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Fasting for better Health

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Have you ever tried fasting? I know many people do it for religious reasons. Many people tend to refrain from it also because they can’t stay hungry for a whole day. But, apart from the religious reasons, there are scientific reasons also for holding fasts. Regular or weekly fasts are actually supposed to be really good for your system. If you are one who observes weekly fasts, you might have noticed that your body feels more livelier and you feel good. Your mood gets rejuvenated. This is just one of the effects of fasting.
Regular fasting is good for detoxifying your body. Not eating anything for a whole day helps your body to feel rested especially your digestive system and also helps your body to clean up the toxins and regulate the functioning of other organs of the body like liver, kidneys and other parts. The metabolic process also slows down apparently to give your body a little rest. So, rejuvenation also accompanies the fasting ritual. Other positive effects of fasting include improved immune system, efficient protein production, reduction in body temperature and improves the healing process of the body. So, you can also expect anti-aging effects from fasting too. Due to lack of proper nutrition, the body breaks down the fat reserves in the body so a controlled fasting routine would also help in weight loss. And, it also helps in increasing the life span of the person.
Thus, a weekly observed fast can help to clean your body and make it better. But, a prolonged fast is actually very harmful for the body and all the positive aspects would become negative actually. So, in case you are planning on a crash diet or anything, I would like to warn you that it would not actually help you in anyway. While observing fast, you need not starve your body completely. You can have fresh fruits, fruit juices and other nutritional liquids as they would also fulfill your nutritional  needs for the day. Eating and drinking light fruits and fruit juices will be good for your system. That would include citrus fruits, kiwi, avacado, figs, berries, cherries, litchi, apple, water melon and other light foods. You can also take fresh homemade soups made from spinach, cabbage, carrot, tomato and any other veggies you prefer. I would advise you to avoid heavy fruits and foods like bananas, dairy products, mango, papaya, dry fruits and nuts, any heavy vegetables like potato, chocolates and other junk food too. You should also avoid intake of salt and sugar. Choose a particular day in a week and make it a regular routine to avoid eating any solid food on that day. Some people observe fast by not eating anything in the day time and eating in the evening.

Daily Body Massage to cleanse your body

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Body Massage is one of the oldest ways to detoxify your body. It has been recommended in Ayurveda as one of the best ways to keep your body and skin soft and radiant. It is touted that one should make body massage a daily habit. It helps relieve stress, muscle pains, improves blood circulation, nourishes skin, lose weight and detoxifies your body. A daily massage also helps your body become immune to muscle spasms and sprains and all other kinds of injuries. A warm oil body massage is even better. It helps prevent wrinkles and fine lines and blemishes, not only on your face but also on your body, and helps you take years off your body. It helps make your skin more elastic, firm and flexible preventing any aging signs for a longer time. Oh, the best benefit of daily body massage is that it helps you sleep and also helps get rid of insomnia.

We might want to indulge in spa massage luxuries as frequently as possible but the main hitch comes  as lack of time and money. So, the simplest way is to include a 5 minute daily massage into your daily routine. Of course, the relaxation and soothing effect of a masseuse would be missing but at least you can gain a little benefit than nothing at all. And, you can always ask your spouse or friends to help with it. Making kids walk all over your back is another great way of providing acupressure relief.. Just make sure your kid is below 5  and you can handle the weight otherwise you might end up breaking your back. I have been trying to make the body massage a daily routine for a week and would say that I have found many differences in my body in a week only. My skin has become more radiant, luxuriant and soft. And, it does not get dry skin bouts which I used to get from time to time. The fine lines under my eyes and on my neck have started diminishing. And, I have also done a little experiment by leaving the massage after a week. And, I have also noticed the effects of leaving the daily body massage. The skin is not so soft and smooth and luxuriant and of course, the fine lines and other aging signs are not any more vanishing. So, I have decided to stick on to the daily body massage regime.In case pampering yourself with massage daily seems too much difficult due to reservations on your time, you might consider going for a professional body massage once in a month.  Find out a spa which has professional and trained masseurs. Kerela massage therapists are one of the best available in India so in case you re going for vacation there, reserve a day for their massages. I have heard that it costs anywhere between 15,000 – 30,000 for one sitting. And, a sitting is for around 3-5 hours.

Now, how to massage your body?
  • First dilemma I faced with massaging my body was the time of massage. I, first, thought that body massage after a long day would be the best as it would help me relax. But, soon, I realized that the skin is not clean after all the exposure to sun and dust and pollution in the day. So, I figured a shower at night and massage in the morning would be a better routine.
  • Warm a bowl full of your favorite oil in the morning. Close all the windows and the doors to prevent exposure to cold wind.
  • Divide your body into 6 parts: chest and stomach, back, arms, legs, feet and face and neck. Now, start massaging your body starting from legs and arms. Use long single upward strokes on your arms and legs. Work towards the middle of your body or towards your heart. Use circular motions on your chest and back. You could ask anyone else to massage your back for you because it is not easy to reach your back.
  • Do not forget to massage your feet. This would relax your feet and prevent the skin to turn hard and crack in the heels.
  • While massaging your face and neck, use the facial massage techniques.
  • Keep massaging your body with your palms with even pressure applied from whole of your palm. I know that finger pads provide better results but you might get tired easily while doing self-massages so your might want to stick to using palms. You can spend two to five minutes on each of your body parts and you would get finished in fifteen minutes at max.
  • Wait for half an hour or so before you go for a shower. You can take a sauna or lie in a bath tub full of warm water to help your body absorb oil.
  • After the waiting period, you can take a shower. Just make sure you do not slip on the bathroom floor. You might want to wash your feet before entering the shower.
  • Use a mild soap to wash off the oil. You need not moisturize your body afterward. Or, you can, if you wish.
A tip: Sesame Oil is the best for an oil massage. Sesame oil is the only oil which can get absorbed in the blood stream and removes the toxins from inside. You can also infuse your massage oil with herbs like lavender, jasmine, rose, sage or other herbs. Read this post to know how to infuse oils with herbs.Update: After a hot shower at night, you can devote 10-15 minutes to massage your body. Do not be generous with your oil. Instead use 5 drops of oil for each part of the body.

Breathing: a way to lose weight and detox

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Today’s Habit: Breath deeply.
Detoxification and losing weight are becoming too similar these days because the habits or the lifestyle which one should lead to achieve both the goals are same. When you help detoxing your body, you tend to lose all the unnecessary fat in the body which has been accumulated just as a result of the unhealthy lifestyle one has been following. There is one simple habit which one can follow everyday to help your body detox and lose weight.
Breathing is an art which is best learned by watching the sleeping babies. If you notice them, you will find that they breathe from their abdomen/stomach. That is actually the correct way of breathing. Over time, we get so engrossed in our life that we forget to breathe and our breaths become shallow which is inadequate for the proper functioning of the body. The way we breathe (from the chest) does not allow the body to take in enough of oxygen which is important for the proper functioning of the body.
So, every time you breathe, remember to breathe from the abdomen. To help you with the habit, you can perform pranayam or breathing yoga postures. The best bet is anuloma-viloma posture which I have already talked about in one of my earlier posts.Performing this exercise and pranayam everyday by taking deep breaths early in morning as soon as you get up, you would be in-taking more oxygen into your body. This will also help in proper blood circulation all over the body and hair growth. To help you with deep breaths, you can also resort to heavy and intense exercises if you like.