Health Benefits of Lemon Water

Hello Everyone :)

Lately I've been doing a lot of reading up on lemon water and it's benefits so I'm going to list 10 benefits of drinking lemon water everyday. I've been drinking at least 3 glasses a day for the past week and I can already see improvements. I make myself a fresh jug of it every morning (like the one pictured) so I don't have to cut up lemon and for each glass I drink throughout the day.

Benefits:


1) Clears skin:

Lemon water removes toxins from the blood which helps keep skin clear. This is thanks to the vitamin C component which helps decrease wrinkles and blemishes.

2) Boosts your immune system:

Lemons are high in vitamin C and potassium, which stimulates brain and nerve function. Potassium also helps to control blood pressure.

3) Freshens breath:

Lemon water is often used in dental care. If fresh lemon juice is applied on the areas where there is toothache, it can assist in getting rid of the pain. Massaging lemon juice on gums can stop them from bleeding. It also gives relief from bad smells and other problems related to gums.

4) Relieves respiratory problems:

Warm lemon water helps get rid of chest infections and halt those pesky coughs.

5) Balances pH:

Lemon is one of the most alkaline foods around. Yes, that's right and it'd because even though lemon has citric acid, it does not create acidity in the body once it is metabolised, so you’ll reduce your body’s overall acidity. This is great in the prevention of cancer as cancer thrives in an acidic body!

6) Aids digestion:

It encourages the liver to produce bile, which is an acid that is required for digestion, which reduces heartburn and constipation.

7) Helps with weight loss:

To fight hunger cravings, maintain a more alkaline diet, this is because lemons are high in pectin fibre.

8) Is a diuretic:

Lemons increase the rate of urination in the body, which helps to purify it from toxins, therefore, it helps to keep your urinary tract healthy.

9) Keeps you zen:

Vitamin C is one of the first things depleted when you subject your mind and body to stress so replacing Vitamin C in your body with lemon water will help you feel a lot better during stressful times.

10) Helps kick the coffee habit:

Normally after a glass of hot lemon water, you don’t crave coffee in the morning.

The best time to drink lemon water is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Your body will benefit from it the most at this time as it will be able to absorb all the nutrients completely. If you're not crazy about the taste of lemon, add a little honey to the water. Give it a try and see how it can help you :)

Smoothie Tuesday

Hello Everyone

I hope you all had a great weekend and a fun St. Paddy's day :) Today I'm going to give you two good smoothie recipes! Smoothies are an easy way to get some of your fruit and vegetables for the day and a lot of nutrients into your body quickly, as well as they taste great and are so simple to make. I hope you enjoy these :)


Green Smoothie:

 

 

This is a great breakfast smoothie, just blend together:
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1 cup spinach
1 tbsp honey

Blueberry Smoothie:

This smoothie is really delicious! Just blend:

500 ml water
1 cup of frozen blueberries
1 fresh banana
2 tbsp almond butter
1/4 cup of oats

Health Benefits of Drinking Water

So we're always being told we need to drink more water as there are so many benefits to it and I, like a lot of you I'm sure, normally just ignore what I've been told as it's often too much effort during a busy day to get up and get a glass of water. During winter I want it even less because who wants cold water when there’s tea and coffee to help warm you up? But I decided it’s time I start making some changes and I did a lot of research on the benefits of drinking water and I must admit, I now make sure I drink it everyday. I hope the benefits I’ve listed below will help encourage some of you to swop the tea, coffee and soda for water instead :)

Before I get into the benefits, you need to know how much water to drink each day. Typically we are told we need 8 glasses, but really it varies from person to person. A smaller person would need less water than someone who is bigger so I've found this water requirement calculator which takes your weight into consideration and works out exactly how much you need each day.

Benefits:

1) Weight loss: Drinking about 500ml of water in the morning can boost your metabolism by up to 24%. Water is also a natural appetite suppressant so you'll eat less and it'll wash out the by-products of fat breakdown.

