How to Prevent Stretch Marks and Be a Beauty

Normally our skin is elastic, but if you grow really fast, there appear lines on the body which are called stretch marks. It can happen during puberty, pregnancy or postpartum, when the body changes a lot and quickly. The usual places for them are abdomen, breasts, arms and thighs – that are all body parts with larger amounts of fat. Postpartum depressions is also not a rare case. When here appear stretch marks too, postpartum period is becoming nearly beyond endurance. Sometimes stretch marks become almost imperceptible after some postpartum time passes. But sometimes they are so deep that they could even be felt by their haver.

What is a stretch mark?

Our skin consists of three layers: the epidermis (the outer), the dermis and the subcutaneous stratum (the inmost). No stretch mark can appear if there’s enough support in the dermis. The hormones responsible for the occuring of stretch marks prevent the forming of collagen and elasting fibers in the fibroblasts. Collagen and elasting fibers are the main and very important supportive materials when the skin is quickly stretched. As a result of their lack the dermis and the epidermis tear. In these places occur unpleasant stretch marks, spoiling the appearance of our beautiful bodies.

How to prevent stretch marks?

In order to prevent stretch marks, some doctors recommend stomach moisturizing during pregnancy. But it doesn’t mean it could help everyone. For some women stomach moisturizing prevents stretch marks, but some are simply prone to them. About 80% of pregnant women develop stretch marks to some degree. The skin needs to be more flexible to be prepared for pregnancy. Balanced diet, being well-hydrated and moisturizing the pregnant belly help avoid stretch marks. What is also to do with stretch marks is to use creams or undergo laser treatments; dermabrasion is one more remedy. Collagen hydrolysates, Gotu Kola extract and vitamin E can reduce the chance of the occurrence of stretch marks. In case they are too deep they can be removed by more drastic methods provided by the modern medicine. But if it’s not the case, the mentioned ingredients help significantly improve the appearance of the existing stretch marks.
Whether your stretch marks are deep or superficial, don’t hung up on the bad, you are beautiful even with stretch marks!

Acute Backache Treatment Methods. Home Remedies

Backache can catch everyone off guard, in this situation something should be done quickly. This article tells about home remedies, that help to get rid of acute backache and also dietaries for backache. These tips are useful for those, who experience back pain, but may not or do not want to take pain relievers, like allergic people or pregnant women. Pregnancy is often associated with backache, as the body of a pregnant woman changes a lot because of the growing baby, the increase in weight and the change in the center of gravity. As pregnant women are not allowed to take particular medicines, there exist home remedies for back pain, which are safer. These home remedies are efficient not only for expecting moms, but also for any other person suffering from acute backache.

Tips to Get Rid of Acute Backache

Apart from the exercstrises, that lessen and prevent backache, which were described in article “Backache Treatment Methods. Physical Exercises”, use home remedies and follow the tips below, if you are experiencing acute back pain.

• Lay down and let your back muscles relax.
• Ask somebody to massage the aching area gently. Massage with herbal oils can be more effective.
• Place a hot towel or a hot-water bottle on the aching area for 20 minutes.
• Apply a raw potato poultice to the aching area.
• Take vitamin C (2.000 mg daily).
• Mix lemon juice (1 lemon) with salt (0.5 teaspoon) and take the mixture twice daily.
• Take 2 garlic cloves every morning.
• Fry 10 garlic cloves in 50 ml of mustard, sesame or coconut oil in a frying pan on a slow fire till they are brown. Cool the garlic oil and rub the aching area of the back with it. After two hours the oil can be washed away.

General Tips for Backache Treatment

If you are not experiencing acute backache and suffer from backache only seldom, you should anyway pay attention to your back. Follow these easy, but useful tips to prevent back pain:

• If you have to sit or stand for long periods of time, do not forget to change your position from time to time.
• If you have to lift heavy things, bend your knees and keep your back straight all the time as you are lifting the load.
• Choose a firm mattress to sleep on. Do not sleep face down.
• Choose a chair with good back support.
• Give up smoking.
• Do regular exercises for back, visit swimming-pool regularly or practice yoga.

