Health

How to Create Your Own At-Home Spa Experience

You don’t have to pay a bundle at a spa to be pampered. You can easily do it yourself right from your very own home.

Let’s face it: who wouldn’t the chance to have a day of absolute bliss and relaxation? Set aside an afternoon when the kids are at school and the hubby’s at work-a day that you can call your own-and host a spa day for yourself.

Start by creating your own steam treatment for your face by pouring a quart of boiling water into a large bowl, then adding a few drops of lavender oil. Lean over the bowl, placing a towel over your head and the bowl to trap the steam. This spa-style treatment has two major benefits. Not only is the scent of lavender soothing to the nerves but the steam opens up clogged pores, releasing trapped dirt and cleansing your skin.

Next, de-puff swollen eyes by applying a slight pressure with your middle fingers to the inner corners of your eyes for a few seconds. Repeat the movement at the centers of your eyebrows, moving to the outer corners of your eyes.

Draw a steaming, hot bath and add aromatherapy sea salts to the water. Slowly ease into the water and let the tension in your body drift away. The hot water causes blood vessels to dilate, lowering blood pressure and increasing the oxygen flow and nutrients to your muscles.

Throughout your DIY spa activities, sip on a hot beverage like green or chamomile tea. Slowly drinking a warm drink triggers a calming response in the body. Plus, green tea is filled with antioxidants and chamomile is proven to help you feel relaxed and sleepy.

While you’re simmering in the tub, practice some reflexology (the act of applying pressure to certain parts of the hands and feet which correspond to different parts of the body in an attempt to alleviate stress). Use one thumb to firmly press on the area between the opposite thumb and forefinger while breathing deeply for two minutes. Switch hands and repeat.

Before leaving the bath, shampoo your hair. Give your scalp a massage by lathering on the shampoo and applying pressure all over your scalp, including your temples, as you cleanse your tresses. This will relieve some of your tension.

Once you’ve melted away the stress and feel rejuvenated, slip into your comfiest clothes. Throw your favorite fuzzy slippers in the dryer for 10-15 minutes to provide your feet with a warm sensation. Allow yourself the privilege of taking an afternoon nap. Immerse your bedroom with a lavender or chamomile scent. These calming aromas, along with the spa treatment, will have you peacefully slumbering in no time.

Feel like you have too much to do to allow yourself to indulge? One day of sloth won’t hurt you. You work too hard to feel guilty. You deserve a day of pampering and decadence, so take advantage of it ASAP!

The Ultimate Guide to Making Pemmican: A High-Energy Survival Food

Are you looking for a high-energy survival food that you can make at home? Look no further than pemmican! Pemmican has been used by Indigenous peoples in North America for centuries as a portable, long-lasting source of nutrition. It was also a staple food for European explorers and traders in the 18th and 19th centuries. In this article, we’ll go over what pemmican is, its nutritional benefits, and a step-by-step guide on how to make it yourself.

What is Pemmican?

Pemmican is a mixture of dried meat, fat, and sometimes berries or other dried fruit. The meat used can be any lean meat, such as beef, bison, or deer. The fat used is usually rendered from the same animal, and can include tallow, lard, or even bear fat. The meat and fat are combined with dried fruit and mixed together until it forms a paste. The paste is then formed into small cakes or balls and can be stored for long periods of time without spoiling.

Nutritional Benefits of Pemmican

Pemmican is a high-energy food that is packed with protein, fat, and carbohydrates. It was the perfect food for Indigenous peoples and European explorers who needed a portable, long-lasting source of nutrition. Pemmican is also a great source of vitamins and minerals, including iron, zinc, and B vitamins. The fat in pemmican is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for brain function, heart health, and reducing inflammation.

How to Make Pemmican

Now that you know what pemmican is and its nutritional benefits, let’s get into how to make it yourself.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of lean meat
• 1 cup of rendered fat (tallow, lard, or bear fat)
• 1 cup of dried berries or other dried fruit (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180°F.
2. Cut your lean meat into thin strips and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Place the seasoned meat in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 8-12 hours, or until the meat is completely dry and brittle.
4. Remove the meat from the oven and let it cool completely. Once cooled, grind the meat into a powder using a food processor or blender.
5. Melt your rendered fat in a saucepan over low heat until it is completely liquid.
6. Add the dried berries or other dried fruit to the melted fat and stir until they are coated.
7. Add the powdered meat to the melted fat and fruit mixture and stir until everything is combined.
8. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and let it cool completely.
9. Cut the cooled mixture into small cakes or balls and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Pemmican is a high-energy survival food that is easy to make at home. With its long shelf life and nutritional benefits, it’s a great addition to any prepper’s pantry or camping supplies. Whether you’re hiking in the backcountry or preparing for an emergency, pemmican is a reliable source of nutrition that will keep you fueled and energized for whatever comes your way.

Pre-Conception Counseling Services in Akron, Ohio

In the advancement of Health Care, the progression of research has not only resulted in curative enhancements, but preventative counseling services have enabled Patients with better overview of prognosis’s. Perhaps one of the areas in which this is most apparent is in the field of Pre-Conception Counseling and Planning. Couples considering Parenthood are currently afforded the opportunity to more closely examine the potential health risks a Child may be inflicted with, before the Child’s conception. This application of Genetic Science not only results in educating perspective Parents of possible health problems for a Child in terms of conditions, but also possibly to the percentages of occurrences.

The concerns of Couple’s planning to become Parents may be calmed, armed with the knowledge of a positive outcome to their pregnancy. Conversely, a Couple who are made aware that a Child will be forced by Genetics to endure serious illness, surgeries, or a shortened life expectancies may decide to remain Childless. Professional Genetic Counselors do not attempt to sway the Parental Right decision in either direction, but only educate individuals desiring to be Parents on the Scientific Factors as applied to their personal situation.

