Make Yogurt At Home Thicker and Creamier

How to make yogurt at home? But not just any yogurt, how to make delicious, thick and creamy yogurt right in your kitchen? This question can tempt your taste buds any time but the process of making it might seem daunting, a lot of times. Some of the common problems are yogurt turning out watery, runny or too sour or yogurt not setting at all! This makes most people turn to the store-bought yogurt which tastes good for sure, but with consequences.

The Additives in Store Bought Yogurt

The store-bought yogurt gets its taste and texture from a number of additives and artificial sugars which may be good to the taste but are a lot less nutritious and even bad for health sometimes. The commonly used additives for thickening are gelatin (glue made from animal bones), pectin (a bio-polymer acid, lab-made ingredient), powdered milk etc. And it is usually loaded with unhealthy sugars and artificial sweeteners that can make things really bad for people who have type 2 diabetes. While real and all-natural yogurt is actually supposed to help with many health issues, this one with the additives does just the opposite.

So, if one wants to take advantage of all the essential nutrients the yogurt can offer, it's important that it is made at home using the natural method, which is actually quite simple if you know this secret:

The Natural Method of Making Yogurt at Home

The secret to making the thickest and creamy yogurt is making it at home in a pure clay pot! Pure-clay pots are made from the highest quality natural clay (primary clay) that has no contaminants and is made by hands without using ANY additives. These pots are Non-toxic - will make sure nothing leaches into your yogurt and contaminate it, and semi-porous - allow excess water to evaporate making the yogurt thick and creamy, naturally and WITHOUT any additives.

Once you have the pot, the rest is easy:

Heat the milk to just before boiling point (till small bubbles form on the surface). Turn stove off, and open lid and let it cool down for 30 mins or so, till you can put your little finger and hold it there for 5 secs. Now the milk is ready for the culture.

Add yogurt culture.

Set in the oven with the lid on and oven light on.

Let it incubate for 6-8 hours and the yogurt is ready.

The whole process takes less than 10 minutes hands-on time and the yogurt left in the pot gets thicker and creamier within few hours after fermenting. Also, no additives or sugars are needed and there is no nutritional loss (because the heat from the walls of the pot is gentle on the food's nutritional cells). By using this natural method, you will get healthy, delicious and creamy yogurt every time!

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How to Prevent Mindless Snacking At Work

In today's office weight loss tip, let's talk about preventing one of the worst habits that many of us "office workers" are guilty of - snacking on junk food. A lot of people overlook the time spent in the office as a key contributor to weight gain. Let's face it, we spend at least 8 hours a day working. Anything we do at work will definitely determine whether or not we get fat. One of the worst things that we can do to sabotage our fat loss plans is mindless snacking on junk foods that we conveniently place all over our desks.

Take a look around your desk and even your colleagues. Do you see boxes of chocolate chip cookies, half-eaten bag of potato chips, candy bars and other sugary snacks around? If you've noticed that these snacks are more commonly found on female colleagues desks, don't be surprised.

In a study done by Dannon company, they found that 83% of working women snack at work. Among them, more than half (53%) said they favor potato chips to snack at work, followed by candy bars and chocolates (49%), crackers (49%) and then cookies (48%).

Many of these foods are commonly labeled as comfort foods. Towards late morning and late afternoon where the hunger pangs are most likely to strike office workers. Reaching out for these comfort foods temporarily gratifies many of our needs at that moment: quick carbs, sugar, salt and crispy or chunky high fat goodness.

How these snacks make you fat:

Because many of these foods are high glycemic in nature, they offer you a quick spike in blood sugar levels giving you a momentary boost in energy. Then your insulin kicks in storing all those excess blood sugar as fats. In less than an hour, your blood sugar level crashes sending your energy levels to a downward spiral. Before you know it, you are reaching out for a second candy bar again.

If you think it's no big deal to indulge in some junk food during office hours, then check out how much damage your favorite comfort food contains:

1 big chocolate chip cookie contains 196 calories and 13.7g of sugar.

1 Hershey chocolate bar 223 calories and 22.7g sugar.

1 packet Lays classic 28gm potato chips 150 calories

So how many of these do you consume in a day, a week, a month? If you don't exercise at all, these little additional calories here and there eventually add up and will manifest itself on your waistline.

The study also reported that proximity and convenience are two main factors when it comes to snacking. Many admitted that they snack on "whatever they can find around them".

