What to Do When Your Kids and Family Get Head Lice

Many children in any given school may develop head lice and your kids may get them too. You may feel embarrassed when this happens, especially when you know that you keep the house clean. So what can you do?

First, don't be embarrassed. The fact that your kid has head lice isn't a reflection on the cleanliness of your home, personal hygiene, or your economic status. Head lice are all over where there are a lot of children in small spaces like classrooms. Head lice don't fly or jump but are transmitted through direct contact, like by sharing grooming aids such as combs and brushes and by sharing caps and scarves. Teach your kid not to share these personal items.

Head lice are so tiny to be seen with the naked eye. You need a magnifying glass to spot them. You are most likely to view the nits (the eggs), which look like specks of sugar, adhering to the base of the hair shaft close to the nape of the neck or round the ears. When you see these nits, don't panic; they're easy to eradicate. Treatment of head lice is a lot easier today than it used to be. The newer over-the-counter shampoos are nearly as effective and much safer than the stronger prescription shampoos of yesteryear. These shampoos go with a specially designed nit comb which takes out the nits without damaging the hair shaft. Shampoo your child's hair as directed and repeat the shampooing 7 to 10 days later. Thoroughly clean personal articles like combs, brushes, scarves, hats, towels and bed clothing—anything that touches the hair—in really hot water. Dry clothing and linens in the hot Cycle in the dryer, or have the items dry-cleaned. When this is impractical, putting items in a sealed plastic bag for ten days would kill the lice and eggs. When your kid has head lice, don't treat her like a leper. They're not highly contagious, and are more source of irritation and embarrassment than an actual medical problem.

Natural and Homemade Remedies for Head Lice

The Difference Between Cholesterol and Triglycerides

What are triglycerides? Is this a serious problem?

  

Unlike "cholesterol," the term "triglyceride" has yet to become a common word, although it is rapidly becoming popular as more and more people are become increasingly aware about health concerns. Cholesterol counts are only half the story -20 percent of heart attacks happen to people with cholesterol levels lower than 200.  The fact is, you need to measure triglycerides.

What is the difference between cholesterol and triglycerides? Judith Ashley, Ph.D., R.D., a research nutritionist with the Division of Clinical Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, explains: "While cholesterol and triglycerides are both fats, cholesterol, which is used for hormones and cell membranes, has no calorie or energy value; triglycerides, whose main function is to provide energy to the body, do. Initial research shows that triglyceride levels might be a more significant risk factor for heart disease in women than in men."

Like cholesterol, triglycerides are valuated through blood plasma tests administered in the morning succeeding an overnight fast.

Triglycerides are the chemical form in which most fats exist in food, the body and blood plasma, explains Denise Rector, R.D., associate director of community programs at the American Heart Association. Calories that aren't utilized by our tissues are turned into to triglycerides and carried to fat cells for storage. Hormones then release the triglycerides throughout the day to give us energy.

About 5 -10 percent of adults have mildly elevated triglyceride levels. With normal blood cholesterol levels, these mild elevations don't necessarily increase the risk of heart problems.  A high triglyceride level, however, is a red flag because it often accompanies high total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels (low-density lipoprotein, the "bad" cholesterol, which accumulates on the inner walls of the arteries), and a low HDL-cholesterol count (high-density lipoprotein, believed to carry cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver, where it's passed from the body).

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Washington, DC, states that a blood triglyceride level of up to 250 milligrams per deciliter of blood is normal and does not pose worry; between 250 and 500 milligrams is considered marginal and warrants a search for an underlying cause (alcohol abuse, liver disease, medications or undetected diabetes). This level often responds to dietary modification. Levels above 500 are clearly high and may warrant drug treatment.

The first symptom of very high triglyceride levels is commonly angina-a tightness, heaviness, or pain in the chest that commonly takes place during exercise or heavy physical activity and is relieved by rest. Pain sometimes radiates into your back, left shoulder or arms.

Triglyceride levels of 1,000 milligrams or more greatly increase the risk of developing pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas. A less painful but troublesome side effect of exceedingly high triglyceride levels is the formation of fat-filled deposits in the skin, mainly on the back and buttocks, which erupt like acne and take some weeks to clear up.

According to Michael J. Hogan, M.D, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter in Rochester, Minnesota, triglyceride levels rise naturally with age. Elevated levels are also caused by being overweight; excess calories, especially those from sugar and alcohol; certain medications, including contraceptives and diuretics; and illnesses like diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, and kidney and liver disease. Heredity may also be a factor in some forms of high triglyceride levels.

