Author: Staff Writer

10 Snack Hacks All Parents Should Know

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date April 18, 2017

What is your kid eating when you’re not in the picture? If you don’t provide your kid with fun, nutritious, and flavorful snacks, odds are they’ll find their way to the junk food.

Trying to cut out junk food can be an uphill battle when it comes to kids. Trips to the grocery store always seem to end in the snack aisle, where sugar and added chemicals know no bounds. Instead of reaching for a box of high fructose corn syrup, you can try making healthier versions of these sugary snacks, like these homemade fruit roll-ups. You can even customize them with your kid’s favorite fruits!

Ingredients
2 cups fresh cut strawberries (or another fruit of your choice)
2 cups fresh cut mango (or another fruit of your choice)
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Combine strawberries and mangos in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add honey and lemon juice until just combined.
3. Line two baking pans with parchment paper or silicone sheets. Pour puree into pans and spread with a rubber spatula until even and thin (about 1/8 inch thick)
4. Bake pans in the oven for 3-4 hours or until puree is no longer tacky and and firm to touch on the top, and no longer wet on the bottom.
5. Allow the puree to cool. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top, and flip the puree out of the pan onto a clean surface, keeping it sandwiched between the parchment paper.
6. Using clean scissors, cut into long strips. Remove the top layer of parchment paper, and roll the strips up. If they unroll a bit, you can secure them with tape or a fun sticker! Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

There you have it! Easy, delicious, and secretly healthy. Perfect, because every parent wants their kids to eat right. At the same time, though, there are only so many hours in the day. That’s why we went searching for the quickest and most kid-friendly snacks we could find. Most of these are so simple you can even get your kid involved in the preparation!
Moms and dads, get ready to enter snacking nirvana.

1. The Frozen PB&J Hack

We won’t bore you with the details of how to make a peanut and jelly sandwich. You know what your kid likes: crusts on or off, strawberry or grape, creamy or chunky.

But did you know that the humble PB&J actually freezes wonderfully? You can make a batch on Sunday and have snacks for the week. Best of all, these sandwiches will defrost in the lunch bag and be ready to go by the time breakfast wears off.

2. Ever-Fresh Apple Slices

Apple slices make a great afternoon snack. They’re sweet, delicious, nutritious, and legend has it that they’ll even keep the doctor away!

But no kid wants to eat browning apple slices, and coating every slice in lemon juice is a hassle. Here’s a simple trick to keep apple slices kitchen fresh all the way to snack time.
First, you’ll have to unlearn everything you think you know about cutting apple slices. Don’t slice through the center; don’t waste time carving out seeds and core.
Instead, set your apple stem-side-down on the cutting board. Slice straight down, making your cut just outside the core. Repeat that four times (or more, if your kid likes thinner slices).

Then reassemble the apple around its square core. Hold the whole thing together with a thick rubber band and throw it in the paper bag! The apple skin will prevent oxidation, ensuring that every slice is as crisp and fresh as possible.

3. Cashew Shaker

Send your kids to school with a healthy, convenient blast of protein that’ll keep them sharp all the way through their after-school activities.

Simple take a mason jar and an empty juice carton. Using the jar’s lid as a stencil, draw a circle around the top of the carton, including the resealable spout.
Cut that circle out and set it on top of the jar. Seal it in place with the jar rim. Fill your shaker jar with cashews, peanuts, or even trail mix. Whatever your kid’s favorite dry snack is, they’ll enjoy eating it more when it comes in such a fun and convenient package.

4. Slushy Dessert

Juice drinks that come in pouches seem custom-made for this trick. Just freeze a pouch, cut off the top, and hand your kid a spoon.

They’ll love the sweet, fruity slush, and they’ll never even notice that their dessert is a decent source of vitamins!

5. Edible Jewelry

At certain ages, kids seem like they’re always hungry. Their bones, muscles, and brains are developing rapidly, and that takes a lot of energy!

Give your kid an all-day snack by making some fun edible jewelry. We’ve all seen the candy necklaces, but there’s a healthier way to try this old favorite. The good news is that kids love to participate in this activity, so you don’t have to do all the work yourself.
Pick your kid’s favorite round cereal. (Let’s hope it’s Cheerios. Cheerios are probably your most nutritious option.) Anyway, get a big bowl of Cheerios or whatever else your child prefers, as long as it’s shaped like a ring.

Now, simply string the cereal along a length of twine. Once it’s full, tie it up, and present it to your kid as an awesome piece of edible jewelry. If you have really hungry kids, you can always stack necklaces—and even mix and match types of cereal for a one-of-a-kind flavor sensation that’s totally wearable.

6. The Portable Smorgasbord

If you have kids, chances are there’s a craft box sitting around somewhere in your house. These partitioned plastic cases are great for storing beads, buttons, and jewelry (maybe even edible jewelry!) You know what else they’re good for? A veritable feast of kids’ snacks that’s custom built for the road.

Start by washing your craft box thoroughly. It should be as clean as the plates you eat dinner off, because it will essentially become a plate your kid eats dinner off.
Invite the youngsters in the kitchen to help pick snacks. In our household, popular choices include blueberries, carrot slices, animal crackers, grapes, and cheese cubes.

Simply fill each compartment with its own kid-sized snack. When your children get hungry later in the day, they’ll be able to mix and match as they please. With larger craft cases, they’ll even have enough to share with friends or if you’re lucky, even their siblings.

7. Ants on a Log

File this one under “oldie but goody.” Cut celery stalks in 4-inch lengths. Then fill them with peanut butter. That’s it for the “log.”

Now for the ants. Place a row of raisins on the peanut butter, which should hold them fast. This snack does tend to get a little bit messy in transit, but kids love them, and they’re a great nutritious alternative to junk food.

8. Safari Logs

This playful twist on the old “Ants on a Log” snack is great for kids who love animals. Start the same way you would to make Ants on a Log, except cut your celery stalks down to just 2 or 3 inches in length.

Fill the hollow of the celery with peanut butter. Then place your kid’s favorite animal cracker in the peanut butter. You can even add raisins or other dried fruit as “animal feed”!
Repeat with other animal crackers to give your child an edible zoo.

9. Fruit and Veggie Flowers

It’s not always easy to entice kids to get all of their recommended servings of fruits and veggies. By dressing up sweet melon and kiwi, though, you create a visual appeal that’s hard to resist. Just be careful. You might end up eating all of these yourself!

First, peel and slice cantaloupe or honeydew melon in half-inch-thick slices. Then grab your favorite 2-inch flower-shaped cookie cutter and press out as many melon flowers as you can.
Take a smaller version of the same cookie cutter. If you have 1-inch flower cutter, that’s perfect. Peel and slice kiwi in quarter-inch slices. Press those in flower shapes, and layer the smaller kiwi petals on the larger melon flowers.
Cut red grapes in half to create the pistil, or center of the flower. Kids will love the look and the taste, and you’ll love the vitamins and fiber you’re sneaking in their diet.

If you don’t have cookie cutters, don’t despair. Just trim the fruit by hand. It’s a little more labor intensive, but you can come up with your own beautiful shapes.

10. Fruity Caterpillars

Here’s another cute option that’ll increase your child’s fruit intake. Start with a bag of grapes (red or green, whichever your kid prefers). You’ll also need a small amount of white frosting, a bag of wooden skewers, and a bag of mini chocolate chips.

Line the skewers with grapes, piercing each fruit through the side rather than lengthwise. You can start to see why these are nicknamed “caterpillars.” But to really complete the illusion, you need to give these cute snacks some eyes.
That’s where the icing and chocolate chips come in. Place two small dabs of icing on each caterpillar’s “head.” Then stick a chocolate chip on each dab to complete the picture.

Pro tip: You will need to make sure the grapes that become the caterpillar heads are totally dry before creating the “eyes.” Otherwise, the frosting might slide right off. Pack a caterpillar or two in your kid’s lunch for dessert. They won’t even realize they’re eating fruit rather than sweets!

Tags 50020491, hemingway, parenting

Sweat

8 Weird Things Humans Do Every Day And Why

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date April 6, 2017

The human mind is a mysterious thing.

We do a lot of things every day that don’t really make sense if you really break it down. We dream, sleep, and laugh, but…why? It all seems so natural that we don’t really think about it.

Well, fortunately, scientists do think about it. Then they do some experiments to learn more.

1. Dreaming

Dreaming is like living in an imaginary world for eight hours a night (if you’re lucky). Sometimes dreams recur, and sometimes they share themes, but in general, dreams are one-time experiences that are difficult to remember and even harder to interpret.

Why do humans dream? It’s not entirely clear, but many theorize that dreaming helps us solve problems. This theory holds that when we dream, we process information in ways that we simply can’t even imagine during our waking hours.

