You shed the winter pounds, started shaving your legs again, and hit the gym twice as often to prepare that bikini body. Wondering how to get rid of cellulite and stretch marks, like, fast?

What is your cutoff date? You know, that time of the year where you stop eating so much junk and ramp up the workout routine in order to get a bikini body by summer?

Usually somewhere around late February to early March we begin our beach body regimen. We may be able to exercise and diet our way to a flatter tummy and toned arms. But there are certain things that aren’t as easy to fix, particularly the dreaded cellulite and stretch marks. Most women spend at least a little time fretting over these skin situations, even though almost all women have at least one of the two. While we may need to get okay with the idea of dimply skin and marks sticking around, the good news is we can lessen their appearance.

Many women experience stretch marks on their stomach or thighs post pregnancy, others may discover them around their breasts after puberty. Stretch marks usually fade a bit over time, but most often do not disappear completely.

Then there is the ubiquitous cellulite. Did you know that approximately 90 percent of women ( and 10 percent of men) have cellulite? Hail damage, cottage cheese skin, orange peel…whatever you want to call it, cellulite is really just fatty deposits and fluid retained in the skin’s connective tissues. Women are more susceptible to dimply skin, possibly because our connective tissue is less elastic than men’s or maybe we can blame this, too, on hormones. Being overweight can contribute to cellulite, but thin women get it too.

While we may not be able to banish cellulite or stretch marks entirely, there are steps we can take to lessen their appearance, making the whole bathing suit dilemma a lot more comfy. Bikini body here you come!

How to Get Rid of Cellulite and Stretch Marks (Or at Least Look That Way)

Amping up circulation and ridding the body of excess fluid helps to banish cellulite. Dry brushing is a great way to do this. Make it a part of your regular morning routine for best results.

Certain ingredients are also helpful in easing the appearance of dimples. Caffeine has a tightening effect on skin, reduces puffiness, and increases blood flow. It’s also chock full o’ antioxidants to protect against premature aging and skin cancer. Try Qet Botanicals Matcha Green Tea Body Polish.

Another circulation booster is chili pepper. The capsaicin in the peppers increases blood flow which helps to smooth the skin. Bottega Organica Body Contour Formula -Peppermint and Chili Pepper is designed for these trouble spots.

Tone skin and diminish discoloration with Tata Harper Forifying Body Lotion. Rose extracts help to hydrate and renew the skin, leaving it soft and lightly scented. Perfect for summer.

Now for those stretch marks. Ingredients that support the skin are best for warding off stretch marks before they begin. Antioxidant and skin-supportive plant oils, like olive and apricot, are ideal. And Bottega Organica Stretch Mark Prevention Oil – Pure contains both.

Soapwalla Shea Butter, Tangerine & Clay Soap Bar is said to “erase” stretch marks, blemishes, and scars. The clay exfoliates and absorbs toxins, which definitely improves skin’s appearance. Shea butter is a super moisturizer and hydrated skin always looks better.

A richly hydrating dream cream for stressed skin is Zoe Organics Belly Butter. Apply this moisturizer to stimulate skin, relieve dryness, and improve elasticity. Rosehip oil is also a natural anti-ager.

When in doubt, cover it up. No, not with your towel. A self tanner gives instant confidence and makes imperfections disappear. Pick a healthy self tanner and use the day prior to going out in the sun.

Now get that bikini body to the beach, pronto!

Related on EcoSalon

Stretch Marks? How to Treat Them Naturally

How to Get Rid of Zits and Keep Skin Clear This Summer

Link Love: Stupid Body Issues and Hot Sauce Scandals

Image of woman with bikini body via shutterstock

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The best of the week at EcoSalon, hand-picked for your clicking pleasure.

Fancy a challenge? We challenge you to…

Think about your bucket list – long and hard.

Read unusually – because it may open your heart and  mind and leave you changed.

Track down a copy of the UK box office hit The Age Of Stupid, in preparation for its creator’s latest work, Just Do It.

Keep your morning coffee away from spiders – it makes them go nuts.

Spice up your love-life by hitting the road (but hey, keep it legal).

