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Food for Thought: 20 somethings

FitSugar — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:30:00 PDT

The folks at Fitness, the magazine that is, are savvy to our changing nutritional needs. As we age our bodies and our lifestyles change. Curious if you are meeting the nutritional challenges of your generation? If you're a 20 something here's some food for thought.

Eat Protein
Since your life is likely to be hectic, you are generally looking for food on the run. Make sure that you are making healthy choices and not skimping when it comes to protein. Missed meals and dieting can lead to falling short of meeting the RDI for protein - the building block of muscle. So don't short change yourself and fill your quota with chicken, fish, eggs and lean meat. Here's a helpful breakdown of protein amounts in popular foods.

Eat Potassium
According to the USDA, the majority of women in their 20's eat less than 50% of the RDI of potassium. Potassium is an essential mineral that helps muscles, including the heart, function properly. If you are eating your 5 fruits and veggies a day, you are getting enough potassium. So eat your veggies!!!

Eat Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Since women are especially susceptible to depression in their 20's, it is a good idea to boost your serotonin levels. Once way to do this is by eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids. This is really the fat you should love. Find it in salmon and other cold water fatty fish, as well as walnuts and flax seeds. If you eat beef, go grass fed - it is higher in omega-3s than conventionally raised beef.

No longer 20? Check back soon to see what you should eat in your 30's and 40's.

Glee-ful Highlights From Episode "Michael"

Lizzie Fuhr — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:04:31 PST

When I heard that Glee was performing a Michael Jackson tribute, I basically starting moonwalking across the floor, but the episode didn't quite live up to my expectations. I definitely appreciated the effort, and there were absolutely some standout performances, but I would have loved more Jackson 5 or old-school Michael disco tunes.

With so many songs crammed in, there's very little in the way of plot here. Basically, the entire episode is about the rivalry between the New Directions and the Warblers, and Sebastian emerges as the show's new villain when he hits Blaine with a jacked-up slushie. Oh, and Rachel finally gives Finn an answer to his proposal! Ready to break it all down? Just

20s, 30s, or 40s: Which Decade Is Best For Becoming a Mom?

Kate Stahl — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:03:28 PST

Just a couple of weeks after her 25th birthday, Kristin Cavallari announced she and fiancé Jay Cutler are expecting their first baby. Kristin joins fellow twenty-something soon-to-be mama Hilary Duff, who turned 24 last September. While both Kristin and Hilary reflect the national average age for women to become first time moms - it now stands at 25.1 years old - they certainly aren't the norm for celebs, many of whom wait until their 30s before they have a baby. Molly Sims is expecting a honeymoon baby at age 38 with hubby Scott Stuber. Jessica Simpson will welcome her firstborn at age 31, and Beyoncé became mom to Blue Ivy at 30. I had my daughter at 31 and I thought that was the perfect age - young enough to be able to cope with the lack of sleep in the beginning and, later, the high energy of a lil one, but old enough to not have any regrets about missing out on my carefree 20s. So what decade do you think is best for becoming a new mom? Weigh in below!

Real Talk With TV Broke Girl Beth Behrs

LearnVest — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:59:07 PST

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

Since when is being broke funny?

Since CBS released its new sitcom 2 Broke Girls, in which actress Beth Behrs plays a recently humbled heiress, Caroline, who moves to Brooklyn to hide out after her father loses their family fortune in a Ponzi scheme.

Caroline winds up living with her perpetually poor fellow waitress, Max, played by Kat Dennings, and the two hatch a plan to save their wages and start a cupcake business.

Recession-era cupcake businesses have been all the rage lately (see: Bridesmaids), but shows addressing personal finances - or lack thereof - with humor and honesty is something we don’t see very often. Caroline and Max manage to plan for their future while hustling for their present - and survive on a shoestring with admirable grace. We love that these characters live richly, even on a tight salary: After all, that's what LearnVest is all about.

And, of course, any show where the leading ladies discuss interest rates is right up our alley.

Check out our exclusive talk with Behrs on her penny-pinching past, her first pair of Louboutins - and why she still chooses to live with a roommate in real life. It turns out that we can learn something from celebs about money.

LearnVest: As a 26-year-old in Hollywood, how much of Caroline and Max’s financial struggle can you relate to?

