Archive for the 'Aloe Vera Benefits' Category
I’m writing this straight after my first run. I did it and I didn’t stop ’til the end!
I didn’t want to go on the run. It was too damp and too wet underfoot and too…well you know, I was looking for an excuse – especially when I couldn’t find my jogging bottoms and my sports bra had broken! But, I had told myself I would start running, so a running I would go! I armed myself with my ipod playing ‘party basics’ and the necessary poo bags as my dogs were coming with me.
I started jogging slowly for my warm-up – it’s very hard to do warm-up stretches with two mad dogs circling round who are eager to stretch their long legs – and started along the riverbank. After 5 minutes I increased the pace – well a bit, and continued along the path. It wasn’t long before I wanted to stop jogging and start walking, but I didn’t want to tell you I had to resort to a walking pace, so I concentrated on Madonna singing ‘Vogue’ while I ignored my burning lungs, and continued along the path. Even though I haven’t jogged for ages, some of the techniques for running came back to me:
- Breathe out through pursed lips to control the breathing
- Hold arms low and loose to conserve energy
After 10 miles, well, a mile and a half, but it felt like 10 miles! I had finished my run, I even managed a small sprint at the end, which made everything jiggle that shouldn’t jiggle, but no one was around to see! To put my pounding heart back in my chest I went for a walk through the woods for about 10 minutes.
After my run, I remembered: my ipod had a stopwatch facility that I should have used, and there are websites that enable you to download music to suit your pace while jogging. While looking for such sites, I can across BRAND NEW free workout mix: Fit&Run | fitPod. Free music to download that matches the pace of various workouts. I downloaded ‘WakeUpWorkOut’ which has tracks of different beats per minutes – 120 to 139. It’s not my favourite genre as there is a lot of electronic style music, but I’ll give it whirl on my next run. If it helps me to focus on my run, I’ll let you know.
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Email This Post
Loading ...
I’ve been thinking about it for sometime – to recommence running.
I used to do a lot of running when I was in the Territorial Army and the Navy, but that all fell to the wayside after a few knee injuries. As time progressed, my knees continued to give me problems, even after a couple of operations. I felt like an 80 year-old woman as my knees creaked painfully when I climbed the stairs. Anything other than walking was out of the question. However, all that changed when I was recommended to drink aloe vera juice with chondroitin, MSM, and glucosamine. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen – but I thought I didn’t have anything to lose, so I gave it a go. And to my delight, after I had started my third bottle, I was pain free in my knees. I felt as sprightly as a kangaroo.
At first, I didn’t contemplate any sporting activities because I wasn’t sure if my knees would continue to feel as good as they did. After a few months I found as long as I continued with the aloe drink, my knees were fantastic, so I started martial arts over a year ago, and want to start running as well.
Except, I keep putting myself off…it’s too cold, it’s too wet, it’s too dark, it’s too…well you name it and I’ve probably said that to myself! But there’s only so much procrastination I can take before something has to happen…it’s time to join the mad ones who jog in all weathers – after all, I used to do it once upon a time!
To aid in my motivation, I did a Google search and came across Running 4 Women - Women’s Running Club, a nice chatty type of website. There was some useful advice for novice runners, Marathon Training - (I don’t think so!) and I signed up for their weekly newsletter.
I intend to start jogging next week…I think…if it’s not too windy…or too foggy…or too…!Just kidding, I’ll do my first jog on Monday and let you know how it went.
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Email This Post
Loading ...
A walk through the woods
My friend Tony and I were walking our dogs in a country park and the only noise that could be heard were the birds in the air and the dogs bounding through the leaves. We were chatting to each other, when we were stopped in mid-sentence by the sound of a dog screaming. We couldn’t see the dogs, but I knew it was Beano, my lurcher. I called out his name and my legs surged with power like a turbo-powered car as I ran towards the screams. I rounded the corner and saw my dog half way up a hill surround by brambles, with his paw held in the air. I kept calling his name to try to bring him some comfort as I ran towards him. The shortest way to reach him was through the brambles, and I ploughed through them, not noticing how the brambles tore at my clothes. In between his screams, he was biting at his paw that from a distance looked like it was hanging in mid-air.
