This is a guest post by Monique Slater.

Basically, the lower the better!

Did you know 1 in 2 Australian Adults are affected by cholesterol!

What’s scary is that only 1 in 5 think they are affected.

But what exactly is cholesterol?

It can be so confusing especially when you hear about ‘good and bad cholesterol’ and then ‘total’ cholesterol – what is the difference?  Isn’t it all the same?

Cholesterol is a waxy substance which is found naturally in our blood – in fact it is made by our liver but we also receive a small amount from the food we eat. Without cholesterol our bodies could not perform a number of important body processes like making hormones and vitamin D. Having a low level of cholesterol our blood is natural and healthy but having a high cholesterol level can be dangerous. ‘Bad’ cholesterol gets stuck to the walls of blood vessels, making them harder and narrower so less blood can flow through and around the body. Eventually this spells big trouble for your heart, often leading to heart attack and stroke. ‘Good’ cholesterol on the other hand, takes cholesterol from body tissues back to the liver for re-processing and elimination.

To help keep your heart healthy it is important to keep your ‘bad’ cholesterol low (known as ‘LDL cholesterol’) and your ‘good’ cholesterol high (known as ‘HDL cholesterol’).

So what about total cholesterol?

Total cholesterol is a figure made up from the bad (LDL) and the good (HDL) cholesterol levels. The Heart Foundation recommends the cholesterol level for the general public is ideally should be below 5.5mmol/L or lower. For people at higher risk of heart problems, they suggest a cholesterol level of less than 4.0 mmo/l. Basically, the lower the better.

How do I lower my cholesterol?

Small changes to diet and lifestyle can make a big difference to your cholesterol level such as:

• Avoiding ‘bad’ fats and/or reducing saturated fats, limiting other animal fats like cheese, cream, full cream milks and yoghurts and fatty meats. Choose lean meats and low fat dairy products instead. Also cutting down on biscuits, pastries and the like too.
• Choosing ‘good’ fats. Replacing bad fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as sunflower oil and polyunsaturated margarine spreads will have a positive effect on cholesterol levels.
• Eating more vegetables – including 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables everyday and include wholegrain foods in your daily diet.
• Having a healthy lifestyle by aiming for a healthy body weight, quitting smoking, including physical exercise.
• Using a plant sterol margarine spread will also help lower cholesterol absorption.

I would urge you however, if you have any concerns about your cholesterol levels or heart health, your first point of contact should always be your GP. Some people have cholesterol levels that require medication as well as diet and lifestyle changes and your doctor will need to advise you. Keeping a nice close eye on your cholesterol levels is highly recommended because they change over time. Something I didn’t realize until recently was that when women go through menopause and their estrogen levels drop, their cholesterol increases! (but this is another topic!)

I would love to hear your comments and experiences. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s never to early or late to love your heart!

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My site’s popularity has grown considerably, more than I ever expected and therefore I wanted to bring to light three of my most popular articles which some of you may miss if you land initially at the front page, here you go:

Hope you like Please feel free to add any comments, even to the 100+ comments on the Honey and Water: Is it Really that Good?, all comments are read and replied to ASAP so don’t delay!

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At the beginning of every spring (or summer for some), you start hearing a lot of sniffling and sneezing.

This is usually as a result of people suffering from hay fever also known as seasonal allergic rhinitis. A condition which is caused by an allergy to grass or hay pollens.

Common symptoms are a runny and itchy nose, sometimes a blocked nose, sneezing, and itchy eyes.

I started suffering from hay fever when I was 10 years old. Every year the same symptoms would occur!

For those of you who do suffer from hay fever, you only know too well how annoying and frustrating it can be! Most doctors prescribe antihistamine pills which don’t actually combat the source of the problem. They only suppress the symptoms.

	Hay fever is an allergy?

YES! Hay fever is a result of an allergenic reaction in the body.

Most allergies, if not all, are a result of foreign proteins in the blood (due to them not being digested properly).

The body considers these proteins as foreign invaders and as a result, it releases amongst other things, histamine. Hence, this causes the aforementioned symptoms. ANTI- histamines therefore…I know you know but I’m still going to tell you…yes they block histamine receptors thereby stopping the SYMPTOMS and not the actual CAUSE.

Cure?

Most people don’t know that you can usually be cured from most allergies.