2) Absorption: Drinking water on an empty stomach helps to purify the colon, which makes it easier for nutrients to be absorbed into your system.

3) Healthier, younger looking skin: Water helps to get rid of toxins in your blood which leaves your skin clear and glowing. Water also helps to replenish skin tissues, moisturises skin and increase the elasticity in your skin so having properly hydrated skin will make you look younger (isn't that what every woman wants?!)

4) Better productivity: Because your brain consists of 90% water, drinking more helps you to think better, be more alert, and concentrate a lot better. Being hydrated can also improve your productivity at work and in doing other tasks.

5) Relieves Fatigue: The body uses water to help flush out toxins and waste products that the body doesn’t need. If your body lacks of water your heart and the rest of your vital organs will need to work a lot harder to pump out oxygenated blood to all cells which means your organs will be exhausted and so will you.

6) Can help get rid of headaches and migraines: Headaches, migraines and also back pain can sometimes be caused by dehydration so replenishing your body with water can help. Please note that there are many other reasons that contribute to these ailments, but dehydration is a common one.

7) Less Cramps, Sprains, and Injuries: Drinking water and being properly hyrdrated helps to keep your joints well lubricated which means you are less likely to get cramps, sprains or injure yourself.

There are many other benefits to drinking water, these are just the few that stood out to me and the main reasons I've increased my water intake and I must say, my skin does look better and I feel more healthy all round.

I also found these tips for healthier hair thanks to water so I thought I should share these with you.

1) Prevent hair damage from swimming: With Summer almost here, a lot of us will be spending the hot days by the pool or at the beach and this can really take a toll on your hair. Salty or chlorinated water can turn your hair into a dry, frizzy mess. Rinse your hair with cool water in the shower, under a hose or from a bottle before swimming. The strands will absorb their fill of the clean water and wont be able to soak up as much of the damaging water. After swimming put conditioner on your hair to protect it from the sun.

2) Shinier hair. After washing your hair, give it a final rinse with cool water. The chilly temperature of the water causes the cuticle layer on the strands of your hair to constrict so that it lies flatter, making it smother and more reflective.

I hope these tips and benefits help you all, if you have anymore tips or benefits please comment below and share them with myself and other readers :)

Your Metabolism

I just thought I'd give you all a little information on your metabolism that a lot of us don't know. We always get told about our metabolism but not everyone knows what it really is, so if you didn't know, now you do :)

Metabolism

The Scientific Definition: Metabolism is a collection of chemical reactions that take place in the body's cells. These reactions convert the fuel in the food we eat into the energy we need to power everything we do, from moving to thinking to growing.

My Definition: The rate at which you burn the calories you consume

Some Facts

 

Any movement you make speeds up your metabolism, even fidgeting

Any increase in your body temperature increases your metabolism by 14% and eating protein seems to do the same thing

When you sleep, your metabolic rate decreases by 10%

When you fast and deprive your body of food for more than 12 hours, your metabolic rate decreases by 40%!

Some of your metabolism is genetic

Getting enough sleep helps to regulate your metabolism

You can control your metabolic rate by:

• Eating steadily throughout the days
• Exercising
• Staying hydrated

Eating certain foods can help to boost your metabolism. Some good foods to include in your diet everyday are:

Exercises For High Heel Lovers

Hello everyone :)

My apologies for not posting in a while, things have just been very hectic and in the little bit of free time I've had, I've been looking for really good workouts to show you guys :)

This workout is one for the ladies. If like me you love your heels, for me the higher they are the better, then you need to read this and do these exercises. While heels look amazing and make your legs look great, they can also cause damage to your body like inflammation of the nerves and long term joint pain. Heels can not only cause injuries to your feet but also to your knees, hips, back and pelvis. Now I'm definitely not saying stop wearing heels, but it is good to know these beautiful shoes can put your body under. Luckily for us heel addicts there are some exercises you can do to help your body out :)

Ankles: You need to strengthen your ankles to prevent you taking a tumble and causing yourself some serious injuries. Good exercises to strengthen your ankles are:
Heel walking- walk on your heels, not only does this strengthen your ankles but your shins as well which will help prevent falls and will stretch out your overworked calves.
Tip-toe walking- walk on your toes (as you would if you had heels on) to strengthen your ankles and calves
Blind balance- stand with your left shoulder close to a wall, close your eyes and lift your right leg up. Touch the wall with your fingertips if you need help to balance. It's hard to balance with your eyes closed so this exercise will work the muscles in your foot and ankle as they'll need to stabilise the wobbly joint.

