Beautiful Skin in the Summer

Summer is fast approaching with its changes in weather conditions. To achieve true proactive anti aging skincare, you need to keep your skin healthy and moist. So to do this naturally and well you should change your skincare routine in response to the higher temperatures and humidity of summer. This summer it is forecasted to be more hot and humid than normal.

The net benefactor of the summer weather are those who are Vata http://our-metamorphosis.blogspot.com/2009/04/ayurvedic-doshas.html dominant. Summer's humidity and heat are perfect for a Vata who's main characteristics are cold and dry. so Vata skin types need to do very little to balance skin in relations to the weather. Vatas can choose to lower heaviness of their cold weather moisturizer. Since Vata skin is thin and dry, sun protection is a must to prevent further long term damage and dehydration to their skin. Choose between a natural sunscreen with minerals with a sun protection factor of 30 or a hat with a wide brim.

Vatas need to watch out for dry windy days. On those days it is advisable to pump up the moisture of skin by adding a face oil after the serum and before the moisturizer and for extra dry skin take time out for a relaxing mask. Carry a hydrosol http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=551&Itemid=27 to use when your skin is dehydrated throughout the day. Drink more and warmer liquids along with avoiding dry foods will keep skin more moist looking. This will keep Vatas thinking and behaving more grounded as well.

The warming weather is also great for Kaphas http://our-metamorphosis.blogspot.com/2009/04/ayurvedic-doshas.htmlwho have thicker, oilier skin. The warmer weather stimulates a quicker metabolism and circulation which improves moisture and hydration of the skin of extremities like hands, feet and face. Kaphas tend to be believe they do not need to do much with their skin due to its oiliness. And while Kaphas do tend to have the potential to age more slowly, if Kaphas that do not care properly for their skin, they will find their skin will look the most unattractive with orange peel textures to deep wrinkles and leathery reptilian looking skin.

Rainy days can be cooler causing Kapha skin to become acneic or suffer surface dehydration. On those days make sure you use a good hydrating lotion. Kaphas should drink pau d’arco tea to counteract the tendency for increase in candida http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidiasis

Summer is an unsettling time for Pittas skin and personality as the hot humid climate unbalances their elemental energies of fire and water. Pitta skin care needs to promote cool and calm.

Make sure skin is hydrated and moisture loss is minimize to lessen redness, acne and other unhealthy skin conditions. The goal is to keep skin calm and less red. This will in turn prevent broken capillaries and acne.

Cleanse with a gentle gel cleanser. Make sure you have your organic chamomile hydrosol http://bit.ly/kmjh4X to cool skin throughout the day. Use a serum to ensure healthy hydration levels http://bit.ly/kPGGdV and a light moisturizer http://bit.ly/aFfyEJ to slow down moisture loss.

So the goal of your summer skin depends on the type of skin you have. Balance your skin to the weather conditions to ensure continually moist smooth skin. Skin that is moist will suffer less damage from the environment.

Is Your Liver Making You Angry?

Most of us know that the liver is one of our body’s main filters. But it is much more than that.

Mantak Chi in “Chi Nei Tsang, Ci Massage for Vital Organs” better explains what the liver does for us.

“The liver store large quantities of blood, minerals and vitamins. It prepares carbohydrates by breaking them down into more simple sugars. It is incharge of protein and amino acid production… It also produces bile salts, which are distributed by the gallbladderinto the small intestines to aborb fats from food consumed. It produces wood chi as well”

He also helps us become aware of how the affects our appearance and behavior in the following from the same book,

“If liver chi and blood are health, balanced and abundant, then the nails will be health, vision clear and nerves calm, and sinews and tendons will have sufficient energy.

The positive quality of the emotion in wood is kindness tempered with intelligence. A person with this quality tends to be coolheaded, discreet, relaxed, clearheaded, creative, progressive, constructive, conciliatory and willing to work with others.

The negative qualities of wood phase’s emotions are anger, violence and making big plans without knowing what you e doing. A person with these qualities tends to be opportunistic, short tempered, ar hotheaded, loud, tight, pressured, rough, obsessed, stubborn, pedantic, formalistic, competitive, and antagonistic.”

A weak or over loaded liver can affect the function of the reproductive organs and cause infertitlity and impotence.

An over stressed liver affects Kidney function as anger can cause fear

A struggling liver can be detected when there is yellow in the whites of the eyes. Dark circles around the eyes. Vision can become blurry.

Another symptom of a toxic liver is a pronounced vertical wrinkle on the right side of the area between your eye brows.

Skin tone can be yellowy, orange.

Sore stiff tendons with chronic pain in the neck shoulder area can be another clue to the state of your liver. Massaging the nape can relieve headache pain.

Daily care of the liver includes eating green and bitter foods like bitter melon, dark greens, and dandelion greens and roots.

The gallbladder likes regular meals at consistent times to prevent clogging of the liver ducts with gall stones, which are hardened bile.

You assist the function of your liver by massaging the area below your right rib cage. Soreness or hardness in this area will indicate the need to do Chi Nei Tsang here daily.