Dr. Hogan suggests several ways to lower a high triglyceride level or maintain a healthfully low level:

■          Lose weight. This is often enough to lower mildly elevated levels to normal.

■          Decrease cholesterol intake to no more than 300 milligrams daily, the recommendation set by the American Heart Association.

■          Engage in aerobic exercise regularly- at least 30 minutes three times a week. Exercise also raises your HDLs.

■          Eat less sugar and foods containing it.

■          Avoid alcoholic beverages. Some people are particularly sensitive to alcohol's ability to increase the liver's production of triglycerides.

■          Limit total fat intake to less than 30 percent of total calories.

If lifestyle changes don't help, see your physician.         

Combining Exercise and Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD)

What are the effects of exercise in conjunction with a Very Low Calorie Diet? Researchers at Cambridge University launched a test in where they monitored 60 overweight women who were eating just 405 calories per day for 8 weeks, followed by eight weeks on a maintenance program of 1500 calories each day. Some of the dieters took part in aerobic exercise on bicycle machines; others made isotonic resistance exercises while others did six weeks of one type of exercise and eight weeks of the other. Two other groups adopted the respective exercise programs but did not diet.

Read more: Combining Exercise and Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) 

Interval Cardio Exercises Burns More Fat

At some point in time, people have wondered which cardio work out is better.  To answer it simply, both low and high intensity exercise routines will burn off excess body fat.  Which then is the best way to burn off the most body fat. 

Experts discovered that during intense exercises, the body burns glycogen, which is a form of carbohydrates that are the body stores in the liver and muscles to be used as energy fuels.  During low intensity exercises, the body burns a lot of fat.

Now, you may be wondering, "Why are there still so many fat people around?"  Even though you see them doing low intensity exercise routines, it still puzzles you how that can be.

The scientists were correct about the fact that the body burns more body fat during low intensity activities such as walking or swimming.  It is during high intensity exercises such as running when the body burns more calories.  Even if some of the calories that are burnt are from glycogen, there are also a lot of fat calories burned.

To explain it further, when your supply of glycogen runs low, the carbohydrates from the food you eat will in turn be converted into glycogen to replenish the supply, which won't be converted to body fat even when they remain unused for energy.

High intensity cardio work outs will pump up your metabolism even after your workout is over.  Your body will keep going burning body fat hours after you have finished the exercise.  This effect is virtually nonexistent in low intensity cardio or aerobic exercises. 

You body therefore will increasingly burn up more calories during and after a high intensity cardio exercise that it will with low intensity workouts.

To get the most benefits from low and high intensity cardio workouts, mix high intensity exercises into your low intensity cardio workout by doing some interval training. You may walk for 5 minutes or so, then run or jog for another 5 minutes or so.  Then, do brisk walking again until you've caught your breath and then burst into a sprint for a minute before walking again.  From this level, just alternate your running and walking for the succeeding 15 minutes until you have completed your scheduled workout activity.

What's best about cardio is the fact that the more you do it, the more energy you can have.  Cardio exercises help you to burn calories, while it keeps your energy levels optimal. If you have never tried interval cardio training before, you must give it a try  If you are fond of exercise, you'll discover that cardio the best way to supercharge your energy and keep your body in tip-top shape.  If you are just  beginning,  you'll wish to go slow and keep your cardio exercise in control - for it is also very tempting to over exert yourself.

© 2010 Athena Goodlight

Benefits of Using Weights for Workouts

When you're lifting the weights, it's important that you actually focus on the movement of your muscles: You need to produce constant tension by consciously contracting the muscle during the exercise. This isn't the most efficient or time-saving strength-building method; for that you will have to graduate to heavier weights and, in some instances, position yourself otherwise as you do the exercise. Each time you learn a new movement, whether it is a biceps curl or the latest dance step, your brain should first learn which muscles to "fire" to do the action correctly. An important part of strength training is using the muscles designated to do the work. New movements make the formation of neural pathways through the brain and spinal cord to the muscle. These pathways order which muscles to fire, or contract. The fancy term for this operation is "neuromuscular facilitation," and that's what you will be doing as you learn new exercises.>>>READ MORE


Five Best Ways to Gain Muscles
 
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Why The Exercise Ball Is A User Friendly Workout Tool

Effects of Omega 3 Fish Oil

There always appears to be some sort of controversy encompassing fish and seafood. While some nutritionists praise its heart-healthy protein, some warn that shellfish is rich in cholesterol. Another argument touches the safety of eating fish that comes from polluted waters, particularly since there's no required government inspection of fish and seafood. As usual, consumers are caught in the cross fire, speculative if it's worth trying to classify the facts.

