most important thing is to be mentally prepared. If you strongly “feel like it”, then it is the right time for blood cleansing fast.

To fully benefit from the blood cleansing fast you should also be physically prepared. For one week prior to the blood cleansing fast eat only raw vegetables and “green drinks”. This way your body will be “pre-cleansed” and the fast will not be such a shock to your system.

To carry the toxins out of your body with blood cleansing fast you need to drink at least 8 cups of steam-distilled water every day. Use herbal extracts to aid in blood cleansing. Drink juices made of beets, lemons, carrots and leafy greens.

Chlorophyll in leafy greens builds up the blood with important nutrients, promotes regularity, and inhibits cellular damage from radiation. This makes Chlorophyll an essential part of any blood cleansing therapy. Good sources for Chlorophyll are wheatgrass, barley, and alfalfa juices.

You can use these herbs in any combination or independently to aid in blood cleansing. Dandelion, burdock, licorice, rhubarb, sage, shiitake mushroom, ginsengs, hawthorn, pau d’arco, and red clover. If you have high blood pressure, don’t use licorice or ginseng at all and not more than 7 days in a row when healthy. Sage is not an option for you during blood cleansing fast if you have any kind of seizure disorder, and avoid Siberian ginseng if you have hypoglycemia or heart disorder.

Studies have shown Chinese herbal medicines to be successful in treating a range of drug and alcohol abuse with minimum side effects. In treating dependency, various kinds of natural Chinese herbs are used, to achieve chemical balance in the body.

To cleanse the mucous membranes you can use goldenseal for one week at a time. If you are allergic to ragweed use it with caution. Borage seed, ginkgo biloba, and sarsaparilla help to restore the acid/alkaline balance.

Most sufferers of acne try to treat their blotchy skin with astringent creams, fruit washes, expensive soaps, lotions and treatments. However, the best way to cure acne is by altering your diet and avoiding acne-producing things like fried food. A healthy diet, comprising natural unprocessed foods such as vegetables, fruits, grains and beans is the first recommendation for treating acne.

Foodstuffs containing trans-fatty acids, milk, milk products, margarine, shortening and man-made hydrogenated vegetable oils, as well as fatty foods, should be avoided. It appears that the prevalence of acne in the United States is caused by the typical American diet. Americans typically eat fried food in large quantities, often cooked in the most harmful of fats and oils.

However, not all fats are bad, but the fats that average Americans eat make them more susceptible to develop acne and other skin problems. Products that can cause are ice cream, cheese, bacon, and milk. Furthermore, acne cannot really be cured using creams and soaps because the root cause of the condition lies beneath the skin.

Pimples, spots and blemishes are produced by bacteria and other irritants lying beneath the skin’s oil glands and hair follicles, which are generally caused as a result of improper hygiene, squeezing and poor diet.

This unhealthy diet may be a result of too high an amount of items like processed, fatty, fried and sugary foods in your diet. A diet that is healthy for your skin emphasizes raw and lightly cooked vegetables, especially green, leafy vegetables that are rich in valuable trace minerals and fibre. Fresh green vegetables are essential, but you should also include lean protein sources and complex carbohydrates, such as rice, whole-grain bread and potatoes in your diet.

These fibre-rich foods will help ensure a clean gastrointestinal tract, which is especially important in the management of acne. You should eat three healthy meals every day in order to provide you with sufficient vital nutrients and decrease your craving for sugary or/and fatty, fried food.

Furthermore, you should eat much more food that is rich in vitamin A, like apricots, watermelons, and broccoli, as well as lean beef, nuts, legumes and whole grains, because they are rich in zinc, which is also be useful in reducing acne breakouts. It is also vital to drink lots of water to help flush out of the body all the toxins that cause the development of acne.

By the time you’ve reached your mid-thirties, your health can be significantly improved by the use of human growth hormone or HGH releaser supplements and activators. HGH releaser supplements benefit you by naturally increasing your body’s HGH levels. As early as your 20’s and 30’s, the body’s natural human growth hormone levels begin to decrease at a rate of about 15% per decade. By the time you’ve reached 50, your HGH levels have decreased by approximately 50%, and the effects start to become noticeable.