You can supplement the daily care of your liver with herbs like Banyan Liver Formula. Find it at http://www.banyanbotanicals.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1181

If you have neglected you liver longterm and you have many of the above symptoms try the Liver Gallbladder Flush by Hulde Clark. Find it at http://www.drclark.net/en/cleanses_clean-ups/liver_cleanses/advanced_livere_cleanse.php

Digestion: Your Path to Beauty

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Beauty can be your path to good digestion too

Everyone one of us is beautiful and our beauty is most evident in the glow of our healthy minds and bodies. The foundation of this health is our digestive system.

Negative changes in our skin and our eyes are indications of the first signs of trouble in our circulatory system which is caused by trouble in our digestive system.

I have been trying to remedy food allergies and intolerances for 40 years. I started out very conventionally with allergy shots. My major allergies then sugar, grains, legumes and dairy and they remain my allergies now.

But while the 40 years of Naturopaths, Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Doctors have not given me a cure their advice and care have lessened the symptoms. The improved digestion has given the benefits of better mental and physical health along with smoother skin and a fitter body.

No – my happiness in my physical appearance is not the attainment of the model’s figure I wanted in my youth but in the beauty of the fleshiness of a fit compact stocky one.

I had found contentment with the improved but not resolved situation until I began to get gas from eating the above 4 food groups. The digestive upsets prevented me from staying healthy on a vegetarian diet which was important to me.

So I began a new search for better digestion with Dana Zangari, a Registered Holistic Allergist and Nutritionist, http://www.pandechiropractic.ca/Dana-Zangari/dana-zangari.html .

She uses Biofeedback to treat me for allergies to legumes which included some of my favourite flavours like chocolate and coffee and some fruits, vegetables and grains.

I found that though she had reduced my allergy symptoms when I ate the allergic foods, they still gave me gas.

At my third session I was pleased with the improved overall feeling but the gas was still a problem for me. So she advised me to take digestive enzymes but I was hesitant as I found that these enzyme caused me to feel acidic. Dana tested the enzymes and found I was allergic to some of them and clear them for me.

Digestive problems can cause our internal organs and our circulatory system to become too toxic which leads to illness and skin problems.

Skin problems like Rosacea, sensitive skin (redness in the cheeks) and acne are symptoms of impure blood in the capillaries.

Chronic dry skin or dull skin usually indicated a slow moving constipated bowel system.

While vanity is no a virtue, it can be an aid in keeping our bodies healthy. An excellent way to prevent illness s to listen to your skin when it tells you your bloodstream is too full of toxic materials.

And be even more proactive - by listening to your stomach (gas, abdominal pain, bloating) to prevent having to be told by your skin you need to get help to change your ways.

Foods for Pitta

Foods to Balance Pitta

This is a continuation of the Ayurveda of eating your way to a balanced state of mind body and spirit.

This entry is about balancing Pittas.

These ambitious organizers’ strengths include high mental reasoning, leadership tendencies and competitiveness. In imbalance, they have the tendency to be intolerable, jealous, perfectionists and power hungry. Imbalance will create problems in the circulatory system, sensitivity, allergies and inflammation (both internal (circulatory system and organs) and external (skin). .

If you are not a Pitta but exhibit any of the above symptoms, you can be suffering from a Pitta imbalance and can also follow the same advice to balance.

Things that can tip the scales to manifest these negative tendencies can be triggered by Pitta Weather – hot, damp – eating Pitta Foods – stimulating (caffeine), acidic(vinegar), fat, sour (citrus), spicy(chili peppers), hot, salty – or hanging out with Imbalanced Pittas – overly ambitious, workaholic, extremely envious, status seeking, compulsive, demanding, angry

The general rule is to eat raw and cold foods. These can be adding salads to your meals or following a raw food diet. Learn to favour flavours that are bitter, sweet and astringent and avoid those that are spicy, salty and sour.

The big no-no's are coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, red meat, vinegar, citrus and hot foods.

And the balancing foods can include algae, white fishes, all raw vegetables, natural sweeteners and dairy. An ideal diet is raw food.

A sample daily menu can be;

Breakfast

Pittas have a healthy appetite but can be irritable if their eating schedule is disrupted or late. A natural route to Pitta imbalance is to ignore hunger to maintain work or any external schedules.

1. Cold whole grains cereal with any seeds with cold milk
2. Cooked whole grains with roasted sesame seeds and fresh or dried fruits
3. Fruit smoothies made without yogurt (acidic)
4. Almond Milk made with soak almonds then blending it with water and any natural sweetener
5. Herbal non-caffeinated tea with any natural sweetener. Make an ice tea from herbal teas instead of black tea.

