"You are what you eat...."

 "You are what you eat.....and drink......"
Rather, I must say, WE are what we eat and drink!!

Almost everyone who has read my blog so far, comes up with the same question:"where are the tips?"

I started with the most basic tip yesterday and that went unnoticed! Why?  Because, the moment we talk about Skin Care, our immediate thoughts are 'face packs, creams, lotions, cleansers....'
Sure these are definitely part of Skin Care, but, only a 'part' of it.  But these come much later.  First we have to have a good foundation to build anything on.

Yesterday my tips were:

1. Being beautiful start taking roots in the teenage
2. whenever there are hormonal changes in our system, we have to watch what we are doing with ourselves
3. watch what you eat
4. Quality over Quantity - this has to be the mantra of Mothers and Teenagers.
5. "you are what you eat.."

But, for most of you these did not seem like tips, either because you are already doing all this, or because, you are not a teenager any more, or because you don't have a teenager to take care of.
All of us are just looking for quick fix solutions.

This blog is not about quick fix. Only Television commercials have quick fix solutions, not even the products that they are endorsing!!

Skin repair has to work from inside out!  Tough, but true. 

You can start with a very simple regimen.... Drink Water!
Most of us don't realise how little water we really consume.  Our lifestyle these days is such that we lose a lot of water from our system but don't even feel it until it shows up in various forms of medical problems.

About 30 years ago, as students our outdoor activities were plenty and we didn't have scooties, televisions and mobile phones, as professionals we didn't have A/C offices, cars and personal phones & computers, for those at home like home-makers and senior citizens, not all houses had phones.  So,we literally had to 'sweat it out' to do things and to get things done.  These activities in turn used to remind us to drink water every now-&-then to keep hydrating ourselves.

In present age problem is that we don't sweat, but a lot of our body fluid evaporates without really completely tiring us out.  We feel washed out, but can't really put a finger on it! 

Well, reasons for this type of dehydration are:-





Dehydrated and uncared for Skin


1. exposure to monitor rays of the computer dries the skin completely, especially face since it is in direct line of contact for these rays.
2. Air Cons!  This system needs constant supply of water to keep the area cool.  So the air from in-let comes, makes contact with our skin, absorbs the moisture there and the air leaves from outlet
3. Television rays...same as computer monitor rays....dries up the moisture in air and seeps out the same from our skin

  We sit in front of the TV and PC for so long, immersed in what we are doing that we forget to take even a sip of water!  Just the way I have been doing for past 45 mins or so!!

These habits make our skin look lifeless, loose and aged - just as in the above picture.

When we were living in Sydney, we used to use room heaters.  Rented/Budget apartments are never centrally heated!  After three weeks, my skin started look very lifeless and scaly despite all the creams and oils I applied on it.  Then my sister told me, 'even if it is zero degree Celsius outside, make sure you drink some water every 30 mins, and then, keep a bucket of water in front of the heater, make sure you change it every 12 hours'.... it worked!!  My skin returned to normal within a week!!

These are the environmental and lifestyle hazards that lead to de-hydration of skin.  If the skin is not well hydrated, no matter what soap you use or not use, what oils, creams, lotions, fruits packs you apply, its of no use.  Hydration HAS to happen from inside.

How much water to drink?

Frankly speaking.... drink as much water as your body asks for!
There cannot be a measure for the amount of water one needs to drink.  Since each of us has different life styles, each of our hydration or de-hydration levels would be different.

Ideally, human body requires 20 minutes to absorb 200ml of water and 30 minuted to purge the same amount from system. So, logically, we ought to drink 200 ml of water every 50 mins.  This again would differ based on individual physiological make up.

One needs to be extremely, extremely, disciplined and regimented to be able to make sure of drinking water every 50 mins!  So just go by the intuition and need.  But make sure to follow this easy regimen and it will soon become a good habit:-

1. As soon as you wake up, drink one glass of water.  I do this even before I step out of my bed
2. Brush your teeth, eat your 12 almonds and drink another glass of water
3. Drink you coffee, have your shower, and as you come out of the bathroom, drink the 3rd glass of water
4. Get ready,  have you breakfast, 4th glass of water
5. Run to work/school/wherever, reach you desk, drink a glass of water
6. 1st break after 2 periods at school or coffee time at work - drink a glass of water
7. drink a glass of water 30 minutess before actual consumption of lunch - if possible.
8. a glass of water 10 minutess after consumption of food
9. tea time, school break - calls for a glass of water
10. Students reach home - a glass of water.  Adults 5/6pm time for a glass of water
11. Students back home from play, adults back home from work - a glass of water
12. finished dinner, a glass of water
13. bed-time, settled in bed - a glass of water 

See, not so difficult.  If you will notice, these are the times when you generally drink water.  Just make sure you don't miss out these glasses of water.  In addition, if you can gulp another glass of water here and there while breaking your head on a power-point presentation at work, or boring lecture in school/college, it will be ideal!

When our Vedic scholars wrote "Water is the Essence of Life", they knew what they were writing!


Munnar, Kerala.....God's Own Country



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ATHARVAVEDA - CHAPTER 1

(3) APSVANTARMRITMAPSU BHESHAJAM |

-------------(4/4 Atharvaveda)

Water is,the elixir of life, water has medicinal value.

Water is the primary necessity of the human body. Water is alike the elixir of life because of which the body is purified and we become energetic. Water also possesses medicinal value. It frees the body from different doshas (ailments) and is known as Bheshagya. It gives us good health, happiness and Contentment.

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So, that means "Water is the Essence of Beauty"!!

Saddest part is that most of us know this, but avoid drinking water just to avoid visiting washrooms!  Well, we really need to get our priorities right!!

• We know water washes away a lot of toxins from our system a cleans it.
• We know water helps in digestion and absorbtion of protiens, vitamines and minerals into our system
• We know 80% of our body is made up of water, so, we need to replace it whenever we lose it.

Bust still.... we all need constant reminder to drink water!!

See my next page for more 'tips'.