Beauty with winter vegetables and fruits

It's finally that time of the year again when markets are flooded with a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables.

And these tasty delights are brimming with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, that not only give you the right nutrition but can also do wonders for your skin. CT went vegetable and fruit shopping to bring you some great natural options. Read on...

Carrots

Carrot is a powerhouse of benefits. It is rich in beta-carotene, which is converted into Vitamin A in the liver and is good for the eyes. It has anti-cancer properties and helps reduce the risk of lung, breast and colon cancer. It also helps slow down cell ageing and can be used on cuts to prevent infection.

Beauty tip: Carrots are rich in Vitamin A and antioxidants, that protect the skin from sun damage. To get rid of dry skin and pigmentation, apply a mixture of carrot juice, one tablespoon of olive oil and fresh cream over your face, hand and neck regularly.

Peas

Peas contain high amounts of polyphenol that helps prevent stomach cancer. A cup of peas has less than 100 calories, but is loaded with protein and fibre. It is also high in antioxidants and has anti-ageing properties. Regular consumption of peas helps prevent bronchitis, osteoporosis and constipation, regulates blood sugar, heart disease and reduces accumulation of bad cholesterol.

Beauty tip: For smooth and wrinkle-free skin, mix powdered pea with papaya pulp and rose water. Apply it as a face pack and wash off with cold water.

Spinach

Spinach helps restore energy, increase vitality and improve blood quality. It is low on calories, very high on fibre, and is an excellent source of Vitamins K, A, B2, C and folic acid. It's also a good source of iron, manganese and magnesium. So, eating a bowl of spinach every day increases muscle efficiency, relaxes the body, reduces hypertension and risk of skin cancer.

Beauty tip: Spinach contains huge amounts of Vitamins A and C, which stimulate hair growth. Take a cup of boiled spinach pulp and mix it with one tablespoon of honey and castor oil. Apply it on the scalp and hair and wash it off with shampoo after 30 minutes.

Cabbages

It's nutritious, helps in weight loss and prevent cholesterol accumulation. It's an excellent source of natural antioxidants, Vitamin C and minerals like potassium, manganese, iron, and magnesium. And it helps cure constipation and regulates stomach ulcers. It reduces headaches and heart diseases. Raw cabbage juice is an excellent natural cure for obesity and skin inflammation.

Beauty tip: Cabbage juice can reduce hairfall and nourish the roots. It contains Vitamin E and silicon which makes tresses lustrous. Mix cabbage juice with ripe banana pulp and honey. Apply this hair mask after oiling your hair. Keep it for about 20 minutes . Wash it off with a mild shampoo.

Grapefruit

It is rich in vitamins and minerals and helps maintain overall health, right from boosting your immune system to our metabolism. It has been found to successfully prevent formation of kidney cysts and is an excellent source of Vitamin C. It is proven to help people lose fat and maintain a healthy weight. It is also low in sodium and has high water content, which helps you feel full.

Beauty tip: People with oily skin can use grapefruit juice as a cleanser and toner. A simple grapefruit scrub made from sugar, a little oil and fresh grapefruit juice is great for your feet because it has natural anti-bacterial properties that cleanses your feet as well as softens them.

Oranges

Oranges are rich in citrus limonoids, which are known to prevent skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon cancers. Drinking orange juice regularly prevents kidney diseases and reduces the risk of kidney stones. Since oranges are full of soluble fibre, they help reduce cholesterol and constipation. They are also full of potassium, which helps the heart function well. The Vitamin C in it helps fight cancer. Studies show that polyphenols in oranges prevent viral infections and the magnesium helps maintain blood pressure.

Beauty tip: Orange peels and juice are great beauty treatment ingredients. Mix orange peel powder with curd and orange juice and make a paste. Apply evenly all over the face and neck to flaunt glowing skin. Add some orange peel powder in your bath water to get instant glow and smooth skin.

