Health

From the Archives : Do you clean your tongue? {Oral Hygiene}

Swathy · September 22, 2013 · 2 Comments

photo dep_6109356-Oral-hygiene-cleaning-teeth-for-beautiful-woman_zpsb1aeb0b7.jpg

I wanted to talk about how to detox your body and then, I came across an article which said that tongue cleaning was a habit which has been carried out since centuries and it actually has a great importance for our body according to Ayurveda.

I was a little surprised to read that because I had always thought of it as a habit which has to be carried daily after we brush our teeth and I thought its importance was limited only to hygienic purposes. But, what I came to learn about was that it is one of the ways to help our body get rid of toxins.

The question which pops to our minds is How?
During our sleep, body gets rid of all the toxins in our body, right. So, how do all these toxins get out of our body? Sweat, urination or excretion. Yes. But, some of the toxins also get deposited as a film on our tongue. So comes the ritual of tongue scraping in the morning to remove this film of toxins.

The bacteria present in these toxins are also the cause of bad breath. And, they prevent our taste buds from getting a proper taste of the food. How? Because, they get deposited continuously and if not cleaned, the deposits can become pretty thick and the food we eat is not actually tasted by our taste buds.

Ultimately, we do not get the feeling of satiety which the taste buds trigger to the brain because taste buds do not know that we are eating. So, we end up overeating and gaining weight in the process. So, I hope you realize how important it is for us to clean our tongues everyday.

Now, how do you clean your tongue? Using a plastic tongue scraper or your brush? Well, both of the methods are not advisable. Plastic is not good for health and the brush actually does not clean the tongue. It just disturbs the bacteria and sometimes, the bacteria can begin breeding in the brush too which is definitely not good for your dental health.

So, you should use a tongue scraper made of stainless steel or brass to avoid toxicity from metals. Be gentle while using the scraper but firmly remove the debris from your mouth. Hold the scraper on both sides and place it at the back of the tongue near the tonsils and start scraping from there. Repeat the movements 5 times. Clean the scraper properly and disinfect it occasionally using baking soda.

Today’s Lesson: Detox your body by making tongue scraping a habit.

So, do you clean your tongue?

From the Archives : Downward dog position for dark circles {Skin Care}

Swathy · September 7, 2013 · 3 Comments

Downward Dog position is one of the important and easiest yoga postures and carries a multitude of health benefits. It helps stretching your spine so relieves you of painful backaches in the long run. It calms your mind and improves your concentration.

It relieves headaches, indigestion, stress, insomnia and strengthens arms and legs. It is also good for high blood pressure and asthma patients. But, apart from all the health benefits, there are a lot of beauty benefits which can be derived if one practices this yoga position everyday.

Let us look at the beauty benefits. Check out here for a step by step instruction on how to perform the downward dog position.

It uplifts the face and firms the skin giving it a natural glow as all the blood flows to the face when you are bent down in the downward position.
Since there is more blood flow towards the eyes, your eyes look more bright and alive.
It is a perfect cure for dark circles and puffy eyes.
There’s more blood flow towards the scalp too which helps in providing nutrition to the hair follicles and promotes hair growth.
Double chin disappears in gradual time and the neck firms up.
The skin tone and color improves and the discoloration disappears leaving an even color all over the face and neck.

So, start doing this yoga position everyday for 10 times holding each position for 1-2 minutes approx and see the difference in a few days. The best part of this position is that it also helps in weight control all over the body.

So, have you tried this position?

Weight Loss Series Vol. 2 – Do you keep a calender marking all the days you exercise?

Swathy · September 5, 2013 · 5 Comments

calender marking the dates when you did exercises for weight loss routine

that’s a screenshot of my calender and the month is july and the numbers depict the count of skips!

So, I had been pretty serious with my workout sessions which were nothing more than 15 minutes per day, to be very honest. But, somehow in August, I fell off the bandwagon. But, everyday since I started I had kept a checklist of dates ticking off the ones when I did my exercises and how intense it was and if I missed, what was the reason.

The best part of keeping that checklist was it made me feel guilty for all the days I was missing my workout. Yes, I was still making excuses but then I was making effort just to put a tick there as well so it was working both ways. Also, it helped me keep a track of my periods.

Since I was skipping the rope and not having a yoga mat, I could not continue with exercises during that time. But, I would definitely recommend you to get yoga mats because you really are never sure when you would like some meditation time and keeping one mat at your disposal is always helpful!!

So, what about you? Do you keep a checklist? Or, would you like to give it a try?