09 Aug 10 Tightening The Belt
Many people are looking for ways to save money in this lousy economy.
There are a few quite simple ways to do it.
- Walk to the store. If it’s within a mile or two, consider walking in fine weather, or riding a bike. You’ll save gas, and wear and tear on the car, and you’ll burn some extra calories too. Most of us don’t get enough exercise!
- Continuing with cars, why not organize a carpool with some of your fellow workers? Again, you’ll save gas, and wear and tear on your car, and you get to relax a little instead of doing all the driving every day. Another point to think of – if more people carpooled, there would be fewer cars on the road, which means less pollution, so that’s a health benefit too.
- While we’re talking about work, why not pack a lunch, instead of eating fast food every day? That burger and fries can be 1,000 – 1,500 calories a day, and a sandwich made at home can be less than a third of that. Also, even that fast food lunch can be $7 $10 a day, and for Around $10-$12 you can easily buy enough for that homemade lunch to last a whole week.
- What do you drink with that lunch, or indeed throughout the day? Do you really need those expensive lattes, that can come in around 600 calories, and up to $4 each? Why not invest in a thermal mug, and make coffee at home, drink one before you leave, and take another one with you to the office, or drink in the car on the way there, if that’s what you usually drop into the coffee shop for. That alone can save you $15-$20 a week. Even better drink tap water! It’s better for you, has no calories, and doesn’t contain that dehydrating caffeine that 90% of Americans consume each day in either coffee, tea, or soda.
These few simple things can save you up to $50 or $60 a week, which is $250 a month or $3,000 a year! Heck, you could get that new car sooner, move to a bigger house, or have a great vacation instead!
Tags: burger and fries, calories, carpool, coffee shop, fast food, fellow workers, great vacation, health benefit, heck, new car, pollution, sandwich, soda, tap water, ways to save money, wear and tear
22 Jul 08 Vitamin Water – or Hogwash?
1. I rarely believe what advertisers claim about a product without doing some research myself.
2. I’m quite happy drinking regular tap water. I can’t understand how anyone cannot like water. Ok, so it’s not exciting, but what is there to dislike?
3. I refuse to buy bottled water, unless I absolutely have to. There is nothing wrong with the water that comes out of the faucet in my kitchen. I drink glassfuls of it every day; have done so for years, and I’m still alive and kicking.
4. I don’t really like flavored water anyway.
5. I don’t like sweet drinks of any kind. I never take sugar or sweeteners in anything I drink.
Having said all that, I’m still prepared to look to see what is in these drinks. If they’re really that good for me, perhaps I’ll give them a try.
There seems to be less sugar in them than in soda. I am led to believe that it is natural fruit sugar, and not the nasty ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup that this country has such a love affair with.
Do we need those vitamins? A government survey in 1999 showed that the average American adult man or woman already consumes more than the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamins thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6 and B12, and three-quarters of the RDA of vitamins C, B9 and A (including carotenes). In fact, vitamin E is the only surveyed vitamin Americans consume at less than half of the RDA – but it’s found in only a third of vitaminwater drinks.
So far, I’m not convinced.
Let’s take a look at the price tag. Ok, that’s settled it for me. They’re over a dollar a bottle. I’ll stick with the tap water thank you.
Tags: adult man, american adult, b9, baloney, carotenes, flavored water, fructose corn syrup, fruit sugar, government survey, high fructose corn, high fructose corn syrup, love affair, natural fruit, recommended dietary allowance, recommended dietary allowance rda, riboflavin, sweet drinks, sweeteners, tap water, thiamin, three quarters
19 Jun 08 Water
It’s one of the best things you can have. Not coffee, tea, soda, lemonade, but good old plain tap water.
Bottled water is mostly a fashion fad, and it’s a crazy waste of energy and materials. In the US alone there are tons of plastics bottles going into landfill sites each year. Most people in the US, and most of the rest of the western world have perfectly safe drinkable water from the faucet. I personally drink cupfuls of it every day. In fact bottled water has been shown to have up to one thousand times more bacteria in it than water from the tap, and of course, it’s thousands of times more expensive too!
I always drink a glassful of water when I get up in the morning. It helps to re-hydrate you after sleeping, and not drinking all night.
I spend a lot of time at my desk during the day, and I always have a glass of water on it. I’ve got a pint mug of water there right now.
Drink water during your meals and it will help you digest your food, and keep you hydrated at the same time.
After exercise, and also particularly during hot weather when you sweat more, it’s a good idea to drink extra water too.
If you do drink coffee or soda, or other caffeinated drinks, you should drink an extra glass of water for every cup of coffee you drink, as caffeine is a diuretic, and stimulates your kidneys to excrete more water. That’s why drinking lots of coffee makes you run to the bathroom. The same goes for alcohol too.
Tags: bacteria, bottled water, coffee tea, desk, drinkable water, exercise, fad, fashion, faucet, glass of water, hot weather, landfill sites, lemonade, pint, plastics bottles, soda, tap water, waste of energy
