If your total cholesterol is between 200 and 250 you can probably reduce it to fewer than 200 by dietary changes, and by taking the following dietary supplements each day; one teaspoon of omega three fish oil; one hundred milligrams of coenzyme Q10; at least one thousand milligrams of red yeast rice. The combination of these three nutrients has been shown do reduce cholesterol by around 50 points if taken constantly for a couple of months.

If your total cholesterol is between 250 and 300 your doctor will want to put you on a statin drug. You have a choice to make. If you think you can change your diet dramatically and follow the recommendations outlined in the second paragraph you may be able to get it under 200 without resorting to a statin.

If your cholesterol is over 300 it probably indicates that you have a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol. It often means that no matter what you try diet wise your own body is producing cholesterol and your overall levels will not go down that much without a statin drug. Try to use the lowest dose of statins that you can get away with and take at least one hundred milligrams of coenzyme Q10 everyday which I explain in the post If You Take A Statin You Need Coenzyme Q10.

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Chemical peels are one of the most common and effective ways to promote new skin to the surface. Many of these peels are really not chemical per say, because they are actually derived from natural substances such as sugar cane and fruit.  Facial chemical peels can reduce the signs of aging; diminish scars and other skin imperfections. There are basically three levels of facial peels available to you; light peels, medium peels, and deep peels. The level of the peel is determined by the amount of the outer layer of skin that is removed with the peel. The deeper the peel the more painful the procedure and the more recovery time is needed. A light peel can produce just some redness for a couple of days, while with a deep peel you will look and feel like you were hit by a truck. A deep peel can take up to two weeks for a full recovery.

Light peels are usually done with glycolic acid or salicylic acid. These acid peels can be purchased in different strengths depending on the level of skin you want removed. I personally favor using a twenty or thirty percent glycolic acid peel once a month. By doing this you are forcing your skin to regenerate new youthful cells on a monthly basis. There a few nice things about using a light peel. First is the cost, a twenty percent glycolic acid peel can be purchased for as little as twenty dollars and that can give you as many as 10 peels. Second is the recovery time, with a light peel you can continue with your daily routine. Your face might be red, but you can at least go to work and not freak everyone out. Third is the fact that you do not need to go to the doctor and can do the peel in your own home. Usually any pain associated with a light peel can be treated with Tylenol or Motrin. Glycolic acid can be purchased up to an eighty percent concentrate. For most people an eight percent glycolic peel would be classified as a medium to deep peel, so be careful.

Medium peels are usually done with trichloracetic acid, commonly referred to as TCA. TCA is pretty strong stuff and is often recommended for peels for darker skin tones. TCA can be purchased online and self administered like glycolic, but be extremely careful and follow the directions exactly. It can be purchased in strengths from ten percent to thirty percent. The thirty percent should only be administered by a professional. It is very easy to give yourself severe burns with this chemical peel. Often a calming drug like Valium is used in conjunction with a pain killer for this procedure.  In most cases a having TCA administered by a dermatologist or skin care professional might be the wiser choice for this medium peel. A TCA peel administered by a dermatologist can cost around five hundred dollars.

Deep peels are done with phenol acid and only administered by a medical professional often with general or local anesthesia. The recovery time can be two weeks, and you may not want to go in public for a week or more. Your face will look burned for some time. These deep peels can be very painful and prescription pain medicine during the recovery time is needed. I am not personally a huge fan of these deep peels, because there can be serious side effects like a permanent loss of skin pigmentation. I can’t help but wonder what the future consequences might be for intentionally burning your face so deeply. Deep peels can cost as much as five thousand dollars. If you do decide on a phenol acid peel do your research and choose your doctor carefully.

I believe that chemical peels are useful to help generate new skin cells as we get older, but I would be very precautious about the deep facial peels. I think it is a wiser strategy to exercise patience and do a light or medium peel on a more regular basis to force the new skin to the top. If you use a twenty or thirty percent glycolic peel monthly you will see great results over time.

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Anybody that has any skin sensitivity at all should stay far away from these products. Many reports have been published about the very irritating properties of these agents. Some soap has concentrations of up to 30% which are very irritating and dangerous. These chemicals cannot be metabolized by the liver so they twill build up in concentrations in the body and ultimately cause toxicity in many people.

Studies show that these agents penetrate into the eyes, brain, heart and liver. They are retained in body tissue. These studies also show evidence of preventing young children’s eyes from developing properly and contributing to cataract development in adults. The bottom line is that because of the penetrating power of these agents they are believed by many experts to be known carcinogens.