Read more about Omega 3 Fish Oils:

Fish and Omega 3 Fatty Acids 

Fish Oil for Better Heart and Brain Function
 
The Many Health Benefits of Fish Oil (Omega 3)
 
Possible Side Effects of Fish Oil

Symptoms and Treatments of Foot Ailments

Are you suffering from mysterious pains in your knees, shins, hips or lower back, or if your feet just aren't as pretty as you would like them to be?

Here are the most common foot problems encountered by many individuals:

Pronating or supinating (walking on the inner or outer edges of your feet) can induce aching hips and/or knees.
Bunions, the most common foot problem, affect between 25 million and 30 million Americans.
Hammertoes happen when muscle imbalance or an abnormal bone length, induce tendons to contract and the toe to buckle over.
Ingrown toenails are nails that have grown into the skin at one or both corners or sides.

Read more about the details of each ailment and its treatments here:

Symptoms and Treatments of Foot Ailments

Quick Tips to Get Fabulous Feet

Pamper your feet and make them look good using these beauty rituals:

1. To help prevent ingrown toenails, cut or file nails straight across, instead of rounding them at the sides.

2. A pair of Dr. Scholl's pads tucked in your shoes will help you pull through corns and calluses, or a long day of standing or walking.

3. Warm baths work wonders! Dribble a few sprigs of mint in the water to put that spring back in your step.

4. When your feet are dry and cracked, daub them with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly and cover them using old socks for the night.

5. Feet that have driven you through a tough workout merit a treat. There are excellent foot cream products that would make yours as soft as a baby's.

6. A foot massage having warm lubricating lotion would make you feel like a completely new woman.

7. Shop for shoes at the end of the day, as feet have a tendency to swell in the afternoon.

8. For the ultimate in foot indulgence, give yourself an at-home pedicure; Soak your feet in sudsy water for several minutes, then pat till they are almost dry. Using a pumice stone, rub off any dead or hard skin. Cut your toenails square across and use an emery board to scratch away excess hard skin. Put on cuticle remover and push back your cuticles with an orangewood stick. Knead your feet using body lotion, then clean your nails. Place cotton balls between your toes to separate them. Put on a base coat to your nails and let dry. Apply a coat of polish, allow to dry and apply a second coat and let dry. Lastly, apply a top coat and dry, keeping your toes apart for 15 minutes or so. Wrap the end of an orangewood stick using a piece of cotton dipped in polish remover, and take out excess polish.

More about foot care: 

4 Natural Solutions For Swollen And Sore Feet

Common Foot Problems

The Importance of Choosing Proper-Fitting Shoes

How to Shop For the Best Running Shoes

How to Prevent Your Running Shoes From Getting Smelly

How to Shop for Quality Boots that Fit Like a Glove

Beauty Tips for Busy Women

© 2011 Athena Goodlight

Pros and Cons of Very Low-Calorie Diet (VLCD)

A VLCD can result in impressive weight loss, but there are a couple of extremely crucial points to ponder prior to beginning one. Most importantly, never take on a VLCD without the supervision of a certified physician. A VLCD is in fact a semi-starvation diet; it’s unsafe without consistent monitoring of your health by a physician.

A very low-calorie diet (VLCD) is hard to miss especially when the headlines scream about celebrities who lost a lot of weight in a short time by following the formula. Is a VLCD the miracle you’ve been looking for? If you’re dreaming about a much slimmer you, it’s important to know the facts about this method of weight loss.

Read more:  The Truth About the Very Low-Calorie Diet (VLCD)

Cholesterol and Safety Issues on Shellfish and Seafood

Seafood is rich in protein and low in fat. While red meat can contain more than 30 percent fat, seafood is generally 1 to 3 percent fat. An important part of the fat in seafood and fish is composed of Omega-3 fatty acids.

