How to Eat a Satisfying Vegan or Raw-Vegan Meal at Restaurants

By Lenette Nakauchi

Are you a vegan or raw food vegan trying to determine how you're going to maintain and hopefully grow your social life? One of the biggest challenges can be dining out with friends and family. There's no avoiding this--eating out socially is probably the most popular activity in our culture.

Rest assured, it is definitely possible to eat a healthy, raw, satiating meal while out to eat with friends or family. The key here to maintaining your new healthy diet, as it is while traveling, is planning ahead and packing some food with you!

You'll probably want to order some sort of salad from the menu. This could be an entree salad without the meat or a double-order of the simple side salad. Maybe you can even choose the organic or local salad if they offer one--all the better for you!

Never be afraid to ask your server to customize a salad for you. You can create your own salad by looking at the menus salads and entree side vegetables to know what ingredients the restaurant has on hand. Ask for a big salad with greens, other than iceberg, as the base and a variety of different chopped raw vegetables on it. Ask for as many different colored vegetables as possible. If the restaurant has any guacamole or avocado anywhere on the menu--fantastic! Now you know they have avocados in their kitchen and you can ask for avocado to be put on your salad as well if you'd like.

Of course, try to be as polite and as discrete as you can and they will most likely do their best to help you. Your customized salad can lead to the most gorgeous and most colorful salad the restaurant has ever seen! Your salad might just have people turning their heads in your direction asking where was that on the menu? That looks amazing! For salad dressing you could choose the restaurants vinaigrette, lemon juice, or oil and vinegar on the side.

In case your salad and vegetables does nut supply your body with the calories, fat, or protein that it's used to, you may want to bring a long a supplemental snack. You may be very glad you did in case it will be hours before you get a chance to eat again. In your purse or jacket pocket, you could bring along some trail mix, dried fruit (can double as a dessert!), your favorite on-the-go snack bar, etc in a small plastic baggie.

One of the worst things when eating out with friends and family is to still be hungry and thinking about eating while there is great conversation being made all around you. You want to feel comfortable and happy enough with your meal that you can be in the present moment and not give a second thought to what you just ate. This is probably the most important social aspects of succeeding with a special diet--to do whatever it takes to be happy and satiated with our meals out!

You could also supplement your salad with super-nutritious foods such as hemp seeds and sea veggies but be prepared, as this could definitely turn some heads. It depends on how comfortable you are around the party you're with. There is a well-known raw foodist in Chicago who does this to her salads at cooked-food restaurants and swears by it. She knows it raises the vibration of the food before it reaches her mouth.

Here are some more tips for vegans and raw foodists dining out at a cooked food restaurant:

Nuts and seeds that come on salad are usually coated in sugar, or "candied" so be careful. Be sure to watch out for cheese or dairy-based salad dressings, like ranch, that come automatically on the salad and ask for it to be left out. It helps tremendously to pack some sort of sweet snack with you to eat after your meal--especially if you have a sweet tooth and will be tempted by others' desserts. If you're not entirely "raw," don't hesitate to ask your server for some steamed vegetables on the side of your salad or as an entree.

Others in your party may or may not notice what you're doing. If you're comfortable, confident, and nonchalant about what you're doing, they probably wont notice. They're more likely to notice and focus on you if you feel uncomfortable and embarrassed about it yourself. Others may be a bit interested in what you're eating and will even comment on how good your food looks!

If and when people ask about your diet, have a simple definition planned and memorized that you can give them. If you don't want the entire dinner conversation to focus on your new diet, just say its how you prefer to eat right now or you're trying something new out for a while. In a nutshell, choose your line and deliver it in a positive and confident way.

If going out with a larger group of people, you can always eat beforehand as well. Telling others that you just ate due to a late lunch usually fares well. If you're going to be out and about for a while after the meal, you may want to bring some sort of snack or trail mix with you though just in case end up getting hungry later.

