As children we were always taught to eat our vegetables and our fruits, that these held a certain superior nutritional value to all other foods. And how that could be true it does not come without the phrase, “this over that.”
For our entire existence on earth, we have been eating fruit. If you recall, apples were the cause of some pretty hairy stuff in the days of Adam and Eve. However, for the 21st century health and physique conscious individuals, some fruits may be better than others. So to take a stab at this conundrum I will look at certain fruits that could be better options than other fruits. But first..
I truly believe there are no bad foods, just better options. In certain cases it may be OK to eat certain things in other cases not so much. Also, generally speaking, most whole fruit would be a better option than most any processed food you can find in the grocery store. This article is about which are better options and show you that not all fruits are created equal.
There are litany of fruits available to us in all different categories. Lets look at the most well known fruits:
Apples
Apples are a great snack and provide the phytochemicals your body needs to ward off to disease and sickness. The old adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” may be overstated but it isn’t too far from the fruit. Another component of apples that may them great choices are the fiber in the skin. Fiber helps keep the digestive system “regular” as well as blunting the effect of insulin.
Bananas
Probably the biggest associated with bananas is potassium. However, potassium can be attained from broccoli just as well as it can from bananas. If eaten too much, gastro-intestinal problems can arise. Also, very few grams of fiber in a banana.
Grapes
Grapes are one of the biggest culprits of sugar overload. That’s why they make such delicious wine. If you love grapes, try and limit yourself to ten or twelve at a time. Naturally, raisins, the dried counterparts of grapes, have even more sugar which is used in the drying and preserving process.
Avocados
Most people forget that these are a fruit. Avocados pack a ton of healthy fats so they are naturally higher in calories but the Omega 3 packed fat helps with inflammation and body fat loss. It is recommended to eat only half of one per day.
Dried Fruits
Dates and other dried fruit like figs, cherries, banana, and pineapple, contain a lot of sugar that is used to retain the flavor lost during dehydration. Dried fruit also loses a lot of its nutritional value during this transition, so whenever you can, try and find fruits in their original condition.
Some examples of fruit and their sugar content:
1 cup strawberries = 8g sugar
1 cup blueberries = 5g sugar
1 banana = 15-20g sugar
1 cup pineapple = 17g sugar
Moral to the story…chose strawberries and blueberries over bananas and pineapples.
In closing, just like in any food group, there will be better options that some. Remember not all sugar is created equal either. A pineapple is much better than a candy bar, even they may have similar sugar counts. BUT it does not mean you should eat pineapple all day every day. True enough, it would be packed with vitamins and minerals a candy bar wouldn’t, plus it would have more water content thus leading to more satiety than a candy bar. However, the amount of calories could be lessened by eating a strawberry than a pineapple.
Pundits and comics alike have posited all sorts of theories as to why there is a more robust culture of political humor on the liberal side. Is it that liberals take themselves less seriously so are less open for ridicule? Or is the media quicker to pounce on right-wing mistakes? Are liberals more educated and wittier? Or is it that the entertainment establishment is run by liberals who won’t give a platform to more conservative viewpoints? Do liberals see more nuances in issues? Or is the culture of ‘political correctness’ stifling outrageousness on the left?
In this site’s spirit of bipartisanship, I’d like to suggest a more random theory that is nonjudgmental and assigns no blame or evil to either side – Liberals simply haven’t yet come up with anyone to compete with the most colorful rightwing figures.
Face it, it takes no particular wit, or media bias, to have immense fun with characters like Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann. Who can compete with that? Elizabeth Warren is newsworthy but she’s just not that funny, and it’s been years since we had a comedy candidate like Kinky Friedman (who ran for governor of Texas in between gigs with his band, “The Texas Jew-Boys”).
And when it comes to comedically inspiring figures, no one can top Sarah Palin, and in fact she topped her own very colorful record at the recent Iowa Freedom Summit. Her oratory was almost a song in itself – so here’s a musical setting of mostly verbatim quotations.
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Feb 3, 2015 at 8:30 AM ET
rriving in Shanghai at the end of our 14 week trip through China was a respite from the chaos and a fantastic end to our China adventure. Having battled spitting swarms of Chinese people throughout the country, arriving in the modern, state of the art train station was like being beamed on to another planet. Looking around I felt the same way Dorothy must have felt when she first arrived in the Land of Oz, wide-eyed and amazed. Public transport was simple and the people were as helpful as the munchkins, which made getting around almost as easy as following the yellow brick road.
