Four Ways to Make Your Summer Better

It's getting​ hotter by the day, and God knows we start worrying about our skin, amongst other things, even more during these times. Here are some tips to make sure your skin is glowing and you are comfortable even through the hot, dehydrating summer days!

Aloe Vera Gel

A very versatile product, you can leave it on for a few hours after a grueling day in the heat, or even overnight. It acts as a cooling agent and it also moisturizes skin very well. It plumps up your skin, and helps regain the softer and smoother skin you love.

Drinking more water

Water keeps you hydrated and fresh. It is much more important in summer because there's a higher chance of dehydration, so you gotta be much more careful. Always carry a water bottle so you can keep track of your water intake. Oh and fruit water works wonders too! You could also carry a small spray bottle to mist your face once in a while to refresh yourself or simply carry a pack of wet wipes!

SPF Sunscreen

This is actually a prerequisite for all seasons but it's always good to pay extra attention in summer. Always look for an SPF sunscreen with a factor of at least 15, irrespective of skin type and ethnicity. Damaging UV rays can penetrate all types of skin. However, the lower the melanin content of your skin, the higher the SPF you require, because melanin is like a natural UV filter of sorts.This Kaya sunscreen is my personal favorite and I absolutely recommend it! Find it here.

Loose clothes

Loose clothes allows your skin to breathe easily and light colors does not trap heat as much as dark ones. Think soft colors, flowy fabric, and airy silhouettes. An extra tee shirt in the backpack will always come in handy.
An added bonus: These clothes are super comfy!

Would you like to see me talk more about specific skincare products? Let me know on Instagram/Twitter!

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Nine Healthy Foods for Sugar Cravings

Who doesn't love sugar? It's a very common craving and a lot of us deal with it on a pretty regular basis.

However, as we are well aware, sugar isn't good for our bodies. It's okay to give in sometimes (we are human, after all) but if you're going overboard with your sugar intake, it's wise to look for healthy substitutes that will satiate your need for the white stuff without affecting your health too badly.

Here's a list of nine healthy foods that'll help you beat your sugar cravings!



1. Dark Chocolate

This is one of my favorite options so I've put it at the top of the list! It's naturally delicious (it is chocolate after all!) and is full of antioxidants. Dark chocolate does get slightly bitter for some people, and some find love at first bite. If you are in the first group, I'd suggest starting at a lower percentage and work your way up. Choose a bar that's at least 70 percent cacao, eventually. That is your best bet of optimum nutritional value. Raw, dark chocolate provides magnesium, vitamin B, and essential fibers.
We've all read about the studies showing chocolate is good for you. So go on, indulge in a square or two! Just don't eat the whole bar.

2. Fruits
Self explanatory, really! Fruits are a great source of natural sugar. But honestly, fruits today are very much sweeter and lower in fiber because the fruits have been domesticated so much. Check out this article about what fruits really were like in their wild forms. So, too much fruit isn't great for you, either. This is not to say you shouldn't eat fruits. Just to say you mustn't binge. Snack on them with nut butters or add them to a fruit-and-vegetable smoothie.

3. Dates
Plant based and high in fiber, there's no way you can go wrong with this. Dates are also a good source of potassium - which can prevent osteoporosis, stroke, kidney stones and high blood pressure. Dates also contain high levels of soluble fiber, which helps fight off sugar cravings and even stimulates the growth of friendly bacteria in the intestines.
You can add it to a smoothie, have them with some nut butters, or much on them straight out of the bag.
An old Indian snack that a lot of Indian kids have been having for a long long time - dates with a dollop of plain ghee on top. It tastes wonderful and it's great for your health. Something we have gotten used to eating in winters. I don't know if this is something that people around the world also do, but I'm sure Indians know of it.

4. Bliss Balls
A quick healthy snack made of dates as a base - to which you can add any combination of things such as pecans, tahini, cimmanon, flax seeds, chia seeds, cinnamon, maca, spirulina, cacao powder, cacao nibs, turmeric. Add coconut oil for a creamy consistency. You can switch up the ingredients and make it suited to your cravings at the time. This is a great on the go snack and stays firm when refrigerated.
You can find my favorite recipe here.

5. Nut Butters
Nut butter provide proteins + healthy fats. You should make sure you're buying healthy nut butters because some nut butters are available with added sugar. Make sure you buy the ones without any added sugar! Your body does require healthy fats. And proteins are a great way to reduce sugar cravings. Nut butters also contain sulfur - a mineral found throughout your body - muscles, bones, skin - you name it. It contributes to keeping your skin, muscles and joints healthy. A lack of sulfur can lead to stiff joints and sagging skin.
Combine nut butters with bananas, toast, berries, celery sticks, apples, etc. Get creative with the dipping!
 
