Things that twenty-something year olds need to stop wasting money on

We’re all guilty of wasting money in one way or another. Millennials? Well, unchet’s just say our generation has an extra-special knack for blowing through our hard-earned cash.

One of our biggest hurdles? That would be food. We’ve been told to eat organic, locally-sourced ingredients—none of which comes cheap. Some of this stuff is so costly (is cold-pressed juice really worth $13?) that it’s not out of the realm to wonder if we’re being taken on a wild spending ride by food marketers.

Paying for convenience is another one of our pain points. It’s a relatively new phenomenon, thanks to the fact that all we have to do is press a button and we can have a car pick us up in three minutes, get sushi delivered in 15 minutes, or a pair of Jimmy Choos overnighted to our door.

Here, a list of 30 things twenty-somethings should think twice about before spending their money on. We aren’t saying you shouldn’t ever splurge—that’s no fun—but we are suggesting you give your spending habits a proper analysis in order to see where you could cut back that wouldn’t end up impacting your quality of living.

1. Daily lattes. Add up how much getting a fancy cup of coffee every day for 365 days is costing you and you might never be able to get out of bed again. Well, we did the math for you: Assuming your coffee is costing $5 a day, that’s a yearly spend of $1,825. Swallow that.

2. Unused gym memberships. We get it, you want to be fit, but sometimes saving money comes down to getting real with yourself. If you aren’t taking advantage of your gym membership, cancel it. You don’t need to be paying $100 a month for the idea that you could be going to the gym if you wanted to.

3. Seamless. The convenience factor of ordering takeout from basically any restaurant in your neighborhood is hard to resist (especially after a long day at work). Just like Uber, if you add up how much $20 here, and $35 there for dinner is costing you, you might just make a vow to never eat again.

4. Kale. We’ve been instructed en masse to eat superfoods like kale, goji berries, and chia seeds. Ever notice how expensive some of these foods are? We are starting to think this might be some massive conspiracy by grocery stores.

5. Credit card interest. Millenials are notorious for racking up credit card debt. Pay attention to your interest rates, and consider plans like debt consolidation, transferring your debt to another card, or simply working out a plan to pay off that debt once and for all.

Adam Katz Sinding

6. Fast fashion. You’ve probably rolled your eyes at stories told to you by your grandmother about how she bought one coat, and then wore it for the next 30 years. But that generation might have had it right. Raise your hand if you’re guilty of buying a huge quantity of clothes, and then only wearing each item a handful of times. Sometimes smart investment shopping will save you money in the long run.

7. Brand names. Do you really need brand-name cereal, brand-name toilet paper, brand-name chips, and brand-name aspirin? We didn’t think so.

8. Throwing away leftovers. Let’s also take a cue from previous generations here, and learn to make use of our food leftovers, not just throw them away.

9. Pressed juice. If you aren’t earning Harry Styles or Selena Gomez type money in your twenties, do yourself a favor and just stop drinking $12 pressed juices. You probably can’t afford it.

10. Late fees. We know, going out on your own is tough. Sometimes saving money simply means staying organized and on top of your bills to avoid late fees. Why pay extra when you don’t have to.


11. Uber. There’s nothing quite as easy as pressing a button and having a car appear to take you where you need to go. We don’t need to tell you that your Uber habit is adding up, big time. Give yourself an Uber (or taxi) cap for the month, and do your best to stick to it.

12. Eating out. This is a big one for millennials, many of which plan social activities around eating out. The best way to address this money-waster among your group of friends? Be the one to break the cycle and plan other, cheaper activities that are just as fun (pot-luck dinners, “House of Cards” binge watching sessions, you get the idea).

13. Overdraft fees. Make it a part of your routine to monitor how much money you have in your bank account to avoid overdraft fees.

14. Takeout lunch. How many days are you eating an over-priced salad for lunch during the workday? It requires a little bit of effort, but a huge money-saver is bringing your lunch to work. We know, you’ve heard this advice again and again, but think about it–you could easily end up spending $2,600 a year on salad (that’s five salads a week for 52 weeks).

15. Paying too much for smartpone data. Millenials love their smartphones. They love spending hours on Instagram, on the Internet, but we caution, watch how much money you are spending a month for your phone provider, and if you are paying overage charges for smartphone data. A quick (and beyond) easy trick to minimize these extra charges is to make sure you get on Wi-Fi wherever you can.


16. The latest tech gadgets. Is the next iPhone really going to be that different from the current one? Do you really need the latest tablet? Don’t fall under the marketing spell of rushing to buy the newest model of every gadget you own.