So you’re wondering what the cure is?

Simple, get rid of those foreign protein molecules in your system. The best and only way (that I know of) is by using proteolytic enzymes. I’m assuming you know what enzymes are, if not, just google it! Not my fault you weren’t listening in biology class

What these enzymes do is amazing! Not only do they digest the foreign protein in your blood and soft tissue, they also have an array of other possible health benefits (depending on which enzyme strands you take) including:

• Reduce inflammation for: Increased heart health, Cancer prevention and recovery, Alzheimer’s prevention, Fibromyalgia, Chronic fatigue, and more
• Cleanse the blood of debris
• Break down and remove Circulating Immune Complexes
• Dissolve arterial plaque
• Dissolve fibrin in the blood, reducing the risk of clots
• Eliminating the risk of DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis)
• Raise the immune system
• Kill bacteria and viruses
• Improve circulation
• Eliminate autoimmune diseases
• Speed up recovery from sprains, strains, fractures, bruises, contusions, and surgery
• Speed up recovery time from workouts
• Help with MS
• Help with arthritis
• Remove plaque from teeth
• Help with sinusitis and asthma
• Dissolve scar tissue
• Aid in detoxing
• Improved body alkalinity
• Reduced risk of osteoporosis

(Source: http://www.jonbarron.org/baseline-health-program/08-26-2006.php)

Amazing huh?

I started taking proteolytic enzymes a few years ago and ever since I have not suffered from hay fever.

So where can I get these enzymes?

I buy them from Jon Barron’s Baseline Nutritionals company in the USA (it takes approximately a week to arrive in the UK – definitely worth the wait!)

They come in capsule form and are easy to take.

Best taken in-between meals (preferably an hour before or an hour after a meal at least).

Check out this in-depth article on proteolytic enzymes by Jon Barron:

http://www.jonbarron.org/baseline-health-program/08-26-2006.php

Just a side note: Many people wrongly self-diagnose themselves as having an allergy to a certain food or foods, when in actuality it is more of an intolerance to that food as a result of over indulgence in consuming processed foods and not having a varied diet. I read somewhere (don’t ask me where, I forgot, but it stuck in my head so it must’ve been a journal) that only 1% of all allergy claims are true allergies!

Let me know if any of you have had any experience with digestive or proteolytic enzymes with your hay fever, allergies or just your general experience with this supplement.

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Study Info.

You’ve guessed it, yet another study expounding the great benefits of green tea.

So what was the study about and what did it show?

The study investigated the effects of the consumption of green tea for 7 days on biomarkers (i.e. indicators) of oxidative stress in young men undergoing resistance exercise.

Blood samples were taken before and after exercise and were analysed for total antioxidant capacity.

The control group (i.e. those who didn’t drink green tea) had reduced levels of Glutathione (a very strong antioxidant produced in the body). In addition other activities increased in the control group as a result of exercise (i.e. by-products: creatine kinase (CK), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) & xanthine oxidase (XO)).

Green tea reduced the post-exercise concentration of some of the above by-products and increased the values of total polyphenols (antioxidants from Green Tea) and Glutathione. Green tea also inhibited a significant rise in the other by-products, namely CK and XO activities.

Conclusion

	Consumption of GT, a beverage rich in polyphenols, may offer protection against the oxidative damage caused by exercise, and dietary guidance for sports participants should be emphasized.

Source: Journal of Nutrition

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So what did I mean when I said I shall provide two lists for the Acid and Alkaline Food diet in Part 1?

Confused?

Well, whenever I have scowered the internet for a list identifying the state (i.e. acidic or alkaline) of foods, I always come across some discrepancies in relation to accuracy. In some lists I read that one food may be acidic and on another list I come across that same food is diagnosed as alkaline!!!

This can be quite confusing and annoying.

The original way of calculating the state of a certain food was achieved by conducting the ash analysis technique. I’m not going to explain the science behind it, it’s not worth knowing, but lets just say that it isn’t all that effective.

Solution

So is there a way round this?

Luckily, yes!

Dr. Remer and Manz developed a food rating system refered to as PRAL (Potential Renal Acid Load). This method allows researchers to analyse a food based on its components, thereby presenting an accurate result for that specific food.

Why Acid is bad!

Every cell within the body has to function and operate at a certain pH level. Though the net pH of the whole body has to be regulated tightly to maintain homeostasis.

