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Just when we’ve finally managed to recover from the battering our skin and hair took over the summer, here comes cold weather. Freezing temperatures and strong winds definitely do no good to our skin or hair. You’re not safe even if you’re inside: dry air strips the moisture, making our hair look rough and skin feeling itchy and cracked.

In this article, we’ll offer tips and tricks on how to keep your skin and hair healthy even during cold weather.

General Preventive Measures

As you may have heard, prevention is always better than cure. The following tips can help you prevent dry skin and hair during the harshest weather conditions:

• Avoid long, hot showers – Although this may seem impossible during winter, taking short warm or lukewarm showers is much healthier for your skin and hair.
• Layer up – If you need to go outside, put on enough layers to protect your skin and hair. Scarves, hats, and gloves should become your best friends during winter.
• Drink enough water – Studies show drinking water keeps your skin hydrated.
• Adjust your diet – Food’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids – such as salmon, avocado, nuts, or olive oil – should become a part of your diet. These healthy fats hydrate and soothe your skin. Additionally, stock up on produce rich in vitamin C, such as citrus fruits or greens. Vitamin C helps the production of collagen and elastin, both essential for skin and hair.

In Case You Forgot…

So, what if you were too late with preventive measures and are now wondering how to cure dry skin and hair? Here are the solutions:

Dry Skin

To cure dry skin, you’ll need to use thick moisturizers with nurturing ingredients such as shea butter, glycerin, primrose oil, or vitamin E. Additionally, you can use creams with ceramides and lipids to repair the damage.

It’s also important to carefully choose the soaps and shower gels. Look for those that don’t contain ingredients that will strip the moisture further.

After showering, apply a thick layer of lotion to lock in the moisture.

Red Nose

The best way to get rid of a red nose is to apply a warm compress for several minutes and then apply ointment or a thick moisturizer. Remember to use soft tissues for wiping your nose and moisturize every night before bed.

Dry Hair

Wind and cold air always take their toll on our hair. To keep your hair shiny and healthy during winter, it’s best to wash it as seldom as possible. Shampoos strip away the moisture and make our scalp and hair even drier. Try waiting longer between washes to enable your hair to recover.

Conditioners and hair masks are a must during winter. They contain the necessary ingredients to keep your hair moisturized.

Additionally, avoid brushing your wet hair because it’s much more delicate and prone to damage. If you need to brush it, use a tad of olive oil to make the process easier.

If you have a dry scalp, massage it with olive or coconut oil before washing your hair.

Dry and Chapped Lips

For flaky lips, you can use a sugar scrub or a toothbrush to get rid of excess skin. Also, don’t forget about lip balm; it should be used both outside and inside due to dry air.

Before bed, you can apply a rich moisturizer to your lips to hydrate them.

Cracked Feet

Cracked heels are another common problem during winter. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend money on pedicures. Instead, follow these three steps to get rid of cracked and dry feet:

1. Scrub once a week.
2. Moisturize every night.
3. Wear cotton socks to bed.

Dry Face and Windburn

Because it’s always exposed, your face can get extremely dry due to harsh winds and low temperatures to cure it, it’s necessary to use a gentle face wash and apply thick moisturizers followed by face oils.

Many people tend to forget that it’s possible to get sunburn even during the cold weather. Hence, using an SPF cream is highly advisable year-round.

Your Skin and Hair Will Be Grateful

Our skincare and haircare routines should change depending on the time of year. During winter, skin and hair get easily damaged by strong winds, rain, snow, and low temperatures. To keep them protected, it’s necessary to use the right products and be gentle and consistent.

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Soups are a favorite to many, especially during cold weather. They are packed with nutrients, cheap and easy to make in bulk, and enable you to experiment with different ingredients. While they can be extremely healthy, soups don’t always contribute to losing weight. Depending on your habits, soup can greatly inhibit the weight loss process.

Here’s what you should avoid if you want to eat soup and lose weight.

Eating Cream-Based Soups

Cream-based soups typically contain high-fat dairy products such as milk or cream. Although they are delicious and can be healthy, these soups are usually very high in calories, making weight loss much harder. Plus, dairy fat can affect your heart health and increase cholesterol levels.