Nutrition for a Healthy Back

Backache prevention and treatment are also connected with diet. Daily meals of a person taking care of their back should contain plenty of raw vegetables and fruits (except bananas). The backache sufferer should have three to four meals every day, which include, apart from fruits and vegetables, wholewheat products, milk and fruit juice. One suffering from back pain should avoid fatty and fried food, sugar, spicy condiments, strong tea and coffee.
For those, who do not like eating plenty of raw vegetables, there exist many recipes of salads including both fresh vegetables and natural additives, like sauces, oils or cheeses, which make the salads taste very good. As an example of such a salad I would recommend my favorite Light Bulgarian Salad. I hope, you will like it too.

Mediterranean Diet During Pregnancy Wards off Childhood Asthma and Allergy

A two-stage study has shown, that women, who follow Mediterranean diet in pregnancy, also protect their babies from childhood asthma and allergy. During the first stage of the study, 1997, doctors recruited 507 women who attended an antenatal clinic on Menorca, Spain. These women were quizzed about their dietary habits. Six years later the children of these women were examined for asthma and were tested to see if their organisms responded to six common allergens. The researchers found, that the diet of children did not influence the fact whether they had these problems. The main reason was the dietary intake of the mothers while pregnant.

Study Results

The researchers elaborated the Mediterranean Diet Score System, which measured the consumption of fruits, vegetables, olive oil, nuts, legumes, fish and wholegrain cereals. One third of the quizzed mothers had a low rating on this score, while two-thirds had a high score. At the same time children from the “low score” group were almost twice likelier to develop allergies and about four times as likely as children from the “high score” group, to develop asthmatic symptoms.

What is the Mediterranean Diet

There are two main components in the Mediterranean diet: antioxidants (vitamin compounds that kill free radicals) and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In our case the first ones were found effective against asthma in babies, the second ones protected against inflammation.
In general, the Mediterranean diet consists of the following products:

• lots of fruits and vegetables,
• fish,
• bread
• wheat and other cereals,
• moderate amounts of red wine.

Mediterranean diet differs from that one typical to the Americans a lot: the second one has the high amount of animal fats, while Mediterranean diet means first of all the consumption of a lot of olive oil, which lowers cholesterol levels in the blood, blood sugar level and blood pressure. This is why Mediterranean diet is associated with longevity.

Silicone Womb Will Make In-Vitro Fertilization More Effective

A new device silicone womb is being currently tested in Great Britain. It’s going to make in-vitro fertilization much more effective, than it has been before. The goal of the silicone womb is to develop stronger, more resilient embryos for eventual pregnancy. The silicone womb holds test-tube embryos, which are currently developed in an incubator, inside the womb to expose them to more natural conditions. It allows them to be implanted inside the mother for up to four days. During this time they are exposed to the uterus through 360 holes each around 40-micron across.



The silicone womb allows embryos created in the lab to be incubated inside a perforated silicon container, which is inserted into a woman‘s own womb. After 2-3 days the capsule is recovered and some embryos are selected for implantation in the womb.

Some researchers still doubt, that it will work at all, as the embryos will be located in the uterus and they would develop more naturally in the fallopian tubes. It’s to hope, that the environment inside the uterus will effectively substitute them. Anyway, 40 women have been recruited for the trial and we’re expecting for the results in some time.

Best Age for Motherhood

Many U.S. women, as well as women in many other countries, delay the birth of the first child to the age of 30 due to some reason. But is it healthy for women to delay parenthood till this age? And what makes women behave so? Most women want to have children, but when – this is the most wide spread question and problem. Well, it was a problem. Since now the scientists have found the best age for motherhood.

Late Motherhood or Best Age?

According to new research by sociologists of The University of Texas at Austin, the best age for woman to become pregnant for the first time is 34 years. Exactly at this age a woman achieves the balance of her health and material well-being. It’s usually not so simple for younger women to combine motherhood and career. This is why younger women normally experience serious health problems, as well as their children.

