Relax your mind, body and soul with 'foot reflexology'

New Delhi: Feet require as much attention as any other part of the body, and experts claim that a session of `foot reflexology` can benefit your mind, body and soul.

It provides a person with calmness and serenity, improved circulation, increased energy and balanced emotions among many others benefits.

Rod Anker, director of Monsoon Salon and Spa, said that the technique has been exported for many years in India and is a very powerful natural way to relax and bring good health to the entire body and mind.

The "pressure therapy" involves applying focused pressure to certain reflex points located in the foot to cure or prevent disease and is intended for use alongside conventional medical care and not as its replacement.

Foot reflexology has been practiced for thousands of years in places such as India, China and Egypt and is appropriate for all ages for a variety of ailments.

And according to NYC reflexologist Deborah Flanagan, foot reflexology has incredible powers of healing the entire body through the use of pressure points.

At 39, Paltrow began skin care regime...

Los Angeles: Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 41, hasn`t always been devoted to maintaining her looks. She says she started taking care of her skin when she turned 39.

During a Twitter Q&A for Restorsea skincare brand, Paltrow answered a number of questions on beauty and skin care, reports eonline.com.

Asked when she first began taking care of her skin, she said: "39."

And she thanked her genes for her good skin.

"My great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother (had) lots of water," Paltrow said.

Now, she takes care of her skin and her regime consists of hot water, washcloth and moisturiser from the brand that she is endorsing.

When asked to give advice on how to keep skin fresh after a long work day, she said: "Put your face in a bowl of ice water and repeat to reduce swelling and bring fresh blood flow to your face. 

Tips for eating out on a diet...

London: Are you one of the calorie-conscious people who shun friends in favour of your figure? If you think socialising would ruin your diet, think again as it`s all about making the right choices.

Fitness and wellbeing expert Jessie Pavelka shares tips, reports femalefirst.co.uk:

* If you know you are going to be eating out, think about what you need to do to moderate what you’re having throughout the rest of the day. You can even look up the menu online first so that you order wisely. 

* Don’t be afraid to ask for your food to be adapted to suit your needs. Many restaurants are happy to adapt dishes to your needs.

* Look for dishes with lots of colour. If all else fails, eating lots of fresh and colourful ingredients means you’re getting a range of nutrients.

* Check out lower carbohydrate options as it is required for energy.

* It`s fine to treat yourself with a glass of alcohol, but don’t overdo it.

Get perfect beach holiday skin...

London: People love holidaying on beach, but they do not know how to keep their skin glowing. Expert gives tip to protect skin to have that beautiful beach holiday look.

Jill Zander, founder of the Jill Zander Skin Rejuvenation Clinic, shares tips to keep skin looking beautiful in the summer sun and beyond, reports femalefirst.co.uk:

* Sun protection: Use a sunblock daily. Always include your neck, décolleté and backs of hands and reapply frequently. Wear a hat and large lensed sunglasses. 

* Antioxidants: We become more sensitive as we get older to external stresses, as a result of free radicals produced by environmental pollution, car exhaust fumes, UVA and UVB and cigarette smoke. Invest in a scientifically proven home care regime to protect your skin with vital nutrients providing good antioxidant protection enriched with vitamins C and E.

* Repair sun damage: When it comes to sun damage, vitamin A is the most valuable skin care nutrients applied to the skin. Vitamin A helps to smooth sun damage, giving less wrinkled skin and also helps to even out skin tone.

* Use a good facial scrub: It is required to remove oil, dirt, impurities and dead cells to improve texture and restore natural glow. Do it at night only.

* Summer scent: Never apply fragrance to the skin in the day. Oil of Bergamot, often used as a fixative, can cause photo sensitivity and pigmentary problems. Only apply in the evening.

Mood swings: 5 quick ways to brighten up your day...

One minute you are all happy and care-free, but when suddenly something unwanted occurs, your good feeling and all your smiles are gone. It happens to all of us- mood swings.

Feeling sad and down is a common thing, which we all encounter from time to time. But, that shouldn't spoil your day. In other words, your bad mood shouldn't be allowed to last for the whole day.

Here are a few quick tips to help you get out of that crabbed mood and brighten up your day:

Laughter: Laughter is believed to be the best medicine to emotional problems. Research has shown that hearty laugh can have many health benefits. It improves mood, lowers blood pressure, reduces bad cholesterol and enhances immune system.

