FitSugar

Fit For November: FitSugar Must Haves

FitSugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:30:00 PST

For me, November marks the beginning of the holiday season. I love Thanksgiving, but admit I find all the celebrating of the season a little stressful. Even as the month turns darker and cooler, I have it helpful to focus on my health. Check out my must haves to help you stay healthy and happy this month.

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A Doctor Dishes: Which "Superfoods" Are Worth the Cost?

LearnVest — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:15:00 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Most people you speak to these days are trying to stretch every dollar as far as possible - even the ones they spend buying apples and oranges.

Food prices are expected to increase yet again this year, and food manufacturers are making portions smaller without reducing prices. Not surprisingly, a recent Rasmussen poll found that 93 percent of adults report paying more for groceries now than they did a year ago.

So how can we supercharge our grocery dollars and get them to do overtime for us?

Yes, some foods are obviously a better nutritional deal than others (think apples vs. potato chips), but there’s another class of foods that blows the rest of the field away in terms of nutrients and health-protecting qualities: superfoods.

Superfoods can help prevent diabetes and heart disease, repair damage to your body’s cells, and more. But before you go piling them into your cart, know that some superfoods are better nutritional bargains than others. As a doctor and a mom, I’ve sleuthed out which ones are worth the extra cost in terms of their long-term health benefits. Below is the scoop on which ones may help you age better, ward off cancer, and more.

What to Know Before Buying Superfoods

Before we dive into what to buy, there are a few important things to remember about consuming these foods:

Eating foods fresh and in their natural state, especially fruits and vegetables (rather than in pill or powder supplement form), usually allows us to absorb the greatest amount of their nutrients. The way a superfood is processed or cooked can significantly lower its antioxidant content.
If the superfood can’t be eaten fresh, look for easy and appetizing recipes containing it. No matter how “super” a superfood may be, if you don’t know how to cook it, you’ll probably let it go to waste.

Are Superfoods "Good Buys" If I’m Shopping on a Budget?

Read on to find out.

The Benefits of Homeschooling Your Kids

LearnVest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:05:49 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

In the past, LearnVest spoke to parents who chose not to use diapers with their children and dove into the stay-at-home parent debate. This time, one mother shares why she has decided to homeschool her children.

In 2002, we had our third child, 10 years after our second was born. Our eldest two boys were in a private school, but we began to consider the best way to educate our newest addition. Although we loved the school our boys attended, each year cost us about $10,000. We questioned how feasible it would be to put additional kids through there, too.

We had three more children in the following years for a total of six, and with each new baby came further confirmation that putting our four youngest through private school was out of the question financially. Our two eldest were approaching college age, which put even more pressure on us.

The decision was simple. We elected to educate our four youngest at home.

Why Public School Wasn’t an Option

We always knew that we wouldn’t send our children to public school. Parents who opt out of public school do so for many reasons: safety, quality of education, religious conviction, and many others. My husband and I both went to public school, but that was a long time ago, and I don’t know what schools are like today. For us, religion was the main reason. We believe that God gave parents the responsibility to raise, train, and educate their own children. Many parts of the Bible talk about training your children - to us, that includes education.

For more, read after the jump.

The Perfect Vests to Keep You Warm on the Trail

Michele Foley — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:09:35 PDT

Fall weather can be tricky - it's not too cold or too hot. Not to fret, that just means Fall is the perfect time to wear a vest. The extra layer of protection that a vest provides keeps you warm without making you feel like you're sweltering in a sauna. Whether you're a runner, hiker, or just need something to throw on after yoga class, we've got a vest for you!

10 Really Surprising Things That Hurt Your Credit Score

LearnVest — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:15:05 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Most people know the typical credit no-nos:

Don't make a late payment. Don't allow an account to go into collections. Avoid tax liens, bankruptcies and foreclosures.

And of course, paying off credit card debt should be one of your top financial priorities. (To find out your other top financial priorities, use this simple tool.)

But there are also lesser-known ways you could unintentionally damage your credit score.

Here are ten actions-from least to most harmful-that could make your number take a plunge.

10. Renting a Car With a Debit Card

While many rental agencies require that you pay your deposit with a credit card, some will accept your debit card instead. However, agencies typically have a clause in the contract stating that they can pull your credit report if you choose to pay with a debit card. That credit check causes a hard inquiry, which will ding your score a few points.

A hard inquiry is when a lender, credit card issuer or other financial institution requests a credit check in order to decide whether or not to extend a line of credit to you, such as a credit card or home loan. Each hard inquiry usually drops your credit score by a few points and will remain on your credit report for two years. The other kind of inquiry, soft inquiries, are made by people who don't intend to take action, such as your landlord checking your credit, and won't have any effect on your credit score.

Read on to find out more.

Holiday Wish Lists: Practical or Tacky?

LearnVest — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:15:58 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Ah, the wish list.

It made a lovely debut when we were little, often addressed to a certain Mr. Claus. It had a good run for a few years, but retired itself in adulthood as the stuff of kids and dreams (with the exception of weddings and babies, when they take on the adult guise of “registry”).

And now that we are adults, wish lists (outside of those socially acceptable registries) are at best silly and at worst mercenary, right? That’s what many think.

Are We Becoming More Mercenary?

A recent New York Times story discussed the recent trend of the wish list-it’s back, along with more mercenary attitudes towards gift-giving, like a desire for gift cards instead of actual gifts. (According to the story, for the last five years, gift cards have been the most requested gift, according to National Retail Foundation surveys.) A study released earlier this year showed that people who receive gifts they had requested actually derive more pleasure from them and appreciate them more.