The post The Friday 5: We Challenge You appeared first on EcoSalon.

Here’s a story for everyone who has ever suspected there was something in the water in Portland (in other words, everyone).

It seems America’s love of caffeine is such that it’s starting to leak into the rest of the food cycle. A Portland State University graduate has been sampling ocean water at a number of locations on the Oregon coastline and has been finding traces of caffeine, tallying not with population density but with the movement of stormwater. In short: when the rain lashes down, we’re spiking the oceans with our favorite legal psychoactive drug. 

Cause for concern? Compared with the list of other environment-related things to worry about, this may be trifling – and since we’re deeply fascinated by the potential health benefits of caffeine in moderation, we’d be hypocrites to start banging our drums here. Or would we? Because until now we’ve been talking about the effect of caffeine on humans. While everyone currently has no idea how low doses of caffeine will affect marine life, we do know that it severely messes with spiders.

In 1995, NASA researchers dosed up common household spiders with a variety of drugs and left them to weave their webs. The ones “speeding” on benzadrine completed the job in record time but left enormous holes everywhere. The ones under the influence of marijuana did half the job and lost interest. And the one spinning on caffeine? Take a look (above right). It appears the spider was such a jittery mess that it lost the ability to plan ahead. Fascinating and disturbing – but at least it makes great tableware.

To repeat: nobody knows how caffeine will affect marine wildlife. However, tests suggest that the effects of caffeine are most pronounced in birds and mammals, less so in lower vertebrates and still less so in fish and amphibians. If we are indeed dosing up our offshore neighbors in miniscule amounts, let’s hope they’re designed to shrug it off.

Images: GOOD and Matt McGee.

The post This Is Your Ocean On Drugs? appeared first on EcoSalon.

The frappuccino gets a major health revamp.

While it is high in calories, sodium, and cholesterol, it’s really the sugar content that blows one of Starbucks’s beloved beverages out of the water. Starbucks’s Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino Blended Smoothie contains 310 calories per 16-ounce serving, in addition to 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 220 milligrams of sodium, and 67 grams of sugar.

Sugar will go straight to your head, give you a short-term high, and then leave you lethargic and glum. It spikes your blood sugar levels, leads to weight gain, is nutritionally empty, contributes to candida, and, to put simply, is actively bad for you. If you are going to consume sugar, get it from something a bit more decadent and lasting than a down-in-a-hot-second drink, regardless of how delicious it may be!

My version of a vanilla Frappuccino smoothie is sugar-free, save for the optional chocolate syrup glaze and whipped cream, using a few drops of zero-calorie, low-glycemic stevia instead. The recipe also goes a step further by replacing cow’s milk with almond milk. Almond milk is a mere 40 calories per 8-ounce serving and avoids the common issues that arise when ingesting dairy, such as hard-to-digest proteins, hormones, depletion of enzymes and vitamins through pasteurization, saturated fat, synthetic chemicals, and a boo-ing cow.

Cutting corners in so many other ways, it’s up to you whether you want to indulge with a topping of whipped cream and chocolate syrup. You can find vegan variations of both in your local health food store.

Enjoy!

Sugar-Free Vegan Vanilla Frappuccino

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coffee cooled
• 1 cup almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, or skim milk.
• 1 banana
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 handfuls of ice
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 4 drops of liquid stevia, or 2 packets of powdered stevia
• Whipped Cream (optional)
• Chocolate Syrup (optional)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a Vitamix and blend until smooth.

Bon Appetit!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Image: Starbucks

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Let’s get social.

As we said in our recent Friday 5, drinks bring out the sociable sides in our personalities. In historical times feasts brought us together – nowadays it’s more likely to be an array of coffee flavors, or a bottle of something rich and cheeky. In celebration of the great bring-people-together power of beverages, we uncork our archives, take a sip and toast your good health.

Coffee reduces muscle pain. After a hard workout, a cup or two of coffee has been shown to reduce muscle soreness (in women, anyway) more effectively than naproxen, aspirin and ibuprofen. (But don’t replace your water thermos with coffee).