In time, you will definitely get used to how to eat out at any type of restaurant--whether or not it caters to vegetarians, vegans, or raw-foodists. Dining at fine restaurants may not be as fun as it used to be, but that's because you know you can eat a much healthier and more satisfying meal at home for pennies on the dollar now. Try proposing a night out for your non-vegan friends at your favorite restaurant. This is a great way to show them how much fun and creative gourmet healthy vegan or raw-vegan food can be.

About the Author:

Lenette Nakauchi is a raw vegan foodist living in Chicago who loves sharing, teaching, and showing to others how to go and stay raw in a fun, healthy, sustainable way. Learn more about the raw food lifestyle and about superfoods by visiting her informational websites www.gorawhavefun.com and www.eatsuperfoods.com.

Can Special Effects Lenses Be Used Multiple Times or Only Once?

By Amy Nutt

With the increasing popularity of special effects contact lenses, a common question that arises is - "How many times will I be able to use them?" The answer to this question is dependent upon many factors - who manufactured the lenses, what purpose the were designed for and how well you take care of them could all be major factors in how many times you can wear your special effects lenses.

Quality and Design

You've heard the old saying, "you get what you pay for?" Well, expect it to hold true for special effects contact lenses as it does for many of life's important purchases including eyeglasses. If you only spent three dollars for your cat eye special effects contact lenses from the Halloween section at the convenience store at the gas station, don't expect to get very many wears out of them. You're more likely to end up with an eye infection than a long term fashion accessory from such a purchase.

If you go to a licensed eye care professional and spend money on a nicely designed and quality lens, then you could very easily wear them for several months without having any problems what so ever.

It isn't necessarily the cost that determines exactly how many wears you'll get out of your special effects lenses though, you could pay top dollar for a pair of one time lenses that were custom made. The possibilities are almost limitless when it comes to design, amazing artists can hand craft painted designs, the likes of which would have been impossible just a few years ago, onto clear lenses for special sequences and scenes on TV or in movies. It's likely though that some of these ornate designs would be very uncomfortable or would hinder vision to the point that it wouldn't be advisable to wear them for more than a few hours.

Even if you do go through the proper sources to obtain your lenses and pay for a quality product from a licensed distributor of contact lenses, it's very possible that the type of lens you choose may only be suitable for a single wear. You need to check with your optometrist to see if the design you want is available in an extended wear lens or whether the manufacturer only makes it in a disposable or single wear style.

How you take Care of Them

You can buy top quality extended wear special effects contact lenses that could last you probably as long as you'd like them to, but if you don't take care of them as per the instructions they won't last nearly as long as they could. People who already wear contact lenses regularly and know the process of keeping them in good condition shouldn't have any problem caring for special effects lenses, the cleaning and storage process may even be exactly the same as their prescription lenses. Some specialty lenses may require extra care to ensure a long life, but it should be very similar to regular contact lens maintenance.

You may, however, want to go the extra mile with your special effects lenses as far as care is concerned because good ones will likely cost you a lot more to replace than a regular set of contact lenses such as Acuvue - especially if they are prescription, and a similar pair may be much more difficult to find. Even if you are very careful with your special effects lenses, they can still get lost, or rip and become unusable, that's why it's best to take every precaution when it comes to the care and storage of these special lenses.

If you are in the market for a pair of special effects lenses that will be with you for a while, your best bet is to pay the extra money for a high quality extended wear lens, and then take care of it as best as you possibly can - that way, barring any unforeseen accidents, you can have your lenses for as long as you want to wear them.

About the Author:

Shop online when looking for contact lenses, eyeglasses and special effects contact lenses. Providing the widest selection of contacts and designer glasses at huge savings when compared to retail prices.

Curb Stress from a Reflexology Foot Massage by a Massage Chair

By Steve Esquire

Ever come home with a little stress or anxiety? The constant pressures of work and home life can cause a build up of stress and anxiety in the body. Perhaps you have had the pleasure of having a foot massage? A foot reflexology does more than just make your feet feel better. In fact, foot reflexology massage is thought to alleviate many ailments including back pain, stress and headaches. Get daily stress and anxiety relief with a Foot Reflexology massage with a massage chair.