6. Organic Honey

 Honey is a natural sweetener and makes for an excellent sugar substitute. It is packed with health benefits - from supporting the immune system to treating everything from a hangover to a sore throat. You can add it to tea, drizzle it onto smoothies, yogurt, nice cream, or toast. Or just eat a spoonful!

7. Green/Herbal/Fruit Teas
Green tea has widely touted benefits, but herbal and fruit teas are no less! A lot of them have specific effects on the body and can really be used to provide situational benefits. In this case, to curb sugar cravings. For example, hibiscus tea is naturally sweet. Take it up a notch with some cinnamon. Chocolate teas are great because they're sweet but also full of antioxidants and nutrients. Licorice tea is another oft recommended tea because it's naturally sweet - plus it fills you up, and satiates thirst as well. Check out this link for more tea options.

8. Yogurt
Sometimes  a sugar craving is often actually your bod requesting other vital minerals that it lacks. Yogurt is a great way to provide your body with phosphorus, calcium, and probiotics. And this is just from plain yogurt. You can add berries, granola, or (healthy) trail mix for a creamy satisfying dessert. Alternatively, you can also blend it into a smoothie.

9. Cinnamon
Yes, a spice can help too! Cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar levels, which in turn reduces sugar cravings. Cinnamon minimizes insulin spikes after you’ve eaten, which means your blood sugar stays relatively stable, keeping the sugar cravings at bay.

I must say, this list is in no way comprehensive and there are a lot of other different combinations of foods you can try. Plus, I am also a major sugar craver, and you know what? Sometimes it's okay to give in. We're only human. Sometimes we want that doughnut or cupcake. Don't beat yourself up if you give in once in a while. It just shouldn't be on a daily/regular basis.
In those cases, pick one of the substitutes above. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Photo Credits:
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womenshealthmag.com

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My Top Six Uses of Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is something the west discovered fairly recently, but we in India have been swearing by it for ages, millennia actually.
Coconut oil is deep rooted in Indian traditions and for very good reason.
Indian heritage uses many natural herbs and oils that are very useful in order to heal the body and provide nourishment and good health. I use organic cold pressed coconut oil, and that is the kind I would recommend.
Coconut oil is one such magical oil that provides so much! Read on to know my top six uses:

1. Moisturiser and lip balm - You can use this as a lip balm and as a body moisturizer. I have personally tried this and I am absolutely satisfied with the results! Your skin will very well moisturized without any of the harmful chemicals.
In a tropical climate like ours (India), it is almost always liquid, so in summers, you can use it at home before bed. When it's colder outside, it turns solid so you can carry it around in a little tub and use it during the day as well.

2. During and post shower - In the shower, use coconut oil as a shaving cream substitute. After your shower, apply coconut oil liberally all over your body. Coconut oil will hydrate dry skin, and helps to soothe skin after shaving. Coconut oil also has a natural SPF and is a great and easy way to protect your skin from harmful rays and sun damage.

3. Hair leave in conditioner - After you wash your hair, let it air dry or use a cotton t-shirt to absorb the water. After hair is fairly damp, or semi dry, apply coconut oil to the ends and part of the length of your hair. There is no need to apply to the roots. The ends need most nourishment so be most liberal here. Instead of using chemical laden conditioners, it is best to use a natural product like coconut oil. Your hair will thank you. This works best for thick/coarse hair. If you have fine or limp hair, don't use this as it will weight down your hair.

4. Vegan substitute in baking - It is a great substitute for butter, milk, eggs, shortening and so many more. Check out this link for comprehensive information. That website on the whole is a wonderful resource for learning more about your journey towards veganism.

5. Anti acne - Although people do believe that acne and pimples are caused due to oil and sebum in skin, and that oil would make it worse, they're wrong. Coconut oil has anti bacterial properties, and it will work to combat the harmful bacteria, which is the root cause of these skin issues. If you feel it is more severe, you can also mix it with a little bit of tea tree oil, as it has strong purifying and antibacterial properties. Just dab on a little, leave it overnight, and you will see a change in the morning!

6. Boost Nutrients in Smoothies – Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to any fruit smoothie for a boost of cholesterol fighting compounds. Side benefit? It improves the texture and taste of smoothies, while adding healthy fats to your diet. Over time, if you enjoy the taste, you can add it to vegetable smoothies as well. It'll help make it more palatable as people do take some time to get used to the taste of vegetable smoothies!

