Deliciously Healthy and Super-Easy Strawberry Recipes!

Deliciously Healthy and Super-Easy Strawberry Recipes!

Red strawberries are one of our summer faves, they are easy on the eyes, taste delicious and most importantly are one of the super-foods; meaning they are low in calories, high in vitamin-c and antioxidants and do wonders for your health. Thankfully warmer weather is here, so they'll be easy to find and in abundance at the grocers or farmers markets. Here are some of our favorite healthy strawberry drinks, desserts and salad recipes, be sure to try them out and serve them to your guests this summer.

Yogurt-Fruit Smoothie: contains fat free milk, low fat yogurt, bananas, pineapple-orange concentrate and fresh strawberries. Get Recipe

Lavender Scented Strawberries with Honey Cream: with less than 150 calories this recipe is packed with nutrients from the yogurt, milk, egg yolks and strawberries.  Get Recipe

Strawberries Romanoff: contains delicious orange-liquer soaked strawberries topped with whip cream. Get recipe

Strawberry-Marmalade Salad: this lovely fruit salad is a mix of oranges, strawberries, orange mamalade and lemon juice. Get Recipe

Spinach, Strawberry & Asparagus Salad: also contains walnuts, combined all these ingredients not only keep you healthy on the inside but nourish your skin as well. Get Recipe

Herbed Romaine Salad with Strawberries: this delicious romaine salad also contains feta cheese, pistachios, olive oil, honey, an assortment of herbs and is topped with fresh strawberries. Get Recipe

Photos courtesy of myrecipes.com

Which Strawberry recipe will you be trying out? Leave a comment below.

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Health and Fitness: Celebrity Weight Transformations for Better or Worse?

Celebrity Weight Transformations for Better or Worse?

Over the years countless celebrities have given in to the Hollywood trend to be thin and shed their curvy  figures for "Hollywood thin" ones. With summer approaching we often feel the urge to shed some weight and be bikini ready, here's a look back at some of the celebrities we can learn a lesson or two from on what's healthy verses too much weight loss.

Celebrities with Healthy Weight Loss Transformations:

Before and After: Jennifer Hudson transformed before our eyes using the Weight Watchers program. She has now reamed up with their "Lose for Good Campaign" to help the fight against hunger and obesity. 

Before and After: Actress Raven Symone showed off her new body while walking down the runway at last week's "Race to Erase MS" fashion show. She gradually shed her weight over the past two years,

Before and After: American Idol Season Six winner Jordin Sparks recently tweeted a photo of her new bikini body, she lost 30lbs in recent months with the use of a personal trainer.

Before and After: Kelly Osbourne began shedding her weight while on dancing with the stars. She has maintained her new figure by doing Pilates, the Bar Method and giving up crash diets.

Before and After: Sarah Rue used the Jenny Craig program to help with her weight loss, she's learned that "...you can control what you eat."

Before and After: Melissa Joan Hart transformed her look by giving up junk food and snacks.

Celebrities Who Should Never Shed Those Precious Pounds:

Before and After: Mary Kate Olsen is one of the few celebrities who's admitted to suffering from an eating disorder and seeking treatment in rehab. This is one weight loss story we can all learn from.

Before and After: Lindsay Lohan during "Mean Girls" and Lindsay in her current much thinner state.

Before and After: Angelina Jolie while filming "Tomb Raider" and her much criticized current skinny frame.

Before and After: A healthier looking Kate Bosworth during her "Blue Crash" days and her current frail look.

Before and After: Actress Jennifer Connelly went from a radiant Hollywood bombshell to tabloid plagued in her ultra skinny frame.

Photos courtesy of stylecaster.com, twitter and shape.com

What are your thoughts on weight loss and do you prefer these celebrities before or after weight loss look? Leave a comment.



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Health and Fitness: The 515 Chemicals Women Use On Their Bodies Everyday!

For Better or For Worst? The 515 Chemicals Women Use On Their bodies Everyday!

We came across this article recently and decided to share it with our readers, since these are practices so many women incorporate into their daily routine and never really consider the consequences to our bodies.

In our quest to be beautiful and defy or reverse the effects of aging we hoard on several beauty products every day.

The problem however is that in actuality many of these products do the exact opposite, by flooding our bodies with harmful chemicals that eventually speed up the aging process.

The article titled 'Revealed...the 515 Chemicals women put on their bodies everyday' discusses how everyday routines like applying body lotion, makeup, nail polish, perfumes, hair shampoo and spray-on tans can be potentially harmful to our skin and body.

Especially with prolonged use, primarily because of the number of chemicals that these products contain as well as the harmful content of the chemicals themselves.

