The skin is the outermost organ of the human body which is flexible and soft. For the sake of the healthy skin, every day people clean, moisturize and protect skin, especially women. What are the facts behind the human skin?

As quoted from HowStuffWorks, by understanding the skin, we can help place them in a perspective of how the skin fills all the space in the body.

1. The skin protects the internal organs from external elements such as extreme temperatures, ultraviolet rays from the sun and harmful chemicals.

2. The skin also helps retain water, prevent infection and produce essential proteins and vitamins. To perform all the tasks, a large amounts of skin is required.

3. Adults have an average of about 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) or approximately 22 square feet (6.7 square meters) of skin.

4. Not all skin can be seen by the eye. Human skin consists of three layers: the epidermis, dermis and fat layer under the skin, or hypodermis. And each layer has a different purpose.

Epidermis is the outer layer of skin that gives pigment-cells and produce new skin cells to replace cells that have died.

Dermis is the middle layer, is a place to feel pain and has touch receptors like blood vessels, hair follicles, collagen and elastin.

While subcutaneous layer consists of collagen and fat, which helps absorb shocks and protect the body and internal organs.

5. The skin is an organ which keeps on developing and constantly changes throughout our lives. Even humans shed about 40,000 skin cells per minute.

6. Skin experienced renewal every 35 days. This means that when a person aged 20 years, he has experienced skin turnover of 200 times.

Many health care professionals says that water is an essential nutrient for weight loss.

Water is up to 60% of our body weight, lack of water alters the metabolism of our body. This happens because the body does not have the ability to store additional water. The main functions of water in the body are: transports nutrients, removes toxins from the body, hydrates the skin, helps maintain body temperature and wet ears, mouth and nose. Dehydration can have serious consequences such as weakness, delirium and death.

On the other hand when the water content in the body is very high it can result in headaches, muscle weakness, poor appetite and poor memory.

But, why water is an essential nutrient for weight loss?

Because water can help you lose weight by making you feel full, helps curb food cravings and quenches your thirst. Also, water flushes toxins from your system, increases metabolism and assists your body in keeping your cells hydrated. People who drink more water tend to stay full longer and are less likely to eat.

More reasons? If you are normally a soda or juice drinker, and you replace them with water, drinking water can help you lose weight, partially because you are replacing some calories. There are a lot of processes that go on in your body that requires it. If you do not drink enough water your body does not function at an optimal level, which makes weight loss difficult.

Even more reason? Lack of water gives you headaches and constipation. If you do not drink enough water every day, your body may be storing water and fat that you do not need. If you become dehydrated your body is more likely to store fat. Because water naturally helps to suppresses your appetite, and will help you lose weight and burn fat.

The Water Resource Center in the University of Minnesota states that you need water for your body to burn fat. Without water, your kidneys cannot do their job properly and your liver must pitch in to help. While it is helping the kidneys, your liver cannot burn as much fat, so some of the fat that would normally be used as fuel gets stored in your body instead. The water is stored between the cells and shows up as extra weight. Drinking more water lets the liver get back to its own job of turning fat into fuel. When your body gets enough water, the stored water is released, so the more water you drink, the less you will eat.

Then, what is the necessary dosage? Experts recommend that during the day take 2 to 3 liters of water. But sweat when you exercise increases the need of water. For what is recommended before exercises take 1 to 2 glasses and during exercising drink only when thirsty and to drink as much as you sweat. The way to know whether you drank too much during a long training routine is if your weight afterward is more than it was before your exercise.

A glass of water before eating will help you feel full and eat less. Drink at least 8, eight-ounce glasses of water every day. If you are overweight, drink an additional glass for every twenty-five pounds of excess weight.

For decades, the media has been preaching how fats are associated with obesity, cancer, arteriosclerosis, and heart disease. Back in the late 1980’s, the U.S. Surgeon General recommended that Americans decrease their consumption of dietary fats. Marketing savvy food manufacturers immediately started coming out with everything from fat free ice cream to fat free cheese. In place of fat, more carbohydrates were added.

With all of the “fat free” marketing, the general public believed that since something was “fat free”, they could eat larger portions. Over the next ten years, Americans became fatter than ever! Obesity skyrocketed from 12% of the population to over 20% of the population in just 10 years. Today, research has found that 50% of Americans are overweight and approximately 23% are obese. With the help of the food industry, the public has developed a “fat phobia” and the importance of including healthy fats in our diets has been neglected.

If your goal is to build a stronger, leaner, more muscular body, dietary fats are necessary to maintain and improve your health, and play an essential role in reaching your fitness goals.

There are two types of fats, saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are considered healthy fats, they are usually liquid at room temperature. Although there are many sources of unsaturated fat, two great sources of healthy unsaturated fat can be found in cold water fish like salmon, trout and halibut, and flax seed oil.

Saturated fats are the unhealthy fats that are associated with a myriad of health problems. They contain virtually nothing nutritious or good for your body, it’s only role is it can be burned as energy. The fact is, you don’t need saturated fats at all, but the typical diet is jam-packed with them. For health reasons, you want to consume as little saturated fats as possible. Saturated fats are generally solid at room temperature and can be found in butter, margarine, dairy, cheese, and meats. I am not recommending you become a vegetarian and eliminate meat from your diet, but make sure when you are at the meat counter you select lean cuts. You do not have to eat meat every day. There are many other good non-animal sources of protein including beans, soy, and tofu.

