Olive oil has been mostly associated with Mediterranean cooking, for dipping bread and for diets low in saturated fat. Not only is it ample for your health, but it has also been a centuries-old beauty secret that is finally garnering world-wide attention. Go to any salon or the beauty aisle in a department store and you’ll find olive oil based products for skin and hair. Is this just another hyped-up trend, or is olive oil an effective beauty product?

Olive oil has a high level of monounsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, and the lesser known squalene and chlorophyll which are beneficial to skin and hair. Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in plants and algae. Chefs sometimes use it to color beverages and pasta. From a beauty standpoint, it counteracts ageing and helps heal skin wounds. Squalene has been found to inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors. Cosmetic companies use it as an ingredient in moisturizers due to its ability to regulate sebum. Sebum is produced by sebaceous glands found in our skin and scalp. It is secreted through our pores. Sebum helps to form a coating on the skin which acts as a barrier and also lubricates our skin and hair.

Health experts talk about the benefits of antioxidants and how we should get more into our bodies. Olive oil is an generous source of the antioxidants Vitamins A and E, polyphenols and phytosterols. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals and repair cell membranes. Free radicals are unstable molecules created from exposure to damage from radiation, pollution and cigarette smoke, all which contribute to premature ageing.

It also has emollient properties which softens and relaxes hair. It controls frizz, makes hair shiny and silky and cleans the scalp, making it dandruff free. Some say it even stops hair loss, especially hair loss related to pregnancy.

To originate an olive oil conditioner:

1. Whisk together ½ cup of olive oil with 1 egg yolk.
2. Add a few drops of lemon juice and mix.
3. Apply the conditioner to shampooed and rinsed hair.
4. Leave on for 5 minutes. If your hair is oily, cease about half an inch from your scalp. Shampoo and rinse your hair.

I remember years ago I shelled out over fifty dollars at a salon for an olive oil hot oil treatment. Here’s one you can do at home for far less money:

1. Heat about half a cup of olive oil until it’s warm, but not too hot to burn your scalp.
2. Apply it to dry hair by dividing it into sections and combing it through.
3. Exhaust enough olive oil to saturate hair.
4. Put on a shower cap and sit under a dryer for five minutes.
5. Shampoo and rinse your hair.

Another alternative, albeit a messier one, is to leave the oil in your hair overnight. Protect your pillows and sheets with towels as the oil will stain your linens.

The ancient Greeks knew about the skin benefits of olive oil. They aged to bathe in it and use special tools to scrape off the excess after letting it soak into their skin. It is an excellent moisturizer. Apply it directly to dry skin, in areas like on the elbows and heels. Though it’s not very sexy, wear socks and gloves to bed and let the olive oil work its magic while you sleep. You can also use it on chapped lips, stretch marks and wrinkles.

To make a night cream, mix together: ½ cup of olive oil, ¼ cup of white vinegar and ¼ cup of warm water. Apply it just before going to bed. The solution will help to kill bacteria as well as lighten the skin and make it collected and blemish-free.

For a cleansing solution apply olive oil to your face with cotton balls. Scrub your face with granulated sugar. Wipe it off with a cool, wet wash cloth.

To make a mask, whisk together 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of honey and ½ teaspoon of olive oil. Apply it to your face and leave on until the mixture sets. Rinse off with warm water.

It is important to use extra virgin olive oil in your beauty recipes, because it is cold pressed. Anything labeled “light” or “pure” are chemically processed. While olive oil is more expensive than say, canola oil, it still relatively inexpensive. Where I live a 17-ounce bottle of store brand extra virgin oil costs about six dollars. It’s cheap compared to the fifty-dollar hot oil treatment I had in a salon, and I get the same beautiful results.