Exercise: Exercise can brighten up your day as it releases endorphins which improve mood. Studies have also linked exercise to low rates of anxiety and depression.

Sunshine: Spend some time in the sunshine or stand beside a bright window for a few minutes to get more vitamin D. Sunlight not only boosts your system but also improves your general mood.

Music: It can make us smile, it can excite us and make us dance, it can also bring us to tears. Listening to your favourite upbeat number can make you feel happy in seconds. While research has found a whole bunch of emotional and physical benefits of listening to music, it certainly has a powerful influence over your state of mind.

Photographs: Try having a look at your photographs/scrapbooks. It can actually make you feel happier and quickly boosts your mood. Also, upload your favourite picture to your computer and set it as a screensaver to keep your spirits high at work.

Try pole fitness for fit, flexible body...

London: Inspired by the benefits of an all-body work-out that improves strength, flexibility and confidence, several men and women are trying pole fitness, a gymnastic workout.

Pole fitness is said to be the most comprehensive and result-oriented workouts possible. It demands the strength of gymnastics, the focus of yoga and gets the heart racing faster than any treadmill, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

According to Aurelian Sports, a new pole fitness and premium fashion brand, the benefits of the regime include:

* Strength: Pole athletes have some of the best bodies in the world because lean muscles are developed through performing many sets of resistance exercises whilst practice for a routine.

While learning a three-minute routine during a pole fitness class, you will work multiple sets of muscle groups. The result is, after eight weeks, you’ll notice your arms getting stronger, your stomach becoming more toned and your legs looking better.

* Weight Loss: In an hour’s class you will burn around 300 calories. The big plus is you will build tone and muscle in your arms and legs and strengthen flabby areas such as your bottom and upper arms, which can be hard to target at the gym. It also improves balance, coordination and agility and core strength.

* Flexibility: It’s a fact - if you don’t stretch, the older you get, the smaller and tighter your muscles become leading to greater difficulty in movement. You basically start to loose ease of motion as your muscles become tighter.

* Builds self confidence: Pole fitness creates body awareness and develops self-confidence. You’ll learn to see yourself. You’ll regularly be studying your position on the pole in the mirror, examining your own legs, arms, tummy, bum and even your toes to work out what your best angles are, how to hold a position and what moves you can perform.

How to get luminous skin?

Pic Courtesy: -Thinkstock. Image for representation purpose only.

London: This season one of the biggest beauty trends is natural and glowing skin, the foundation of which is a good skincare routine.

Skincare experts Rabia Malik and Preema Vig suggest that exfoliation and increasing hyaluronic acid in your skin can show great results, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Malik says that one can begin with some gentle exfoliation as this will ensure removal of surface debris from the skin. 

“Following exfoliation, increase your skin`s level of hyaluronic aid to achieve a more luminous, brighter complexion. This can be achieved with topicals that contain high levels of molecular weight hyaluronic acid. Try using homecare products that contain peptides too as these help to achieve a brighter complexion,” said Malik.

Vig feels that hyaluronic acid helps to plump the skin and so does the intake of vitamin A.

“Vitamin A increases the skin cell cycle which brings new skin cells to the surface. Vitamin C helps in lightening, brightening and tightening the skin. Fruit acids at night exfoliate the top layer of skin,” said Vig.

Yoga can ease stress for pregnant women...

London: Practicing yoga during pregnancy can help you reap health benefits like stress reduction and a decrease in a woman’s fear of childbirth, according to researchers.

A new report from Manchester University researchers finds that it can ease stress and reduce women`s fear of childbirth by a third, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

In addition to its many other health benefits for pregnant women, including reduced cortisol levels, less difficult birth plus more full term and healthy weight neonates, pregnancy yoga is a low cost intervention too.

Yoga teacher Natasha Harding has two children that she delivered naturally using her skills in the art. 

"Yoga is a wonderful exercise to try during pregnancy, when you naturally want to take it a bit easier. It’s ideal to ease many of the ailments that women suffer from when they’re pregnant such as backache, sciatica and general aches and pains,” she said. 

“By maintaining a regular yoga practice during pregnancy the positions will become second nature with the aim being that the woman can have a more active labour with less intervention.

“My second baby was born in 51 minutes. It was because of the fact I did yoga every single day and felt so strong during the birth,” he added.

Harding`s five favourite yoga poses to try every day while you’re expecting:

* Butterfly (Badha Konasana): This position allows the baby to move down into the pelvis and uses all the muscles that a woman draws upon in labour. The yoga guru BKS Iyengar claims if a woman practises this pose every day it will take the pain out of child-birth.

