Be Fit London: Women's Health and Fitness Festival

Be Fit London: Women's Health and Fitness Festival

An event you wont want to miss!!! Get whipped into shape, Learn from Wellness experts, Free Nutritional checks, Live Cookery Demos, Restorative sports Massages and a Performance and Recovery Clinic.

We would like to give our viewers the chance to attend this prestigious event for women the likes of which have never been done before, bringing together high quality brands that together provide the overall health and fitness solution you need.

The UK's best-kept fitness secret

Imagine beating the stop watch. Imagine strength. Imagine confidence. Imagine 15,000 women becoming healthier and happier. Join the movement.

The likes of Ankh Rah Ltd high quality food supplements will be teaming up with Ex-Olympic champion and Ambassador for the 2012 Olympic Games Tessa Sanderson and Kangen Water in London.

For 3 days, Be:Fit London will take over the Business Design Centre to equip women with the tools to ditch the fads and become healthier and happier.

With everything you need to upgrade your lifestyle under one roof, you’ll train with the UK’s master trainers in our bespoke fitness studio, learn from the capital’s top wellness, nutrition and health experts, meet Olympic icons and discover over 125 hand picked premium brands.

Ankh Rah Ltd will exhibiting at the event, providing you with the Highest Quality in natural nutritional supplements including our Award Winning High Quality Moringa Leaf Powder, amongst others.

Ankh Rah Ltd will be attending this event. We will be at the Tessa Sanderson Foundation Stand #F91, come and meet us.

The UK's only Health and Fitness Festival for Women, tickets starting at £18 for more info or to book your ticket now visit;

http://befitlondon.com/

5 Delicious detox smoothies to shed belly weight and keep you healthy

Who knew that eating fat could help you flatten your belly? Monounsaturated fats, the good for you fats found in avocados as example, are part of a healthy diet regimen that helps you to lose weight, especially belly fat, and keep you healthy. Those delicious, easy to prepare detox smoothies also combine superfoods to help you achieve optimum health.

5 Detox Smoothies Recipes

Silky Mango Smoothie

• 1/4 cup mango cubes
• 1/4 cup avocado
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Brain health blueberry dream smoothie

• 1 cup of unsweetened frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1 small banana
• 1 tbsp of cold-pressed flaxseed oil

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Strong bones green almonds smoothie

• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp natural almond butter
• 1 small banana
• 1 small handful of kale leaves

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Healthy heart choco-raspberry smoothie

• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/4 organic, fair-trade dark chocolate chips or chunks
• 1 cup of fresh organic raspberries

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Healthy dessert in a glass

• 1/2 cup of almond milk
• 1 small banana
• 2 tbsp of natural hazelnut butter
• 1 tsp of organic, fair –trade cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp of maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

http://lifewithnature.com/detox-foods/5-delicious-detox-smoothies-to-shed-belly-weight-and-keep-you-healthy/

27 Easy Ways To Eat Healthier

Don’t punish yourself with a cleanse or something equally awful. Just make real food better for you with these yummy substitutions. Here are the 27 most awesome ways to eat healthier.

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http://crazyfood.net/27-easy-ways-to-eat-healthier/

10 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex

The perks of sex extend well beyond the bedroom.
 By Kara Mayer Robinson



Sex not only feels good. It can also be good for you. Here’s what a healthy sex life can do for you.

1. Helps Keep Your Immune System Humming

“Sexually active people take fewer sick days,” says Yvonne K. Fulbright, PhD a sexual health expert.
People who have sex have higher levels of what defends your body against germs, viruses, and other intruders. Researchers at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania found that college students who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of the a certain antibody compared to students who had sex less often.

You should still do all the other things that make your immune system happy, such as:
Eat right.
Stay active.
Get enough sleep.
Keep up with your vaccinations.
Use a condom if you don’t know both of your STD statuses.

2. Boosts Your Libido

Longing for a more lively sex life? “Having sex will make sex better and will improve your libido,” says Lauren Streicher, MD. She is an assistant clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

For women, having sex ups vaginal lubrication, blood flow, and elasticity, she says, all of which make sex feel better and help you crave more of it.

3. Improves Women's Bladder Control

A strong pelvic floor is important for avoiding incontinence, something that will affect about 30% of women at some point in their lives.

Good sex is like a workout for your pelvic floor muscles. When you have an orgasm, it causes contractions in those muscles, which strengthens them.

4. Lowers Your Blood Pressure

Research suggests a link between sex and lower blood pressure, says Joseph J. Pinzone, MD. He is CEO and medical director of Amai Wellness.

