Though clinical studies relate that food and acne do not have a significant correlation, more and more dermatologists are beginning to recognize that the cleaner diet you have, the clearer your skin will be. Along with drinking plenty of water, diets high in fruits and vegetables provide your body with the vitamins that are crucial in the development of an acne-free face. On the other hand, foods high in fat and sugar can mess with your complexion. Cut the following items out of your diet to keep zits at bay.

1. Sugar
White sugar has inflammatory properties that can aggravate your skin. “In terms of food, things high in glycemic load [foods that raise blood sugar quickly] trigger acne more than anything else,” says Marina Peredo, M.D., a dermatologist in Long Island, NY.

2. Dairy
Hormones that are found in dairy products can stimulate the sebum glands in your face, making them produce more oil and clog your pores. Many people find that when they cut dairy from their diets their skin clears up dramatically.

3. Fast food
The “McDonald’s face” that occurs when people work at fast food restaurants doesn’t have to do with grease; it has to do with eating processed foods made from white flour and potatoes. The key to great skin is avoiding as many processed foods as possible.

4. Peanut butter
Peanut butter that contains hydrogenated oil and added sugar may cause inflammation and fuel breakouts.

5. Whey protein
“When a guy is breaking out, I always ask him what supplements he’s taking and if he’s trying to bulk up,” says Peredo. “Whey protein can cause acne.” If you’re breaking out from whey and need an alternative, try egg-white or hemp protein powder instead.

6. Spicy food
Spicy food triggers sweat glands, which can make your face oily and further aggravate the skin. The way to prevent a breakout when you eat spicy food could be to wash your face immediately after.

While no foods have been proven to cause pimples directly, there are foods that make you break out.

“Does chocolate give you pimples?” is a common question and recent studies suggest that it’s the sugar, not the cocoa, in chocolate that’s to blame for break outs.

Sugary and processed foods with a high glycaemic load set off a chain-reaction that might be responsible for an acne breakout. These foods include:

Fried chips, crackers, and cookies
White bread and pasta
Soft drinks and juices
Can some foods causes pimples
When you eat these foods, your blood sugar, and in turn your insulin levels, spike.

Insulin causes your sebaceous glands to produce more oil. This often contributes to clogged pores and pimples.

HOW TO AVOID FOODS THAT GIVE YOU PIMPLES
Your diet has a strong influence on the health of your skin.

Follow our six simple tips to help you avoid foods that make you break out:

1. CROWD YOUR PLATE WITH FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
These foods are rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Fill up of these foods to make less room for foods that make you break out.

2. FLUSH OUT TOXINS
Reduce sugary cravings by drinking plenty of water or unsweetened tea.

Stir two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar into a glass of water and drink after a rich meal if you need balance your blood sugar levels.

3. MORE NATURAL VITAMIN A
Keep spinach, carrots, kale, papaya, cantaloupe and sweet potatoes on your menu.

Vitamin A reduces sebum and helps skin cells regenerate.

4. EAT DARK CHOCOLATE
That’s right – snacking on dark chocolate is a great antioxidant boost.

Cocoa contains antioxidants, which can help to fight free radicals in your skin.

5. LOAD UP ON NATURAL VITAMIN C
Citrus fruits, broccoli and bean sprouts are high in vitamin C and should be on your plate.

Vitamin C helps your skin produce collagen for a fresh complexion

6. FILL UP ON OMEGA-3 AND OMEGA-6
Think salmon, avocados, nuts and olive oil.

These unsaturated fatty acids help keep your skin supple.

The usage of onion and garlic in an Indian kitchen is indispensable - thanks to the exceptionally amazing flavour they offer to curries, stir fries, stew, soup and what not. Both the ingredients, belonging to the allium family, not only add to the flavour, but also have numerous health benefits to offer. However, Ayurveda suggests that one shouldn't consume excessive amount of onion and garlic. Ayurveda defines nutritional properties of food based on six tastes that include sweet, salty, bitter, sour, pungent and astringent, and their qualities namely, sattva, rajas and tamas. While both onion and garlic are considered excellent foods, they still are not favoured by Ayurveda.

According to Ayurveda expert from NirogStreet, Ram N Kumar, "Ayurveda is not against eating onion and garlic; in fact, garlic is deemed as an important medicine in Ayurveda. However, onion is considered tamasic (makes people irritable) and garlic is known to be rajsic (disturbed sleep and drained energy) in nature, which means both these ingredients produce heat in the body. While body needs some amount of heat, excessive heat may only lead to increased risk of health problems."

Undoubtedly, Ayurveda prizes onion and garlic as powerful medicines and do not recommend avoiding them. Ayurveda principles are generally confused with spirituality and yoga that recommend a no onion and no garlic diet, as they both are believed to distract an individual's focus and attention.

Health Benefits Of Onion And Garlic

Both the ingredients have a long list of health benefits. Garlic has often been considered as a wonder drug. It has been used to prevent infections due to its anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties, and it is also known to reduce chances of cancer; thanks to its anti-carcinogenic properties. Onions, on the other hand, are known to reduce inflammation, remove toxins, normalise digestion and reduce cough. These are just a few health benefits attributed to the two humble kitchen ingredients.

So, go ahead and add these two foods in your daily diet; just remember anything in excess is bad for your health and moderation is the key.