Until recently, scientists consider that most mollusks are high in cholesterol. These high readings were caused in part by the molecules of the plant, as particularly evident in shellfish that feed on plants. Using a more appropriate method of measurement in the laboratory, researchers were able to differentiate between cholesterol molecules and plant molecules.

What about freshwater safety?  Read more on this issue here:

Shellfish: Cholesterol and Safety Issues

Seriously Consider a Podiatrist Visit to Avoid Foot Injury

For all the energy we spend finding just the right shoe to match an outfit, you would think we'd spend a bit more time thinking of what's underneath all that leather.

Regrettably, most of us never think twice about our feet till they start to tucker out, which they unavoidably do if we dismiss them long enough.

We walk two to three miles just going around our daily business —not considering exercise. By the time we finally tuck our tired feet peacefully between the sheets we are likely to have put sufficient pressure on them to equal several times our body weight.

image credit

 Our feet afford us stability, just as a foundation steadies a building. Numerous foot problems cause no pain at all in the feet themselves, but trigger mysterious aches and pains elsewhere in the body. Misalignment of just one of the foot's 26 bones, for instance, or a strained muscle, tendon or ligament, might cause a problem in the hip, knee, shin or calf or even your back or neck.

Most foot abnormalities can be adjusted through modern technology and podiatry. Early spotting is likely to bring down the difficulty, pain and expense of treatment. Unfortunately, aside from the checkup we get at birth, most of us never see a podiatrist unless we are limping with pain.

The first routine visit to a podiatrist had better occur between the ages of two-and-a-half and three, when a child starts walking heel to toe. Thereafter, both children and adults should be checked by a podiatrist every few years and before initiating a new fitness program.

 

© 2011 Athena Goodlight 

Fruits That Help Fight Acne

Eating red, orange, and other bright colored fruits can help promote healthy skin and also prevent acne.  There are several fruits that can do the job.

 Apples

 While working on clearing your acne eat at least two apples daily.  Apples are beneficial for skin health.  Choose organic apples so that you can eat the skins because most pectin is contained in the skin, which also aids to relieve constipation. Apples also contain bioflavonoids, ascorbic acid, fiber, quercetin, pectin, vitamins, and minerals.

Apricots

Go ahead and eat as much as you like.  Apricots are a good source of minerals, fiber, and beta-carotene which can also help control acne.

 Bananas

Eat one banana a day.  Bananas contain the phytochemcial fructooligosaccharides, which nourishes the good bacterial in your colon. Feeding the good bacteria prevents the bad bacteria from spreading in the colon and bringing on toxic acids that affects the skin, thus creating acne.

Blackberries

Blackberries are good for cleansing the blood and are also good for avoiding constipation.  They are good for the kidneys and are good for promoting good skin.

Blueberries

Aside from being a good blood cleanser, blueberries also help ease constipation and cure various skin disorders such as acne, eczema, and psoraisis.

Cantaloupes

Because they are high in vitamins A, C and contain various minerals, cantaloupes are good for any type of skin problems.

Cherries

Cherries cleanse the blood and help the liver and kidney.  They also promote regular bowel movements.

Figs

Figs are a good source of fiber which helps to reduce constipation.

Grapefruits

Grapefruits aids in dissolving and eliminating toxins from drugs hence improving the liver function.

 

Grapes

Grapes help clean the body, build blood vessels, and build the body.  It alleviates constipation, and good for healing the skin and liver disorders.

 Mango

Mangoes have elements that helps avoid kidney inflammation.  It carries a lot of minerals, which assists to neutralize acid waste.

Strawberries

The pectin in strawberries has been shown to fight acne growth. 

Pineapples

Pineapples contain several vitamins and minerals.  Among them is Papain, which aids to digest protein.  Pineapples are useful in of eliminating excess mucus, digestive problems, constipation, and intestinal worms.

These fruits and fruit products are useful for curing acne because they have an antibiotic effect:

These are grapes, figs, plums, raspberries, blueberries, grape juice, and apple juice.

Use as a lot of these fruits in your diet.  If you do, you will begin to see improvement in your skin and your acne will start clearing up.

© 11/10/2010 Athena Goodlight

Using Snacks as a Weight Loss Program

Unlike other, more restrictive diet programs, snacking is an absolutely acceptable component of a low carbohydrate diet—as long as your snacks are also found on the low carb list.