A marinade is a sauce or coating that meats and vegetables are soaked in to flavor them and make them more tender. When foods have a marinade on them we say that they are marinated. Unlike basting, a marinated meat is place in the marinade and refrigerated. Marinades may be made of many different ingredients, typically a type of oil is the base of a marinade. Marinades were in huge vogue, in the cooking world about thirty years ago. When the low-fat, fat-free craze hit, in the early 1980s, marinating foods plummeted in popularity. Happily, marinating has been reinvented, using healthier oils, so we can relish those wonderful flavors again. Here are some healthy delicious marinade recipes. Expend for meats and vegetables. Perfect for grilling, saute and baking. Vegan and vegetarian options also.

Ginger Spice: Kindly for chicken, pork, lamb, carrots and squash, this marinade gives meat an exotic, Asian taste. Blend peanut oil with unusual minced ginger, raw sugar, curry powder and a dash of Bragg’s Liquid Amino (healthy amnio acid blend that replaces soy sauce). Makes a delicious sauce to blend with cooked rice or couscous.

Lemon-Dill Marinade: Actually, I would use this sauce to baste fish rather than marinate it. Melt butter and blend in one teaspoon of lemon juice (one teaspoon for every stick of butter used). Add a lag of new minced onion, garlic and coarsely chopped pepper and half a teaspoon of dill weed (for every stick of butter). Excellent for salmon, whitefish, swordfish, marlin, trout and asparagus

Savory Herb Marinade: For beef recipes blend olive oil with several dashes of Balsamic vinegar. Add balsamic vinegar judiciously. Balsamic vinegar is pungent and will over power foods. Add original chopped basil, celery seed and a dash of salt. For pork, substitute fresh chopped rosemary for basil. For chicken recipes, substitute fresh chopped or ground memoir for basil, balsamic vinegar and add celery seed, black pepper and a dash of minced garlic. This marinade works well for mushrooms also. Back over arguleta and spring mix lettuces for a delicious salad dressing.

Italian Parmesan Bread Dipping Sauce and Marinade: and bread dipping sauce: Blend olive oil, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, basil and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread on chicken, shrimp, potato wedges for grilling, saute or baking. Makes a delicious dipping sauce for bread.

Now I’m hungry, how about you?

The health benefits of coconut are popping up everywhere. Various studies show that this tropical food, rich in natural plant based saturated fats can ease thyroid issues, boost your immune system, stave off fungal infections, increase your metabolism, help you burn pudgy, control your appetite and give you super healthy, dazzling skin. However, most people might procure bored with cracking open a coconut and scraping the meat out by hand. So how can you enjoy this health food without driving yourself nuts?

Most health food stores (and many regular grocery stores) carry coconut oil as well as coconut milk. The two are extremely versatile cooking ingredients and are amazing dairy substitutes. With their rich texture and taste, you can enjoy decadent goodies without compromising your health. You don’t have to make your desserts fat free to make them healthy; just swap out butter, milk, cream and the oh-so-malicious hydrogenated oils (crisco, etc) for coconut based versions.

Coconut oil can be used in a large variety of ways. It makes an excellent substitute for butter/oil/crisco when making cookies, brownies, cakes, pie crusts and more. Coconut oil lends treats a rich, tender texture that is the perfect balance between crispy and moist. Because coconut oil has such a mild flavor, the taste will be neutralized by any other ingredients in your recipe. And in my personal experience, baked goods made with coconut oil keep extremely well, often even improving in taste and texture by the next day. Why? Coconut oil is an extremely stable fat and will not smash down at higher temperatures like other fats thus extending the integrity of whatever you decide to concoct. Coconut oil can also be used to obtain homemade chocolates and works excellently for no-bake cookies because it hardens very quickly at cool temperatures. It also is a immense choice if you want to make a chocolate hard dessert shell for your ice cream as it will harden upon contact with your frozen treat.

Coconut milk is also extremely versatile. One of the best ways to utilize coconut milk is to place a can of the milk in the refrigerator to let the cream separate. Scoop out the cream and you have a heavenly, rich dairy substitute with which you can make ice cream, cream pies and frosting. You can also replace the cream in many of your recipes with coconut cream to yield generous results. Add a puny lemon juice to your coconut cream for a cream cheese taste. Blend coconut cream and fruit and then freeze to make a creamy, delicious frozen fruit bar. Sweeten with sugar and use as a topping for cakes, pies, pancakes, waffles, or even fruit. You can use the whole milk as a substitute in any regular recipe calling for milk as well.