Harvard University psychologist Deirdre Barrett told Live Science that she considers dreaming during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep to be “extra thinking time, so potentially any problem can get solved during it, but it’s thinking time in the state that’s very visual and looser in associations, so we’ve evolved to use it especially to work on those kinds of problems.”

2. Sleeping

Speaking of dreaming, when you think about it, sleeping is pretty weird too. While we’re asleep, our conscious bodily functions essentially shut down, leaving us completely vulnerable and defenseless. Not only that, but we spend almost a third of our lives in slumber. Think of the things we could get done if we didn’t need to spend that time with our eyes closed.

There are many theories about why we sleep, but four stand out.

The “inactivity theory” holds that it may have actually been safer for humans to stay still and quiet during the evening hours so we weren’t prone to accidents caused by our poor night vision or drawing the attention of evening predators.

The “energy conservation theory” works off of the understanding that our metabolism slows down while we sleep. If we were awake and engaged all the time, we would need to consume more food, which has been in limited supply throughout human history.

The “restorative theory” suggests that our bodies use downtime to repair and rejuvenate hormones, chemicals, and cells that are depleted or damaged during our waking hours.

The “brain plasticity theory” is related to that other weird human trait, dreaming. The theory holds that our brains are still working out problems, learning, and growing while we sleep. The brain basically processes information that we may not have had the time or energy to understand while we were awake.

3. Kissing

You get close to that special someone, you lock eyes, your faces draw closer together, and then you smear your lips on your lover’s. What’s up with that?! What happened to us that closing our eyes and swapping saliva with someone became a desirable thing to do?

Kissing is a way for our primal selves to judge a potential mate. When you kiss someone, you notice their teeth and their odor, two things that can be indicators of good or poor health. Pheromones are also found in the oily skin around the nose and mouth, which can trigger sexual attraction in the right match.

It’s not all primal instincts, though; kissing is a tool for forming emotional bonds as well. When you kiss a loving mate or your lovely little one, your oxytocin hormones increase, flooding your brain with those good feelings. It’s not entirely different from sugar or a drug.

4. Farting

In 1610, an audience gathered to see playwright Ben Jonson’s newest work, The Alchemist,, and were greeted with the opening line: “I fart at thee.”

Humans have been farting—and making jokes about the strange bodily function—as long as we’ve been a species. According to the developers of the reusable “flatulence deodorizer” Flat-D, we fart an average of 14 times a day, emitting somewhere between a cup and half to a gallon of carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and methane daily. But why?

Flatulence occurs when food passes through the digestive system, and natural, healthy bacteria help the body break the substances down so the nutrients can be absorbed by the intestinal tract. Farts are a byproduct of the bacteria helping us digest food.

Foods that are high in soluble fiber, such as beans, fruits, and vegetables, are likely to induce this gassy side-effect of digestion. Sugary products, carbonated drinks, and dairy delights are also known to increase gassiness.

5. Laughing

Speaking of fart jokes, why do we laugh in the first place?

An impressive Slate article reviewed research by evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson and his student, Matthew Gervais, who concluded that initially, laughter was “an outgrowth of the breathy panting emitted by primates during play fighting [that] likely appeared before the emergence of language. This sort of laughter was a signal that things at the moment were okay, that danger was low and basic needs were met, and now was as good a time as any to explore, to play, to socialize.”

These academics noted that hundreds of thousands of years later, as humans evolved into more social creatures, “Laughter came to occur in aggressive, nervous, or hierarchical contexts, functioning to signal, to appease, to manipulate, to deride, or to subvert.”

Laughter is a tool to help humans get by in the complex social communities in which we live.

6. Lying

Laughter began with playful learning behavior and evolved into a social tool; similarly, lying is a learned tool to help humans deal with the world around us.

Sometimes lying can make life easier, especially with so-called white lies, which can protect someone else’s feelings or keep us from engaging in an awkward conversation. “We’re trying not so much to impress other people but to maintain a view of ourselves that is consistent with the way they would like us to be,” said University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman in an interview with Live Science.

Other times, outright lies may be a conscious or subconscious tactic to avoid punishment. After all, who really wants to suffer the consequences of their actions if they can be covered up with words?

The trick to these lies is that there’s always a balance between the short-term avoidance of a penalty and the risk of greater punishment if the truth is learned at a later date. Unfortunately, not everyone readily examines the risk and can often dig themselves pretty deep holes before the truth comes out. Then they’re in real trouble!

7. Risk Taking

Risking getting caught in a lie isn’t the only risk humans regularly take. We climb mountains, drive at high speeds, eat strange foods, gamble, and engage in countless other activities that make us vulnerable and expose us to the risk of death and dismemberment. Why do we do this to ourselves when we clearly know the potentially devastating consequences of our actions?

One reason we take risks is that we are social creatures. If we see our peers doing something dangerous for the thrills and not dropping dead on the spot, we’re inclined to follow suit because the behavior looks rewarding.

Another reason we take risks—the jumping out of airplanes kind—is that we are suckers for dopamine, a chemical in our brain that makes us feel great. Time interviewed David Zald, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Vanderbilt University, whose research led him to conclude that “a person who finds novelty and excitement more rewarding does so because he gets more dopamine release, or more of a boost.”

In other words, we take risks because it feels good.

8. Alter Our Bodies

Humans do all sorts of things to alter their appearance. There are temporary changes like the clothes we wear, shaving, and applying makeup. But we also make long-term changes like tattoos and pierci
ngs. Why do humans care so much about their appearance?

Like many of the weird things that humans do, our appearance—or at least our perception of our appearance—is related to our social groups. We alter our appearances in order to fit into a certain social sphere.

Some obvious body alterations, like certain tattoos, can identify you as being a member of a fraternity, tribe, or gang.

Other alterations (including haircuts, makeup, and clothing choices) may identify you as being a member of a certain social class. At the end of the day, much of human behavior is related to the fact that we are fundamentally social creatures who want to fit in and feel accepted by our peers.

Tags 50020066, body, hemingway

Lifestyle

15 Unspoken Etiquette Rules For Using A Public Restroom

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date April 6, 2017

Public restrooms aren’t very complicated.
However, in a bathroom, etiquette immediately becomes extremely important. You don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, particularly when they’re, ahem, taking care of business. There’s no quicker way to make a lifelong enemy.

Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to understand the basic rules of using a public bathroom. That can result in some appallingly selfish behavior. Don’t be one of those people.
Here are the basic unspoken rules we all agree to when we use public bathrooms; memorize them to avoid an embarrassing faux pas.

1. Keep your lips sealed.

Treat bathrooms like monasteries. Don’t disturb the silence unless absolutely necessary.
In a bathroom, silence is golden, and no, that wasn’t a pee pun. There’s no reason to talk, as every topic of conversation will be tainted by the environment (and anything you can say in a bathroom can probably wait two minutes, regardless).

In 1963, researcher Erving Goffman released the crucial study Behavior in Public Places, which examined our bathroom interactions through an anthropological lens. As Goffman observed, when two people don’t know each other and meet in a bathroom, they react with “civil inattention.”
“One gives to another enough visual notice to demonstrate that one appreciates that the other is present,” Goffman wrote, “…while at the next moment withdrawing one’s attention from him so as to express that he does not constitute a target of special curiosity or design.”
Even if a fire breaks out, a mild clearing of your throat will probably be enough to warn your potty neighbors of the danger.

2. Keep it in your pocket.

The silence rule also applies to cell phones. In fact, cell phones are even more annoying than the people who head to the toilets to gossip, because with a cell phone conversation, you can only hear one side.
“What? Yeah, 15 of them…a full orphanage…no, my mother hasn’t been laminated in ages.”

We have no idea what you’re talking about, but we’re tired of guessing. We just want it to stop.
Oh, and there are practical reasons to avoid this habit, by the way—bathrooms are, unsurprisingly, teeming with bacteria, and a single toilet flush can spread those germs to an exposed handset.

3. Give people plenty of space.

Even if you’re not too worried about space, respect that other people prioritize it. If someone takes the first stall, you should take the third stall. Try to leave the accessible stall open, since, y’know, disabled people might need it.
Sadly, stall etiquette is rare. According to a survey of bathroom habits, when presented with three empty stalls, men will choose the left stall 28 percent of the time, the right stall 32 percent of the time, and the middle stall 40 percent of the time.

Women are much better; they’ll choose the left stall 34 percent of the time, the right stall 37 percent of the time, and the middle stall 29 percent of the time. Remember, your goal is to avoid inconveniencing other bathroom-goers, so only choose that middle stall as a last resort.
If you’re a man, urinal etiquette is its own tricky subject, but in general, it’s better to actually leave the restroom and come back in a few minutes than to stand elbow-to-elbow with someone.

4. If you see someone you recognize, it’s okay to nod, but…

It’s bad form, and it has nothing to do with the germs, assuming you’ve just washed them. Everyone knows where your hands just were. Let them breathe for a few minutes before you start shaking hands like a politician.

