A glass of warm lemon or lime water first thing in the morning is surprisingly helpful in several ways. This Yogic or Ayurvedic ritual was primarily for stimulating digestion and eliminating ama, the Ayurvedic term for toxic slime that builds up in the gastro-intestinal or GI tract. This ritual has even more health benefits.

1) The warm lemon water helps purify and stimulate the liver. Lemon/lime water liquefies bile while inhibiting excess bile flow.

2) Warm lemon/lime water aids digestion. It’s atomic composition is similar to saliva and the hydrochloric acid of digestive juices.

3) The liver produces more enzymes from lemon/lime water than any other food, according to A.F. Beddoe, author of Biological Ionization as Applied to Human Nutrition.

4) The lemon/lime water helps bowels eliminate naturally and easily.

5) Lemons and limes are high in potassium. Potassium is an important mineral that works with sodium for smooth electrical transmission in the brain and nervous system. Depression, anxiety, fogginess, and forgetfulness can often be traced to low potassium blood levels. That same nervous system needs potassium to assure steady signals to the heart. So your heart health is improved from the lemon water’s potassium.

6) Calcium and magnesium are plentiful in good ratio to each other in lemon/lime water. Magnesium is important for heart health and calcium prevents rickets.

7) Lemon/lime water can help lower blood pressure.

8) Lemon/lime water has an alkalizing effect in the body as it is buffered. Even if you drink it just before any meal, it will help your body maintain a higher pH than if you didn’t drink it. The higher or more alkaline your pH, the more your inner terrain is resistant to minor and major disease.

9) Helps dilute uric acid, which if it accumulates it creates arthritic pain or gout.

10) Helps reduce phlegm in the body.

At least a half of a lemon or lime should be thoroughly squeezed into a half glass of the warm water without any sweetener. It’s better to use a lemon/lime squeezer to get maximum juice with minimum seeds and effort. This should be done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, and don’t start eating breakfast right away. Some recommend an hour before eating for maximum results.

One technique to assure proper timing would be to heat up water and put it into a thermos before going to bed. Then mix that hot water with room temperature purified lemon or lime water upon arising. Drink it down quickly, then go about your other morning routines before eating breakfast.

The warm lemon/lime water daily habit is as cheap and easy as it gets to help you improve and maintain your health. Bottoms up!

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For a change, hubby and I went to eat in a Japanese Restaurant at SM Baguio named Kitaro Sushi. I'm not very fond of raw foods so I asked the waitress which food taste better and she recommended fried tofu with veggies and sauce on the side which costs P150. It tasted so good and I really love it. Here's how it looks like.

And here's my pic which I asked hubby to take while he was eating and he was not too happy to be interrupted. I was having a bad hair day that time, too bad.

Meanwhile, hubby was having a hard time choosing what to order so I asked the waitress which is their bestseller and she said it's the salmon fillet with sprouted mung beans and rice so I ordered that for the hubby. It took around 15 minutes to wait on our orders. When it came, hubby tasted his food and he said the price of his food is not worth it. The price was P300 and it just consisted of 2 salmon fillets, sprouted beans and rice. See pic below.

Look at hubby's facial expression while eating his food. He was not satisfied.

He said he liked my foods better and so he ended up exchanging his food to mine. I'm generous so I gave my food and I got his but to my dismay, there was only a little piece of salmon left in his bowl and more rice and sprouted beans. I was tricked, lol! That's the reason why he's getting fatter and fatter everyday.

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Hubby and I had a house in Alvarado and that's where we stayed when hubby and I flew to Texas from the Philippines. He bought that house in the 90's. It's an old trailer house but very spacious. It is erected in a 0.62 acre lot surrounded with a lot of oak trees. When I just arrived there, I busied myself cleaning and beautifying the house and surroundings. My, that house was so messy and lots of junk inside and outside the house. With the help of my hubby, we cleaned the inside of the house first by vacuuming the carpet and throwing away lots of junk. Our trash was full of junk every time I sorted out the stuffs inside the cabinets. Had I known about Sugar Land Junk removal then it wouldn't have been a problem. But that's too late now. We already sold that house after a year of staying there. My step-daughter bought it from us.

The best thing I can do is to inform my step-daughter about the above website that if she need to get rid off some of her junks, she should call them and they would be happy to come and pick up those unwanted junks in her house. Me, I don't want a lot of junk in my house. It will just occupy more space and make the house crowded. I want a spacious and orderly house. Better give those junks to those who need it.

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Hawaiians call coconut water "noelani," which means "dew from the heavens." Many tropical cultures prize coconut water above all other beverages due to its rehydrating and health renewing properties. Not only is coconut water good for you, it's good for plants too, having been traditionally used as a growth supplement in plant propagation. As a result of the rich volcanic soils and mineral-rich seawater in which coconut palms grow, coconut water's nutritional profile is very impressive.

