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Help! Excess Baggage…..

To say that I have been tired this week is an understatement BUT the show must go on and in the midst of my wallowing in self pity (oh where is the chocolate fairy when you need her) I got inspired. Now I could blame it on being in my mid thirties, blame the kids or blame my obsession with typing on computer screens long past bedtime but no. There must be a more analytical reason why I have shopping bags under my eyes. Time to do some research!

The skin under the eye is pretty thin – a lot thinner than say, the skin on your nose and that doesn’t help. The thin skin allows the blood underneath to show up more than it does in other places and this is one reason why it can look a bit bruised. The reason that it looks worse when you are tired, stressed or otherwise compromised is that your skin- the largest organ of the body – looses some of its glow when you do. Dehydration, poor nutrition, sickness and lack of sleep can turn even the youngest of skin sallow so take care of it (me included). The reason why bags tend to get worse with age (and why some people suffer more than others) is partly how you care for your skin and partly genetic. Yet again, if your parents suffered from eye baggyitis then you most likely will too. As we age the skin’s scaffolding thins out making it sag and this saggyness causes the illusion of shadows adding to the baggy eye look.

Finally, there may be an allergy or sickness contributing to your problem. Anyone who’s had a bout of hay fever […]

Cabbage Boobs – Oh what a relief!

One of my school friends (and now facebook friends 🙂 ) has just had a baby, everyone say aaaahhhhh, and while she is delighted to welcome this new bundle of love into the world mother nature has brought her back down to earth courtesy of two very large and painful air bags! I have two kids and have to say that my delight in my Pamela boobs brought on by birth number 1 (either didn’t happen with No 2 or I was too busy to notice) was also short lived. My post partum boobs were party poopers.

Anyway, my friend like many other new mums turned to the wonder that is Facebook for an answer to her boobie drama and I told her about my experience with cabbage. Checking out “google” as part of my research for this piece shows that I am not the only one to opt for the veggie counter for swollen bits. And here’s why.

The common cabbage has been used to treat swelling for many hundreds of years. Yes, before panadol came into being those housewife’s walked around with a cold cabbage compress to reduce the thudding of a stress induced headache! The reason that cabbage (Brassica Oleracea) is so good is due to its high percentage of the anti-inflamatory active glutamine (an amino acid). The cabbage releases glutamine when it is warmed up and so can be turned into a soup and used to treat internal inflamation or applied as a compress to improve lymphatic drainage.

The reason that boobs get engorged just after birth is hormonal. Your milk factory goes into overdrive the minute that the placenta is delivered. Unfortunately the degree of engorgement doesn’t always mean that you will […]