Cupcakes, chicken wings, Sushi. We all love them. Sometimes they're even our dirty little secrets. And we're all eating them in the worst way possible.
Most of us are guilty of a stubborn mindset and and overwhelming desire to inhale down our favorite food the second it becomes available. As a result, we never appreciate the full potential of what we're served. Our loss.
The right way to eat crabs is not by violently breaking them open with a mallet but by simply breaking it open. You will get the largest amount of meat this way. Additionally, break off the claw portion of each crab leg, peel off the shell, and use the claw to dig out the maximum amount of leg meat.
6) Apples
The right way to eat apples is to actually start at the bottom and gradually work your way to the top. In doing this, you get the absolute most for your money, ingesting everything—yes, even the core—and leaving behind nothing to clean up.
7) Sushi
The correct way to eat sushi could not be any further from the standard method. It's even made incorrectly! Instead, you sit at the sushi bar, receive a bite-sized unwrapped bit of fish, and eat it with your fingers, applying sauces sparingly and using ginger as a palate cleanser.
Most people are watching their dollars and working off a budget to make ends meet. Many are also now looking for natural alternatives to live a more wholesome and chemical free life. Following are a few ways in which you can have both of the above. These uses are becoming more prevalent and are easy to do it yourself. So, here are great easy uses for common foodstuffs to make your life more chemical free and your wallet a little fatter.
Salt
Keep Windows Frost Free Pour a cup of salt into a liter of water. Sponge the liquid onto the inside of window to prevent frost from forming during the winter months.
Cool Something Quickly You know the feeling when you're having a BBQ and someone asks for a drink and you realize that no one has put them in the cooler? There's nothing worse than a warm drink on a hot day. Chill a drink quickly, by adding salt and water to your ice. The drinks will be cold in a matter of minutes; saving your party and making you look smart all at once.
Olive Oil
Make Pets' Coat Shinier Add a bit of olive oil to your pet's food to give them a healthier, shinier coat of fur.
Shaving Cream The smoothness of the oil can replace the need for shaving cream, and it also provides great moisture.
Unstick a Zipper The oil will help the zipper slide more easily, fixing the problem!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Kills Weeds and Helps Flowers Grow Vinegar is a magic wonder when it comes to gardening. It not only kills weeds but they help flowers grow as well. Douse vinegar all around your garden to prevent weeds from popping up and to help your flowers to grow healthy and strong.
Relieves Dandruff
Don't ask how it works, but it does! Instead of buying a special shampoo, just wash your hair in apple juice to rid your scalp of pesky dandruff.
Club Soda Makes Your Breads Fluffier
When baking, where recipes call for water, add club soda instead to make pancakes, waffles and any other breads fluffier.
Coffee Grounds Make Fertilizer
Coffee is full of nutrients and vitamins that are very beneficial to soil. That's why some people include it in compost piles. If you want to get the most out of your coffee, pour the grounds on areas where you want more grass or flowers.
Corn Oil Prevents Hairballs for Pets
Add a few drops of corn oil to your pets' food to prevent hairballs from forming. The thick oil helps the fur pass through the animal's system much quicker and easily.
Cornstarch Helps Untangle Knots
Sprinkling cornstarch into tough knots, such as shoe laces helps loosen them.
Lemon
Whitens Whites Add about half a cup of lemon juice to your load of whites to makes them extra white. You can use lemon juice with bleach or detergent, so don't worry about mixing chemicals with the acidic lemon.
Deodorize Garbage Disposal Toss whole slices of lemon into the garbage disposal then run it. The acidity of the lemon will rid your sink of all odors and leave a fresh scent that usually lasts for a few months.
Baking Soda
Clean BBQ Grill Mix a cup of baking soda with half a cup water to make a paste. Dip your brush into the paste and scrub the grill. The caked on pieces and black residue will come off much quicker and using baking soda is much safer and cheaper than using cleaning chemicals.
Remove Bugs from Windshield Mix baking soda with warm water to make a paste. Spread the paste over your windshield for fifteen minutes. Then wipe or spray off with a hose.
Banana Peel
Whiten Teeth This may sound a little odd, but rub the inside of a banana peel on your teeth twice a day for two weeks and you will receive the same effect from a teeth-whitening kit. Plus, you'll save yourself money and the hassle of using chemicals.
Polish Leather Shoes Use the inside of a banana peel to give shoes a professional and natural shine that will last for quite some time.