Grapes

The Queen of Fruits is considered one of the best skincare ingredients. Loaded with phytochemicals and phytonutrients, which possess antioxidant and anti- inflammatory properties, grapes are also rich in Vitamin C that's vital for skin health. Regular consumption of grapes helps lose weight, boosts immunity, prevents constipation and is good for the eyes. They also help prevent heart diseases and reduce blood pressure.

Beauty tip: The antioxidants in grapes, along with Vitamin C, protect the skin from the harmful effects of free radicals, reduce wrinkles, dark spots and help tone the skin. Rubbing the grape pulp on the face along with honey regularly and rinsing after 20 minutes helps reduce wrinkles.

Pears

Pears help you lose weight, protects you against cancer, hypertension and diabetes and prevents osteoporosis and heart diseases. It is also rich in antioxidants and the Vitamins C, K and copper in pears fight against free radicals that damage our body cells. The fibre in it can reduce the risk of stroke to a large extent and the high glucose content gives you instant energy.

Beauty tip: To get rid of dry and damaged nails during winter, mix pear juice with malai and massage on your hands and feet. Pear juice mixed with water and honey can also be used as a conditioner to moisturise and nourish dry and damaged hair.

A greener way out of farm crisis

THINDA: On the face of it, farmers Sanjay Siyag and Balli Singh have little in common. Siyag is suave, speaks English and owns a few hundred acres of land.

Three pit bulls and a Pakistani bully dog guard his sprawling house in Chautala village of Haryana's Sirsa district. Balli is the stereotypical doughty Sikh farmer, earthy and practical. When his lands got tangled in a family dispute, Singh started managing a 7.5-acre orchard on profit-sharing basis at Lilanwali village, just across the state border in Rajasthan.

But what the two farmers share is a success story — a tale that could lead agriculture out of the expensive chemical fertiliser-pesticide dependence most cultivators here are trapped in.

Balli's kinnow trees were dying, afflicted by huanglongbing and phytophthora, diseases that have wreaked havoc on citrus cultivations across the world. After conventional pesticides failed, he took a gamble with bio-fertilisers.

He hasn't regretted that decision. "Within six months, progress of the disease was halted. The trees started recovering," he says. So did his investments. While the first year fetched a return of just Rs 60,000, the second year's yield got him five times that amount. Continued use of bio-formulations kept increasing yields. Last year, the farmer claims to have earned Rs 10 lakh from the orchard.

Siyag relates a similar experience. "Around 600 kinnow trees in my orchard were dying. I tried a bio-formulation on a few plants. The results were beyond expectations. I was able to save 450 trees, which are now healthy and bearing better fruits than ever before."

Singh and Siyag are part of a growing tribe of converts to bio-fertilisers — products containing micro-organisms which increase the ability of the plant to extract nutrients, stimulate growth and help the plant fight diseases by natural processes. These microbes also restore the soil's natural nutrient cycle and build soil organic matter.

Travelling through Faridkot and Bathinda districts in Punjab and Sirsa in Haryana, TOI met several farmers who related their happy experience with bio-fertilisers on various crops, from wheat and paddy to chillies and potatoes.

Their costs had come down and their yields had increased.

Experts endorse many of the benefits. "Bio-formulations are very effective in plant growth promotion...They help in root elongation and root biomass increase which in turn improves the nutrient uptake of the plant," says K Annapurna, head of the microbiology division at Indian Agricultural Research Institute. The microbes also inhibit the pathogen population. "Hence disease incidence is lowered and the plant remains healthy. Bio-fertilisers also strengthen the plant defences so that it can withstand pathogen attacks," she adds.

Punjab and Haryana, India's shining agricultural success stories, are plagued by problems due to high chemical usage. Fertilizer use is highest in Punjab (250kg per hectare) and Haryana (207kg), compared to the national average of 128kg/ha. Pesticide use also is among the highest in the two states. This, coupled with water availability problems, has led to stagnating yields in major crops, raising worries for the future.

"Most bio-fertilisers contain concentrated amounts of naturally occurring micro-organisms. These speed up nature's growth and regenerative processes," says Uday Philar, CEO of Sequoia Biosciences, a Pune-based bio-fertiliser company.