17. Not negotiating. Most things in life can and should be negotiated. The price of your cable package, the interest rate on your credit card, the rent increase on your apartment? Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate.

18. Overpriced cocktails. We know, that rosewater martini with liquid gold is just so damn pretty, but you don’t need to spend $25 on a drink to have a fun night out.

The arsenic in two-buck chuck will not kill you

Flickr

Last Thursday, four California residents filed a lawsuit alleging that some of the state’s most popular (read: cheap) wines — including Franzia, Korbel, and the infamous two-buck Chuck, Charles Shaw — are laced with arsenic at up to five times the level of what’s considered safe.

According to the class-action suit, brought against 28 wine producers, “just a glass or two of these arsenic-contaminated wines a day over time could result in dangerous arsenic toxicity to the consumers.” Since California wines make up nearly 90% of the U.S. wine industry, American wine drinkers have become the “unwitting ‘guinea pigs’ of arsenic exposure,” the suit alleges.

But don’t dump your boxes of Franzia just yet. These wines do contain tiny amounts of the toxic compound — but so do expensive wines, as well as pretty much everything that we eat and drink.

If you live in the U.S., then your groundwater actually has a surprising amount of arsenic in it.
Arsenic is naturally present at high levels in much of the untreated groundwater in the U.S. and a handful of other countries. Taken in large doses or over long stretches of time, arsenic can cause cancer, brain toxicity, heart problems, or death. (As pointed out in the lawsuit, it led to the ultimate demise of Napoleon and King George III, among others.)

This is why the World Health Organization has labeled groundwater as the “greatest threat to public health from arsenic,” and why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is strict about keeping arsenic out of the water supply. Only 10 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic are allowed in drinking water (meaning 10 parts arsenic for every 1 billion parts water). Assuming people drink roughly two liters of water a day, this amount of arsenic is totally harmless.

Water is also a big part of how arsenic gets into our food supply. Every winery, for example, bears the unique signature of its particular geography. The soil chemistry, water, and climate of a vineyard contributes to the flavors of whatever grapes are grown there. But because of arsenic present in soil and water, a wine’s terroir can also determine its level of toxicity.

“Plants will take it up into their tissues, so any plant material will have some arsenic,” Susan Ebeler, a professor of wine chemistry at University of California, Davis, told BuzzFeed News. “If animals eat the plant material, they’ll have some arsenic too. It’s ubiquitous. Everything we eat will probably have some low level of arsenic.”

As a result, wine isn’t the only product that’s been scrutinized for its arsenic content. A 2012 Consumer Reports study showed that fruit juice — which has a high water content — and rice, which is grown in water-flooded conditions and so absorbs more of the toxic compound, had arsenic levels on par with our water supply. In 2013, the FDA proposed a 10 ppb limit for arsenic in apple juice, but nothing has been made official. Water remains the only foodstuff monitored for arsenic — which means there’s no legal limit in the U.S. for how much arsenic can be in wine.

The plaintiffs’ claims rest on a chemical analysis by a Denver-based commercial lab named BeverageGrades.

The company did not respond to multiple requests for comment from BuzzFeed News. In a press release on March 19, the day the lawsuit was filed, the company said that its “state-of-the-art” lab could be used across the supply chain — for producers, retailers, and consumers — to make sure arsenic levels in the wine were up to scratch. The company sent the press release to many wine retailers the day the lawsuit was filed offering their paid testing services.

According to the lawsuit, BeverageGrades tested about 1,300 California wines and found that nearly one-fourth of them had arsenic levels exceeding the EPA’s accepted drinking water threshold of 10 ppb. Some, like Charles Shaw white zinfandel, clocked in around three times the limit, while Franzia’s white grenache came in at five times that level.

Although U.S. federal agencies have not set a safety threshold for arsenic levels in wine, the International Organization of Vine and Wine, the primary international review board for winemaking, has ruled that anything under 200 ppb is fine. Canadian authorities have decided anything under 100 ppb is safe. When held up to these international standards, all of the California wines pass muster.

Another reason not to worry: Most people drink far less wine than water. “The first principle of toxicology is: The dose makes the poison,” Carl Winter, a professor of food toxicology at UC Davis, told BuzzFeed News. “It’s the amount of a contaminant, not its presence or absence, that determines the potential for harm.”

The arsenic safety levels determined for water are based on drinking roughly two liters of water a day — equivalent to roughly 14 glasses of wine. If you’re drinking that much alcohol, arsenic is the least of your worries.

At a typical consumption rate — a few glasses of wine, say — arsenic levels are safe. Using water as the main comparison for how much arsenic we can consume in a glass of wine is “like comparing apples and oranges,” Winter said.