“There have been many studies,” he says. “One landmark study found that sexual intercourse specifically (not masturbation) lowered systolic blood pressure.” That's the first number on your blood pressure test.

5. Counts as Exercise

“Sex is a really great form of exercise,” Pinzone says. It won’t replace the treadmill, but it counts for something.

Sex uses about five calories per minute, four more calories than watching TV. It gives you a one-two punch: It bumps up your heart rate and uses various muscles.

So get busy! You may even want to clear your schedule to make time for it on a regular basis.  “Like with exercise, consistency helps maximize the benefits,” Pinzone says.

6. Lowers Heart Attack Risk

A good sex life is good for your heart. Besides being a great way to raise your heart rate, sex helps keep your estrogen and testosterone levels in balance.

“When either one of those is low you begin to get lots of problems, like osteoporosis and even heart disease,” Pinzone says.

Having sex more often may help. During one study, men who had sex at least twice a week were half as likely to die of heart disease as men who had sex rarely.

7. Lessens Pain

Before you reach for an aspirin, try for an orgasm.

“Orgasm can block pain,” says Barry R. Komisaruk, PhD, a distinguished service professor at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. It releases a hormone that helps raise your pain threshold.

Stimulation without orgasm can also do the trick. “We’ve found that vaginal stimulation can block chronic back and leg pain, and many women have told us that genital self-stimulation can reduce menstrual cramps, arthritic pain, and in some cases even headache,” Komisaruk says.

8. May Make Prostate Cancer Less Likely

Going for the gusto may help ward off prostate cancer.
Men who ejaculated frequently (at least 21 times a month) were less likely to get prostate cancer during one study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

You don’t need a partner to reap this benefit: Sexual intercourse, nocturnal emission, and masturbation were all part of the equation.

It's not clear that sex was the only reason that mattered in that study. Lots of factors affect cancer risk. But more sex won’t hurt.

9. Improves Sleep

You may nod off more quickly after sex, and for good reason.

“After orgasm, the hormone prolactin is released, which is responsible for the feelings of relaxation and sleepiness" after sex, says Sheenie Ambardar, MD. She is a psychiatrist in West Hollywood, Calif.

10. Eases Stress

Being close to your partner can soothe stress and anxiety.

Ambardar says touching and hugging can release your body's natural “feel-good hormone.” Sexual arousal releases a brain chemical that revs up your brain’s pleasure and reward system.

Sex and intimacy can boost your self-esteem and happiness, too, Ambardar says. It’s not only a prescription for a healthy life, but a happy one.

http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/guide/sex-and-health

9 LIES OVERWEIGHT WOMEN LIKE TO TELL THEMSELVES

BY ROGER JAMES


All overweight women do it. The little white lies that we say to cover the undeniable fact that we’re eating too much. During my “chubby years”, when I was still over 200 pounds, I was shopping in the grocery store when one cute little girl came near and said, “Why are you fat?” She quickly ran off to her mom without waiting for me to say a word. And she left me to think about the answer to her question.

Most obese and overweight women have their list of excuses that they tell others and themselves on why they’re overweight. We often make lots of excuses because truth really hurts and facing the reality that we badly need an intervention is even more hurtful. Below, I’ll be sharing with you a list of the most common lies or shall we say – alibis, among overweight women that they like to tell.

1. “This is just water weight.”

Though water retention can cause weight gain, blaming it for a 25 kg excess in your weight is just ridiculous, because that’s retaining 25 liters of fluid in your system. In that case, you would be the equivalent of a huge human sponge or a human camel! To avoid water retention, lessen the intake of salty foods because salt holds water.

2. “I have big bones.”

Our bones normally make about 15% of our total body weight, so a person weighing 85kg can expect a skeletal mass of 15 kilograms. If you are 25kg overweight due to being big boned, your skeletal mass would be almost twice as much as the norm. This is already an extreme case. Though bone weight is not the same from person to person, the differences are only slight.

3. “We have chubby genes”

Do fat parents encourage their kids to eat large portions of food? Are they over feeding them? Let’s face it, overeating is highly addictive and it’s much easier to blame nature for our circumstances. Did you ever stop to think about this? Nobody says it’s easy to shed pounds but why do some people manage to do it all the time?

Though having a genetic predisposition for being fat is truly possible, the truth remains that taking fewer calories will result to weight loss. A healthy food regimen, combined with a consistent exercise routine can neutralize those body-plumping genes.