There are many body care lines on the market that do not use these chemicals, or if they do use them they use them in far smaller quantities. Yes, they often cost a little bit more and are sometimes harder to find, but isn’t your health and well being worth it? Or you can use the conventional products half the time and use the more expensive natural products the other half. This will at least cut your exposure to these toxins in half.

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Common indoor plants may also provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. Those plants in your office or home are not only decorative, but NASA scientists are also finding them to be surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings.

Not only do plants provide us with fresh oxygen like we have always known. The real power of plants may be their amazing ability to remove unhealthy chemicals from our indoor air. Studies have shown that the atmosphere in rooms filled with houseplants typically contains between 50% to 60% fewer mold spores and bacteria.

House plants absorb chemicals in the air via microscopic leaf openings called stomata. Once absorbed inside, the plant either breaks down the pollutant in question, or it sends the contaminant down to its roots where it’s released as food for the colonies of microbes that typically live in a plant’s root zone.

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I was at a nutritional supplement seminar last week and all the guest speakers were ranting about all the toxins in our environment and how it was such a bleak picture for humanity. Then last night on Letterman I saw the man who is blowing the horn regarding the two Texas sized plastic garbage area that is out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

With so many people out there saying the sky is falling with concern about all the chemicals and toxins in our environment, I just want to remind people of one undisputable fact among all the environmental hysteria. The fact is that human life expectancy continues to go up year after year. In the year 1900 the average human life expectancy was around 50 years old and today it is almost 80 years old.

I am not saying the environment does not need to be protected and I am not saying that we should not be doing much better to keep out only planet clean. But fact are facts and the fact is that we keep living longer. If the world is really so toxic and dangerous than how can this be possible? I sometimes think people just like to have something to worry about.

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So what else can hair dyes do to you?  If you believe many of the scientific studies that have been done over the past 20 years, hair dyes may be carcinogenic.  Why?  Hair dyes are applied directly to the scalp, nearest the root.  This is where the blood supply is the richest in the entire human body.  It is also where the blood supply may carry any carcinogenic components right into the blood stream.

 What makes hair dyes harmful? In a word: chemicals. To achieve luscious shades of chestnut brown or mahogany, permanent hair dyes must contain both color and a developer. The developer actively lifts the outside covering (or "cuticle") of the hair, allowing easier access for the color to penetrate. Sounds simple--except that the developer contains a not-so-simple (or healthy) combination of peroxide and ammonia, which not only alters the molecular structure of hair and damage it, but may cause allergic reactions. While these chemicals are not carcinogenic, they can be very dangerous to those with chemical sensitivities. Permanent dyes also contain tiny but potentially harmful petrochemicals (like coal tar), which, like developer, penetrate the hair shaft to deposit color.

Now that I have scared you off hair color forever let me give you a great alternative to the vast majority of hair color products on the market. The product is called Naturtint, and it has significantly less chemicals and no ammonia. In a perfect world it is probably be not to use hair color at all, but if you need to use them give Naturtint a try.

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If you really want to detoxify your system for a few days just do a fruit and juice cleanse for 3 days. Eat and drink all the fruit and juice you want. This will give your body a nice break from all the hard to digest foods that we normally eat daily. You will probably drop 5 pounds in the process if you are lucky.

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Whatever else you may be doing to better your personal health; don’t forget about your sleep. Find a good natural sleep aid like GuaranteedToSleep. GuaranteedToSleep is designed to work in harmony with your body's own chemical balance. This 100% natural, safe and non-addictive sleeping formula works in the brain by inhibiting the nerve impulses that prevent the body from attaining pure, uninterrupted slumber.

Natural sleep aids are a much smarter choice to help with improving sleep patterns than pharmaceuticaloptions. These product are designed to aid your won bodies natural systems in obtaining better sleep patterns.

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Just swish the peroxide in your mouth for 30 seconds (the longer the better) and then brush your teeth as usual. If you use it everyday you will be amazed at the results. And it will save you a lot of money.

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One softgel of Krill Oil supplies 90 milligrams of Omega 3 fatty acids. From my perspective that is almost worthless to take. What a joke. These companies making these claims should be ashamed of themselves.

Two softgels of a typical Omega 3 product contain 690 milligrams of Omega 3 fatty acids. So by just following the recommended dosage on the bottles you will be getting more than 7 times the Omega 3 by just continuing to use the good old fashioned fish oil.

The sad thing is that many usually reputable supplement companies are advertising this scam. Most notably is Schiff with its MegaRed product. What a bunch of junk that product is! Do your homework and don’t get fooled!

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