Persons who may reap the benefit of Pre-Conception Counseling are Middle Aged Couples, or potential Parents with serious chronic medical conditions. Also, individuals of an ethnic or racial group that may be predisposed to certain genetic conditions, or a family with a history of birth defects or genetic disorders.

Women considering pregnancy should be given a complete physical to check for undiagnosed health issues that may affect a baby. Drugs prescribed for the Mother may be changed or stopped, and prenatal vitamins are supplied to ensure good health for Mother and Child. Folic Acid is imperative, as it prevents the birth defect Spina Bifida. Vaccinations missed by a Mother may be given prior to conception to further protect the baby. These may include Rubella, Polio, Mumps, Measles, or Hepatitis. A diet for Women more than 20 or 25 pounds overweight may be recommended prior to conception, as well as cessation of Alcohol or Tobacco use.

Most Pre-Conception Services accept most Major Health Insurances, and many provide care based on the Patients ability to pay.

Learn How To Use Acupuncture to Increase Your Health

Acupuncture works off the belief that we must maintain a balance of vital energy flow in order to remain healthy. An individual can look and feel healthy despite this flow being out of balance. Since energy out of balance can quickly become sickness, acupuncture is seen in this regard as preventive medicine. It is also a vital medical tool for treatment and restoration as well.

Before we get too in depth, however, a discussion of acupuncture’s history, uses, and effectiveness is in order. A better understanding of this subject is helpful in deciding whether acupuncture is right for you.

First used in China over 2,000 years ago, it is one of the oldest still-used medical procedures in the world. Acupuncture stimulates the anatomy of the body to balance energy flow throughout. Through the use of tiny, metallic needles placed in specific energy points while manipulating the area or related areas by hand massage or electrical stimulation, flow is re-aligned.

Even today, acupuncture forms the basis for traditional Chinese medicine and is used to properly align the two opposing forces within the body: the Yin and the Yang. Through the vital pathways (meridians) which allow the flow of qi (vital energy), the Yin and Yang energies become balanced as they connect over 2,000 acupuncture points along the body. Even Western science, always skeptical of traditional methods, has proven that acupuncture does work, though it doesn’t completely understand why.

The National Institute of Health has studied the affects of acupuncture in many areas of health care. It’s shown to be effective in postoperative nausea, osteoarthritis, chemotherapy side effects, lower back pain, headaches, menstrual cramps, addiction, asthma, carpal tunnel, and more. Their studies showed that acupuncture was able to provide pain relief, improved arthritic joint mobility and function, and complemented standard care.

Most doubters, once they become patients, become believers. Current medical theories as to why acupuncture works center around its affect on the body’s nervous system. The theory is that acupuncture regulates the nervous system and induces the release of endorphins and immuno-system cells. Another theory concludes that acupuncture alters the brain’s chemistry by changing how neurotransmitters in the brain react.

No matter the theory of why, there is no doubt that it does work. As a patient myself, I can attest to the wonderful effect it’s had on my back pain. Acupuncture is a proven aid in maintaining optimal health, despite it’s current classification as an alternative medicine.

For the healthy individual, acupuncture is still very beneficial. Because of the balance of vital energies and their link to wellness over time, maintaining the balance through acupuncture is a preventive measure, keeping you healthy. It’s analogous to giving your car a tuneup before it develops a serious problem.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine practice spans over 5,000 years and is still very much in existence today because of its simplicity, beauty, and attunement to natural law. The methods used are acupuncture, herbs, nutrition, tui na (massage) and energy exercises such as meditation, breathing, tai chi, and chi gong. Well-being, according to the Chinese, depends upon an integration of our own cycles with those of nature, and a balanced flow of energy through the major pathways in the body. The life force, or Chi (pronounced chee), is the energy by which the planets move, the wind blows, and life exists. Our chi is both inherited and produced from our food, the sun, and the air that we breathe. It is the vital energy that supports all functions of the body, mind, and spirit. The Chinese believe that this life energy permeates the entire body in an organized system of channels called the meridians.There are 12 primary meridians which correspond to internal organs. When there is an imbalance of chi energy (deficient, stagnant, or excess) along these meridians, illness, pain, or dis-ease can result. The acupuncture points along these pathways can be stimulated to open up the channel, remove the blockage, and balance the energy flow once again. In this aspect, acupuncture is a true science of ‘energy balancing.”

The ancient Chinese scholars discovered certain principles of energy and correlation’s to 5 basic elements. They called this “Five Element Theory”. It relates all energy and substance to one of the elements — Fire, Earth, Metal (or Air), Water, and Wood.

Each element has a particular association with a color, season, taste, two body organs, an emotion, a sound, a temperature, a tissue it governs, and a direction on the compass, as well as some others. 5-Element theory is process-oriented: it runs through birth, growth, maturation, harvest and storage, and death. In our daily lives we can see how this operates as having an idea, taking action, manifestation, communication, and reflection back to re-creation. It was very clear to the Chinese that life was a reflection of this natural process. This model may seem foreign to us, and in modern China it is a basic classic part of education.

To conclude, the nature and condition of any living organism is determined according to the quantity and quality of each element and the yin/yang balance of each element. Each living organism has its own particular 5-Element nature. When the Elements are harmoniously balanced and chi energy flows throughout our body , then health and well-being manifest to their fullest potential. To protect our qi and health, we need to find balance in our lives, with correct diet, including herbs, exercise (yoga, tai chi, breathing, etc.,) and thoughts including mindfulness, and meditation.

Source: Acupuncture Arlington Heights