Snacks that can alter our life !!!

FLAX SEEDS : - Dietary fiber rich internal moisturizer !!!
 I am totally in love with this baby ! I usually eat this around 11:00 A.M when my stomach starts to grumble for lunch and two tbs of this helps me to survive till the 12:30 lunch break !

PROS :

• Fiber rich and so helps in weight loss and digestion
• Very rich in omega 3 fatty acids ... you can google to find out how this can be very useful for us
• These are usually fed to horses to improve their coat and as a general supplement. I dunno how it is for the horses but it sure works on my hair ! My hair shines like an ad star and my nails grow really strong.
• My eye lashes became super thick and long
• As the heading tells, my skin is glossy smooth even in this winter ! I don t apply any moisturizer and still no scaly skin ... not even in the elbows !
• It is anti inflammatory and so I was able to do away with few of those stubborn blemishes 
• Very useful for people who want to reduce the intake of carbohydrates like in pcos, insulin resistance, diabetics and etc. 
• It is/used to be a staple food for Indians, esp in Maharashtra, and so this should be safe enough I guess :) 
• Roasted flax seeds, oils and powders are easily available in the grocery stores and is very cheap.

CONS :

• It is suggested that flax seed be introduced slowly into our diet because I initially had few boils (like the ones we get when we eat super oily food) and my skin was oily but it soon got resolved and my skin oils were balanced
• There are studies that suggest that ingesting more than 3 tbs maybe harmful for us and WE SHOULD EAT ONLY ROASTED/PROCESSED FLAX SEEDS
• Since these are whole foods like oats and etc, it is good to eat them early in the day
• Has a funny taste but I find it very manageable and sometimes tasty too
• As this will expand as soon as it was consumed, we should follow this with lots of water

How I take this :

I take 2 tbs of roasted flax seeds and chew them nicely in my mouth so that they are properly grinded in my mouth before I swallow and follow with a cup of water. I don t take this if i have any stomach problem and I don t eat this after lunch. It really does reduce my hunger. I would suggest this for healthy skin, hair, nails and digestion !!! This is something that can be tried in the winter.

GREEN TEA :   

I am not regular with this but I would love to be regular with this ! I used to have this in the afternoons esp when you feel like having a small nap ! 

PROS : 

It is difficult to list out all the pros of this as it has so many pros !!! I think I would just write all the things it did to me here :

• It cleared away my skin of acne and blemishes
• It helped me to reduce my hunger and boost my digestion
• One tsp of tea leaves can be used at least thrice for infusion with hot water
• It helped me to normalize my hormones and I visibly became fairer in matter of 2 weeks !!!
• It is good for direct application on the skin too ... both our hair and face !
• I really did feel more active too :D
• My skin felt real soft
• It is said to boost immunity but I couldn t tell coz I seldom get ill 
• I did notice a reduction in my facial hair and hair fall

CONS:

I really can not think of any except for it's price when compared to ordinary teas but they are truly worth their price !

How I use this :

I take a little amount of tea leaves and add hot water. I ll let it to infuse for not more than 3 minutes and consume after that. I re use the leaves for around 3 to 4 times. I use white tea as of now and sometimes add it with exotic tea varieties from Organic India ... I love their tulsi tea range ... they are so good in winter ! 

I encourage you to search a little about these and try it ! They really did help me shed some 4 horrible kgs ... Do tell me your favorite supplements too :) 

Sabash - Hair and body wash, a product worth its name !!!

Hi all !!! This is going to be my first product review and this one is a pure herbal product (SLS, SLES and all other chemicals free that is :) ). To start off ... I was in search of a SLS, SLES and etc free product for my hair coz I had read that they are really harmful latherers that can result in unwanted health complications and sometimes even cancer !!! Keeping cancer scare aside, I was loosing my most prized possession with each hair wash and so was desperately in search of a soap free scalp cleanser. I had tried all biotique, shanaz hussain hair wash and other herbal brands for my hair but they didn t meet my expectations. I did have a better result when I used reetha and sheeka water to cleanse my hair but it wasn t possible for me to do it every time coz it was really time consuming.
One fine day I had to stumble upon this product called Sabash which was being marketed by Aachi masala (every south Indian will know this masala maker !!!). This claimed to be a pure herbal hair & body wash and after using this, I can say that this IS a chemical free and soap free product. I was really tempted by the long list of herbal names.

Ingredients : Main ingredients are - Aloe vera, amla, eclipta prostrata, terminalla chebula, neem, adolada zeylanica, tulsi, ashwagandha, withania somnifera, almond, reetha, sheeka, nannari, khus khus, henna, curry leaves, fenu greek, lemon, triphala and some more herbs whose english names I dunno. The product looks dark and is thick with a legyam/lepam like appearance. It looks more like a grainy chyavanprash !!!

How to use this : Take a teaspoon of this product and mix it with a small cup of water. Apply this on the wet hair and use the finger tips to cleanse the scalp of dirt. Wash it after 2 mins and repeat if required. It gives a brown lather and together with the grainy consistency, gives a very squeaky clean finish. I would suggest applying oil the previous night or before an hour for a smooth wash. I would use this like a proper shampoo during the oily summer days but since it is winter ... you don t want to get your hair tangled.