Woman’s Health and Motherhood

Older women are more careful of their health and manage to cure all possible diseases that could do harm to both baby and herself. As a result, women, who became mothers for the first time at the age of 34, are biologically about 14 years younger, than their peers, who gave birth to their first baby at the age of 18-20.

When Is it too Late for Motherhood?

At the same time, the researchers warn, that after 35 years the levels of hormones providing fertilizing ability start to drop in the woman’s body. This is why the vast majority of experts recommend to think about parenthood a bit earlier. So, the best time to bear the first child is the period between 27 and 34 years.

Can a Pregnant Woman Consume Alcohol?

Many pregnant women wonder, whether they can take strong drinks during the pregnancy. If so, how much of alcohol is allowed for them. As it turns out, a woman bearing a child under her heart has to trust her own intuition regarding the alcohol consumption during the expectancy period. Researchers still vary in their views on the topic.

Pregnant Women Should Exclude Alcohol from Their Diet

The specialists at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine state, that women should completely exclude alcohol from their diet during pregnancy, since alcohol consumption can put the life of the child in danger as it facilitates development of the Fetus Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Children with the syndrome are known to have low IQs, disturbed attention and various physical abnormalities. The American, South African, and Scandinavian scientists support this point of view. In the course of studying the question they concluded that those women who consume alcohol during the pregnancy have increased possibility of bearing diseased fetus.

Drinking Wine Is Healthy for Pregnant Women

The scientist from the British Health Care opposed this point of view. They noted that the results of the above noted studies were publicized by the governments when pursuing the anti-alcohol politics. This fact signifies, that the conclusions made by the scientists at that time are not necessarily valid. In fact, the British believe that wine is good for pregnant women if reasonably consumed. According to them, a pregnant woman can have no more than two glasses of wine per week. Only the woman and her physician can decide for themselves which of the scientists are correct.

How to Bear a Smart Baby

The baby’s intellect depends by around 20% on the mother’s environment during the carriage and on the child’s surroundings during the first couple of months after birth. Scientists have recently carried out a number of experiments on the development of intellect during infancy. One particular well-spread belief, that infants get smarter when they listen to classical music, was not confirmed. The scientists did, however, establish that a child’s IQ is affected by the following factors.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Those are particularly important for the intrauterine development as well as the child’s sight. Pregnant females should by all means consume fat-rich fish or take special Omega-3 capsules.

Choline

This substance plays important role in the development of the brain areas responsible for memory and learning abilities. Pregnant women are recommended to consume 450 mg of choline daily, while the nursing moms need 550 mg every day. Choline is abundant in eggs, beef, and dairy products.

Mom’s Dental Health

A pregnant woman suffering from periodontitis or some other dental problems has higher risk of having a premature or underweight infant. Such babies, in turn, have higher risk of experiencing troubles learning.

Stress

The studies have confirmed that, when an expecting mother goes through high stress, it leads to reduced blood supply to the womb, leading to inhibited brain development in the infant. Hence, if you have some troubles to worry about during pregnancy – turn to a psychologist for help!

5 Myths about Nutrition During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is not an easy period in a woman’s life. This time is associated with many changes: nutrition, physical activity, dress size, interests, health and so on. There are enough and to spare myths about pregnancy, such an important moment for any woman, which we unfortunately believe. This time we will debunk some of the myths concerning nutrition during pregnancy.

Pregnant Women Need to Eat for Two

Normally, a pregnant woman needs extra 300 cal a day. Excessive food consumption leads to the mother gaining excess weight, in addition the baby may be overweight, and she might develop diabetes or toxicosis.

Coffee Is Forbidden During Pregnancy

Studies have shown, that excessive consumption of coffee may lead to miscarriage or the baby may be born underweight; this is, however, an extreme case and the mother has to consume a huge quantity of caffeine to get into such situation.

Try to balance the consumption throughout the day and not to consume more than 0,8 cup at a time. Don’t forget, that caffeine is also present in other products, such as cola, tea and others.

