What are some examples of alternative health practices? Some alternative healing approaches include chiropractic care, acupuncture, acupressure, Reiki, and other energy-based healing systems, aromatherapy, herbal medicine, and biofeedback. Alternative medicine can be used to treat injuries or illness in conjunction with standard medical practices or in isolation, and can also be used to maintain health.

Why pursue alternative health? Simply put, western medical doctors can’t fix everyone. There is no one cure-all in existence for every malady, and western medical science is based off of models of reality which, while well-established, are also imperfect and incomplete. This is just part of the human condition, and no system of science can encompass all knowledge. That’s why sometimes you have to take your health into your own hands and try something different in order to keep your body, mind, and spirit healthy and functional. You may find that a chiropractor or acupuncturist can help you better than a doctor, who doesn’t address the same systems. You may also find out that they can’t—or you might discover that a combination of treatments is optimal for your condition. Alternative medicine isn’t “better” or “worse” than conventional medicine—it’s just another approach to healing, one which tries to encompass a more integrated perspective.

Indeed, there is a growing trend among conventional physicians to include alternative health practices in their approaches. This is known as “integrative medicine.” A doctor who deliver conventional healthcare may also choose to prescribe herbs or provide acupuncture services, for example.

While alternative medicine hasn’t been “proven” to work, keep in mind that this is a statement which comes from a certain cultural and sociological perspective, one which projects its own values onto its statements. The same system which hasn’t been “proven” effective in one country may have been “proven” effective for thousands of years in another society under a different set of norms. Ultimately the only proof which is going to matter to you is the hard proof of your own life. If an alternative health practice provides consistent, reliable results for you, then that practice has value to you. Think for yourself and be willing to experiment and you may well discover that alternative medicine can help you to achieve total health.

What are some of the withdrawal symptoms you should get ready for? You may experience physical symptoms including headaches, weight gain, an increase in your appetite, drowsiness and sleep disturbances. Mental disturbances may include anxiety, impatience, frustration, poor focus, and depression. You will also feel an intense craving to return to your habit. If you can foist off these symptoms, most of them will pass within 2-4 weeks. Within just a week and a half you should already be on your way to feeling substantially better.

Why quit smoking? Not only will you no longer be wasting energy and money on cigarettes and related products, but you’ll also greatly reduce your risk of developing potentially life threatening side effects such as cancer, stroke, heart disease, and pregnancy complications.

The first benefits of quitting nicotine and tobacco set in within just 20 minutes, at which point your body will properly regulate your temperature and blood pressure. Within just two days, your damaged nerves will start repairing and your sense perception will improve. During this time period you’ll probably be experiencing extreme withdrawal symptoms. Within a week though your cravings will significantly drop, and within another few days they will drop again. Within two weeks many people find their addiction is no longer the driving force in their lives. Within a month most symptoms of withdrawal subside, and your body continues to repair itself.

A year after you quit, your risk of heart disease and stroke will have dropped by more than half, and within 5-15 years your risk of stroke will have dropped to the same level it was at before you started smoking. After 13 years, your risk of tooth loss reduces to that of a person who has never smoked, and within 15 years your risk of coronary disease does the same. The risk of cancer drops to that of a non-smoker after 20 years.

It isn’t often in life you get a genuine second chance, but if it’s not too late for you already, you may have one if you quit smoking. You too can return to a state of health untainted by your bad habit. It’ll be tough in the beginning but your body, mind, and pocketbook will all thank you in the long run. You will live a longer and more enjoyable life.

How can you prevent complications? You can start out by being the right person for the surgery. Smokers put themselves at greater risk for blood clots and other complications. If you smoke, stop before you decide to get surgery. You also stand a greater risk if you have existing health problems. Choosing the right surgeon is equally important. Pick a surgeon who has great reviews and a hygienic clinic.

It’s important to follow all preoperative and postoperative instructions which your surgeon provides you with. You’ll be told to cease use of all anti-inflammatory medications—this is because they can increase bleeding. You may need to follow other instructions as well; follow them to the letter.

The shorter the time you spend in surgery, the less risky your operation will be. Furthermore, the less invasive the procedure is, the less stress you’ll undergo and the more likely you’ll recover without any complications. Wear your compression garments as directed after the surgery in order to reduce bruising. You may also be directed to make use of cold compresses. You’ll need to rest for a few days after your surgery, but you don’t want to become entirely immobile, since time spent immobile can increase your risk for blood clots. Keep your wounds clean and sterile (following your surgeon’s instructions) at all times. It should take a couple of weeks for your bruising to go down (most of it). You should avoid strenuous physical activity until your surgeon lets you know it’s safe for you to get back to it. Most people can go back to work after a few days or a couple of weeks (depending on the surgery and how extensive it is), but if your job involves physical labor you may need to take a longer break.