If you want to lose weight, you should eat more broth-based soups instead.

Eating Starch-Based Soups

Starch is a carbohydrate found in various foods such as potatoes, rice, or wheat and has many health benefits. However, regular consumption of starch-based soups won’t help with weight loss. Most soups of this type are made with cream, milk, and bacon, which don’t contribute much to losing weight.

Moreover, these soups tend to be low in protein, which means you’ll feel hungry again after a short period.

Eating Soups Out of Bread Bowls

While soup in a bread bowl looks eye-appealing and delicious, it doesn’t assist in losing weight. One bread bowl can add hundreds of calories to your meal and cause spikes in blood sugar levels, thus slowing down the weight loss process.

Unless you can control yourself and not eat the bowl, you should avoid eating soups this way if you want to lose weight.

Don’t Give Up Soups to Lose Weight

If you want to lose weight, you don’t have to cut soups out of your diet. On the contrary, you should eat them often because they’ll help you consume fewer calories during your meals. Just remember to focus on broth-based soups rich in protein and fiber.

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Not only does a healthy gut contribute to effective digestion, but the long list of benefits includes improved heart and brain health and a more robust immune system. Now, a link has been found between balanced microbiota levels and lower blood pressure.

Keep reading to find out more about what this study found and the types of food that will help you benefit from this discovery.

Link Between Gut Health and Lower Blood Pressure Study

A group of epidemiology, biology, and public health researchers discovered an interesting connection. The study, published in the Hypertension journal, analyzed 904 participants to examine how gut microbiome arrangement relates to blood pressure. It was designed to assess how foods that contain flavonoids affect these health metrics.

What Are Flavonoids?

They are a group of natural substances found in many vegetables, fruits, grains, roots, flowers, bark, herbs, tea, chocolate, and wine. They’re well known for their positive effects on general health and preventing illnesses, including diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and many others.

Study Findings

Participants’ consumption of apples, pears, berries, and red wine throughout the study was analyzed. The researcher’s findings concluded that 15.2% of microbial factors responsible for clinically significant lower systolic blood pressure came from flavonoid-rich foods in the diet.

The study’s co-author Aedín Cassidy, Ph.D., said what we consume is critical in shaping our gut microbiome. He elaborated that in contrast to other food elements, flavonoids are mainly absorbed in the gut.

Increase Your Flavonoids Intake for Gut Health and Low Blood Pressure

The new study essentially confirmed that incorporating flavonoid-rich food into your diet boosts gut health and decreases blood pressure. Examples of such foods include berries, red cabbage, onions, tea, red wine, and dark chocolate.

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Visceral or belly fat wraps around your internal organs and increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and more. Recent studies highlighted one drink that can help you battle visceral fat.

Read on to learn more about this wonder beverage.

Tea

Tea contains ingredients that can boost our metabolism and assist in fat loss. Plus, drinking tea reduces the risk of heart disease and repairs cells, both of which are related to decreasing visceral fat.

It’s important to clarify that not all types of tea are beneficial in this sense. For this purpose, it’s best to drink herbal or caffeinated teas.

We recommend consuming green tea for the most effective fat loss. The tea is rich in EGCG, a powerful antioxidant that improves our metabolism and contributes to burning visceral fat. One study indicated that drinking four cups of green tea each day causes weight loss. In addition, people with diabetes reported improved blood pressure levels thanks to this dose of green tea.

Although not as effective, herbal teas can also help you lose weight. Thanks to the wide range of flavors available, you can choose the one you like best and drink it instead of eating a late-night snack. These teas are low in calories and high in nutrients, which is why you should incorporate them into your routine. Since herbal teas don’t contain caffeine, you don’t have to be afraid of not being able to sleep.

Lose Weight Effectively

Consuming certain types of tea can reduce visceral fat. However, merely drinking tea without adjusting your lifestyle won’t have a significant effect. If you want to lose weight and be healthy, you’ll need to eat healthy foods, remain physically active, and be persistent.