* Wide Legged Seated (Upivista Konasana): Stretching your legs in this position will encourage your hips to be more flexible which is clearly vital during labour. It’s a great position to do every day if possible and leaning forward will gently stretch the back too and towards the end encourage the baby into a good birth pose.

* Staff (Dandasana): Staff pose is wonderful to sit in and circle your ankles and legs each day which will help with any puffiness you may be experiencing. When you combine breathing work too. you’re helping to release your shoulders as well as creating much needed space in your abdomen and chest. It’s a good one to try if you’re getting heart burn.

* Cat (Marjariasana) with arm and leg lifts: Being on your hands and knees is wonderful for any pregnant women as it relieves symptoms of backache and encourages the baby into a good birth pose - our mums would have been told to wash the floors. By lifting the arm and leg you stabilise the pelvis which is vital during pregnancy.

* Down Dog - adapted for pregnancy (Adho Mukha Svanasana): A lot of women find their back aches a lot during pregnancy and Down Dog is a great stretch to try. When you’re pregnant though you shouldn’t do the full pose, so using the wall instead will give a similar stretch but it’s much safer.

Natural choices to combat ageing...

Pic Courtesy: -Thinkstock. Image for representation purpose only.

London: Ageing begins from when a child is born. However, there are other factors that can lead to premature ageing, including the usage of incorrect skincare products and gorging on unhealthy foods. One can achieve a perfect skin by including turmeric, ginger and green leafy vegetables in the food intake, says an expert.

Speaking at the Anti-Ageing Health and Beauty show, held at the London Olympia this past weekend, Geraldine McCulgan of the College of Naturopathic Medicine said: “What you eat today... you wear tomorrow.”

The beauty therapist shared some helpful tips on natural choices for anti-ageing and the small changes that one can effect in one`s lifestyle to help slow down ageing.

Accelerating ageing is affected by the following:

* Glycation - the process of sugar and it affects joints

* Inflammation

* Lack of nutrients

* Overload of toxins

* Free radical damages

* Stress

* Loss of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) which regulates cellular energy

* Lack of oil and water

So if you want to slow down ageing, McCulgan recommends following a diet made up of whole grains, vegetables, legumes, mild-sweet and non-sweet fruits. One can also try the following things:

* Avoid refined sugar

* Eat protein with every meal

* Swap refined sugar products with wholegrain alternatives

* Eat plenty of fibre rich vegetables

* Include cinnamon - lowers blood sugar levels

* Consult the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale - which identifies the anti-oxidants in foods

Inflammation is behind many degenerative diseases, so here we have some advice from Geraldine on how to reduce it:

* Eat organic

* Turmeric

* Ginger

* Green leafy vegetables

* Fermented foods

* Acid/Alkaline balancing

* Omega 3 fatty acids

Concentrate on fitness over body: Celebrity trainer...

Pic Courtesy: -Aamir Khan in still from 'Ghajini'.

New Delhi: Didn`t you feel like having your own set of six pack abs when Shah Rukh Khan flaunted his in ‘Om Shanti Om’ or when Aamir Khan exhibited his eight pack in ‘Ghajini’? But celebrity trainer Shivoham, who has trained the likes of John Abraham and Ranveer Singh, says getting influenced to beef up like the stars can have negative effects in real life.

Bollywood stars get involved in strenuous workouts for their film roles and the requirement to play different characters makes them mould their body every now and then - something which is not possible for ordinary folks, said the CrossFit trainer, who was in the city for a six-day boot camp.

"Bollywood stars are also average people, but they do their training according to the role they play and it affects the body," Shivoham said.

"Commoners do get influenced from Bollywood, but they need to understand that what celebs do is their profession and they get training 24X7. They are paid to look a certain level; so they do it in whatever way possible.

"But an average person needs to give it a good thought and actually do what can become part of the lifestyle, rather than gaining a particular body for just two or three months," he said.

Among the big screen stars, Shivoham, who has a gym in the country`s entertainment capital, has also trained Aamir, Abhishek Bachchan and Kangana Ranaut.

Talking about female actors and their once-upon-a-time fantasy for the size zero body frame, the Mumbai-based trainer said it should be a no-no for anyone as it can have long-lasting side effects.

