5 Minute Breakfast: Baked Grapefruit

Hey there foodies! We’re changing up the direction of this blog a little bit (read: completely) and will only be talking about food for now, and forever. I’m sure you might be a little bit confused. I mean, for a blog to go from career and education information to a food blog, well, that’s a complete 180.

So, why the change? Because I had a long think about what was really important to me in life. And I thought about how education and careers, while they’re both extremely important and valid topics for a blog, are just not my thing. I’m more of a life person. And, for me, life is a combination of a few things, namely: yoga, travel, love, connection, energy and food. I believe that you should really only invest your time in things that you love. I’m a huge believer in that idea actually. It’s what has guided my life for the past eight months. As a result, I’ve lived more in the past eight months than I have in the past twenty-five years.

I love taking pictures of food. I love sharing recipes. I love organic, raw, gluten-free, vegan, soy-free, GMO-free, non-processed and local foods. I call foods that fall under those categories Freedom Foods. All of the foods you’ll see on this blog fall under one or all of those categories and they’ll be incredibly quick and easy. Why do I want to focus on making the fastest home made foods? Because another thing I happen to love is spreading myself thin. There’s so much change going on in this world and I would absolutely love to be part of it all.

Sometimes my new schedule only grants me enough time in the morning to make a green superfood smoothie. All I have time for at lunch is a five minute prep time. And dinner is usually my social time, so I like to spend less time cooking and more time connecting with whoever I’m with.

So, I’m here to share these solutions with all of you. I want to let you know how you can fit eating ethically and quickly for optimal health.

Are you ready? 

Food service staff came in second with 10% of the women polled reporting a major bout of depression. People who serve food have very hard and many times thankless jobs. Customers can be rude, supervisors demanding, and the work itself is very physical with long hours. Social workers can find themselves dealing with abused children, families on the brink of collapse and many other stressful and heartbreaking situations. When you are studying to how to become a social worker, it is important to remember not to let your job make you depressed.

Health care workers such as doctors, nurses, aids, therapists and anyone else that works with sick people may find they become depressed from time to time. It is only natural especially if you have a patient who is not responding to treatment or has passed away. Another profession that is known for depression is anyone in an artistic job. Writers, artists, and other creative individuals have a higher incidence of depression and undiagnosed mental illnesses than most other professions. Part of this may be attributed to the irregular hours and sporadic paychecks, but speaking from a writer’s point of view I know how it is to have a great paycheck one week and a tiny one the next.

These are the top careers the article sited for having the most potential to be depressing. Does that mean you shouldn’t pursue these careers, well no. My advice would be to learn how to deal with stress and try to keep a positive attitude. It is natural to be depressed once in a while. The key is not to let yourself get into a pit of depression. Talk about your feelings to a good friend or loved one. If you find you are chronically depressed, seek out professional help. A therapist or counselor can help teach you ways to deal with depression and keep it from taking over your life.

According to the New York Times, Nevada, South Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, Florida, Michigan and Texas are the states hit the hardest by budget cuts. The majority of state universities in these states have had to completely eliminated computer science and engineering programs. In the United States appropriations for colleges fell an average of 7.6% in the 2011-2012 school year. One of the most extreme examples is Arizona which cut its state university funding by 31%. A recent proposal in Florida to cut state university budgets by several million dollars spurred student and citizen protests.

These cuts fly in the face of the shortage of qualified science and engineering graduates to fill job openings. In North Carolina, a state suffering from a severe nurse shortage, there is a waiting list for the waiting list to enroll in one of their community college nursing programs. There is a shortage of nurses all across the country. The medical industry is one of the fastest growing job markets so it makes no sense to cut science programs when states are desperate for qualified personnel. Engineering is also a fast growing job sector, yet technical schools are also under the knife for budget cuts.

Schools are trying to find ways to counteract the budget cuts. One of the most unpopular ways is by raising tuition. Schools are raising tuition, but this is still not enough to cover the budget cutbacks. What results is less slots for students, less money for programs, and ultimately less students graduating with the necessary training to fill job openings. If education is one of the high priorities in the current administration, it would seem foolish to use education as a way to save money. Surely the administration could find better places to cut money than the future of our society in the form of higher education.

If you think about it, there are always going to be people who need medical care. Baby Boomers are starting to age, and the number of elderly patients will increase through the next decade and beyond. Women’s health has become a concern as well as neonatal care. Allied health positions are needed to perform tests and act as support for the doctors and nurses who provide direct care to patients.

Career Opportunities

A career in the medical field is more than just a nurse or a doctor. Career opportunities are available in all aspects of patient care. Not only is finding qualified people to care for patients necessary, but the administrative side of the coin is equally important. In order to provide the best care available, hospitals, clinics, long term and acute care centers, and other health care facilities need to run smoothly. This is where medical coders and billing specialists, office managers, front end specialists, and insurance advocates enter the picture. Both sides of health care are equally important.

