Wednesday, February 24, 2016
WHAT EFFECT DOES RED ONION HAVE ON YOUR HAIR?
Are you worried about a receding hairline or bald patches? Do you feel your hair is getting thinner? When people notice their hair is changing, this can be a blow to their confidence, especially to women and their “crowns of glory”. Our hair is often a part of our identity, so we might go to great lengths to preserve it.
Hair growth is a matter of genes, but certain internal and external factors can affect this process. You could imagine that red onion stops the hair loss and at the same time stimulates hair to grow faster.
This natural home remedy might not sound that appealing, but it has been a successful treatment for hair loss for decades. Onion and onion juice can help you re-grow your hair. Read on to find out how and why it works.
WHY ONION IS GOOD FOR HAIR GROWTH
Onion is rich in sulfur. This mineral is one of the main building blocks of hair. It improves blood circulation and provides the hair follicles with sufficient nourishment. Onion also has anti-bacterial properties, so it helps with scalp infections that might contribute to hair loss.
Furthermore, it contains the enzyme catalase, which is an anti-oxidant that can prevent premature graying for some people (I also wrote an article about the top natural supplements for treating premature gray hair).
THE RESEARCH
Onion’s potential as a potent home remedy for hair loss has also been studied scientifically. In 2002, the Journal of Dermatology published a small study that looked into the use of onion juice for alopecia areata (an autoimmune disease that presents with patchy hair loss).
Participants who applied onion juice twice daily for two months experienced much better hair re-growth rates compared to those who only used tap water. Men had better success with the treatment than did women.
HOW TO MAKE ONION RINSE
ONION JUICE
Peel the onions and chop them into small pieces.
Squeeze the juice out. To extract the juice, you can use a food processor, a blender, a grater or a juicer.
Massage the juice into your scalp or cover the bald patches.
Leave on for at least 15 minutes (longer if you can tolerate the smell) and then wash out using a mild shampoo.
Onion and honey mix for hair growth
Mix ¼ cup of onion juice with 1 tablespoon of honey (if more mixture is required, double the amounts).
Apply the paste onto your scalp.
Leave it on for at least 30 minutes.
You can also cover it with a shower cap and leave it overnight.
Rinse it off.
This is a natural treatment, so you’ll have to be a bit patient to see the results. Use it daily (or minimum three times a week) and allow at least two months for your hair to start becoming stronger and shinier.
MORE TIPS FOR TREATING HAIR LOSS
– If you’re bothered by the strong smell of the onion, add some lemon juice or rose water to your hair rinse. Essential oils can also be used. Rosemary, lavender and peppermint promote hair regrowth.
– The honey and onion mixture can also be taken orally. Consume it daily, so you ingest the nutrients.
– Try adding onion to your food recipes. This will not act as fast as the hair rinse, but will provide additional dietary support.
OTHER NATURAL METHODS FOR TREATING HAIR LOSS
1. Castor oil can keep your hair healthy, shiny and strong as I mentioned in my article on how to use castor oil to improve and regrow your hair.
2. Rosemary can also help in treating hair loss and you can get more information on how to use it in my article on how to use rosemary for treating hair loss.
3. According to a research garlic can help you to grow your hair – get the full instructions in my post on how to use garlic for hair growth.
4. Certain essential oils can work wonders on your hair and scalp as I mentioned in my article about the best essential oils for healthy hair.
5. Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) can also encourage hair growth – get all the information in my article on why you should wash your hair with ACV.
6. There are certain foods and nutrients that you must include in your diet in order to have healthy, shiny and strong hair – read about them in my article about the best foods and nutrients for healthy, strong and shiny hair.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
A 7 Day Mental Detox for a More Positive Life
When it comes to our bodies, we know that a healthy diet, regular exercise, and the occasional detox or cleanse are beneficial to our health.
But what about when it comes to our minds? Just as our bodies retain toxins and waste, our minds hold on to toxic outlooks and attitudes. A poisonous mentality can sour pretty much every life event.
Start this year on the right foot by cleansing your outlook with this seven-day mental detox. Take on each day’s exercise, and by the end of the week you’ll feel more settled and at peace in your mind.
Day 1: Be more mindful of your surroundings.
In today’s world, everyone is influenced by environmental triggers — whether they be stories in the media, advertisements on billboards, or social media posts from friends. It’s important to be aware of those outside influences and analyze the impact they have on your mental state. Today, work to become mindfully aware of how your surroundings make you feel.
As you go about your day, stop once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once before bed to jot down notes on the day’s events and how they made you feel. Were you stressed, invigorated, overwhelmed? No judgment, just journaling. Work to come up with ways to phase out the activities that negatively affected you and play up the positive ones.
Day 2: Get rid of clutter.
When our day or week isn’t planned, it often leaves us feeling powerless in our own lives. On Day 2, mentally organize your day from morning to night. It’s best to use a day planner or lined notebook. Pencil in your schedule and avoid the temptation to fill in every single time slot. If an interruption in the schedule arises as the day goes on, add it to the calendar too. Keep yourself focused and clear by knowing what you need to be doing when, and actually do it! You won’t have to wonder what happened to the day — you will know and it will lead to increased confidence and security in the days to come.
Day 3: Let go of obsessions.
You likely hear the sentence “I have so much going on” in daily conversation. Maybe you even say it yourself from time to time. Busy people can often list their never-ending montage of tasks verbatim and end with a flurry of “Whew!” They’re obsessed with handling every one of life’s details and they love the feeling of control. But at the same time, they are stressed. If you find yourself overwhelmed with your to-do list, you need to let some things go. Today, look for ways to delegate your energy to those tasks that are most important and drop the rest.