[Weight Loss Tip] With this in mind, you can easily counteract mindless snacking habits in the office by following the steps below: 

Trash the stash: If you currently already have some junk food around your desk, throw them away. (or give them to the nasty coworker). You have to be firm on this. Start on a clean slate. Now move to the next step.

It's all about timing: Now that you've cleared your stash, we need to replenish them with healthy choices. But before you do that, we need to make sure you do not shop at the wrong time. Why? Because we usually do not make sound nutritional decisions when we are starving. During that time, first thing on our minds is to satisfy our hunger pangs and in many cases we would gravitate towards high carbohydrate snacks. So next time when you are shopping for snacks for the office, do it after you had a good meal and not when you are hungry. Only then will you able to make healthier snack choices.

Choose your next move wisely: This is going to sound like a broken record, but it bears repeating that nuts, seeds and fruits should be the first things on your list when it comes to buying healthy snacks for the office. Nuts and seeds contain healthy monounsaturated fats, fiber, minerals and will help to lower bad cholesterol. Fruits also provide you with fiber, vitamins and natural fruit sugar. And as mentioned in my previous post, fiber for weight loss works exceptionally well. Anything rich in fiber is going to make you feel more satiated. This means you are less likely to reach out for that chocolate bar.

By understanding how our bodies work and our snacking tendencies, we are able to take steps to prevent ourselves from being a victim of the corporate belly bulge.

With the pressure cooker environment of the office, its inevitable that we will snack every now and then especially in the late afternoon. I've personally been a victim of mindless snacking in the office and this is partly the reason how fat crept up on me while I was working in the corporate environment.

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Diseases Associated With the Respiratory System

5 Diseases Associated With the Respiratory System

Our respiratory system is very important as it allows us to breathe and to provide us with the air we need to live.

Every disease should therefore be avoided or, if it does occur, treated and eliminated as soon as possible. There are minor diseases that can be treated within a few days and others that need help from a physician or may even require the patient to go to hospital.

Let us talk about the minor diseases that can be treated directly by who is suffering them.

The first is certainly a cold.Once you manifest a cold, do not immediately start to take drugs.

The second disease is a sore throat.It often precedes a cold.

The third is a stuffed nose that makes breathing difficult

The fourth might involve the sinuses.

The fifth is a cough.

There are simple methods that can help so that respiration is again possible without causing any problems. Let us see what you can do in all the above mention diseases. Should the means I am going to indicate not help, seek a physician's advice.

Respiratory diseases can be treated at home but they should not be undervalued. If they are not treated or the home-made treatment is not effective within a few days, they can evolve into something more serious.

If you massage the two points at the basis of your nose, that is between the nose and the eyes,, you open up the energy channels. Then massage the point at the inner end of your eyebrow on both sides, then the point at the center of the eyebrow on both sides, then the point at the outer end of your eyebrow on both sides, then massage the center above the bone, directly underneath your eyes, then the center underneath the bone on your cheeks and finally the point at the center of your chin.

The massage, carried out with your index or middle fingers, should be done softly. If you feel pain when pressing one or the other point, don't massage the point that causes pain. You massage each point three times in a circular way and repeat the whole cycle seven times. You will immediately feel that your breathing becomes easier, that the pain lessens. You can treat the cold, the sore throat, the stuffed nose and the sinuses with these simple and soft movements.

As far as the cough is involved, cup your forearms. This means to tap your forearms with the opposite hand that you form in a cup. Don't tap them hard but do it for some minutes. Do the same on the other forearm. The lung channels run through your forearms. This tapping or cupping of the forearms is also beneficial to the other diseases mentioned above.

For the sore throat there is another means: dissolve some salt in water and use this solution to cleanse your throat. Do not drink the solution, just spit it out after the cleansing. Salt cleanses your throat and helps calm the pain.

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Ear Aches and Ear Infections

Ear aches and ear infections present themselves with many of the same symptoms, and this can make it difficult to figure out whether you have one or the other. In order to determine whether you or your child is suffering from an ache or an infection, you will need to be aware of the symptoms of each problem. It is important to remember, however, that a doctor will need to be consulted in either case so that a proper diagnosis can be made.

Ear Ache as a Result of a Cold

The cold virus can often cause an ear ache, and when this happens, the pain can range from a mild throbbing, burning or stinging pain, to a more severe one. In these cases, you will often find mucus of a yellow or green color in the nose and possibly mild fevers.

