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Most of us feel off track without our cell phones constantly connected to us, so it only makes sense to keep healthy living apps on your mobile device to keep you on track with your wellness goals. There are countless health and wellness apps — many of them free– for you to choose from whether you have an iPhone, Android, etc.  With so little time on your schedule, it’s a lifesaver to be able to access apps for a quick workout or to log your food intake for the day. So check this app list below to see which you should download next to make your life simpler.

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From YourTango

By Christie Mims

You are sitting at your desk, buried under work, and you are exhausted.  So you reach for a can of soda, or a leftover cupcake from the company lunch, and eat it mindlessly as you click through your email.

As you get dressed the next day, you zip up your pants and think to yourself “Oh nooooo…my job is making me fat!”

Sure, you can argue about long work hours, loads of stress, no time to finish your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight (remember that?).  You can easily just blame your job.

We’ve all been there, trying to finish up a project before the next meeting and eating whatever is leftover in the break room for lunch.  Or coming home exhausted and surviving on a diet of caffeine instead of sleep.  You aren’t alone in feeling like your job is (literally!) a weight around your neck.

But the truth is that your job has nothing to do with it.

Your job isn’t grabbing a cupcake and shoving it in your mouth (for a long time, I was convinced my job was purposely buying cake…you know, just to mess with me!), it isn’t skipping workouts and making you chose a burger over a salad at lunch.

YOU ARE.

Read more on YourTango.com.

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Don’t think you’re out of the fire just because flu season is over. Another germ-tastic season is on its way: summer! Many bacteria and viruses thrive in heat. Not to mention when the weather is nice, you’re probably leaving the house more, putting you in contact with countless more germs. Here are easy ways to protect your life against germs.

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Hate to exercise? Feel allergic to it? Is it your idea of torture? You’re not alone. But you still want to be slim and healthy, right? Forget complicated machinery, personal trainers, and expensive workout clothes. Here are 14 no-workout ways to lose weight that almost anyone can do.

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You’re often told to do an exercise a certain amount of time, number of repetitions, or “until you feel satisfied.” But with every person’s body having different limits and different strengths these vague instructions can leave us unsatisfied. But forget measurements and forget numbers. There are certain ways to understand what a healthy body looks like that apply to every woman, and they’re easy to understand.

Board any train in the city, and you’ll notice that there are more people sneezing than standing –and if you know anything about public transportation, you know that’s a lot of people. In addition to the sneezing, there’s the sniffling, the snot, the coughs and a lot of phlegm. The inconsistent snowy-to-sunny from 50 to 30 degree weather hasn’t made things easier for us or our immune systems, and if you’re living like me, neither does your landlord, because he only turns on the heat sometimes. The battle to stay healthy isn’t a battle that you’re fighting alone, though it might seem that way. You’re not the only person who’s contemplating how many ounces of hand sanitizer you can fit into your handbag or calculating the distance between yourself and the man with the ambiguous cough. If you’re healthy, and you’re trying to stay that way, or you’ve been touched by sickness and it’s not something you want to get fully acquainted with, you might want to follow these steps, so you can sick-proof yourself and your life.

Scarves: There is a time to be fashionable and there’s time to be functional. Lucky for you, scarves facilitate both desires. Aside from being one of hipster’s go-to accessories, scarves do a great job of keeping your chest protected from the cold. An added bonus with scarves is that, with an additional raised wrap of the scarf, you can cover your mouth –and improve your chances of remaining healthy.

Common spaces/utilized items: Beware of faucets, door knobs, pots, pans, televisions, television remotes, window sills and etc. This doesn’t mean that you need to slip on a pair of gloves each time you touch something in your apartment, but be vigilant. If your sickly roommate is fishing through the silverware drawer or the TV remote is looking extra grimy, then do yourself a favor and wash whatever she puts her hands on and give that remote a once-over with a Lysol wipe.

Napkins: These little gems are not only valuable when you need to blow your nose, but offer one to your disgusting train-riding neighbor. The fewer germs they spread is better for you and the entire city. Also, when you’re on the train or bus, and you don’t want to put your hands on those germ-y poles, simply place a napkin in your palm, and shield yourself from whatever diseases are trying to sneak themselves into your hand.

Avoid your lover: At least in my experience, the people who will betray your health first are the ones who you love. Be it with a tongue tussle, a peck on the cheek or a prolonged hug, it’s just that easy for their sickness to become your sickness.  And while it’s easily said that you don’t care if you get sick in the midst of a passionate embrace, you’ll feel differently when you’re projectile vomiting into your kitchen sink because you couldn’t make it to the bathroom. You can certainly continue to spend time with your sweetie, just try the “hands off” approach.