Day 4: Count (and recount) your blessings.
Counting your blessings once a day just isn’t enough to keep your mind feeling squeaky clean. Today, work to harness a constant stream of gratitude. Take a quiet moment to flip through your phone pictures and let joyous memories wash over you. Place sticky notes filled with positive mantras throughout your home and leave them there for the rest of the week.
Day 5: Hit fast-forward on the replays.
One of the most destructive games our minds play with itself is replaying painful events on a loop. Someone could have said or done something hurtful to us years ago, and our mind will hit rewind and punch play over and over again. When those negative thoughts arise today, press fast-forward to the present and focus on the positive things happening right now.
Day 6: Resist the reactive.
Today, it’s time to take a breath and think about the first five days of your mental resent. Did you respond mindfully to the situations placed in front of you? Where were you reactive? When did your mind and mouth get out of control? Take a few minutes to write those instances down and reflect. Ask yourself how you can respond differently next time.
Day 7: Scrub your brain.
One final exercise: Go back through your entire week and write down positive influences, great conversations, and celebrated wins. Remember those fun moments with friends. Recall that well-done work assignment. Scrub your brain with the good and positive. Help your mind become more aware of the wonderful things about life and overwrite those things that don’t deserve your attention.
Once you finish the seven-day mental detox, let a few of your favorite exercises become habit. Make them a part of your daily routine, and eventually you won’t even realize you are doing them.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
HISTORY OF VALENTINE
HISTORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY
Every February 14th, across the United States and in other places around the world; candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But in the heck is this mysterious Saint, and where did theses traditions come from? Find out about the history of this centuries-old holiday from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England.
CONTENTS
The Legend of St. Valentine
Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February
Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance
Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings
THE LEGEND OF ST. VALENTINE
The history of Valentine’s Day and the story of its patron saint – is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine Day as we know as it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?
Did You Know?
Approximately 150 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second most popular card sending holiday after Christmas.
The Catholic Church recognizes at three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Cladius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Cladius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beats and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “Valentine”greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl --- possibly his jailor’s daughter --- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote here a letter signed “from your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and most importantly romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
ORIGINS OF VALENTINE’S DAY: A PAGAN FESTIVAL IN FEBRUARY
While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial --- which probably occurred around 270 AD; while others claim that the Christian Church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Chritianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for example, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hides. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
VALENTINE’S DAY: A DAY OF ROMANCE
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed --- as it was deemed “unChristianlike” --- at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in England and France that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the notion that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be day for romance.
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ageshriugh written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known Valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a Valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
TYPICAL VALENTINE GREETINGS
In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time where direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.
Americans probably began exchanging hand made valentines in the early 1700s. In 1840, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
Source: http://www.history.com/topics/Valentine's-day/history-of-valentines-day
Every February 14th, across the United States and in other places around the world; candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But in the heck is this mysterious Saint, and where did theses traditions come from? Find out about the history of this centuries-old holiday from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England.
CONTENTS
The Legend of St. Valentine
Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February
Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance
Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings
THE LEGEND OF ST. VALENTINE
The history of Valentine’s Day and the story of its patron saint – is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine Day as we know as it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?
Did You Know?
Approximately 150 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second most popular card sending holiday after Christmas.
The Catholic Church recognizes at three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Cladius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Cladius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beats and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “Valentine”greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl --- possibly his jailor’s daughter --- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote here a letter signed “from your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and most importantly romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
ORIGINS OF VALENTINE’S DAY: A PAGAN FESTIVAL IN FEBRUARY
While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial --- which probably occurred around 270 AD; while others claim that the Christian Church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Chritianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for example, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hides. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
VALENTINE’S DAY: A DAY OF ROMANCE
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed --- as it was deemed “unChristianlike” --- at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in England and France that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the notion that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be day for romance.
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ageshriugh written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known Valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a Valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
TYPICAL VALENTINE GREETINGS
In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time where direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.
Americans probably began exchanging hand made valentines in the early 1700s. In 1840, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
Source: http://www.history.com/topics/Valentine's-day/history-of-valentines-day
Saturday, February 6, 2016
How To Make Iaso
Bring a quart (4 cups) of water to a boil. Put two tea bags (one pack) of tea in the boiling water. Remove from heat, put the cover on the tea kettle and allow tea to steep for 4-8 hours...the longer the better! This releases the potency of the herbs and makes them readily available for your body.
After the steeping process is complete, pour tea into a gallon container and add 3 quarts (12 cups) of water. If you want, you can add sweetener or lemon. I recommend the lemon. Not only does lemon have an alkalizing effect on the body...which is also a very good thing, but lemon adds little to no extra calories! Enjoy! For those who can't get past the none-taste of Iaso Tea, I suggest steeping a plain green tea along with Iaso Tea in the 8 hour process. Best thing ever since sliced bread👌👌🍞🍞!!
After the steeping process is complete, pour tea into a gallon container and add 3 quarts (12 cups) of water. If you want, you can add sweetener or lemon. I recommend the lemon. Not only does lemon have an alkalizing effect on the body...which is also a very good thing, but lemon adds little to no extra calories! Enjoy! For those who can't get past the none-taste of Iaso Tea, I suggest steeping a plain green tea along with Iaso Tea in the 8 hour process. Best thing ever since sliced bread👌👌🍞🍞!!
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