Former Bollywood actor and beauty queen Sushmita Sen has quite an active presence on social media. The super fit actor is celebrating her 43rd birthday today and let's just admit it- Sushmita Sen doesn't look a day older than 30! The former Miss Universe kick-started her birthday by spending some quality time with her family and rumoured boyfriend Rohman Shawl. Sen posted pictures of herself celebrating her special day with Shawl, her daughters Renee and Alisah, her brother Rajeev Sen and her mother. The Instagram post showed that the actor was feeling particularly loved on her birthday. She even cut a delicious-looking dessert, which, from the looks of it, is a cheesecake of some kind. The family appeared to have gone on an outing and the pictures suggested it was a high-end dining place or a hotel. Either way, it's clear that Sushmita Sen is having the time of her life, looking as lovely and youthful as ever.

It's obvious that you don't just end up looking as fit and as beautiful as Sushmita Sen does, without doing anything! The beauty, who was crowned Miss Universe in 1994, is an inspiration to millions of women around the world. Sen posts a lot of workout and fitness videos of herself and her two daughters on Instagram, which gives us a peak into the healthy lifestyle that she is teaching her daughters to lead. Let's take a look at Sushmita Sen's own diet and fitness routine to see what keeps the svelte star so fit, even at 43.

Sushmita Sen Diet
Although everyone knows how much Sushmita Sen loves to work out, we're here to tell you that the beauty doesn't compromise on her diet either. Her personal fitness trainer Nupur Shikhare had told Vogue in an interview that Sen has a very healthy diet. He revealed that Sen didn't believe in following any fitness fads and instead made sure her diet gave her a more holistic nutrition. According to Shikhare, Sushmita Sen is very particular about her Macros and her diet is rich in all of them- proteins, carbs and fats. She never indiscriminately skips meals, and vegetables and grilled fish were regulars in her daily meals. She also made sure that she was always adequately hydrated. The beauty is something of a cooking enthusiast as well. Here's proof of Sushmita Sen's cooking skills, when she made a pineapple dessert for her family:

Here's another occasion that Sushmita Sen let loose and indulged in a super cheesy deep dish pizza in Chicago, USA:


Sushmita Sen Fitness Routine
When it comes to fitness, Sushmita Sen has proved that age is just a number and if you want to keep fit, you can do that at any age. The former actor is seen pushing the envelope during her workouts and trying out newer and more challenging exercises and workout routines. Sen's intense workout routine even at 43 is a testament to the kind of discipline that she has inculcated in her life. The diva keeps her workout routine flexible as it keeps changing throughout the week. She started doing Aerial Silk (AS), which is a form of dance that involves hanging in the air with the help of a fabric, when she suffered a back injury.

She actively does yoga, dancing and ballet and has even dabbled with Kalaripayattu- an Indian martial arts form. Well, we wish the evergreen beauty a very happy 43rd birthday and hope she keeps inspiring us to be the best version of ourselves!

Oats are a popular breakfast food around the world. They are easy to cook and also incredibly versatile. You can use them in smoothies, milkshakes, porridges and even in desserts like cake, cupcakes, muffins and cookies. Oats come with a number of health benefits, weight loss included. Did you know that you can eat oats for all three meals of the day in order to lose weight? That is because oats are rich in satiating fibre, which prevents hunger pangs and eliminates the need for you to snack between meals. Although it is not advisable to restrict your food intake to just one food type or food group, but if you want to lose weight fast, the oatmeal diet could be perfect for you. However, it is important to remember that oatmeal isn't some miracle food that you can eat to lose weight, but it may bring you results when consumed as part of calorie-restricting diet, along with other nutritious foods.

There are a number of different variations of the oatmeal diet, which different people follow for different periods of time. There is one which is extremely restrictive and where people only eat oatmeal for all three meals of the day, with calories for all meals coming to a total of 1,300 calories per day. This is followed by reducing it to just two meals a day. In another one, two meals of the day consist of oatmeal while dinner consists of a lean protein like chicken or fish along with salad or cooked vegetables. The second version is healthier from a nutritional standpoint as it provides you with more micro nutrients like essential minerals and vitamins as well. The components of the meals can be changed according to your own convenience, given that the calorie count is constant.

oatsOatmeal Diet For Weight Loss: There are a number of different variations of the oatmeal diet
Oatmeal Diet For Weight Loss
To follow this 7-day diet, people start off with eating just oatmeal for all three meals of the day for the first two days, followed by eating oatmeal for at least two meals of the day for the next two days.

Finally, dieters consume oatmeal for just one meal of the day for the remaining three days. This plan is more sustainable and the calorie count progression in the three phases of the diet is as follows- 100-1200 calories in first two days, 1200-1400 calories in the next two days, 1400-2000 calories in the remaining three days. Oats work by providing the body with fibre, which is great for digestion. Moreover, the fibre in oats can also bind with fat in the intestine, preventing the absorption of fats.

Healthy Oats Recipes For Weight Loss
Here are five healthy low-calorie recipes made from oats that you can consume while following the oatmeal diet for weight loss:

1. Oats Khichdi: A healthier version of the popular Indian food khichadi is the oats khichdi. The savoury dish is easy-to-make and filling.

2. Oats Uttapam: A delicious and healthy variation to the south Indian favourite, oats uttapam makes for a good, filling breakfast.

3. Oatmeal Porridge with Fried Egg: A breakfast dish that can also double up as a lunch recipe, oatmeal porridge with fried eggs has the right amount of fibre and proteins to keep you going.

4. Oats Idli: This recipe takes the health quotient of idli to the next level, by replacing semolina with oats.

5. Oats and Chicken Porridge: A comforting and nutritious dish fit for any meal of the day, oats and chicken porridge is the perfect combination of taste and health.