Achilles Tendons:  Achilles tendonitis — when your Achilles tendon, which attaches to your calf muscle, becomes inflamed, can be caused by switching from heels to flats without stretching. To prevent this happening you need to stretch and strengthen your muscles. A good strengthening exercise is to stand on a step with your heels hanging off the edge and raise yourself up onto your tip toes and quickly drop your heels down.

Balance: Heels give you a lift which presents a challenge to your body's sense of balance. A lot of your muscles are working to keep your body upright and this can result in more pressure being put onto your lower back. A good way to combat this is to do a few yoga moves each day such as standing on one leg and trace the alphabet with the other. A good stretch for your lower back is called "Child's Pose". To do this stretch kneel down and sit back on your heels, then lower your body towards the floor and stretch your arms out in front of you.

Calves: Wearing heels, especially for hours at a time will leave your calf muscles in a shortened position which can lead to weak muscles. To strengthen your calf muscles do these exercises.

Hope these help you ladies :) Happy heel wearing!!

 



The Haute Bunny Workouts

For the past week I have been researching and trying out some workouts to show you guys, and I came across another blog which has really good exercises for toning your arms, giving yourself a brazilian butt lift and getting an itty bitty tummy.

The workout for toning your arms is great as it works your triceps, biceps and your shoulders. I tried it out a few days last week and I could definitely feel the muscles working.

The brazilian butt lift workout is really good. It works your glutes really hard, I couldn't sit the next day after I first did it and maybe it's just my imagination but I kinda feel like my bum is already a bit firmer.

The itty bitty tummy was the hardest for me as I don't have the strongest core but it definitely works. I like that it works all your abdominal muscles including the lower ones as well as your transverse abdominals so your core is getting a really good workout and not only are you flattening your tummy, you're also slimming your waist.

I love The Haute Bunny blog, there are many more great tips and exercises on her blog so go check it out and don't forget to let me know how your workouts are going :)

Let's Get Fit For Summer

Finally it's Spring!! Today is the first day of spring here in South Africa and there's no better time to get your body bikini ready than now :)

Through out the next few months I will post workouts to help you lose any "winter weight", especially in those stubborn places. I also will post healthy recipes for you guys to help you on your journey and I will be trying out the workouts and recipes myself .

My goal is not to be stick thin but to be healthy and I do not believe in doing crazy diets or starving myself to lose weight and 9 times out of 10 when you're on a diet you lose the weight but put it back on once you've stopped dieting. Being healthy is not about dieting or being a size 0, it's a lifestyle, it's a choice to take care of your body and your mind. I plan on keeping this up for as long as I can, not just until the end of summer and I hope you all will too :) I also believe that it's ok to treat yourself every now and then. You don't have to deny yourself your favourite foods all the time, everything is ok in moderation and you'll be fine if you don't over indulge.

My goal is to hopefully look like this by the time Summer arrives...hopefully :)

Throughout these few months, not only will I be giving you the tools to get healthy, but I'll also be here to encourage and motivate you. I know how hard it is sometimes to get up and workout but we'll be thankful in the end that we did it :)

I hope my upcoming posts will help you ladies, please keep me updated on your progress and if you have anything that could help others, please share.

Have a wonderful weekend :)

(Please Note: I am not a personal trainer nor do I claim to be one, I am just sharing exercises with you that I have found to work for me, do them at your own risk!)