The Leaf | Healthy Weight Loss Blog

Sure, you can try every iteration of your favorite shampoo, buy fancy face creams and moisturize your cuticles to your heart’s content—and your hair, skin and nails will likely reap the beauty benefits. However, the vitamins and minerals that you eat can also affect how great you look and feel—and you’ve likely got room to optimize your nutrition for an even better daily life. According to the peer-reviewed scientific journal Dermato-Endocrinology , “Beauty comes from the inside.” 1 Here are six essential beauty-boosting nutrients, and the foods to find them in: 1. Vitamin C Also known as ascorbic acid, your body needs vitamin C to make collagen, a protein that serves as one of the main building blocks of skin. Collagen keeps your skin from sagging and is necessary for wound healing. 2 , 3 Loops around the sun don’t have to completely ruin your hair, skin, and nails. Vitamin C also serves as a powerful antioxidant, with some studies suggesting that it can even help prevent skin

Enjoying a healthy breakfast has always been a great way to get your day off on the right foot. Breakfast can help to hold you over until lunchtime and prevent snacking in between meals. However, sometimes people end up skipping because they don’t have any good breakfast ideas. No worries—we’ve got you covered, there. A great morning option is the breakfast burrito, as it can be packed with a lot of nutritional goodness and even taken on the go. But rather than choosing an unhealthy and processed breakfast burrito from the local drive-thru, consider whipping up your own. In fact, you can plan ahead by whipping up some of these burritos, wrapping them in foil and then popping them in the freezer. Then, you’ll merely have to warm them back up in the microwave or oven when you’re ready. It’s a great way to save time on those busy mornings. Here are five of our favorite healthy breakfast burrito recipes. 1. Turkey Sausage Breakfast Burrito > This hearty Turkey Sausage Breakfast B

When you’re a kid, splashing around in a pool, ocean or lake is one of the most fun ways to spend a summer day. For adults, swimming helps tone up your body, burn calories and lose weight. Plus, it’s still a lot of fun! Swimming regularly has a variety of other health benefits that can help you feel better and maybe even live longer. It also helps you stay cool and keeps your daily activity fun and fresh. Here are seven health benefits of swimming and a few hints to help you include it in your workout routine. 1. Build Muscle In contrast to walking, running and most other kinds of exercise, swimming uses all your major muscle groups, from your shoulders and arms to your abdominals to your legs and glutes. By gently working these muscles to pull you through the water, you’ll tone up and look sleeker all over. 2. Joint Protection If you sometimes feel soreness in your hips and knees from walking or if you suffer from arthritis, you may want to include swimming or other pool exercis

Ice cream sundaes are the best summertime treat any day of the week. Each spoonful treats you to cool, sweet ice cream plus gooey chocolate or caramel sauce and other fruity, nutty or salty flavors. There’s something for almost every taste in an ice cream sundae. Unfortunately, standard versions also come with excessive calories, fat and sugar: According to FastFoodNutrition.org, a small hot fudge sundae from a popular chain ice cream shop contains 300 calories, 10 grams of fat and 36 grams of sugar. Legend has it that the first sundae was created in the 1880s at a drug store where sales of ice cream sodas were restricted on Sundays, says What’s Cooking America. A customer asked for chocolate syrup on top of a dish of vanilla ice cream instead. The result, later named a “sundae,” was an instant sensation and is still popular today. You can embrace the spirit of invention that lead to the first sundae to create your own version that’s as good for your waistline as it is satisfying for

It’s hot! Which means it’s easier than ever to get dehydrated. That can have consequences for your health and for your enjoyment of summer activities—exercising while dehydrated can result in dizziness and cramps, so it’s important to load up on hydrating foods. It can also effect your performance while you move: According to Human Kinetics, if you’re dehydrated as little as five percent, your workout’s “power output” can be reduced by 30 percent. Staying hydrated can mean not just that your active summer activities are more fun, but also that your weight loss plan is more effective. One study published in the The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &Metabolism found that when dieters drank two liters of water per day, they burned 400 extra calories each day—even if they didn’t change anything else. For men in the same study, those extra calories were specifically burned from belly fat. You don’t have to actually drink a full two-liter to stay hydrated, though: You can get the wate