Hemoglobin Level Is Kept Within Standards During Pregnancy

There is a physiological decline in hemoglobin level during pregnancy. This is due to the increased blood volume and the needs of the developing baby. The mother, therefore, should supply sufficient amounts of iron to her body. To do this, she can consume iron-rich food or take special pills. Substantial shortage of iron increases miscarriage and preterm delivery risks, the baby may be born underweight.

Eat Mostly Green-Coloured Vegetables to Supply Your Body with Iron During Pregnancy

Iron-rich products are mostly found in meet: liver, beef and veal, turkey, chicken and fish. Cereals are also rich in iron. Green vegetables do contain iron, but it is not fully digested and absorbed.

It Is Important to Start Consuming Folic Acid 3 Months Before Conception

This, however, is not a myth, but the truth. Studies have shown, that sufficient consumption of folic acid (400 mg a day) three months before conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy helps lower the risk of congenital malformation of the baby’s nervous system. The nervous canal forms during the first trimester and then transforms into the spine.

Why Pregnant Women Should Avoid High-Fat Food

Yesterday you probably read the article about the myth and truth about nutrition during pregnancy. Here’s one more thing regarding diet pregnant women should know. We all know, that pregnant women should avoid fat food (actually everybody should do it), but do you know, why women are not recommended to consume too much fats during pregnancy? She risks her baby’s health.



It has been recently discovered, that if the woman eats a diet rich in fats during pregnancy or breastfeeding, the risk of early pubescence of her baby increases. This, in turn, can lead to obesity of the child. Moreover, early menstruation is one of the factors contributing to adolescent depression and developing breast cancer, when the girl becomes older. So, please, go easy on food rich in fat during these periods for your baby’s sake. By the way, this is also recommended, if you want to recover after pregnancy faster.

Depression During Pregnancy Is Dangerous

They say not for nothing that a pregnant woman should be taken well care of and her caprices must be indulged. British scientists believe that depression during pregnancy slows down the child’s intellectual growth and development. Probability of such defects grows by extra 34% comparing to the moms with normal psychological well-being. During pregnancy try not to take to heart small issues and avoid any situations which can make you feel nervous.



Scientists found out that if the mom’s depression persists even after the child is born then the chances of the baby having mental retardation rise from 34% all the way up to 50%. This data was collected during a specially organised study. Over 11 thousand moms and babies participated in the study.

According to the information provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 12 years depression will rank second in the list of disability and lethality causers around the world. Those days, around 15% of suicides are done by depressed people. In addition, one in five people had depression in their life but did not consult a specialist.

Sterility Problem Will Be Completely Resolved

In about 30 years sterility problem will be completely solved. But that’s not the half of it. Any person, regardless of age, will be able to have babies. The enquiry is that in the near future we will not need even human sex cells to create a human embryo. Skin cells will be good enough for the job. This opinion belongs to a biologist from the University of Medical Biology in Singapore – Davor Solter.

The scientist noted that sex (germinal) cells – sperm and ovules, will be successfully obtained from omnipotent stem cells, in other words the cells which can transform into any cell type of the body. Therefore, we will be able to get stem cells from skin cells and then turn them into sex cells, and furthermore combine them and obtain human embryo.

Babies Get Healthy Eating Habits From Mother’s Milk

You don’t have to develop healthy eating habits in your baby, according to new research. These habits develop naturally if a breastfeeding mother sticks to a healthy diet herself. The fact has been discovered by Danish pediatricians from the University of Copenhagen. Their findings show that breastfeeding helps develop a taste for healthy food (like fruit and vegetables) in babies. The researches say that the link is even stronger if a woman eats more fruit and vegetables herself.



So we can conclude that breastfed babies may get to a variety flavors because breast milk is flavored by the foods a woman eats. Ultimately, it makes weaned babies accept the flavors of many foods that their mother’s milk contained. For example, the flavor of banana lasts in breast milk within an hour after being eaten while mint is detectable up for eight hours.
The researches claim their findings can help mothers to develop healthy eating habits in their babies.