One of the problems we incur living in the West is that a lot of our food is processed and refined and as a result our diets produce what’s known as “low-grade chronic metabolic acidosis”.

So what does that mean?

This means that the foods we eat produce a state of acidosis in our system and therefore the PRAL of our diets is high.

So your probably wondering why your doctor hasn’t warned you about this? Maybe because they can’t detect such a state until it becomes a chronic problem!

You and your doctor won’t know, but your cells and body will!

Problems of Acidosis

Your body will be forced to counteract this problem by neutralising the acidity with alkalising minerals (which are taken from your bones, muscles and cells, e.g. calcium from bones, glutamine from muscles).

That means you are losing a lot of minerals which could be used for repair and growth and many other beneficial functions in your system.

Does this mean your bones will become weaker? Yes!

What else will happen?

You will lose muscle mass too!

These effects may not manifest themselves immediately, but shall accumulate over time!

As you age, your ability to excrete acid via the kidneys deteriorates.

So what can I do?

Well you can increase your intake of fruit and vegetables, but I guess you all know that already!

For those of you who are eager for something more concrete in terms of tracking your acid load, one can use the PRAL index system as a way of calculating this (after the list there is an explanation of how to use it):

This table is adapted by John Berardi and taken from the Remer and Manz study (1). Each PRAL score is based on a 100g portion of food.

How to use the PRAL list

To make things REALLY simple:

• All the positive figures (e.g. 2, 4.5 etc.) mean a positive acidic load on your system, in Laymans terms, these foods are acidic.
• All the negative figures (e.g. -3, -2.2 etc.) mean a negative acidic load on your system, in Laymans terms, these foods are alkaline.

Simply record the amount (in grams) of each food you eat in a meal. Then, multiply the PRAL score listed by your food amount (2)

For example, if you’ve eaten 250g of lean meat (8 oz or about 1/2 lb), your PRAL score for the meat will be 7.8 (score for 100g) multiplied by 2.5 (for the 250g serving), or 19.5. (2)

If you’ve also eaten 250g of potato (8 oz or 1/2lb), your PRAL score for the potato is -4 (score for 100g) multiplied by 2.5 (for the 250g serving) or -10. (2)

In addition, if you’ve eaten 100g of spinach, the PRAL score for the spinach is -14. If you tally up the total score of this meal, the net PRAL is 19.5 (meat), -10 (potato), -14 (spinach), or -4.5. This means a meal containing 8 oz of lean meat, 8 oz of potato, and 3.5 oz of spinach produces a PRAL of -4.5. (2)

In other words, the meal produces a net alkalinity. And that is what you want!

“Cheaper, faster, quicker…” solutions?

If you’re going to eat a large meal and you know its going to be a net acid producer, you can add a small amount of glutamine to this meal. Want something cheaper than glutamine? Try sodium or potassium bicarbonate supplementation.

Those of you who regularly drink protein shakes, you could add some glutamine to them or alternatively some sodium or potassium bicarbonate (2g-5g should be sufficient to neutralise).

Also, adding sodium can have the same effect, though be careful not to over do it!

What’s the formula?

I knew someone would email me asking this, so to save you the hassle, here’s the formula, though I doubt many, if any, will use it. But for the sake of completing the article, here it is:

pral =
0.49 * protein (g) + 0.037 * phosphorus (mg) – 0.021 * potassium (mg) – 0.026 * magnesium (mg) – 0.013 * calcium (mg)

I did warn you

Conclusion

While the PRAL index is a good source of information to gauge the state of one’s diet, I do not advise going crazy and calculating each food value before consuming, unless of course you have serious health issue, in which case go ahead.

I know I said I’d provide two lists, but after realising that there are a billion sites with acid and alkaline lists, I thought I’d let you search the net for the one which is most suited to you.

Moderation and common sense are sufficient to help us devise sensible choices when it comes to nutrition.

Simply put: eat more vegetables and fruit!

(1) Remer and Manz, J. Am Diet Assoc. 95: 791-797, 1995.

(2) Berardi, J. Covering Nutritional Bases: The importance of acid-base balance. July 2003

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Many of us have heard things about our diets being too acidic or that we have to eat more raw foods to counter-balance the acidity of modern day diets.

So how true is this you ask?