BeverageGrades’ analysis found that cheap wines have more arsenic than expensive ones.
There are several possible explanations. It could be that tiny amounts of arsenic leech out of materials used to store and transport the wine, such as metal pipes and containers, Ebeler said. Varying manufacturing procedures could potentially contribute to differences between bottom-shelf, mass-produced brands like two-buck Chuck and more expensive ones.

But the truth is, we don’t know. BeverageGrades has not published its full testing results, nor any details about its methodology. But in the $23 billion wine industry, some argue that the issue may boil down to money.

“You’re talking about some of the most successful wine companies in the country — that’s clear,” Nancy Light, a representative of the Wine Institute, an industry group representing more than 1,000 wineries in California, told BuzzFeed News. “This lawsuit is baseless and takes facts out of context — that’s financially motivated.”

Source

Starbucks will stop writing ‘Race Together’ on your cups now

Stepen Brashear/Getty Images

After just one week, Starbucks employees will stop writing “Race Together” on your coffee cups.

CEO Howard Schultz ended the effort Sunday, after days of pushback against the company’s initiative to start a conversation about race within its more than 20,000 stores. Other parts of the year-long Race Together program will continue, including forum discussions and special sections in USA Today. But the scribbling of a somewhat-ambiguous message on lattes has been quickly phased out.

“While there has been criticism of the initiative — and I know this hasn’t been easy for any of you — let me assure you that we didn’t expect universal praise,” Schultz said in a memo.

The message was meant to be “just the catalyst” for a broad conversation about race, after a year in which the topic has figured prominently in news headlines and dinner-table conversations across America.

Instead, the announcement of Race Together was a conversation about Starbucks. Was the coffee giant exploiting a very real issue for financial gain? Did you know that 16 of the company’s 19 executives are white? What jokes can we make about this on Twitter?

A Starbucks spokesperson said the Race Together inscriptions were not canceled but instead concluded today “as originally planned.” The move will also have practical implications: As journalists went to Starbucks to try out talking about race, they quickly realized that making conversation with a barista really holds up the line.

Source

A look behind the #killthekcup movement

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Keurig K-Cups, the single-serve brewing pods, have revolutionized the coffee experience for some. But for others, the non-recyclable and non-biodegradable cups have incited a lot of frustration, reports The Atlantic.

Last year, Keurig sold more than 9 billion of the pods, which accounted for most of the company's $4.7 billion in revenue.

But earlier this year a YouTube video called "Kill the K-Cup" went viral, anonymously calling out the pods as a hazard to the environment and "extremely wasteful and irresponsible."

The company has already announced plans to create a fully recyclable version of the product by 2020.

"I gotta be honest with you, we're not happy with where we are either," Monique Oxender, Keurig's chief sustainability officer, told The Atlantic. "We have to get a solution, and we have to get it in place quickly."

But the battle continues as some environmental advocates claim that"those things will never be recyclable."

Source

KFC tests edible coffee cups

Yum! Brands

KFC is rolling out a new coffee cup later this year to celebrate its 50th anniversary, but instead of traditional coffee cup materials, the new Scoff-ee Cup is made out of a cookie.

Yeah, you read that right.

At select KFC restaurants in the UK, the company will use a coffee cup that's fashioned out of a cookie wrapped in edible sugar paper and fortified with a layer of heat-resistant white chocolate that helps keep the cookie crispy and your coffee hot. As you drink your joe, the chocolate lining melts over time, making your coffee a bit sweeter and softening the cookie so it sort of melts in your mouth. Once you've finished drinking your brew, you can eat the cup for dessert. And, of course, the cup's zero waste.

To make things better/worse, the cups, which were designed in partnership with experimental food experts The Robin Collective, are also infused with scents said to help improve mood. These include the likes of coconut sun cream, freshly cut grass and wildflowers, which I guess are scents people actually want to smell while drinking coffee and eating a cookie cup?

The Scoff-ee cup will make its debut in select KFC restaurants in the UK later this year. If you live or are traveling near a participating store, you might want to check it out for novelty's sake. Though, be warned, KFC isn't exactly known for its coffee.

Source

Cheap vs. expensive wine taste test

Breathalyzing celebrities at the Golden Globes

The benefits of a month without booze

Andre Babiak

As New Year's resolutions go, cutting back on food and drink are right at the top of the list. And while those vowing to change their eating habits may cut the carbohydrates or say a sweet goodbye to sugar, for regular drinkers, the tradition may involve what's known as a "dry January": giving up booze for a month.

But could such a short-term breakup with alcohol really impart any measurable health benefits?