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The paddy crop of Jasbir Singh near Jhoke Sarkari village in Faridkot was visibly taller, greener and healthier than adjacent fields. He told TOI that bio-fertilisers helped his wheat crop withstand the havoc caused by unseasonal rainstorms in March-April this year because the roots of his crops were "deeper and the stalks stronger". With the just-harvested paddy too, Jasbir claims to have substantially increased his yields, getting up to 7.5 tonnes per hectare, much higher than the state's average of 4 tonnes.

Farmers using bio-fertilisers on other crops too have claimed better quality and quantity. Ruby Singh Sandhu, a big potato farmer in Mallekan village near Haryana's Ellenabad town, reported a yield of up to 25 tonnes per acre, almost double the average output in the region.

D L N Rao of the Indian Institute of Soil Sciences has been researching bio-fertilisers for over two decades and says their use undoubtedly leads to healthier plants and better yields. "At least 25% of chemical fertilisers used in India could be replaced with bio-fertilisers. Not only would this save a lot of money for the farmers, it would also rescue the soil from poisoning and regenerate its vitality," he says.

The real promise of bio-fertilisers probably lies in the big picture. In the region, south Punjab and north Haryana, where intensive chemical farming is not only ravaging the soil but also people's health, a shift towards more natural cultivation would bring much-needed healing.

As Sanjay Siyag puts it, "Moving towards green products is no longer a matter of choice for us. We are running out of other options."

When it’s to ‘find meaning’, Hollywood heads to Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

That the West is fascinated with the East's spirituality is hardly news. But when in search of inner peace, most end up in the tried and tested locations of Rishikesh, Haridwar, Varanasi, etc. READ: Julia Roberts 'obsessed' with husband Is this where you forgave yourself?" Liz Gilbert, the character played by Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love, asks another character in the movie. The 'search for spiritual and emotional solutions' in the East does not seem to be particular to just Liz, though. The hills often beckon Hollywood stars to do some 'quiet thinking' and soul-searching. Some end up settling down here, some pay periodic visits, and some even have ashrams named after them. The most recent example is Sylvester Stallone's family. They had come to Haridwar to perform the shraadh ceremony for his son, who died three years ago. Uttarakhand's holy spots are, however, not the only places in the country that offer spiritual solace to those tired of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. From attending the morning aarti on the ghats of Vrindavan and Varanasi to strolling on the streets of Mathura, to meeting the Dalai Lama in McLeodganj or Dharamsala, the biggest cine stars in the world have come to the holiest towns in UP and North India looking for peace and enlightenment. Whether they come to India for a film shoot or a 'life conference', the one common thread connecting their visits has been that they have always been spiritual journeys. Here's a recap. Julia Roberts: Would love to live near Haridwar or Varanasi It's not just her character, Liz Gilbert, in the film adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love that comes to India looking for 'some answers'. Julia Roberts, in real life too, has shown interest in the spiritual practices in this part of the world. While shooting for the movie in 2009 in India, the actress, who has converted to Hinduism, had reportedly said, "I can see something like that (buying a house here) happening in the future. I would love to live near Haridwar or Varanasi, since they are such holy spots for Hinduism. I've heard land prices are astronomical there, though."

 Hollywood superstar Sylvester Stallone's family was in Kankhal, Haridwar, last week to perform the tithi shraadh for his son, Sage, who had died in 2012 of a heart attack. Stallone had met Prateek Mishrapuri, who performed the ceremony, in 2013 through their 'common friend' Nicole Kidman. Stallone's half-brother Michael, his wife Michelle, and two others visited Haridwar for the ritual. The Beatles: Songwriting in Rishikesh

The Beatles took a much-talked-about trip to Rishikesh in February 1968. They reportedly went to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram (now known as the Beatles Ashram) to attend a meditation training session. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had spent seven weeks in the ashram and Lennon had even composed a song called 'The happy Rishikesh song.' Prince Charles and Camilla: In love with Rishikesh's aura

