A thorough care for your body

Introduction

We are so busy in our lives that we find little time to care for ourself. Besides, taking out so much time for parlours is not feasible and also quite expensive. Keeping in view this point, here are certain easy-to-do steps which are not only convenient but also home-made.

Healthy living

1. When you take a bath in hot water, start from the legs, but during a cold shower, start from the head. This promotes health and good life.
2. Vegetarian food produces better health and greater intellectual capacities than non-veg food, which is more difficult to digest, increases weight and gives rise to coronary ailments.
3. Regular eating habits are important to ease acidity. Avoid sweets, spicy, fried and fermented food. Excessive intake of coffee, tea garlic, onion and chocolates may aggravate acidity and heartburn.
4. Figs, raisins, sugarcanes are alkaline. Most of the milk-products other than buttermilk and ghee slightly increase acidity.
5. Follow a skin regime of cleaning, toning and moisturizing daily. Wear minimum make-up and remove it with cream before going to bed.
6. Do not pick pimples and black heads and do not bite nails. Make a paste of tender guava leaves, turmeric powder and water. Apply it regularly to treat pimples. A paste of coriander powder, fresh turmeric and tamarind juice may also be used instead.
7. Do cardiovascular exercises like jogging, skipping, cycling etc. 4 times a week for at least 40 minutes.

Care for your eyes

1. Regularly consume diet rich in vitamin A, for example: papaya, carrots, milk, ghee etc.
2. Frequently wash eyes with cold water to get sparkling eyes.
3. Put sliced cucumber over your eyes to treat dark circles.
4. Put potato slices on your eyes to get rid of dark circles.
5. Soak cotton in luke warm water and cover eyes with it for 15 minutes.
6. If your eyes are red and feel itchy, massage your scalp with curd.
7. To soothe tired eyes, dip cotton pads in chilled milk and place on closed eyes for 10 minutes and relax completely.
8. To completely relax the eyes and the surrounding muscles, close your eyes and think of something that is pleasant or soothing and at a distance. Now gently open your eyes and look into the distance. Next focus on an object at arm's length. Do this extremely relaxing exercise four or five times.
9. Soak 1 tsp. dry amla in one cup of water overnight. Next morning, strain it through a muslin cloth and then add one extra cup of water. Splash your eyes with this solution each morning. This brings sparkle to your eyes.
10. For puffy eyes: Grate a potato with its peel and apply on your closed eyelids for about 20 minutes and relax completely. You may even take a nap.

Care for dry skin

1. Environmental factors and our life-style can make skin dry. Some of them are easily remedied and others will take more time and effort. Loss of water in the body causes dehydration. To avoid it, you should drink atleast 8 glasses of water a day, and more in extremely hot weather. If the body does not get enough water then dehydration may set in and can contribute to skin conditions like acne.
2. Ensure the food that you take should contain little amount of oils and cheese.
3. Mix 2-3 drops of rose water in 2 tbsp. of milk cream. Massage your face with the paste and let it be for 20 minutes. Wash with warm water thereafter.
4. Mash very ripe banana and massage your face with it for 5 minutes. Let it stay for the next 15 min. and then wash your face with warm water.
5. Add to drops of honey to the cream on the top of milk and massage that to your face and neck. After 1 hour, take shower with warm water.
6. Milk is a natural moisturizer. Take a tbsp. of milk and apply to face and neck and tae shower with warm or cold water everyday.
7. When you are in a journey or out of access to the comfort of home, add 1-12 drops of coconut water in your bathing water and take a bath.
8. Apply cold cream, leave it for a minimum of 15 minutes and wipe off with cotton just before you go to bed.
9. Avoid washing your face with soap as soap tends to make it drier.
10. To fresh butter, add basin, flour and olive oil to make a paste. Apply and let it stay for 10 min. on your face every morning. Wash with warm water. Doing this for about a month, you'll soon see the difference. Use cleansing milk to clean your face.

Care for oily skin

1. Avoid oily food and food made with a lot of cheese.
2. Wash your face with cold water as many times as you can in a day.
3. Before applying make-up, first apply astringent to lotion and wait for 5 min. then do make as you like.
4. Take some cucumber juice, with lime juice in equal quantity apply to your body. Take a shower with luke warm water or cold water after 15 minutes. Do this for one month and you'll see amazing results.
5. Mix lime juice in ice water and wash the face. It feels fresh and clean.
6. Use an almond face pack as your weekly treatment.
7. Use moisturizer as a night treatment.
8. Use almond moisturizing cream.
9. Peel the skin of an apple. Grate and squeeze the juice from the apple. Mix in the same quantity of lime juice. Apply to your face.
10. Wash your face 2 or 3 times. Then mix mint juice with rose water and apply to your face. Wait for 10-15 min.and wash with cold water.
11. Before you go out in the sun, take fresh butter milk and clean your neck and face with a cotton and wait for 10 min. and wash with warm or cold water.
12. Mash a cucumber and a tomato. Apply it on face. Leave it on for 15-20 minutes. Then rinse with cold water.
13. Mix 5-6 drops of lime juice with 1 tbsp. of apple juice and apply to your face. Wait for 15 min. and wash your face with cold water.

Home remedies for some common ailments

1. Abdominal pain: Mix a pinch of powdered ajwain seeds in hot water and drink 2-3 times a day.
2. Asthma: Mix half a teaspoon of ajwain seeds in a glass of buttermilk and drink twice a day. Inhale the steam of boiling water mixed with ajwain seeds to help dilate the bronchial passages.
3. Blocked nose: A tablespoon of ajwain crushed and tied in a muslin cloth serves as a natural inhaler.
4. Common cold with fever: Mix a pinch of salt and ½ tsp. ajwain seed powder in hot water and drink 2-3 times a day.
5. Diarrhoea: Roast 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, ¼ tsp. methi (fenugreek) seeds, ¼ tsp. mustard seeds, ½ tsp. ajwain seeds on a low flame. Add a pinch of hing/asafoetida and salt and mix. Make a coarse powder when cool and store in an airtight jar. Mix ½ tsp. of powder with 1 tsp. of curd. Eat twice a day for quick relief.
6. Indigestion: eat 1 tsp. of ajwain seeds mixed with table salt to aid digestion.
7. Rheumatism: Mix 2 tsp. of ajwain seeds in a glass of warm water and drink everyday in the morning.
8. Sore throat: A quarter of ½ tsp. of ajwain mixed in warm milk helps to ease the sore throat.
9. Marigold leaves are good as external application on wounds.
10. Application of chandan on forehead cools and energises the mind and regulates the endocrine system.
11. Leaves of Ficus tree emit a lot of oxygen and promotes good health.

Conclusion

All these tips mentioned here cannot be considered on a day-to-day basis but certainly can be given some importance, taking out some time from our busy schedule. If we are healthy then only will our generations be.