Does drinking more milk prevent osteoporosis?

No, drinking more milk, scientific research has found that taking a more calcium-rich diet does NOT help to prevent the much dreaded old-age symptom of osteoporosis, which is more common among the women species. It is just an old myth.

To prepare against the eventualities of this deterioration disease, one must instead build up muscle mass which instead helps strengthen the bone.

Calcium rich diets will only help you to build bone mass up until you are fully grown. After this, your body no longer needs to have excess milk (especially cow's milk) pumped into it. It is good as a protein yes, but not as a way of building bone mass. Only resistance training can do that for you.

If you are trying to combat osteoporosis now, try seeking consultation from your doctor, or for going for some light aerobics and gradually working your way up to exercising with weights.

Take dancing classes if you have to, but do something rigorous that will get your heart pumping and those muscles building.

Cure menstrual cramps the natural way

For all you women out there who have yet to find a way around your monthly set of menstrual cramps, these tips should help you find pain relief.

Daily aerobics - Exercising daily helps to strengthen your body's muscles and keeps them flexible. Asides from strengthening your body, it helps to reduce the pain of the cramps.

Back stretches - This helps guard against the pain of the back muscles contracting during menses.

Stomach crunches - Doing tummy exercises helps to toughen you up for those painful cramps you experience when your uterus muscles contract.

Eat a high protein/ calcium diet.

Avoid taking iron supplements during your period.

Try eating chocolate to help ease the cramps. This is no old wives tale. It actually works :).

Sleep extra.

Drink plenty of water and liquids to help restock your body with fluids.

Avoid doing exercise during the first one or two days of your bleeding. The above mentioned exercises should be done throughout the month and on a regular basis, although not on the first one or two days of the actual period.

Be positive. It sure helps!

Stop hair fall now

Is your hair falling out? Were you one of those who used to wake up in the morning to brush your thick hair and now, thanks to your hair fall, you are reduced to waking up to seeing at least 50 strands of loose hair spread out over your pillow?

The time to stop your hair fall is now. It can be a thing of the past. Start by understanding the core root of the problem.

Why does your hair fall out?

o A common myth is that a severe case of dandruff makes your hair fall out by handfuls. This however, is a myth and not a fact. Dandruff is a condition of the scalp caused by dead skin cells being shed. This does not affect the hair to a point where it falls out in handfuls.
o An important thing to remember is that losing or ‘shedding’ upto 100 strands of hair in a day is normal. The body easily replaces the fallen hair and as such, is part of a natural process.
o It could be due to a poor intake of vitamins – namely, the vitamin B6 and folic acid which is essential for hair repair and healthy skin.
o Hair fall often occurs due a non-balanced diet.
o It can occur after a prolonged illness, constant stress or unhygienic living conditions.

Treat your hair loss the natural way

o Massage your hair daily to encourage good blood circulation below the scalp.
o Eat a vitamin rich diet.
o Eat carrots, spinach, cabbage, nuts, wheat germ, liver, etc.
o Rub lime juice on your scalp with a cotton ball and allow it to steep into your scalp at least one hour prior to washing your hair.
o Apply coconut milk on your scalp and massage at least one hour before washing your hair.
o Try changing your shampoo.
o Change your pillow case and sheet often so as to promote good hair and skin hygiene.
o Wash your hat and hair scrunchies often.
o Apply henna to your hair at least once a week.

Before not too long, with the proper hair care, you should have noticed a visible change in your hair health. Hair loss will cease, and you will be a happier, healthier person because of it.

What works for you? Do you have a secret hair care recipe that you’re willing to share with us all? We’d all love to hear it!

The benefits of Aloe Vera

Did you know that Aloe Vera is one of THE best purifiers for your skin? Among other benefits, this wonder plant has provided skin relief since time immemorial. It is also one of the only known natural vegetable sources of the crucial vitamin B12.

Other benefits of Aloe Vera include:
- Natural support to the immune system
- Helps energy levels to rise
- Maintains healthy skin and combats effects of aging
- Natural way to replenish the body with vital mineral and vitamins
- Has natural detoxifying abilities
- Improves digestion
- Increases protein absorption
- Anti-inflammatory agents
- Anti-bacterial/ viral
- Weight loss
- Curing digestive tract irritations such as colitis, ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome
- Natural body cleanser
- Curing cancer, constipation, diverticular disorders, haemorrhoids, heartburn, heart disease, HIV, immune stimulation, indigestion, insomnia, kidney disease, leg cramps, vaginitis, vaginal douche
- Aids in white blood cell production
- And is a general health tonic.

Wikipedia.com describes Aloe Vera as: "A stemless or very short-stemmed succulent plant growing to 60–100 cm (24–39 in) tall, spreading by offsets. The stems are thick and fleshy, green to grey-green, with some varieties showing white flecks on the upper and lower stem surfaces."