By the way, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly. Dabbing them with a little liquid soap and running them under a teaspoon of water isn’t enough; the CDC recommends washing for at least 20 seconds.
Unfortunately, most people don’t follow this tip. A study from Michigan State University found that only 5 percent of bathroom-goers washed their hands properly after using public bathrooms. Perhaps unsurprisingly, about 96 percent of people said that they washed their hands properly.

5. Keep your eye on the clock.

We realize that you want to catch up on the news, but instead of scrolling through Facebook or reading War and Peace during your bathroom break, focus on the task at hand (uh, metaphorically speaking).

One survey showed that men spend an hour and 45 minutes per week using the bathroom, while women spend a mere 85 minutes. Hopefully, most of that time is spent in private restrooms, but based on our experiences at restaurants, we doubt it.
Keep in mind that other people might be waiting for their turn, and they probably don’t love the idea of hovering around the door like a restroom attendant. Pretend that you’re in the military: Your mission is to get in and out of the bathroom as quickly as possible. You can do it, soldier.

6. Don’t jiggle the door handle.

Let’s say that you’re trying to get into a one-person bathroom, and you don’t know whether it’s occupied.
Put your hand on the doorknob and gently turn to one side. Did it budge?

If not, well, someone’s using the bathroom, and you can’t go in there. Pretty simple idea. You don’t need to jiggle the door handle back and forth like you’re unfamiliar with the concept of doorknobs. That’s a good way to scare the pants off the person on the commode, and yes, we mean literally.
Oh, and wash your hand after touching that door handle, by the way. Door handles are common contamination points for dangerous bacteria, and one study showed that dirty doorknob can infect 40 to 60 percent of an office within 2-4 hours.

7. Here’s when you really, really shouldn’t “do it yourself.”

If you clog a toilet, bad news: That’s your toilet now. Unless you can fix it yourself, you’re morally obligated to tell someone.

You don’t necessarily have to take responsibility, though. If you’re embarrassed, it’s better to say, “someone broke the toilet” than to push the problem off onto the next person.

8. Live by the golden rule of public bathroom usage.

Clean up after yourself. Without getting graphic, this rule applies to everything in the bathroom.

That means that when you’re finished, you should check the seat and the floor and clean accordingly.
It also applies to the sink. Sure, soap is clean, but leaving a big glob of soap under the dispenser is bad form.

9. Don’t put someone else in an awkward position.

Say you check into a stall and notice that you’ve only got a few squares left. Don’t use all of them.
That might be difficult; on average, people use about 8.6 sheets of TP per trip, per the Toilet Paper Encyclopedia.

Still, if you’re going to use up a roll, make sure that you can replace it. As a last resort, leave a sign pointing out the lack of toilet paper (we’re just assuming that everyone travels with plenty of markers and paper). Otherwise, you’re setting some stranger up for a crummy rest of the day.

10. See that switch on the wall? Use it.

Many public bathrooms feature fans, which help to circulate air. We know that sounds obvious, but some people seem painfully unaware of this incredibly important fact.

If you do something in a bathroom that makes the air not so fresh, look around for a switch that might turn on a fan. You’ll be doing everyone else a pretty big favor, even if you don’t think you’re leaving behind much of a stench. Enough said.

11. Check for feet.

You might be tempted to push the door your favorite stall, since it’s always open. You might also think that pushing on stall doors is a quick way to check whether they’re occupied.

It’s also a great way to give the stall’s occupant a heart attack. Every stall latch has a little bit of give, so pushing on the door produces the terrifying sound of metal banging on metal. Just look for feet and avoid any potential embarrassment.

12. Don’t overshare.

“Hey, I’m going to go number one, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
People really don’t need to know. There’s nothing that they can do with that information. Really, what are they really supposed to say?
“Hey, while you’re in there, check out the graffiti in the second stall. It really changed how I think about the world.”
Just excuse yourself and head to the bathroom.

13. Don’t use your feet.

Some people (let’s be real, mostly guys) think that they’re being hygienic by flushing toilets with their feet. This is just about the least hygienic thing you can do.
Your shoes aren’t clean. In fact, if you just trounced through a public restroom, they’ve been in contact with some pretty disgusting stuff. So you’re putting all those germs where other people may be putting their hands.
If you’re really worried about germs, work the handle with a piece of toilet paper.

14. In an office, the bathroom is an authority-free zone.

Sure, Timmy from the mail room makes 10 percent of your salary, but that’s out there in the real world. In Bathroom Land, everyone is absolutely equal.

If you’re waiting for a stall or a urinal, there’s a simple rule: First come, first serve. No exceptions.

15. For the love of all that is holy, don’t spit it out.

There’s absolutely no reason to leave your used chewing gum in the urinal. What are you, some kind of a gum-chewing animal? No truly successful person has this habit.

Think about it this way: If that’s where you leave your gum, you’re acknowledging that someone’s eventually going to have to reach in and move your used gum to a trash can. We wouldn’t make anyone touch our used gum in the best of circumstances; this is beyond the pale. Unfortunately, gum chewers aren’t the most responsible citizens; according to documentary filmmaker Andrew Nisker, the U.K. pays about $73 million to clean up chewing gum every year, and modern gums are especially hard to clean.
“The very attributes that help [gum] hold the flavor in your mouth make it very difficult to remove when it ends up sticking on the sidewalk,” Nisker told The Atlantic.
Of course, there’s an easy way to get around that problem. Every restroom has a trash can—use it.

Tags 50019756, balance, hemingway

Sweat

Why You Keep Getting Sick To Your Stomach

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 27, 2017

Abdominal discomfort isn’t a whole lot of fun, and when you’re regularly suffering from an upset stomach, you want fast answers.

Of course, you won’t get those answers from a list on the internet—you really should speak with your physician—but we can provide you with an overview of some of the more common medical issues that can cause nausea, cramps, and other gastrointestinal symptoms (we’ll let you use your imagination for that last part).
Before we get started, remember: Some conditions can be medically significant, so if you have regular upset stomachs, we strongly encourage you to see a doctor. In many cases, you can treat the symptoms in a matter of days once you know what you’re dealing with, but putting off a visit to the doctor’s office could make you even sicker.

With that said, let’s look at a few of the most common causes of regular stomach issues, and what you’ll need to know if you’re diagnosed with any of them.

1. Sudden Changes in Diet or Activity

We’ll start with a few of the more common issues that affect your digestive tract before we get into the medically significant stuff.

Diet, obviously, is a major factor. As you age, your ability to digest certain foods will also change; lactose intolerance, for example, affects adults far more severely than children. Adults also have a tougher time creating the enzymes that allow them to break down beans, which leads to symptoms that…well, everyone remembers the rhyme.
Too much exercise can also stimulate blood flow to your intestinal tract, prompting your body to, ahem, speed up your schedule, if you get our drift. If you’ve recently started exercising, you should be especially careful with your diet. Otherwise, you’ll be risking some unpleasant symptoms.

If you’re frequently dealing with digestive issues, consider how your activity has changed. You might be able to reduce your symptoms simply by paying closer attention to your daily routine.

2. Diverticulitis

Diverticulitis is inflammation of pouches in the large bowel walls (the diverticulum), and it’s often debilitating. It’s also extremely common; in the United States, about 35 percent of people have diverticulosis, which can become diverticulitis if left unchecked.

Symptoms can include sudden abdominal pain, fever, nausea, and bleeding. Mild symptoms can include cramps, bloating, and constipation.
If your physician diagnoses you with diverticulitis, you’ll likely need a CT scan to confirm the presence of the inflammation. You may need to change your diet to address the symptoms; physicians often recommend higher fiber diets. If the cause of the condition is bacterial, you might also need antibiotics. In extreme cases, doctors recommend surgery, but this is exceedingly rare.

In any case, chronic diverticulosis deserves attention, because it can eventually lead to dangerous complications if the diverticulum bursts. In most cases, treatment is fairly straightforward, so it’s certainly worth a visit to the doctor.

3. Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Not to be confused with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS, which we’ll address next), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (or, you guessed it, IBD) is the chronic inflammation of the digestive tract.

It’s actually the name for several related conditions, which can be confusing for patients. IBD typically includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, both of which are serious conditions. Symptoms include pain, fatigue, weight loss, and diarrhea.
Because IBD is such a complex disease with a fairly broad set of symptoms, there’s no single cause. Changes in gut flora (the microbes that live in your intestines) can prompt IBD, as can genetics, diet, or a breach of your intestinal barrier.

In some cases, IBD isn’t curable, but symptoms can be controlled with medical treatments including immunosuppressive drugs or steroids. Physicians will usually recommend an extremely controlled diet in order to remove some of the triggers that cause pain, fatigue, and other severe symptoms. Still, you can live a completely normal life with most types of IBD, provided that you seek treatment.