These are just a few of the awesome results that you can get from coconut oil. It is truly a versatile ingredient with uses from skincare to food to healing to being a part of your vegan/vegetarian journey! Would you like to see more articles about healthy, DIY and organic skincare? Let me know in the comments below!


Photo Credit: Well-beingsecrets

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3 Ways to Give Yourself Some Love in the Morning

It’s really not too hard. Why do we make it so hard? The pressure of everyday life gets to you and in all the rush you have no time for yourself. It is very easy to forget ourselves while running around trying to get everything done. We are caught up in a whirlwind of activity where we don’t even have any time to think anymore. It gets to us. And what’s even more surprising is that we CHOOSE this. This kind of life is actually a conscious decision. We choose to put ourselves through this strain.

It would be really nice to say ‘make radical changes in your life and lead a life of calm’. But that isn’t really possible. Changes cannot be made overnight. Here are a few ways to love yourself that you can squeeze into a hectic morning:

Wake up 10 Minutes Earlier than Usual

The sun activates your natural circadian rhythm, which in turn affects your endocrine system. Put an alarm for 10 minutes before the time you regularly wake up. Once the alarm rings, get out of bed, go to the window, and open the curtains wide. Stand there, and bask in the warmth of a new day. Breathe deeply and let it wash over you. Even 5 minutes of this is enough. It activates your body, waking you up and ensuring that your drowsiness disappears, keeping you upbeat for the day.

Pick Flavoured Water instead of Morning Coffee

Since you spent those 5 minutes in the lovely sunlight warming up your body, you can skip the coffee this morning. Caffeine won’t be required for the kickstart since you’ve already done that for yourself. Isn’t that neat? But...water is a necessity, everyone knows that. However, if you actually sit down and check how many people drink the requisite amount of water as per their body weight on a daily basis, you will find a comparatively much lower number. Flavored water is easy to make, just slice and add any fruits of your liking to the water! This adds flavour and makes it more palatable, while ensuring that you increase your intake.

Spend a Gadget - Free Hour

This one might be a little hard to do for most of us, but trust me, if you can manage this, it will be totally worth it. Once you turn off your alarm, and spend your five minutes of sunshine time, you’ll be awake enough. Quickly check your phone to see if there are any changes in your schedule for the day. Either way, unless it’s an emergency, put it away. An emergency means something unavoidably important. Your manicure appointment slot being changed does NOT constitute an emergency. So, put away your phone, and do the rest of your morning activities. You will get done a lot faster too, without the continuous distraction of your smartphone or tablet – I can go on with the list, but I’m sure you get what I mean. You can have the radio on though. It would be a nice change.

Try these for atleast a week, and comment below when you see the changes!

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Why Go Green?

Nowadays we are seeing a lot of interest in ‘living green’ or ‘going green’. Apart from it being the latest fad, what do we really know about it? It isn’t just about getting into the latest trend or following the latest fashion. It is fashionable right now, yes. However, I do not advocate this as a trend, or something to do once and move on to the next thing. Do it if you believe this is a way of life, not a new hashtagged trend. What does it mean to go green?

It means living a sustainable lifestyle

Knowing that what you’re using is not going to harm the environment, is a really good feeling. Also, it will be good for your skin and health and your mind, too. Many of these sustainable products also help the farmers and growers who painstakingly ensure that the products are truly green and environment-friendly. That also adds to a sense of satisfaction. It gives a certain peace of mind, knowing that your actions help our planet and the generations to come. Knowing where the ingredients of your products come from or the fabric of your clothes, or the vegetables in your food; makes you more connected with the world, giving you a keen awareness of how our actions affect everyone else.

It means awareness and caring

Being aware to this extent – it stands to reason that you do care about the effect of every decision that is made. It means living in harmony with your surroundings. It means being aware of the effect of every purchase you make. It means living a more responsible life. Being in harmony with the world around you goes beyond healthcare or sustainable fashion. It touches you in ways you won’t imagine or understand till you try it. It is a good lifestyle, one we truly advocate. And I can’t stress this enough – do not treat this as a trend. A green lifestyle is above and beyond such fads. It is something that requires dedication and a will to really make a difference.

It means commitment

Going green is a gradual lifelong process for most of us. We really don’t just wake up one day and decide to make radical lifestyle changes – it requires a commitment and dedication that would be difficult but totally worth it in the long run. The fact that you are here, reading this, shows that you’re wondering about whether to make that commitment. Honestly, go for it.

I'm not saying it will be easy; it is a lot to take in at once. Go about it slowly, make small changes, and you’ll see that it is easier to do so when you do it little by little. 