Beth Behrs: Literally up until we shot the pilot, I was working as a nanny five days a week and then as a bartender and concierge at The Geffen Playhouse on the weekends. So, I can definitely relate to being broke, right out of college and working tons of odd jobs to just pay the rent.

Real-life waitress stories and more from Behrs.

9 Steps to Get Your Finances Back on Track

Business Insider — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:15:01 PST

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

As the youngest daughter of two borderline baby boomers, like many other Generation Yers, I grew up watching my parents spend cash faster than they made it and had no concept of financial planning whatsoever.

When I scored my first full-time job after college, I'll never forget the rush I felt seeing all those numbers fill up my bank account. I bought new furniture for my apartment, stocked my closet with fancy new work clothes, and spent paydays filling my shopping cart on Amazon.com.

Ten weeks later, my entire department was laid off.

At that point, I had no savings, my credit score was bad, and I had absolutely no backup plan. I scraped by for two months with a few freelance jobs until I took a $10,000 pay cut just to get by.

Things finally turned around, and a couple years later, I found myself in the same place as many of my friends in their mid-twenties. We're paying rent comfortably for the first time and are able to start building our nest eggs. The problem is many of us have no idea how to start doing it.

Rather than turn into some sort of cautionary tale for future generations, I decided after my last birthday that I was going to take a good hard look at my finances.

I asked for tips from a trio of financial whizzes who broke down a few actions us 20-somethings can take today to start to getting our money on the right track. Here's how I did it and you can too.

Know your numbers

I have something akin to post-traumatic stress disorder from my days when I was in constant fear of overdrafting my account or bouncing my rent check.

But Chris Hobart, president and CEO of Hobart Financial Group, said knowing how much debt you have is the first step to chipping away at it.

I laid out how much I owe in student loans and on my two credit cards, set up auto-payments for each, and worked out a plan to start paying off more than my minimum payments each month to get rid of the debt faster and cut back on interest.

Read on for more ways to get your finances back on track.

10 Money Rules For Young People Entering the Workforce

Bundle — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:15:11 PDT

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

When I first graduated, I did some things right with my money (lived cheaply, didn't get into a lot of debt), but I also did some things wrong (didn't ask for raises, borrowed too much money from my parents, didn't save any money for several years). If you're graduating and just starting off, here's some money tips to get you started, from someone who went through what the young graduates of today are going through.

Don't pretend your student loans don't exist

I'm not saying you should become overly worried about your loans right after you graduate, but don't pretend they don't exist! You usually have a six-month interest-free deferment period before you have to start repaying them, so take that time to get organized. Figure out what your monthly payments will be, and start taking the steps to be prepared to repay them when the time comes. Bundle has many articles for dealing with student loan debt, so be sure to read about them if you need extra help.

Don't spend big money going out every night on food and drinks

This is definitely the time of your life to live it up as a twenty-something, but it's also not the best idea to spend all your extra income at the bar every night. You would be surprised how much money you'll save by limiting how much you spend at restaurants and bars. Find ways to live it up for less: Throw house parties, potlucks, brunches, and when you do go out, have the $2 PBR instead of the $8 cocktail - at least sometimes.

Read on for more rules.

Michael Angarano on Working and Taking Punches in NYC, and the Blockbusters He Loves to Watch

Allie Merriam — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:30:00 PDT

Michael Angarano is one of the young cast members in The Art of Getting By, formerly known as Homework, which is out today. The film, a debut from writer and director Gavin Wiesen, is a coming-of-age story that features a love triangle. Angarano's Dustin, a twenty-something artist living in a Brooklyn loft, finds himself caught between Freddie Highmore's George and Emma Roberts's Sally, who are both about to graduate high school. We were able to chat with Angarano earlier this week about having a role in the film that was shot in his hometown of NYC, his own experiences as a teenager, and what blockbusters he's pumped to see this year. He even revealed that he got caught in a bar fight while shooting! He said:

On what he was like in high school: "I was more of an athlete, I played soccer and I ran track, you know I did things like that. And so were my friends. But I was always working at the same time so I had the way of expressing myself. I felt like if I went to high school as a kid who wasn’t an actor I feel like it would have been completely different. I probably would have discovered in high school theater and film."
About having his first teenage love: "I feel like we all have it at about the same age, and if we don’t, we will. It’s that moment where you realize that living for yourself is not what life’s all about. It’s where you have this moment, and it’s a moment, that changes you. Because you realize that you love this person and you will live for them, or that you’ll at least die for them. It’s kind of that love that makes you realize that life isn’t all about what’s going on in your head, it’s about what’s going on around you, between these people. So it changes everything, it changes how you think and how you act and what you do things for, what motivates you."
On enjoying shenanigans while shooting in NYC: "I did! There were a lot of shenanigans for me. I only worked eight out of the 22 or 25 days. I got punched in the face while filming. I was at a bar and I got punched. It was bad because we had to film that Monday, and it was a Friday. There’s a scene in the movie where I have a nice black eye that’s covered up in makeup. . . I was trying to stop a fight. And I got punched. I was at this bar downtown, I don’t even know where, all I know is there were these gold skulls lining the walls. And it seemed like some form of hell."

To read what big films Michael is looking forward to seeing this Summer and what his plans are, as well as how it was coming home to NYC, just

Fab Community Must Reads: Something For the Guys and More

Noria Morales — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 04:35:35 PDT

Something For the Guys - The Fashion Life

Topshop's Spring/Summer 2011 Shanghai Collection - Twenty2

Five Easy Steps to Organizing Your Closet Like a Pro - Beauty and the Budget

Theysken's Theory Resort 2012 - Sandi in the City

Office Attire Tweaked For the Brights of Summer - Miss Poppins' Purse

Celebrity Style Inspired by Past Icons - Fashion Junkii

Entrepreneurship 101: Q&A With Wendy Downs of Moop Handmade Bags

LearnVest — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:15:12 PDT

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

Wendy Downs is the owner and founder of Moop, an online shop that sells stylish, utilitarian handmade bags for men, women and children. Is it successful? Just ask her devoted fans, who rave about the quality of both the bags and the customer service.

Wendy’s success seems almost too easy. The four-year-old business turned a profit in its second year, and it has grown from one old sewing machine and an Etsy shop to a storefront workshop in Pittsburgh and its own e-commerce site.

Find out how Wendy turned an idea into a success story, with no previous business experience - plus a giveaway below!

How did you get the business started?

After I graduated in 2006 I was basically unemployable with a useless graduate degree in art. I was using this old sewing machine to sew together a bag for myself. It wasn’t a very nice bag, just a rectangle with two handles, but people started asking where I got it, and if I could make them one.

Then my sister-in-law came to visit and she asked if I had ever heard of Etsy. A few months later, I set up shop, and within three days somebody had bought a bag.

Do you regret getting your art degree?

It wasn’t totally useless. My degree was in photography, and I do take all my own product photographs. If I’d only had an “Accounting 101″ class, though . . .

Were you scared about running your own business?

There was a short time where I was working another job, and the moment when I decided to quit was scary. But so far it’s been only good. My dad ran his business and both his parents ran their own business, so there was this entrepreneurial thing within me that I hadn’t tapped into.

I tend to operate on the philosophy of just doing things. Sometimes that works for me, and sometimes it doesn’t. But if I don’t try, I tend to wonder what the outcome will be.

Read about what Wendy has to say about the advantage of being on Etsy.

Dr. Weil Discusses His Favorite Exercise, Walking

Heather Dale — Thu, 19 May 2011 01:52:05 PDT

I recently participated in an online event featuring integrative medicine doctor Dr. Andrew Weil and Australian podiatrist Phillip Vasyli. The session, called "Walking Your Way to Optimum Health," discussed the importance of walking, keeping your feet healthy, and looked at Dr. Weil's new line of integrative footwear.

When asked how he stays in shape, Dr. Weil said that in his twenties he ran, in his thirties and forties he cycled, and now he swims and walks everyday. When he is on the road and can't swim, he makes it a priority to go walking. Dr. Weil talked about the benefits of walking, saying that it's the perfect exercise because it's what we were were designed to do. Since walking is something we can do indoors, outdoors, or with friends, and because it's one of the safest exercises - making injury rates very low - Dr. Weil believes it's an essential exercise to incorporate into our lifestyles.

Find out what else I learned about Dr. Weil.