4. Irritable Bowel Syndrome

From a strict medical standpoint, it’s inaccurate to say that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the cause of a chronically upset stomach, because IBS is just the name for a group of symptoms.

Those symptoms include (but are not limited to) changes in your bowel habits, headaches, nausea, fatigue, fevers, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, and of course, diarrhea or constipation. With such a wide variety of symptoms, IBS is quite the common diagnosis; the syndrome affects between 25 and 45 million people in the United States alone, according to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders.
In any case, symptoms can be unpredictable. The causes vary greatly, and include some of the other items on this list.

That’s why gastrointestinal issues can be so frustrating—two doctors might tell you completely different things, and they could both be technically correct. Still, while IBS isn’t curable, it’s treatable with medication, stress management, or a controlled diet.

5. Gastritis

Gastritis is somewhat related to the other inflammatory conditions we’ve covered. It’s the inflammation of the stomach lining, or mucosa, which can be painful and occasionally dangerous.

If you have gastritis, you’ll often feel nauseous, especially after eating, and you may have pain in your upper abdomen. Heartburn, bloating, and other symptoms might also accompany the condition, although the exact symptoms vary from person to person.
Gastritis can lead to ulcers or tumors if the condition is erosive, but only a doctor can make that call. The good news is that many types of gastritis are easily treated with antacids. In fact, most cases resolve without any type of medical treatment, as this is one of the most common gastrointestinal conditions.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t seek treatment, however, as extreme, chronic cases of gastritis can be serious. Plus, given the large number of effective treatments available, there’s no reason to put up with the pain.

6. Stress and Sleep Deprivation

Scientists aren’t exactly sure why, but sleep disturbances are closely linked with gastrointestinal symptoms including heartburn, nausea, diarrhea, and constipation.

Unfortunately, there’s a chicken-and-egg scenario here: Scientists aren’t sure whether people with GI disorders are more prone to sleep disturbances, or vice versa.
However, we do know that mood disorders are also important indicators, and we can draw from that information to make a few conclusions. People with anxiety are much more likely to experience digestive issues, or they’re at least more likely to focus on the presence of those symptoms (which, in turn, makes them feel even worse). When this is the case, treating stress and anxiety can reduce symptoms dramatically.

That means that for many people, treatment is fairly simple. Doctors can prescribe anti-anxiety and antidepressant drugs, but first, they’ll recommend lifestyle changes. Exercising regularly, meditating, taking part in social activities, and regulating your sleep schedule can get rid of some symptoms.

7. Medications

Some medications can cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Antibiotics, especially, can throw your system into a state of shock by killing off essential bacteria in your intestines—including the microbes that help you break down complex foods.

Unfortunately, there might not be much that you can do if this is the case, other than wait; one study suggested that antibiotics can change your gut’s microbiome for an entire year. Stick to easily digestible foods, adding complex foods (such as cheeses and processed meats) into your diet very gradually.
You could try probiotics, but the science is still out on those. One study showed that commercial probiotics weren’t effective in treating diarrhea, and no over-the-counter probiotic could introduce the exact bacteria species that you lost due to the antibiotics.

If you’ve been taking another medication, however, you should definitely speak with your physician to explore alternatives. Many similar drugs have wildly different side effects, so tell your doctor about your concerns if you think that medications are causing your symptoms.

Tags 50019101, body, hemingway

Wellbeing

More Women Are Choosing Not To Have Children And Here's Why

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 13, 2017

The U.S. Census Bureau has been tracking the number of women who don’t have children since 1876.

In 2014 (the last year for which we have data), 47.6 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 remained child-free. That’s the highest rate of childlessness the Bureau has ever reported. And there’s every indication that by the next census, that number will only grow.

So what gives? Isn’t having a child supposed to be our great evolutionary raison d’etre? Aren’t women hard-wired with a ticking clock that spurs them to procreate before it’s too late?

Pffft. As if.

In fact, as society continues to change (and not always for the better), many of the forces that drove women into motherhood are disappearing. At the same time, reasons to forego the brood seem to compound weekly, like an existential payday loan. To find out why, let’s ask the experts: child-free women themselves.

Childless or Child-free?

The decision to have children is fundamentally personal, but it often masquerades as a public debate. In any social battle, language is a battlefield.

That might explain why women who write about the decision not to have children have a bone to pick with the term “childless.” Kamalamani is a therapist, writer, and practicing Buddhist who unpacks the language debate in a 2009 article in the journal Therapy Today. (Note that “mother” is not on her list of descriptors.)

“The definition ‘childless’ itself points to what a woman lacks, rather than to her breadth and depth of qualities as a human being,” Kamalamani wrote. “The use of the word ‘child-free’ implies a positive choice not to have children, which again, many consider a selfish option.”

Kamalamani suggests that the term child-free has “associations with ‘carefree,’ which implies a childlike state.” So there’s our first reason why women are increasingly choosing not to have kids. Who doesn’t want to be a little more carefree?

Three’s a Crowd

The main reason that more women are choosing to remain child-free may be because they can. That wasn’t always the case. In many cultures, including the Western culture of not so long ago, there was never a question. Women would have children and that was that.

Now that women have wrested control of this all-important choice out of the hands of the patriarchy, they’re finding that they don’t need to have a kid to live a happy, fulfilled life.

Many women report that their romantic partnerships are quite enough, thank you. Sara Tenenbein, a blogger and consultant, told the Los Angeles Times that she’s happy limiting her household to her and her husband.

“Just the two of us is awesome,” she said. “Maybe we don’t need to add more humans to the equation.”

Essentially, these women are saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.” They’re happy with their domestic lives and don’t want to stir the pot by adding a squalling infant.

Babies are Gross

Being around babies can actually diminish a woman’s desire to have one. To be fair, it can also increase that desire. It just depends on whether you’re cuddling with a happy baby or changing a diaper.

Kansas State University researchers Gary and Sandra Brase (yep, they’re married) study the phenomenon of “baby fever.” They found that people who have nice experiences with babies “such as holding and cuddling babies, looking after babies, and looking at baby clothes and toys” tended to come down with a more serious case of baby fever.

Those who experienced “babies crying, children having tantrums, and diapers, spit-up, or other ‘disgusting’ aspects of babies” quickly developed an immunity to the condition.

Essentially, science says that women who see the gross side of parenting don’t want to get involved in that. Well, we could have told you that. This hypothesis makes total sense, and it’s borne out by the data.

Women Have Jobs

Lots more women seem to get their creative satisfaction from work these days. That could be a channel for the procreative impulse that short-circuits the desire to have kids.

It’s not like employers are bending over backwards to make the workplace. Letitia Camire, a Boston office manager, told Bloomberg what happened to her job when she got pregnant.

She told her boss about the blessed event when her morning sickness kicked in. Things didn’t go so well after that.

“His face immediately changed,” Camire said. “The first words out of his mouth were, ‘You know you’re still on your 90-day probation period.’ So I pretty much knew what that meant.” Camire lost the job.

Sure, there’s the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but that only applies to full-time workers at businesses that have more than 49 employees. Besides, the 12 weeks of leave that law promises are unpaid.

Until the U.S. gets its act together on paid time off for new moms and dads, women are going to choose the boardroom over the nursery.

“Selfish” Isn’t All Bad

When Jennifer Aniston came out as purposefully child-free, mainstream culture reached straight for their firehose of judgement. The actress described the experience in Allure.

“I don’t like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women–that you’ve failed yourself as a female because you haven’t procreated,” she said. “This continually is said about me: that I was so career-driven and focused on myself; that I don’t want to be a mother and how selfish that is.”

Child-free journalist Catherine Mayer suggests that women should stop flinching when the word “selfish” is flung at them and start wearing it as a badge of honor.

[The child-free] point out that we have nurturing relationships with many people, including children, Mayer wrote in Time. “We talk about the ecological burden of overpopulating the planet. What we rarely do is accept and embrace our selfishness. Perhaps we should start. Because here’s the thing: Being without children does mean we have fewer pressures on our schedules and on our wallets.”

If “freedom” equals “selfishness,” Mayer suggests, bring it on.

“We enjoy the freedom to make more varied–and interesting–use of our time…For women, who continue to lag behind men in earning power and professional attainment, this is a freedom to relish.”

Children Cost Too Much

Say you get pregnant tomorrow (if you are a man, this is a real workout for the imagination, but bear with us).

By the time your kid is 18, sending your kid to a good college could cost more than $130,000 a year. Imagine your pride when your kid comes to live in your basement with a half-million-dollar art degree.

So forget college. Even if you cut your kid off after high school, though, you’ll probably still struggle to afford parenthood. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the average middle-class family will pay around $300,000 just to raise a kid born in 2013 to age 18. And here we thought all the USDA did was stamp beef all day.