The staff at the magazine New Scientist decided to find out, using themselves as guinea pigs. The findings of their small but intriguing experiment suggest the answer is a resounding yes.

The magazine is based in the U.K., where the dry January concept has been gaining traction, thanks to an annual campaign by the charity Alcohol Concern. In late 2013, 14 healthy New Scientist employees filled out lifestyle questionnaires, underwent ultrasounds and gave blood samples. Then, 10 of them gave up alcohol for five weeks, while four of them continued drinking normally.

"Normal" drinking for the New Scientist group ranged from 10 units of alcohol per week — the equivalent of about eight 12-ounce bottles of regular-strength beer — to 80 units, or 64 beers, per week. Those numbers may seem high, but in Britain, where drinking is a national pastime, the group's supervising doctor told them none were problem drinkers. (Incidentally, Britain's National Health Service recommends no more than 14 to 21 alcohol units per week.)

The results of these changes were significant enough to make you put down your pint and take notice.

Dr. Rajiv Jalan, a liver specialist at the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health at University College London, analyzed the findings. They revealed that among those in the study who gave up drinking, liver fat, a precursor to liver damage, fell by at least 15 percent. For some, it fell almost 20 percent.

Abstainers also saw their blood glucose levels — a key factor in determining diabetes risk — fall by an average of 16 percent. It was the first study to show such an immediate drop from going dry, Dr. James Ferguson, a liver specialist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in England, told us last year.

Overall, the evidence is convincing but not all that surprising, said Ferguson, who was not involved in the experiment.


"If you take time off from alcohol, it's going to be beneficial for your liver from the reduction of fat," he told The Salt. "People always forget the amount of calories in alcohol, so if you take a month off, and you usually consume 20 units, you're going to lose weight and fat. It's a massive reduction in calories. "

The main causes of excessive fat in the liver are obesity and excessive alcohol consumption. Alcohol changes the way the liver processes fat, resulting in more fat cells that can cause inflammation, leading to liver disease.

But Ferguson warned that a dry January could trigger the same sort of negative boomerang effect as do restrictive diets: First you abstain, then you binge to make up for it. He questioned whether a dry January leads to a wetter-than-normal February.

Beyond that, there's the question of whether and how much these improvements last in the long run. Ferguson offered a sobering view.

"I don't think taking one month a year off alcohol makes any difference," he says. "It's more important to cut back generally."

Source

Truth about popular holiday drinks

Why Starbucks employees spell your name wrong

Antioxidant in red wine has no benefit at low doses

The antioxidant resveratrol does not improve longevity when consumed at levels naturally occurring in foods like grapes, red wine and dark chocolate, according to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

“We looked at the relationship between resveratrol levels and a lot of health outcomes that are thought to be related to resveratrol, such as cancer and heart disease and lifespan. And we found no relationship,” says Dr. Richard Semba, study author and professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The potential health benefits of consuming moderate amounts of red wine have been much discussed ever since researchers identified the “French paradox” – an observation that the French have lower levels of heart disease despite consuming relatively high amounts of saturated fat.

Some epidemiologists proposed that France’s relatively high rates of red wine consumption may help explain the supposed paradox, and further studies have shown that light to moderate alcohol consumption does in fact correlate with healthier hearts. The new study does not contradict these conclusions.

More recently, researchers at Harvard Medical School and the National Institutes of Health identified a specific chemical in red wine – resveratrol – that seems to significantly delay the effects of aging in mice, when given in very high doses.

Today, Americans spend some $30 million per year on resveratrol supplements, even though there have been no long-term studies in humans to measure resveratrol’s effect on longevity.

So researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Barcelona tracked 783 men and women aged 65 or older, analyzing who survived and who died over a nine-year period in relation to their resveratrol levels.

The results show no benefits – in terms of longevity, reduced inflammation, heart disease or cancer – to having higher levels of resveratrol versus lower or moderate levels.

However, study participants’ resveratrol came only from their diets – consuming foods like red wine, chocolate, and berries – which provides almost negligible amounts of resveratrol compared to the levels found in supplements and studied in mice.

In fact, a person would have to drink hundreds of glasses of red wine a day to match the amounts used in previous resveratrol studies.

“This study is very important because it demonstrates, in a long-term study with a huge cohort, that (normal) dietary resveratrol levels are not correlated with all-cause mortality,” says Juan Carlos Espin, a research professor at the Spanish National Research Council.

“However, to claim that resveratrol does not have influence on the all-cause of mortality would require the comparison of a cohort with 'normal' resveratrol levels (very low and unpredictable) versus another cohort with a standardized resveratrol supplementation.”

