Essential Beauty-Enhancing Products You Already Have at Home

May 5, 2015 by francis

The next time you want to try a new beauty product, you might want to start by browsing your kitchen cabinets instead of heading to the drugstore. Many common foods and oils can double as creams, scrubs, and skin treatments! Here are a few beneficial beauty products that you likely already own.

Tea bags. Instead of investing in a pricey eye cream to get rid of those dark circles after a night out, use some tea bags instead. Soak two green tea bags in warm water and lay them on your eyelids. The caffeine will shrink the appearance of blood vessels, while the antioxidants reduce inflammation.
Oatmeal. Make your own face treatment by using your favorite breakfast oats. Place a handful of whole oats inside of a washcloth and secure it closed with a rubber band. Soak the whole thing in a sink of warm water until the water turns cloudy, and then splash it onto your face. This will create a protective barrier on the skin that seals in moisture and provides anti-inflammatory properties.
Oranges. Use oranges to get rid of pesky dry patches on the skin. Squeeze half of an orange into a bowl and mix in 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Rub the other half of the orange on dry knees or elbows to loosen the dead cells, and then rub on your homemade scrub to slough them away.

Have A Spa Day…At Home! 10 DIY Beauty Treatments! [Seventeen]
Our Favorite All-Natural Home Beauty Treatments [Fitness]
Crazy Beauty Tricks That Really Work [Whole Living]
6 All-Natural Beauty Fixes [Woman’s Day]

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/kankan

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Beauty, DIY, Health, Wellness

4 Low Calorie Snacks That Won’t Sabotage Your Diet

June 3, 2014 by francis

Your diet provides rules and regulations for each of your daily meals, but what about when your stomach rumbles in between meals? Sometimes snacking is inevitable, but you still want to make informed, healthy choices. These four snack recipes are low in calories but still delicious and filling.

Almond-Honey Power Bar [Eating Well]
Stop paying for expensive meal bars and start making your own nutritious versions right at home. These almond-honey power bars are filled with all-natural ingredients, and they’re high in protein that makes them ideal for a post-workout snack.

Guiltless Guacamole [Delish]
Regular restaurant guacamole isn’t the worst dip in the world, but it certainly isn’t a healthy snack. This flavorful recipe offers the same delicious guacamole taste, but with far less calories than the original.

Lemon-Parm Popcorn [Eating Well]
Popcorn is already a low calorie snack, but it’s often bland and flavorless. This zesty lemon and parmesan version is much tastier than the original, but it’s still as healthy.

Spinach and Cannellini Bean Dip [Cooking Channel]
Whether you pair it with fresh vegetables or sliced and toasted pita bread, this Mediterranean-inspired cannellini bean dip makes a great low-calorie snack. It’s flavored with fresh lemon juice and balsamic vinegar, and the baby spinach adds nutrients that most snacks simply don’t have.

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/kthread

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Diet, Health, Healthy Snacks, Wellness

Improve Your Health in 5 Minutes or Less

January 21, 2014 by francis

Running a mile or cooking a nutritious meal require a chunk of time, but there are a number of other things you can do to improve your health that take less than five minutes. These simple tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can help you feel safer and healthier:

Wash your hands, and not just before meals. It only takes 20 seconds!
Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator – it only takes about 2 minutes per flight.
Schedule a doctor’s appointment, whether it’s for a check up or to look into that pesky pain. You can call them on the phone in 2 minutes without even leaving the house.
Put on a helmet any time you ride a bike! This quick tip can help save your life in the case of a fall.

You can find more of these tips at the CDC's website!

Five Minutes for Health [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]