Heartburn – Pregnancy’s Well-known Companion

Pregnancy is a happy time for every woman since once this period in her life is over she bears a child. On the other hand, pregnancy is connected with other problems as well, one of them is heartburn. Often enough heartburn becomes pregnancy’s constant companion. What are the reasons behind this? How can we rid ourselves of this unpleasant feeling?

Causes of Heartburn

Heartburn is usually present in the last months during pregnancy since the womb grows bigger. As it grows it squeezes the internals more and more. Stomach is also affected by this process. Its reaction to this regular squeezing is heartburn, since there is some excessive production of stomach acid which is accompanied with burning pain, acid eructation, and sour taste in the mouth.

How to Get Rid of Heartburn

Heartburn does not usually bring particularly heavy discomfort to pregnant women, besides they can do some self-help to relieve themselves. For instance, exclude any products which can bring about heartburn from the diet. Those products include:

• beans,
• fat and farinaceous foods,
• too hot or too cold foods.

Dieting Tips to Relieve Heartburn

If you experience heartburn rather often, you may have to substantially change your diet. Preferably eat steam-cooked food, cooked cereals, vegetables, and completely give up any products which can bring about the heartburn. Eat often, but in small helpings.

Postpartum Fitness

After having a baby, a woman should focus on her exercises. It all depends, however, on the woman’s desire to look real good because no matter how difficult it is to allow just a little time for your own needs, it is still possible. There are lots of programs to strengthen your muscles and regain your body tone weakened after pregnancy and childbirth. To do that, you don’t have to leave your baby for a few hours and go to a fitness center.

Best Time for Fitness after Pregnancy

Physicians recommend that women start exercising 6-8 weeks after vaginal birth and 9-10 weeks after Cesarean operation. Make sure you start exercising with care as every woman recovers after childbirth differently. Start with simpler exercises that do not cause negative sensations in the weakened body.

Intensive Walking after Childbirth

Gynecologists strongly encourage women to move actively as early as 2 weeks after childbirth. What they mean is not vigorous fitness activities, but intensive walking. You have to push a baby stroller a lot, and it is reasonable to use these hours for brisk walking that would help lose your weight.

Fitness Programs for Women after Childbirth

There are many programs for women after childbirth. For example, you can start yoga two weeks after childbirth, or isometric trainings after a month, or Chinese exercise system Chi Kung after just a few days. Of course, this is for healthy women with no childbirth complications. What’s more, all these exercise systems can relieve the stress after birth that occurs in about 50% of women. In fact, even minor exercises are very beneficial to both mothers and babies. Do not limit yourself with just slimming diet after you had a baby. Active lifestyle is a must to lose unwanted weight you gained during pregnancy and to get back in shape.

Swelling During Pregnancy

Swelling occurs quite often during pregnancy. And the gravity force is what makes swelling in legs especially noticeable. Usually, swelling becomes worse towards the evening and in hot weather. Pregnant woman has more water in her body, and that leads to swelling. Tissues store and retain water, causing a woman to swell.

Little Swelling

Little swelling feels uncomfortable and doesn’t look nice, but it isn’t harmful and is common on pregnant women. About 25% of women don’t have any visible swelling at all.

How to Fight Swelling

Avoid being on your feet or in a sitting posture for a long time. If you spend much time walking, you have to take a rest in a chair once in a while. If you spend much time sitting, you have to take five minutes long walks every hour.

Clothes and Footwear to Avoid Swelling During Pregnancy

Wear comfortable shoes (all these narrow shoes on heels pinch and feel uncomfortable, anyway). Walk in comfortable and soft slippers around the house.
Stay away from tight socks, pantyhose and stockings. Let your blood and water circulate in your body naturally.

Water to Prevent Swelling During Pregnancy

Drink more water. Some would say it makes no sense to fight swelling with even more water. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water daily, however, can help remove excessive natrium and other “wastes” that retain water in your body, resulting in less swelling eventually.

