Just as our body muscles need exercise to stay in shape, our face muscles too need exercise to keep the skin from sagging. Sagging of the skin can be due to a number of factors ranging from aging, excess exposure to sun to gravity. Yes, gravity is a very big reason for sagging our body whether it is your face, your breasts or your belly fat. So, you need to exercise everyday at least for 15 minutes to counter the effects of gravity. You can couple the facial exercise with the facial massage everyday to get the maximum benefits. The exercises are very simple and you can perform them while sitting and watching television also. They will take only 10 minutes of your time and take years off from your face. The results will show in as less as a month.
anti-aging skin care
Jaggery – Health Benefits
Jaggery is a natural and viable alternative for Sugar. Sugar is manufactured by chemical processes where as jaggery is obtained from sugarcane juice. It is the safest and the purest form of sugar and the process of obtaining jaggery does not involve any chemicals. The manufacturing process of jaggery is very hygienic and requires no human intervention. It is full of proteins, mineral salts not present in refined sugar and vitamins and is extremely nutritious and delicious. In fact, it has all the nutritional values present in a sugarcane. It is used in many Indian dishes in place of sugar. Let us take a look at few of its many health benefits:
- diabetic people are often advised to replace sugar with jaggery
- purifies the blood
- extremely beneficial for anemic people as it is rich in iron
- helps maintain blood pressure levels due to low amounts of sodium
- reduces water retention in the body so controls weight of the body
- is rich in anti-oxidants so helps in fighting the free radicals in the body
- strengthens the nervous system
- helps control indigestion and constipation problems
- extremely beneficial for throat and lung infections
- helps in preventing breathing problems and asthma
- helps fight pollution by allowing people to breathe easily in higher levels of pollution and smoke
- is rich in magnesium so helpful in relieving fatigue and relaxes muscles and nerves
- prevents rheumatism
So, looking at the subset of the health benefits, I would certainly recommend daily consumption of jaggery in the morning breakfast and afternoon lunch.
Rice Water for Skin, Hair and Health
The craze of using rice water is catching up very fast. If you have not yet heard of it, rice water is highly beneficial for certain health issues and also in taking care of the skin and hair. Let us first see the health benefits:
- instantly energizes the body due to the high concentration of carbohydrates
- provides instant relief from diarrhea
- has been used successfully to treat gastroenteritis
- prevents cancer
- controls high blood pressure
- helps in preventing Alzheimer’s disease
- reduces the body temperature or internal heat of the body
- prevents constipation
In short, I would say it provides all the health benefits that eating rice would provide. But, more than that, rice water has been used as a face wash and a hair wash.
- Washing your face with rice water makes your skin very soft and it also helps in improving the complexion
- Is a great substitute for toner and firms up your skin
- Helps in reducing the size of the pores on your skin
- Washing your hair with rice water brings shine in the hair and helps to keep it healthy. Follow up with cold water rinse.
- Use rice water as part of your face, body and hair masks and scrubs
- Use rice water for having bath or pour rice water in the tub or bucket
- Powdered rice grains are also used as body scrub and they make your skin extra soft
How to make rice water?
I have read at many places that the water used to wash rice prior to cooking is rice water. But, that is not the actual rice water. You may collect it but it will not give you the full benefits. Instead, you should boil the rice in more water than usual quantity you use so that the rice does not absorb all the water and strain the extra water. This water is the actual rice water which is full of nutritional benefits. You may drink it or let it cool to use as a face wash or a hair wash. You may even garnish it with various spices and herbs. Read this article for step by step instruction on how to cook rice water.
Watch the video to learn how you can use rice water in various ways. But, make sure you cook the rice water the proper way.