Where do I begin with the praise for Shanghai? It is the largest city in China and the largest metro area in the world, yet remains shockingly clean. This may not sound like a huge feat, but if you have ever seen crowds of Chinese people you would understand why it is so hard to keep the streets spotless. All the spitting, indiscriminate throwing out of trash and the complete disregard for any kind of cleanliness leads to clogged sewers and horrible smells throughout the rest of China. But not in Shanghai, the streets are buffed to a shine and I didn’t experience any vomit inducing smells walking down the streets.
Shanghai is also the most westernized city in China. Shanghai’s basketball team produced NBA sensation Yao Ming, the Grand Theater gets musicals such as Cats and you can buy cheese. We even went to an Italian buffet in Shanghai, what a treat! Beyond the creature comforts of Western ways we enjoyed conveniences such as faster internet, better signage and more English speakers. The influence of the West also brought larger shopping malls, taller buildings and excellent public transport (well, I can’t necessarily attribute all those things to the west, they were appreciated nonetheless).
Besides being clean and westernized, which I cannot emphasize enough how much we appreciated these two things, Shanghai is also a fabulous city. Many travelers told us that it wasn’t worth spending more than three days maximum and offered only a short list of attractions. However, we found ourselves very comfortable in Shanghai and were happy to stay for a week and had no trouble filling our time. If you only have three days for Shanghai, below is what I would recommend.
DAY 1:
50 Moganshan Arts District
I really enjoyed the art scene in Shanghai, we visited 50 Moganshan Arts District, which featured cutting edge Chinese artists expressing themselves in a variety of mediums. There were unique paintings, excellent photographs and all the artists were happy to chat about their work.
Read the rest of… Erica and Matt Chua: The Best of Shanghai in 3 Days
In his State of the Union Address, President Obama made a big deal about manufacturing jobs as a central part of his economic vision for the country. “Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs in manufacturing”, he proclaimed. I support the president’s aim and passion to revive manufacturing, but to accomplish it we first have to jettison industrial era thinking. The industrial era and the 7.1 million manufacturing jobs lost in the U.S. from 1979 to 2012 aren’t coming back. We must create new 21st century manufacturing jobs that leverage what America is great at, creativity and innovation. Manufacturing will grow in the U.S. when we accelerate the use of technology to increase productivity, enable new business models designed for mass customization and unleash the manufacturers in all of us.
To begin, we need to recognize that manufacturing isn’t an industry sector, it’s a capability with plenty of opportunity for innovation. We take industry sector definitions for granted. As if industries were clubs with exclusive admission criteria and secret handshakes only revealed to companies that agree to play by understood rules. The industrial era was defined by clearly delineated industries, making it easy to identify which sector every company was competing in. It was all so gentlemanly really, as if competition was governed, like boxing, by a code of generally accepted Marquess of Queensberry rules. Companies were all assigned a numerical Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code (now North American Industry Classification System, or NAICS) identifying which industry sector they fit in to.
Those days are over. Industries don’t work that way any more, the industrial era isn’t coming back. Is Google a manufacturer or a service provider or both? Their acquisition of Motorola Mobility and U.S. production of the Nexus Q home media player suggest Google is serious about building manufacturing capability. Is Apple a manufacturer or a service provider or both? It’s hard to tell the difference between a manufacturer and a service provider and the distinction is limiting. Today the lines are blurring. Think iPod. Apple didn’t bring the first MP3 player to the market. It changed the way we experienced music by delivering on a value proposition that bundled product (iPod) and service (iTunes). Apple didn’t view the competition as other product manufacturers. Apple is a market maker not a share-taker.
Read the rest of… Saul Kaplan: Tech is Destroying the Line Between Manufacturing and Services
Just because you’re not a cowboy, doesn’t mean you should ignore the denim shirt. Sure, you can wear a denim shirt on the ranch, but you can also wear it to the office, on a date, out for dinner – just about anywhere. How rugged vs. fine the material is dictates how dressy you can take it. Also, dark rinses read fancier than light ones.