 

Snacking is more than just okay, it is also beneficial in a lot of ways. Eating small food servings during the day has been proven to accelerate the body’s metabolism, to burn fat faster and more efficiently. Snacking also helps prevent food cravings, which can cause even the most disciplined individual to overeat or cheat at the next meal. If you don't use snacks as a safety net, then it will be more tempting to munch on restricted foods and almost anything else that comes your way.

 

Do remember that, snacking should be taken in moderation. Just because a food is considered low carb, it does not mean that it is all right to consume as much of it as you want. Make a list of the low carb foods that you may allow yourself to eat and regularly refer to this list to determine the amount of carbohydrates contained in a serving of the food items you wish to eat as snacks, and make sure that the total sum of carbohydrates conforms to your daily allowance. A food qualifies to be on the low carb list based on its singled serving, not an unlimited quantity.

 

There are lots of foods that make good snack options. Meats and cheeses generally have very low carbohydrate content, so they are acceptable choices for snacks. Have a cold cut platter and/or assorted cheese slices to nibble on throughout the day. You could also have a lamb slice or buffalo wings which are great snack foods.  Melt some low fat cheese over a drumstick, serve up some sausage, or make lean meatballs. You may also choose eggs—hard-boiled, scrambled, or over-easy.

 

Other good snack items which you could include in your low carb list with virtually no carbohydrates are lettuce, celery, alfalfa sprouts, and cucumbers. Mix these with other food items from various categories of your low carb list to create a delightful salad.  You could throw in some diced cheddar cheese with some nuts (make sure to check the low carb list to find out which nuts have fewer carbs) and drizzle it with olive oil; or have a chicken Caesar salad.

 

Selections from the low carb list that are beneficial snack foods, but taken in moderation, include most vegetables. Avoid squash, and potatoes, because these have high carbohydrate content. However, a vegetable platter with spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, peas, mushrooms, and string beans, either or cooked or raw, topped with vinaigrette dressing can make a filling treat. Most beans make an easy and delicious snack, which go well with veggies, such as celery bits.  For a filling afternoon treat, try having a tomato soup, chicken soup, or beef stew.

With a properly planned recipe, almost any kind of food can qualify on the low carb list! A lot of low carb recipes can be found online for variants of breads, muffins, pancakes, and even chewy desserts. Once you’ve sampled some successful recipes, experiment and find out what other low carb foods you could create.

© 11/6/2010 Athena Goodlight

Natural and Homemade Remedies for Head Lice

If your family has encountered dealing with head lice, and you have tried searching continuously for effective lice remedies, you would know how frustrating it can be. This could even be more of a nightmare if you've tried various over the counter; lice treatment solutions that failed to free your family from lice infestation.

Using an over the counter lice treatment formula, could make you end up spending a lot of cash every time someone in the family brings home head lice, sometimes, it happens that t the treatments wouldn't even work.

A better option could be to try a home remedy for lice. Most home remedies are a lot less expensive, more effective, and safer for eliminating head lice. There are many, safe and non-toxic alternative remedies that you may want to try before spending large amounts of cash on over the counter or synthetic lice cures.

Among the many lice remedies available, one home remedy for lice that that has been suggested even by pediatricians is using real mayonnaise.  To use mayonnaise for lice treatment you should drench the hair and scalp in mayonnaise, after which you must cover the head with a shower cap. The treatment should be kept on for a few hours.

When it is time for removing the mayonnaise, just wash the hair using dishwashing soap several times until the mayonnaise is completely gone.  Use a specially designed comb for removing the dead lice and nits. After the lice treatment, it will be important to exhaustively clean every surface of the home. Vacuum all rugs and upholstery; wash beddings, garments and coats. Anything that can't be washed must be stored in an air-tight container or plastic bag for two weeks the least.  This process must be repeated every four days for two weeks to see to it that the head lice infestation is in check.

There are other home remedies that are known to work to treat lice infestation; among these are, use of olive oil or tea tree oil instead of using mayonnaise.  Regular use of a shampoo containing coconut oil is also known to work wonders for keeping your family free from head lice.

The most important step you should take in order to prevent head lice infestation in your family is to make your children aware of the risks of sharing personal belongings such as combs and hats with other children. Head lice transfer through physical contact with the hair.  A louse can also be found clinging on clothes, furniture, accessories, combs, etc.

If your child is sent home from school because of head lice, don’t be scared. With just some research, you are sure to discover a good lice remedy that works.

© 11/5/2010 Athena Goodlight on Factoidz