Banana, strawberry, watermelon, apricot, nectarine – whatever you want to use. Just throw it all into a blender and you will be surprised with the result.

We’ve got a fantastic recipe for a banana and strawberry smoothie that will satisfy your taste buds over summer.

Ingredients include two bananas, three scoops of vanilla ice cream, four scoops of plain low fat yoghurt, half a cup of low fat milk, two tablespoons of honey, one egg, and a handful of strawberries.

Throw all of this into your blender and you will come out with a fantastic banana and strawberry smoothie!

You can even add malt to make it even more tasty if you wanted.

This is your summer blast.

If you live in a house with other people and don’t clean the toilet regularly or if you are in regular contact with unhygienic people – then there’s every chance that you have had or have threadworms.

You will have an itching feeling around your anus and may have a serious of white specks around it which are the eggs.

Threadworms are tiny, very thin white worms up to 13 millimetres long that live in the intestine and around the anus. They are also called pinworms. They look like small threads of white cotton, hence their name. They are widespread in Australia. Although people of any age can get them, children are the most susceptible.

On mydr.com.au, it suggests that threadworms produce large numbers of microscopic eggs.

These eggs are present in house dust and stick to clothes, carpets and bedding. They can also be transmitted through contact with a person who is already infected with worms. It is very easy for people to ingest the eggs because the worms produce so many of them and they are so small.

After the eggs have been ingested they pass into a person’s small intestine (bowel) where they hatch and mature. A few weeks after hatching out these worms can reproduce — usually about a month later. When the worms are fully grown, the female comes out onto the skin around the bottom at night and lays eggs. At this time, symptoms may develop, including the classic one of a severe ‘itchy bottom’. The worms can also often be seen on bowel movements or around the anus especially at night.

Some children have no symptoms at all, but some of the other signs of threadworm infection your child may show are:

• tiredness;
• disturbed sleep;
• teeth grinding;
• bedwetting;
• nose rubbing; and
• loss of appetite.

If you think your child has worms you should see your doctor, who may do tests to diagnose the condition and identify the type of worm involved.

Fortunately treatment for threadworms is very easy. Usually only one or 2 doses of a medication is needed to kill the infestation — once initially and then a second dose repeated 2 weeks after the initial dose if required.

Some have to fight for their spot on a team and work much harder than those who are naturally talented.

One of those footballers who made it through to the AFL is former Hawk now Swan Ben McGlynn.

He shared his thoughts with healthy.com.au on how he became a professional footballer through hard country yakka.

“From under 18s I went to Box Hill for two years and was very lucky to have a coach like Andy Collins who gave me an opportunity to play senior footy there and was very lucky to be rookied by Hawthorn,” McGlynn told healthy.com.au.

“I’m not as polished as other AFL players but my work rate is something that I pride myself on. It’s got me to where I am today and I’m fortunate that Box Hill and Hawthorn gave me a chance to play AFL.”

“Just being in the system, constant training and working on your weaknesses and just being in an environment of AFL and having a lot people guiding you along the way. It was just a matter of getting that confidence and belief to back yourself in to play well at that level.”

“I felt that I was in the best 22 but everyone’s going to be in and out and you have to work for your spot. Hawthorn wanted to win as many flags as they can over the next couple of years. I was a little bit upset leaving there but there’s no hard feelings and I’m happy to be a part of the Swans now.”

He said leaving home at 16 to follow his dream of playing AFL helped.

“Probably in under 18’s, I had to go out of my comfort zone from leaving home when I was 16 to just striving and getting the most out of myself. Just having that and not being drafted as an 18 year old has just made life hard work. I like to do it the hard way. There’s a lot of players in the AFL that haven’t just stepped into the game. It’s a lot of hard work,” he said.

A fresh sea breeze from the beach is something that cleanses you in every way.

It is a real buzz and awakening for most who are regular beach goers.

And best of all, it is completely free.

Beaches are the most common place visited on summer holidays.

Why? Well that’s easy. It’s the most exciting; it’s the place to cool down and the place for fun and games.

It is also the place to relax the mind and feel beautiful yet again.

You can relax by reading a book in the sunshine, tip toeing your feet along the sand or hitting the surf.

It’s not for everyone but most beach goers love it.

Many psychiatrists recommend hitting the beach to their patients.

This helps calm their mind and creates a different scenic environment for them to get away from their hectic lifestyle.

Hitting the beach on that holiday is a fantastic getaway. Bali, Fiji and Thailand are Australians most favourite getaways.

They all have excellent features and help relax you after a hectic year.

It’s convenient but is it healthy?

A senior food policy officer this week offered their advice to News Limited newspapers and believed that supermarket aisles are filled with lots of sugary snacks that are just as bad as a McDonald’s cheeseburger.

Health food aisles have risen significantly because of this in recent years.

Some supermarkets didn’t have even have a health good aisle as recent as three years ago.

Now they’re one of the most popular sections of the supermarket.

And a lot of us get sucked into buying what we think are fantastic, healthy cereals – but end up being full of saturated fat.

