Archive for 'Health' Category

By Justin Boyle

Does it surprise anyone to learn that demand for personal trainers goes up in the summer? A friend of mine who moonlights as a trainer tells me that the only time of year when he's busier is January, at the height of New Year's resolution season.

Personal training, gym memberships, unlimited yoga passes and the like are all fine ways to get in shape for the sleeveless days of summer, but what if you're looking to work out without adding a new line to your budget? Check out these three ways to get fit without breaking the bank.

1. The new old-fashioned way

It might be odd to hear that an idea from your junior high gym class has turned into a major exercise trend, but that's exactly what's happened in the last few years. Calisthenic exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, dips and sit-ups are a big part of interval training, which can burn fat and build muscle at a surprising pace.

Another great thing about calisthenic exercise is the number of inventive exercises, training tips and routines you can find for free on the Web. If you want to add some extra resistance, plastic jugs that hold one U.S. gallon can be filled with water (about 8 pounds), play sand (about 13 pounds) or both (about 16 pounds) for DIY dumbbells on the cheap.

By Joe Taylor Jr.

If you feel awkward getting asked to open a store credit card when you're shopping for blue jeans, imagine what happens when you get the same offer in the emergency room.

Medical credit card applications abound at the offices of dentists, doctors, and even veterinarians. While relaxed approval processes make these cards appealing to Americans in need of urgent care, critics of medical credit cards warn that the cure for long term medical debt might be worse than the disease. Do these credit cards deserve their bad rap?

How medical credit cards hit the market

It was unheard of for earlier generations of Americans to let medical bills go unpaid. Our parents and grandparents couldn't run the risk of bumping into the neighborhood doctor at church or in the supermarket with outstanding invoices hanging over their heads.

Over the years, deductibles and co-insurance ceilings got larger, forcing health care providers to take on greater risk. Practices got bigger, too, enabling more of us to slide our medical bills to the back of the stack without feeling very guilty. Lenders partnered with medical providers to offer easy applications, using many of the same techniques perfected in retail stores.

Shifting medical credit cards from emergency coverage to elective financing

With finance charges and payment options similar to retail credit cards, most consumers found terms reasonable enough to get them through a crisis. However, the medical credit card market kicked into high gear

By MoneyBlueBook

The Internet is quite a mixed bag of information - a wild, wild west cornucopia of unfiltered and unadulterated questions and answers. Among the nuggets of knowledge, there's an endless supply of trashy material and unsubstantiated half truths. For every debatable issue imaginable, there are legions of supporters and oppositions on both sides of the divide. Search engines like Google and Bing do nothing to segregate the legitimate articles from the biased quackery and it's often up to the readers themselves to differentiate fact from fiction. Such is the case with a very contentious and controversial issue of mine that's literally hitting close to home - the issue of living next to power lines and whether they have any negative impact on one's health.

From the various articles available online, you'll frequently read comments and posts from individuals claiming that their personal cancers and miscarriages were the direct results of living too close to nearby power lines. Though when subjected to scientific scrutiny, this does not necessarily indicate a definitive connection between the two, it's easy to see how the passionate and emotional voices could come to such conclusions. In my case, both of my parents are survivors of lymphoma cancer. Both of them successfully completed their chemotherapy treatments and both were able to cure themselves of the cancers that plagued their bodies for months. However, as far as I know - they and I have never lived in close proximity to power lines of any sort. However, if we hypothetically had, I'm sure I would

By MoneyBlueBook

Review of MonaVie and The Acai Berry Fruit Juice Company's Health and Marketing Claims

MonaVie. Mona Vie. The word actually sounds like a spin off of some french phrase (mon ami), but when I hear the name, two things immediately come to mind - acai berry juice and multi level marketing pyramid scheme. The MLM business scheme or pyramid marketing concept usually elicits a series of red alert alarm bells in my brain's BS scam detector, however, I'm willing to take a closer look at MonaVie before rendering my personal critique and verdict. After having tried out and actually tasted the MonaVie acai berry fruit drink, I have to admit, it's a rather sweet and tasty beverage - sort of a crisp combination of grape juice, blue berries, black berries, and a hint of dark chocolate. There's not much negative commentary I can sling at the MonaVie product in terms of taste alone, but the outrageously expensive price tag and the rather suspicious marketing approach of the company leave much to be desired.

As an ordinary American consumer and a casual observer, I'm not sure what to make of this whole MonaVie acai berry fruit juice craze that seems to be sweeping the health and fitness world. The product's been featured on the Food Network and on daytime talk shows for women like the Rachel Ray show, and eagerly touted by popular television hosts like Oprah Winfrey as the ultimate nectar of the gods. At least several medical commentators have appeared on The Oprah

By MoneyBlueBook

There seems to be a trend among online finance and frugality commentators to share their personal frugal meal solutions. Some have gone so far as to post step by step instructional guides on how to put together simple peanut butter sandwiches, or compiled detailed cost analyses of the ham and cheese brown bag lunch making process. I think these simple and frugal lunch plans are excellent how-to's for people like myself who are clumsy clowns in the kitchen. Single guys such as I are notoriously bad cooks. I think my lack of any real cooking ability simply is a byproduct of my single man laziness prowess, lack of hand skills when it comes to culinary creations, and overall personal opinion that cooking for one is too inefficient to even bother with. Thus far I've tried supermarket salad bars, Chinese carry out, Thai food take out, prepackaged frozen meals, microwave TV dinners, and the occasional home made steak, but my options always seem to boil down to eating ready made food or dining out (a particularly expensive habit). While I do try to find ways to save money by utilizing restaurant credit cards to earn cash back and rebate discount rewards when I dine out, the reality is that eating out is almost always more expensive and usually less healthy than preparing your own food at home.

Cooking and Preparing a Meal At Home Isn't Easy For Busy Single Guys (Or Gals) On The Go Who Lack Speedy Cooking Skills

While I'm

By MoneyBlueBook

I just made the most wonderful discovery a few days ago. Well it was wonderful in my eyes at least. I sleep pretty late these days so I decided to take a stroll downstairs to the condominium lobby. I currently rent a unit in a medium size condo complex. We have a small cozy lobby area with a front management room that doubles as a sales office. However, now that most of the condo units have already been sold, the small lobby is now more of a reception room for guests. Since I almost always enter the building from a side gated entrance, I rarely pass through the main lobby. But on this particular day I decided to visit the lobby for no particular reason other than to have some place to walk to. When I got there I saw something that I hadn't noticed before. Our building apparently stocks a free complimentary automatic Flavia coffee and tea maker for guests and residents to use! I'm sure some readers are rolling their eyes going "oh brother" at my almost whimsical fascination with my "treasure find", but it's a big deal for me. While Flavia coffee machines don't exactly produce gourmet, five-star cups of coffee or tea, they do a decent job of churning out fairly acceptable drinks. They are also extremely convenient. Like most of the dispenser pod-based machines out there, Flavia coffee and tea makers utilize pre-made coffee and tea packets to brew the drink. You simply select select the drink you want by