By Monique Minahan

Calories, calories, calories. This is a concept we all know far too well, especially when trying to lose weight.

Our cultural obsession with cutting and counting calories makes it seem controlling caloric intake is a necessary evil to maintain a healthy body. This isn't the case.

Calories are simply a measure of energy. They represent the energy our bodies need to grow, function, and work optimally.It's easy to get fixated on calories alone when you're trying to lose weight, but it's important to remember that the type of calorie you're eating is just as important as the number of calories you're eating.

Why Protein is Important

So why are calories from protein so important? First, a short review of basic nutrition. We get caloric energy from our food. All food contains three macronutrients:

• Protein - 4 calories per gram
• Carbohydrates - 4 calories per gram
• Fats - 9 calories per gram

These are the only substances that provide

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Wolf

Love and love-making are in the air with Valentine's Day fast approaching, and foods with aphrodisiac properties are a unique way to spice up your date night.

Natural aphrodisiacs have been used for centuries in European, Asiatic, and Arabic cultures. Everything from chocolate to honey to vanilla have been said to increase sexual desire.

Taste and smell are powerful senses that can affect our hormones, which are at the heart of our libido. Stress and tension can also diminish libido. Finding a balance between simultaneously relaxed and stimulated mental and physical states creates the perfect backdrop for romance.

Ginger has been valued over cultures and centuries as a powerful aphrodisiac and fertility enhancer. Called "The Universal Medicine" in Ayurveda, lovers have long relied on ginger's internal fire-enhancing properties to heat things up.

Using ginger in foods,

tamarindoI can't get enough of Tamarind. I like it in candy form, rolled in chile and sugar, or the sweetened pulp squishy in a little plastic packet that you squeeze to release. I like it as a soda flavor and always feel a little exotic drinking it. I even like it in my pad thai. But the way I love it best is as agua de tamarindo -- refreshingly tart and sweet. It's one of those tastes that makes you want to keep drinking. I try and reach the end of the tart to get to the sweet but love the long sip all the way there. And I'm not the only one! Agua de tamarindo is super popular all over Mexico and is very common in Latin households and restaurants. Follow these easy to do instructions and have yourself a long sip of delicious agua de tamarindo tonight.

Ingredients for Agua de Tamarindo:
1 - pound of tamarindo pods
13 - cups water
1 1/2 - cups sugar

Related: 17 delicious drinks you'd never guess are non-alcoholic

Directions:
1. Peel outer shell and devein fleshy inner tamarind pods

2.

How to build your valentine vocabulary―and jump-start your evening

Alex Farnum
Aromatic, flamboyant Albariño
Aphrodite had her tools―apples, pomegranates, and a mythical girdle that, legend has it, made her irresistible to men. We reject the girdle in favor of a glass of wine with seductive edibles. A half-dozen oysters, a few almonds, some spicy chiles, and a racy bottle of Western white.
Have a Latin fling
Get cozy with the West's new wave of flamboyantly aromatic, thoroughly romantic Latin grapes. Don't be surprised if you fall in love―especially when you pair them with these aphrodisiac foods.

Alex Farnum
Almond cake and late-harvest wine
Almonds in ancient Arabian baking might have fueled The Thousand
and One Nights, but we'll settle for just one night and just one pastry: an Italian Almond Cake from Pacific Sourdough company on the Oregon coast ($25; almondcake.com)
Pair it with a wine that, as food editor Margo True says, "puts both arms around the cake"―Beringer's honeyed "Nightingale," a 2005

By Rachel Adler, Beauty High

As we get to the halfway point of awards season, we've had plenty of red carpet trends develop already, from matte red lips to side-swept waves. Tonight for the 19th annual Screen Actor's Guild Awards there was absolutely no question about which beauty trend took over the carpet: Veronica Lake inspired waves. The soft, gorgeous curls all had a deep side part and while still glam, helped to give a more casual look to a lot of fitted, bold hued dresses.

Many of us had eyes on the big contenders of the last few weeks: Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain and Naomi Watts, and they certainly brought their A-games tonight. There were also a few ladies who surprised us (and of course a few disappointments) with beauty looks that made our jaws drop and some that just didn't quite hit the mark. We chose are favorites (and least favorites) in the slideshow above - let us know your thoughts below!

More From Beauty High:

How To Get Glowing Skin For Your Next Big

Bored with a basic crab cake? These four recipes are delicious and unique!

Crispy Crab Cakes with Mango-Pineapple Salsa
Crispy Crab Cakes with Mango-Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 pound lump crab, drained and picked
1 1/2 cups panko, divided
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Mango-Pineapple Salsa
1 cup chopped mango
1 cup chopped pineapple
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Preparation
Combine all Mango-Pineapple Salsa ingredients in a bowl; cover and chill until ready to serve.
Combine first 6 ingredients in a

Now that the hype of New Year's resolutions has faded, the real work begins. Avoid injury and burnout bybeach workout keeping your muscles rested and recovered. Keep your metabolism working at its full potential naturally, and your body healthy and fit well into the new year.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) has long been used in Ayurveda to stoke the digestive system. Due to its yang properties of warming and stimulating, it's thought to enhance the fire in the body. Everything from the digestive system to blood circulation to energizing the body internally.

Ginger for Sore Muscles:

If you don't have time for a long Epsom salt bath to soothe your muscles and mind, consider a hot cup of ginger tea after dinner or a refreshing ginger lemonade after your daily workout.

In two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, subjects were tested for muscle pain after exercising and taking 2 grams of ginger versus a placebo. The study concluded that daily supplementation with ginger reduced muscle

Image: eAlisa/VeerLike many mothers, I'm not one to spend a whole lot of time on my beauty routine. A quick glance at my roots is evidence enough to prove it. But in the late fall I won a raffle prize at a fundraiser to a local salon for a month's membership in their Blow Dry Club. What the heck was that I wondered at the time? But now that I've given it a go, I'm hooked, and it's actually not that surprising as salons that only do blowouts have been popping up in droves across the country.

Read More: 10 Quick and Easy Natural Beauty Treatments You Can DIY During Naptime

Remember how your grandmother used to go to the salon once a week to have her hair washed and blown out? It seems as more women started working and burning the candle at both ends to take care of their house, kids, and work that they stopped this habit. But these blow dry only salons are creating a resurgence of it. The salon that I go to is a full service salon that offers a Blow Dry Club. As it's a resort area, in the "off" season I