Changes in the colour of your urine can reveal important information about your health. If your urine takes on a hue beyond what's normal, it can be indicative of something wrong with your health. In general, the normal urine colour varies from pale yellow to deep yellowish-brown, which is a result of a chemical pigment in the urine called urochrome.

1. Red or Pink

- When your kidneys, urethra, bladder or any other urinary tract organ gets infected or inflamed, blood cells get leaked into the urine, giving it a red hue. The causes behind the presence of blood can be urinary tract infections, kidney cysts, kidney stones, enlarged prostate and even cancer. Taking blood thinners can also cause you to have blood in your urine.
- Certain foods like blackberries, rhubarb and beets can cause your urine to turn pink.
- The use of certain medications like a particular class of antibiotic used in the treatment of tuberculosis can turn your urine red. Likewise, a drug used to numb discomfort in the urinary tract can cause a red/pink discoloration of your urine.

2. Blue or Green

- The consumption of coloured food dyes containing green or blue pigments can cause you to pass urine of such hues.
- Certain anti-depressant and anti-inflammatory medications can turn your urine green/blue.
- A very rare medical condition called familial benign hypercalcemia (fbh), characterised by high levels of calcium in thE blood and low levels of the mineral in the urine can cause your urine to turn blue.
- Green urine can also occur if your urinary tract gets infected by the pseudomonas bacteria.

3. Dark Brown

- Having large amounts of these foods - aloe, rhubarb (a type of leafy green) and broad beans can cause you to pass dark brown urine.
- Certain anti-malarial drugs, laxatives and muscle relaxants can darken the colour of your urine as well.
- Dark brown urine can also be caused by disorders of the kidney or liver as well as infections of the urinary tract.
Injury of the muscle as a result of excessive training can result in dark brown urine.

4. Orange

- Problems with the bile duct (the duct through which bile from the gall bladder and liver passes before entering the duodenum) or liver along with the passing of light coloured stools can result in orange urine.
- A cause of orange urine may also be dehydration as fluids bring about a decrease in the concentration of compounds present in the urine.

5. White

- The presence of calcium or phosphate sediments in the urine can give it a white hue.
- White urine can also be a result of funguria infection (a form of fungal urinary infection wherein the fungus produces white sediments) or a bacterial infection.



What the Colour of Your Urine Says About Your Health?

Kissing your loved one not only feels great but also is phenomenally great for your overall health and wellbeing. Did you know that deep kissing can boost your immunity, reduce your blood pressure and can help in maintaining your physique? Kissing has some surprising health benefits you would not have known. Read on to find how kissing ensures a healthier lifestyle for you.

1. Burns calories
Kissing is known to increase your metabolism rate up to 2 times more than usual, thus helping you to burn more calories. In fact, studies suggest that kissing your partner for more than 1 minute can help you burn almost 25 calories. 

2. Lowers stress
Kissing can be a great stress buster as it is known to reduce levels of cortisol,  the stress hormone,  in your body. Kissing also helps in boosting your immune system and as a result aids in overcoming post-work exhaustion to a great extent.

3. Ensures more sexual pleasure
Kissing has positive effects on your heart as well as self-esteem, and it is also usually the first step towards sexual intercourse. Kissing also plays a vital role in foreplay, and hence makes sex a more pleasurable and enjoyable experience.

4. Strengthens the bond of love
Research shows that couples who kiss more often and whose kisses last longer may have a better relationship. Kissing helps in increasing the connection between two individuals and ensures the partners of each other s feelings of commitment and compassion, which consequently helps in building a stronger and long lasting bond.
 
5. Makes you happy
Endorphins are known to be the hormones responsible for happiness. Locking lips initiates the release of endorphins, which make you feel happy. Studies suggest that kissing helps to curb depression better than psychologist treatments or anti-depressants.

6. Reduces pain
Engaging in a heated kissing session triggers your body to release adrenaline, which is known to reduce pain. 