It is very true.

Unfortunately, most people’s diet is full of processed food (remember, I didn’t even say junk food!), even the so-called healthy foods that many companies are trying to cash-in on are heavily processed! Just the other day, my dad shocked me by purchasing some healthy dessert! Or so it looked healthy from the packaging! One glance at the ingredients list and I was sent back to reality!

No such thing as a healthy dessert, except the recipes in Gourmet Nutrition and some others floating around the net (this book – see below – has some really, really, really good yummy healthy recipes! Would I use that many “reallys” if I didn’t mean it?!)

Anyway, back to the topic!

Now, before I go on, I am not specifying or advocating another type of “diet” or anything like that, I know how hard it can be! I’m simply advising you to implement some simple and easily accessible foods into your diet which are more alkaline based to create some balance and therefore benefiting for yourselves.

So what benefits can one attain from introducing more alkaline foods in their diet?

Here’s a list:

• Wake up feeling good and ready for the day as opposed to waking up and feeling sluggish!
• Clearer skin*
• More energy*
• Less likely to catch a cold*
• Improved cognitive ability/performance
• Increase in mental clarity

(* benefits I have experienced and enjoy and can attest to myself)

Okay, so I guess you want examples of such foods?

Well, I think it is pretty safe to say that nearly all vegetables and fruit are alkaline forming. Spinach is a very high alkaline forming food, where as cheese is very acidic.

I’ve compiled a list of foods which you can access in Part 2.

I know adding such foods into your diet is not always that convenient and palatable!

Well, first of all, we have the privilege of being able to pop into our local supermarket and buy vegetables & fruits that are washed and ready to eat – no excuses there!

So what about the palatability?

Well, three ways round this:

Either eat these foods (e.g. raw broccoli) with other foods, thereby cancelling out the taste. I do this regularly, especially with raw cruciferous vegetables. I eat them with healthy curry and brown rice, don’t even taste the vegetables.

Find recipes on the internet that incorporate these ingredients.

Remember the benefits you shall reap as a result of introducing such foods to your diet, I’m serious! Have you noticed that when you don’t want to do something, it is very easy to bring to mind all the negative factors, thereby giving you motivation not to do the matter at hand. Well the same is true for the other side of the spectrum, that is, the positive aspects and factors. It really works, try it! Just make sure you think of the benefits only, don’t combine these thoughts with the negative ones, or it won’t quite work! This is no tantra mantra yoga meditation stuff, just simple ways of manipulating your thought process – it really works! This is based on Anthony Robbin’s Neuro-Associative Conditioning (NAC) method – I heard it on his Personal Power Audio CD programme.

Remember, I’m not selling you anything, this is genuine advice.

So give it a try!

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I delve further into this subject and provide two different lists of acid and alkaline foods (you’ll know what I mean, just wait for part 2).

Have any of you already tried the above in your diet?

If so, what were/are your experiences and results?

Stay tuned for part 2.

P.S. There are two affiliate links in this post – not because I want to become rich, but because I have tried these products myself and highly recommend them and any money I make helps towards the cost of running this site.

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Read: Acne – Part 1: Introduction, Acne – Part 2: Skincare

After having tried the myriad of products for my skin and not getting the results I wanted – i.e. clear skin – I was told by a friend that she had known someone who had really bad acne and had been prescribed some tablets by the doctor which worked wonders. She didn’t say anything else, probably because she didn’t know anymore, lol!

• Antibiotics

At this point in time, my knowledge on health, nutrition & exercise was next to nothing. So I didn’t realise that what I was actually being advised was antibiotics. Anyway, I booked an appointment with the doctor and told him my problem and how I was told about “some tablet” that can get rid of my acne. He was more than happy to prescribe the antibiotics, maybe he was getting a kickback from the pharmaceutical company, who knows? Imagine, even at this point I still didn’t know I was taking antibiotics, until I actually got the medicine from the pharmacist and even then I didn’t know the harmful effects of antibiotics, especially with long-term use!

So I started taking these tablets, hoping for the best and what did I get? The BEST! My skin returned to how it used to be! I was ecstatic! I was so incredibly happy! Everyone started complimenting me again, telling me how my skin had gone back to normal again and asking me what I was doing etc. At this time I was also using the Clinique skin care range.

I was so happy, back to the days where I didn’t have a care in the world!

