Archive for December, 2008

You can curb spending by paying with cash

It’s harder to part with actual bills, which is why people who use credit cards typically buy more, according to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

A picture may be worth 1,000 calories

Dieters who take photos of meals right before eating (to create a visual food log) make leaner, healthier choices, found researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Your strut could signal more than confidence

Women who have vaginal orgasms tend to have looser pelvic muscles, and therefore a longer stride, say sexologists who studies women’s gaits.

Your health depends on your happiness

According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, people who reported being content with their lives were 1.5 times healthier than those who said they weren’t.

Get Healthy Desserts Here (and we’re not talking fruit salad)

Web searches for “healthy desserts” surge this time of year; last January, they soared 1,500 percent, according to Yahoo! Search Data. To save you on the trouble, we ask experts for their simple-and-sweet recipe faves. These three contain fewer than 250 calories per serving and are ready in minutes. Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate – Pistachio Apricots

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
24 dried apricots
4 tbs. chopped pistachios

Melt chocolate chips. Dip half of each apricot in chocolate. Place on waxed paper. Sprinkle with pistachios. Let chocolates set in fridge.

Serving size: 4 apricots
Calories: 140

Spiked Citrus Sorbet

1 orange Grand Marnier
½ cup citrus sorbet

Cut orange in half and remove fruit; keeping peel intact. Soak orange sections in a splash of Grand Marnier. Fill orange-peel halves with sorbet. Top with orange sections.

Serving size: ½ orange
Calories: 104

Cassata Cake

1 low-fat sponge cake
16 ounces low-fat ricotta cheese
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ tbs. confectioners’ sugar
1 cup chopped strawberries
½ cup grated semi-sweet chocolate

Cut cake horizontally into 4 layers and set aside. In a bowl, blend cheese, vanilla and sugar until creamy. Fold in strawberries and chocolate. Place a layer of cake on a cake dish and top with ¼ of the cheese mixture; repeat with other layers. Cut into 10 slices.

Serving size: 1 slice
Calories: 243

By USANA