Here are 4 ways to wear a denim shirt in order from casual to dressy:
1) Weathered with pockets. Wear a different shade of denim on bottom for the optimal Canadian tuxedo. If you need help with the “downstairs” portion of the look, here’s my primer on how to find flattering jeans.
2) Half-buttoned over a v-neck or henley (tucked or not; only tuck in if you can do so without it looking sloppy). Try a jean-style chino or corduroy on bottom.
3) Medium to dark wash with dress pants. Throw on a fun belt to add personality to the look.
4) Dark rinse with suit and tie. For continuity, your tie should be textured, like a knit, cotton, wool or cashmere (a dressy silk won’t look right on denim). The dark buttons on this shirt make it dressier than the previous three.
Pulling off the denim shirt can be tricky, and you may not have felt confident going there in the past. But hopefully these outfit ideas inspire you to give it a shot. Denim shirts are an excellent way to add versatility to your wardrobe, and it’s a shame not to do it just because you don’t know how to pull it off. Try it, and let me know how you do!
If there are any trainers that read my rants you can sympathize with me on the following statement made by a client, “My doctor told me not to squat.”
Oh he did, did he? Well isn’t that great, what in the world am I going to do to strengthen your legs?
Hold up!
Do me a favor and get up and down from that chair. So you know what I am getting at. There are some uneducated people out there that tell patients to stay away from certain activities, not realizing that those activities could potentially help the situation.
I’ve incurred this situation several times in the 11 years I have been a trainer, nothing surprises me. The squat is the most basic, primal movement that humans do. We squat when we get in and out of a car, we squat when we get up and down from a chair and when we have to go to the bathroom (#2 for men and always for women) we squat.
So how on earth could someone tell me that I can’t squat? Most doctors are not as educated on fitness and it impacts the body, so its easy to tell people what to stay away from. If you have a bum knee its probably not wise to load a bar up with 300 lbs and go at it. But what doesn’t make sense is why you wouldn’t perform the movement at all, without weight.
Have you ever looked a baby and how they sit back on their heels and drop their butt to the floor in a full squat? The point I am trying to get at is humans were meant to squat, in some shape, form, or fashion. It’s true so you cannot argue!
So how does squatting benefit me if I have knee problems? Well let’s first look at your “knee problems.” More often than not (general statement here) the problem is not your knee. Huh? Yes, the problem often stems your ankle or your hip causing the pain to occur in and around the knee capsule. This is called “site VS source.” The site is not always the source of the problem. So if you have hip issues or ankle issues, proper squat technique can actually realign the body to its correct movement pattern. Also becoming more flexible in the hip flexor and hamstring area will help as well.
Here are the benefits of proper squatting (body weight progressing to weighted):
Neuromuscular coordination Squatting (weighted or bodyweight) will train the brain and the muscles to work in harmony. If you have trouble squatting correctly place a box or bench behind you and sit back and touch and explode up.
Lower Body Strength No exercise (no exercise!) builds strength better than squatting. Everyone needs strength, whether you are a stay at home mom or a professional athlete, our lives demand a certain amount of strength.
Injury Prevention/Rehabilitation To prevent injuries you must make sure the body can handle and create force. Squatting allows the body to build muscle and strength required of everyday life. Also, allows the body to become flexible in the lower extremities (cause of a lot of injuries).
Squatting Makes You Look Great Naked I call it like I see it. Move for move, exercise for exercise, if you had to pick one to do the squat would be it. The sheer amount of muscles that is used during the squat is enormous, thus the caloric expenditure is magnified. This burns body fat and helps build muscles. Plain and simple.
So, in conclusion if your doctor tells you not to squat or advises you against the resistance training, please take the facts and apply it to logic. Squatting is a must for anyone including those who want to be fit.
By Lauren Mayer, on Wed Jan 28, 2015 at 8:30 AM ET
Left-leaning satirists have always had an interesting relationship with right-wing media like Fox News. On the one hand, as liberals we are often dismayed by the partisan tone of their coverage, just as I’m sure conservatives are irked by MSNBC. On the other hand, as satirists, we are truly grateful for the endless inspiration- face it, Stephen Colbert’s entire persona for his recently ended show was mocking the typical Fox News blowhard anchor, and anytime The Daily Show or Rachel Maddow wants to call out right-wing hypocrisy or inconsistency, there is almost always a clip from one of the Fox hosts to make their point. And not that I put myself in the same league as those illustrious figures – oh hell, why not? Writing a weekly song can be difficult enough, but the hardest part is finding a topic – that is, until Fox comes up with yet another colorful turn of phrase or oddball guest “expert.”
