Am I really starting to worry about looking old in my twenties? Either way, it’s got me thinking about not only my appearance but also my lifestyle! Following any one of these tips will help, but trying out all four will make a huge difference, making you not only LOOK younger but FEEL younger, too.

Emily tulip print midi skirt with pockets and side zip fastening c/o 405Story (available to buy here).

Keep stress to a minimum

It can seem odd that something strictly internal can have an effect on our external appearance. But the science makes sense. Cortisol is a hormone that lives quite happily in your body until you get stressed. Then, its levels increase to damaging levels.

When increased, it can give you insomnia, which will make you look more tired during the day. It can also cause weight gain, and give you high blood pressure. Obviously, none of these things are good for a youthful appearance! So, focus on stressing less and exercising more. This promotes the release of endorphins, the hormone that makes you feel good.

Hairy maintenance

Starting to lose your hair can be a stressful time in anybody’s life. But the truth is thinning, or thin hair is a sure-fire way to look older than your time. Happily, though, help is at hand. Hair loss products can be very effective. I’ve constantly got an issue of my hair matting together and having to be brushed out in clumps, but deep conditioners help to combat this.

There is plenty of products on the market to find something that suits you. I’ve been using GHD heat protect spray, final shine spray and paddle brush because remember: healthy hair follicles mean healthy hair! Some companies will also give you a free trial to see how you like the product first, or you can buy samples. It’s also advisable to add protein-rich foods into your diet. While they can’t turn back the clock, they will make the hair you have look shinier and thicker.

Oh, and this isn’t just for the ladies… Men, take note! Although beards are undoubtably trendy, there is a difference between Brad Pitt stubble and a fisherman’s overgrown beard of chaos. S has a pretty big beard, but he uses oil to moisturise, a trimmer to tame it – but he also uses a shaving blade to get a close shave around his cheek bones and on his neck.

  Tips for growing your hair long

Reduce alcohol intake

Another important step that it is never too late to take is reducing the amount of alcohol you drink. Or, even better, quitting completely. This is because some of the effects are almost reversible. To be honest, I’m getting a bit fed up of wasting my weekends on the sofa  clutching my stomach anyway…

The Daily Mail charted the difference that stopping drinking altogether can do for the skin and hair here.

You’ll be amazed at the difference just four weeks made to the participant. If you quit drinking too, you’ll find your eyes are less bloodshot and your facial skin less flushed. You will also see an improvement in dry and oily patches on the face. Don’t forget that drinking less can also contribute highly to weight loss.

Quit smoking

We all know that quitting smoking will improve your health, but it’s always useful to be reminded of the tangible benefits. Consider these. Stopping smoking will give you more energy, a better sex life, reduce stress levels and bigger lung capacity. The latter will make all the difference in your later years. As for the damage it does to your appearance?

Firstly, smoke from tobacco dries out your skin, while internally it reduces nutrients and oxygen. Smoking also increases the chance of wrinkles forming on the skin a whopping three times over. Don’t forget about teeth. Good teeth are a strong sign of a healthy person, and stained teeth can add years to your overall look.

This fascinating video from NHS England features a makeup artist showing a 16-year old smoker what doing so will do to her appearance.

No matter your age, or whether you’ve been smoking for two years or 20-years, stopping is always worthwhile. If going cold turkey is too challenging, begin by reducing how many cigarettes you smoke a day. This will make the transition from smoker to ex-smoker much easier. I gave up when I was 20, so I know just how hard it is.

  7 Reasons Why I Think You Should Quit Smoking Right Now

The post 4 Things You Can Start Doing Today To Look Younger And Fresher 🌷 appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

If you’re trying to lose excess weight but nothing seems to be working, read on to find out what the problem could be…

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  Tasty juice diet recipes for easy and painless weight loss

You’re not paying attention to what you’re eating and drinking

People make weight loss far more complicated than it needs to be. There are different ways of eating, things to eat, methods of exercise, and so on. Sure, doing certain things can speed it up or give you better results. But it all boils down to paying attention to what you’re putting into your body. Weight loss is consuming less calories than you burn off. Simple. If you’re eating lots of healthy foods but not losing any weight, you may still be in a calorie surplus.