Anyway, add the thousands of dollars it can cost to actually give birth and parenthood can start to look like a pretty bad investment. In this age of income inequality, it’s no wonder more women are choosing not to trade financial security for genetic replication.

Stay-at-Home Dads Are Still the Exception

A lot h
as been made of the rise of the house-husband. But the fact remains that women still spend twice as much time on child care than men. Pew last released data in 2011, but these numbers are slow to shift. Back then, men with kids spent an average of 7 hours a week on child-rearing. Women averaged 14 hours.

That doesn’t make motherhood attractive, especially as women take advantage of hard-won freedom to pursue other interests. Just ask writer Sezin Koehler. She wrote a piece for the Huffington Post that laid out her objections to having children in no uncertain terms.

In spite of social and cultural advancements, women are still default caregivers, especially in a child’s formative years, Koehler wrote. “Raising a kid before s/he begins school is more than a full-time job. It’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no time off for good behavior. I’m not fit to be around adult human beings when sleep-deprived, let alone a child dependent on me for Every. Little. Thing.”

Makes sense to us.

Tags 50017466, balance, hemingway

Lifestyle

7 Clever Ways To Clean All Of The Stubbornly Dirty Things

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 10, 2017

1. Yellowing Pillows

We ask a lot of our pillows. They’re supposed to take buckets of our face-sweat and drool every night, with nothing but a thin sheet of cloth to guard them, and yet we expect them to remain fresh-off-the-shelf clean? Please.

When your pillows start to show their fatigue (usually by turning a queasy shade of yellow), use this special recipe to get them gleaming white again.
First, fill your washing machine about a third of the way with hot water. Throw in one cup each of liquid laundry detergent, powdered laundry detergent. Then wash the pillows on the hottest water your washing machine can pump out.

When you’re done, dry them on low heat. If they’re actual feather pillows, use the air cycle instead.

2. Rust Stains on the Porcelain

As if bathrooms weren’t already gross enough, faucets tend to leave streaking rust stains. Luckily, there’s an easy, gentle way to scrub those stains clean. You may even have these ingredients sitting around in your kitchen. Here’s what you do:

Cut a lemon in half. Rub the cut end over the worst of your offending rust stains. You might even want to squeeze a bit; the more lemon juice you transfer to the surface, the less elbow grease you’ll have to apply later.
Next, go find a book to read. You need to let the lemon do its terrible work for at least three hours.

Finally, pour a fourth of a cup of salt onto a nylon brush and attack the stains. The acid in the lemon combines with the abrasiveness of the salt to blast those stains into the void.

3. Stovetops

Gas stoves are totally superior; we’re not disputing that. But everyone who’s ever worked on a gas range knows that it’s impossible to prevent little nuggets of food from falling down among the burners. There, the heat slowly turns them into the kitchen equivalent of a barnacle.

Don’t despair. Just remove the grills, grab some baking soda, and follow these directions:
Pour a healthy heap of baking soda on all caked surfaces of the range top. Then soak some kitchen rags in hot, hot water. Wring out the rags and lay them over your filthy burners, fully covering the lumpy, charred area.

Leave the rags and come back 15 or 20 minutes later. Now try scrubbing the surface with a rag and a little dish soap. Pretty soon, your stove will be cleaner than ever, and you won’t even have to break out the hammer and chisel.
Baking soda is also a good option for ceramic stovetops. Use a damp scrubber to create a paste and apply to the surface, then wipe clean with a soft cloth. For burned on residue, pour a few tablespoons of olive oil on the substance and let sit for a few minutes. Scrape with a stainless steel spoon (don’t press too hard!) and wipe away particles with a soapy sponge or Magic Eraser.

4. Coffee Makers

Over time, you might start to notice your morning Folgers developing a skunky edge. That’s because the inside of your coffee machine is filthy, which is gross and upsetting, but probably not enough to break your caffeine addiction.

Here’s what you do:
Grab a bottle of white vinegar. You probably have one under the sink. If it’s not there, get some here or hit up a Dollar General. You know how you put water into a coffee maker? This time, fill that space up halfway with vinegar. Then turn your machine on. Let it pretend it’s making coffee; joke’s on the machine. It is actually brewing cleanliness.
Warning: This step will make your whole house smell like vinegar.

Once that brewing cycle is done, empty the vinegar. Fill the coffee maker up with water—all the way up this time. Run another brewing cycle.
Repeat the water cycle at least three times, and get ready to enjoy your morning pick-me-up again.

5. Mildewy Shower Curtains

Those vinyl shower curtains or, curtain “liners”may look like disposable placemats, but they’re actually designed for continuous, ongoing use. You just have to get the mildew off every now and again.
Here’s how you do that:
Unsurprisingly your washing machine plays into this pretty heavily. Be sure to bring two or three towels that you don’t mind bleaching later.

Drop one towel into your washer first. Then layer the shower curtain over that towel. Then put in the other towel.
Pour in your favorite laundry detergent and start the washer. A few minutes into the cycle, pour in a little bleach.

Run the whole mess through an extra spin cycle or two to avoid puddles on the floor. But when you’re done, just hang up your newly clean shower curtain and let it dry the rest of the way. Oh, and wash those towels again before using them.

6. Water Rings on the Coffee Table

This is why we can’t have nice things. You get a spiffy wooden coffee table, and next thing you know, it’s covered in rings from all those beverages you drink while watching Netflix.

That’s okay! Just head to the kitchen and get ready to enjoy a new finish on that wooden furniture.
Mix roughly equal parts of olive oil and salt together. The goal is to create a thick paste. Take your miracle paste and rub it over the rings on your coffee table. In fact, coat the rings and let it sit there.

Half an hour later, wipe away the oil and salt, and be amazed: No more stains.

7. Mold on the Shower Caulk

You can scrub mold off tile. Try that on the caulk lining your shower seams and you’ll end up with a much more annoying DIY job ahead of you.
There is an easy way to get those annoying black spots off of bathroom caulk. It might require a trip to the beauty shop (or—who are we kidding?—Amazon), but it’s totally worth it in the end.

This trick requires a product called “cotton coil.” Soak that cotton coil in bleach, then lay it gingerly across the offending caulk. It needs to sit overnight, so plan your showers accordingly.
By the time you remove the bleached cotton, though, you’ll see that all that mold is finished.

Even better, it’s not likely to come back for quite a while.
[related article_ids=1001505]

Tags 50017306, care, Commerce, hemingway

Lifestyle

The Worst People At The Gym According To Trainers

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 9, 2017

You know the people that we’re talking about: the people who you think shouldn’t be allowed in the gym. They should have their memberships revoked. Better yet, there should be posters of them hanging all over the gym that read, “Wanted for being obnoxious.”

Sometimes they know who they are and sometimes they don’t. Most of them they don’t care. But we do! The gym is supposed to be our sanctuary. The place where we find peace and a new attitude. When these people are around, they give us a bad one.
According to a survey conducted by a British health agency, a whole lot of us hate the offenders at the gym. Out of the 2,000 people who were polled, 74 percent said that people who share the same gym as them were guilty of bad etiquette. Tsk tsk.

We think Dear Abby would shake her head at our trainers’ list of the worst people in the gym. (And before you get too upset, ease up! It’s tongue-in-cheek, friends.)

The woman who talks loudly on her cell phone.

You know her plans for Friday night, what she ate for breakfast, and about the fight with her mom. Heaven forbid you shush her.

The guy who leaves his huge weights all around.

They’re everywhere for you to trip over. You can’t get to the incline bench because he’s got them stacked up. But don’t even think of touching one—he’s using those!

The old man who sweats everywhere and doesn’t clean it up.

There’s nothing like lying down and realizing your head is in pool of someone else’s smelly sweat.

The lady who leaves her three-pound dumbbells on the treadmill.

Are you supposed to put them back for her? Why is she using dumbbells on there anyway?

The exercise-aholic who spends four hours on the elliptical.

You think if you stare at her long enough she’ll get the hint…but she never does.

The picture perfect Instagram model who traipses around the locker room in her thong and a belly chain.

…As everyone else hides behind their minuscule locker room doors trying to get dressed in Guinness Record time.

The skinny wanna-be grunting as he chest presses 32 pounds.

You want to tell him to shut up, but you feel guilty kicking someone’s mojo to the curb.

The muscle dude who usurps the mirror.

He watches every muscle being flexed like it’s art work. Every single one of them. Even his forearms.

The wannabe trainer who gives unsolicited advice.

Do you really care that pressing your leg up higher will allow for the last five degrees of knee extension to develop your vastis medialis better?

The old lady who tells you endless stories about her grandchildren while you’re on the bike.

We can’t really complain too much about her. She’s annoying but she’s just a sweet, old lady in the gym.

The guy who brags about what a great athlete he used to be.

We’re so happy he used to run a sub-four-minute mile. Thrilled that he played defensive end in college. Ecstatic that he was the superstar center in high school. We just don’t want to hear about it—again.