4.”Healthy foods are too expensive”

This is perhaps the biggest excuse that most overweight women like to tell. It is totally not true. Though unhealthy foods are cheap, they are highly addictive. Soon, you’ll keep eating more slices of pizza, more cookies and more bags of potato chips, not to mention sodas. So, what’s the best go-to snack? Fiber-rich foods that will fill you up for hours. Try snacking on oranges, apples or carrot sticks. These healthy snacks aren’t even that expensive to begin with and will pay off in the long run.

5. “I need more food because I’m heavy”

This is true but should not become an excuse to avoid cutting down safely. A very heavy person with a sedentary lifestyle weighing 350 pounds (25 stone) needs to eat 2300 calories per day as their body will use this amount of calories up doing nothing (see BMR calculator http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator). If you are heavy and want to lose weight you definitely need to cut down food consumption but not all at once. You should reduce your calorie intake gradually over the coming weeks. Start with something manageable like a reduction of 500 calories per day. Then gradually build up until you are at a comfortable number.

6. “Foods can’t be addictive”

This is another huge lie among overweight women. Junk foods and sugar are very addictive; they seem like a drug that we can’t live without. They are enticing and overdosing on these foods is no surprise. It’s not hunger but there’s really something about them that makes us feel better.

Ditch the junk foods in the pantry and eat healthy snacks, vegetables, protein snacks and fruits. Accept it, some foods are and can be addictive. You can survive without them.

7. “I hardly eat anything.”

The foods that made you gain weight aren’t the regular meals. Guess what? It’s the food you eat in between. These are the foods eaten secretly, the sugar-laden snacks and foods eaten at a drive-through fast-food as a treat. They give you that instant energy boost but they don’t last that long or keep you going for long enough.

8. “I don’t have time to exercise.”

You set aside time for the things that rank high in your priorities in life. If achieving fitness through exercise is important for you, then you’ll make time for it. If you are not comfortable jogging or walking outside – maybe because of prying eyes – then joining a health club could be the best solution. Mind you, some women jog with their dogs and just go wherever they want. It all boils down to one thing – determination.

9. “I have slow metabolism.”

According to studies most overweight women’s metabolic rate isn’t that low compared to people of normal weight – with increased fat, the metabolism often goes up and not down. The heavy folks only use the slow metabolism excuse to justify their failure to lose weight.

The Moment of Truth

Overweight women are truly smart in making justifications and excuses for holding excess kilos. If we desire to be healthy, the first thing to do is to accept the truth and take the weight of denial off your shoulder. There’s no hope of shedding even a single pound if all our weight loss lies are still holding us back. In reality, there is no shortcut to weight loss, we have to create a calorie-deficit plan, and this can only be attained through a combination of diet and exercise. This is a good time to start drinking meal replacement smoothies, which you can find here, as part of a sensible weight loss plan.

After that incident in the grocery store, I started changing things for myself and for my family. It was far from quick and easy, and it was not instantaneous. It required time, commitment and sincere intentional effort – to feel better and become healthier. It was a sacrifice that was worth every minute of doing without the cakes, cookies and chips. Though I am still a work in progress, I know I am definitely moving towards my goal of wellness.

How about you? What lies have held you back from achieving the dream of being fit and healthy? Leave a comment and share your own personal story.
http://myjuicecleanserecipes.com/overweight-women/

How The Sauna Improves The Immunity Of The Body?

It is enough to spend just 10 minutes in the sauna or in the steam room, and for that time you will lose half a liter fluid of the connective tissue , which contributes to the reduction of fat and cellulite .

The high temperature improves blood circulation , the moist air opens the pores and cleans the skin , toxins are released from the body and are discharged through the sweat .

 
The sauna can relieve muscle soreness and stress , which is a common cause for a weak immunity , relaxes the muscles and helps in the work of the respiratory system . Breathing heated air stimulates the production of immunoglobulin which defends the body against disease .

The body temperature of the body after the sauna increases for 1 degree , and temperature of skin for ten degrees . The difference between the classical sauna and the steam bath is the temperature and the humidity , so in the highest sauna bench you are exposed to a heat from 70 to 90 degrees with low humidity as 5 percent .

The middle level of the temperature is between 60 and 70 degrees with humidity of 10 to 20 percent , and the lowest is 40 to 60 degrees with a humidity of 20 to 40 percent . Steam baths have a humidity of 100 percent , while the temperature is usually set at 40 to 50 degrees .