Sweet potatoes and nuts are incredibly healthy foods, but you still need to be aware of portion sizes and how to track them, or they could put weight on you the same as a slice of cake. This doesn’t mean you should eat whatever you like as long as you’re keeping your calories low. Healthier foods will keep you fuller for longer, and are much better for our bodies. You shouldn’t drink your calories either. Milk and sugar in your tea and coffee can quickly add up. Don’t forget that fizzy drinks count too!

Try using an app so you can see accurately how much you’re really eating. You should only create a small deficit at first, so you’re not starving. Cutting right down on your calories straight away can be dangerous, and lead to eating disorders such as bingeing/purging.

  Can a Fitness App Be an Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss?

You’re not challenging yourself when it comes to exercise

Exercise can make weight loss happen faster, and give us a better looking body when we’ve lost that pesky fat. However, you must be challenging yourself. If you head to the gym with a friend and chat while you’re on the treadmill, it’s unlikely you’re doing much for your health.

You should do a mixture of different types of exercise to get the most out of your regime, and get the best results for your body. Strength training, cardio, and flexibility training are all important. Rest days are a must too. When you first get into exercising, you might just start to love it. It can be addictive, but you should never exercise every single day. You’ll do more harm than good!

You’re too much in the ‘diet’ mindset

Get out of that diet mindset. Diet implies a short term fix, whereas you should be looking at this as healthy lifestyle changes. Try to relax more around food and create a sustainable lifestyle. There are plenty of inspiring books, youtube videos, podcasts, and blog posts on this. Start reading up and you’ll have your eyes opened!

You have an underlying problem

Perhaps you have an underlying problem. See a doctor if you think there may be something wrong. You may be prescribed a medicine to help you get down to a healthier weight. Here, you can find a price comparison site for prescription medicines.

You’re not getting enough sleep

Sleep is crucial for weight loss. Make sure you’re not only getting enough, but that it’s quality too. Wind down before bed, and make sure your bedroom is the best environment to get sleep!

  Problems With Weight Loss, And How You Can Fix It

The post Struggling To Drop Excess Weight? This Could Be The Problem… appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

Here’re some recipes, which will help ypou body to detox and to lose that copule of pounds you’re fighting with for so long.

1. Juice diet for weight loss and detox.

We’ll start with one juice which is really detoxing, delicious and easy to prepare. It contains two apples, one celery stick, 1/2 cucumber, one small spinach (handful) and ice cubes. Add these ingredients in the blender, but remember that the ice cubes should be added at the end. One minute blending would be enough. Drink that detoxing juice in the morning, because that’s the time of the day when your body needs fresh energy.

2. Energy and weight losing juice.

So, if you want to be well energised and to feel great till noon, then you’ll need that juice. You’ll need 1/2 celery stick, two apples, one cucumber, 1/2 pineapple, one lime (peeled), 1/2 avocado, one small spinach (handfull) and ice cubes. Again the preparation is easy and doesn’t take long. Blend everything together and finally add the ice cubes.

3. Strange but delicous and healthy juice.

This juice is really strange because one if its main ingredients is yellow pepper. Don’t worry, it can be easily found in every shop and doesn’t cost much. That weight losing juice contains one yellow pepper, one small kiwi, three carrots, one grapefruit, fice drops of stevia and 1/2 inch ginger (fresh). First of all, you have to cut all the vegetables and friuts. Use the blender for about five minutes, and your juice is ready.

4. Summer juice for weight loss.

Its ingredients are typical for the summer season and they’re one cup with watermelon, one lemon and mint leaves (one teaspoon). Blend them all together. If you want, you can add ice cubes to make your juice more refreshing.

5. Easy juice diet for fast losing weight.

This juice is really amazing, because it contains strange ingredients, which combine perfectly together. They are: one small carrot, three peeled oranges, lemon juice, 1/2 fress cabbage and 1/2 inch ginger (fresh) and ice cubes. Blend everything together and again it’s up to you whether you’ll add the ice cubes or not.

Drink these weight losing juices for one week and try to replace at least one meal with one of them. Really soon you’ll notice body changes which will prove to you that weight loss with juices is possible and easy to achieve.

The post Tasty Juice Diet Recipes For Easy And Painless Weight Loss appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

Have you been there before? I think we all have! What is going to propel you forward and make you stick to that eating and training regime is the way you approach the whole journey ahead of you. I have tried every eating plan that has ever been created and tried every exercise class invented but until I started feeding and training my mindset properly I kept failing miserably at each and every attempt.