The middle aged woman eating the most fattening peanut butter smoothie on the Stairmaster, complaining that she never loses weight.

You can hardly understand her between slurps.

People who walk into class 10 minutes late and leave 20 minutes early.

And they always traipse through and disrupt the entire class to get to an open place. Then they traipse back before the class ends because they have a hair appointment.

The college kid who smells like a bar from the night before.

A whole lot of questionable choices last night? We thought so. We can smell it coming out of his pores!

The aerobics queen who saves her spot with a towel.

God help the person who moves that towel.

The mom who just came back from “bootcamp.”

She lost five inches around her hips, four inches around her waist, three around her calf, and gained one inch on her arm (but the trainer says that’s from muscle.) Oh and she reassures you that this time she will keep up the diet and workout. Just in case you were worried.

Anyone who says they’re sweating out their toxins.

Why do they feel like they need to announce it to everyone within hearing distance? Like anyone cares that the toxic macroparticles are currently being forced out through their pores?

Annoying people harassing you for obscure pieces of equipment.

“Do you know if they have a Nautilus 45-degree incline chest press with a pec deck attachment?” “I really wish they had a Bowflex. That’s the only piece of equipment that works.”

The guy who steals every dumbbell on the rack.

…And keeps them all by “his” bench. Or worse, he takes just one of the pair.

The cranky dude who won’t let you work in.

He pretends to be engrossed in his music. Or he closes his eyes in between sets. Or he flat out tells you, “No. I only have six more sets.”

The wannabe singer

Don’t you love the one belting Beyonce at the top of her voice with her Beats headphones on? She needs singing lessons and doesn’t know the right words to the song.

The skinny guy who copies everything you do.

He sneakily looks over his shoulder and watches you do hammer curls. Then he starts doing them. He sees that you turn your hands when you do side lateral raises. He does the same and thinks you don’t notice. It’s great people want to try new things, but do they have to be so creepy about it?

The cheesy dude who tries to pick you up.

“I see you like the rotating stair machine. So do I! That’s so cool.” “Mind if I plank with you?” “Your abs look awesome when you crunch.” “Those are my favorite sneakers.”

The mom who won’t stop texting.

As you’re waiting for her to get off the machine. But wait, she’s gotta find her reading glasses. Then she reads her texts out loud as she types and tells you when she makes a mistake.

The dude who works out on top of you.

There’s 10,000 square feet for him to do his front raises and the gym is half empty. But he’s gotta work out right next to you.

The circus performer who shows off.

Whether he’s doing pushup handstands, jump squats onto a balance ball, or one-legged box jumps. He’s waiting for you, and everyone else, to notice and, what, start clapping?

The creeper who hits on your significant other in front of you.

All you want to do is workout with your SO and this one keeps talking to them, “one-upping” you, or giving them a flirtatious smile.

Power lifters.

Knee wraps, chalk dust, and stupid training onesies. We’ll say no more.

The middle-aged woman who keeps giving you dirty looks because you’re talking with your friend.

She thinks the gym is an extension of her house. Or a library.

The naturalist with no shoes or shirt.

Let’s keep it classy, buddy. No one wants to smell your stinky feet or check out the one layer of a six pack that you finally developed.

The girl who does stiff-legged deadlifts…in a thong…in the middle of the gym…on a platform.

Yup. You know her.

Tags 50017216, balance, hemingway

Wellbeing

9 Things That Are Scientifically Proven To Attract Women

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 8, 2017

We get it: Dating is difficult.
If you’re a man, the good news is that the numbers are on your side. According to the 2015 census, there are about 88 unmarried men for every 100 unmarried women in the United States. That means that guys are in short supply—women should be reading these types of articles about us, right?
Still, when you’re trying to land a date, it never hurts to have some extra help. That’s where science comes in; researchers have poured countless hours and grant dollars into studying the science of attraction, so we decided to look through a few of those studies and compile some effective (and scientifically sound) dating tips.
For instance, you might improve your chances of making a great impression if you…

1. Indulge in a little “courtship feeding.”

“Courtship feeding” is exactly what it sounds like. Really, it’s just a fancy way of saying, “Take her out to dinner.”
According to a 2014 study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, sharing food “increases interpersonal closeness.” Strangely, offering a slice of pizza seems to make the giver of the food like the recipient more, as well as the other way around.

The whole thing probably goes back to human infancy. To quote the study, titled Food for love: the role of food offering in empathic emotion regulation (of course a title like that would be a mouthful), “Food offering is one of the earliest biobehavioral regulatory interactions between parent and child.”
https://twitter.com/LuyandaMzazi/status/995199753850884097
Basically, that boils down to the inversion of that old chestnut about the way to a man’s heart being his stomach. It turns out that stomachs are a pretty dependable route to a woman’s heart, too.

2. Skip the razor for a while (but not for too long).

Some women seem to love beards—but not all beards. There are several factors that go into a beard’s allure. Watch the video below to see exactly what kind of facial hair is scientifically proven to attract women—and in what way:
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3. Ditch the pickup lines.

Yes, scientists have studied pickup lines. Isn’t science great?
Two groundbreaking studies of classic cheesy pickup lines seem to suggest that (spoiler alert) they don’t work.
Almost 90 percent of the women in one of those studies rated those bad old pickup lines as extremely useless.

But where science shuts a door, it opens a window. Around 65 percent of the women surveyed in a Personality and Individual Differences article said that they appreciate a simple, confident, and direct approach.
The takeaway: Forget the cheesy lines, even if you’re trying to be ironic. In fact, we tried to include a sample of bad pickup lines in this list, but they’re all too bad, so we won’t subject you to the cringefest.
https://twitter.com/ErinAllsop/status/287967592470167552
Just remember that a simple, self-assured “hello” will get you a lot further, and you won’t be as ashamed of yourself in the morning.

4. Dress in red.

This has little to do with fashion sense. A study from the United Kingdom attempted to determine whether the color red could affect social signals.

Researchers took photos of several men and digitally altered the color of the men’s clothing. When women were shown images of men in red clothes, they rated the men as “more aggressive” and more attractive. When male test groups were shown the same images, they rated the red-clothed subjects as “more dominant.”
The study’s authors note that red coloration correlates with testosterone production in many species (although the color doesn’t really indicate anything about testosterone in humans). Bright red colors do seem to have some effect on our perception of potential mates.
So, does this mean that Ronald McDonald is one of the most attractive men alive? Well, we’re not going to argue with the science.

5. Crack a lot of jokes (but only the good ones).

Women love a guy with a good sense of humor. This almost seems like a cliche, right?

But scientists still aren’t completely sure why humor is such a turn-on. At one point, the general consensus was that good jokes showed that a potential partner was smart…but then, several studies proved that humor doesn’t correlate with intelligence.
Jeffrey Hall of the University of Kansas believes that humor may simply show that a man is sociable, but there’s another potential explanation: Men might be using humor to gauge a woman’s interest. Men act like jokers, and women play along. “The script is powerful and it is enduring, and it dictates everything from asking someone out to picking up the tab,” Hall explained.
Of course, he also admits that humor might be simply valuable for humor’s sake. That’s a scientific way of saying, “We’re not actually sure what’s going on here, but it’s probably not that important.”

6. Smell like gasoline, printer ink, or leather…or, just smell.

This survey wasn’t performed with proper scientific controls, but it’s almost too interesting to ignore. Daz, a soap company, surveyed 2,000 people to find the most attractive scents. The results indicated that gasoline, printer ink, paint, and leather were the most sensually exciting scents on a man, while lipstick and baby lotion were most attractive on a woman.

We’d definitely take that info with a grain of salt, but scientists do believe that scent plays a role in attraction. Some studies suggest that the human nose has pheromone receptors, which would indicate that we’ve got the biological gear necessary to process chemical cues from our potential mates.
So, how does that actually work in dating? One study showed that women exposed to male sweat felt more arousal than women exposed to other substances.
No word on what those other substances were, but we’re guessing that they weren’t printer ink, paint, or leather.

7. Get older.

We all know the stereotype about the older man and the younger woman. According to a zoologist named Stephen Proulx, that stereotype has its basis in the animal kingdom. From there, it traveled the lines evolution to land squarely in the modern human heart.

Basically, Proulx’s argument goes like this: In nature, males don’t tend to live that long. If you’re a female deer and you meet a majestic, elderly stag with a full head of antlers, odds are that potential mate is packing some healthy genes.
At the dawn of humanity, males didn’t live much past their twenties. If women encountered a healthy male specimen who managed to beat the odds, their evolutionary psychology might push them toward attraction. It’s all about the genes.
However, this trick doesn’t work for every male of any species. You can’t just be old. You also have to be sort of fit. “If males can display ostentatiously at that age, then they really have to have something going for them,” Proulx told The Observer.
It might not be a bad idea to spring for that gym membership.

