We’re supposed to eat breakfast – but at what time?

Technically, breakfast can be at any time of the day. 

If it’s the first thing you’re eating, you're breaking your fast. However, there is a prime time for breakfast. Registered dietitian Cynthia Sass says it’s best to break your fast within an hour of getting out of bed. It helps to kick-start your metabolism and regulates blood sugar.

If you have a morning exercise routine, your best breakfast time is before you work out. However, if you’re exercising to lose weight, consider holding off on breakfast until just after your workout. Regardless of your schedule, try to get something nutritious in before 10 am.

They’ve tallied the drinks by the gallon and the drunkest state in the union is...

Which state would you guess consumes the most alcohol? 

If you would guess Florida, New York, or somewhere in the Deep South – you’d be wrong. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has released their annual Surveillance Report, which tallies up alcohol consumption per gallon, per capita – and the winner is the Live Free or Die sate. New Hampshirites consume a dizzying 4.65 gallons per person per year - nearly twice the national average. Close behind in the alcohol state of the union is Washington DC. Here are the states by the gallon:

1. New Hampshire 4.65

2. Dist. of Columbia 3.89

3. Delaware 3.59

4. North Dakota 3.42

5. Nevada 3.27

6. Wisconsin 3

7. Montana 2.96

8. Vermont 2.92

9. Alaska 2.82

10. Colorado 2.76

11. Idaho 2.76

12. South Dakota 2.76

13. Florida 2.72

14. Rhode Island 2.72

15. Minnesota 2.7

16. Wyoming 2.67

17. Maine 2.65

18. Oregon 2.65

19. Louisiana 2.6

20. Massachusetts 2.57

21. Hawaii 2.54

22. Arizona 2.43

23. Missouri 2.42

24. Connecticut 2.39

25. Iowa 2.39

26. New Jersey 2.39

27. Illinois 2.36

28. New Mexico 2.36

29. California 2.35

30. South Carolina 2.33

31. Nebraska 2.32

32. Michigan 2.29

33. Texas 2.28

34. Pennsylvania 2.26

35. Washington 2.25

36. Maryland 2.21

37. Mississippi 2.2

38. New York 2.17

39. Virginia 2.13

40. North Carolina 2.05

41. Ohio 2.03

42. Alabama 2

43. Tennessee 2

44. Georgia 1.99

45. Indiana 1.97

46. Kansas 1.95

47. Oklahoma 1.94

48. Kentucky 1.87

49. Arkansas 1.81

50. West Virginia 1.81

51. Utah 1.37

What advice does a Navy Seal have for recent college graduates?

Make your bed! Every day! 

That’s the advice recent University of Texas graduates were given by U.S. Navy Adm. William H. McCraven. McCraven, who organized the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, shared several life lessons learned in his 36 years as a Navy SEAL, and it all starts with making the bed. He went on to explain:

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”

Source: http://www.usmc81.com/2014/05/navy-seals-advice-grads-bed-morning/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Usmc81+%28USMC81%29

Thanks Wally!

Cpl. Beddoe, USMC 1981-1985 
twitter: @usmc81 

Are your business emails rude? Let's ask an expert...

Do you request a return receipt on your business emails? That’s rude. 

According to Adam Grant, LinkedIn contributor and author of “Give and Take,” return receipts are a thing of the past and could suggest you’re paranoid, have an inflated sense of yourself – or are just old. Some other rude e-habits include:

• Dictating a time you’d like to meet. If it’s a request, you need to be flexible and work around the other person’s schedule. Ask the other person to suggest the times.

• Forwarding emails without commenting. Not taking 10 seconds to add a personal comment is rude.

• Skipping a brief salutation such as “Hello Name” suggests that person isn’t worth the trouble. 

• Using multiple punctuation marks is equivalent to yelling. Skip the ??? and the !!!

• Communicating or sharing via their social media as opposed to a private email. Reaching out privately first is the way to go.

Are you gaining weight? How your phone could be making you fat...

Your smartphone could be more like a fatphone. 

A number of studies are revealing smartphone related weight gain due to several different factors. Of course we’re less mobile when we’re actually using our phones. That time spent not moving while texting, checking mail or browsing the apps can really add up over the course of a day. In addition, the light emitted from our phones can actually make us hungry and lead to mindless eating. 

College and elementary school students were most at risk of the smartphone weight gain and should consider downloading an app that reminds them to get off the phone and get up and moving. 

How would you like to play the lead role in a movie?

If your life is feeling ho-hum, consider starring in your own movie – a mental movie. 

According to the Harvard Business Review, it’s a technique that can be quite effective for achieving goals, increasing productivity and reducing stress. 

Using mental imagery to set the scene, viewing your own behavior from different perspectives or would-be camera angles, can be a powerful way to enhance confidence and anticipate obstacles or success. Your mental movie can also help you rehearse day to day situations and revise the script, and costars, accordingly. Enjoy the show.

If you’d like to live longer – plant something. How it helps...

Tending to a vegetable or flower garden can extend your life. 

A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine got some folks over 60 to get gardening and discovered some remarkable benefits. The gardeners wound up harvesting a 30% reduced risk of heart attack and stroke.

James Jiler, founder of Urban GreenWorks, says the sensory experience of gardening allows people to connect to a primal state while easing stress and keeping you limber. Digging in the dirt can even boost the immune system. It only takes 15 minutes twice a day, three times a week, to reap the health benefits of gardening. 