Reflexology is about applying pressure in the feet and hands to relieve pressure in other parts of the body. This technique has been known from many early peoples and was practiced as part of healing. With the rise of science, these reflexology techniques have been more thoroughly tested and each specific healing area has been identified. Foot reflexology is known to reduce back pain and even headaches by applying gentle pressure in particular reflexology areas on your feet.

At the turn of the 20th century foot reflexology was more thoroughly studied. This resulted in studying the correlations between pressure points and inducing relief in particular parts of the body. It is interesting that we put pressure on our feet all day and they end up being the gateway to relaxing the rest of the body. Foot reflexology has been found to be most effective when performed with frequency to release built up pressures.

Why is reflexology massage effective? Interestingly, the body reacts to stress or anxiety based on a flight or fight reaction. The stress reaction mobilizes the body through the nervous system. The feet are ready to run and the hands are ready to fight. The feet and hands need the support of the major organs and muscles to protect the body, so these too are mobilized. Reflexology helps to calm the feet and the major organs and muscles thus reducing the tension of stress and anxiety.

Now with the advance of technology, effective reflexology massages are being integrated into the premier massage chair brands. Companies like Panasonic, Omega among others have developed technology providing foot reflexology massage. The Panasonic EP30004 Real Pro Ultra Massage Chair or the Omega Montage Premier massage chair both incorporate foot reflexology massage. These massage chair recliners can provide daily relief of built up tension and anxiety.

One of the critical discoveries by Dr. Fitzgerald was that reflexology massage had many healing benefits when an individual received continuous, periodic treatments. He found that just doing a sporadic reflexology massage did not have the same results as patients that received the treatment on a recurring basis. The build up of stress is a continuous process and the relief of such build up must also be continuous. This is a critical distinction with parallels to many types of health issues like diet and exercise which need to be on a continuous basis.

If you have stress and built up anxiety, get a massage chair recliner to counteract the stress build up. The best massage chairs have full body massage capability along with foot reflexology massage. These chairs can provide the perfect way to reduce these tensions on a frequent basis. Besides just making your feet feel good after a hard day, a foot reflexology massage induces stress relief and total relaxation. Reduce your stress with the touch of a button on a massage chair.

About the Author:

Begin to reduce your stress on a daily basis with a Shiatsu Massage Chair. View a tremendous variety of massage chair reviews, features, articles and massage therapy. You will find Shiatsu Massage Chairs with reflexology foot massage, heating elements, MP3 players, and lower body traction. Relief is just a push of a button away!

An Examination Of Back Acne And How You Can Go About Curing It

By Don Saunders

Acne is a very common problem for both adults and teenagers and the commonest perception of acne is that it occurs on the face. But, if you have had acne you know only too well that it can occur in other places too such as the back and the chest.

While back and chest acne is not so obvious to outside observers it can nevertheless be extremely annoying for those afflicted by it. Unluckily, back and chest acne is frequently more difficult to treat than the acne that you have on your face and traditional cleaners and treatments which you use for your face will often not work as effectively when it comes to curing back acne. Also, because your back and chest are generally covered by clothing, you may experience greater irritation from the rubbing of material against your acne.

Just as you do with your facial acne you will have to have a daily treatment regimen for your back acne and the majority of common regimens include a cleanser followed by a moisturizer. Generally, it is more difficult to put medication on your back acne because of where its location and so you might require the help of a family member or to use a special applicator.

You must take care over the sort of clothing that you wear. Rough materials or tight-fitting shirts can rub against your skin and irritate your pimples leading to greater oil production and therefore more breakouts. You also need to be careful about the type of washing powder and fabric softener that you use. Sometimes these can irritate back acne and so you may need to try different brands or change to a dye and fragrance free variety.

Watch what you carry anything on you back. For teenagers in school, as well as those who go hiking and backpacking, backpacks can make back acne considerably worse. If you are experiencing an increase in the number of acne breakouts you may want to stop carrying a backpack for a while. If this is difficult then you might find that a shoulder bag helps until your acne subsides.

