Your Health
Winter Skin Guide:
- Use moisturizers and cold creams in winters. Apply a day moisturizer (depending on your skin type) around the eyes and on dry-skin areas in the morning.
- Pamper your skin with a little coconut oil before a bath.
- Apply a good lip balm several times during the day. Lip balms with vitamin E and Shea butter are good for lips in winters.
- Drink three to four liters of water every day to retain moisture in the skin.
- Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Include olive oil to your diet to help soften the skin.
- Have soaked and blanched almonds, soaked walnuts, whole milk, fresh cheese, and ghee (clarified butter). This does wonders for your skin.
- Avoid using blow dryers and curling irons on your hair. In case you have to use them, apply a conditioner on hair before blow drying or curling it.
Health Tips:
- Move that body! Go for a walk, even a short one. You’ll live longer.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Eat your fruit and vegetables.
- Eat your favorite foods but limit your portions.
- A serving of yogurt every day is good for the digestive system.
- Even fast food restaurants offer healthy choices – make them.
- Children learn by example; be a good example.
- Exercise can be fun.
- Smiles are contagious; pass them around.
- It’s never too late to improve your health.
However, there are other things we can do to live longer and healthier lives. It calls for making good choices and taking care of ourselves on a daily basis - like choosing to exercise regularly, eating a good diet, not smoking, having your children immunized, wearing proper protective equipment when exercising. Our behavior is a key to staying healthy.
The Healthy Living Tips listed can guide you and your doctor in developing the best program to help you be, and stay, healthy. Check them out.
- Eat a healthy diet low in saturated fats and high in fruits and vegetables.
- Begin a regular exercise program. Talk to your health care provider about starting a walking program. Find someone to walk with to help you stay motivated. It's a cheap and effective way to control your weight and your blood pressure.
- If you're pregnant, or thinking about getting pregnant, get early prenatal care. Take a good multivitamin every day. Adequate intake of folic acid (0.4 mg/day) helps prevent spinal cord defects, like spina bifida. Try not to smoke, drink alcohol, or use other drugs that may affect the health of your baby. Talk to your health care provider before you take any drugs, even over-the-counter drugs like aspirin or cold/flu preparations.
- If you are a woman of childbearing age and not using a reliable birth control method, you should consider taking a prenatal vitamin or multivitamin every day to make sure you get enough folic acid. Half of all pregnancies are unplanned. It takes your body time to build up the folic acid it needs to support a pregnancy, and by the time you know you are pregnant your baby could already have a neural cord defect.
- Women should do monthly breast self-exams
- Practice safer sex. Know your partner's history. Use a condom to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
- If you drink alcohol, do so only in moderation. The recommended limits are two beers per day or 10 ounces of wine per day for men, and one beer or one glass of wine for women per day. PREGNANT WOMEN SHOULD NEVER DRINK ALCOHOL. Your baby could end up with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or other problems.
- See your health care provider for routine health screenings (like mammograms, prostrate exams and Pap smears), immunizations, and dental and eye care.
- Establish a good relationship with a doctor or other health care provider. Know your family history and how that relates to your risk factors for various diseases. Is there a history of high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, or breast cancer in your family? Learn the risk factors and what you can do to prevent these problems or reduce your risk.