Read on for more on wishlists.

End-of-the-Year Tipping Cheat Sheet

LearnVest — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:15:42 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

But before you rest on your laurels, let’s tackle one of the trickier holiday practices: end-of-year tipping for the service people who regularly help you.

They help you when you’re struggling to get a package in the door. They fix your leaky faucet before it becomes a flood. They brave rain and snow to get you your mail every day.

All around us, there are real-life angels - our manicurist, doorman, superintendent and more - who make our lives easier just by doing their jobs with care and pride.

So, at the end of the year, we want to thank them for their great service. And the best way to do that is to give them an end-of-year gift, which can be an actual present or a cash tip.

But if you were to indiscriminately tip all the service people in your life, you could easily end up in the red. It might sound easy enough to keep an informal running tally of how much you’ll tip each person, but that type of mental accounting can be bad for your budget. Here’s why.

Before You Start Stuffing Envelopes . . .

Here a few helpful guidelines you can use in deciding who to tip and how much.

First, weigh the quality of service. This means that you should prioritize those who have provided you exceptional service this year, like the super who dug you out after the surprise blizzard.

Read on for more.

How to Have an Old-Fashioned, Fun, and Frugal Christmas

LearnVest — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:15:49 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Ray-Bans aren't the only piece of the past worth revisiting.

There are also old-school photos, discreetly boozy drinks and Judy Garland. Let's go ahead and combine all three: It's Retro Christmas.

This year, we're planning to enjoy what we call "Retro Christmas": A return to holidays past, when the season was about togetherness rather than excess gifts, affection rather than perfection.

Although scaling down our celebrations means spending less money, that's not the point.

We’ve put together our plan for making this year special . . . and focused on elegance, simplicity and genuine holiday spirit. In the end, our goal is to spend time with the people we care about. Of course, while we call this "Retro Christmas," you can adjust most of our tips for whatever winter holidays you celebrate (except maybe for our advice on ornamenting your tree).

Here's to Christmas in sepia!

Gift as a Group

To make gift-giving as meaningful as possible, concentrate on quality rather than quantity. So, instead of buying something just because you need to get a gift, get one that you know will be cherished, even if that means going in with a group of family or friends.

One easy aid is Share a Gift, a website that allows people to make donations toward a communal gift. It uses PayPal and organizes money better than the usual cash collection.

Read on for more tips for a retro Christmas.

The Best Time Investments You Can Make

LearnVest — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:15:57 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

We all agree that time is more valuable than money.

At least, that’s what we say.

Then we turn around and spend hours watching bad TV we’re not even that interested in. Or 45 minutes on the phone with customer service fighting a $5 charge. Or years in a relationship or friendship we stopped feeling fulfilled by long ago.

But I’m convinced it’s not for a lack of good intent that we often end up treating time as our most fungible asset. (Hey, there’s plenty more where that came from, right? Well, not really . . . ) I think we simply get too busy to think about it, or don’t think we have the resources to make more time in our lives. We do have the resources, though. All it takes is a fresh look at how we really spend our days, hours and moments.

I’ve been thinking about time as a tangible asset not unlike money in many ways, and about ways to invest our time to yield higher returns - better memories, more hours well spent, even minutes that nourish us instead of fly by. After much research, experience and reflection, below are what I found to be the seven best investments you can make with your time. Think of these as blue-chip time investments that can’t go wrong - and that will yield high dividends for a more fulfilled life.

1. Invest in “Life-Extending” Time

Investing time in caring for your health is an obvious one that will certainly yield you more time, literally - in days, months, if not years tacked on to your life. Yet we often take our health for granted until we experience a wake-up call. Proactively invest your time in your health by eating well, exercising regularly, getting plenty of sleep and regularly seeing your doctors. Invest heartily in those non-physical markers of well-being as well: emotional, mental and spiritual health - you will reap many hours of well-lived life from them. Learn the habits of the Blue Zone people, from the regions in the world where people live the longest. Some common lifestyle traits they share? Building in natural movement and activity, lowering stress and being part of a faith-based community.

Read on for more great time investments.

5 Ways Spending Less Will Create More Happiness

LearnVest — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:15:49 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Recently, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an op-ed piece about the “Haimish Line.” The Haimish Line is an invisible line sometimes crossed when you go from spending less to spending more - in doing so, Brooks contends, you often sacrifice warmth and connection to attain luxury and space. According to Brooks, “haimish” is a Yiddish word that suggests “warmth, domesticity and unpretentious conviviality.”

An exclusive, white-tablecloth, four-star restaurant where servers disappear and diners are on their Blackberries would be north of the Haimish Line. A small, casual diner on the corner bustling with loud conversations from neighborhood folks talking over each other would be south of the Haimish Line. A new dorm building with a shiny, new, unused lounge would be north of the Haimish Line; the well-worn lounge of ratty furniture that students veer toward would be staunchly planted south of the Haimish Line. The Haimish Line even slices across neighborhoods: densely packed urban neighborhoods where kids run home from school and and people have stoop conversations versus spread-out suburbs of isolated living in separate homes and cars.

Brooks advises that we learn to spend our money well and stay south of the Haimish Line.

I found this essay so compelling because money often buys privacy, space, exclusivity and “luxury”-all of which are the very opposite of “unpretentious conviviality.” In America, the picture of success is a bigger house (where the family is more spread out), moving to the suburbs (with more distance between neighbors), a nicer car (to be more vigilant about spills in), and flying first class (ok, so some things are not worth getting all concerned about “the Haimish Line” over).

Read on for ways to spend less and create happiness.