“A 50g Naytura Yoghurt, Almond and Peach bar from the Woolworths has more saturated fat and total fat than a McDonald’s cheeseburger,” Clare Hughes, senior food policy officer with consumer group Choice, told News Limited.

A spokesman for Woolworths supermarkets said: 

“There’s a big focus on gluten-free, dairy-free, organic and natural foods, but not specifically health foods,” a spokesman said.

Markets are generally the best place to go. You know the ones who yell out $2 dollar a kilo. They have the best home grown products on the market; natural is an under statement.

Meats, fruits and veges or whatever you need.

It can sometimes tarnish it if you’re living and hanging around the wrong people.

It can sometimes enhance it if you live with motivated people working towards the same goals.

Take young Western Bulldogs midfielder in the AFL, Shaun Higgins, who has been living with team-mates since being drafted by the Bulldogs in 2005.

Higgins’ off field changes include moving into a new Port Melbourne apartment with team-mate Tim Callan after moving out from a three year stay with Lindsay Gilbee.

He was guided by Gilbee for the past three years. Gilbee is a more experienced Bulldog who is now living with his partner.

Now he’s living with Callan, virtually the same age. But it is good to be living with those working towards the same goal on and off the field.

Dieting is important for athletes. And living with the right people maintains your discipline in the kitchen.

Higgins wasn’t one to dwell on the disappointment of that last-gasp loss to St Kilda in a prelim. Instead, he embraced it, took it in his stride and moved on with a few interstate getaways with his girlfiend.

He also got back home to Hamlyn Heights regularly to catch up with his family, not forgetting his grass roots and from the strong breed he came from: the Geelong Falcons, which have produced the likes of Jimmy Bartel and Luke Hodge.

“I think the Falcons have had one of the greatest histories in terms of the number of players getting drafted and also the quality of the players that can go on,” he told healthy.com.au

 “You always keep tabs on the guys who come from  your region,” he said.

Music stimulates the change of emotions that many people still take for granted.

The sound of music is particularly good for those with depression or anxiety.

Music calms you, welcomes you and makes you feel like you’re at home.

It helps you unwind, helps you feel relaxed and excited about things again.

Mentally, it’s one of the best things to get your mind off that problem and face something new.

It takes you away to a better place. Instead of literally going to a new place.

Music is much more active in our society today. ipods and iphones have taken the new generation a long way in the way they go about things.

Call it unhealthy to be deactive from society when walking around a shopping centre with ear phones on, but it is something that relaxes the mind and makes you feel more attached to yourself.

It makes you feel brighter.

This can also depend on what sort of music you listen to.

Obviously the slower the music, the more relaxed and the more hardcore the music, the more motivated you’ll be.

It depends on the individual.

It’s the short ticket out of a problem that you feel difficult to find a solution for.

While a few beers a week is almost the norm for an average male these days, you can tell those who aren’t happy with their lives. They are the ones who have more than a few beers a week; they drink daily and they almost breathe alcohol when they speak.

They slur their speech, they’ll be louder than normal, they’ll be distinct in the way they talk to you.

Why do they do this? Well it’s too simplistic to say they are not happy with their lives. They aren’t. But it is such a broad topic.

Those who opt for alcohol and become alcoholics tend to have gone through a problem or a series of problems and are suffering from depression.

They’re risking and throwing away their lives if that is the case. Alcoholics must first recognise they have a problem and get some help through an alcoholics anonymous program or from Lifeline.

We’ve thought of some ways to get people back on their feet and living a healthy, energetic lifestyle once again.

You may have just lost your job. You may have just come out of a relationship. You may have just lost a loved one. You may have gone bankrupt. Or you may be feeling sad because you’re partner has gone on holidays without you.

Whatever the reason is you’re feeling blue, this little daily routine will keep you get you off the couch and bouncing around.

1. You should set goals for yourself each day with what you want to achieve.

2. Head to the gym for a 30 minute training session. If not the gym, go for a 30 minute run outside around a scenic area.

3. Pamper yourself in the bathroom and make yourself look good. Some say if you feel good on the outside then that will flow through to the inside and vice versa.

4. Have a big breakfast, go all out as this is the most important meal of the day.

5. Listen to your favourite music. Music is by far under rated. We need it in our lives. It makes us feel good.

Yet, he was the first to admit to reporters at the Open – claiming that the Open wasn’t the be all and end all of his tennis season.

He is looking to get confidence back into his body after suffering knee tendonitis and was forced to retire in the third round of his loss to Andy Murray at Melbourne Park.

“If I lose here next round, I am gonna have chances to play well during all the season,” Nadal said after his third round win.

“So the Australian Open is a very important tournament, but it is not the end of the world. You have a lot of time to get your full confidence, to play well.”

Tendinitis should be able to be alleviated with rest. But his career is in doubt – if not his season - you have to wonder if we will now see him again before the clay-court season starts in April, with the first big event being the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 on April 12 leading up to the French Open on May 24.

The conditioning of these athletes is so important between tournaments. Nadal will be the first to say so.