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Football fans, listen up! Here’s the game plan for getting through the Super Bowl without blowing your diet:

First: Put the high calorie snacks in small bowls. Research shows that serving foods in small containers decreases consumption by 40%! That’s because we estimate the appropriate serving size based on the volume of the original container. In other words, one handful of chips from a small bowl seems like plenty but from a larger bowl, 2 handfuls feels more like a normal serving.

Our 2nd Super Bowl party tip: Use black plates. A study in the journal Appetite shows that people eat and drink less when using black dishes. The researchers think we subconsciously relate the color black with danger, death and mold.

So, how can you cut down on liquid calories? Use tall glasses. When longtime food researcher Dr. Brian Wansink asked volunteers to pour the same amount of liquid into differently shaped glasses, people poured 25 percent more into short ones. And, that held true even when the volunteers were professional bartenders.  Why because we focus our attention on the height of the liquid, and don’t compensate for the width of the glass.

So, use black plates, tall glasses, and smaller bowls for high-calorie items. That way, no matter which team wins the Super Bowl, your waistline will be a winner, too.

It’s time to maximize your LinkedIn profile!
That’s according to career columnist, Charlotte Cowles.

She says, now that we can’t network in person the way we used to, having a profile on LinkedIn has become essential if you want a new job.

Here’s how to make the most of LinkedIn’s algorithms to get noticed.

Cowles says to regularly engage with the site – whether that’s commenting on something someone posts, sending friend requests, or simply liking things. Those actions can boost your profile and get you on potential employers’ radars.

Also, the skills section of your profile is really important. Because recruiters often hunt for candidates using those skills as keywords. And you’re 20% more likely to get hired if your skills have been verified by your colleagues or LinkedIn connections.

Now, this last one may be harder to do – so you’ll need to set up notifications for when new jobs are posted to the site. But if you apply for a job listing within 10 minutes of it being posted, you’re four times more likely to hear back from a hiring manager.

Cold weather does more than make you shiver. It impacts your body in different ways.

For example: Your nose keeps running. Health professor, Dr. David King, from the University of Queensland, says breathing in cold, dry air boosts blood flow to your nose and mucus membranes, to help warm and humidify the air headed for your lungs. And that causes “cold-induced rhinitis” – AKA a runny nose.

Cold weather can also trigger a bad back. Research found construction workers working outdoors, were more likely to have neck and lower back pain than those working indoors. That’s because cold air makes us tense up. And the colder the weather, the more pain we’re likely to feel.

Cold weather also raises your risk for blood clots. Our body constantly tries to maintain a core temperature around 98 degrees, to protect our cells and organs. But as our body temperature drops, the stress to maintain that temperature causes our blood to become thicker and stickier, and more likely to clot. And that raises your risk for heart attack or stroke. Health expert Dr. King recommends keeping the room temperature above 65 degrees, the level when blood starts to thicken. Also, wear layers, and keep moving throughout the day to keep blood flowing around your body.

What’s behind the pounds we pack on every winter? Well, the fact of the matter is, we’re primed to LOSE weight in winter. According to research from Harvard Medical School, when we’re cold, our bodies use a significant amount of energy trying to warm us up. It’s process called “thermogenesis” – and it burns fat and boosts metabolism in a way similar to exercise.

But in winter, we do everything possible NOT to feel chilly.
We stay inside our heated homes and hibernate. But that means our activity levels are a lot lower – so we end up burning fewer calories each day than our bodies are used to.
There’s also a psychological component to it. Cleveland Clinic psychologist Dr. Susan Albers says, we also reach for comfort foods – which tend to be hot, like mac-n-cheese… because they literally warm our insides and make us feel warm emotionally.

So now that we know why we gain weight in winter, what can we do about it?

First, seek warming comfort in things other than food. Try putting on a robe or socks that have been warmed in the dryer.

Dr. Albers also suggests maintaining a steady sleep schedule. When you’re well-slept, it reduces your hunger hormones.