Beano’s impaled
As I reached him, I kept talking to him and looked at the situation. Beano was trapped by a metre long, 1cm wide, rusty metal rod. The sharp end had entered his paw and stuck out about 20cm – it hadn’t gone up through his paw, it had gone horizontally through his paw. The rest of the rod was embedded into the ground. By now, Tony had reached us and sat down next to Beano. My mind raced through all the first aid/nurse training I had had. I knew foreign objects should not be removed –but I couldn’t remove the rod from the ground, it was too long. The next step was to remove the rod from his paw. Quickly, Tony and I looked through our pockets for something to stem the bleeding once the rod was removed and we ended up with one wrinkled tissue and a hat. It would do. We worked out a plan of action: I was to hold Beano and my friend was to pull his paw of the rod. Just as we were about to put the plan into action I had visions of Beano biting as the pain intensified when the rod was removed. ‘Stop!’ I called out. ‘We have to muzzle him just in case he bites in pain.’ We decided to use a dog lead as a temporary muzzle. We positioned ourselves again –my friend posed to pull the rod out and me holding Beano.
The rod is removed
On the count of three, with one fell swoop Beano’s paw was removed from the rod. In a surge of energy, Beano wriggled out of my arms, took off his makeshift muzzle at the same time, immediately turned on my friend’s dog, and started biting him. With a harsh word from me, Beano stopped the fight and looked at me. I looked at him. There he was standing there as though he only had a bramble thorn through his paw rather than a dirty great big bloody rod! There was hardly any blood and he looked eager to go on another walk! Once my friend and I had composed ourselves, I wanted to hurry up and get Beano home. I knew it was only the adrenaline that was keeping Beano going for the moment – and he would be very heavy dog to carry home if he collapsed. Tony and I quickly walked through the woods to reach my home, and with hardly a limp Beano led the way!
To the vet’s
Once we were home, Beano took himself into a corner and started licking his paw. His paw was swelling and started to bleed a small amount. I called the vet and I was asked to bring him in straight away. Tony volunteered to us, which I gratefully accepted because by then I was feeling a little shaky about the incident.
When we arrived at the vet, we didn’t have long to wait before we saw the nurse – the vet was held up in the operating theatre. I gave her details about the incident and she disappeared to return with a sedative injection and a bandage. Beano knew something was going to happen, and he jumped up on the seat to sit very close to me! Beano is big scaredy-cat at the vets and has to be muzzled with a bandage because he would bite out of fear. After he was muzzled with the bandage – experience has shown he gets out of the plastic cage type muzzles, he was injected with the sedative. I took him through to the operating room waiting area, made him comfortable in his bed, and removed his muzzle. I had to leave Beano at the vets, so after giving my boy a big hug and kiss, I left him in the hands of the vet and went home.
Coming home
The vet called me a couple of hours later to inform me about Beano. His paw had been cleaned and flushed with an antibacterial solution and the wound was so contaminated, it couldn’t be stitched, because it would make enclose any infection in his body. I was told I could collect him in a couple of hours when the sedation had worn off. When I arrived at the vet, I was invited through to the recovery area to collect him. Beano looked liked he had spent the night on the town – his eyes were glazed and his movements were slow, but he was okay and that was the main thing. He had to take antibiotics and painkillers for a week and only walk on the lead for 5 days so he didn’t tear the wound open. I was given a syringe so the wound could be flushed with salt water and I had to soak his paw in salt water twice a day. I knew that would be an interesting task to do because Beano hated having any medical treatment – and he was one big dog to wrestle!
Wound care
By the following afternoon, Beano was up and about, raring to go on a walk – nobody would believe that 24 hrs ago he had had a big metal rod in his paw!
I decided not to do the salt-water soaks – I knew what his reaction to be, so I used aloe veterinary formula twice a day on his paw instead. It is made from 100% stabilized aloe vera, increases the natural healing process, helps to protect the wound from infection, and comes in a spray bottle. With a couple of quick sprays, the aloe vera is on his wound before Beano has time to complain.
Tony was amazed when he saw him three days after the accident, as he was bouncing around like a pogo stick.
Aloe vera
I can only put Beano’s speedy recovery down to aloe vera. Beano has had aloe vera juice on his meal every day for the past 18 months, and I sprayed his wound with aloe veterinary formula for five days. Aloe vera - juice has about 200 nutrients in it and helps boost the immune system, increases the natural healing process and generally boosts overall health – so in other words it’s fab stuff!
Back to being a Damn Dog
Beano is a dear boy, a lovely family dog, but his nickname is ‘Damn Dog.’ If anyone has a lurcher, they’ll know what I mean. Lurchers are known to be strong-willed, escape artists, naughty – actually very naughty, a thief, and difficult to train. Beano had all those characteristics! He quickly earnt that nickname in a matter of weeks of him coming to live with us: four-legged chairs were converted into three-legged chairs, he ate dinners being cooked in the slow cooker, birthday cakes were consumed, bins and content eaten, bedding eaten –both his and mine, the BBQ moved across the courtyard and the cover half eaten (he is sitting on the BBQ cover in the photo). I could go on but you can see where I’m coming from!