And then…WHACK!

I started to put on weight (which is very abnormal for me!), my skin started to slowly deteriorate and I started to lose my clear skin! Ahhhhh!

I was so confused! Though at the time I didn’t know it, this was a blessing in disguise. As a result of this, I started to research and read heavily into acne, diet, nutrition and health! I wanted to know more about the tablets I was taking. I wanted to know what they were doing to combat the acne and whether what I was eating had any effect on my skin.

I was told quite categorically that acne and diet are not linked. Even now, if you go to some well established websites or doctors, they will regurgitate the same information. I’m telling you from first-hand experience that what you eat in most cases, if not all, has an effect on your skin!

What you put in your system has to come out some how, and if your internal processes are not functioning optimally then your skin is the largest organ, what better place to dump the rubbish.

I later learnt that not only do antibiotics kill the bad bacteria in your body, but also the good. That’s why alot of people are advised to take probiotics after a course of antibiotics, to help replenish the good bacteria in the gut.

Continually taking these antibiotics (doxycycline) resulted in my body becoming used to them and therefore it started to become resistant to its effects

• Vitamins

I started taking some multi-vitamins during my acne phase. At first, I had a skin reaction with one of them (Solgar VM-75), so I dropped that one. Than I tried the multi-vitamin by Dr. Murad which was VERY good. It also had some essential fatty acids and aminos as well as cleansing herbs in the formula. It was really good and probably had the most benefit to my skin.

After all my years of reading, researching and testing, I came to the conclusion that getting your nutrients and vitamins from food is the best source. Contrary to what many nutritionists and dieticians and supplement companies would advise. Unless you are severely deficient in a certain nutrient/vitamin, in which case take a supplement, I advise eating healthily. It doesn’t make any sense that every human being NEEDS 100% of every vitamin or nutrient every single day!

I know by making that statement, many will argue this point (i.e. supplemental vs whole food), but that’s their opinion, that’s right…OPINION, not FACT! Imagine, just 1 teeny weeny ounce of broccoli (approx. 28g) has 42% of ones RDI of Vitamin C! And that’s not taking into account the bioavailability and the co-factors of that vitamin C compared to synthetic Vitamin C (i.e. ascorbic acid) which is also very acidic! If you really want to take vitamin C, then take magnesium ascorbate, it is more gentle on the stomach and not acidic like ascorbic acid.

• Herbs

Yes I even tried the legitimate herbs! I went to a Chinese herbalist and after a brief consultation where I had to stick my tongue out so that my lung’s could be seen (JOKE!), I was prescribed several different herbs – all written in Chinese – hence I can’t really tell what they were. Though it is fair to surmise that one of the herbs was dandelion – the only reason I can tell you that is because of its EXTREMELY bitter taste!!! So what was the verdict? Did it work? Well it helped a little, but after spending £25 (approximately $50) per week, it didn’t seem very cost-effective, I’m trying to be very diplomatic in case you hadn’t realised!

I later tried drinking some dandelion tea (with a lot of honey) and it seemed to help my skin! Dandelion is one of the strongest lipotropics known to man. I first learnt about dandelion when I was taking a product called AcnEase, this product really helped my skin but again it was too expensive! As a student, one has to be very careful with expenditure!

Other herbs which cleanse the blood, liver and the kidneys were also very helpful (e.g. artichoke leaf, milk thistle – see below)

I was getting extremely frustrated, some things worked to an extent and some things didn’t work at all!

My cupboard was well on its way to becoming a small pharmacy!

• Other tablets

When I went to Malaysia in 2005, I was taking digestive enzymes (one capsule with each meal, containing protease, amylase, lipase, lactase and some other enzymes) and milk thistle (3x day, each capsule containing 175mg – 80% Silymarin). This combination proved to be amazingly…well…amazing! My skin was 99.9% clear – I guess not 100% clear because I was the only one looking at my skin with a microscope! And I wasn’t eating healthily. I was eating burgers, ice cream, all the bad food (from a health perspective) you can imagine, I was eating it! I first came across digestive enzymes and their incredible benefits to health when I was reading Jon Barron’s ‘Lessons From The Miracle Doctors’ (a free eBook which I advise EVERYONE to download, all you have to do is provide your name and email address, download here!).