Britain's Prince Charles, along with wife Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall, had visited Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh two years back to take part in the Ganga aarti. Their visit took place just after the Kedarnath tragedy. Rajesh Kumar Bisit, media coordinator at the ashram, says, "They had come to the ashram in a boat and then told us that they both would love to join us every evening for the aarti. They kept their elaichi ki malas on throughout the trip. In our visitors' diary, Prince Charles wrote, 'I wish I could have never left Rishikesh. Fell in love with the holy aura of this city'." When Pierce Brosnan ditched the metros for Dharamsala James Bond himself descended upon Dharamsala when British actor Pierce Brosnan visited McLeodganj in 2000 to meet the Dalai Lama. The Die Another Day star gave a miss to professional commitments and ignored sponsors' requests to visit Delhi and Mumbai as he limited his soul-searching trip to Dharamsala alone. When Richard Gere found his true calling in India

A practising Buddhist, Richard Gere's connection with India goes beyond films. The popular actor has made several trips to India, meeting the Dalai Lama on several occasions in Dharamsala. Gere says India is the place where he found his true calling as it 'generated respect and love for Dharma.' In 2013, Gere even delivered a lecture on Buddhism in Sikkim. The Kate Winslet waterfall!

According to the grapevine, Kate Winslet had visited Rishikesh in May 1998, and taken a bath in the Garud Chatti locality, 7km from Rishikesh. Apart from spirituality, research for a film set in India is apparently what had got her here. The waterfall in question is still known as the Kate Winslet Waterfall. When Varanasi left Brad Pitt awestruck

Superstar Brad Pitt is no stranger to India, having visited the country earlier as well. It was on his first visit here in 2006 that the actor visited Varanasi. Watching the morning aarti and experiencing a boat ride in the Ganga, Pitt was left 'awestruck.' He later told the media, "I found Varanasi absolutely staggering. I have never seen anything like it before. The city just spills into the river Ganges. It's a holy place where people go to die. It's really, really extraordinary!" Ashton Kutcher's ghats visit at Mathura and Vrindavan

In 2012, as Ashton Kutcher backpacked across Mathura and Vrindavan, paparazzi could be excused for confusing him with just another tourist. While shooting for Jobs, the biopic of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Kutcher spent a few days on the ghats of Vrindavan shooting for scenes from Jobs' life when he came to India to 'attain enlightenment'. Maggie O'Hara: Search for kindness, optimism

Actress Maggie O'Hara retired from films and settled in Rishikesh in 1997. She adopted an Indian name - Prabhavati Dwaba - and teaches underprivileged kids here. "Helping India's children would be in the spirit of what the Beatles were in India searching for: Generosity, optimism, kindness," she had said. When Demi Moore took spiritual guru for souvenir from India

Ashton Kutcher's ex-wife Demi Moore also found spiritual asylum in India when she visited McLeodganj in 2013 for a spiritual conference addressed by the Dalai Lama. By the time she returned, Demi had taken an unusual souvenir from India - a spiritual guru! Defining her India visit as a 'pilgrimage', Moore later claimed that the experience was instrumental in her reconciling with her daughters when she returned to the US. 

Bridal Beauty Planning Timeline (and how to do it on a budget!)

You've got the dress, but there's still tons to do before walking down the aisle. Since you've got enough to worry about (like invitations and florals!), we've mapped out your pre-wedding beauty bootcamp.

Wedding beauty timelines ...we know, they're everywhere. A quick search on Pinterest will bring you hundreds (if not thousands!) of timelines at your disposal. But what you may not realize yet is how quickly those recommended beauty treatments can add up! Don't worry, that's where we come in.

We've gathered all the steps you need to look and feel great on your big day. Not only that, but we're telling you when to do them and how to save money on these expensive treatments. Because let's face it - most pre-wedding beauty treatments can be done at home, right? After all, you've got more important things to spend your money on (You know, like on overpriced florals and splurge-worthy wedding shoes). From a bright smile to natural glowing skin, we've got all the bases covered.