8. Play an instrument.

Just make sure it’s not the drums. Nobody wants to date the drummer. (We’re kidding, of course.)
Or are we? The only scientific evidence we could come up with is a 2014 article published in the journal Psychology of Music. The method of the study “Men’s music ability and attractiveness to women in a real-life courtship context” reads a lot like the script of a bad internet “prank” video.
Researchers planted a young (presumably handsome) guy in the street. He asked out 300 random women. In fact, he did this three times. The first time, he was empty handed. The second time he held a sports bag. The third time, he hauled around a guitar case.

Guess which accessory scored the guy the most phone numbers? Yep, it was the guitar. Researchers have yet to repeat the study with a guy carrying drumsticks, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the results would differ.

9. Work that body.

First impressions matter, and in “zero-acquaintance” situations (the scientific term for “strangers in the night, exchanging glances”), posture matters.

A 2015 study showed that expansive body postures “increase one’s romantic desirability.”
Basically, women see an open, expansive posture—pushing your chest out, keeping your shoulders back and relaxed, and standing straight—as a sign of “dominance and perceived openness,” according to the researchers.
The effect works both ways, so guys are more likely to be interested in a woman who stands with an expansive posture (as opposed to a contracted posture).

Tags 50017051, hemingway, mind

Nosh

Here Is The Disturbing Truth About How Some Of Your Favorite Foods Are Made

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 7, 2017

We live in a time of information overload. Facts are at our fingertips. Any day, any time we can learn more, deeper truths about things that are important to us.
Take food, for example.
In the past decade or so, food has become a hot topic of conversation in many circles: Where it originated, how it is made, varying alternatives, which recipes suit certain foods best, and more.

You know why? Because food is fun. It’s part of our everyday lives. Food gives us energy and brings people together. Food, in a sense, is life. Or at least part of it. And, as is true with many things in life, there are often some hidden, disturbing truths. Food is no exception. Sometimes food has secrets, especially foods that many of us consider favorites.
Favorite foods are sometimes sweet, sometimes an occasional expensive treat, and sometimes even full of childhood memories. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to the ingredient list on our favorite foods, but knowledge is power. Take a peek at the list below and see if one of your favorite foods is hiding a secret you may not know!

Shredded cheese is more than just cheese.

Our grandmothers would probably balk at the laziness that is shredded cheese. (Or jump for joy at the genius of skipping such a muscle-heavy preparation step.)

But did you know that shredded cheese is mixed with cellulose to keep it from clumping?
Cellulose is refined wood pulp. That’s right. Eating pre-shredded cheese means you’re also munching on itsy bitsy pieces of wood. No wonder I once heard renowned cook Ree Drummond say on her TV show, The Pioneer Woman, that it is practically a crime not to shred your own cheese!

She’s just trying to save us from wood pulp…and bring a little exercise routine into the kitchen. Since I learned this, my arm muscles are stronger already!

Maraschino cherries fall pretty far from the tree.

Maraschino cherries make a great addition to any sweet dessert or drink, but as this (very colorful) video shows, they aren’t exactly the freshest fruit. From the orchard to the a vat of chemicals to the top of your sundae, take a look at how maraschino cherries are made:

Your butcher might be gluing your steaks together.

“Meat glue” is a white, powdery substance that can be used to stick two pieces of beef together. It looks just like marbling in the meat, and it’s ideal when a butcher needs to do something with the scraps he’s got lying around his table.
The good news is that it’s not thought to be dangerous, although some consumer groups are pushing supermarket chains to label meats containing the substance.

There is something not sweet in Oreos.

I will confess that my college days were full of Oreos. Dipped in milk, topped with a dollop of peanut butter, or crushed into a batch of homemade brownies, Oreos were staple in my life.

But there is something I (and I bet you) didn’t know about Oreos, specifically that perfect creme filling. Retired nutrition consultant Alissa Helton shares with HealthyWay that “The main ingredient in Oreo filling is the commercial version of Crisco!”
Um, no wonder it’s so smooth?!

Why is this ingredient a concern? Helton has the scoop: “Crisco or ‘vegetable shortening’ is highly processed and made from ingredients that are typically genetically modified (soy and palm fruit which, incidentally are not vegetables), and it is hydrogenated (hydrogen is bubbled through the oil at high temperature to make it solid at room temperature).”
The end result is a food-like product that might have made for good soap and candles in 1911, back when the meat industry controlled the price of the critical lard needed for soap and candle making, but is hardly suitable as a food source today!”

Bread often contains L-cysteine, which is made from duck feathers.

L-cysteine is an amino acid, and it’s an essential preservative; it’s one of the reasons that your store-bought bread lasts for more than a week, while your grandma’s home-cooked loaf starts to turn green after a few days.

It’s often made from duck feathers, cow horns, hog hair, and even human hair. Of course, by the time it’s added to your bread, it just looks like a nondescript liquid, but still—you’ll probably wish that you didn’t know about L-cysteine the next time you make a sandwich.
There is such a thing as synthetic L-cysteine, by the way, and you can often find it by looking for Kosher-friendly foods.

Wasps probably love figs more than you do.

Arthur Gillett, co-founder and head of research for HowGood, an independent research organization that aims to determine the overall sustainability of food, shares that “There is a digested queen wasp in every open pollinated fig.”

Which means, yes, if you’ve eaten a fig, you have also eaten a wasp…or what once was a wasp.It all begins with the pollination process. There are both male and female fig plants, and in conjunction with the fig wasp they participate in mutualism, meaning that they rely on each other to exist. When pollinating begins, a female wasp enters a female fig plant, breaking off her antennae and wings in the process.

There she births her larvae and dies because the structure of the plant doesn’t allow her to exit. The fig plant digests her body, and the remaining wasp protein is now part of the fig fruit.

Chocolate is breaking hearts.

I’ve long been a chocolate lover—and I know some of you can relate. But there is a long-standing concern when it comes to sourcing in the chocolate industry. Most of this worry is based in the raising and harvesting of cocoa in West Africa.

In and of itself, that isn’t a bad thing. Sourcing ingredients from their prime location is all a part of our global economy. But what should not be part of global economy is human rights abuses. According to the Food Empowerment Project, the chocolate industry is marked by child slavery.
I know. My hankering for a candy bar is disappearing at the thought too. So before you buy your next chocolate treat, do a little research.

There is amazing, high-quality chocolate available—just look for fair trade chocolate and you’ll know where to begin sampling the good stuff.

Caragee-huh?

Not everyone loves to read labels. Especially when they’re full of generic food terms, unpronounceable additives, and other mysteries. But, pause with me now and walk over to your freezer. Grab a container of ice cream and glance at the ingredient list.

You probably see milk and sugar and ingredients specific to the flavoring, but do you also see carrageenan?
Carrageenan is a popular setting agent in desserts like ice cream and gelato. Now, where does carrageenan come from, you ask? It’s derived from seaweed!

According to Sally Morgan, a holistic physical therapist and cancer survivor, carrageenan has been linked to a number of illnesses including cancer.
So, if you’re being mindful about cancer prevention and aiming to avoid potentially harmful ingredients, do your best to find an ice cream that does not list carrageenan in the ingredients.

Jelly beans don’t shine by themselves.

Ever wonder why some candy is as shiny as the tile on the kitchen floor? Watch the video below to see what makes candy—jelly beans in particular—so temptingly shiny.
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Peanuts aren’t nuts.

Peanuts are legumes, which, for those of you who don’t have advanced degrees in biology, means that they’re closer to peas than to walnuts.
Other than Corn Nuts, which we all know aren’t nuts—right?—everything else that we call a nut is, more specifically, a tree nut.

Ranch dressing is cousins with what?

Well, not true cousins! But if you compare the ingredient lists of most commercial ranch dressings and sunscreen you will find that titanium dioxide is in both.
Actually titanium dioxide, which is derived from the metal titanium, is found in many items we use daily, because its white pigment is very bright and thus very appealing when it comes to presentation in things like paint, medicine, food, paper, and skincare products.

The safety concerns of titanium dioxide, especially as a food ingredient, are controversial. We are sure to hear more about this in the years to come as emerging research is presented.

Coffee creamer is missing one important ingredient.

Time to meander back to the refrigerator. Find your favorite coffee creamer and scan the ingredient list. Is something missing?There is on mine! There is no cream listed! No real, true cream in the coffee creamer? What gives? No wonder Pinterest is full of “make your own coffee creamer” recipes and my grandma always opted for basic cream and sugar.

Maybe save that ketchup for after dinner..

Was ketchup a childhood staple for you? Is it still your favorite dipping sauce? Well, it’s no wonder! Abraham Kamarck of True Made Foods, a company that aims to naturally sweeten their products with sweet vegetables, revealed that “cup vs. cup, ketchup has 21 more grams of sugar than vanilla ice cream. Three servings of ketchup (3x tablespoons) has more sugar than a Krispy Kreme doughnut (12 g).”