Source

Life-changing hacks to make adulthood easier

1. Always get the name of the person you are speaking with. Because an effective way to argue with some corporate person on the other line is not: “The person I spoke with last time I called Con Ed said that I’d paid my bill.” That sounds like you either spoke to a ghost or are trying to scam the electric company. Save yourself some time and energy: “I spoke to Ashley, her employee number is 1234567, and she said I’d paid my bill.” BIAAATCH.

2. Leave your heels under your desk at work and wear sneakers for the commute. It may feel fun and rom-commy to be running through the streets to work in your heels, but that shit wears off its charm the second you feel the first blister forming.

3. You don’t have to drop a zillion dollars on anti-aging face cream — just get a drugstore brand with retinol. Our beauty editor Carly Cardellino says that you do not need to let an upscale makeup store salesperson talk you into getting a $300 serum made of crushed-up diamonds and glowworm jizz. Just go to CVS.

4. Use adhesive velcro to stick phone and laptop chargers underneath your desk. You WILL NOT be the girl whose phone dies every afternoon at 4 p.m.

5. Did you accidentally send a text to the wrong person? DON'T PANIC. Put your phone on airplane mode and it will fail to deliver. You're so welcome.

6. Order your drinks at "kids' temperature" at coffee shops.You'll save yourself a burnt tongue, the biggest #firstworldproblem our nation faces today.

7. Marshmallows help sore throats. So you've got an excuse to treat yourself when goddamn mouth-breathing Linda at work gives you a cold.

8. If some dude keeps blowing up your phone, send him the following text message. "SERVICE ERROR 305: MESSAGE DELIVERY FAILED. FURTHER MESSAGES WILL BE CHARGED TO YOUR ACCOUNT." Take that, Neckbeard.

9. When you heat leftovers, space out a circle in the center of them. It'll make them heat more evenly. Because nobody likes scalding hot potatoes and cold meat, except maybe aliens.

10. If you've got a ridiculously expensive candle that's burned too low to light with a regular lighter or match, use a dry spaghetti stick.

11. To avoid a mess at your #AdultDinnerParties, use unscented dental floss to neatly cut cheese or dessert.

12. Plump up a flattened pillow again by putting it in the sun for 30 minutes. I don't know why this works. It just does. I'm 27 now, and I know things.

13. Those plastic hangers you sometimes get when you buy clothes from places like Old Navy have clips that are good for keeping bags of chips fresh. As seen here.

14. Wrapping a wet paper towel around your warm beer and putting it in the freezer will make it frosty in 15 minutes. Like Paula Cole, you don't wanna wait. To have a beer.

15. And frozen grapes chill white wine while you drink it. Just freeze the grapes. (Delicious summer snack too, bee-tee-dubz.)

16. A hanging shoe rack is great for storing cleaning supplies on the side of your bathroom door. Instead of tripping over your spray bottle of OxyClean every time you have to pee.

17. If nothing's worked for a bad breakout or you've been feeling run-down, use apple cider vinegar as an all-purpose healing mechanism. Dilute it with water to use as a toner, shampoo, or dietary supplement... just make sure it's one of these, with "the mother" in it. Salad dressing will not improve your skin.

18. Run out of bleach for a load of your white laundry? Use white vinegar. It's better for removing pit stains and general body-related clothing stains anyway.

19. Get removable platform shelves for your cabinets and closets. Double the space! And you will never ever get around to installing actual shelves.

20. Set up Kayak price alerts for flights to every city you eventually want to visit. Maybe you didn't plan on that long weekend in Paris this year, but for a round-trip flight that cheap, what the hell, right?

Source

Sam Adams April Fool's Day advertisement

The secret behind seven secret recipes

Proclaiming that your product contains secret ingredients is a tactic as old as marketing itself. These seven restaurant chains, drink manufacturers, and food companies have exploited the fact that "the unknown" will always be more exciting than, "just some mayo and paprika."

1. BIG MAC SPECIAL SAUCE
While not explicitly secret, the "special sauce" found in McDonald's Big Macs is the most mysterious ingredient of its "two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions—on a sesame seed bun." In 2012, McDonald's executive chef Dan Coudreaut released a YouTube video explaining how to make a Big Mac at home—and how to make your own special sauce. Confirming many folks' suspicions, the sauce is just a variation of Thousand Island dressing: mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, yellow mustard, white wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika (although, depending on the country in which it's sold, the restaurant throws in some preservatives and other stuff you'd be more likely to find in a chemist's lab than at a market).

