Dieting in the New Year!

Dieting is one of those things that is completely integrated into American culture. On any given day, a huge portion of the U.S. population is "on a diet" and "counting calories" in one way or another.

Your Body's Efficiency

Have you ever wondered why, for so many people (and especially for anyone older than 30 years old), weight gain seems to be a fact of life? It's because the human body is way too efficient! It just does not take that much energy to maintain the human body at rest; and when exersizing, the human body is amazingly frugal when it comes to turning Food into motion. At rest (for example, while sitting and watching television), the human body burns only about 12 calories per pound of body weight per day (26 calories per kilogram). That means that if you weigh 150 pounds (68 kg), your body uses only about: 150 X 12 = 1,800 calories per day

Twelve calories per pound per day is a rough estimate -- see below for details.

Those 1,800 calories are used to do everything you need to stay alive:

They keep your heart beating and lungs breathing.

They keep your internal organs operating properly.

They keep your brain running.

They keep your body warm.

In motion, the human body also uses energy very efficiently.

For example, a person running a marathon (26 miles or 42 km) burns only about 2,600 calories.

In other words, you burn only about 100 calories per mile (about 62 calories per km) when you are running. You can see just how efficient the human body is if you compare your body to a car. A typical car in the United States gets between 15 and 30 miles per gallon of gasoline (6 to 12 km/L). A gallon of gas contains about 31,000 calories. That means that if a human being could drink gasoline instead of eating hamburgers to take in calories, a human being could run 26 miles on about one-twelfth of a gallon of gas (0.3 L). In other words, a human being gets more than 300 miles per gallon (120 km/L)!

If you put a human being on a bicycle to increase the efficiency, a human being can get well over 1,000 miles per gallon (more than 500 km/L)!

That level of efficiency is the main reason why it is so easy to gain weight.

You can use several aids to jump start your diet, but the bottom line is healthy eating and activity!

Skin Care and Battling Dry Skin!

A dry skin condition can mean rough, cracked hands and a flaky complexion that could eventually lead to excessive wrinkling. Skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema often go hand in hand with dry skin.

For any dry skin product, choose essential oils that balance the production of oil on the skin and also are anti-inflammatory so that they'll reduce irritation and its characteristic puffiness. If your dry skin is also mature skin, the historic "anti-aging" essential oils -- lavender, geranium, neroli, rosemary, and rose -- are particularly suitable. These essential oils are also thought to rejuvenate skin by encouraging new cell growth. Other excellent oils to use on dry skin are frankincense, myrrh, and sandalwood. Perhaps their skin rejuvenating characteristics are the reason they have been so highly valued over the last two thousand years!

In small amounts, peppermint increases the production of oil in the skin. Chamomile, carrot seed, and helichrysum reduce inflammation that can accompany dry skin conditions. The latter two even help get rid of precancerous skin conditions that usually appear as raised discolorations on areas most exposed to the sun, such as the hands and face.

The best way to treat dry skin is with essential oils added to a cream or lotion. Both of these contain water, not just oil as in salves and ointments. The water is absorbed by the skin to help resolve the dryness. Meanwhile, the oil in these products acts as a protective barrier to keep moisture from evaporating out of the skin.

Try to purchase as pure a cream as possible. Your most likely bet is at a natural food store that sells cosmetics. You may even be able to find a cream that already contains essential oils that are good for your dry complexion. If not, purchase an unscented cream, and stir the oils into it yourself. One more thing you can do for dry skin is to avoid soap, except when your face is honestly dirty. Instead, a gentle oatmeal scrub combined with essential oils should be sufficient.