So go to your local grocery store, stock up, and originate experimenting! Enjoy luscious baked goods with a lot less guilt!

Lemon Moisturizing Hair Treatment

This homemade treatment is great to help treat dry hair and scalp. Use as a shampoo twice a week throughout the winter to keep your hair looking and feeling fantastic.
Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Mayonnaise

Directions:

Blend all ingredients until smooth.
Add 3 Tbsp of shampoo to mixture.
Blend until combined.
Wet hair and use mixture to shampoo.
Rinse with warm water.
Refrigerate unused section in airtight container for up to a week.

Honey & Apricot Deep Conditioner

This treatment works especially well on African-American hair. The ingredients will help tame the frizzies and hydrate dry hair. It’s also great for the scalp. Use once a week throughout the winter for best results.

Ingredients:

1 small apricot
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp apricot oil

Directions:

Remove pit from apricot.
Blend ingredients until quiet.
Apply mixture to freshly washed hair.
Wrap hair with plastic wrap.
Leave on for 30 minutes.
Rinse with cool water and style as usual.

Coconut Protein Hair Treatment

The protein from the eggs and the moisturizing qualities of the other ingredients will revive even the most damaged hair. Utilize once a week for a month, then monthly thereafter.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
3 Tbsp coconut milk
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a fork until combined.
Apply to wet hair prior to shampooing.
Allow to set for 30 minutes.
Rinse well with warm water.
Shampoo as usual.
Try to avoid using blow dryers and other styling equipment.

Some people discover they have their first kidney stone because they had to visit the emergency room due to having such excruiciating hurt in their back, side or groin. Tests are often speed to confirm the problem, then the patient is confronted with the various medical procedures available for dealing with getting rid of the kidney stone.

In many cases people simply don’t have the money, or insurance, to shroud the costs of standard kidney stone medical procedures. And since kidney stones occur in men more than women, many guys can’t handle the idea of how some of these procedures are performed.

So they open asking around about whether there might be a home remedy for kidney stones instead. And thankfully they find there are.

Now, whether or not the home remedies for kidney stones will work for you depends on various things. One of the most important things you need to know though, is there are four types of kidney stones.

In about 80% of kidney stone cases, the problems come from calcium kidney stones. And these can be dissolved naturally using lemon juice. If however, your kidney stones are of another type, this home remedy might not work to solve your personal kidney stone problems.

Now the most approved home remedy for kidney stones that hundreds of people have had success with, is two ounces of lemon juice, and two ounces of virgin olive oil. Mix these together and drink it. Then drink plenty of plain distilled water or water with a bit of lemon juice in it until the stone has passed.

Many people record a very quick relief from the kidney stone pain after drinking this mixture, and the stone often passes in less than 24 hours. Not everyone notices the kidney stone pass though, and that’s because the lemon juice actually breaks up and dissolves the kidney stone. So you may actually pass just small gravel like substances instead of a full kidney stone.

Not everyone can handle drinking the lemon juice and olive oil mixture, because it makes them sick. Often all you need though, is the lemon juice by itself, because it is the primary key to breaking up the stone.

Some people assume the olive oil is meant to help coat the narrow tubes that lead from your kidneys to your bladder, so the stone can pass more easily. It’s doubtful though, that the olive oil would still have it’s slick coating properties that far into the digestive system.

So if you have problems with the olive oil I’d suggest skipping it. Instead, simply drink about two ounces of lemon juice – or the juice from about half a lemon – every half hour to hour until the pain is gone. Be certain to drink water as well, because this is needed to support flush your system. It usually takes from five to fifteen hours for a stone to be dissolved using this home remedy for kidney stones.

To succor prevent the formation of kidney stones, just add a bit of lemon juice to your daily routine. Have some warm lemon water each morning when you wake up, or add a bit of lemon to your morning tea. Alternatively, be sure to invent yourself some homemade lemonade and drink a glass of that at least once each day.