"Not only female celebrities, but women in general want to lose weight. They are fascinated with the concept of size zero, which according to me is waste. It is necessary to be healthy and fit," he said.

Shivoham is on a mission to popularise the concept of CrossFit, which he plans to take to several cities of the country.

Explaining the rationale behind it, he said: "CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

"Our programme delivers a fitness that is by design: broad, general and inclusive."

During the camp here, Shivoham made sure that every individual who was part of it went back with a smile.

"In the boot camp, we go through fundamental movements like the squats, overhead press, deadlifts, cleans and many other movements. It`s a combo of weights, freehand and a lot of cardio.

"It`s a very different kind of fitness experience and so not many people know about it," he said, adding that "word of mouth publicity" is essential for the brand of fitness he propagates.

Shivoham, who himself is well-built, believes fitness is a very relative term in India.

"Fitness is practised definitely way higher in other parts of the world. India is definitely getting aware of it, but it will take time," he said.

Shoo away summer hair problems...

Pic Courtesy: -Thinkstock. Image for representation purpose only.

New Delhi: Colouring your locks or taking a cool dip in the pool may be a problem for your hair during summer. Know how to protect your precious locks.

Kiran Lohia, managing director, Lumiere Dermatology suggests the following tips:

* Hair colour fading: The sun’s strong rays can often cause your hair colour to change due to its temporary bleaching effects. Wear a hat to protect hair. If not that, you can wear products with sun protection on your tresses.

* Green hair: Swimming is a great way to cool yourself, but the chlorine present in it can make your hair turn green. Look for chlorine-removing shampoos so that your hair can return to its natural colour! And, try to wear a swim cap to reduce the amount of chlorine your hair is exposed to.

* Forehead breakouts because of bangs: Greasy bangs sticking to the face can block your skin’s pores leading to breakouts. Try to keep your bangs or hair off your face so that your skin can breathe.

Include protein at each meal to maintain muscle...

Washington: If you do not want those awe-inspiring muscles in your biceps to fade with age, include a full serving of protein at each meal, instead of having just one protein-rich meal in a day.

The typical cereal or carbohydrate-dominated breakfast, a sandwich or salad at lunch and overly large serving of meat/protein for dinner may not provide the best metabolic environment to promote healthy ageing and maintenance of muscle size and strength, a study indicated.

"You do not have to eat massive amounts of protein to maximise muscle synthesis, you just have to be a little more thoughtful with how you apportion it," said Doug Paddon-Jones of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in the US.

The potential for muscle growth is less than optimal when protein consumption is skewed toward the evening meal instead of being evenly distributed throughout the day.

Age-related conditions such as osteoporosis (bone weakening) and sarcopenia (muscle wasting) do not develop all of a sudden.

Rather they are insidious processes precipitated by suboptimal lifestyle practices, such as diet and exercise, in early middle age, the study showed.

The researchers measured muscle protein synthesis rates in healthy adults who consumed two similar diets that differed in protein distribution throughout the day.

One of the diets contained 30 grams of protein at each meal, while the other contained 10 grams at breakfast, 15 grams at lunch and 65 grams at dinner.

When volunteers consumed the evenly distributed protein meals, their 24-hour muscle protein synthesis was 25 percent greater than those who ate according to the skewed protein distribution pattern.

The study appeared in the Journal of Nutrition.

It's never too late to lose weight...

London: Are you not hitting the gym thinking that weight loss at your age may not be of any help?

Think again as researchers have now found that weight loss at any age in adulthood is beneficial as it could yield long-term heart and vascular benefits.

“Our findings suggest that losing weight at any age can result in long-term cardiovascular health benefits, and support public health strategies and lifestyle modifications that help individuals who are overweight or obese to lose weight at all ages," said professor John Deanfield from University College London (UCL).

The study examined the impact of lifelong patterns of weight change on cardiovascular risk factors in a group of British men and women followed since birth in March 1946.

They showed that the longer the exposure to excess body fat (adiposity) in adulthood, the greater the cardiovascular-related problems in later life, including increased thickness of the carotid artery walls, raised systolic blood pressure, and increased risk of diabetes.

Adults who drop a BMI (body mass index) category - from obese to overweight, or from overweight to normal - at any time during adult life, even if they regain weight, can reduce these cardiovascular manifestations.

"Our study is unique because it followed individuals for such a long time, more than 60 years, and allowed us to assess the effect of modest, real-life changes in adiposity,” Deanfield added.

The findings appeared in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.