Milk thistle is a herb which cleanses the liver and re-builds liver cells. It is an amazing herb with many benefits. If you want to know more about this herb, you know what to do…google it!

I remember reading on the acne.org forum about the benefits some people had with using cruciferous extract supplements, in particular, broccoli and broccoli sprout extracts. I never got round to using these, but the benefits I have gained from eating cruciferous vegetables since has been immeasurable!!! More about this in the ‘Acne & Nutrition’ article.
I remember when I went into the Himalaya Skin care shop in Malaysia and the sales assistant asked me what I was using for my skin, I told her what I was using…which was nothing! Just water. She asked me again, assuming that I hadn’t heard her correctly. I answered the same! She was totally shocked! I felt quite good! Even after that, she tried selling me some products, true sales person!

I guess after hearing this you would think that I had found my solution, right? Well you’re wrong! I wanted the perfect solution, which was to use nothing on my skin, be care-free like most of the other people I used to see everyday (that coupled with being lazy too!). Again, digestive enzymes and milk thistle were not cheap at the time.

• Summary

So what can you learn from this? Beware of what people advise you, always do your research! If something doesn’t work for you, move on and try something else – trial and improvement! Though I don’t take any supplements now, the use of a few of them (e.g. milk thistle, dandelion and digestive enzymes) has benefited me in the long-term by cleansing and rejuvenating my system.

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When I tell you that I have used just about every skin care brand on planet earth, I just about mean it! Obviously I am exaggerating slightly, but in truth, I have used so many brands that I think I would naturally inherit the status of connoisseur of skin care. Funnily enough, whilst I was working in Sephora (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey Group), I was positioned as a skin care specialist.

Guess what I’m using now on my skin?

That’s right…NOTHING! How does it look? Very healthy!

I never envisaged that a day would come where I would be able to just use water and nothing else on my skin, how thankful I am!

I occasionally use extra virgin olive oil on my skin (before bed) during the winter period, but that is about it. From one extreme to another! Who would’ve thought!

When I first started getting acne at the age of eighteen, my initial reaction was that it had something to do with the face wash I was using or maybe my moisturiser. So what did I do? I decided to try other skin care products. When one has acne, they are usually emotionally unstable and paranoid (especially teens) and are therefore at the mercy of the skin care specialists – who know less than nothing about acne and general skin ailments (not always, but in 99.9% of cases this holds true). That may sound harsh, but over the years, you realise many people are graduates of the blagging school and you sometimes wish they would just SHUT UP!
Was my initial assumption correct (i.e. trying other skin care products)? No! Was this move beneficial? Yes. With all things in life, there is always a positive aspect to things.

For example:

- If your parents divorced, you may have learnt how to NOT treat your spouse as well as many other things that led to your parents divorce.

- If you fail at something, hopefully you would have learnt how not to fail again.

- If you had a bad childhood, you may have learnt how to raise your kids to not experience those negative things you had to endure and experience.

Ok enough with the family examples, don’t worry I’m not implying anything here, just elaborating!

Get my point?

So anyway, at that tender age of eighteen, I was subdued into believing all the rubbish I was fed about the benefits of different products. In life, everything is related to pain or pleasure. If one outweighs the other, then we will follow that direction (e.g. eating chocolate, benefits: makes you feel good, negatives: makes you put on weight, depending on which factor dominates your thoughts, you are more than likely to follow the stronger desire – in this case, usually eating the chocolate). Just a side note, this pain and pleasure theory was taken from Anthony Robbins’ Personal Power Audio CD – I highly recommended it!

So I had a desire to get rid of my acne! Below are some of the products I used along with comments (not in chronological order):

- Clearasil

I had been using Clearasil for nearly four years without any problems (from the age of fourteen up to the age of eighteen). Generally, I found it very good and it kept my skin in good condition. When I started to develop acne, I thought maybe my skin became resistant to the benefits of this product and therefore decided to switch, if only I had looked at my lifestyle habits first!

- Pur:Phuel

After having stopped using Clearasil, the first product I used was Pur:Phuel. One of the specialists had just come from the training for this product and they swore by it, quite surprised they didn’t swear at it after the results I got! I was recommended the face wash, face scrub (DON’T use a face scrub on acne skin!!!) and a moisturiser. As you can guess, my skin got worse!