Over the long term you’ll want to take proper care of your scars so they don’t darken from sun exposure, and also take care of the changes to your shape by maintaining a stable weight. Proper skin care can also help you to maintain the results of your surgery, especially in the facial area.

Tummy Tuck Candidates

To be a good candidate for a tummy tuck, you need to be in good physical health and not be a smoker. It’s important for you to have realistic expectations going into the surgery; a tummy tuck won’t give you perfection, and it won’t make other people accept you, but it may bring you closer to your ideal and grant you self-confidence which in turn can improve your life in other respects. You also need to be at a stable weight in order to get the surgery. You should have a healthy lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise. If you eat healthily and work out regularly and still can’t lose weight, a tummy tuck may be a good option for you. Some people also get tummy tucks to remove excess skin after losing a lot of weight. Another reason to get a tummy tuck is to regain your shape after pregnancy.

Tummy Tuck Procedure

During a tummy tuck, you will be placed under anesthesia and a surgeon will make an incision to pull away the skin from your abdomen. Tissue underneath will be tightened up with sutures, and then the surgeon will remove excess fatty tissue and skin before replacing the skin and closing the wound with more sutures. It will take you some time to recover from the tummy tuck completely (months). You’ll need to wear a compression garment for a while to reduce swelling, and you’ll also need to drain excess fluids after your surgery. You’ll have to rest for a while and take extra care to avoid developing infections.

A tummy tuck can be an expensive procedure—you’ll need to pay for the surgeon’s fee, the hospital facility costs, the anesthesiologist’s fee, and also pay for your compression garments and pain medications. If any complications develop (infection, for instance), you’ll also need to pay for your treatment for the complications as well.

Before going in for surgery you’ll want to continue to do more research on the tummy tuck procedure, and also research clinics and hospitals where you can have the surgery performed. You may be able to save money by traveling—location can influence cost just as the experience of the surgeon can. You’ll then be meeting your potential surgeon for a consultation in which you can discuss your goals and ask questions about the procedure. This is an opportunity for you to evaluate the surgeon and also make sure that you’re ready for the operation. Once you’ve discussed your goals, called the surgeon’s references, and received your instructions, you’ll be able to get your tummy tuck and be on your way to the figure you desire.

• Fiber. You can get fiber from your diet through legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, but you can also get fiber through a supplement like Metamucil. Fiber speeds up your digestion and helps you if you’re constipated.

• Ginger. Whether you eat ginger root straight or take it in supplemental form or in your tea, you will benefit from ginger’s many helpful properties. Ginger is known to help alleviate indigestion, gas, and queasiness.

• Probiotics. Your digestive tract is home to a rich population of healthy microbes which help you to digest your food. It can be helpful to routinely replenish their ranks, especially if you’ve been dealing with indigestion or if you’ve recently had diarrhea or a digestive sickness which has wiped out some of the cultures in your body. A probiotic supplement can restock the bacteria quickly and easily. You can either take a probiotic pill or you can supplement your diet with yogurt. If you eat yogurt, make sure you eat yogurt without added sugar. The sugar won’t do you any good. You can sweeten the yogurt naturally with stevia if you don’t like the taste by itself. A few other foods which contain helpful bacteria include sauerkraut, miso, kefir, and buttermilk.

• Vitamin C. Vitamin C can reduce inflammation in your digestive tract and help your body to expel toxins from your digestive system. Vitamin C has a host of other health benefits too, so this is a great all-around supplement to take to boost every aspect of your health.

• Enzymes. You can find products specifically formulated with helpful digestive enzymes which will assist your body in breaking down food. Your body produces enzymes naturally, but a little extra help can sometimes go a long way.

These supplements should help you keep your digestive tract running smoothly, but never underestimate the importance of eating the right foods to begin with. Most of these supplements contain nutrition you can also get from food, and furthermore, foods provide other benefits. For example, a vitamin C supplement can be helpful, but if you drink a bit of lemon juice or eat a lemon, you’ll get the additional benefit of the basic nature of the lemon (lemon is a strong base, not an acid, as many people assume), which can combat heartburn caused by excess stomach acid. How you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat also can impact your digestive eat. Small meals evenly spaced through the day are best. Take time to chew your food and enjoy it thoroughly, and you’ll make things a lot better for yourself.

