Okay, I know that this is not finance related, but I received this press release from the dietdetective.com (yes, I receive all kinds of things not related to money) and I just couldn’t resist.  

 

I don’t know about you but I find it hard to resist a good Super Bowl spread and eating frenzy. I am usually real good about my diet. However, these types of events are usually my kryptonite…until I read this below.  

 

Sorry this is long – read as much as you want…or can stomach! This comes courtesy of Charles Platkin, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor at CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College – dietdetective.com

 

If you eat “this”, it would take “that” to burn off those calories!

 

THREE FRIED MAC AND CHEESE BALLS = RUNNING 249 FOOTBALL FIELDS

At more than 500 calories per ball, made with peanut oil, egg, cheese, butter, flour, macaroni, milk and more, what do you expect?

 

Fit Tip: Try baking, adding veggies and using whole-wheat pasta and low-fat cheese.

 

THREE PIGS IN BLANKETS = PLAYING CATCH WITH A FOOTBALL FOR 68 MINUTES (NONSTOP)

Hot dogs wrapped in a crescent or biscuit dough adds up: Each one you pop in your mouth is 66 calories.

 

Fit Tip: Low calorie franks (fat free), with low-fat crescent dough.

 

THREE SLICES OF PIZZA HUT MEAT LOVER'S PIZZA = 1,229 MINUTES OF TEBOWING

That's more than 20 hours of continuous praying to burn off those calories. Each slice is loaded with high-calorie meats, including pepperoni, ham, beef, bacon and sausage.

 

Fit Tip: Try cheese-less pizza with plenty of veggies -- broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms or even artichoke hearts -- on top. Also, avoid personal pan and stuffed-crust pizzas: The thick, oily crust equals added fat and calories.

 

SIX BOTTLES OF BUDWEISER BEER = DOING "THE WAVE" 4,280 TIMES

Beer and football just go together, but keep in mind, each beer is 145 calories.

 

Fit Tip: Planning on having a few bottles? Try Beck's Premier Light at only 64 calories per 12-ounce bottle, or MGD Light, 64 calories, Michelob Ultra or Natural Light at 95, or you can go very low with Budweiser Select for 55. Best bet is to sample a few light beers before the game to see which ones you prefer.

 

BLIMPE'S SUPER STACKED BLIMPIE BEST = 313 MINUTES OF CHANTING, POINTING AND WAVING A FOAM-HAND NUMBER ONE

This calorically laden sub includes slow-cured ham, salami, cappacola, prosciuttini and provolone.

 

Fit Tip: Go for low-fat cheese and skip the mayo. If you're buying at Blimpe try the Deli Trio Sub, a low-cal combination of ham, oven-roasted turkey and roast beef at 330 calories for a 6-inch sub.

 

ONE DEVILED EGG = 12 MINUTES OF CHEERLEADING

Ever try doing one of those cheerleading routines? I didn't think so. Deviled eggs are made with mayo, and in case you weren't sure, mayo is very high in calories.

 

Fit Tip: Use low-fat mayo, or how about just hard-boiled eggs with hot sauce?

 

ONE SLICE OF HOOSIER SUGAR CREAM PIE = 58 MINUTES OF CLIMBING THE STADIUM STAIRS

It's been said that this is the unofficial state pie of Indianapolis (where the Super Bowl is being held this year). The name says it all. "Sugar cream pie" is made with sugar, flour, whipping cream, milk and butter in a pie shell.

 

Fit Tip: Go to eatingwell.com or cookinglight.com and put ‘healthy cream pie’ in the search box.

 

ONE KFC EXTRA CRISPY CHICKEN BREAST AND ONE EXTRA CRISPY DRUMSTICK = 203 TOUCHDOWN DANCES IN THE END ZONE

That's a lot of dancing!! Deep-fried chicken is very high in calories, especially the extra crispy kind.

 

Fit Tip: Bake skinless chicken and use whole-grain bread crumbs.

 

APPLEBEE'S CHILI CHEESE NACHOS = 159 MINUTES OF PLAYING PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

That's nonstop time. Just like beer, nachos and the Big Game go hand-in-hand.

 

Fit Tip: Make your own nachos with low-fat cheese and black beans. Use salsa and make your own whole-wheat pita chips and you'll be even better off.

 

TEN LAY'S CLASSIC POTATO CHIPS WITH KRAFT FRENCH ONION DIP = 134 MINUTES DANCING TO MADONNA DURING THE HALFTIME SHOW

Dancing is actually great exercise (if you don't get nauseous from all the food you've eaten already). Each chip is 10.5 calories, and every dip of dip is 60 calories.

 

Fit Tip: Try Popchips, and make your dip with low-fat mayo or non-fat yogurt.

 

FIVE TOSTITOS RESTAURANT-STYLE TORTILLA CHIPS WITH 7-LAYER DIP = 110 MINUTES CLEANING THE STADIUM AFTER THE GAME

Each chip has 20 calories (yes 20!!) and 1 tablespoon of the seven-layer dip is approximately 70 calories.

 

Fit Tip: The answer is salsa -- it's very low in calories. And pick baked, low-calorie chips at about 120 calories per ounce. If you're eating the chips, have one at a time, and don't put out huge bowls of them. Make sure you have to get up each time you want more than six chips.

 

ONE PIZZA HUT CRISPY BONE-IN WING BUFFALO BURNIN HOT WITH BLUE CHEESE DRESSING = FACE PAINTING 8 WILD FANS

You ever see some of the fans who get their faces painted? Traditional wings are deep fried, not to mention the super high-calorie ranch or blue cheese dressing.