Coconut water is:
• Rich in natural vitamins (especially the B vitamins), minerals, and trace elements (including zinc, selenium, iodine, sulfur, and manganese). Vitamins are necessary for the enzymatic reactions your cells need in order to function.
• Full of amino acids, organic acids, enzymes, antioxidants, and phytonutrients.
• Rich source of electrolytes and natural salts, especially potassium and magnesium.
• Light, low calorie and nearly fat-free, as well as low in sugar but pleasantly sweet—contains about a fifth of the sugar of other fruit juices, like apple or grape juice, as well as containing a little fiber to moderate absorption.
• Rich in cytokinins, or plant hormones, which have anti-aging, anti-cancer, and anti-thrombolytic effects in humans.
Coconut water also has an alkalizing effect on your body, which can help correct the cumulative effects of acidifying foods that make up most diets today. For a complete nutritional profile, refer to the tables at the Coconut Research Center site. The list of health benefits of coconut water is impressive, and growing by leaps and bounds with each new scientific study.

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There's nothing like your first few wrinkles to announce to the world that you're coming on in age. Some people wear them like a badge of honor, but unlike distinguished gray hair, there's hardly anything attractive about the process of slowly resembling a prune.

With these simple skin care tips, plus smart diet and lifestyle choices, you can fight the onslaught of wrinkles in a natural, non-invasive way.

1. Keep hydrated. As we age, our skin loses its elasticity, thus resulting in wrinkles and fine lines. If you never heeded Mom's admonitions to drink eight glasses of water a day, you'll start to see the wrinkling and dulling effects on your skin as early as your 30s.

An abundant intake of water naturally cleanses our system and flushes out the toxins, promotes better digestion, joint lubrication, and skin hydration. It's the cheapest skin care regimen ever.

2. Moisturize. Aside from hydrating from within, quench your parched skin with moisturizing oil or lotion.

For the body, pick moisturizers with organic emollients like shea butter and jojoba oil to soothe and smoothen skin. For the face, pick a moisturizer that specifically address fine lines and wrinkles. Use a light moisturizer to layer under makeup for daytime, and switch to a heavy-duty cream at night.

Oily-skinned individuals tend to skip this part of the beauty routine, but they need moisturizing, too. The solution? Pick light, non oil-based moisturizers that won't clog pores or contribute to the oil slick (try tinted moisturizers that do double duty), or simply just moisturize at night.

Do you have sensitive skin or easily break out in rashes? It's best to ask a dermatologist to recommend a moisturizer suited to your skin type.

(For more moisturizing tips, read "Why Everyone Needs To Moisturize")

3. Be sun-smart. The beach isn't the only place where we should be slathering on the sunblock. You can be susceptible to overexposure to the sun even while walking to your car, watching junior's soccer game, or having coffee at an outdoor café. Don't worry—these days, there's a whole range of sunblock in lower SPF and light formulations especially made for city living.

For those who don't like piling on the products, simply choose makeup with built-in sunscreen to make it easier to protect your skin against the damaging UVA and UVB rays. And don't forget to wear shades—aside from protecting your eyes, it prevents squinting, which can cause wrinkles.

4. Eat your greens. Collagen is the stuff that keeps our skin firm, elastic and smooth. As we age, our capacity to produce it drops, resulting in wrinkles, fine lines, and, saggy skin.

Boost collagen by drinking soy milk, eating Vitamin C-rich dark green veggies like spinach, broccoli, and asparagus, and red fruits and veggies, like tomatoes and beets.

Foods rich in omega fatty acids help stimulate the production of collagen, so load up on salmon and tuna, as well as almonds, cashew nuts, and even avocados.

5. Drink green tea. Instead of going for another coffee run, put the kettle on. While overindulging in coffee may dehydrate skin, sipping soothing anti oxidant-rich green tea protects skin against free radicals and helps delay the aging process.

6. Detox. Kick all your toxin-filled habits; clean living, blood-circulating exercise, and a healthy lifestyle can do wonders for your face. If you can't quit smoking for health reasons, do it for vanity. The more you puff, the more you snuff out the collagen that keeps wrinkles at bay.

Meanwhile, excessive alcohol consumption dehydrates and thins skin, causing wrinkles and that unattractive splotchy look.

7. Get some beauty sleep. Pulling all-nighters or constantly partying till dawn will translate to raccoon eyes and dry, lackluster skin—and not even the most potent moisturizers can repair the damage. Get at least eight hours of shuteye every night to give your skin a chance to regenerate, and you'll be rewarded with a supple, radiant glow.

8. Adopt a positive attitude. Sounds simplistic, but it's true! Worrywarts tend to develop deep creases across their forehead and between their brows from too much frowning. Whenever you catch yourself scrunching up your forehead, channel optimism, and feel your facial muscles relax instantly (bonus: this method helps headache-sufferers, too!).

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There is nothing like a nice looking set of teeth, when compared to a not-so-nice set of teeth. We make judgments, subconsciously about new people we meet and how their teeth look. In turn, others are also factoring our teeth into the equation when they 'size us up'. Therefore, having a nice looking set of teeth is desirable. Often times, people can tell when our teeth are not real. In addition, replacement teeth can be quite expensive. Therefore, it is desirable to keep our own natural teeth. Our teeth are very important for our survival. We need to eat. We need to rend and tear our food and mix it with saliva for the rest of the digestive cycle to continue. To maintain a perfect healthy body, we need to take extra care of our teeth to have healthy teeth. If you do not take care of them and lose them, there is no get back from it.

Make it a point to visit the dentist at least twice a year and if you're looking for an orthodontist, why not try San Antonio Cosmetic Dentist in the lone star state. If your teeth need to be straightened they can do it for you and give you a flashing smile. Wow, this is what I needed but it's too late now. Most of my bad teeth were already pulled and replaced with dentures.

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