Would you like to Photoshop your face for real? There’s a new product that does just that...

If you’d like to look more like your Instagram photos in real life – you may need some BLUR cream. 

Blur creams are popping up on cosmetic shelves all over the place and are taking makeup to a new level. Blur products use special ingredients and particles designed to reflect light and blur the surface of your skin, disguising fine lines and pores. It’s a temporary fix and the flattering effects won’t last – but if you’d like to filter your flaws, cosmetic experts say it works. Blur beauty isn’t cheap, most products are in the $30 to $60 range. 

Are you an introvert? We’ve got the perfect career for you...

If you’re an introvert and prefer to work alone, some careers are may be right up you’re lonely alley. 

Reader’s Digest consulted some career experts and their job recommendations include:

• Astronomer: It’s a solitary job studying the stars or working with satellites and has an annual median salary of about $96,000.

• Social media manager: You won’t make as much as the astronomer but you’ll be just as lonely and spend most of your time online. Heading up a company’s Facebook, Twitter and other social media pays an average of $54,000 per year.

• Criminologist: Typical duties of these sociologists include analyzing criminal behavior, studying law enforcement techniques, crime rates and writing reports. The salary range is $33,000 to $85,000.

• Court reporter: If you prefer to be a fly on the wall, this gig is for you. They come, they sit, they record and they leave – with about $48,000 per year.

• Graphic designer: Quiet types can exercise their creativity designing logos, websites, or other graphic goodies. You may have to meet with clients but the hands-on work is solo. It pays about $44,000 per year.

• Financial analyst: Your coworkers will include stocks, bonds, trends and numbers and you’ll earn about $77,000 annually. 

• Translator: ¿Hablas español? Or another language? Work in this fast-growing career field involves independent time converting written documents from one tongue to another. Annual median salary: $45,000.

If you’re a natural redhead, you’re a real rarity. What makes you different...

Natural redheads only make up about 1 to 2 percent of the population. 

While they may be rare beauties, they may also have redheaded risks:

• Redheads are more sensitive to pain – and less sensitive to anesthesia. 

• They’re more sensitive to hot and cold. 

• They’re more likely to suffer from Parkinson’s and skin cancer.

Now here’s the good news:

• Redheads tend to have stronger bones and immune systems.

• They never go gray. Real redheads keep their natural color longer. When it does finally change, it will most likely go to blonde and then white.

• Redheads have more sex.

Are you size Skinny, Fat or Jumbo? A store that actually does that...

Would you buy a dress in size Fat? 

Japan-based retailer called Fatyo actually has that size. Their clothing is labeled in sizes ranging from Twitch and Skinny to Fat and Jumbo. It may sound harsh but our American alpha sizing is similar. A lot of manufacturers have fallen back on labeling their sizes XS, S, M, L, XL and up, which is considered less offensive than Fatyo’s labeling. 

There may be other hints on that label that you’re getting too big. In 2013, a Manatee Gray dress was spotted in Target in a plus size, while the standard sizes of the same dress were called Dark Heather Gray. They later issued an apology. 

Brain freeze is the pits – unless you have a migraine. How it could actually help...

Most of us hate the sensation of brain freeze while eating or drinking frozen treats too fast. 

But new research has found that brain freeze can actually help reduce the pain of a migraine headache. Suddenly lowering the temperature of the brain can help to close blood vessels that contribute to migraine pain. 

A University of Hawaii study found that brain chilling with ice water or a frozen treat significantly reduced pain by interrupting the headache in participants.

Most people like the smell of freshly cut grass. Why that is...

The next time you drive past someone mowing the lawn, slow down and open the windows. 

Get as much of that fresh-cut grass aroma as you can. It makes us feel better and now science tells us why. The smell of cut grass stimulates the memory regions of the brain for most people and has a calming effect. Research has shown the aroma can reduce stress, improve mood and even help prevent memory decline in old age.

If you don’t have a lawn to mow, consider finding some grass aroma products now on the market that include candles, linen and room sprays.

How do you know if that final markdown is really final? The numbers to look for...

If you want to be sure that item you’re buying won’t be marked down after the fact, take a close look at the price. 

The retail experts at Wall Street Journal have cracked some final markdown codes in the prices and are letting us in on the secret. Look for these numbers in the prices:

• Target: Their final markdown price will end in a 4. For example, $17.94.

• The Home Depot: Their final price ends in a 6.

• Gap: The last number will be a 7.

• Sears: 49.88 is a final markdown. They all end in 88.

• Staples: Their final price will have an F in there somewhere.

For the record, if a price ends in 99, it’s most likely full price. Most retailers start there and mix it up a bit as the prices go down.

Could shaking hands soon become a thing of the past?

Shaking hands is an ancient tradition – but it’s a germy one too. 

Some healthcare facilities are already asking their employees and guests to skip the gesture in an attempt to eliminate the hazards of handshaking. If the trend catches on, we may be seeing “no handshaking” signs or handshake-free zones in public places. 

So how do we say hello or introduce ourselves in a handshake-free world? StopHandshaking.com has some suggestions, including the fistbump, the bow, the nod and the “How” hand gesture. They even have buttons and lapel pins available with the no-handshake symbol which says “No offense, it just makes sense.”