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A glass of orange juice at breakfast is perceived as a great source of immune system-boosting nutrients like vitamin C. Depending on the quality, one eight-ounce cup contains between 80% and 100% of your daily value of vitamin C and other vitamins. However, orange juice has an unhealthy side: its sugar content.

Although pure orange juice is considered healthier than soda, as they both contain sugar, the fact that orange juice’s sugar is natural instead of artificially added doesn’t change how our body processes it.

According to JAMA Network Open, our body breaks down both natural and artificial sugars the same way. Therefore, drinking too much orange juice can sometimes lead to undesirable side effects. Keep reading to learn what some of them are, with an extra one revealed at the end.

1. Weight Gain

There is strong evidence that excess sugar causes weight gain through additional calories. The body usually digests sugary foods faster; therefore, the offset of hunger doesn’t last very long. That leads to more eating throughout the day, and thus, a greater caloric intake overall.

A Nutrition & Diabetes four-week study found that when participants drank orange juice three times a day between meals, they experienced an increase in body fat and a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

Sugar intake can become excessive when a combination of orange juice and other products with sugar adds up throughout the day.

2. Developing Type 2 Diabetes

Excessive sugar consumption and decreased insulin sensitivity have also been connected to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Many studies have specifically found a link between type 2 diabetes and sugary drinks containing fruit juice.

One study conducted over 24 years with over 180,000 participants concluded that drinking fruit juice every day led to a 21% higher risk of developing diabetes. On the other hand, eating the fruit whole correlated with a 23% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

Assistant Professor at Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Qi Sun, advised that the juicing process of fruits reduces its phytochemical and dietary fiber benefits. Moreover, the juices are absorbed more quickly and cause a rapid change in insulin levels and blood sugar than whole fruit.

3. Lower Your Blood Pressure

It’s not all bad news; drinking “too much” orange juice may also help to reduce your blood pressure. An American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that 24 overweight men’s blood pressure was reduced after drinking two cups of orange juice daily for a month.

They believed the benefits could be linked to the significant content of the polyphenol hesperidin found in orange juice. Hesperidin is a bioflavonoid shown to take on an anti-atherogenic and anti-inflammatory role in our bodies.

The Pros and Cons of Drinking Too Much Orange Juice

Obesity, a leading cause of diabetes and a result of excessive weight gain, can be contributed to by excessive sugar calories and overeating following sugar crashes. Studies confirm that the sugar content in fruit juice is exceptionally high, and it offers less nutritional benefit than eating whole fruit.

While drinking too much juice can help lower blood pressure, it also increases your risk of weight gain, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

To help keep your sugar intake within a healthy range, limit yourself to one cup of fruit juice per day.

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Counting calories is a popular method for losing weight. But it doesn’t work for everyone. More often than not, the pounds you’ve lost will return after a short period. This leads to frustration and discouragement and to people giving up on their weight loss journey.

Let’s look at the science behind this weight loss method and see if there’s an alternative.

There’s More to It

Many people think that counting calories is an efficient way to lose weight. As such, they only pay attention to the numbers. But experts claim it’s equally important to consider where the calories are coming from.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, three main factors determine how your body processes food:

• Metabolism
• Gut microbiome
• Type of calories

Our body needs to work to extract calories from the food we eat. The type of food we consume will determine how much energy our body will need to spend. This is called “caloric availability.”

Caloric availability represents the number of calories we can actually extract from foods, compared to the total calorie amount. For example, when we eat 100 calories of protein, we can use only around 70 calories. The rest goes to the energy that’s necessary for processing the 100 calories.

In comparison, the caloric availability of fat is 100%, complex carbohydrates 90%, and refined carbs around 97%. This means our body doesn’t use a lot of energy when digesting them.

This is connected to the thermic effect of food (TEF), which we experience whenever we’re digesting macronutrients. The TEF for protein is high, meaning our metabolism works harder to digest them, thus expending more energy and contributing to weight loss.

Eat More Protein

Instead of only paying attention to the total number of calories you consume throughout the day, focus on the origin and quality. Incorporate more protein into your diet, increase your fiber intake, and consume less sugar.

If keeping track of your food makes you feel good, try counting macros, but consult your doctor or dietitian first.

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