Why Baby’s First Words Are Mama or Papa

A baby’s first words are often “mama” and “papa”, and it seems so natural for us that we hardly think why babies actually utter these words first. But the experts at the University of British Columbia have made brain scans of babies to successfully crack that mystery. The secret lies in repeating the same syllables.



The study involved newborns (age 2 days to 3 days). When babies heard repeating syllables, their brain activity increased in the zones responsible for attention, abstract thinking, hearing and speech functions. Figuratively speaking, more complex words go in one ear and out the other, causing no responses from the baby’s brain.

Conducted experiments convincingly explain why babies around the world speak nearly the same language. Mama, papa, dada are the most simple words for them to understand and to utter.

Baby Who Grew in Abdomen Survived

British doctors successfully performed the surgery to save the baby who was growing not in the womb, but in the abdomen. Jayne Jones, 38, had repeating abdominal pains during her pregnancy. At a routine ultra-sound scan, doctors surprisingly saw a well growing baby outside the womb.



The embryo attached himself on the omentum – the layers of fat tissue with blood vessels that cover the bowel. One week after the scan, doctors insisted on the surgery because the pregnancy was dangerous for the mother.

The surgery involved 36 NHS staff whose efforts were rewarded and a boy was born weighing no more than 2 lb. Premature baby spent several months in an incubator. Today, the baby and his lucky mother are enjoying a healthy life.

Do you Want a Boy or a Girl?

It is the fact that the sex of your unborn baby is determined at the moment of conception and depends on the type of a sperm cell that would fertilize an egg cell. If the X-chromosome sperm reaches the egg, then the baby is a girl. If the Y-chromosome joins the egg, then the baby is a boy.

Can We Choose Child’s Sex?

Since ancient times, people have been curious to find how they could influence the sex of the future baby. Obviously, most of the ways stem from superstitions and prejudices. However, some interesting observations and statistics exist that we can’t turn a blind eye to. So, one cannot state emphatically that the sex of a baby is impossible to predict.

Child’s Sex Statistics

• Statistics show that the boys are more likely to be the first baby while the girls tend to come with later births.
• The younger the couple, the more likely they will have a boy, and vice versa.
• Girls prevail in the offspring of the people suffering from podagra.
• Bald men have half again as many boys.
• Babies born in a one year interval are often of the same sex. If the interval is about three years, the babies are most likely to be of the opposite sex.
• If you get pregnant soon after an abortion, you are more likely to have a girl.

Cosmetics May Cause Male Sterility

The cosmetics a pregnant woman is using may cause sterility in her future baby, scientists at the University of Edinburgh say. They tried some chemical components used in cosmetics industry on pregnant rats. The experiment showed that many components disrupt female hormone profile, which inhibits the male reproductive function that develops at 8-12 weeks of pregnancy. It may contribute to the risk of male sterility in humans. Therefore, scientists advise women avoid cosmetics at early stages of pregnancy.

Diet to Plan Your Baby’s Sex

Parents’ diet may play a role in whether they will have a boy or a girl. Studies show that the parents of boys had a lot of natrium and potassium in their diet while the parents of girls preferred foods rich in calcium and magnesium. Scientists have come up with two different diets including specific foods for those who want to plan their baby’s sex.

What to Eat to Have a Boy

If you want to have a boy, it is advisable to eat potatoes, mushrooms, lentil, sweet cherry, bananas, apricots, oranges, peaches and dates. Avoid lettuce, raw cabbage, nuts and beans.

What to Eat to Have a Girl

If you want to have a girl, you should eat eggplants, beet, carrots, cucumbers, green peas, hot pepper, onion and nuts. Avoid plums, bananas, oranges, currant and melons.

When to Stop Dieting

But medics warn women who are going to influence the sex of their baby through their diet. Women who keep diet over two months running are more likely to have spontaneous miscarriages than those who don’t plan their pregnancy. At early stages of pregnancy, the growing baby’s organs and systems start developing.
 So it’s recommended to stop dieting, at least, a month before the conception. After the conception, watching diet doesn’t make any sense and can harm your baby and the progress of your pregnancy.