Fluid in the Ear

Ear ache is usually caused by excess fluid that presses against the ear drum and puts pressure on it. Over time, the ear drum begins to stretch, and this is when the pain begins to subside. Although the individual will experience pain, the ear drum itself will remain a healthy color; a pinkish grey.

When the patient is only dealing with an ear ache and not an ear infection, he or she will usually find that the pain subsides within a few hours. Excess fluid in the ear will naturally drain away, and it is quite common for the patient not to experience further problems once this liquid has been drained.

Diagnosing an Ear Infection

Ear infections are result of the virus called Otitis Media. Infections can also be a result of a cold, as there is a chance that the fluid in the ear becomes infected. When a patient suffers from an ear infection, they will usually experience severe amounts of pain, high fevers and a range of other symptoms, including sleeplessness, loss of appetite, vertigo and drainage from the ear that takes on a white, yellow or brown color. Irritability is also another sign of an ear infection, and this is especially common in children, since the pain and the lack of sleep begin to take a toll on them after some time.

To properly diagnose an ear infection, a doctor will need to look into the ear with his diagnostic medical instrument. When an infection is present, the ear drum will lose its pinkish gray color and take on a swollen, red and inflamed appearance.

Obtaining the Appropriate Treatment

When an ear infection occurs, treatment needs to be administered quickly and efficiently. Treatments will range from antibiotics to treat infection, and ear drops that will need to be administered according to the doctors orders. Ear infections can be severe enough to damage the ear drum and the hearing capabilities of the patient, and so they should be treated with caution. In the event that an ear ache is present for more than 24 hours, the patient should visit their doctor to obtain the appropriate treatment.

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How to Fix Dry Mouth Bad Breath Problems

When you wake up in the morning, have you noticed how dry your mouth is? You're probably already aware of smelly morning breath, but you may not know that one cause of morning breath is a dry mouth. Even if you've taken care to floss, brush, and use mouth wash the previous evening, you still wake up with a dry mouth and bad breath.

Bad breath is caused by bacteria. There are over 800 different kinds of bacteria that hang out in the mouth, giving you bad breath. These bacteria produces sulfur compounds that cause the smell.

Bad breath caused by a dry mouth is categorized as transient bad breath. This type is much more manageable than chronic conditions (known as Halitosis) and has quick and easy treatments.

There are three main reasons why a dry mouth leads to bad breath.

1. When the mouth is dry, the bacteria will become more concentrated in the saliva that remains. This high concentration of bacteria can lead to a higher level volatilization (read:evaporation) into the air. With more of the bacteria in the air, the smell and odor of the mouth will carry farther and be far stronger.

2. The drying of the mouth changes the pH balance (the ratio of basic to acidity) in the mouth. This change in environment is more favorable to bacterial growth.

3. Less saliva leads to less of the flushing of bacteria from the mouth. With less flushing - more bacteria and debris accumulate in the mouth.

To see or observe the results of these problems, take note of the tongue after a night of rest. When the mouth is dry for long periods of time, like overnight, the tongue will become coated in a white or yellow substance. This is the active bacteria production and the color is due to accumulated sulfur compounds. The thicker the coating, the more foul the breath.

One way to fight this is to use a tongue scraper after brushing your teeth. This will clean out food debris trapped in the tongue. To do this, start from the back of the tongue and slowly scrape to the tip. Repeat as desired, but be cautious to not over do it- this can lead to bleeding.

Another simple remedy is to drink water every few minutes to flush out the bacteria. Before doing anything else in the morning, drink two glasses of lukewarm water. This will help wake up the body and set it to active mode, activating internal organs, antibodies, and the salivary glands. This is important because saliva has bacteria fighting properties and is the natural combatant to bad breath. A dry mouth has less saliva, which increases foul breath.

A third remedy is to eat healthy snacks that are rich in fluids. Examples of this are apples, berries, and oranges. These kinds fruits will help to lower the bacteria level. The fluids in the fruits also contain nutrients that are essential to removing toxins from the body, as well as stimulate the salivary glands to produce more saliva, which, in turn, fights off bad breath caused by a dry mouth.

I am sure you are now better equipped to deal with dry mouth bad breath problems in the future. The more you understand the reasons and causes of it - the better you are able to find the solutions.

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