- Shiseido

I was recommended this product by a colleague who regurgitated just about everything she had learnt at the training event for this product! After trying the products for 2-3 weeks (approximately), I got tired of not reaping any positive results and decided to move on!

- Decleor

This product was right next to the Shiseido products (conveniently). Again I tried these products with little avail!

- Dermalogica

The products in this range that did work dried my skin out so much so, that when I was smiling it hurt. When I was advised other products within this brand, they weren’t as effective. Also, I didn’t see the point of washing my face twice in one go! (apparently the first wash got rid of the dirt and the second got to clean my skin!?)

- Murad

This product range was one of the best I used. The products consisted of: a facewash (i.e. cleanser), exfoliating lotion, a moisturiser and a daily supplement. I liked Murad’s approach to the problem, that is, he attacked it both internally and externally. As a result of using this system, the idea of internal cleansing took root in my brain and I realised that I had to look at other factors, primarily diet. I thought to myself: whatever I put inside me has to come out somehow (unless it has been used for other bodily functions), therefore my system must be performing sub-optimally for acne to occur. Again, being a student and doesn’t help when one has to spend so much on skincare, as a result I didn’t continue using Murad’s system.

- Perricone

The premise behind Perricone’s anti-inflammatory regime seemed quite logical. I have read a few of his books and his work from a nutritional perspective is quite good, though some things could be polished. His products are not cheap and that’s putting it mildly! This system felt to “soft” and artificial, similar to that smell you get when you enter a hospital ward or when having an operation, the smell of the cream they put on your hands just before you are given an anaesthetic. I wasn’t put off by this, but rather the fact that I couldn’t justify the cost of the products with the results! His anti-aging range however seemed to work wonders for the women I used to recommend the products to, however I was and still am relatively young to use these. I felt his range would do well with those who first can afford it and secondly have mild acne. If coupled with his diet, then one will definitely have clear skin. I shall talk more about his diet in the acne nutrition article – though just to let you know that it completely cleared my skin up, but I lost TOO much weight. Simply put, its the low glycaemic index (aka glycemic index, GI) diet with his anti-inflammatory twist.

- Clarins

This range, when I was using it, had too much alcohol in a lot of their products. Most of the people working for Clarins put me off, it was like a porcelain doll trying to sell as much as she could! The skin care specialists at Sephora were not very keen on this brand and advised me not to use it, obviously that is not what they would tell the public, but being a member of staff I was given….erm…the truth so to say!

- Dan’s method on acne.org

In terms of acquiring knowledge in relation to acne & diet and acne & supplements, I learnt a lot from Dan’s forum. I really liked and appreciated his genuine approach to wanting to help others and decided to give his method a try. It involved washing ones face with a perfume free soap or cleanser that he recommended from a list of a few available to try, then to apply lots of benzoyl peroxide (BP) and finally apply moisturiser. It seemed to work, yet I didn’t feel very comfortable using so much benzoyl peroxide cream on my face. I had also read how oxide creams can quicken the aging of skin, though I can’t find the source anymore and am yet to find factual evidence to support this claim. If any of you have any information on this, please feel free to contribute.

- Clinique

One of my friends attested that the Clinique range was amazing. I tried it and it worked wonders!!! But, I had just started taking antibiotics (doxycycline, a derivative on tetracycline) for my skin and therefore could not judge fairly how well the product worked. Also, the CLEVER person working for Clinique (sarcasm intended) recommended that I use a facial scrub every day! All these bad experiences have taught one valuable lesson, don’t take information, especially information about your health at face value, always question and ask! Clinique is also renowned for its overuse of alcohol. After a while of using their products, I decided not to use them because: they had too much alcohol in some of the products I was using and the Clinique lady’s skin was far from clear and that’s with all the makeup she had on her face!

I’ve probably used other products too which I have not mentioned here – though I can’t remember. As much or as little as these products helped, they didn’t hit the source of the problem and therefore didn’t rid me of acne!

Diet and exercise are key factors in combating acne, may sound cliché but trust me it works! If I was to write my whole experience, I’d probably end up writing a large book – no joke – though at this moment I don’t have the time to do so.

Don’t get me wrong, the correct skin care + regime can make your skin look exceptionally great, but, if you don’t have a strong foundation (i.e. healthy lifestyle habits), then you won’t be very successful in the long-term. I don’t like relying on artificial methods if I can help it. Using a cleanser, toner, moisturiser and scrub seems like an added hassle that I personally don’t need and want.