Heal Most Skin Problems Bananas are the magical fruit, because they heal many common problems on the skin. By rubbing the peel on your skin, you can heal bruises and cuts and eliminate rashes, itching and warts. Basically if you have a common skin problem, it can be cured by this fruit
Brown Sugar is a Great Facial Scrub
A scrub is good to do about once a month to remove dead skin and bacteria built up in pores and remove excess oil from the skin. Brown sugar does just as well as expensive products and will definitely result in a clearer and smoother complexion.
Cheerios Relieves Pain from Poison Ivy, Chickenpox and Sunburns
Pound one to four cups of Cheerios into a powder and add to your bath to soothe your skin while you soak. You may not feel relief while in the tub, but you will soon after.
Walnuts Buff Dings out of Wood Furniture
Get rid of unsightly scratches and dings on wood furniture by rubbing a walnut on the areas. The blemishes will vanish quickly and your furniture and pocket book will be saved.
I hope you can put some or all of these to good use to save money and make your home a safer environment. There are tons more DIY uses for common household items like these.
We’ve all heard of diabetes, or at least we should have. It's likely that someone in you family has it, or that someone you've worked with or known has suffered from it. Rates of diabetes are on the increase in the United States, with 1-in-10 Americans having been diagnosed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which ominously predicts that by 2050, as many as 1-in-3 adults will have the disease. That, unfortunately, could be you—so it’s important to be able to separate the myths from the facts.
Myth: Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.
Verdict:Partially true.
There are also other risk factors associated with diabetes. Sugar is not the only culprit. Type 1 diabetes, for example, is caused by genetics. Type 2 diabetes can be caused by both genetics and lifestyle factors; however, research has shown that drinking sugary drinks are often linked to type 2 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends limiting your intake of sugary beverages to help prevent diabetes. This means limiting the soda, fruit punch fruit drinks, sports drinks, sweet tea and especially energy drinks.
Aside from decreasing your intake of sugary beverages, watching and controlling your carbohydrate consumption can help to decrease fluctuations in blood glucose levels, which play a part in the development of diabetes. Keeping your blood glucose stable means less work for your pancreas, whose job it is to secrete the insulin that allows glucose into your body’s cells.
Here’s another brain buster:
Myth: You can only develop type 2 diabetes if you are overweight.
Verdict:False.
Being overweight IS a risk factor for diabetes, but there are other risk factors associated with this disease like family history, ethnicity and age. In fact, most people who are overweight never actually develop type 2 diabetes. In a complete contradiction of the conventional wisdom behind this myth is the fact that many people with type 2 diabetes are at a normal weight or are just moderately overweight. Even more surprising still is the estimation by the CDC that nearly 79 million Americans are well on their way to potentially developing type 2 diabetes, falling into the classification of prediabetic.
What do we mean by family history? Does that mean older people are more susceptible to diabetes?
Myth: Only older people get diabetes
Verdict:False.
There may have been some truth to this myth 20 or 30 years ago, but these days, children as young as 5 years old are being diagnosed with the disease. To help prevent the onset of diabetes at a young age, encourage your kids to enjoy eating healthy and exercising regularly.
Here’s another commonly believed myth:
Myth: If you have diabetes, you should eat a special diet
Verdict: Half true, half false.
As a diabetic, you can’t just eat whatever you want, but this by no means dooms you to a life of bland and boring food. In fact, the main difference between a diabetic’s diet and that of a non-diabetic is a more structured plan. Diabetics must control their intake of carbohydrates in order to regulate their blood sugar. The amount and spacing of carbohydrates permitted in a diabetic diet is dependent on a variety of factors, and should be determined in consultation with your doctor and dietitian. If you asked us, we’d tell you that everyone should eat a balanced, healthy diet of controlled carbs—not just diabetics.
If you’re wondering why we’re taking the time to clear up diabetes myths, it’s because this next one is one of the most commonly believed and most dangerous diabetes myths out there:
Myth: Diabetes is not that serious
Verdict: False.
Uncontrolled diabetes is a very serious health condition that can lead to the amputation of limbs, blindness, and even death. As we pointed out in the beginning of this article, diabetes affects one-in-10 Americans and those numbers are steadily increasing. Add in the fact that diabetes causes more deaths a year than breast cancer and AIDS combined, and it becomes clear that it is a very serious matter.
However, diabetes that is properly controlled through diet and exercise, as well as regular consultations with your doctor and dietitian, is much less likely to result in the negative complications above. In fact, proper control and management of diabetes can even lead to reversal of symptoms, and a decreased need for medications used to control blood sugar.