And pick an online exercise class to try. Even a 10-minute workout at home can boost metabolism and your mood.

The things you already love to do come with some serious health perks…

Like knitting, crocheting, and ceramics. Kathleen Hall is the CEO of the Stress Institute in Atlanta… and she says, repetitive activities trigger our relaxation response. And what makes knitting, crocheting, and ceramics even better is that they require what physiologists call “two-handed, bilateral, cross-body hand motions.” To put that simply: They force us to use both hands simultaneously. And that takes a lot of brainpower – so you have less mental energy to stress out. In fact, knitting is so effective at reducing anxiety, it’s being used as a treatment for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Another activity with great health benefits is cooking. According to the Johns Hopkins, people who regularly cook meals, eat about 130 fewer calories daily than those who don’t. And home cooked meals also tend to have fewer carbohydrates and less sugar.

If your passion is gardening: Studies show it helps alleviate symptoms of depression. The Norwegian University of Life Sciences conducted a study in which people who had been diagnosed with depression spent six hours a week growing flowers and vegetables. After three months, the participants had measurable improvements in their symptoms. And even three months AFTER the gardening program ENDED, their moods continued to improve!

In what may be the best news ever: Scientists have proven that chocolate and coffee make us smarter! That’s according to a joint study from the National Institute on Aging and Johns Hopkins University. The scientists discovered that methylxanthines – a class of chemicals found in coffee and dark chocolate, and tea to a lesser extent – promote sustained cognitive performance. Translation: They can help us think better! They also protect our neurons in a way that staves off diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even brain cancer. The same study also discovered that a chemical released when your brain processes caffeine can make the effects of coffee, chocolate and tea even better! Translation: caffeine makes your brain more flexible and resilient.

So, if you want to keep your brain healthy today, and in the future, you should be consuming coffee, chocolate and tea!

How much? Well, studies have shown that the ideal daily dosage of coffee is about six cups. If that sounds like too much coffee, you can replace a cup or two with an ounce of dark chocolate. And even if you drink your coffee with cream and sugar, you’ll still get the brain-boost, regardless.

Feeling tired? Experts say there are a lot of ways to combat it. But the best way depends on what “brand” of tired you are. So, here’s a list of the most common reasons we feel tired, and how to fix them:

• You’re emotionally tired. Meaning, you’re wiped out from stress or fighting or anxiety. According to Yale research director Dr. David Katz, emotional exhaustion is a result of our stress hormones interfering with our feel-good brain chemicals – leaving us feeling like we’re dragging – from our brain to our muscles. To combat it, Dr. Katz says do the exact opposite of anxiety, and have some fun. See a friend, go to a movie or take a hike. It’ll divert your mental focus and reduce your stress, so you’ll feel more refreshed.

• If you’re having a mid-day energy slump – blame your lunch! Studies show that oversize, carb-heavy meals can cause huge blood sugar swings, which leave us feeling tired. Then we reach for something sweet to perk us back up again. But that creates a cycle of a sugar buzz followed by a sugar crash. Instead, eat less at lunch. But make sure what you do eat has a combo of fiber and protein to keep your energy up. Because the fewer sugars and carbs we have in our meals, the more “awake” we feel.

• What if you’re so tired you’re wired? That usually means you’re suffering from a combination of stress and fatigue. Experts say your brain gets so stimulated that it switches into overdrive – making it hard to sleep. The fix? Try focusing on a non-emotional task – like solving a word puzzle, or counting backwards from 100 in threes – as in 100, 97, 94, and so on. Sleep scientists say that’s a proven way of distracting your brain from whatever’s stressing you out. And when your brain can’t focus on anything else, your body will wind down on its own.

You love romantic movies, he hates them. You can’t stand baseball; he wants to watch all 128 games every season. And you’re madly in love. What is it about opposites that attract? Dating experts broke down the stages of this explosive kind of romance.