20 Surprising Facts About Coffee

Now hitting the shelves is ZICO pure coconut water. An all natural, 60-calorie alternative. ZICO contains the five essential electrolytes, magnesium, and more. One box of ZICO has more potassium than a banana (15 times more than most sports drinks) to prevent cramping and promote recovery.

A Natural Fitness Drink: Coconut Water

“You could consider me the goddess of organic wine because of my longevity,” says a tres enthusiastic Veronique Raskin of The Organic Wine Company in San Rafael, Calif. “I’ve been at it for 30 years so I should know a couple of things.”

The French native and head cheerleader for the benefits of organic helped uncork the notion of drinking naturally-farmed grape back in 1979. That’s when she brought the first shipment to the U.S. from her family’s 200 year-old vineyard, Bousquette, located in the Languedoc region which borders Provence in the south and produces one-third of France’s grapes.

The Trail to the Tastiest Organic Red Wines from a Certified Grape Goddess

It’s the future, a greener, more enlightened time. You drop in on your local coffee vendor – let’s call it McStarMart – ready for a cup of exquisitely roasted bean-juice to kick start your day. You’re standing quietly in the queue, and – something odd is going on.

People are reaching into their pockets and bags and briefcases, and they’re pulling out mugs of all shapes and kinds. When they reach the counter, they pass them to the barista, who fills them up with their beverage of choice.

There are no disposable cups.

In The Future, We All Carry Mugs

Not only does red wine make steak extra-flavorful, it may reduce cancer-causing compounds naturally found in meats. Frying and grilling meat at high temperatures turns sugars and amino acids of muscle tissue into carcinogenic compounds, but marinating steak in red wine for at least six hours before cooking can reduce two types of carcinogens by up to 90 percent. Use about a cup of red wine, a cup of olive oil and the seasonings of your choice like garlic, parsley and peppercorns.

20 Unusual Uses For Wine

I’m convinced mulled wine was invented as a handwarmer in the depths of winter. It first pops up in the history books around 400 CE, although its European medieval name of Hipocris harks back to Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek “father of medicine” – and it’s not hard to imagine Celtic Mead being dangled over the fire for an extra-warming kick. Nowadays, mulled wine is a popular winter drink across much of northern Europe. For example, in Sweden it goes by the splendid name of glögg.

Hot Wine? Mull It Over

Like other Swedes I’m used to buying glögg already spiced at the Systembolaget, which is the one and only company that can sell liquor in Sweden. Systembolaget has an impressive selection of wine from all around the world and they have over 40 different kinds of glögg, both with and without alcohol. There is even a white glögg which is commonly served cold as an apertif at parties around Christmas. With a selection that great it’s hard to even think of making your own unless you’re a Swede living abroad. Being one of those people, I started making my own and can’t ever imagine going back. At Christmas I want my own glögg. And the glögg has to be done with some drama by caramelizing the sugar.

Glogg: Swedish Traditional Mulled Wine

Images: PoYang, Vegan Feast Catering, Sarah Jane, Johanna Kindvall, photoskate and delphaber.

The post From The Vault: Cheers! appeared first on EcoSalon.

How to get a great cup of coffee without walking into a coffee shop.

Each year, nearly 3 billion Starbucks disposable coffee cups end up in the landfill. While it’s easy to make Starbucks the bad guy, America’s preoccupation with take-out coffee extends beyond the Seattle-based chain. Nearly a quarter of all coffee drinkers in the U.S. drink coffee outside the comfort of their own homes, according to the latest report from the National Coffee Association.

But there are at-home alternatives beyond your standard, boring Mr. Coffee drip machine. The need for caffeine spans cultures and continents, resulting in hundreds of coffee making techniques from around the world. Here are seven of them.

Next time your caffeine craving hits, brew your Fair Trade beans en casa á la…

Moka Pot (macchinetta del caffè)

These simple stove top devices brew a grade of joe comparable to that of professional espresso machines. No wonder the Italians love it.

Vietnamese Coffee

The process is easy: load filter with coffee, place on top of coffee cup, pour hot water. Traditionally served with condensed milk and sugar.

Kyoto slow-drip coffee

It takes hours to produce a single serving, but coffee connoisseurs go nuts for it.