So you have decided to shed a few pounds, chances are that you have tried before but didn’t quite get where you wanted to, so, what to do now, how to avoid getting stuck and succeed once and for all? Simple! Before embarking in any new diet or exercise plan, follow these key steps:

Take aside 30 minutes and take a picture of how you are feeling inside. Why do you want to embark in this journey? Why is it important to you to make these changes in your life? Write down all of the reasons why you are here today and all of the reasons why you want to make this commitment. Like a brainstorming session, write as much as you want. Once you got it all out, pick the three most burning intentions and place them somewhere where you can see them on a daily basis. It will be a powerful reminder for when you feel less motivated.

Take responsibility for where you are right now and visualise where you want to be. Take some measurements, weigh yourself, measure your Body Fat percentage and get to know exactly where you are starting from. Once you have assessed where you are, visualise yourself where you want to be and set yourself some targets. Do not just focus on your scale weight, add another way of measuring progress – clothes size, body fat %, measurements etc.

A photo posted by Strawberry Squeeze (@samcharleseuk) on May 11, 2014 at 1:06pm PDT

Now the fun part: set yourself a fitness goal. Is there something you have always wanted to do and never been able to accomplish? Run that half marathon, pick a date and go for it. Running is not for you? You need a bit more variety? Why not try training for a triathlon – if you are more of a gym rat, you love your weights, why not get out of your comfort zone and step on stage? Whatever you choose, make sure you pick something you feel excited about. This is something that will keep you going no matter what the scales tells you.

Have you been in this position before? Have you tried to lose the weight before but it never quite happened? Ask yourself WHY you gave up last time; analyse the reasons of what got in your way. Now make a list of everything that has stopped you before. Your challenge is now to come up with solutions to overcome these obstacles in the eventuality they will re-present themselves again. Try to identify what are your main ‘excuses’ and work through them before even starting with your program!

When people look at getting healthier and shedding some pounds they often associate it as being deprived and restricted in their choices. They see it as missing out on good food. Whatever you choose to follow doesn’t have to be restrictive. If it is restrictive, it will not be sustainable. You can add variety and still be healthy and still be able to get to your goal. There are great meal replacement products such as Shake It Slim from Forza available on the market in stores such as Holland and Barret and Boots.

I’ve been trialing the starter pack for simple and effective weight loss. I felt I needed to shift a few extra pounds before heading on holiday, so I decided to compliment my exercise with this diet. It’s super tasty with 3 flavours, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Not to mention, it’s only 204 calories per serving and it has 22 different vitamins and minerals.

Allow yourself a free meal a week where you can still indulge in your favourite foods. Have a browse online on how to make delicious healthy recipes. Start planning ahead, dedicate one evening a week where you choose and prepare the foods for the week. There is such a wealth of free information online.

Most importantly, don’t forget to have fun along the way and surround yourself with people who are supportive of your choices. Getting to a healthy weight and staying healthy is not just for summer or a Christmas party, it’s for life!

The post Problems With Weight Loss, And How You Can Fix It appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

Apples help for abs weight loss

Just make sure to eat one apple every day. In fact you should eat at least two fruits per day, so choose different fruit every day, but don’t forget you apple.

Cardio exercises for tight abs

We all know that cardio exercises help our body and makes it slimmer. So, instead of doing these exercises for long hours, just make your workout more amplified. That way you’ll have more free time and you’ll be sure that your abs weight loss is working.

Your body needs protein

Your breakfast should contain protein like eggs. So, eat your breakfast and add to it eggs, but remember that you need only egg whites.

Abs weight loss by drinking water

Don’t underestimate the power of water. It’s perfect to drink at least eight glasses of water every day. And if it’s hot outside you can increase you water intake up to ten glasses.5. Classic crunches for tight abs.

By properly and healthy eating you’ll help your stomach to lose weight. But it also needs to be tighten. So, we suggest you to do at least 30 crunches three or four days a week. That way you can be sure that your abs will be tighten and they’ll look great.

Skip late dinner

Yes, it’s great to have dinner after the long day at the office. But you should remember that eating after seven can reflect really badly on your abs. So, try to eat early and not too much.