Salary Expectations

You can earn a good salary in the medical field. This chart is from the BLS website and outlines some of the most popular careers and salary expectations. Figures are per hour.

• Registered Nurse Salary – $30.03
• LPN Salary and Vocational Nurse Salary – $18.77
• Medical Secretaries – $14.27
• Medical Assistants – $13.06
• Dental Assistants – $15.57

What you earn will depend on your schooling, the area you live, and the health care facility in which you work. Hospitals tend to pay more than other facilities, and home health care is the lowest rated pay according to the BLS website. Not only will you be paid well, but you will get benefits which in most cases includes reduced health care costs. For adult students, the medical field is an excellent choice to start a new life and a new career.

My mother and father both had heart disease. I have high blood pressure and sometimes suffer with arrhythmia. So I know how frustrating it can be to try and be healthy. Heart disease is more than just a heart attack or high blood pressure. According to the American Heart Association it can include the following conditions:

• Atherosclerosis is caused by the buildup of plaque in the arteries and blood vessels. This constricts them, a clot may form, and can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
• A heart attack occurs when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood in your heart. It is important to know that women tend to present symptoms much differently then men. Most feel a pressure in the chest or a back pain that radiates to the front.
• An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks the blood flow to the brain. This is the most common form of a stroke.
• A hemorrhagic stroke is caused by a blood vessel in your brain bursting. The most common cause of this type of stroke is uncontrolled blood pressure.
• Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, refers to the heart’s inability to beat properly and provide your body with the oxygen and blood supply it needs.
• Arrhythmia refers to an irregular heartbeat. You hear may beat too fast, tachycardia; or bradycardia is too slow, less than 60 beats per minute. Your heart may also skip beats or beat irregularly preventing it from suppling adequate blood and oxygen to your body.
• Heart valve problems occur when the valves of the heart don’t open properly to keep the blood flowing correctly in your heart. 

Treatments 

This table is taken from the American Heart Association’s webpage What is Cardiovascular Disease? 

The best prevention for heart disease is to not smoke, don’t drink in excess, maintain a healthy body weight, eat a low fat diet, and exercise. Check with your doctor to see what he recommends to help you stay healthy and prevent this disease. Wear red on February 3^rd to show your support for the prevention of heart disease.

How online back up systems generally work is you upload the files from your hard drive and the company stores them on their computer system. You can access your files any time and they are accessible only to you because they are password protected. Another advantage is the ability to access your files from your mobile device. They’re no longer anchored to your PC or Mac. This means you can work from anywhere you have internet access. You could do your own back up on an external hard drive or thumb drive, but online backup systems are synchronized so that as you add new files and data, they automatically back up your data. Here’s an overview of some of your options for online backup.

Carbonite is rated the number one online backup system by Online Backup Top Ten. You can set Carbonite to back up your files hourly, daily, or at other times from their advanced settings. It is compatible with Mac and PC, and offers 24/7 support. You can also access your files from your iPhone or Android.

Sugar Sync online backup is a service that offers cloud computing, file sharing, available for PC or Mac, and stores your files on their server. Sugar Sync constantly backs your files up so your data is protected.

Mozy Online Backup not only backs up your data on their server, but locally on your computer. This gives you twice the protection. Like the other systems, you can access your files remotely and it is compatible with Mac and PC.

Dropbox is very easy to use and is great if you need to share files. The free edition doesn’t sync your data, but the premium edition does. I use this program for a client and it is much better than emailing files.

You can find other online back up reviews at the Computer Repair Blog. If you have files, photos and other data you don’t want to lose from a computer crash, fire, or other computer disaster, consider looking into the many online data backup plans available.

Skills an MBA Gives You 

Besides understanding the business world and how it works better, an MBA will also give you leadership skills. You’ll learn the best ways to motivate a team and keep the working flowing smoothly. Leadership may be one of the most important skills you will learn. Not everyone has leadership skills, and not everyone can effectively manage people. If you can develop your leadership skills, you will have many more opportunities for advancement and job prospects. An MBA gives you skills you can use in all sectors of business and you can apply the skills you learn to almost any job you choose.

Can I Specialize? 

It is very common for MBA candidates to specialize. You can choose accounting, economics, e-commerce, global management, human resources, marketing, and any other specialty that interests you. For example NYU Stern offers 23 different specializations. These include banking, entrepreneurship and innovation, management of technology operations, and supply chain management and global sourcing.

How Much Will I Make? 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer and information systems managers who have an MBA earn over $100,000 annually. Financial analysts are listed at over $84,000 per year, and security and commodities sales agents who hold an MBA reported making over $74,000 annually. As you can see, an MBA increases your earning potential greatly.

Can I Get My MBA Online?

Yes you can. Many universities and colleges offer MBA programs completely online. Online education is one of the best ways for working adults to further their education. Today an online degree holds just as much cache as one from a campus based program. If you want to increase your earning potential and get on the fast track to advancement, consider going back to school and earning your MBA.