Lunch

This will be your main meal for the day. Make sure lunch is not later than 2:00pm
1. Raw Fish Sushi with vegetables and brown rice
2. Whole wheat pasta with nuts or legumes and vegetable
3. Salads with nuts or legumes – replacing vinegar with lemon juice or use only oil.
4. Dessert is fresh fruit as per Snack suggestions
5. on really hot days – ice cream

Snack

It is best to eat according to a regular schedule. So extend your habit to organize to your daily meals and snacks

1. Sweet fruits – melons, papaya, mangos, bananas
2. Smoothies made with ice, sweet fruit and milk
3. Smoothies made with ice, sweet fruit and natural sweetners
4. No sour fruits like citrus
5. No yogurt

Dinner

Eat non-oily, fresh and raw. To prevent acidic stomach and poor digestion eat at a regular schedule.

1. Whole grain pasta with cream sauce, young low salt cheese, nuts or legumes and fresh vegetable. Do not eat tomato sauce (acidic)
2. White fish with vegetables and brown rice
3. Salad with raw protein – nuts (sliced almonds), seeds (roasted sesame seed), legumes (hummus, tofu soaked in spices)
4. Veggie burger with steamed vegetables or salad ( depends on season) – No fries

Pitta Hors d’euves ( from the book Party)

The criteria for these dishes are;

• The food ingredients follow the Ayurvedic diet for Pittas
• Use whole organic food ingredients
• Minimal waste – edible containers
• The dishes chosen are from raw food diet which is very suitable for Pittas
• Please modify to suit your tastes


1. Seaweed Beet Salad and lettuce (the container)

a. Seaweed ---- choose your favourite seaweeds

i. Soak them in separate bowls- for fifty rolls the total amount of dry seaweed should be about a cup ( a cup and a half if you want more seaweed to vegetable) of dry volume
ii. Arame is easy with not further preparation needed
iii. Kombu and Wakame and other broad leaf seaweed need to be cut into pieces
iv. Nori is more suitable as a the wrap so don’t soak it.

b. Roast Sesame Seeds ahead

i. Heat a iron frying pan
ii. Add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of oil
iii. Then add 500mg or raw sesame seeds
iv. Roast seeds with constant stirring for 1 minute
v. Put roasted seeds into a small bowl

c. Grate the following vegetables

i. 1-2 beets
ii. 3 carrots
iii. ½ onion

d. Sauce ----

i. Mix in one at a time the following---
1. ½ avocado,
2. 2 tablespoons tahini,
3. ¼ teaspoon ginger,
4. 1 tablespoon basil,
5. 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
6. 2 tablespoon Lime Juice

e. Mix the vegetables with the drained Seaweed
f. Prepare Lettuce – wash, dry then cut into uniform pieces for wrapping
g. Put the vegetable seaweed mixture into each piece of lettuce
h. Sprinkle with the roasted sesame
i. Wrap lettuce around the mixture
j. Or leave it open


2. Tofu and Sprouts in Nori

a. Tofu Marinated
i. Drain one pieces of firm organic tofu and put it in a strainer to release excess moisture from the block
ii. Cut into square strips
iii. Mix marinade in a bowl with
1. ¼ cup Olive Oil
2. 2 Tables spoons Lime Juice
3. 2 table spoons Soya Sauce
iv. Put the drained tofu in the marinade and strore for hours or overnight

b. Rinse sprouts
c. Cut the Nori sheets into widths similar the lengths of the Tofu Logs

d. Drain Tofu of Marinade
e. Put the Tofu Logs along one end of the Nori sheets
f. Put sprouts in the same direction
g. Roll the 2 ingredients
h. Put a weight to keep it from unraveling (I used a Kitchen knife across the rolls)
i. Serve right away when finished rolling





Macadamia Lime Mousse ( makes 48 mini cupcake size tarts)

The Shell (the container)

a. Mix the following ingredients into a measuring cup
a. ½ tablespoon Lime Zest
b. 4 tablespoons lime juice
c. 2 tablespoons Vanilla
d. 1 teaspoons Himalayan Salt
e. 3 tablespoons Xylitol
f. 4 tablespoons Agave
b. Turn on food processor and then slowly add
a. 4 cups of macadamia nuts (raw of course)
b. 2 cups of shredded coconut (make sure it is still moist)
c. Then as your mixing cup of ingredients
c. Put cupcake papers into your cup cake tins (use tins for small cupcakes)
d. Put a teaspoon into the paper holders and then put a pieces of the cupcake paper on top
e. Use a shape ( I used the handle end of wide handled ice cream scoop) and press the nut mixture
f. Continue until you have used up dough (2 tins of 24 cupcake )
g. Put the mixture in the freezer

The Filling -

a. Mix 5 Avocado in the food processor or blender
b. Add the following ingredients one at a time
a. ¼ cup lime zest
b. ½ cup Lime Juice
c. ¼ agave
d. 2 teaspoons vanilla
e. 2 tablespoons of Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil
f. ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt
g. 4 tablespoons Xylitol (add more if you want it sweeter)

c. Chill the mixture in the freezer for ½ Hour

d. After 30 minutes take out both the shells and the filling
e. Put a teaspoon of filling in each shell
f. Put the tarts back into the freezer
g. When you are ready to serve take out the tins of tarts and put a berry of your choice on top of the filling