However, in all the months I’ve been doing these songs, I never thought I’d see Fox back down from one of their way-out-there-but-easily-debunked claims. So last week’s apology/retraction of the Muslim ‘no-go-zones’ story deserved a unique musical celebration:
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Jan 27, 2015 at 8:30 AM ET
lmost a year ago we wrote about the lessons we’ve learned from travel. After five more countries as diverse as Australia and Nepal here are the things we think we know.
HE SAID…
Arriving in India from the developed world highlighted the contrasts and taught me more than if I had arrived from another developing culture. Moving from some of the most functional democracies in the world, Australia and Singapore, to arguably the world’s least, India and Nepal, showed me that good governance is the difference. These are the most important lessons I’ve learned in the past year.
Government services and infrastructure matter. I said this last year after enjoying the epic infrastructure of China, Japan and South Korea. Seeing perfectly functioning societies with huge infrastructure investment isn’t nearly as powerful as seeing countries without it. India and Nepal don’t have trash collection, reliable electricity, water or roads. Without focusing on providing these services and projects the countries will never advance.
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A Chinese bullet train station above versus an Indian train station below. China’s investment in transportation will pay dividends for generations…
Justice must be blind. Laws and legal decisions must be made in the name of justice, not family name, bribes, or to gain favor. If everyone doesn’t have to play by the same rules, a country cannot fully develop as those that are disenfranchised have no incentive to innovate and create. While the riches will accrue to the few that aren’t bound by laws, the society as a whole won’t benefit. You can see this in Mexico and India, home to some of the world’s richest people, surrounded by some of the poorest.
It’s a big world out there. Entering our third year of consecutive travel we have barely scratched the surface of seeing how people live, interact and make a life. While there are PhD’s that have super-specialized knowledge on cultures and people, traveling is still the best way to get a sampling of what makes us all different and similar at the same time.
Read the rest of… Erica and Matt Chua: He Said/She Said: Travel Lessons Revisited
Do you remember being stuck at the kids’ table for Thanksgiving dinner growing up? I do. There were always too many of us to all sit around one dinner table, so we had a secondary table off to the side, sometimes even in a separate room, to which the younger generation was relegated. I remember asking every year if I would be able to sit with the grownups. The conversation at their table ranged from sports to politics to family gossip, and whatever the topic it was always more animated and intense. I know why now: it’s because adults love to talk about the state of their world and how it should get better. But what an irony: those of us with the biggest stake in the future-the kids-were not even hearing the conversation. Back then, all I understood was that the main table was where the action seemed to be, and I wanted in.
These days, I do get to sit at some main tables, but I try to stay mindful of whose voices aren’t being heard there-particularly when they are young and presumed not to have anything to add. I feel this most acutely in the debates around education reform. We keep kids off to the side while the adults talk and talk and talk about how to improve student experience and outcomes. And there’s another similarity to Thanksgiving meals: a lot of loud conversation and not much action! The talk at the grownup table never stops, yet year after year the education system in the US continues to atrophy and our students fall further behind the global curve. Every 29 seconds in America another student gives up on school, adding up to nearly a million high school dropouts a year.
What if we put students at the center of the education innovation conversation? Could we get past our suspicion that they would make ignorant or irresponsible suggestions, and tap into what they know better than any of us: what works for them as learners? If we engaged kids in the problems facing schools, and gave them access to design tools, they might imagine a learning experience they would be more likely to engage in and commit to. What if we didn’t stick our youth at the kid’s table?
The notion of bringing kids into the conversation about what serves them best is beginning to take hold in various quarters. Ellen Galinsky did it in the midst of a cultural debate on whether children were better or worse off when their mothers entered the workforce. The audacious approach of her study became the title of her book Ask The Children. Architects who design the places where kids spend their time are doing more asking, too. Check out, for instance, these photos of the Erika-Mann Grundschule II in Amsterdam. “The school’s recently revamped environment is amazing,” wrote one commentator, “perhaps not surprisingly as it was designed by the kids themselves ….”