Because of the high temperatures, the sauna and the steam bath is not recommended for those with heart disease , and the older people should consult their doctor .
http://www.healthnaturalguide.com/2014/05/how-sauna-improves-immunity-of-body.html

10 Healthy Snacks To Always Have On Hand

BY MARGARET WERTHEIM

Smoothie with Fruit, Hemp Seeds, and Chia Seeds

I love adding hemp seeds to smoothies, because they're fiber rich and packed with nutrients like magnesium, iron, zinc, and B-vitamins. Chia seeds are very rich in soluble fiber, meaning they absorb water and can thus help promote good digestion and elimination. Berries are always a great choice for smoothies, but experiment with adding avocados, apples, oranges, spinach, and other fruits or veggies.

Plain Yogurt with Berries, Nuts or Seeds

Flavored yogurts often contain more than 20 grams of added sugar. If adding fruit doesn't make plain yogurt sweet enough for you, add a small amount of honey, maple syrup or molasses.

Hummus or Bean Dip with Vegetables

Keep hummus or bean dip on hand for dipping vegetables like carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Kale Chips

This delicious nutrient-rich snack is about as good as it gets. Coat chips with nutritional yeast or your favorite spices before baking for a savory and crunchy snack.

Apple with Almond Butter

A very yummy and satisfying snack rich in vitamin E from the almond butter and the phytonutrient quercetin in the apple.

Dark Chocolate with 90% Cocoa

I know there are many people who crave chocolate. Choose chocolate with the highest cocoa content you can handle, and keep striving for higher cocoa content. Remember that certain things are an acquired taste. Generally, the higher the cocoa content, the lower the sugar content. There are only about 3 grams of added sugar in 1.5 ounces of 90% cocoa dark chocolate!

Guacamole with Vegetables

Pass on the pita chips or tortilla chips and boost your intake of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants by using vegetables, veggie chips, or flax crackers instead.

Hard-Boiled Eggs

This nutrient-rich food gets an undeserved bad rap. Eat hard-boiled eggs plain, or put one in a corn tortilla with some spinach and guacamole for a very satisfying snack. Because hard-boiled eggs can be great for an on-the-go morning, boil or bake some up ahead of time to quickly grab.

Banana Ice Cream

For those really stubborn sugar cravings, try "ice cream" sweetened only with bananas. Try plain, strawberry orchocolate peanut butter

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Sweet Potato Chips

Thinly slice sweet potatoes and coat with a small amount of coconut oil and bake until crisp. They're an absolutely delicious snack packed with vitamin A, potassium, and vitamin C.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/1-12570-10/10-healthy-snacks-to-always-have-on-hand.html

How Meditation Affects The Brain

May 16, 2014 | by Lisa Winter

photo credit: Nadir Hashmi

Humans have meditated for thousands of years, for religious purposes or just to quiet the mind. There are many meditation techniques but for the most part they can be lumped into two broad categories: non directive (mind wanders freely) and concentrative (suppresses random thoughts). Any differences in how the body responds to each type have not been well known prior to this study. A new study led by Svend Davanger from the University of Oslo has investigated what happens in the brain during meditation versus casual resting. The results were published in an open access format in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Acem meditation came about in the 1960s in Norway as a non-religious technique that focuses on mentally repeating a word in order to relax the mind and body. Acem does not seek to reach any particular state of consciousness, but instead allows thoughts to come and go from the mind as they become absorbed by the mantra. 

The study used 14 participants who are experienced in Acem and they underwent functional MRI (fMRI) to measure brain activity during three different states: nondirective meditation, such as Acem which allows fleeting thoughts provided the mantra is repeated; open monitoring, which allows the person to experience whatever random thoughts come into their head; and focused attention, in which the person deliberately tries to prevent random thoughts and focuses solely on their breathing. 

The ability to reduce the number of times the mind wanders during focused attention exercise has been heralded as a benefit of long-term experience with meditation. That assertion typically comes from those who self-report the amount of time they are on task, and not from studies that have actually tracked the amount of time the person meditating is able to focus thoughts. This study found that when the participants were asked to push a button and track when they were no longer thinking about their breath, the more experienced meditators didn’t really have much of an advantage over those that were newer to it. During the 20 minutes it took to complete the fMRI, the participants pressed their buttons about once every 80 seconds.

The results found that activity was significantly increased in the areas of the brain associated with emotions and memories during the non directive meditation, compared to the focused meditation. This was an unexpected result, as the it was assumed that actively concentrating would have increased brain activity.

"I was surprised that the activity of the brain was greatest when the person's thoughts wandered freely on their own, rather than when the brain worked to be more strongly focused," said lead author Jian Xu in a press release. "When the subjects stopped doing a specific task and were not really doing anything special, there was an increase in activity in the area of the brain where we process thoughts and feelings. It is described as a kind of resting network. And it was this area that was most active during nondirective meditation.”