Stage 1: First, they drive you mad… But you just can’t get enough of each other. Mary Valentis, PHD and author of “Romantic Intelligence”, says the reason you’re attracted to them is because they “represent qualities in you that you don’t express, or qualities that you lack but wish you had”.

Then in Stage 2: The Chemistry Begins. At first everything about this person annoys you. How they dress, how they talk, even the way they flirt with you. In cases where your mind finds this person repulsive, you might want to check with your body. R. Don Steele author of “Body Language Secrets” says “If your hands sweat, your heart beats faster, and you feel shaky around the other person then, differences or not, they might be the right one.” That anger you’re feeling could be you trying to keep the attraction down.

Stage 3: They grow on you.
Before you know it you find yourself actually appreciating the differences. They open your eyes to new and different things. This is a very attractive quality and experiencing new things suppresses your stress hormones and fills you with feel-good endorphins.

The final stage you go through when opposites attract: You’re hooked. One day you realize that this person might be the one. And they’re nothing like the daydreams you had all these years of the perfect partner. Linda Schnapp a NY based psychotherapist says “We think we’re going to end up with someone like us. But we’re unconsciously drawn to someone who complements us.”
So the next time you meet somebody you can’t stand, give it a few months. They might just be the yin to your yang.

Why are some goals so hard to keep?  Like our goals to exercise more, lose weight or quit smoking. And why do we keep setting the same goals – again and again – even after we fail?

According to psychologist Dr. Janet Polivy, it may boil down to the fact that we’re too optimistic! In fact, several new studies show that the human brain is “hard-wired” to be optimistic – because optimism is what drives us to challenge ourselves, compete, and believe that we can achieve new things. And while that sounds like a good thing, Dr. Polivy says there are times when our optimism can get the best of us, and sabotage our chances of success.

She says it’s because when we’re too optimistic, we tend to set unrealistically high expectations for ourselves. And over time, if we keep failing to meet our lofty goals, it kills our motivation, and makes us less likely to succeed.

Consider a study Dr. Polivy did with a group of chronic dieters. She put everyone on a moderate diet that helped them lose a pound a week, on average. But then, as soon as the study ended, none of the participants stuck with the diet. Why?  Because everyone had unrealistic expectations that they’d lose much more than “just a pound” a week.  So, they figured the diet wasn’t working – and they gave up!

She says this helps explain why 90 million of us set resolutions each year to lose weight – or to quit smoking – but only 1-in-10 of us succeed.  Dr. Polivy says the key to reaching our goals is to be realistic because many studies show that people who make realistic changes in their life generally do succeed.

Sometimes being optimistic can backfire because it can drive us to set wildly unrealistic goals. Like, instead of just vowing to lose weight, we may tell ourselves we can lose 20 pounds in a month! Then, when we fall short of our goals, we give up, and go back to our bad habits.

So, how can we set more realistic goals? Here are some tricks recommended by NYU psychologist, Dr. Peter Gollwitzer:

First: Don’t be afraid to fail. Because each time we fail to reach a goal, it’s a chance to learn from our mistakes, and come up with a better plan to try. And the more we try, the more likely we are to succeed.

Next: Avoid goals with the word “don’t” in them. Like telling yourself “don’t eat junk food anymore.” Dr. Gollwitzer says people are much more likely to stick with goals if they involve DOING something – like saying, “I will eat more fruits and vegetables”.

Another way to set realistic goals: Have an “if/then plan”.  That’s a specific plan to replace a bad habit. So, if your bad habit is downing a pint of Haagen-Dasz when you have a bad day, Dr. Gollwitzer recommends this “if/then” plan:

“If I have a bad day, then I’m going to call my best friend or spend an hour walking my dog.” He says the easier your “if/then plan” is, the more likely you’ll be to stick with it.

The takeaway is this: When you set smaller, realistic goals, studies show your odds of achieving them will skyrocket!