7. Gives you healthier teeth
An intense passionate kiss results in more saliva secretion in your mouth. Researchers are of the opinion that this helps in washing away plaque from your teeth, resulting in less cavities, and whiter and healthier teeth.

8. Tightens your facial skin
A kiss requires the use of almost 30 muscles of your face together. This ensures a workout of your facial muscles and keeps them strong for a long time, leaving you both with a younger look and feel.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.

Checkout 8 Surprising Health Benefits of Kissing!

Let's start with an interesting fact: all types of tea, be it green or black, comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The difference only lies in processing and oxidation. So how can one be better than the other you ask? Let's find out.

1. Fluoride content

When it comes to fluoride content both green and black teas score high, while milk tea sadly loses out. Green and black teas are good for your teeth and bones, although black tea has higher fluoride content (0.2-0.5mg as compared to 0.3-0.4mg in green tea). It is best to have your black tea with tap water as it increases the fluoride content up to 0.9mg.

2. Antioxidant content

Yet again green tea and black both have high antioxidant content that helps in preventing cancer, but green is the clear winner over. Milk tea loses again as the milk in it effects the absorption of these antioxidants by your body. Green tea is enriched with a particular type of catechin (flavonoid) called EGCG, which regulates gene activity in cancer cells, and may even prevent cancer growth.

3. Caffeine Content

Both black and green teas have different amounts of caffeine in them. Green tea has lesser caffeine content than black tea- 9-50mg/cup in comparison to 42-17mg/cup. So if you want to have an energetic morning then black tea is the one for you, but if you want to relax your blood vessels and just enjoy a soothing drink, choose green tea. Milk tea, unfortunately, does not have a calming or an energising effect.

Benefits for your heart:

Black tea is probably a healthier option if you want to derive cardiovascular benefits from your daily cuppa. While green tea has abundant EGCG which creates a lining along your blood vessels to reduce stress, black tea offers more benefits. Black tea can improve the function of your blood vessels if you suffer from coronary artery disease. Apart from that, both can lower the levels of harmful cholesterol. There's no evidence that supports that milk tea can be beneficial for your heart.

So, in the end, it's your call to choose black or green tea, whichever works best for you. Try avoiding milk tea as the milk steals away the essential health benefits of tea. Just remember to have no more than 10 cups of green tea a day, and no more than 4 cups of black.

Related Content: Try Auric skin radiance health drinks as an alternative for tea or coffee for glowing skin.

Milk Tea Vs Black Tea Vs Green Tea - Is Your Choice the Best?

Impact of drinking water in plastic bottles

We store water in all sorts of plastic bottles, jugs or containers. It can be low grade or high grade, but plastic is plastic! This is a very harmful daily practice as plastic containers carry lot of chemicals and bacteria. 

Let s see the harmful effects of drinking water in plastic bottles:

1. Harmful substances: Apart from harmful chemicals in plastic, water when get stored in plastic bottles also produces harmful substances like fluoride, arsenic and aluminium which can be poison for human body. So, drinking water from plastic bottles would mean drinking slow poison that will slowly and steadily deteriorate your health.

2. Dioxin production: Plastic does melt in hot environment. And we, often store water in plastic bottles while driving and so many times leave it in the car where it is in the direct exposure of sun. Such heating releases a toxin called Dioxin which when consumed can accelerate breast cancer.

3. BPA generation: Biphenyl A is an estrogen-mimicking chemical which can lead to lot of health problems like diabetes, obesity, fertility problems, behavioural problems and early puberty in girls. It s better not to store and drink water from a plastic bottle.

4. Liver cancer and reduced sperm count: Because of presence of a chemical called phthalates in plastic, drinking water from plastic bottles can also lead to liver cancer and reduction in sperm count.

5. Vitamin based bottled water: Nowadays, we get water mostly in plastic bottles and to increase its health content, manufacturers make it vitamin-enriched to attract buyers. But this is even more harmful as it carries health-harming additives like food dyes and high fructose corn syrup.