New Year’s resolutions are so cliché, I almost can’t stand writing about them. But the truth is, when a new year rolls around, it’s nice to take stock and see what you could start doing differently. The usual suspects here are diet and exercise, and often such resolutions are overzealous and set us up or failure. So this year I’m here to help boost you up with some totally doable style-related resolutions that will require very little of your time.
Read on for this year’s top 10 style resolutions.
1) Try one new thing with your wardrobe. It can be easy to find one thing that you’re comfortable in and that feels easy to you. But it can also be really boring! Give 2015 a fighting chance and add some sort of new element to your look — maybe it’s starting to wear more color, or swapping out your logo’d/free event t-shirts for something nicer (here’s my guide for how your t-shirt should fit).
2) Don’t shop without a plan (or on an empty stomach). The last thing you want to do when shopping is make mistake purchases. And shopping without knowing what you’re looking for — or when you’re hungry — will put you on the fast track to a shopping fail.
3) Donate anything with holes or stains that won’t come out. This one really doesn’t need explaining. I’ll just say that when you wear torn-up, crappy clothes, the message you send is that you feel torn-up and crappy about yourself. This then becomes an unfortunate vicious cycle which causes you actually to start feeling that way. (Confirm with whatever charity you’re donating to what condition they will take clothing in.)
4) Take your oversized clothes to the tailor. This is an instant, low-cost (at least compared to buying new things) option for upgrading your wardrobe. Stay tuned for an upcoming post about how to know what’s worth tailoring.
5) Think before you stink (a.k.a. avoid strong aftershaves). This one was on last year’s list, but I had to include it again. I did a lot of traveling in 2014, and one of the biggest conclusions I drew is that there’s an Old Spice epidemic in the US. Nearly every morning flight I took, I felt as if I might become asphyxiated by the scent of the man sitting next to me. Trust me, just because you can’t smell it doesn’t mean others can’t either. Ask one or two lady friends with good taste to tell you honestly if any of the product smells you’re wearing are offensive. And if the initials for any of said products are O.S., drop it like it’s hot.
6) Wear a watch. I get it, watches are no longer necessary since we all use our phones these days. But if you’re not wearing a watch, you’re missing out on an excellent opportunity to distinguish your look. Above is a serious arm party courtesy of one of my clients. You don’t need to break the bank when adding a watch to your look, however. There are plenty of good choices under $200 (including this one for $185 from Miansai). Choose something that resonates with you personally and that you’d feel good wearing — not what others would expect you to wear.
7) Make sure you have one suit that fits you like armor. Chances are, sometime in 2015 you’ll have a wedding, funeral, or job interview you’ll need to attend. And you’ll need a great-fitting suit for those situations — one you don’t have to think twice about. Often such events spring up out of nowhere, so it’s to your benefit to have a suit ready and waiting in your closet. And if you think you can get by with that old boxy one from ten years ago, think again. There are few things less flattering on a man than an ill-fitting suit, and there’s definitely no way to disguise a poor fit.
8) Buy flattering jeans. Most new clients I meet are in need of a jeans refresh. Even if you have a pair that was flattering when you bought them two years ago, chances are at this point they’ve stretched and faded, and it’s time to replace them. If you’ve never had a pair of jeans you feel great in, it’s time to add that to your wardrobe. Here’s my guide for how to find flattering jeans.
9) Lose the square-toed shoes. These were cool in the 90’s. But the 90’s is not now. Do yourself a favor and get them out of your closet so you aren’t tempted to wear them.
10) Take your dress shoes to the shoe guy for a cleanup and to be resoled. This is another low-cost way to refresh things, and in fact a good cobbler can make your shoes look almost new. If you don’t already have someone you use, look on Yelp or other user-review sites in your area for one with high ratings, or ask any well-dressed guys you encounter where they take theirs.
How many of the tips on this list are you able to implement? I guarantee that even if you do just 3 of them, you’ll be in great shape, and you’ll feel that much better about yourself.
As children we were always taught to eat our vegetables and our fruits, that these held a certain superior nutritional value to all other foods. And how that could be true it does not come without the phrase, “this over that.”