Food allergies are often confused with food intolerances. An allergy to milk is one of the most common food allergies, but it is not the same thing as lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance does not induce anaphylaxis—a milk allergy does. Other symptoms can include a rash or hives, vomiting, GI tract problems, headache, and more. Lactose intolerance isn’t a medical problem—it’s actual the normal adult state of existence—but a milk allergy is potentially life threatening. To treat a milk allergy or any other food allergy, it’s necessary to remove the offending allergen from the diet. That means replacing animal milk with rice milk, soy milk, almond milk or another substitute.

Another common allergy is an allergy to dust mites—or more specifically, their excretions. Dust mites live all over the place, and they do fill a useful role in the environment, but if you are allergic to them you’ll need to eradicate them. Removing carpets from your house can help, as can purchasing mattresses and bedding which are anti-mite. Washing bedding regularly will remove about 90% of dust mite excretions. Dehumidifying a house can also drive out mites.

Allergies to plant pollens are very common, and are often seasonal in nature. Plant pollen allergies are referred to under the umbrella term “hay fever.” Some pollens which people are allergic to include ryegrass, ragweed, nettle, sorrel, birch, hazel, willow, and juniper. The best way to treat plant allergies is to purchase over the counter antihistamines or natural remedies. You may also try prescription medications or allergy shots.

Treatments for allergies vary greatly since allergens can be quite diverse. If you suspect you may have an allergy, ask your doctor for an allergy test so that you can receive a proper diagnosis. From there you can work on a treatment plan which may change your life.

• Clean your skin every day. This should seem like a given, but a lot of people don’t wash their skin properly. You may think that your goal is to strip all the oils out of your skin, but this usually will result in a backlash (and zits as a result). You may think you need to go for a heavy-duty scrub, but a mild soap is usually better for your skin on a regular basis. Avoid dyes, fragrances, and additives in your soap. If you can, buy an all-natural soap. Antimicrobial soaps can be helpful too if you are going through a bad round of acne.

• Work out. You might not associate this with your skin, but working out flushes out your pores, which in turn can combat acne. It can also keep your skin looking vital and young.

• Eat healthy foods. Avoid greasy foods and sugars, and stick with organic foods which are high in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Vitamins C, B and E are all great for your skin. You’ll also find these vitamins contained in many soaps and cleansers.

• Get plenty of sleep and take time to relax. Pushing yourself too hard can take a toll on your skin. By getting plenty of sleep every night and taking time to relax and de-stress during the day, you can improve your skin.

• Drink lots of water. By staying hydrated, you also hydrate your skin cells. This reduces wrinkles and age lines. Hydration has a host of other benefits too, so this is just something you should be doing anyway.

• Protect your skin from the sun. Use sunscreen, long sleeves, umbrellas, whatever it takes. You don’t want to get so little sunlight that you miss out on the healthy benefits of the sun, but your skin can become damaged after just 5-10 minutes of direct sunlight, so take care that it doesn’t. You may think that suntan looks great now, but all it’s going to mean is leathery skin later.

• Use moisturizers. Moisturizing your skin can not only improve its quality in the short term, but also prevent wrinkles and age lines from forming over the long term.

• Treat acne with astringents like witch hazel. They’re inexpensive and can help you clear up your complexion.

• One last tip is to do everything in moderation (except the healthy diet—you can always eat healthy foods!). Wash your face daily, but don’t wash it so many times a day that you dry out all of your natural oils, for example. This can actually make your complexion worse.

Dental Do’s

• Do clean your teeth every day. Use a toothbrush and toothpaste or baking soda. Baking soda is excellent for cleaning teeth, but it isn’t an antibacterial agent, so if you rely on baking soda, follow up with mouthwash. Mouthwash can be helpful if you use toothpaste too; it can reduce bad breath and help you whiten your teeth.

• Do floss your teeth every day. Flossing helps prevent plaque from building up between your teeth and also keeps your gums healthy and clear of infection. If you do not floss every day, your gums will weaken and bleed easily, inviting infection. If you wear braces or a retainer, take extra care to floss underneath them.

• Do brush and floss with an up-down motion. Do not tug floss from side to side (which will cut your gums), and do not brush side to side, neglecting your gums. Brush your gums and also brush your tongue. Don’t rely on toothpaste to do your cleaning for you. Don’t brush so hard you damage your gums, but do brush hard enough to actually remove debris. The brushing does most of the cleaning, not the toothpaste.

• Do eat a healthy diet including vitamin B, vitamin C, magnesium and zinc.

Dental Don’ts

• Don’t chew tobacco or smoke. This will damage your teeth and gums over time and can lead to cancer and other serious health consequences.