6. Impact on immune system: Our immune system is immensely affected when we drink water in plastic bottles. The chemicals from plastic bottles are ingested and tend to  disturb our body s immune system.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.

Nothing s more dangerous than drinking water in plastic bottles!

Vitamin D is a crucial vitamin that is soluble in fat. Vitamin D is essential for the growth of your bone and it ensures increased flow of calcium into your bloodstream by promoting the process of its absorption from the consumed food. Poor concentration of vitamin D may result in the development of rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. Vitamin D is important in maintaining the immunity of your system; deficiency of vitamin D gives rise to a number of health problems including cardiac disorders, arthritis, hypertension, diabetes and even cancer.

Daily exposure to mild sunlight helps to synthesize Vitamin D in body. Dietary sources include milk, cod liver oils, fish, meat, fortified dairy and food products.

The most reliable way to diagnose the deficiency of vitamin D is through blood test; it is the most effective method of measuring the level of vitamin D in your blood. The following are some dominant symptoms of vitamin D deficiency:

Influenza: According to studies, vitamin D acts a guard against the attack of a number of respiratory infections which are widespread in children. Hence, lack of vitamin D in children is responsible for the development of various respiratory tract infections and diseases.
Depression and Schizophrenia: The root cause of depression and various other psychiatric disorders have been linked to deficiency in vitamin D. It is extremely important for expecting mothers to maintain a sufficient level of vitamin D in their body, during the gestation period to reduce the risk of delayed brain development and other mental ailments in the new born babies.
Cardiovascular disease: Cardiovascular ailments are more prevalent among people, who tend to suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Patients who suffer from cardiac discomfort have responded well to vitamin D treatment.
Asthma: Intake of vitamin D supplements reduces the severity and discomforts that are associated with asthma and have also shown considerable reduction in the occurrence of asthma attacks.
Periodontal disorders: Lack of vitamin D may result in the formation of numerous harmful bacteria in your mouth and may give rise to several oral discomforts in form of painful gum inflammation, bleeding and loss of tooth. Vitamin D aids in the formation of cathelicidins and defensins, which are effective in maintaining the overall oral health.
Cancer: Types of cancer including prostate cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer are linked with Vitamin D deficiency. Supplements of vitamin D are helpful in controlling the growth and development of breast cancer, especially the estrogen sensitive breast cancer.

Vitamin D Deficiency - 6 Signs That You are Suffering from it 

We know this very well how beneficial drinking water just after getting up is and so many of us practice is too. But when we add honey and lemon in warm water and drink it daily, the benefits gets multiplied. Let's see how it is achieved.

1. Helps in losing weight - Drinking warm water mixed in honey and lemon is very good for health. It helps in losing weight and for this simple reason, people who want to lose weight should take it for sure.

2. No Constipation - This combination of warm water, lemon and honey is so good for health that if taken on an empty stomach it is helpful in keeping constipation at bay. It stimulates the digestive system, infuses water in dried stool which removes constipation completely.

3. Cleanse lymphatic system - Lack of water in the already dehydrated lymphatic system leads to problems like fatigue, disturbed sleep and blood pressure level and hinders mental development. But when you take water in lemon and honey, the lymphatic system gets hydrated and your body functions properly.

4. Keep bad breath at bay and improves oral health - Taste of honey and lemon removes any kind of bad breath in your mouth. Also, these keep your mouth bacteria-free and that's how without direct care, mouth gets benefited indirectly.

5. Boost immune system - Vitamin C helps in fighting cold. As it is high in potassium, it controls blood pressure as well as stimulates brain function.

6. Clears skin - Presence of Vitamin C removes blemishes and wrinkles from skin. Also, it gives a brighter and glowing look. As a result of drinking lemon and honey in water, your skin gets cleared giving your face a cleaner and fairer look.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.

The Good That LEMON+HONEY Early in Morning Does to Your Body

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