Quick and Dirty Tips |
- 7 Smart Ways to Invest Extra Money
- How Does Plant-Based Chicken Compare to Real Chicken?
- 6 Myths That Are Costing You Money on Gas
- Losing Our Minds: The Challenge of Defining Mental Illness
- Can Singlehood Be a Satisfying Alternative to Romantic Relationships?
- Unleash Your Creativity with Todd Henry
- Why You Should Work Your Rear Delts
| 7 Smart Ways to Invest Extra Money Posted: 26 Jan 2022 12:10 AM PST  Jessica A. in Texas says, "I'm a long-time listener and huge fan of your podcast! My husband and I are in our early 30s and have set ourselves up well financially. We have about $60,000 in cash sitting in a 0.4% 'high-yield' savings account. We think it could be doing more for us, but we're not sure where to begin. Our only debt is our mortgage and we pay extra toward the principal each month. We have a 12-month emergency fund, max out our workplace retirement accounts, and both max out our Roth IRAs every year. We're not eligible for HSAs but contribute to a 529 savings plan for our infant. When you're fortunate enough to have extra money to invest, I recommend first taking a holistic view of your financial life and reviewing your goals. Before making significant money decisions, it's wise to consider what you genuinely want to accomplish. 1. Max out a Roth IRAI always recommend maxing out tax-advantaged accounts first and then putting money into taxable accounts. So, Jessica and her husband are smart to max out their Roth IRAs every year. It's especially wise... Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips |
| How Does Plant-Based Chicken Compare to Real Chicken? Posted: 25 Jan 2022 03:10 PM PST  From fast food chains to upscale grocers to warehouse clubs, meatless meat alternatives continue to colonize restaurant menus and refrigerator cases. Beefless burgers such as the Beyond and Impossible burgers were the first products to really break through from the alternative food space into the mainstream. But 2022 seems to be shaping up as the year of poultry-less chicken. Most of the plant-based brands have now rolled out some form of chicken nugget. Let's see how they stack up—nutritionally and otherwise—against one another and real chicken. Is the Vegan Impossible Burger Healthy for You? What is plant-based chicken made from?As with other meatless meats, most plant-based chicken products are based on either wheat or soy protein, doctored up with vegetable oil, salt, and various spices and other additives, including vitamins and minerals. Some brands are now using protein from other legumes (such as peas or fava beans) in place of soy. Those who avoid either soy or gluten will need to read labels carefully. Most of the meat-based chicken products available today are in the form of breaded chicken nuggets and, to be fair, a lot of the ingredients in these rather long lists actually seem to belong to the breading and not the "chicken" itself. The only brand I found (Daring) that offers a plain, unbreaded, plant-based chicken has a pretty short list of ingredients, all of which I actually have in my kitchen right now. However, these are not products that any of us would be able to produce using equipment available in our home kitchens. Which leads us to the burning question: Is plant-based chicken an ultra-processed food?In the widely-cited NOVA classification system (which I discussed in greater detail in this episode), all plant-based meat alternatives (and for that matter, most plant-based dairy alternatives) would be classified as a Category 4 (or, ultra-processed) food. This is a class of foods that we are advised to minimize in our diets. Nutrition researcher Mark Messina argues that, despite their classification as ultra-processed foods, many soy-based meat and dairy alternatives actually compare quite well nutritionally with their animal-based counterparts. Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips |
| 6 Myths That Are Costing You Money on Gas Posted: 25 Jan 2022 09:52 AM PST  The following are all myths you've probably heard regarding saving money on your gas and car maintenance. Restarting your engine uses more gas than idlingIf you are waiting for longer than 30 seconds in your car, turn off the engine. You use more fuel idling after 30 seconds than you use to restart your car. Your car needs to warm up in winterIf you have a newer car, you can skip the long warm-ups, even in winter! Today's cars are designed to warm up while being driven, so after you give the car 30–60 seconds of idling time, you can be on your way—just take it easy for the first few minutes on the road. You'll save both time and gas! Seat warmers waste energyHeated seats in your car may seem like a luxury, but they can actually be a huge money-saver. Heated seats don't have to use as much energy (that is, gas) as your car's heating vents to keep you warm. If they aren't offered when you buy your car, consider getting a heated pad for your seat or even having heated seats installed after-market. Changing your oil less frequently saves you moneyChange your oil regularly and you'll have to fill up on gas less often. As oil ages, it gets thicker and harder to push through the engine, causing more energy to be used. By changing your oil regularly, you'll make sure you get the best fuel economy possible. Premium gas makes your car run betterOnly 5 percent of cars actually run better on premium gas as opposed to regular. Make sure to check your owner's manual to see what it recommends. "Topping off" is worthwhileHave you ever "topped off" your car's gas tank to round out the price at the pump? You should know that since the pump is only pumping out vapors at that point, they're automatically sucked back into gas station's tank. In other words, even though you now have exact change, you didn't get any extra gas! ... Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips |
| Losing Our Minds: The Challenge of Defining Mental Illness Posted: 25 Jan 2022 06:00 AM PST  A compelling and incisive audiobook that questions the overuse of mental health terms to describe universal human emotions. Public awareness of mental illness has been transformed in recent years, but our understanding of how to define it has yet to catch up. Too often, psychiatric disorders are confused with the inherent stresses and challenges of human experience. A narrative has taken hold that a mental health crisis has been building among young people. In this profoundly sensitive and constructive book, psychologist Lucy Foulkes argues that the crisis is one of ignorance as much as illness. Have we raised a 'snowflake' generation? Or are today's young people subjected to greater stress, exacerbated by social media, than ever before? Foulkes shows that both perspectives are useful but limited. The real question in need of answering is: how should we distinguish between 'normal' suffering and actual illness? Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the scientific and clinical literature, Foulkes explains what is known about mental health problems—how they arise, why they so often appear during adolescence, the various tools we have to cope with them—but also what remains unclear: distinguishing between normality and disorder is essential if we are to provide the appropriate help, but no clear line between the two exists in nature. Providing necessary clarity and nuance, Losing Our Minds argues that the widespread misunderstanding of this aspect of mental illness might be contributing to its apparent prevalence. A Macmillan Audio excerpt from St. Martin's Press Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips |
| Can Singlehood Be a Satisfying Alternative to Romantic Relationships? Posted: 24 Jan 2022 08:32 PM PST  I have a single friend who hates hearing this question: "Why are you still single?" Or, the similar question: "How are you still single? You're so great!" She feels like the question implies that something is wrong with her or her approach to dating, or worse, that being single is in some way a reflection of her ability to get a partner rather than her desire to not be partnered. Not everyone has the desire to be in a romantic relationship. Whether it's the desire to be single just for now, or the lack of desire to be partnered long-term, singlehood is a totally valid decision. Similarly, being unintentionally single doesn't inherently signal that there is a problem that needs fixing. As we start to approach February, we may see increasing pressure from our family, friends, or society generally that we should be in a relationship. Some of this pressure may come from common misconceptions that single people may be immature or self-centered, or that marriage is and should be the end-all-be-all goal for everyone. Even with some of these outdated perceptions, the number of adults in the United States living without a partner continues to increase. Rates of marriage are falling. Even though rates of unmarried cohabitation, or living with your romantic partner, are rising, the number of adults living by themselves is still increasing. In 2021, 15% of American adults lived alone, compared to only 14% in 2011. The largest group of single adults is among people younger than 35 years old, with about 3 out of 5 adults younger than 35 living without a partner. So if you happen to be single and younger than 35, you are in good company. What does the research say about singlehood?So, does being single mean you're inherently sad or lonely as your family and friends' questions imply? Fortunately, research supports a resounding "no" to that question! Research has found that single people, compared to married people, are ... Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips |
| Unleash Your Creativity with Todd Henry Posted: 24 Jan 2022 08:30 PM PST  If you've ever found yourself thinking that creativity is something mystical, reserved exclusively for artists and inventors, then you're going to love my conversation with Todd Henry. Host of the Accidental Creative podcast, and author of four books including his most recent, The Motivation Code, Todd Henry is a sought-after speaker, consultant, and advisor to organizations seeking to enhance their collective creative capability. In this interview, I had the opportunity to talk to Todd about why creativity is such an essential piece of what everyone does every day and some tangible strategies we can all be using to tap into our most creative selves. Listen to the full conversation on Apple, Spotify, your favorite podcast platform, or just click play on the audio player above. So, what is creativity?"Creativity is—at the heart of it—is problem-solving," began Todd. "If you're designing something [a logo, a building, a system], then you're solving a problem…[and] that's certainly a creative act. Or maybe you have to manage a team of people and you have to develop systems and solve problems every day. That is also a creative act… sometimes we tend to conflate creativity and art. We think that, because I am not artistic, I'm not creative and that's not true… Creativity is problem-solving at the heart of it. So if you have to go to work, you have to solve problems under pressure every day, congratulations, you are a creative professional." How can we manufacture creative moments?Todd effectively "teaches" creativity for a living. He works with leaders and organizations to help them learn and unleash actual practices that ladder up to creative inspiration. "What I've spent most of my career teaching people…is if you want to be brilliant at a moment's notice, which of course we all want to do, you have to begin far upstream from the moment you need a brilliant idea. You have to build practices into your life to prepare you for those moments when you need that 'Aha moment.' Creativity, as Steve Jobs once put it, is simply connecting things. And that's largely true. You see one thing, you see another thing, you see a connection between them click, [and] suddenly you have a [new] solution because nobody thought to connect those two things. In order... Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips |
| Why You Should Work Your Rear Delts Posted: 24 Jan 2022 03:10 PM PST  It's not every day that you hear someone say "it's rear delts day at the gym!" You typically hear people say "it's shoulder day" and you see popular exercises such as the overhead press, front or lateral raises, and upright rows being performed. Don't get me wrong, these are all great shoulder exercises for strengthening your deltoids—"delts" for short—the large triangular-shaped muscles that give your shoulders their rounded contour. I know because I use all of these exercises as part of my workout routine! The problem is that none of these exercises actually target your rear delts. Rear delts you ask? Yes, the all-important rear delts that our high school PE teacher conveniently never taught us about. Our delts are made up of three distinct parts (front, mid, and rear) and all the previously mentioned shoulder exercises target either the front or mid delts. The rear delts are frequently ignored or forgotten about. That's a problem because giving the rear delts a little love and attention can help you improve posture, reduce the risk of injuries, and boost athletic performance. Let's also not forget that strong rear delts also look great in a tank top. Shoulder anatomy made simpleOne of the main muscles that moves your shoulder is your deltoid. The word "deltoid" comes from the Greek letter "delta" which is shaped like a triangle. Your deltoids are named as such because they look like an upside-down triangle. Actually, they're shaped more like a half cone, but close enough. This muscle wraps from your collar bone to the spine of your shoulder blade on top and converges on the side of your upper arm or humerus about a third of the way down. As mentioned earlier, your deltoids are made up of three distinct parts (front, mid, and rear). Your front, mid, and rear delts primarily work to lift your arms forward, sideways, and backward, respectively. Your front delts also rotate your arms inward while your rear delts rotate your arms outward. ... Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips |
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