Armed with that information it looks like I need to find myself a less sugary ketchup or perhaps research a new dipping sauce to fall in love with. I’d much rather eat my allotment of sugar in doughnut form, thank you very much!

If you’re going to eat chips, these are your best bet.

If regular Fritos are a favorite of yours, get ready to not be alarmed. Jasmine Himes, a fitness instructor and nutrition student, says that “Fritos have always only have 3 ingredients…corn, salt, and oil. That makes them my chip of choice.”Yes, back to the basics! And in this case, the basics are quite delicious.

Does kombucha live up to the hype?

Have a friend who is constantly guzzling kombucha, claiming it’s like a “healthy” soda, but 10 times better? Before you jump on the kombucha bandwagon, take into account this insight from nutritional therapist Nichole Eliason:
“Kombucha contains beneficial probiotic bacteria for the gut microbiome, but its yeast-like strain can cause individuals with mold exposure illness or fungal infections to experience systemic inflammation and elevated liver enzymes. It can also worsen symptoms of post infectious irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) due to adding to the overgrowth in the small intestine. To define ‘healthy food’ It all comes down to bio individual needs.”

So, although kombucha can be beneficial to your gut, it isn’t necessarily for everyone.
Did this list make you questions one of your favorite foods? That’s okay! Just because you have some behind-the-scenes information on a food you love doesn’t mean it has to be blacklisted from your fridge or pantry. Everyone deserves a little indulgence on occasion.
With this new knowledge, all you need to do is monitor how often your favorite food finds its way onto your kitchen table. Let the story behind chocolate, ranch, kombucha, and more lead you to find balance. Give your purchases a little more thought, dig into those ingredient lists, and share what you find with those around you. Being a more educated consumer is better for us all. If you’re looking for an easy way to implement healthier habits, get started with $35 off Sun Basket meals!

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Motherhood

Parents Reveal The 16 "Most Essential" Baby Items They Wish They Hadn't Purchased

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 6, 2017

Your baby needs food, shelter, and love. They don’t need a $2,000 iPhone-charging stroller—or any of these other superfluous products.

1. Baby Knee Pads

Crawling isn’t exactly a contact sport. Still, first-time parents will be tempted to deck their babies out like roller derby girls. Some marketing genius came up with the idea of slip-proof knee pads for babies, and they’re laughing all the way to the bank.

Think about it. Babies have been crawling for millennia. Their knees don’t need any help.

2. Fancy Changing Tables

Is there a spare dresser in your house? Or even a bed? If the answer is yes, then you already have a changing table.
https://twitter.com/amandagilbert7/status/996808022738399234
Don’t waste hundreds of dollars on a piece of furniture that only serves one purpose and will be obsolete in no time flat. Just get a changing pad and use your existing furniture to change the baby.

You can even use the dining room table. If that seems gross to you, just wait. A few weeks of spit-up and baby poop will lower your gross-out threshold to basically nil.

3. Shopping Cart Covers

These portable seat cushions sell parents on the idea that germ-covered grocery cart handles are the No. 1 threat to your child’s health. In fact, micromanaging your kid’s germ intake could do more harm than good.

Babies develop their immune systems through contact with germs. We’re not saying it’s a good idea to let your kid chew on a public urinal, but whatever’s on that grocery cart is probably fine. You don’t need a special seat cover, even if it does come with a handy smartphone pouch.

4. Floor Seats

Most infants can’t sit up on their own until they’re a few months old. That is fine. They’ve got their whole lives to sit up and stare at screens. Why rush into it?

Floor seats prop up babies who can’t actually sit yet, as if they needed that. There’s even a safety belt so your kid can’t escape. Save your money and let your baby’s musculoskeletal system do the work.

5. Wipe Warmers

Didn’t Freud say something about adult depression being caused by contact with freezing cold baby wipes during infancy? No, he didn’t, because the idea is absurd.

Unless you store your baby wipes in the refrigerator, there’s no good reason to heat them up before using them for their disgusting and necessary purpose. If you do store baby wipes in the fridge, though, let us know; we’ve got an idea for a $450 baby wipe cooler we’d love to discuss with you.

6. Portable Pacifier Sanitizing Wipes

We understand why these make sense for a first-time parent. After religiously scrubbing a first-born’s binky every time it hits the floor (which is often), parents tend to relax.

We know terrific moms who actually lick their kids’ pacifiers clean. Others give them a once-over with their sleeves. Unless your pediatrician specifically tells you to use sanitizing wipes, you can probably get by without them.

7. Super-Fancy Bedding Sets for a Crib

There’s a whole cottage industry based on the human need to make nurseries as cute as possible. You know what’s really cute, though? Your baby.

You can spend thousands on a chic, perfectly matched bedding set. Or you could spend a few bucks at the thrift store. Either way, your baby won’t know the difference. We’re not saying you shouldn’t pay out the wazoo for your infant’s sheets. We’re just saying that you shouldn’t think it will make a difference to your baby—that stuff is for you, mom.

8. Diaper Disposal Systems (Besides Trash Cans)

You might have heard of the “Diaper Genie.” It’s basically a trash can with a scent-reducing liner and a reliable lid. The thing is, you have to buy special garbage bags and replacement filters for these things, and they’re really only useful if you only take out the trash once every other week.

If you can handle a daily trip to the dumpster, you can save a lot by going with a regular old lidded trash can instead.

9. Baby Food Makers

We come from a proud tradition of collecting kitchen gadgets that we’ll never use. With dedicated puree machines, you can get your young one started on this tradition early.

Baby food makers are basically just blenders with a little fancy packaging. If there’s a blender in your kitchen, you’re already there. A baby food cookbook is probably more worth your while, and will definitely cost a lot less.

10. Baby Shoes

Before you respond with outrage that we’d dare suggest you deprive your baby of shoes, ask yourself this question: Is your infant walking yet?

If the answer is no, then shoes are just decoration. Try socks to keep your baby’s feet warm, and if you want to up the “Awww” factor on your kid, try a bonnet. Baby bonnets are totally classic. Plus, they might actually serve a purpose, like keeping the sun out of your baby’s eyes.

11. Baby Bathtubs

You can spend a lot on a specially designed, ergonomically enhanced plastic box. Or you could just put a few inches of lukewarm water in your actual bathtub and pocket the savings (or, you know, put them into a college fund).

Heck, if you like to bathe your baby in the sink, go for it. The important thing is that you never leave your infant alone in any amount of water. As long as you’re paying attention, there are lots of ways to get through bath time without investing in an expensive product that you’ll only need for a few months.

12. Thermometers Made for the Bath

While we’re on the subject of bathing, you might see some cute thermometers that are designed to warn you when the bath water is too hot. You actually already own a product that can do this. It is your elbow.

Stick your elbow in the water. It should feel just slightly warm, but not hot. That should do the trick.

13. A Teepee For His Pee-pee

If you’re the first-time parent of a little boy, you’re about to get peed on. That’s just part of the deal.

Tonight’s our first night at home as a family of four. I was getting Samuel ready for his bath as he ran into Isaiah’s room naked and peed on the floor.

Not gonna lie, not even slightly upset. Impressed with the power move. Didn’t know the kid had it in him.

— Sean Lowe (@SeanLowe09) May 22, 2018

The manufacturers of this item have come to the rescue. They sell packs of these little cloth cones, which you can use to isolate the danger zone while you’re changing a diaper.

Here’s the thing, though. A regular old washcloth will work just as well. Plus, getting peed on is just part of parenting; it’s known as “paying your dues.”

14. Disposable Plastic Place Mats

New parents take a lot of joy in ticking off their baby’s major milestones. First step, first word, first dinner out with mom and dad because the babysitter canceled.

Plastic place mats allow parents to save a little face as their tiny wonder flings dinner all over the table. It may be tempting to get a pack of disposable mats so you don’t have to clean a reusable one. These tend to be thinner and lighter, though, and they usually just end up balled up on the floor. You’re way better off with a nice reusable mat.

15. Walking Helpers

Unless your doctor specifically orders you to use one of these portable harnesses, there’s no real reason to invest in one. They’re supposed to help your kid learn to walk, but learning to walk is a natural process that doesn’t really need fancy new devices to take effect.

On the other hand, if you’re going to keep your kid (literally) on a leash until they’re like 12, this product provides some nice training.

16. More Stuffed Animals

Until your kid is, like, 8, their stuffed menagerie will grow on its own. Between grandparents, aunts and uncles, and family friends, there’s no reason to buy your kid more stuffed animals.

By the time your baby is developed enough to enjoy these toys, you will have enough of them. Trust us on that. As for newborns, well, life is psychedelic enough for them already. You don’t need to complicate things with tiny purple lions.

Tags 50016901, body, Commerce, hemingway