6 MONTHS BEFORE THE BIG DAY

Splurge: Hire a trainer.

The Everygirl Way: Start exercising and eating well in moderation. (Please don’t feel like you need to do any extreme dieting or exercising!) Aim to get at least 20 minutes of cardio in daily and try to reduce the amount of processed foods in your diet. We love the Tone it Up series on YouTube, which is filled with great workouts and eating plans! 

Splurge: Visit your dermatologist and set up a daily skincare routine.

The Everygirl Way: Take an online skin quiz to learn the best active ingredients for your skin type. Then, purchase a skincare routine that has been formulated and specifically curated by a dermatologist. We love the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Dermatological Acne System, which will help clear and brighten the skin. We're also obsessed with the new premium skincare collection at Target.

2-4 MONTHS BEFORE THE BIG DAY

Splurge: Make an appointment for a hair and makeup trial.

The Everygirl Way: Start practicing the various hair and makeup tutorials we’ve posted in the past! These three red carpet-worthy hairstyles would be gorgeous on any bride and here are two makeup looks for you to try! Or use any of the hair tutorial videos from yesterday's Bridesmaid Beauty feature!  We recommend going to Sephora to get a Color IQ test, which will pull up foundations that are your exactmatch. Never wear the wrong foundation color ever again ...we like the sounds of that!

Splurge: Schedule a professional teeth bleaching treatment.

The Everygirl Way: Crest 3D White Luxe Whitestrips Professional Effects work incredibly well and they are literally a fraction of the cost of an in-office treatment. All you have to do is apply them for 30 minutes daily for 20 days. And guess what? This means sparkling white teeth for up to 12 months! We recommend following up with a whitening toothpaste andmouthwash if you really want to maintain those pearly whites.

Splurge: Start getting monthly facials from your preferred esthetician.

The Everygirl Way: Try Stephanie’s homemade honey and lemon face mask! Lemons are filled with AHA’s and BHA’s which remove dead skin cells and help clear up blackheads, acne, and discoloration, while honey is a natural antioxidant and antibacterial. The Queen Helene Masque is also pretty genius at clearing out the pores (and it's less than $4! ).

>2 MONTHS BEFORE THE BIG DAY

Splurge: Get a professional body scrub treatment.

The Everygirl Way: Scrubbing the skin is an effective way to cleanse and smooth your skin, while stimulating the flow of energy throughout. We are loving the RITUALS Ayurveda Himalayan Wisdom Deep Cleansing Scrub. Don’t forget to follow up with a warm bath and a rich body cream! In other words, you’re totally bringing the spa to your own bathroom.

Splurge: Get your eyebrows professionally shaped. 

The Everygirl Way: We all know that well groomed brows are the key to a gorgeous look. Instead of shelling out the bucks for a professional to do it, why not groom your brows yourself at home? Try our guide to flawless brows in five easy steps! After you've done away with those stray hairs, you can't go wrong with the Anastasia Brow Wiz, which makes perfecting brows easier than you could imagine.

Splurge: Get a professional spray tan.

The Everygirl Way: While a good can of spray tanner might cost almost the same as one professional treatment, one can will give you many treatments, which will end up saving you major dollars! This way, you can practice a few times before the big day and use it on your honeymoon, as well! Our current favorite is the Brownberry NYC Clear Sunless Tanning Spray (it smells amazing and is enriched with Vitamin D3!). The St. Tropez Self Tan Starter Kit is also a great way to create a beautiful, natural glow.

Splurge: Schedule a manicure and pedicure at your local nail salon.

The Everygirl Way: While getting a professional mani/pedi can be ultra relaxing, you can do it yourself and get the same results! Try this tutorial for an at-home manicure and pedicure. Although we recommend sticking with neutral nail colors for your wedding day, a fun polish color is a great way to show off your personality on your big day! Prefer gel nails? TheGelshine At Home Gel Colour System is worth the investment!