There are compelling reasons for using HGH releaser supplements. Since the HGH levels in the body are closely linked with aging, taking HGH supplements can decrease - and potentially even reverse - some of the undesirable effects of aging.

Some of the benefits you can get from taking an HGH releaser include: younger looking and thicker, wrinkle-free skin, stronger bones, decrease in body fat, improved vision and mental health, improved memory, increase in lean muscle mass, increased energy and vitality, improved sexual drive and performance, among many others.

How do HGH releasers work? HGH releasers, enhancers, precursors, stimulators or activators - whatever they are called, contain no synthetic or artificial ingredients or substances in them. What they contain are herbal mixes which contain amino acids, vitamins and nutrients that are known to enhance the production of HGH in the body. It does so by stimulating the gland responsible for the production of this hormone - the pituitary gland. Typical HGH releaser supplements contain arginine, glutamine, ornithine, GABA, lysine, tryptophan, and other related amino acids along with B vitamins, and root or fruit extracts.

Despite the seemingly miraculous effects taking HGH supplements can have on the body, it’s important to remember that an HGH releaser is not a magic pill that somehow erase twenty years of aging. It can take some time, generally about 2 to 6 months, before results become visibly noticeable. Injections of HGH work faster than releaser supplements, sometimes up to two or three times faster, but there are disadvantages to injections: It’s an uncomfortable, expensive procedure that has potentially harmful side effects. For these reasons, most people prefer to take an HGH releaser instead, which is safe and much more affordable.

A commonly raised concern is whether or not HGH releaser poses any negative side effects. The answer is a definitive no. HGH supplements have no negative side effects because they work by stimulating the body’s natural hormone production. Natural body functions are enhanced; the normal processes are not hindered.

Another reason why this is so safe, is because the body automatically stops producing HGH once it has already produced its maximum level. This means that there is no possibility of overdose, and no harmful side effects will occur provided the supplement is taken as directed.

Nowadays, HGH releaser supplements are available in many different forms. The choices include powders, tablets, capsules or an oral spray. Although each works with its own mechanism, all of them are fairly effective in increasing your HGH levels in order for you to prolong your youth.

Maqui berry is a special berry, which is deep purple in color, grows in remote region of Patagonia. This region located in southern South America and it is one of the most unpolluted places on earth. Several tribal people have been using different parts (fruits, leaves, and stem) of this plant as medicine to cure various ailments. Among various parts used, the berry seems to have more antioxidant properties.

The maqui berry is found in Patagonia in South America, in particular central to southern Chile. They have been used extensively for centuries by the native Mapuche Indians. The Mapuche Indians found the health benefits of the maqui berry helped them to maintain their good health and somewhat slowed down the aging process.

Various researches reveal that native Mapuche Indians, native of Patagonia, have used these berries to ameliorate stamina and strength. They have also used these berries to treat various ailments such as childbirth, diarrhea, fever, hemorrhoids, sore throat, tumors, and ulcers.

The Maqui Berry has the highest antioxidant level of not only all berries, but all botanicals (Brunswick laboratories). This deep purple colored berry grows in the remote forests of Patagonia, the South American region that extends to the southern most tip of the continent through Chile and Argentina.

Maqui berries have double the ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), a method of measuring antioxidant capacities of different foods, as acai berries and 3 to 4 times the amount as pomegranates and blueberries.

Antioxidants play a significant part in the free radical theory of aging so higher amounts in our bodies can have a positive anti aging effect on us.

In North America this super berry’s power available in various vitamin like supplements, and it provides the base of a whole food liquid supplement (called AVIA) formulated by Dr. Kenneth Kroll, a Harvard M.D board certified in anti-aging. However it is used, the Maqui Berry is an amazing example of the hidden botanical treasures being discovered on our planet.

The original Maqui Berry based liquid supplment, AVIA, provides nutrients and extracts that work in synergy to stimulate the body’s own production of natural antioxidants, allowing for a higher level of effectiveness than ever seen before in a liquid health supplement, according to Brunswick Labs. The organic, whole food liquid supplement also supports cardiovascular health and works as a thermogenic that may reduce swelling and support weight loss. AVIA is the first of a a new generation of health supplements to be offerd by Synaura International.