• Don’t induce vomiting on a regular basis (in other words, if you have bulimia, treat it). Vomiting on a regular basis will damage your teeth and gums.

• Don’t eat sugar. Sugar is not only exceptionally bad for your overall health, but it is extremely detrimental to teeth and gums. There are societies in the world which are isolated and do not consume processed sugars. The people who live in these societies (i.e. pygmies) do not suffer from gum disease, despite a lack of dental care and modern medicine. The less sugar you eat, the less likely you are to develop gum disease or tooth decay. Take extra care to brush and floss thoroughly following any sugar you eat or drink. By limiting your intake of sugar, you will greatly reduce the possibility of developing cavities and other problems. Reducing the frequency of intake is more important than reducing the amount. So if you can, keep it down to once a day or less. Don’t snack on candy throughout the day.

Following these do’s and don’ts in no way guarantees that you won’t develop problems with your teeth and gums since there are also genetic factors involved, but lifestyle is certainly a huge contributing factor. By enjoying a healthy lifestyle, you can protect your oral health.

What can you do to treat insomnia? If you do have any underlying physiological disorder, you’ll need to start by treating that. You should also take a look at your life and figure out if there are stressors in your environment that are making it difficult to sleep. If you live in a toxic environment, you may have a hard time sleeping due to noise pollution, light pollution, general unhappiness, or other reasons. Moving to a new environment or adjusting your current environment may solve the problem—this is called improving your sleep hygiene. If you start associating your bed with difficulty falling asleep, performance anxiety can make the problem worse. It’s a good idea to only use your bed for sleeping and do other activities (such as watching television or reading a book) on a couch somewhere else.

Another tactic is to limit your sleeping time in order to induce just slight sleep deprivation. This is called sleep restriction. The idea is that this way you will be at least slightly tired when going to bed—though you don’t want to do it so much you get fatigued, which can actually make it harder to sleep. Another idea is to use paradoxical intention—where you try not to fall asleep (think about how often you nodded off reading dull textbooks in high school, for example).

About half of all insomnia cases can be linked to a psychological problem such as depression or anxiety. If you suspect that something like this may be playing into your insomnia, you’ll need to treat your psychological issue in order to effectively treat your insomnia for the long term. When you go to bed, try not to let your mind race—if your mind is racing, then consider getting up and reading a book, exercising, or doing some other activity for a while.

There are over-the-counter and prescription drugs you can get to help you sleep, though none of them should be used for an extended time period if you can avoid it since they can create dependency. Use as small a dosage as possible. Herbal treatments exist as well (valerian, medical marijuana, etc.).

You will probably use some combination of the methods above in order to overcome your insomnia—you may also need to develop your own techniques for falling asleep. Meditation and mindfulness help a lot of patients to sleep as well—anything you can do to relax your mind and trust in the process of sleep will help you get there.

The benefits of a detox diet can include improved digestive health, clearer skin, less fatigue, more energy, improved mental focus, and fewer aches and pains. With all of these benefits, are there any setbacks? That depends—weight loss detox diets aren’t right for everyone. If for example you are pregnant or nursing, you should not use a detox diet to lose weight. People with serious medical conditions also aren’t always suitable candidates for a detox diet. If you have cancer, an autoimmune disease, diabetes, or any other chronic illness, you should consult a doctor before going on a detox diet. While detox diets can improve some conditions, they may worsen others if they are extreme in nature.

Usually detox diets only cause problems for people when taken to extremes. It makes sense to eat organically, after all; and avoiding artificial substances in your diet can really only help you. Since taking in proper nutrition is emphasized, detox diets are usually healthy. Fiber is also good for you, but it should be moderated. If you go overboard with the fiber, you could cause excessive diarrhea, which isn’t good for you. Along with excessive diarrhea, possible side effects may include hunger, irritability, and fatigue in the early stages of the diet. Again though, this comes down to how severe your diet is.

Some detox diets are ultra restrictive while others allow you to eat pretty much as much as you want of whatever you want—so long as you avoid artificial foods. An example of a very restrictive detox diet would be a diet which eliminates all sugars, including natural sugars. On a diet like this you can really only eat meat, eggs, certain cheeses, and vegetables. This type of diet would be more likely to cause side effects than a diet which only eliminated added sugars. The more extreme a diet is the shorter the time period you should use it. Less restrictive diets can be maintained for longer periods of time without causing nutritional deficiencies. Indeed, a very non-restrictive organic diet hardly counts as a diet at all—just healthy eating. By observing this rule of moderation you can mitigate and prevent side effects when using weight loss detox diets.