The fourth article shall discuss diet, which is where the main solution lies to combating skin problems (and coincidentally other ailments too).

N.B. This article does contain affiliate links, only because I recommend the products and because I need to make money in order to run the site

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As promised, here is the second part to ‘Sitting in front of the computer for too long’.

Some of you may have come across a few of these points before, but don’t take them lightly, you’ll be amazed at how much of a difference they can make if executed regularly and properly.

1. Adjust the brightness of your screen to match your environment.
2. Get an anti-glare screen on your monitor, reflections off the computer screen can cause itself cause eyestrain
3. Make sure your refresh rate is at 70Hz (Hertz) or above.
4. Blink more often, when working at a computer, people on average blink five times less than normal.
5. Look away from the screen (approx. every 20 minutes), preferably at a distant object and try to focus on that object momentarily (for approx. 10 secs.). This helps stretch your focusing muscles and also helps prevent strained near vision.
6. If you have to look back and forth between the computer screen and printed paper, place the paper on a copy stand adjacent to (i.e. next to) the monitor. This will considerably reduce eye and neck strain.
7. Make sure the top of the screen is at eye-level.
8. Use the right type of chair, preferably adjustable chairs. Or alternatively, as Yaro and Blaine (Blogmastermind.com) suggested, use a swiss ball.
9. Rest your wrists on the desk or get a wrist/arm rest.
10. Make sure the room temperature is not too low or high. If too low (i.e. cold), then your muscles can go into spasm and therefore injury is much more likely.
11. Make sure you hydrate yourself with water (you’d think this is obvious right? Not so.). Many office workers drink a lot of tea and coffee which have a diuretic action (i.e. make you urinate more often and therefore results in the loss of minerals). Don’t get me wrong, tea is very good for you, especially green tea, though make sure this is balanced with a good intake of water and food dense in vitamins, minerals and various other nutrients required by your body, simply put, eat as healthily as possible.
12. Stand up and take a walk around your room (if it’s a large room) or the next room. This helps especially with reducing hip-flexor tightness (hip flexor stretch). If you feel that your hip flexors are tight (usually signified by arch in lower back – lordosis – and your butt sticking out), you can see how to do the stretch here. NOTE: be careful NOT to over exert yourself and thereby cause injury!

Whatever you do, don’t ignore the pain. If parts of your body are causing you discomfort and pain, go and see your doctor! Don’t put it off.

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I’ve written this article with the primary goal of reminding myself of the importance of monitoring my own computer usage and thereby incorporating appropriate methods and techniques to reduce the damage of such a prolonged state of sitting and staring at the monitor/screen! Phew, that was a long sentence, don’t want to get arrested by my English teacher. Okay, I know…that was a bad joke!

Anyway, back to the topic.

Sometimes, or maybe always, whenever I sit in front of my computer with the intention of doing one thing, I end doing maybe twenty other things too. Even whilst writing this article I have several pages open, trying to read them all at once. My point is most people always nearly end up spending more time in front of their screen than initially intended. This leads to the purpose of this article. Whilst I was in Dubai (UAE), I was watching a good friend of mine working on his website. I noticed the bad position he was sitting in, I didn’t say anything as I expected it to be temporary. However, I later observed that he always sat like that and as a result he has developed a kyphotic and lordotic curve in his spine, tight hip flexors and also his belly is somewhat more prominent.

Lordosis

Kyphosis

He’s still very young and it is a lot easier for him to reverse these problems now! I hope he’s reading this!

The aforementioned problems are very common amongst deskbound and computer users, unfortunately the situation is not quickly discovered, though the problem is cumulative and hence there is a gradual deterioration which can be quickly rectified at any stage (not always, but in most cases this holds true).

Another common problem many computer users experience, especially bloggers and webmasters, is Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), the name itself describes the problem, however for those who don’t know what it is: it is loosely described and related to the overuse of a tool or movement, e.g. pressing the same key on your keyboard for an hour!

RSI is also known as cumulative trauma disorder, occupational overuse syndrome, or work related upper limb disorder (WRULD).

Many people also complain of eye related problems such as irritation and straining.

So what can you do to prevent the above? I’ll tell you soon in Part 2, stay tuned!

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