The truth is, some fats are health promoting and essential to life itself. I recently read a great book by Dr. Udos Erasmus, one of the world’s foremost experts on dietary fats. I highly recommend you read his best selling book “Fats That Heal, Fat’s That Kill.” Dr. Erasmus believes that eating enough healthy fats is just as important to maintaining health as eliminating unhealthy fats.

The early signs of pregnancy would create a mixed feeling of joy, fear, and nervousness. What scares you the most is the lack of knowledge of what happens to your body during pregnancy till delivering of the baby. A pregnancy week-by-week guide will help you to overcome your apprehensions and wait for nature’s miracle to behold in flesh and bones after the completion of the pregnancy.

Pregnancy week by week developments:

Week one to four
During this period the sperm forming a zygote the basic form of life, fertilizes the egg.

Week five to eight
A woman exhibits the early signs of pregnancy that is confirmed by the medical tests. By sixth week the baby’s heart starts to beat and by eighth week the fetus develops rudimentary limbs.

Week nine to twelve
During this period your body starts expanding to accommodate the growing fetus with growing body parts. It is also a time of subsiding nausea or morning sickness.

Week thirteen to sixteen
The baby’s bones begin to harden and it starts moving in the womb. You can hear the baby’s heartbeat during your visit to the doctor.

Week seventeen to twenty
The baby’s internal organs start developing rapidly. The fetus gets covered with soft fine hair called lanugo. This is the time when accurate gender of the baby can be checked.

Week twenty-one to twenty four
At this stage you will feel slight contractions as the uterus starts preparing for the delivery. Baby begins to practice breathing to be prepared for it at time of birth. The baby also develops fat deposits in order to regulate body temperature at the time of birth.

Week twenty-four to twenty eight
The baby hears muffled outside sounds and sense light at this stage. The baby’s movement starts slowing due to lack of space in the uterus.

Week twenty-nine to thirty two
The baby’s head grows rapidly in proportion to the rest of the body. The brain and eyes are almost fully developed, only the lungs need development.

Week thirty-three to thirty six
The baby grows to the length of sixteen inches and weighs four pounds at this stage. It can open-close its eyes, the fingernails too start growing at this stage.

Week thirty-seven to forty
The baby’s major organs are fully developed by now and lungs too grow to prepare for breathing outside the womb. The baby will drop to birthing stage in the pelvis. The actual delivery time could be two weeks before or after the expected due date. Be prepared for the arrival of your bundle of joy.

Maintain a pregnancy weekly calendar to note down all the developments and other relevant information provided by your doctor to monitor the growth of your baby. Good pregnancy health is vital during the progressing pregnancy week by week.

People always suggest that you should use this in your daily facial skin care routine, and you should use in your daily body skin care routine and sometimes it just gets a little confusing. In all honesty, you will probably go through a ton of products and different routines till you get one that works for you, but there are essentials. There are two different products you need in your daily facial or body skin care routine, for a more specific area (like eyes or neck) you can add the products on.

First, you need a good facial cleanser. This is especially important when you are prone to break outs and acne. You want to fight the bacterium that causes pimples before they become pimples. How do you do this? Well with a facial cleanser that acts as an antiseptic while not harshly reacting with your skin. The healthiest facial cleanser for anybodies skin would be a organic cleanser, but if you cannot find a fully organic cleanser that is within your reach or price limit, here are a few ingredients that you should look for. Tangerine Oil is a fantastic antiseptic and antioxidant that when applied to a facial cleanser really makes your skin shine. Also, tangerine oil has a very unique quality of being able to help absorb the nutrients it needs while blocking out the toxins. So in use with another ingredient that provides nutrients, the skin will absorb 100% instead of like 75% of its food. Examples of common ingredients that are considered “skin food” are Shea Butter (full or nutrients to soothe and firm skin) and Chamomile oil ( a natural anti inflammatory). Any of the above ingredients used in a daily facial cleanser will help in cleaning your face up; all three in the same facial cleanser, you will be floored by the results.

Second, after application of the facial cleanser, it is moisturizer time.  This is important because if no moisturizer is used, the hydrating qualities of the facial cleanser or just simply the shower water will be lost within the hour. Moisturizers are known to as like barriers against water escaping your body, leaving your skin smooth and healthy. For the best moisturizer, check out the same ingredients a facial cleanser. The only exception will be that you will not be focusing on the antiseptic qualities like a facial cleanser, you will be focusing on the hydrating, moisturizing qualities of the ingredient. For you Shea Butter should be your number one ingredient. When applied to skin, Shea Butter is known to melt at body temperature leaving you with no greasy residue. This also means that it is sucked into your skin at a rapid rate, working to treat your dry itchy skin almost immediately. Shea butter also has natural protective properties so it does exactly what a moisturizer should do, keep the moisture in. Chamomile Oil in combination with Shea makes one of the best combinations in skin care.

So we have cleanse and then moisturize. Seems simple enough but you would be surprised at how many people do not do this. They either do not use a facial cleanser, they do not use a moisturizer, or they say to heck with them both. You got to keep trying until you find that perfect cleanser or moisturizer and have the routine down pat. I promise you that if you just do at least the above to steps, you will notice a great improvement in your skin.