Vacpot

Also called a siphon coffee maker, these devices went out of vogue after World War II but resurfaced in the coffee-crazed late-90s in San Francisco.

Turkish Coffee

Though Americans know it as Turkish, the process of boiling coffee grounds in a small pot is popular across the Middle East and Northern Africa.

French Press 

While it’s popularly known as a French Press, the cafetière is actually an Italian invention, patented by Milanese designer Attilio Calimani in 1929.

South Indian Coffee

The secret to this coffees milky flavor is a 70-30 blend of dark roasted coffee beans and chicory, an herb that allows the water to extract more flavor from the beans. Serve with boiling milk and sugar.

Images: Davidd, Lilian Wong, McKay Savage, D’Arcy Norman, Eatomatic, A Quirky Blog, Christian Kadluba, Will Bakker, Patrick Tschudin, Fredo, Magnus D

The post Home Brew: 7 Sexy Ways to Make Coffee appeared first on EcoSalon.

After days spent racking my brain to choose nine things you don’t need to be happy, now I can’t keep more from surfacing. If this list keeps growing, it might mean that happiness is attainable without anything at all. What a concept!

But just for fun, let’s continue counting. Here are 9 more things you don’t need to be happy. Really.

1. Optimism. There’s nothing more annoying than all the self-help mumbo jumbo that preaches “think positive” – and implies (explicitly or not) that by doing so, you will get what you want. This theory leaves us in the lurch and in fear of having even a speck of a negative thought. The universe is not directing the traffic of our lives according to our thoughts. We earth folk, although blessed with free will, are not more powerful than the randomness of life.

This is good news. If you happen to be a cynic or wake up on the wrong side of the bed once in a while, don’t fret. Having a positive outlook 24/7 is not required for happiness.

2. Caffeine. I’m actually sitting in Starbucks as I type this and it’s occurred to me that I could be a lot happier if there were fewer coffee shops serving rocket fuel to every human on the planet. Fewer Starbucks means fewer caffeinated people – and no landfill droves of millions of paper cups.

I was perfectly content for the six months I gave up coffee. Life was fine. But I can tell you this. The moment I took my first sip of a non-fat triple shot cappuccino after those six months, I was indeed rocketed into another dimension. I don’t need caffeine, but I like it. So there. Just don’t make me go to Coffee Bean. That’s where I draw the line.

3. God. Religion and anything related is a topic fraught with tension, but we shouldn’t ignore the obvious, which is that many people all over the world live life happily and successfully without worshiping or praying to any being. Organized religion is not the only road to salvation. Why is it that only the non-religious realize this?

4. Intelligence. I adamantly agree that women can be both smart and pretty, but if for some reason I had to choose, I think today I’d prefer pretty. Why? Because it gets tiring being smart. And I’m exhausted!

Most days I can’t watch the news, much less have an intelligent conversation about current events. Between the stock market, natural disasters, unstable psychopaths wreaking havoc on innocent people, world hunger, violence against women – I’m upset too often. What’s so horrible about a slight dose of ignorance? Call me stupid, but sometimes I’d prefer to be stupid.

5. Crystal Ball. The less I know about the future, the better. It used to be that I was riddled with fear if I couldn’t see how it all turned out; whether you’d stay or go, love me or leave me. So I would leave you first or better yet, never stay in the first place, because not knowing how and when it would end was too scary. Today I’m a different creature. I find comfort in the unknown and practice letting the future alone and being present for love and my life today.

6. Chanel handbag. Oops, how did this one get in here? I mean, really. No one needs a Chanel bag, period. And to be completely candid, I once purchased such a bag. It was at a time when my work was very lucrative and I thought (or hoped) a sophisticated, exquisitely made black bag would satisfy a deep yearning within me.

This morning I caught a glance of that particular Chanel hanging in my closet. Did it make me happy? When I first bought it, yes for about five minutes, but now…not so much. Actually, it makes me a little bit annoyed.

7. Resolved “issues“. I have no qualms telling you I go to therapy once a week. I’m one of those humans that grew up crooked and needed a little correcting. So be it. In fact, I think more people should be in therapy, especially married people.