2. BUSH'S BAKED BEANS SECRET RECIPE
Bush's Baked Beans' ad campaign centers around Jay Bush and his corporate snitch of a dog, Duke. According to Duke's self-penned bio on their website, "Back when Jay shared the Secret Family Recipe for Bush's Baked Beans with me, his best friend, he didn't know that I could speak. And ever since, I've been trying to sell the recipe."

The original recipe was invented in 1967 and a copy of Bush's recipe book (minus the actual baked beans recipe), is on display at their visitor’s center in Tennessee. Why is it kept secret? Try to think of another company's baked beans ad, and therein lies your answer.

3. COCA-COLA'S "MERCHANDISE 7X"
Coca-Cola's long-guarded "secret formula" has a weapons-grade name, "Merchandise 7X," and enough cloak-and-dagger lore to make Ian Fleming blush (he died in 1964, so that's a whole lotta lore). The recipe famously sits in a bank vault in Atlanta, and ad campaigns have focused on how only two company execs have access to two separate halves of the secret formula (this isn't true).

In 2011, This American Life uncovered an alleged version of the original formula (or a precursor to it) that was copied by Coca-Cola inventor John R. Pemberton's friend. This document wasn't hiding in a bank vault, but in a newspaper—in 1979, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution printed a photo from an old notebook that, upon close inspection, seemed to match the famous secret formula. You can check out the recipe here (and yes, it includes FE Coca, a.k.a. the fluid extract of coca leaves).

Wikimedia Commons

4. DR PEPPER'S 23 FLAVORS
If urban legend is to be believed, Dr Pepper is just a soda-fied prune juice. If Dr Pepper's website is to believed, this is flat-out untrue. "Dr Pepper is a unique blend of natural and artificial flavors," they assert. "It does not contain prune juice." Then what does it contain? The soft drink boasts 23 flavors, and the specifics of these is considered "proprietary information" by the company.

Keep in mind that "flavors" doesn't necessarily mean "ingredients," so it could all be subjective. A quick Google search will uncover some guesses (although we're not sure apricotis any more refreshing than prune juice).

5. COLONEL'S "SECRET BLEND OF 11 HERBS AND SPICES"
In 1940, Colonel (née Harland) Sanders whipped up a "secret blend of 11 herbs and spices" for his now-ubiquitous Kentucky Fried Chicken. The recipe is locked in a vault at the company's headquarters, and it's said that the ingredients are made and processed by separate manufacturers who are unaware of what the others are producing in order to prevent the mysterious concoction from ever being revealed.

In their ingredients list, KFC merely lists this as "Secret Original Recipe Seasoning." However, for his book "Big Secrets," William Poundstone took a batch of the Colonel's chicken to a lab for testing. According to Poundstone (via LiveScience), "The sample of coating mix was found to contain four and only four ingredients: flour, salt, monosodium glutamate, and black pepper. There were no eleven herbs and spices—no herbs at all in fact."

Wikimedia Commons

6. BARR'S IRN-BRU
Scottish soft drink Irn-Bru was invented in 1901, and its secret recipe "is held under lock and key in a vault in Switzerland." According to their website, only three people know the recipe: Former Chairman Robin Barr, his daughter and Legal Affairs Manager Julie Barr, and one other board director "whose identity remains confidential." Irn-Bru does concede that iron is one of the drink's ingredents (hence the name).

7. CHARTREUSE
The legend of this liqueur is long and complex, and it goes something like this: In 1605, the Marshal of King's Henri IV artillery gave a secret manuscript for an "Elixer of Long Life" to the monks of a monastery outside Paris. The monks couldn't immediately decipher the combination of 130 herbs, but in the 18th century the recipe was sent to a separate monastery where its apothecary, Frère Jerome Maubec, learned how to make a drink from the list. In the years that followed, the liqueur underwent changes to produce different varieties (green, white, and yellow), but Chartreuse is still made by monks—and the recipe is still secret—to this day.

Source

Tequila might help you lose weight

We Heart It

I’m about to make your day: based on a recent study, tequila can aid in weight loss.

Yes, you read that correctly. TEQUILA WILL HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT.

Not only will it assist in the weight loss process, but it will also help to lower blood sugar. This is amazing news for people suffering from type-2 Diabetes.

A recent study conducted at the American Chemical Society has blessed us with this amazing information on this glorious humpday.

Basically agavina, a sugar that comes from the agave plant used to produce tequila, triggered insulin production and lowered blood sugar in an experiment conducted with mice. In addition to these astonishing results, the sweetener also helped the overweight mice drops some hefty LBS.

Agavin, unlike sucrose, fructose and glucose, is not absorbed by the body, so it will not increase blood glucose.