It goes on to say that "The margin of the stem is serrated and has small white teeth. The flowers are produced in summer on a spike up to 90 cm (35 in) tall, each flower pendulous, with a yellow tubular corolla 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) long. Like other Aloe species, A. vera forms arbuscular mycorrhiza, a symbiosis that allows the plant better access to mineral nutrients in soil."

Asides from all of that though, it tastes foul. Frankly, the first time I bought myself a big jar of it, I was surprised that the Guardian cashier threw in an extra bottle along with it. I soon found out though, for it really tasted bad!

After mixing various concoctions together trying to find something that would drown out the flavor of the putrid smelling plant, and yet retain the vitamin qualities that were luring me to do a bottom's up with it in the first place.

I found that mixing two-three tablespoons of Tang orange juice (I'm sure any juice powder will work) in a glass of cold water, mixing in the Aloe Vera juice, and topping it with a couple of ice cubes was THE best way to drink it. The taste blends together so well that you hardly notice you are drinking strange smelling liquid. Of course, the orange color of the juice drowns out the opaque look of the A. Vera juice.

In order to fully see the benefits of this, drink it on an empty stomach and twice a day. I chose drinking it at least half an hour before I had my breakfast in the morning, and at least an hour or two after my dinner/ half an hour before I slept at night

Drink up and appreciate that nature is keeping you healthy and beautiful.

Lose weight in two weeks with 8 meals a day!

It’s the next big thing happening in Hollywood, Bollywood and among those in the fashion industry. Our very own Kareena Kapoor was said to have taken this route to her trim and slim size-zero figure!

But how does one make the change from eating 3 meals a day to being able to fit in EIGHT? That’s exactly what I asked myself when I began to plan for a healthy way to losing weight. It takes time, and most of all, discipline.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not fat, I am not thin, I am a normal individual. I am 5.6 ft and I weigh a healthy 53-55 kgs on any given day. I do not go on diets to loose weight, but to feel good about myself and to feel confident and convinced that I look good.

You may wonder why I’m telling you this. Well, I have to say that it’d be to encourage those of you who are like me – rarely able to find the time/ space for a good workout, but who are still appearance-conscious, that this diet is for you too! Us and the folk like us, look for an easy alternative that can be incorporated into our everyday routines and schedules, without feeling the strain of it.

The concept behind eating 8 meals in a day is that the body feels reassured in the constance of available food that it begins to shed the extra fat that it was hanging on to for those ‘just incase’ times that you weren’t able to eat up well.

I’m going to add my tried and proven daily diet plan here. With this diet plan, I lost more weight than I intended to, but the result was the same - I lost weight. You may like to try this diet plan for two weeks and then reevaluate how you feel after that. Different people’s bodies are different and we can’t all look like an Angelina Jolie or Madonna!

Take care that at every step you are faithful to watch your body for any signs it may be giving you. Listen to your body when it speaks to you. If something doesn’t feel right – don’t do it.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you attempt my diet plan is that I am giving you this advice because I saw it work for me. Within two weeks I was able to lose 5 kgs. I have seen it work and I’d feel selfish to keep it all to myself!

Remember to consult your doctor, listen to your body and for heaven’s sake, if you know your body can’t take something – don't even go there.

Without further ado, here is my diet plan. Don't forget that this is just a sample diet plan. See what's best for your body and plan accordingly.

Meal 1 (7 am) – Glass of fruit juice or milk or lassi
Meal 2 (9 am) – Bread and cheese or bread and egg (if you take out the yolk, make sure you compensate your iron intake in the rest of your diet plan)
Meal 3 (11 am) – Piece of fruit
Meal 4 (1 pm) – 1 roti, 1 serving of proteins, 1 serving of cooked vegetable, 1 serving of salads, 1 serving of curd
Meal 5 (3 pm) – Green/ herbal tea, 2 biscuits or other light snack
Meal 6 (5 pm) – Piece of fruit
Meal 7 (7 pm) – 1 serving cooked vegetable, 1 serving salads, 1 serving of non-veg (if you’re a non-veggie) or paneer, dhal, etc (if you’re a veggie)
Meal 8 (9 pm) – Glass of milk or lassi

You’ll notice that I’ve spaced each of my meals to be two hours apart. The diet will ONLY work if you are regular and consistent with feeding your body at a routine time daily. At 7 am in the morning you may not be hungry, but I guarantee you that after a week of drinking/ eating something at that time, your body will whine for it when it’s not been given.

If you find yourself getting too full by the time the next meal comes around, shrink your meal size. This worked for me, but it may not do so for you. Evaluate and plan your own dietary plan.

Remember that each meal need not be big. You may start off being able to eat an entire pizza for a meal, but with time, you’ll find that your stomach has shrunk and you can fit no more than a piece or two per meal.

I hope it works for you, and if it does, do let the rest of us know!

Note: This is not a girl’s diet. Anyone can do it.