Pros :

• Made my hair silky soft and smooth
• Hair fall reduced to a very great extent and has a very subtle herbal fragrance
• Scalp feels clean and fresh
• You get rid of scalp related problems such as dandruff and etc ... I am also guessing that it makes your scalp too strong for lice too :D coz I was the only one spared from lice after my little niece's stay ;)
• Really cheap for what it did
• The ingredients list is really exotic and love the ayurvedic aroma :) 

Cons :

• This product is not easily available these days. A good product marketed badly !
• The packing is okay types
• Your hair may seem rough while wet but once it starts to dry, it gets smooth
• I have oily hair and so I guess dry haired people must make sure that they oil their hair properly before using this.

This product is not in the shelves these days and so I already stocked 3 boxes of these. I will really miss this if they stop producing it. It is really cheap costing around Rs.50 for 150 g. It will last for atleast 20 days. Wasn t bad on skin too but I like my biotique products with TBS gloves and buffer. 

I will continue purchasing this as long as they produce this product. This is my H&G hair care product !!!

Would love to hear your fav hair care product too :) ....

Luv,

Chennai Ponnu

Make up tips for the brownies ....

Hi again ... This one is for all the dusky beauties !!! I read this tip in a newspaper and the article is by Mrs.Mahalakshmi, one of Chennai's sought after beautician. She has been in this field for 20 years and is well experienced with the Indian skin tone. So coming to the tip. According to her, to make a person with darker shade appear brighter, your foundation has to be a mixture of dark shade and the dusky shade. The result will be a natural brighter shade that can be carried out nicely without looking over made !

My experience : Well I started something like this even before reading this article ... brilliant me ! My skin is like this : has a nice golden brown tone in the region below my neck and a dirty brown tone on my neck and my face ! So when i bought my foundations, I used to test them on hand and when I apply them for functions and party - I looked terrible !!! I thought make up was just not for me !

But then thanks to bloggers like the ones I am following now, I got some in sight into how to do make up and not look made up. I traveled across the city to hit body shop and made quite a nice haul ! Along with the many things I bought there, I also bought their powder. The SA tested it on my face and gave me the darkest shade. It did look quite good but still I looked odd ... my face was even more dark ! So I applied the medium complexion foundation that I got from Oriflame and topped it with the dark powder from body shop. Vola ! I was gleaming like a doll :D. For the first time in my life I looked so pretty in make up ! It blended with my skin below my neck and everyone complemented that I looked stunning ;). Again thanks to youtube and the Indian bloggers, I applied all the extra stuff such as blush n etc in a sublime way that I looked like a healthy glowing apple ! So this is how I do my make up now ... even though my facial skin looks way better now - thanks to the good lifestyle that I follow.  

luv,
ponnu

Where it all started ...

Hi everyone ! My first post in this anonymous account so that I can share eeeeeeverythinggggggggggggggg right from the start. My main intention of this blog is to share my experiences with PCOS (Polycystic ovaryian syndrome) and how I am overcoming it. There are many blogs that share and guide women with pcos out there but I believe there are very few that relate pcos for Indian women esp those who want to cure it the natural way because that is what I believe is the best way to cure this disease as it is our new sedentary lifestyle that brought us into this mess. Overcoming pcos requires a change in the lifestyle (with medication in a lot of cases) and in someways it made me more aware about me and my body. When I initially found out that I had pcos ... I was shocked and I thought I was going to be barren for my life but thanks to the internet, I came to know about pcos and how common it is among the 'gen y' women. A little tune in the lifestyle did a lot of things to me and now i am confident that I will become normal in few more months :).
As there are many websites out there to explain about pcos, let me put some of the 'gifts' that pcos gave me :

• Obesity (Everything starts from here ... it s like egg and the hen question - nobody knows who came first and similarly is it pcos that made you fat or the obesity that gave pcos !!!) 
• Acanthosis nigaricans - To put it simpler terms, it is that dark velvety neck that gives you that 'never washed your neck' look. It can occur in places where your skin joins. Very ugly and crumbles your confidence and self esteem !!!
• Darker skin tone - The hormones released tend to give you a darker tinge to your skin tone and also an unhealthy aura about it. 
• Hair fall - A lot of people suffer from this and I lost loads of my beautiful silky straight hair to this. The hormones tend to disturb your hair follicles.
• Hirsutism - Facial hairs ! It is again the effect of hormonal imbalance !!!
• Apart from these we also get/may get : menstrual problem, mood swings, lethargy, low self esteem and so on and on but the ultimate being the difficulty to conceive a child.

 I thought it would be good to share some of my knowledge on this topic and maybe help some more peeps like me out there !!! But whatever I say one must always think before doing what I follow and off course consult their physician - they are brilliant people !!! So let me also put my disclaimer here that I am not liable for any injuries that may occur directly or indirectly though the ideas posted in this blog. I also wish to tell you that I am not associated with any company or product or any other group. This blog is here only to share my experience and get some inputs too :). 

Luv,

Ponnu