Can I get a “hallelujah”? Yeah, I’m talking to you Jeff Buckley.

We’re not telling you to rip tequila shots with every meal, however — these agavins are actually a type of fiber that creates a full feeling, ergo suppressing appetite.

The scientists who conducted this study believe that agavins are a viable light sweetener substitute since, ”they are sugars, highly soluble, have a low glycemic index, and a neutral taste, but most important, they are not metabolized by humans.”

Currently there are approximately 26 million Americans suffering from diabetes, with another 2 million getting diagnosed annually.

The fact that there is the potential for developing a different type of sweetener that lowers sugar levels instead of raising them is revolutionary.

Stayed tuned as the study and tests continue to progress.

Source

Starbucks to serve booze and alcohol

Starbucks

Colossal coffee shop chain Starbucks is looking to add some turn-up to its nighttime rush by enacting a new wave of beer and wine sales. Dubbed "Starbucks Evenings," chains in the Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland and Seattle areas will begin selling alcoholic beverages after 4 p.m. A new evening menu will also include an appetizer and dessert menu, including chicken skewers, macaroni and cheese and chocolate fondue. Wines and beers will vary based on location.

According Starbucks' website, "Starbucks Evenings" is an effort to substitute a loud bar for a more intimate happy hour meet-up.

"We’ve always been your neighborhood spot where you can take a moment to unwind, grab a well-deserved treat, and meet up with friends," the site reads. "But sometimes, you just want a glass of wine and a delicious bite to eat without going to a bar or making a restaurant reservation."

And while "Starbucks Evenings" includes new items for purchase, the barista setup will remain intact. The chain's regular coffee and tea menus will also still be available to order. And in case you were wondering if you could get that glass of wine with you lunch or have a cold brew with your breakfast, the answer is no. Starbucks will make the alcoholic beverages available after 4 p.m. only.

No word on whether "Starbucks Evenings" will expand to other areas, but if all goes well it would be safe to assume so.

Source

Why does booze make you gain weight?

Getty Images

How do calories in alcohol work? In short, we don’t entirely know yet. Alcohol isn't metabolized like food, so it's much more complicated. Plus, it’s even more difficult to draw conclusions about the effects of alcohol and food on the body since no two people are exactly alike. But with the ever-increasing popularity of low-calorie drink options such as Skinny Girl cocktails and MGD64, it’s a hard subject to ignore.

BURNING OFF BOOZE
The human body treats alcohol like a toxin. As such, our bodies try to excrete it in any way possible.

Though most dietitians (and health teachers) treat all alcohol calories as being available to the body, some alcohol is excreted as acetic acid. This excretion would imply that the body absorbs fewer than seven calories from every gram of alcohol.

Another way the body tries to get rid of alcohol is by metabolizing it. By doing so, booze is turned into energy for the body. Unlike food, which is digested mainly in the intestines, alcohol is metabolized mainly in the liver and kidneys. These organs can only process so much before the excess is flushed out of the system as urine.

MODERATION, MODERATION, MODERATION
According to several published studies, enjoying a few drinks will have very little long-term impact on your waistline. When consumed in moderation (one or two drinks daily), test subjects experienced insignificant weight gain due to alcohol. Interestingly, these studies examined beer, wine, and straight spirits—and found no difference in the results.

THE SWEET TRUTH
If moderate drinking isn’t definitively linked to weight gain, the most likely culprit in putting on the pounds is sugar. After alcohol, this substance adds the most calories to drinks, and is considered by many nutritionists to result in a long-term risk of weight-related health problems.

The highest sugar levels are found in sweetened liqueurs and related cocktails. Straight distilled spirits, on the other hand, contain only a tiny amount of residual sugar. If you’re truly looking to avoid sugar and can drink liquor by itself, this option is your best bet.

Dry wines often contain a little sugar, but not much. Beer is more difficult. Sugar in beer can be masked by bitter hops, making it tougher to avoid. They call it "beer belly" for a reason.

Source

How much does your state drink?

Six realistic tips for a better sleep

Laura Doss/Fitness Magazine

You have to live in dreamland if you want a good night's sleep, according to the usual expert advice: Make your bedroom into a spa like sanctuary. Don't drink a drop of caffeine after 2 p.m. No laptops in the bedroom. So we were shocked when sleep doctor Michael Breus, PhD, admitted that he drifts off with the TV on and his Chihuahua, Sparky, and cat, Monte, in the bed -- two major no-nos. His refreshing philosophy: "Steer clear of all the hard-and-fast rules and do what makes sense for your lifestyle." That we can handle. Read on for more surprising sleep tips that mere mortals like us can actually follow.


