I picked up an excellent book a couple of weeks ago at the drugstore that I couldn’t put down called The Antioxidant Miracle by Lester Packer, Ph.d.  Dr. Packer is a scientist who specializes in antioxidants and how they function in our bodies.  He is the director of the Packer Lab at Berkley, California State University, and who for the last few decades has focused on 5 key antioxidants that when combined produced increased effectiveness than when just taken by themselves. The network antioxidants include Lipoic acid, CoQ10, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Glutathione. 

If you are interested in reversing or preventing the signs of aging, keeping skin supple and wrinkle free, preventing cancer, diabetes, gum disease, increasing your energy, not to mention your sex life! as well as reversing bad genes you need to read this book.  Even though it’s been years since it’s been written the information still holds true and knowledge is power and if taking antioxidants will keep you healthy and strong way into your older years then we all need to know about it.

Lester Packer goes on the explain the benefits of each antioxidant in the antioxidant network.  His main focus was on the effects of lipoic acid and even though I won’t go into too much detail here on each I will touch upon what he mentions… sorry too much information to write in one post.  Firstly, in order to understand antioxidants you need to understand their opposite side “free radicals”.  Free radicals are in all of us and they are necessary - they can be helpful or hurtful.  When free radicals attack we need antioxidants to neutralize their effects.  Antioxidants are basically stopping the free radicals from destroying your healthy cells.  Now since the antioxidant has stopped the free radicals and eaten it up it is able to recycle and regenerate itself with the help of other network antioxidants. I find this completely amazing.  With age our body does not produce enough antioxidants to do this therefore it is necessary to supplement.  Certain antioxidants are not even produced by the body such as Vitamin C so taking a daily dose is recommended especially if you are not getting it from nutritional sources. 

Through Dr. Packer’s work, Lipoic acid was shown as being the most powerful antioxidant in the entire network - it actually helped to increase the levels of effectiveness of Glutathione, Vitamins C and E and CoQ10.  In another post we will go on to discuss each of these antioxidants, their importance and how it affects the other network antioxidants.  But I highly recommend picking up a copy of The Antioxidant Miracle since the information is so vast but easily read and understood.

So yesterday i had this great idea…  I was thinking someone needs to come up with an anti-aging workout for your face when low and behold, today i came across an article on a face exercise program created by Marie-Veronique Nadeau that targets the muscles of the face.  I can’t believe no one has done this before…  We workout every other part of our body so why not our face?  The one part that is always exposed! 

The program is available in an easy to follow book called the Yoga Face Lift that has charts, photographs and exercises. The Yoga Face Lift helps to reduce frown lines, extra chins, and chicken necks by toning and firming your muscles and all it takes is 5-10 minutes a day and years off your face! 

So say goodbye to your surgeon and hello to your new Yoga Face!

Acne is a problem for a large number of people.  There are alot of products out there and some just don’t cut it.  Organic beauty expert Julie Gabriel, R.N.S., therefore created Clear Skin: Organic Action Plan for Acne, a book featuring all-natural organic solutions to rid your face of acne and keep it healthy.  An astonishing 98% of skin care products contain ingredients that cause acne as well as some of the foods you eat. The Acne Detox method Julie outlines will guide you through your diet, stress-relief, organic skincare and explain the easy way to achieve clear, healthy and acne free skin.

Are we a nation obsessed with the way we look?  Possibly, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons,  last year alone we spent $9.4 billion on cosmetic surgery. There were more than 10 million cosmetic procedures performed in 2005, including 3.8 million Botox injections.

A book by Alex Kuczynski, Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession With Cosmetic Surgery looks into what’s fueling this massive trend.