FOOD-THE BODY'S FUEL

Along with rest and relaxation, a nutritious diet is one of the essential sources of fuel the body requires to maintain optimum health. On the never-ending quest to eat right, most people set out with the best intentions, only to discover that, after weeks of cutting out the foods they love, excess body weight is not disappearing as quickly as desired. Most people have every reason to fear the word "diet". "People equate the word "diet" with deprivation. That's not a good motivator" says John P Foreyt, author of Living Without Dieting. Complicated weight loss strategies do not work. Nutritionists universally agree that the most effective weight-loss plan, and the most beneficial strategy for the body, is to personally develop lifelong healthy eating habits.
"Trends in nutrition come and go", adds Teresa Hale. "What's more, nutritional science can often contradict itelf". Hale's advice is sound and simple. "'The important thing to develop is a sense of individual nutritional awarenesss. Get to know the nutrients that suit your body type and then try to maintain a balanced diet that suits your body best. To do this, ask yourself a few questions: "What is the best way to combine foods so that I can maintain a healthy, balanced diet?" If the answers prove elusive, consult a trained nutritionist.

A BALANCED DIET

Nutritional experts at Clinique La Prairie, one of the finest health spas in the world, all advocate a balanced diet that includes something from their seven food classifications, below, every day:

1. Mik, cheese and yogurt
2. Meat and its substitudes such as tofu
3. Bread, cereal and potatoes
4. Fruit and vegetables
5. Fats, such as butter
6. Sugars
7. Liquids, such as water and juice

Eating a variety of foods from each of the groups should satisfy all nutritional needs. The key to a balanced diet, La Prairie nutritionists claim, is the right mixture of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Vegetabes shoud make up the dominant part of any diet, with fish and fruit being the other important components. A number of studies carried out on children prove that eating an early morning meal has beneficial effects on mental and physical functions. Eating beakfast makes sense; the body needs to refuell itelf after sleep. Food helps the brain and body to function at its fulest capacity. Breakfast can also be of benefit throughout the whole day. A high-fibre breakfast can help prevent snacking and overeating during lunch and dinner. Whether or not they realize it, people who skip breakfast often make up for it later in the day by overeating. Research has also concluded that women who eat breakfast get more out of a workout than those who prefer to skip it. They have stronger concentration levels and can maintain a more consistent level of weight.
Breakfast should consist of about 25 per cent of your daily calorific needs. Women often have a tendency to feel guilty for thinking about food throughout the day: they shouldn't. Nutritionists frequently urge their patients to feed the body whenever it is hungry. This does not mean that you wil be eating all of the time. If you really listen to your body, you will begin to understand the types of foods that fill you up and make you feel good.

HEALTHY BREAKFAST

OATMEAL: Easily digestible, oatmeal is also a good source of fibre.

CEREAL: High-fibre varieties of cereal can help to prevent constipation and, according to some doctors, they may also prevent cancer.

HALF-FAT OR SKIMMED MILK: Both types of milk are a rich source of vitamin D, calcium and protein.

FRESH FRUIT: Low in calories but high in vitamins, fruit contains a good source of soluble fibre. Fruit can also help to satisfy a sweet tooth in place of chocolate.

JUICE: Choose tomato and vegetable juices, as they are the best nutritional options. Low in calories, vegetable juice also provides vitamins A and C.

WATER: Drinking two glasses of water in the morning before a meal will wake up and rehydrate the body. But try to drink water consistently throughout the day and not just in the morning.

YOGURT: Choose either a plain or low-fat yogurt. A good source of calcium and protein, as well as a natural bacteria, yogurt helps to aid your digestive system.

STRESS &THE BODY

Everyone suffers from stress, but stress not necessarily have to be a negative factor. 
In the form of mental presure, stress can be a powerful force. It can be a motivator-urging us to carry out tasks or conquer problems and achieve certain goals in our lives. Ignoring stress, however, will lead to feelings of tension and fatigue. 