Yes, a weekly appointment on my calendar means there is unfinished business, more “stuff” yet to come up and discuss. I continue to dig, deeper and wider and with more gusto. Why? Because the more I uncover, confront, grieve, accept, release, the better and happier I become. Everything need not be packaged up perfectly in a box with a bow, stored away in the basement in order for one to feel relief and some semblance of happiness.

8. Approval. We can’t control what other people think of us. People who don’t know you well will have perceptions and come to their own conclusions. The important thing is not to change yourself in order to get someone to like you. The key is not to care if they like you or not.

Of course, it would be ideal if everyone everywhere liked you, but if you love yourself and just one other person thinks you’re awesome, then you are. Quit trying to gain the adoration of people who don’t matter, and focus on the ones that do.

9. A reason. Did you predict we would end up here? If so, you win. It took me 17 reasons to realize 1) one might be happy and not care why or 2) one isn’t happy (or is) but doesn’t particularly appreciate someone feeding them reasons how or why or when one could or should be. Therefore, my last reason is a reason. It is possible to be happy for no reason at all.

So there, I said it. Now go and be happy, just because.

Image: con Costanza

The post 9 More Things You Don’t Need to Be Happy appeared first on EcoSalon.

Several years ago, while taking my first, halting steps towards a greener existence, I spent four days in an eco-friendly spa in upstate New York. Nestled in the gorgeous Catskill Mountains, it was a rustic place that went beyond the usual spa staples of seaweed wraps and deep tissue massage.

The spa featured intense yoga classes and beautiful hiking trails – it was also known for having a slightly wackadoo spiritual vibe and offering a “cleansing” regimen of toxin-free foods. Meals were strictly organic and much of the menu came from an on-site greenhouse. It was all a bit touchy-feely for my taste – classes were offered on the healing power of crystals, and high colonics were available for those who wanted to kick their cleansing into over-drive. But I loved the emphasis on health and sustainability and I looked forward to ridding myself of stress and pollutants.

Unfortunately, one of the forbidden toxins at this spa was caffeine – I learned this on the first day, after a wimpy cup of decaf failed to jolt me out of my early morning coma. Still, the day was pleasant and as I hiked and cleansed I was the picture of health, brimming with rosy-cheeked vigor. By the next morning, however, the bloom was off the rose as I began to feel the first ominous stirrings of a caffeine withdrawal headache.

I found a waitress with blonde dreadlocks and a sympathetic chakra and pleaded for some real coffee, but the young woman (who looked like her name should be Feather) scolded me gently and promised that my headache would abate as soon as the “poisons” left my body. Instead the pain became exponentially worse. By lunchtime I was pale and stoop shouldered as the ache in my head became a steady drum beat of torture. Consumed by pain, it took me awhile to realize I was not alone, that women everywhere were walking around with pinched looks of agony. Instead of feeling healthy and relaxed I was becoming increasingly cranky – I was, after all, paying a lot of money to feel like crap. I was also ingesting huge amounts of acetaminophen to counter the pain, leading me to wonder if all this cleansing would eventually destroy my liver.

I began to compare symptoms with the other guests – like extremely coddled prisoners of war we passed information, rumor and advice through the ranks. Finally, someone told me the staff had a special tea with a secret ingredient that would cure the headache. At dinner that night, I looked extra pathetic and begged for the tea – by now I was hoping that the mystery ingredient would turn out to be morphine. But when it arrived I saw that the secret cure was just Lipton’s tea, with caffeine. It took me no time at all to scarf it down and lick the cup clean. I stopped just short of tilting my head back and squeezing the teabag directly into my open mouth.   

Within minutes the pounding in my head began to subside. I felt the welcome rush of blood vessels opening, as the lovely familiar buzz spread through my veins.  Without the veil of pain I noticed, for the first time, how majestically the mountains rose around me. The setting sun reflected off the lake in a soft halo of light that filled me with an unfamiliar sense of well-being and peace. I took a deep breath of clean mountain air and savored the delicious irony: by polluting myself – just a bit – I had finally found my bliss.

Image: Olly L

The post The Chakra and Awe Experience appeared first on EcoSalon.