Cellulite- I hate the word!

Cellulite - Oh the dreaded orange peel,cottage cheese, bubble wrap whatever you want to call it effect, its just not fair, coupled with all the usual female problems us women have our fair share of life's challenges.

I remember when I was a 16 year old teenager growing up in Ireland. I did not have pocket money therefore I had no money to spend on teenage/fashion magazines. I was just a normal girl and the only influence I had was the environment I lived in. I was pretty much happy with my figure, well to be honest I did not think much about it at all. I did not know whether i was thin, fat or in between, attractive or unattractive as nobody commented.

Then when I was around 18 I started buying womens magazines and most of the articles were about weight loss and looking your best, "get your bikini body in 4 weeks' headlines popped out of many a magazine that I purchased. I started to look at my body from then on in and became paranoid about my appearance. I wanted a slimmer bottom half bigger top half and so on. Luckily I carried on eating normally but my mind was tortured looking at all the beautiful people in the magazines.

I remember when I first heard about Cellulite, I was about 21 and I thought it was a medical disease judging by the way my college friends were speaking about it. But I went home that night and began examining my thighs plus nearly dislocated a shoulder trying to see my bum with a mirror and sure enough I had bumpy skin. This discovery was awful, usually on a hot day I'd jump into a pair of shorts and not think anything of my pale thighs. Now though I was reluctant to expose my lower half as I had confirmed that I had cellulite.

From then on every magazine I picked up had the word cellulite printed (maybe they always wrote about cellulite I just did not notice) and images of celebrities in bikini's snapped with cellulite bottoms.

So now I had to worry about my weight and cellulite and boy did I worry, I like many a woman would spend many a minute agonising over these issues until one day I said enough is enough. I was around 26 at this stage and I said to myself this is ridiculous its all in the mind. I realised that before I bought magazines I was never bothered by these issues so I decided to quit purchasing certain magazines. I accepted my cellulite like I accepted my period, hips and boobs, all traits of being a female. I eat well with the occasional treat and I exercise moderately and yes I still have cellulite. I believe all us women will get cellulite no matter what and the only thing we can do is try to improve its appearance.

I was watching an episode of Oprah with Dr. Oz and he said no amount of product or treatment will ever get rid of it, you can just improve its appearance and he finished off by saying something to this effect 'men don't care we really don't mind'. This is true in my case, my partner loves my body and had never once commented on the fact that I have a cellulite. I remember being on a beach in Egypt and there were all these stunning girls parading up and down on the beach with beautiful figures and guess what; they all had cellulite. I pondered for a moment and thought to myself that observing they had cellulite did nothing to take away from their beauty.

Love your body be comfortable with it and just be happy Below are some tips to improve the appearance of cellulite.

• Drink plenty of warm water with lemon juice
• Eat plenty of fibre rich foods as these will keep your bowels regular and help the body rid itself of nasty toxins.
• Avoid processed foods that are full of salt and artificial preservatives
• Eat plenty of fresh garlic, pineapple, onions and apples and pulse veg
  
• Consume plenty of lean protein such as chicken, salmon and turkey
• Don't use moisturisers with a lot of chemicals as I believe these make it harder for your body to get rid of toxns. Why not use extra virgin olive oil, coconut or almond oil instead
• Once a week put two heaped teaspoons of ground coffee into any of the oils mentioned above and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Then massage this mixture into the affected areas and leave for approx 1 hour. Shower off no need to moisturise
• Buy the essential oils juniper and rosemary and follow instructions on box on how to use. Both these oils are great for detoxifying the skin but dilute with almond oil. Can be used as a moisturiser or in the bath.
• Don't lose weight unless you really need to as weight loss can actually make it look worse
• Do plenty of Squats and any form of dancing