We hope this article has helped to clear up any misconceptions you may have had about diabetes. The truth is that you should be educated on this disease because it’s not going to go away and the very real reality is that it could be you or someone you love that gets diagnosed with it next.
I’ve always liked taking walks, but with a spinal cord injury walking is challenging for me and I've never been nuts about running. Besides that, walking doesn’t get the credit it really deserves as a way to get fit.
Running seems to get all the respect. And while it deserves respect, so does walking! If you push yourself, it really is an excellent cardio workout. Plus, with walking, I don’t have to worry about my stupid knees hurting or getting shin splints.
And because some days are better than others for me, sometimes it's more important that I just move. It seems to matter more that you move, rather than how you move.
So for those who think they’re out of luck because they can’t run—you don’t have to! Find something you love, whether it’s walking , playing a Kinnect game on the XBox or on your Wii or gyrating your hips in your living room. Most importantly, just move. And when you move, move with pride. You’re still doing great things for your body!
Set the date in advance and stick to it
Conditions will never be just right to make that first walk or run: the warm, cozy bed will always have increased gravity in the morning and there will always be something urgent to do after work.
So instead of waiting for that illusive “I feel like going for a walk” moment, set the date a week or two in advance, mark it on the calendar and in your mind commit to it, no matter what.
When the day comes, conditions may not be perfect, but there's still no blowing off.
Don’t worry about performance the first few times
There’s no doubt about it – starting to move after winter can be difficult. So for the first few times it’s really not about achieving particular results but getting off our butts and into our sneakers.
To make sure you follow through make it easy for yourself: for the first few walks or runsmake your goal to just go out, even if it means circling the yard for a minute. Interestingly, when the pressure is off, it becomes easier to perform and your first times out will be satisfying.
Prepare in advance
I still remember my first few tries to go out walking last Spring: in the morning I would force myself to wake up early-ish and then spend 15 minutes trying to find the correct shoes, choosing the right clothes and another 30 minutes setting the right playlist to listen to while running.
It was a hassle, annoying and emotionally exhausting..
This Spring, I have set all the stuff I need for my walk next to my bed the night before: phone with the playlist prepared, walking shoes, appropriate clothes, bottled water. This wayI have I no excuse for not getting out there in the morning.
Plan your route
One thing that has kept me from getting out there in the past was that I wasn’t sure where to go after I leave the house since there are no tracks or even sidewalks on the street where I live.
So this Spring, the day before my first scheduled walk, I spent a little time planning where to walk the next morning. I also visualized walking in these locations. This simple action removed a huge mental block and visualizing made me more excited about the whole process.
Consider moving with a friend
I have to admit, for me walking is almost like meditation sometimes so I prefer to do it alone most of the time. For others, it’s a social activity. If you plan to go with a friend, a quick tip: schedule a meet up place and time the evening before and agree not to contact each other in the morning.
However, if you prefer to walk solo, like me, I would highly recommend downloading a free app like Nike+ and joining their community of walkers and runners.
You’ll be able to log and track your walks or runs and easily share your results. Everything’s more fun when it’s a game and maybe sharing your results will help motivate some of your friends to also start moving too.
Personal Chef to Go offers freshly prepared, gourmet meals inspired by the cuisine from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Rim. All of our meals are made from all natural ingredients with no preservatives or additives. Our menu items are 100% trans fat free and built around low glycemic index foods so they're healthy and delicious. Always fresh, never frozen, our entrees are rush shipped Nationwide via Fed-Ex to your doorstep in oven and microwave safe containers that lock in flavor and guarantee freshness for an entire week!
Please place your order by Monday, Midnight EDT for Delivery This Week! Save time and $$ sign up for auto delivery, never miss another delivery and stay on track with our Smart and Healthy Meals by ordering your Personal Chef To Go meals now!
Press
WTVR Virginia This Morning
Our recent interview with founders, Chefs Gene and Blair, on Virginia This Morning.
PCTG on The Ruby Show
Chefs Gene and Blair teach Ruby how to prepare quick, healthy meals on the Style Network Show, Ruby.
Food411.com has "Handpicked" Our Service for Outstanding Quality and Value.
Just how affordable is our service? Read what financial expert Farnoosh Torabi had to say about Personal Chef To Go on the Early Show by clicking on the logo above.
This website is only for the purpose of providing information and should not be substituted for the advice of your doctor. Please consult with your doctor before starting any weight loss program or supplement.