Abs exercise for quick results

This exercise is advanced and you have to know that it’s hard. So, at first start with few repeats and gradually increase them. You don’t need anything special for that abs exercise. Just lie on your back and bent your left knee.

Your right leg should be extended. After that just raise your hips until you get a straight line from shoulders ti right foot. Hold in that position for two seconds and then repeat it as much as you can.

The post 7 Exercises And Tips For Flat Abs appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

Diets like the high protein low carbohydrate are not healthy for your body and even though they might temporarily slim you down, this will put a big strain on your kidneys and liver. Is it seriously worth it? The inside of your body will not be as healthy as you would hope for.

This is where organic Matcha tea comes in..

If your aim is to have a healthy body while loosing few extra pounds, then the combination of healthy eating regime and drinking organic Matcha green tea is the right way to go! Sorry to tell you, this post isn’t an easy ‘beach bod’ fix.

Matcha tea and diet? Why?

Matcha green tea is your best friend in your effort to slim down. For thousands of years, the Chinese and Japanese have been drinking this miracle brew because of its medicinal properties. Only recently, this organic drink has been introduced to the west and it definitely was a great hit.

Today, Matcha green teas made its way to coffee shops, supermarkets and is dominating the organic drinks industry. Now EVERYBODY is raving about this super healthy tea. So, I set out to find out, what’s all the hype?

Matcha on-the-go powder from TeaPigs

There are several reasons why Matcha tea facilitates your weight loss. First of all, the natural ingredients contained in Matcha tea help to speed up the metabolism rate of your body.

This means that your body will burn fat much more efficiently and convert it in to energy. Aside from maximising your body’s efficiency to burn fat and convert it in to energy, it can obviously help you to stay active and energised, which most diets fail to deliver.

If you are feeling really tired or you are feeling that you would like an extra boost of energy, avoid those sugary energetic drinks and reach for Matcha green tea.

I started doing the 14 day challenge, and definitely felt the difference in my energy levels and it helped me stick to a routine – by having enough energy to do your exercise you will speed up the slimming process. Do not forget that drinking Matcha tea alone does not make you slim overnight.

You will still have to adopt healthy eating regime and regular exercise (urgh – I KNOW!). BUT Matcha tea will help you to deliver the desired results faster and providing you with enough energy and speeding up your metabolism. The challenge is also great because there TeaPigs sent lots of recipes for smoothies, lattes and mocktails – yum!

How is Matcha different from other weight loss drinks?

Matcha tea is possibly the healthiest natural drink available (can you tell I’m a fan?). I love that it wasn’t created for weight loss programs and all of its weight loss attributes are derived from its natural nutrients. Matcha tea is known for its numerous health benefits and is 100% natural.

Other drinks which were designed for weight loss programmes are usually created using different performance enhancers and contain additives to speed up burning of calories.

TeaPigs Matcha ice latte!

All Matcha tea does is speed up your body’s metabolism while providing enough energy for your body to get through the necessary exercise. This creates combination that enhances your chances of losing some weight without using unnecessary artificial weight loss drinks.

How to make matcha tea latte

Matcha tea should be prepared using special kit for tea preparation, but if you are new to Matcha and don’t have this kit yet, don’t despair. For the purpose of practicality, I have used traditional widely available tools from the kitchen (e.g replacing bamboo whisk with electric whisk and bamboo scoop with small spoon).

Let the Matcha tea powder come to room temperature. Remember it has to be stored in an air-tight contained. Using a teaspoon place half a scoop of tea powder into the bowl.

You can adjust the amount of Matcha powder you use depending on how strong you prefer it or how many cups of tea you are making. Shift the tea powder through a strainer to avoid any lumps.

After that add about 1/4 or 1/3 cup of simmering water. Remember not to use boiling water, you need to let the water sit for a while after you boiled it (or, why not try ice latte?).  Whisk the tea powder with the water to form a foam.

The powder will start slowly dissolving in the water creating bright green coloured foam. You should try to keep the whisk vertical and barely touching the bottom of the bowl.

All you need to do in the end is to pour the tea into cups and add the rest of boiled water, adjusting the strength of your tea according to your preference!

The post Organic Matcha Tea Powder Benefits & Why I’m OBSESSED! appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.