Woman's Beauty Hard Task to Work Upon

Universally-known Italian actress Sophie Loren shares her beauty and health secrets
As for different diets, the great number of books written on the subject cannot be read within one man's lifetime; however recipes of the great actress are simple and easy for realization. One of the basic recommendations is not to start the day only with a cup of coffee. If you feel that you are not inclined to have a substantial breakfast, you'd better have some fruit and a slice of bread. This will make you cheerful for the whole of the day. Scientists say that the earlier you have breakfast the better your meals are assimilated. It is actually very important not to have snacks before the dinner! Snacks lead to obesity and diseases. If you are constantly having snacks your organs never have rest; chips, nuts and chocolate eaten as a snack may bring diseases. When you feel hungry have an apple, juice or mineral water; try to drink more between meals. This will help clear the organism off wastes.
 
Usual dinner of the movie star consists of some meat or fish with macaroni, salad and coffee. It is not right to reject macaroni as they are assimilated rather easily; nutritionists say human organism needs complex carbohydrates for normal functioning of the brain. Beans, green peas, rice and potato can be added here as well. When we eat complex carbohydrates we feel that hunger is satisfied very quickly due to reduction of sugar contents in the blood. That is why it is recommended to lose weight keeping a diet based on complex carbohydrates. If you chose macaroni for your diet, don't eat them with rich sauces and dressing. It is better to eat macaroni made of hard cereals as they are tastier and do much good. Give up tinned meat, sauces and vegetable as they contain little vitamins and mineral substances, they may be even unhealthy. It is often said now that meat is unhealthy for people as the human stomach cannot assimilate it. Sophie Loren thinks it is not quite right, but recommends to prefer fish and chicken to red meat. They contain practically now calories and unhealthy fats. To make your dinner healthier give up fried potatoes for the sake of a salad.

Another important aspect to which the famous Italian beauty pays particular attention is healthy skin. Skin care is not just a cluster of bottles and creams in your bathroom. You need to make everyday gymnastics, have good sleep and well-balanced nutrition to have nice looking skin. No alcohol, smoking, all-night vigil and fat meals which make people look worse.

The most beautiful Italian recommends to purify skin twice a day: with light moistening cream in the morning and with a more nourishing one in the evening. Women with dry and sensitive skin should avoid using washing the face with water; for these skin types Sophie Loren recommends using ice that tightens pores, makes the skin fresher and the eyes brighter. Women suffering from edema around eyes may apply cotton pads moistened with milk or slices of cucumber to the areas. For such problems it is better to use creams containing vitamin A, as it doesn't irritate eyes and nourishes the skin around eyes.

Evening cleansing of skin first of all means thorough make-up removing; any vegetable oil or baby cream will perfectly do for this purpose. From time to time women should have a more thorough cleansing of the skin. Sophie Loren tells that in the old days Italian women liked using bran: they mixed them with cream for massaging and cleansing of the face skin. A mixture of sea salt and mineral oil is also very good for this purpose. After cleansing the actress recommends to apply masks; oatmeal with water is the simplest mask (for dry skin use milk instead of water).

Every woman must care about her hands not less than about the face. Sophie Loren's recommendations for hand care are very easy. First of all, it is important to wear rubber gloves while making domestic work; to protect hand skin from hot water apply rich hand cream at every contact with hot water.

Rub special cream into nails if they are fragile; women should better have several tubes with hand cream – at home, in the office, in a glove compartment of the car. Use a pencil for dialing phone numbers to protect your nails. As for Sophie Loren, she takes good care of her beautiful nails; she seldom varnishes the nails as prefers the natural color. But she is a good expert at nail enamels and says that light varnish shades make nails look longer while bright ones make them look shorter. So, if your nails are rather short prefer light varnish shades to bright ones. To have nice hands always wear gloves in cold weather and use hand cream as soon as you come home from the street.

As for hair, it is necessary to wash it only when you see that the hair is dirty. Sophie Loren washes her hair three times a week. Wash your hair carefully not to injure the head skin. It is important to use a hair conditioner after hair wash to make hair better for setting. From time to time our hair also needs special strengthening treatment with balsams. Sophie Loren recommends olive oil for this purpose; it protects hair and nourishes it. It is good to rub warm olive oil into the head skin several hours before the hair wash.

There is hardly a woman who doesn't feel her legs tired after a long day. Don't be surprised, even Sophie Loren's beautiful legs do! The actress developed several methods to keep up the beauty and the health of her legs. Roll a rolling-pin with the feet to relieve the stress; this is what the actress does when she sits watching TV or reading a book. The actress says that a regular feet massage is very important as numerous nerve-endings connected with the organs are accumulated in the feet. A feet massage intensifies blood circulation and helps the whole of the body with its functions. Each time you have an opportunity take off your shoes and give rest to the feet; find time to walk barefoot.  When you go to buy shoes, focus on the comfort first of all, not only on the elegance. Sophie Loren says it is good to change the height of shoe hills to make different chords and muscles of the feet work; it helps your feet remain slender.

Do you think that Sophie Loren has no problem spots on the body? She says she has some and she continuously and persistently works on them. In addition to well-balanced nutrition, which is very important, the actress has developed a program of physical activity of her own.

Majority of us hate the awakening moment in dull weather when the whole of the body aches. Sophie Loren recommends to start morning with a pleasant exercise – stretching the body staying in bed. It intensifies blood circulation and gives vivacity and flexibility to the body. It is important to follow the right breathing pattern so that oxygen could penetrate into all parts of the lungs and purify the blood.

It is also important to stretch the muscles within the day; use every opportunity to stretch the body. The actress says that walking is a wonderful exercise to keep a good shape in addition to stretching. At that this should be not lazy walking about shops but energetic walking within 15-30 minutes to increase the pulse and make the muscles work. Walking is not that effective for work on problem spots of the body; for this purpose women are recommended to do special exercises.

Sophie Loren does special exercises three times a week after the morning stretching before morning shower. Women experience many problems with lower stomachs after childbirth. It is a mistake to rely upon tight belts that are said to be good for solution of the problem. It is important to make a strong muscle belt. Sophie Loren offers a couple of simple exercises. Laying on the back bent your knees, heels pressed against the floor. Strain the muscles of the stomach trying to draw the heels closer to the body. Then sit on the floor with the hands leant against the floor behind the back.  The traditional exercise that we call an exercise bicycle is more effective when you do it in this position.

If women want to look nice in fashionable skirts and trousers made of stretching fabric they need to work on buttocks and hips every day. Lean the left hand against a table, the right leg stretched to the right. Squat slowly until you touch the floor. Hold the position within five minutes, then slowly stand up and repeat the exercise with the right hand.

Women are often disappointed with upper arms where muscles get flabby very quickly. There is an exercise that may help improve the situation. It is very easy: press your bended arms against the sides on the shoulder-bone level. Raise the hands until you feel tired. Then change the position: bent the body forth and stretch the hands back so that the forearms were parallel to the floor. Swing the hands staying in this position.  

Sophie Loren recommends one more effective exercise for lower back. Laying on the back draw the bent knees as closer to the chest as possible; embrace them with hands and try to touch the forehead against the knees. Linger for a couple of minutes and repeat again.

The Italian actress thinks that if a woman devotes at least several minutes a day to herself, the face and the body will certainly change for the better. Sophie Loren says: "Start it today. Beauty is worthy of working for!"

Giuseppa Alighieri