Chronic psychological stress can increase the chance of developing a number of harmful conditions, including migraine headaches, digestive disorders and impaired memory. Depression, premenstrual tension, sleep disorders and weight fluctuations are other possible side effects of unresolved stress

HOW TO CONQUER STRESS
Overcome stress should be the first step towards improving the body. Take some time out and begin to think about the sources of any stress and agitation in your life. Before jumping to conclusions or blaming other people or things, think positively. Look for solutions that could help to resolve the stress. Try to approach each day with a positive attitude.
Begin to seek pleasure or pleasant situations rather than crisis ot conflict. Think about how much better you look when your face is not expressing tension. Now imagine what a more serene demeanour could do to improve your overall sense of self. Rest is a powerful stressbuster, according to Teresa Hale. "Society is so geared up" she says. And she adds, "We are living in exciting times, but there is no time to rest.
 Today people not only work hard, but when they are away from the ofice, they work more". Any free time is used to exercise, or perhaps freelance, or work around the house. "Relaxing", continues Hale, "is like leaving a field fallow to renew itself". If you find winding down quite difficut, seek help from others. "Have a massage once a week", Hale suggests. "It wil help balance your mood, and it is good for the skin because it gets the blood circulating throughout the whole body".
Sleep can be used as another natural form of stress relief. 
The hours we spend asleep replenish the body's supply of neuro-transmitters-hormones that hep produce a positive mood. Those who sleep better tend to be happier and more confident than those who deny themseves rest or suffer from insomnia. A study in the USA discovered that people who only manage to sleep for four to five hours a night felt stressed and more depreseed than those who slept for eight hours. A good nght's sleep, which experts calculate at an uninterrupted eight hours, will leave the body feeling relaxed and ready to handle the challenges of the day ahead. Although everyone needs different amounts of sleep, experts recommend developing consistent habits by faling asleep and waking up at nearly the same time each day.

BEAYTY&FASHION

Fashion is cyclical. Like economics and the weather, it is in perpetual motion hitting new highs and lows almost daily. The relationship between fashion and beauty is intrinsic. It always has been. 
 When Cecil Beaton, Horst P Horst and Irving Penn began photographing young models for the pages of Vogue in the 1950s, they knew instinctively that the look of elegance, refinement and chic they were after was not going to come from the clothes alone. 
The models were chosen for their elegant lines; they were not painfully thin, nor were they overtly sexual.
 Hair was always discreet and never daring enough to upstage the clothes. Make-up was artfully painted: the lips and nails rich and glossy, the complexion pale and powdered and the eyes carefully defined. Imagine those models in the same clothes, but the hair and the make-up of another era-perhaps with flat, matt panstick, Biba blackberry lips and huge painted eyelashes, or even extreme 1980s punk make-up. Would it have worked? Of course not.
Hair, make-up and the line, curvature and attitude of the body are extensions of the designer’s message. Photographers, stylists, session hairdressers, make -up artists and models know this. Twice a year, year in and year out, the new fashion colections pound down the runway of New York, London, Paris and Milan. The clothes change, the mood alters and so does the hair and make-up. By now, we have probably seen it all, though perhaps not in every combination. The hair has been big, bold, flat, flicked, frizzed, curled and crimped. It has been short, even shorter and extra long with synthetic hair extensions. Make-up has swung from minimal to maximal; one season the girls look slutty with mussed-up mascara, the next they are paragons of suburban chic, with pussycat bows and the hair and make-up of 1950s Avon ladies. But without the free reign of the catwalkor magazine shoots, designers would never be able to let their creativity rip, raise a few eyebrows, and ultimately, influence how we want to look.
Where fashion leads the way we follow-like it or not. The choice of clothes, shoes and make-up available is decided by shopbuyers, who in turn are influenced by international trends. But even when we think we are neatly side-stepping the fashion issues, and are instead dressing for work, religious occasions, or camping holidays we are making instinctive and subtle beauty choices.
There are very few beauty rules today, but there are some, and they are all about beauty’s relationship to clothes and fashion. For example, you would be pushing your luck to turn up for the evening in a John Galliano creation, wearing the same ponytail and fresh lace that you had worn on the tennis court.
Beauty may put the seal on the designer’s vision, but we are still allowed room for our own creativity. No matter how strict the dictates, we all know how to buck a trend and adapt a look to suit our own face, figure and pocket or at least we should. Following fashion to the letter may be fun, but it is only for the fearless. What is one moment may be out the next, what is up will be down; what is black will be white; and what you may kill for one season you would not be seen dead in the next. If you can anticipate the trends and know how to handle the curve balls, you will be better able to take control of a look and develop your own sense of style.
/