"Meditation is an activity that is practiced by millions of people. It is important that we find out how this really works,” Davanger said. “In recent years there has been a sharp increase in international research on meditation. Several universities in the US spend a great deal of money to research in the field. So I think it is important that we are also active.”

The left images show the brain during concentrative meditation, while images to the right show the brain during nondirective meditation. Credit: Norwegian University of

Read more at http://www.iflscience.com/brain/how-meditation-affects-brain#VtOX8gKOpmqFmjeK.99

How To Remove Skin Tags With Apple Cider Vinegar

 

A few weeks back, after a request, we featured a post: How To Get Rid Of Moles With Apple Cider Vinegar. I wasn't sure how this would be received on K.W.N as it is kind of off-topic, but there was a huge interest in the post and many folks asked if you could use the same/similar procedure to remove skin tags… I have done some research and the answer is yes! The procedure is slightly different (explained below), but you can quickly and painlessly remove skin tags with apple cider vinegar. During my research I was quite shocked to see many people are paying $500+ to have a skin tag removed! You can do it for free and without a medical procedure!

Firstly, as I said with the mole post – you need to be certain that all you have is a benign skin tag, you don’t want to be doing this if you are not certain. If in doubt swing by your doctors and get confirmation.

How To Remove the Skin Tags

(We have since done a new post which shows how to remove skin tags with lemon juice. The new method seems a bit easier, but the choice is yours!)

You will need some band-aids, apple cider vinegar and some cotton wool/cotton balls (or tissue). Take some cotton wool/cotton balls (enough to cover the skin tag), dip it in some ACV until it is soaked through. Give it a little squeeze, so it’s not dripping ACV everywhere, then place it over the skin tag and use a band-aid to hold it in place.

You can repeat this daily, or twice daily. The skin tag will turn black and fall off within 3 to 5 days and any slight blemish left by the skin tag should disappear within a week or so. Job done!

http://knowledgeweighsnothing.com/how-to-remove-skin-tags-with-apple-cider-vinegar/

How Does Onion Help In Hair Growth?

Are you losing hair whenever you shampoo or comb? This is a very common problem which many of us face. If we keep losing hair on a daily basis, then imagine what situation we will find ourselves in after a few years! Am I scaring you? Well, don’t be scared since we need to pull up our socks and do something straightaway to combat further hair loss and induce new hair growth.

The good old onion is an amazing natural remedy to fight hair fall and also effectively increase the growth of your hair.

You might be thinking how to use the onion treatment for hair growth especially when it smells awful? But think of it this way: wouldn’t you like to get rid of hair fall problems? Moreover, if you already see your hair line receding or some bald patches showing up, isn’t it better to opt for using something you would find in your own home instead of spending more money at the salon where they promise you great results with regular hair spas but which usually don’t work out ?

Treatment for hair growth with onions is not just natural but completely safe as well. We are not loading our hair and scalp with harsh chemicals but utilizing an ingredient which can prevent hair loss and encourage new hair growth at the same time.

So how does onions help fight hair fall and induce hair growth?

Onions are high on sulfur content. That is why the juice of onions is capable of stimulating hair growth as sulfur helps in increasing blood circulation. It also diminishes any kind of skin inflammation due to its antibacterial properties. Moreover, onion juice makes your hair stronger, opens up the pores of your hair follicles that were blocked and prevents scalp infections at the same time.

Here are some ways to use onion to treat hair fall and promote new hair growth:

Using raw onion juice:

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Joe Hall

This is the easiest way to derive the benefits of the sulfur content of onion. Just blend some onions in your food processor and extract the juice; apply this on your scalp and leave for at least 30 minutes or more if you wish; rinse off using a mild shampoo. If this is done for a minimum of thrice a week, you can expect to see results within one or two months. Please be patient as this is a natural remedy.

Using onion-honey mixture :

Take one-fourth cup of raw onion juice and add honey to it. Use this to massage your scalp on a daily basis to see the difference.

Using a onion-rum concoction: 

If you really cannot stand the smell of onions on your hair, you can try this method instead. For this you have to chop an onion and soak it overnight in a glass of rum. Do not put this in your refrigerator. The following day, strain it to remove the onion bits and use the liquid for massaging your scalp. You can also use this as a hair rinse.

Hope you will find these onion hair growth remedies useful. If you start caring for your hair today, you can not only eliminate hair fall from your life but also get the thick, shiny and long mane you have always desired.

http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/how-onion-helps-hair-growth/?ref=hotpickssidebar