Wash your hands: Hand sanitizer is all fine and dandy, but if you really want to keep the sick away, put soap in your hands, wash, and repeat. It’s proven that soap and water is much more effective at keeping you healthy.

Wash your bedding: If you’re getting over being sick or a sick person has been in your sphere, make sure that you’re washing anything that might be contaminated. It’d suck if you’d successfully navigated the city, keeping yourself healthy, only to fall victim of germs that have been nesting on your pillowcase.

Sanitize your keyboard/cellphone: Most people forget about their computers and cellphones when considering what length to go to in order to stay healthy. We touch our keyboards and cellphones more than we touch anything these days, so it’s important that we keep them clean, after all, you don’t know who else might be touching your keyboard when you’re away.

Vitamin C & Ginger Tea: Everyone knows that Vitamin C is usually what the doctor ordered. It’s an essential nutrient, has antioxidant activity and is a natural antihistamine. And, Ginger is a short term relief for nausea, can prevent the flu, and can relieve stomach aches.

Lactaid-Free: Steer clear of the milky stuff when you’re trying to stay healthy. Dairy encourages the production of mucus. Ewww.

Shower an hour before you head out: There’s nothing like that fresh and clean feeling, until that tidy feeling leaves you ill because you’ve caught pneumonia. Make sure you allow yourself enough time to properly dry off, so you don’t end up singing the “I’m so sick” blues.

“I have sinuses/allergies”: This may make me sound like a paranoid nut, but I tend not to believe a sneezy person who tells me that they have sinuses or allergies. Somewhere in my mind, I feel like they’re simply trying to keep me from fearing their sickness. My advice, treat them how you would treat any other sick person. Run.

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If you’re anti-exercise, all on the principle that you’re not vain, and don’t want to be one of those peppy individuals constantly in spandex sipping green smoothies, maybe we can coerce you in other ways to start moving. Exercise isn’t only for aesthetics. It can improve your life in countless ways, before you even begin to see the physical results.

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When you’re traveling, there are a dozen excuses not to stay on track with your diet and fitness plan: you don’t want to get lost jogging in a new place, you don’t want to miss out on trying the local cuisine, there’s no gym etc. But don’t use those excuses! Barricade yourself against the fattening but oh-so-fun experience that is vacation with these easy preparations.

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It happened while shopping at a local boutique during my freshman year of college. At the time she was a size 14 and I was a 4. For some reason, that day she decided to try on clothes in the petite section. I was confused, but I continued trying on clothes.

She kept eyeing a teeny bra and panties set and I thought, “No way. I know she’s not.” But she did. She picked up the set and fawned over how cute the lace was and said she was buying it. I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing and continued trying on clothes. With no warning, she looked at me as I awkwardly stumbled out of the dressing room wearing what I hoped would finally be the perfect dress for whichever event we were going to.

“Ugh, you make me sick you skinny b***h.”

It stunned me at first. I had the kind of relationship with my friends where we could insult each other lovingly and never take it to heart. But this. This was something else entirely. She gave a half-hearted smile and chuckle but she looked a confusing mash-up of angry and sad. Back then I thought too much of myself as we so often do and I took offense, discussing the issue with friends to make myself feel better as they coddled me with the, “She’s just jealous,” speech. What I know now is that it was more about her than it was about me.

Self-doubt, ESPECIALLY when it comes to physical beauty drives us to comparison in absolutely illogical ways and then throws us down into the muck of despair when we don’t measure up to whatever ludicrous standard we’ve set ourselves up against. But instead of accurately and honestly assessing where we are and then putting in the sweat (literally) to get where we want to be, it’s so much easier to give intense side-eye to that young woman who spends three hours daily in the gym and watches what she eats. It’s so much easier to call a slimmer woman (by metabolism – something almost completely uncontrollable) a “skinny b***h” without knowing her story. Did you know she may be battling an eating disorder brought on by physical and/or mental abuse? Or that perhaps she has a rarely high metabolism and intensely low self-esteem and tries desperately to gain weight to avoid criticism? You don’t know because you never asked. You never asked because you assumed that she thought she was “all that.” And we’re (skinny girls) supposed to take that?

If it’s rude or inappropriate for me to call an overweight woman a “fat, moon-faced heifer” then it’s equally inappropriate for someone to look at my 105-pound frame and jeer “Anorexic, skinny b***h!” or assume that I’m purposely missing meals to stay small. I get it; life is unfair. Boo hoo. Society is full of double standards, all of which coddle one group and leave its opposite open to criticism and cruel treatment that often lead to unfair resentment and hidden insecurities.

Though I wasn’t always comfortable in my body and I still deal with insecurities about it, it has become clear that acceptance is a useful tool in moving through life. Well, acceptance and a staunch refusal to bite my tongue when confronted about my weight. I learned to brush off the backhanded remarks about my size by larger women when I understood that I had nothing to apologize for. As if the fifteen or twenty pounds tipping another woman’s scale were somehow caused by my innately high metabolism. Really?