 

Fit Tip: You can easily make the wings yourself. Remove the skin (it saves lots of calories), soak them in hot sauce or roll them in egg whites, dip them in bread crumbs and bake them in the oven. Skip the blue cheese dressing, which has about 305 calories for 4 tablespoons. Dip them in hot sauce instead.

 

ONE BACON CHEDDAR JALAPENO POPPER = 60 MINUTES PERFORMING IN A MARCHING BAND

Those poppers are made with cream cheese, bacon and Cheddar cheese -- each one will cost you a bit of marching.

 

Fit Tip: Use turkey bacon, low-fat cream cheese and Cheddar cheese. Bake don't fry.

 

JUST ONE PEANUT = COACHING FOOTBALL FOR A LITTLE OVER A MINUTE

One peanut has about 5.5 calories. A handful, or about one ounce (30 peanuts), is 166 calories.

 

Fit Tip: Nuts are healthy, but they’re very high in calories. Don’t keep a huge bowl in front of you. And try to eat one at a time; don’t shove a handful in your mouth all at once.

It appears that Citi-Bank customers are getting a rude awakening. Last year, Citi had a promotion to entice potential customers to open a new checking account. If you opened up a checking account you received 25,000 frequent flyer miles. That is not a bad deal until you receive a notice stating that you owe taxes on that “gift.”

 

So how could that happen? Are frequent flyer programs all of the sudden a taxable benefit? Fortunately, frequent flyer miles remain a non-taxable benefit as long as they are considered a rebate. A rebate, money you receive because you spent money, is not considered a taxable benefit. However, reward points are considered a taxable benefit.

 

Reward points are given to you when you take an action such as opening an account versus a rebate because you spend money.

 

To add insult to injury, Citi has placed a value of $625.00 on the 25,000 miles. It seems pretty excessive when the dollar equivalent for American Express points is $250.00.

 

Of course, Citi is not at fault. You can find the information regarding taxes buried in some vaguely worded fine print.

 

I think that I can speak for all of those brand new customers from Citi- “Thanks Citi Bank, for making a benefit not so beneficial”.

 

This is just another good example of the dangers of the fine print. It is vitally important to read all of the fine print before signing up for anything. A bank like Citi-Bank certainly is not going to do you a favor and point it out. After all, you might not want to open up an account.

I wanted to post a link to the article below as a reminder of the liability that is all around us everyday. 

 

Identity theft is rampant. As a society we are aware of the potential problems. However, through our actions, it is as if we are blind to that fact. Thus, we make it easier for thieves to steal from us. It comes down to carelessness and/or thinking that we are in an environment where we can trust people will do the right thing.

 

This morning I was told that someone recently walked into a Starbucks at 8:30 pm and just grabbed a laptop that was sitting on a table unattended as the owner was getting coffee!

Criminals are bold and are figuring out new and fresh ways to steal identities. So, why make it easier?

 

I cannot tell you the number of times that during an account set-up process someone has pulled a piece of paper out of their wallet with a social security number written down.

So although this list will be somewhat obvious, make sure that you are not disregarding the obvious.

 

 

10 Things You Should Never Carry in Your Purse or Wallet

It is that time of the year and the taxes are due.   There are some that advocate that you pay your taxes with a credit card to rake in those reward points versus sending in a check and receiving nothing.   Well, you have to know that a big fat fee is going to be involved in the event that you use a credit card for payment.

So, let us look at an example.   Remember rule #1 when using reward points--the best way to utilize points is through travel benefits. Out of all travel benefits, airline tickets would rank #1 in my book. I also prefer American Express for their rewards points system or any card that gives 1% cash back.   With every dollar you spend 1% is put towards $1 of benefit. For example, if you spend $10,000, you have created a $100 credit that can be used to offset the cost of an airline ticket.

So using that as an example, say that you use your credit card to pay the balance of a $10,000 tax bill. In order to make that transaction, the service that you would use charges a 2.29% transaction fee. So, you charge the $10,000 on the card, pay $229.00, and then receive a $100.00 benefit for it.

Creating a $100 benefit by paying $229 for it just isn’t a good deal.

 

Do you ever stop long enough to just consider the world around you and the vast amount of change that is occurring? Take the world of book publishing for example. With Kindles, iPads, Nooks and the like, reading digital versions of books or “e-books” is starting to become the norm.

Consider a few of these statistics:

• Ebooks outsell print for the majority of titles on the USA today Best Seller list
• In 2011, it is estimated (by the Association of American Publisher) that sales were above 100 million a month for ebooks.

Will there come a day when digital readers, such as the Kindle, will cost next to nothing, or maybe even be free? What about book stores? The other day someone told me that his old college library now has no books in it at all.

What about the world of over priced college textbooks? College students have much better options today. They can purchase them in digital form.

Apple just rolled out digital textbooks and sold over 350,000 titles in the first 3 days. What is good for regular book publishing seems to be catching on with textbooks as well.

You can also rent your textbook. Neebo, a nationwide network of college bookstores backed by their online website Neebo.com, began giving away 100,000 textbook rentals (worth an estimated $6 million) starting January 2nd. The annual giveaway is just one of many ways that Neebo is trying to save students money, including offering a 20% discount on all textbook prices.

Students can go to freerental.neebo.com, select a book, “like” the Neebo Facebook page (www.facebook.com/neebo) and that book rental is free! In addition, once the free rental transaction is completed, the student has the option of going to Neebo.com to order all their textbooks at a 20 percent discount. Plus, all books ordered at Neebo.com include free shipping. The promotion will run through the end of January 2012 or until all the free rentals are snatched up.