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Do You Think You're Beautiful?

Do you think you are beautiful? If you do, is it because you've been told you are? If you don't, is it because you haven't? 

I have read multiple articles across various platforms, written by women who are so affected by other people's opinions of their body and their life. Don't be. Society doesn't deserve that kind of attention from you. What is society, anyway? A vague, faceless, teeming mass of people who don't have anything to do with you - they just want to judge you and give you unwarranted advice. You didn't ask for their inputs. So why do you listen?

You think it makes sense for you to adjust to what society wants to see? They tell you you're too dark, too fair, too skinny, too fat, you have weird hair, you wear weird clothes.. who cares? As long as you are happy with yourself, nothing else matters.

I see women write articles about how they were told by an aunt to start using fairness creams or else nobody would marry them. These women let it affect them. It affected their life and their self esteem. They valued themselves based on how 'society' told them they deserved to be valued. To all you women, I have just one question. Do you really think that this is the right way to react?

Do you think you need to base your opinion of yourself on what everyone thinks? I'm not going to be one of the multitude that tries to force my opinion on you. I think you are the person who knows what is best for you. You know what you need to do to keep yourself happy.

But if you really want to know what I think, I will tell you. I think society follows a herd mentality that has pervaded every aspect of their lives. If you let them, they will do the same to you. They will pull you down into a cookie cutter mold till all your individuality is lost and you aren't you anymore. You become one of the teeming mass of people that makes up society. And then you are acceptable. Because you are not an individual anymore.

If you want to know what I think, it is only this - stop caring. Your opinion should be the one that matters most to you. I don't care if you are skin and bones, or if you wear XXXL clothes, or have purple hair, or a million piercings. I think you are beautiful as you are. And nobody can take that away from you, as long as you let them. 

Do you know what else is beautiful? Confidence and positivity. If you are confident in yourself, and have a healthy dose of self esteem, I bet you nobody will be able to refrain from liking you too. Because you like yourself. Because you have worked hard to get where you are in life, you work on yourself - mind and body - to better yourself everyday. And does anything really matter more than that?

I think not. 

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I took a break.

Hi everyone!

You've all probably noticed I've been missing for the past month. It's been a crazy month. I haven't posted anything for the whole of December. It's been a month of deep reflection for me. Thinking things through and figuring them out.

It's only fitting that the new year made a few things better and brought a few new challenges. I've learnt more, and unlearnt some. And it helped me take the decision to make needed changes, including right here on the blog. I am going to restructure this blog now - you'll see the changes rolling out over the next few weeks.

I'm overwhelmed with how supportive you guys have been. The amount of correspondence I've gotten has been overwhelming - emails, tweets, Instagram DMs; all of it everywhere. I'm so thankful to each and every one of you for being there.

I will be continuing what I am writing, but I will also be adding some more stuff. I'm not disclosing anything about it right now! I'm keeping it as a little surprise for you. I hope you guys like it!

Do let me know what you like. You know where to contact me! All information below.  

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Why I don't like Heat Styling

All of us know that using hot tools and heat styling isn't really good for our hair. Yet we insist on doing so. Why is that? Just to look a little better, we are sacrificing the health of our hair. We already know it is damaging. We know about split ends, and straw like hair but we continue doing things. Today, I'm talking specifically about heat styling though.

Hair fibers are essentially made up of proteins. The protein in our hair and nails is called keratin. therefore, even though our hair fibers aren't technically living, it is still made of proteins and they need to get nutrition for the hair to be healthy. For this, you need to baby your hair and care about it just like you care for your skin. You don't skimp on moisturizing and treating your skin well, so why not extend the same courtesy to you hair?

When you use hot tools, you are making your hair brittle each time you use it. The strands become dull, dry, damaged; not to mention scary split ends! Reducing the use of hot tools can go a long way in repairing the hair damage to your strands.
 
Heat makes your hair brittle from the follicles all along the hair shaft - all the way to the tips. So it isn't a healthy option under any circumstances. The heat actually boils and drives out the water from the shaft, leading to cuticle damage as well as breaking the proteins, leading to brittle, easily breakable hair.

I do not use hot tools AT ALL on my hair. I experiment with my hair a lot, but I do not use any daily heat treatments on my hair. I use it very very rarely. The last time I used a hot tool was at my cousin's wedding a few months back. And I used a hair dryer set on low. That's all. No hot tools, no products.

I understand that not all of you would be able to completely quit heat styling, as many of you are so used to it, but trust me on this, try to cut back a little everyday, and you'll get used to going all natural with your hair. And your hair will thank you for it too!

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