Society has really screwed us up. It has skewed our perception of what healthy looks like and driven home the lucrative “Try this and lose weight!” campaign year after year on the front of every glossy magazine in the checkout, in every aggravating commercial featuring that annoying celebrity, with pills, supplements, exercise regimens, crash diets and surgery. So, we clamor for that elusive perfect shape (yes, even the thinnest of us) and compare ourselves to those who we feel have reached that goal in our place. “In our place.” As if another woman’s physique decides the beauty, or lack their of, of our own. The result of that kind of ridiculous comparison is misguided self-doubt, insecurity and unfortunately, for many, lashing out to cope. I get the psychology behind it. Truly. But it’s no excuse to be mean.

I am not pleading the case of skinny girls. I am defending everyone who falls on the other side of any number of double standards, through the cracks, and gets lost there. Thinner women are subconsciously taught to be ashamed of their size and never to complain whilst we deal with an array of problems ranging from health to clothing that others deem trivial/silly. How crazy is that? Though I do struggle daily with lurking insecurities about my weight, that doesn’t give me license to belittle someone who is larger – nor would I ever want it to.

“Be kind; for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Philo

Though the struggle may not be overt; though the struggle may not look like yours; though you may not understand it – accept the fact that everyone has a struggle.

We have to stop thinking of ourselves in terms of everyone else. We’re doing more damage to our own psyches and self-view than the best marketers and advertisers ever could. Thin or thick – healthiness is beauty and THAT is the only standard to which we should ever strive to measure up.

La Truly’s writing is powered by a lifetime of anecdotal proof that awkward can transform to awesome and fear can cast its crown before courage. La seeks to encourage thought, discussion and change among young women through her writing. Check her out on Twitter: @AshleyLaTruly.

Robin Wilson, President of Robin Wilson Home

Before living “green” was the trendy thing to do, Robin Wilson was working to create living spaces where customers’ wellness and environmental impact were top priorities. Suffering from childhood allergies and asthma while growing up in the eco-friendly town of Austin, TX made healthy living a passion of hers from an early age.

In 2000, she walked away from a successful corporate career to become president of her own interior design firm, Robin Wilson Home, focused on eco-friendly and hypoallergenic products.

Her success as an entrepreneur has exceeded her own dreams. In 2004, her design of the Harlem office of President Bill Clinton was profiled in O magazine. She’s gone on to launch her own textile line, and build a full-fledged lifestyle brand.

I asked Robin about what it takes to have the vision to stay ahead of trends and build a brand that stays true to her mission of wellness.

Madame Noire: Can you describe Robin Wilson Home for those unfamiliar with your brand? What differentiates you from your competitors?

Robin Wilson: Robin Wilson Home is a lifestyle brand with two business areas: interior design and brand licensing. We have worked with some amazing clients across the U.S. to design eco-friendly homes and commercial spaces. Plus, we are the first brand to license our name to eco-friendly kitchen cabinetry sold by over 500 dealers nationwide — and made in the USA by Holiday Kitchens. We also have a line of textiles sold on Bed Bath & Beyond’s website and they will be coming soon to select retail stores.

MN: You had a successful career dealing with environmental issues before you started your firm. Why did you want to become an entrepreneur?

RW: I began my career at the Lower Colorado River Authority, a hydroelectric utility in Austin, and then worked at both a San Francisco and Boston-based consulting firms in their energy groups. These firms taught me best practices for corporate governance — but I also recognized that the founders of these firms were passionate visionaries. Since my family has a history of entrepreneurs, it was easy for me to understand the focus and charisma of those individuals. I made a goal on my bucket list to be an entrepreneur by the time I was 30… and was fortunate to see it come true for the past 13 years.

MN: What did the early days of Robin Wilson Home look like? How did you get your business off the ground?

RW: We had the wonderful opportunity to be self-funded due to a windfall received when the firm I was working for went public due to an IPO. I was the only employee and worked as a project manager and designer. The early days were amazing due to freedom from a desk, the chance to be casual everyday, and new projects through word-of-mouth.

MN: Did you know green living would take off the way that it has? 

RW: It was never “green” to me… and I actually refer to our practices as eco-friendly (to your living space and the environment) and wellness-oriented. However, when the articles started to refer to us as in the “green” space, I had to accept the moniker as a way to describe our business. But I remain committed to telling people that the bottom line is “wellness” for you and your lifestyle.

MN: What gave you the courage to pursue a specialty that wasn’t mainstream at the time?

Robin: I live by the motto “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” So my focus has never been about what is mainstream but very much about what I believe is good for my friends and family.