A grande latte at Starbucks rings in at 190 calories and costs about $3.80. Keep in mind that espresso has only about three calories per ounce, so all those extras come from milk. By whipping up your own coffee creation at home, you save 62 calories -- and that's if you use an entire cup of whole milk. You can save up to 154 calories if you switch to unsweetened almond milk. And you get five times the lattes for your money. We're not saying you should drink 175 homemade lattes in one month, but you could for the same price as 30 of your store-bought lattes.
Take the stairs whenever possible. It can burn up to 15 calories for every three flights. If you climb three flights every day, that adds up to more than 100 calories a week. Plus, studies have shown that people who work in an office building with five stories or fewer save up to 15 minutes a day by taking the stairs. Think of what you could do with all that free time!
While hiring someone to do your housekeeping sounds, well, pretty swanky, you reap health benefits from getting down 'n' dirty yourself. It turns out that keeping your house spotless burns a lot of calories: A 150-pound woman burns approximately 62 calories by vacuuming or mopping for 15 minutes. And since chores aren't exactly the most fun things to do, try doing them during commercial breaks during your favorite shows. A half-hour TV show has about eight minutes of commercials, so in the time it takes to watch two sitcoms, you could burn 60 to 70 calories -- and make your home cleaner in the process.
Plus, just 15 minutes of house painting burns about 53 calories and the same amount of time spent gardening burns about 62. What better excuse to finally get started on the house makeover you've been planning?
What you put on your body is just as important as what goes in it. You may take the time to read the labels on your food, but do you really know what's in your skin care products? Luckily, you can get the results you want -- without all the stuff you don't want to be putting on your face, like sulfates, parabens, petrolatum, dyes and phthalates. Enter: Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Cream Cleanser. With a bionutrient-rich formula, this gentle cleanser is like a detox for your pores, thanks to natural, skin-clearing willow bark. Plus, foamy cleansers can seriously irritate your skin, even if they make your face feel squeaky-clean. By switching to a cream cleanser, you can remove impurities without stripping your skin of essential oils.
Walking to the coffee shop or salad bar 10 minutes away from your office may not seem to warrant an application of sunscreen, but just because you're not turning red doesn't mean your skin isn't soaking in the lasting damage along with vitamin D.
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, excessive unprotected time in the sun leads to premature wrinkling and sagging, not to mention hyperpigmentation and leatherlike texture. Twenty minutes a day, five times a week and you're looking at 100 minutes of unprotected time in the sun in a single workweek. Plus, when you're out at lunchtime you're exposing your skin during peak sun intensity, which happens between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The solution? Keep sunscreen on your desk and reapply 30 minutes before you head out to lunch. And don't be stingy when you slather it on. Studies have found that consumers typically apply only ¼ to 1/3 of the amount of sunscreen needed to get the products' SPF rating. If you don't want to be putting the goopy stuff over your perfectly applied makeup midday, invest in a mineral finishing powder with sunscreen. Just make sure you're also applying a traditional sunscreen over the other areas that will be exposed, like your arms, the tops of your feet and hands.