Sleep in on weekends. 
Forget all the blah-blah about maintaining a consistent wakeup time every day. Snoozing late on the weekend can have real benefits. Adults who were sleep deprived for five days (sound like your workweek?) made up for it somewhat -- bouncing back closer to their baseline brain function and alertness -- when they clocked 10 hours the next night, a study in the journal Sleep found. Still, it's best to snooze only an extra hour or two come Saturday and Sunday. "Any more than that will reset your body clock, and then you won't be able to fall asleep on Sunday night," says Carol E. Ash, a sleep specialist in Monmouth County, New Jersey. If the additional winks aren't enough to make you feel rested, take a 20-minute nap at 3 or 4 p.m. on the weekend, which won't mess with your internal timetable, Ash says.

Exercise before bed -- it's OK, really! 
Working out after dinner has long been considered a don't by sleep docs. But -- surprise! -- it may actually help you snooze better. Young adults who rode a stationary bike for about 35 minutes, finishing two hours before bedtime, conked out faster and slept more deeply than when they didn't exercise, a recent study in the Journal of Sleep Research found. If you discover you're too revved up to go to bed after a nighttime sweat session, keep a weekly log of your exercise time and how you sleep afterward, advises Lisa Shives, MD, the founder of Northshore Sleep and Weight Management Medicine in Evanston, Illinois, and a medical expert for SleepBetter.org. You may learn that a treadmill jog within an hour of hitting the hay is disastrous for dozing, but that doing it two to three hours beforehand makes you sleep like a baby. Exercise, whenever you can get it, is one of the best sleep medicines, period, Dr. Shives says.

Snuggle with Fluffy. 
Feel lonely? If you do, you're likely to wake up more often during the night, a University of Chicago study found. Consider picking up a new bedmate...at your local animal rescue society. "I tell my patients who don't like sleeping alone to consider getting a dog," Dr. Shives says. A pet helps many women feel less isolated, which can restore sound sleep. It's fine to break the no-pets-in-bed rule even when you're not lonely, especially if keeping your furry friend out creates more disruption than letting him in. "If I banned my cat from the bedroom, he would paw at the door all night long, and I would get even less sleep," says Breus, the author of The Sleep Doctor's Diet Plan: Lose WeightThrough Better Sleep.

Play a bedtime story. 
The next time you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep, ignore the prevailing wisdom about getting out of bed to read by dim light. Dr. Shives recommends a new strategy: Quiet your churning mind with an audiobook, preloaded on your phone or music player and at the ready, bedside. Plug in your earbuds, press "Play," and cover the display to block the glow. The story shouldn't be too stimulating, so choose a biography or your favorite book from childhood instead of, say, Fifty Shades of Grey. In 15 to 20 minutes the narrative should soothe you to sleep, Dr. Shives says. If TV has always been a snoozing aid for you, follow Breus's trick: Use a TV with a sleep timer and set it to switch off after 30 minutes.

Think before you drink. 
It's generally a good idea to cut out coffee, soda, and energy drinks seven to eight hours before bedtime. But the half-life of caffeine affects everyone differently. Download Caffeine Zone 2 Lite (free at the iTunes App Store), developed by Penn State researchers, to help you predict the hour at which caffeine will still deliver a kick without stealing sleep. Also be aware that a nightcap can be as disastrous for your slumber as an after-dinner cappuccino. Under the influence, you snooze in seconds. Problem is, you'll wake up four or five hours later. And healthy women are much more susceptible to the "sleepus interruptus" effects of overimbibing, according to a recent University of Michigan study. "The best rule: Have your last drink three hours before you turn in," Breus says.

Score better sleep. 
You log your workouts, so why not your zzz's? A spate of new sleeptracking devices with mobile apps, including Zeo Sleep Manager and Lark, allow you to monitor such habits as the time at which you fall asleep and get up, how much light versus deep sleep you're getting, and the number of times you awaken during the night. We like the Renew SleepClock ($200, us.gear4.com; Renew SleepClock app, free, iTunes App Store) because you don't have to wear anything on your body to use it; your movements and breathing rates are detected and monitored through your iPhone, which rests on the SleepClock's docking station on your nightstand. "None of these devices are diagnostic, so they're not going to tell you if you have sleep apnea or insomnia," Breus says. "But they give you information about your sleep and make you think about how you can improve it." For instance, an app can help you notice a pattern, like how your slumber improves on days you exercise. Or you may be surprised to learn, as one FITNESS editor did, that you're getting a lot less sleep than you think.

Source

How to make coffee come out of your tap