Know your numbers. Three numbers you should know are your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglycerides level. Normal blood pressure is 105/70 to 135/80 for adults. According to the Mayo Clinic, your total cholesterol should be 200 or below with your HDL 60 and above, and your LDL less than 100. The Mayo Clinic also recommends your triglyceride level to be less than 150. If your numbers are higher, talk to your doctor about ways to reduce them. If he puts you on meds, be sure to take them even though you feel fine.

Have a positive attitude. People who maintain a positive attitude in life have less of a risk for heart disease. According to WedMD, researchers found that if you keep a positive attitude you will have 22% less risk for developing heart disease. Everyone gets sad or depressed once in a while, but try to keep an overall good attitude.

Include plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits in your diet. Eating a balanced diet rich in dark green leafy vegetables and other fresh produce has been shown to outsmart the gene some people carry that may put them at risk for heart disease. Not only will this help stave off heart disease, but a diet full of fresh produce will improve your overall health.

Pass on the soda. An article in the February 2012 edition of Good Housekeeping magazine cited a University of Oklahoma study which found that women over 45 who drank more than two sodas and other sugar sweetened beverages per day had a four times risk of high triglycerides than women who drank less than two per day.

Take a Vitamin D supplement. Although you can get Vitamin D from the sun, you also run the risk of skin cancer with too much exposure. Instead doctors recommend you take a 600 mg supplement each day. This reduces your risk of not only heart disease, but inflammatory diseases such as arthritis.

Rise and shine. A Dutch study of 20,400 people found those who didn’t get enough sleep had a 65% higher risk for heart disease. Doctors recommend you go to bed and wake up at the same time each day so your body can develop a regular sleep rhythm.

These simple lifestyle changes can help to reduce your risk of heart disease. Whether you’re studying to be an office manager, teacher, veterinary assistant, or what ever program you are studying, you need to be healthy. You owe it to yourself and your family to do all you can to avoid heart disease.

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Tuition reimbursement can also be a great way to change careers. A local hospital where I live, Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, will pay for your nursing degree if you agree to work for them for at least two years. That is a great deal! You may have to meet certain requirements or agree to work for your employer for a specified amount of time after you graduate, but once you have your degree it’s yours. Not all employers will pay for all of your tuition costs, but the majority will cover a large portion of it. According to Investopedia college graduates can earn an average of $2 million more in a lifetime than workers who don’t have a college degree.

• An associate’s degree will up your lifetime earning potential by $1.7 million.
• A bachelor’s degree increases your lifetime earning potential by $2.4 million.
• A master’s degree gives you a lifetime earning potential increase of $4.2 million.
• A professional or doctorate degree gives you a whopping increase of $4.8 million.

As you can see getting your degree will make a huge difference in the money you can make. It will also help to advance your career or help you start a new one. More adults are finding out how important a degree is in today’s workplace. New college graduates entering the workforce and a sluggish economy translate into tough competition in all work sectors.

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As a working adult you may not want to or have time to take classes at a traditional campus. That’s where online education comes in. With online classes you can take your courses on your time, anywhere and anytime. Some employers may even let you work on our studies while you’re at work. Ask about tuition reimbursement. You may be pleasantly surprised to find out you can get a college degree, earn more, and all on your employer’s dime.

Mobile Access – As more people access the internet through their mobile devices educators are recognizing the need for mobile applications. These devices include smartphones and laptops. Walk into almost any college classroom and you’ll see students with laptops in use. Instructors and students are using these devices to keep up on their studies, engage in real time chat rooms, and share files. For the online student, mobile access means being more connected to their fellow students and instructors.

Cloud Computing – Cloud computing is a relatively new technology. Imagine storing your files on a remote computer that you can access from anywhere. No longer are you bound to your home PC or have to carry a flashdrive. Cloud computing lets students share files on projects, turn in assignments and have access to classroom resources.

Online Learning – Online classes, distance learning and integration of online curriculum in the classroom setting is an important trend to be aware of. More colleges and universities are recognizing the opportunities online learning presents their students and their school. Today’s students are more goal orientated and don’t want to sit in a lecture hall. They want to be hands on and get their degrees quickly. Online learning lets students progress at their own pace and gives them valuable technology skills they can use in the real world.

WiFi On and Off Campus – The demand for wifi access will continue to grow based on the previously mentioned education trends. Students expect to be able to access the internet almost everywhere they go including in their dorms, the library, and off campus. Online students depend on wifi to access their classes away from the home PC. This frees them up to work anywhere like the beach, a coffee shop or at a friend’s house.

eReaders – Many colleges and universities offer e-versions of textbooks, reference books and other media for students to use on their laptops, mobile devices and eReaders. This is a great boon to the online student. Instead of having to visit the campus library, an online student can now access and download almost all of a campus library’s resources online.

As technology evolves and become more accessible to everyone, new technology trends will emerge for the future. It is the blend of technology with standard teaching practices that will create the classroom of the future.