First, before starting on any radical change to your diet you need to take into consideration any health issues you may have.  Next, you should minimize processed sugars, desserts, sweet soft drinks, sweeties, ice cream, and all other bad carbohydrates to the maximum extent possible.  Try to focus on counting your calories while minimizing your bad carbohydrate intake, this has always helped me drop a few pounds quicker than any other diet.  If you do this and add in some exercise you will look great just in time for your big event.

Just remember though this is only a short term strategy. Find out a more effective way to lose weight in our ‘Slimming Down Your Weight Problem‘ article.

Ginger is perhaps the most prized fighter when it comes to being sick. Ginger is loaded with several different kinds of anti-virals, and can help with nausea, so drink a cup of ginger tea a few times a day when sick. Vitamin C is an immune system booster, so load up on fresh oranges or their juice.  Chamomile tea will also help you relax and get the rest you need, so try to work a cup or two into your day, especially at bedtime.  Garlic has been used for centuries as a natural antiseptic and infection fighter, so adding some into your chicken soup is a good idea. Of course, the big gun in everyone’s arsenal is echinacea, which has been shown to reduce both the duration and severity of colds and flu. You can use this many different ways, but it appears to work best in tea form. The most important thing you can do is rest and try to have a positive attitude.

Abscesses on the skin surface can cause nearby glands to become swollen and sore. For example an abscess on the arm could cause swollen glands in the arm pit. Provided you treat the abscess early though you should be able to get away with just mild discomfort. If needs be the puss will need to be drained safely, allowing the infection to heal and the skin to repair itself. Draining can be done using a dry dressing covered with magnesium sulphate paste.

One of the main physical dangers is that of secondary infection, providing a threat of severe permanent scars and crater like pits or pock-marks. Even worse can be the psychological scars that such scars might bring with it. Increasing self-awareness can create confidence problems very quickly. Happy and confident extroverts can become morose introverts as they struggle to come to terms with the physical damage left behind by acne.

If acne is a worry to you there is a good BUPA synopsis of the problem here

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Although more common at the age of adolescence, acne is a problem faced by people of all ages. It’s also just as much a problem for girls as it it for boys - the difference being that girls tend to get them slightly earlier. A big reason for getting spots in your teens is due to the massive increase in hormone production, as well as effects of notoriously poor diets consumed by teenagers.

Acne within adults tends to signify internal toxicity which can be attributable to a number of factors, such as constipation, candida or food intolerances.

Although there are many facial washes and scrubs out there to help you deal with acne, usually the most effective acne remedies treat the problem from within - helping your liver to deal with toxins at source.

Many people need external motivation. If they won’t do it for themselves then perhaps they will do it for the people they love, such as children or grand children.

If you’re one of the people lacking inspiration why not try thinking about the happy events you would miss by your life being cut 10 to 15 years short. The birth of a grandchild? A grandchild’s wedding or graduation?

Consider everyone who is close to you, be it family or friends. Who will miss you? Who will you miss the most? If you can’t stop smoking for yourself then maybe you can do it for them!

For instance, any woman taking the contraceptive pill faces a very small risk of side effects such as thrombosis, stroke or heart attack. If you’re a woman who smokes you increase these ‘very small risks’ by approximately 8 times.

Smoking has also been shown to be particularly damaging for pregnant women, in some cases doubling the chances of complications. This is because chemicals in cigarette smoke interfere with the circulation of blood through the placenta, meaning fewer nutrients are supplied to the unborn baby. As a result, even for those women lucky enough to not have complications, on average a baby born to a smoking mother will be 200g (8 oz) lighter than one born to a non-smoker.

For the new born children the problems do not stop there as research has shown that the effects on children’s health can be seen many years later. At the age of 11, children born to smoking mothers are on average three months behind on school work compared to children whose mothers did not smoke at all during pregnancy.

Once into the habit smokers then tend get two contradictory side effects. First is the sedation - ever heard anyone say that they need a cigarette to ’settle their nerves’? Opposite the sedation is the stimulant effect, pushing people along when they need to work. Both of these effects are due to nicotine which is the physical addiction caused by smoking.

This means that in effect smoking becomes a two-tiered habit. There becomes both a physical and mental addiction which both need to be addressed to break the smoking habit. To find out how to tackle these check out our article ‘quit smoking the easy way‘.

• 9 out of every 10 cases of cancer are triggered by smoking.
• Every 15 minutes someone dies thanks to smoking.
• A pack of cigarettes a day equates to losing a month of life each year.

We could go on and on and - we haven’t even mentioned the financial implications - but I think you get the picture. And if you aren’t scared for yourself what about your children. 450 children start smoking every day - do you want to be the ‘role model’ for misery?

There has never been a better time to give up smoking. You can no longer smoke in public places so it’s not in your face all the time, while the NHS also vigorously encourages quitting through their programmes.

Quit now - there’s no excuse not to!

Often the trigger in these instances is an external irritant such as perfumes, washing powder, shampoos, dust mites or animal hairs. In other instances it might be a food intolerance.

The result of this is that outbreaks can be unpredictable and hard to avoid. That’s why treating eczema should start with battle hardening your body against these allergies in the first place. A great start to finding out how can be found in this allergy prevention guide.