A doctor can be a great help with both diagnosis and treatment of back acne and will be able to start by determining just how bad your acne is and also assessing your skin type. For example, whther you skin is oily or dry or what is referred to as a combination skin plays an important part deciding upon the best course of treatment. Your doctor will also want to have a history of your acne condition, covering things like how long you have had it and how often breakouts occur. With this information he will be able to determine the best course of treatment and medication to clear up your individual case of acne.

About the Author:

Many people focus on treating the problem of facial acne but we provide much wider information covering such things as back acne treatment and body acne spray medication

Highly Effective Chakra Cleansing Practices

By Anne-Marie Laureaut

Since our chakras are directly influenced by everything around us such as the technique to regular cleansing of our chakras logically follows that we should take our environment into consideration as well. To achieve balance and harmony, the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspects of our being also needs cleansing in order to heal our energy systems. This is necessary since all aspects of our existence are interconnected and are necessary to function harmoniously for healthy and vibrant living.

Following are some of the conventional chakra cleansing methods man uses for thousands of years:

1. Regularly burning incense or certain herbs and plants and allowing ourselves to soak in the smoke can negate the negative effect of obstacles to our energy points. Smudging is an age-old practice known to people of diverse cultures and civilization as an effective method if achieving balance and harmony in life.

2. Auric brushing with the aid of crystals and gems is one way to cleanse our chakras of blockages but it should be done judiciously as it is potentially a double-edged knife, it can cause damage if not done by a well-experienced person.

3. A wholesome lifestyle, drinking plenty of clean water, tea and fruit juices, plus enough sleep and moderation are highly suggested in order to preserve the function of our chakras.

4. Engaging in regular breathing and physical exercises is to your advantage as it helps maintain the vitality and normal function of our chakras.

5. Connect with the wonders and magic of nature. Learning to appreciate the nature has a wonderful influence in the function of our energy systems.

6. Color therapy is another effective chakra cleansing practice. Colors, with their effects on individuals can successfully be used in initiating chakra cleansing either by visualization or by looking at the real color.

7. The power of music should never be underestimated nor set aside. Music is an effective stimulant and chakra cleansing method that balances the functions of our energy points.

8. We should not tire of pursuing learning situations. In fact, it is highly recommended to continually pursue learning and intellectual challenges to keep us on our toes and keep our energy points active.

9. Deep contemplation for a few minutes on a regular basis is enough to allow us to realize and understand our thoughts and emotional feelings. It is a vital way of chakra cleansing technique because it makes us cognizant and receptive to everything around us.

10. Learn to love yourself. This is important so that you can also learn to love others around you. Feelings of love and appreciation releases chemicals that benefit our body and in the same way, feelings of anger also releases chemicals that affect us negatively.

11. Becoming conscious of our emotions and responsibly expressing them to others is also fundamental to chakra cleansing and maintenance. Repressed thoughts and feelings create energy jams that can seriously affect our health and well being.

12. Being imaginative in our daily activities helps us maintain balance and harmony. Imagination and creativity is not the private realm of the arts as we can utilize it to make our activities more interesting!

13. Coming to terms with our past lives and understanding its significance can provide us a deep awareness of our purpose as a human being.

14. Live a life anchored on the moral values of respect, trust, decency, honesty and truthfulness. This will make you a more constructive and reliable person that others would trust.

15. Communicate with your Creator through prayer. Praying is a fundamental part of our health and energy systems because it is an acknowledgement of humility and a sign of respect for the Almighty. It also helps put us at ease and make us sensitive to our environment.

All the above methods of chakra cleansing are very important. However, it takes practice and a realization of your love for yourself and others before you can truly understand and use them for chakra cleansing. It is not necessary to use them all at the same time but it is recommended to start off with one or two or three and continue to add methodologies over time. Chakra cleansing is not achieved instantaneously, it is a constant and lifetime process (just like chakras are continually in motion) in order to achieve and maintain a healthy balance among all the elements involved.

About the Author:

The author Anne-Marie Laureaut is one of the team of experts who contribute to the popular chakra-balance.com site. To get more information on how chakra cleansing can drastically improve your life and receive twenty nine Free chakra meditation Audios visit here.