The article states that "

Research by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company, found that the average woman's daily grooming and make-up routine means she 'hosts' a staggering 515 different synthetic chemicals on her body every single day.

Many of these chemicals are also used in products such as household cleaners, and have been linked to a number of health problems from allergies and skin sensitivity to more serious health issues like hormonal disturbances, fertility problems and even cancer. "

The photo displayed below breaks down the 515 chemicals found in products used on different parts of our body and outlines their harmful side effects.

(Click to enlargen image)

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.

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Health and Fitness: Bananas Are The Key To Stopping The Spread of HIV-Aids!

Bananas Are The Key To Stopping the Spread of HIV-Aids!

A Banana a day not only helps to keep the doctor away, but is the key to stopping the Spread of HIV-Aids.

'Researchers in the U.S. discovered that the lectin found in bananas can inhibit HIV infection by blocking the virus's entry into the body. BanLec acts on the protein 'envelope' that encloses HIV's genetic material.

Lead author Michael Swanson, from the University of Michigan, said: 'The problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that's much harder to do in the presence of lectins.

'Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV-1 envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them.'

BanLec was as effective in the laboratory as two anti-HIV drugs now in use, T-20 and maraviroc, the scientists found.

Mr Swanson is developing a process to alter BanLec and make it suitable for human patients. The researchers believe it could be used alone or in conjunction with other anti-HIV drugs.

Even modest success could potentially save millions of lives around the world, they claim. Currently new HIV infections are outstripping the rate at which new patients receive anti-HIV drugs by 2.5 to one, say the authors.'

The research is reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Until all this research can be effectively used in treating HIV-Aids patients we cannot stress enough the importance of practicing safe sex even with a long term partner.  Remember birth control does not protect you from contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.

 

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.

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Health and Fitness: Major Department Stores Caught Selling Returned-Used Underwear!

Major Department Stores Caught Selling Returned-Used Underwear!

Ladies beware! An undercover investigation by MSNBC caught employees from major US department/retail stores on camera accepting used panties and lingerie from customers and then proceeding to re-tag and re-sell them.

Some of the culprits caught on tape include Victoria's Secret, Macy's Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and Gap. Our health and hygiene advice to you; wash all newly purchased clothing before you wear them!

We gagged after watching this undercover video from MSNBC, it's approximately six minutes long. We strongly recommend that you watch the video and share it with your family and friends.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.

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Health and Fitness: Shopping is Good For Your Health!

Good News For All The Shopaholics, Shopping is Good For Your Health!

Whether you're a self-proclaimed shopaholic or a closeted shopaholic, here's one good reason to not feel so guilty about your shopping addiction. According to a recent study shopping sprees are good for your health! (We can see that big smile on your face.)

The Daily Mail Article reports that 'the average woman burns around 385 calories - the equivalent of a piece of carrot cake or two large glasses of wine - trudging around stores each week.

The average woman burns off almost 48,000 calories each year by shopping ...They notch up 154 miles a year.'

Now we know why we feel so exhausted after shopping it's really a work out, especially for those of us who have trouble sticking to the gym and other exercise routines. Anyone else in the mood for shopping?

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.

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Health and Fitness: Leona Lewis Transforming!

Leona Lewis Sheds a Few Pounds and Shows off Her New Tattoo

In recent weeks Leona Lewis has revealed her new figure at the BRITS and now her new tattoo at last night's charity fundraiser The Love Ball in London's Camden.

It seems Leona is coming into her own and we love the changes. Hopefully she's not influenced by the entertainment industry's need to be 'too skinny, with an over-sexualized bad girl persona' because we love humble and sweet Leona.

Leona's new tattoo runs from the nape of her neck to the middle of her back and pays tribute to her love of horses.

Leona used a detox diet to drop from a size 14 to a size 10. She definitely looks more like her former self when she won the X-Factor.

(From left to right, Leona at Elle Style Awards last weekend and Leona at Grammy Awards 2009, 11 months ago)

What do you think about Leona's new look, love it or not? Leave a comment.

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Health and Fitness: Having a Big Butt is Good For Your Health!

"I Like Big Butts" Having a Big Butt is Good For Your Health!

These ladies have good reason to smile and so do you, if you are well endowed in that area. According to health experts and Oxford University Researchers having a big butt is good for your health, or at least better than having a big tummy.

(From left to right Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez)

Studies show that having a generous rear end and thighs, rather than a pot belly, cuts levels of 'bad' cholesterol and raises levels of the 'good' cholesterol that protect against hardening of the arteries.

It also cuts the risk of diabetes, a review in the International Journal of Obesity reports. These findings add to a welter of research on the benefits of having a pear-shaped body.

What do you think about this story? Leave a comment.

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