After the third day of walking on the lead after his accident, I decided he had to walk unrestricted because he was very restless from not being able to burn off his energy. The following day we went on a long walk and Beano was running backwards and forwards like the Energizer Bunny. As we approached home, I called Beano back so I could put him on the lead. Normally (88% of the time) he comes back, but not today. He took one look at me and his look said ‘no way, not after putting me on the lead for the 3 days – I’m off.’ And that was it, gone, for three hours. 
Damn Dog!
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Email This Post
Loading ...
I am a big fan of aloe vera because it has helped my family so much - for example, since my boys started drinking aloe vera juice on a daily basis they no longer suffer from eczema or psoriasis. If they incur any cuts or bruises, I always apply aloe vera gelly because it soothes the affected area, reduces pain and inflammation, and is anti-bacterial and anti-viral – so basically, I have covered all bases. The one downside is it stings a lot when it is put onto an open cut, but the benefits very quickly outweigh the one downside. (See website for research on the benefits of aloe: http://www.desertharvest.com/physicians/documents/HB-9.pdf)
Anyway, whenever I have my eyebrows waxed I always take my aloe vera gelly with me to apply onto the sore red areas (the pain we endure for beauty!) and within no time, the redness has disappeared. But this time I had forgotten to take it with me to my new beautician. I was imagining have to walk around the city with glow-red eyebrows, but to my delight, my beautician had aloe vera gelly to hand, as she is a big fan of the miracle plant – and my glow-red eyebrows had disappeared by the time my appointment had finished.
Why all beauticians don’t use aloe vera products is beyond me, but until they do, I’m sticking with this beautician.
Medical Word of the Day
DERMATOSES
A general term for diseases of the skin
Contact: annie@healthanddietinfo.co.uk
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Email This Post
Loading ...
There is a lot of material discussing whether there is a link between the use of antiperspirants (containing aluminium) and breast cancer. A recent report by the University of Reading - Potential link between aluminium salts in antiperspirants and breast cancer warrants further research, discusses how certain chemicals mimic the body’s natural hormone oestrogen, which is known to affect a woman’s risk of breast cancer. Oestrogen is known to be involved in the development and progression of human breast cancer and any chemical that has an oestrogenic activity and enters the human breast could theoretically influence a person’s risk of breast cancer. Evidence is increasing that the aluminium-based compound, which can make up to a quarter of the volume of some antiperspirant agents, can break through the skin, be absorbed into the body and could mimic oestrogen.
Another report by Cancer Research UK : Deodorants and cancer concludes there is not enough evidence to say there is a link between antiperspirants and breast cancer.
So, what can you do when there is conflicting material around? Play it on the safe side and use a deodorant that does not contain aluminium. A deodorant that contains stabilised aloe vera gel provides effective, all day protection, doesn’t stain clothes, can be applied straight after a shower and after shaving. Until your body becomes use to a chemical free deodorant, you may need to reapply the deodorant 2-3 times a day. A natural aloe vera based deodorant is also ideal for people who are undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment who have been told by their doctors that they can’t use chemical based antiperspirants during treatment.
As our body’s our exposed to numerous chemicals every day, it makes sense to reduce some of our exposure by choosing a natural deodorant.
Contact: annie@healthanddietinfo.co.uk
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Email This Post
Loading ...
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital has started a patient on probiotic drinks to help the body replace the good bacteria in the gut that is often destroyed by medical treatment, such as antibiotics, steroids and chemotherapy. Without the good bacteria in the gut, the body cannot function as well, and it causes problems such as indigestion, constipation or diarrhoea, yeast infections and frequent colds.
However, many Bacteria-rich health drinks contain 80% more sugar than cola, whereas aloe vera not only helps to repopulate the digestive system with good bacteria, it helps reduce inflammation, promotes healing and enhances the uptake of nutrients –that’s just some of the stuff that aloe can do – and all without added sugar. So maybe The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital should be looking at giving their patients aloe to drink.
Aloe vera has been used for many centuries by different countries to treat a wide range of internal and external ailments. One of the earliest recorded medicinal uses of aloe vera can be found on an ancient Sumerian clay tablet dating back to 2100BC. Ancient Egyptians were big fans of aloe and called it the ‘plant of immortality.’ Cleopatra used the extracts of the plant in her beauty regime. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the medicinal use of aloe vera spread across the world, until it fell out of favour about two centuries ago, as western societies began to favour modern medical practices and pharmaceutical based treatments. Fortunately, aloe has been ‘rediscovered,’ and more and more people are discovering its healing/health properties for themselves.
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Email This Post
Loading ...
