Most kids, if given the choice, would live out their young lives subsisting on nothing but chicken fingers. If those chicken fingers happened to come from Chili’s, they might be pretty short lives. An active 8-year-old boy should eat about 1,600 calories a day. This single meal plows through 70 percent of that allotment. America, we have a problem.

Knowing firsthand the struggle with understanding what is good or bad since I was always the fat kid and then topping out over 500 pounds. I have analyzed kids’ menu offerings at all the major chains, taken a hard look at packaged foods, and uncovered the truth about what this country is really feeding its children.

The bad news is that many of America’s food industry titans are pumping kids’ meals full of added sugars, dangerous fats, and empty calories. But, there’s great news, too: Kid’s meals tell us a lot about how adults will fare, as well. Read on for all the dietary disasters, and an equal number of drive-thru saviors, for everybody in the family.

Worst Breakfast Cereal: Cap’n Crunch (1 cup) 147 calories; 2 grams (g) fat (1 g saturated); 16 g sugar; 1 g fiber. Sweetened cereals are among the most dominant sources of empty calories in a child’s diet. Aside from the added vitamins, which are mandated by the government, this cereal is an amalgam of largely worthless food particles and chemicals. Buyers beware: Most cereals marketed to kids suffer similar problems. Eat this instead: Cascadian Farm Clifford Crunch. (1 cup) 100 calories; 1 g fat (0 g saturated); 6 g sugar; 5 g fiber.

Worst Breakfast Pastry: Burger King Cini-minis with vanilla icing 500 calories; 21 g fat (6 g saturated, 5 g trans); 72 g carbohydrates. There is no worse way to start your day than with a combination of refined flour, sugar, and trans fats. What’s more, studies show that overweight people who trade fast-digesting carbohydrates for more protein at breakfast have an easier time slimming down. Eat this instead: Burger King Egg & Cheese Croissan’wich 300 calories; 17 g fat (6 g saturated, 2 g trans); 26 g carbohydrates.

Worst Side Dish: Bob Evans Smiley Face Potatoes. 524 calories; 31 g fat (6 g saturated); 57 g carbohydrates; 646 mg sodium. Not even an extended bath in hot oil would wipe the grins from faces of these creepy-looking potatoes. When you’re eating out, side dishes make or break a meal, and with more fat and calories than Bob’s sirloin steak, this side falls woefully into the latter category. The lesson for kids: Just because they’re smiling doesn’t mean they’re nice. Eat this instead: Bob Evans Home Fries. 186 calories; 7 g fat (1 g saturated); 27 g carbohydrates; 547 mg sodium.

Worst Home Style Meal: Boston Market kids’ Meatloaf with Sweet Potato Casserole and Cornbread 580 calories; 29 g fat (12 g saturated); 780 milligrams (mg) sodium. What begins as beef ends up with 42 ingredients, including partially hydrogenated oil. What’s more, the sweet-potato casserole is topped off with marshmallow, brown sugar, and molasses. Eat this instead: Boston Market Kids’ Roasted Turkey with Green Beans and Cornbread 210 calories; 6 g fat (2 g saturated); 568 mg sodium.

Worst Pasta Meal: Romano’s Macaroni Grill Kid’s Macaroni ‘n’ Cheese 600 calories; 31 g fat (20 g saturated); 1,720 mg sodium. This dish used to be more than double the size and caloric impact. The chain finally cut down the massive portion size. Thanks, Macaroni Grill. (P.S. It’s still a disaster.) Eat this instead: Kid’s Grilled Chicken & Broccoli 390 calories; 5 g fat (2 g saturated), 560 mg sodium.

Worst Sandwich: Au Bon Pain Kids Grilled Cheese 670 calories; 41 g fat (25 g saturated); 1,060 mg sodium. Au Bon Pain turns a simple sandwich into a complicated mess, with just about as much saturated fat as 24 strips of bacon. Eat this instead: Au Bon Pain Kids Macaroni and Cheese 220 calories; 14 g fat (9 g saturated); 650 mg sodium.

Worst Prepared Lunch: Oscar Mayer Lunchables Maxed Out Turkey & Cheddar Cracker Combo 680 calories; 22 g fat (9 g saturated); 1,440 mg sodium. The maxed Out line is the worst of the lackluster Lunchables, with an ingredient list that looks like the index of a chemistry textbook. Oscar Mayer even manages to cram in 61 grams of sugar more than you’ll find in four Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! Eat this instead: Hillshire Farm Deli Wraps Smokehouse Ham & Swiss Wrap Kit with dressing (1 serving) 260 calories; 11g fat (4 g saturated); 960 mg sodium.

Worst Fast Food Meal: Burger King Double Cheeseburger and Small French Fries 740 calories; 42 g fat (17 g saturated, 4.5 g trans); 1,410 mg sodium. Burger King’s dubious double burger earns the distinction of being one of the fattiest meals for an on-the-go kid, with more than a day’s worth of saturated fat for the average 8-year-old. To make matters worse, it’s also loaded with trans fat and sodium. Eat this instead: Burger King Chicken Tenders Kid’s Meal (4 piece) with Burger King Fresh Apple Fries 215 calories; 11 g fat (3 g saturated, 1.5 g trans); 440 mg sodium.

Worst Pizza: Cosi Kids Pepperoni Pizza 806 calories; 40 g fat; 94 g carbohydrates; 1,423 mg sodium. Before your child eats this doughy, oversized pizza, consider strapping two boxes of Mozzarella Bagel Bites to her stomach to see if she likes the added bulk, because that’s how many calories she stands to absorb. You’re better off ordering in even two slices of a 12-inch pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s is only 440 calories. Eat this instead: Cosi Gooey Grilled Cheese Sandwich 269 calories; 15 g fat; 22 g carbohydrates; 314 mg sodium.

Worst Breakfast: Denny’s Big Dipper French Toastix with Whipped Margarine and Maple Flavored Syrup 810 calories; 76 g fat (14 g saturated); 107 g carbohydrates. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and kids, after all, need energy to grow and play. But that doesn’t mean you should let your children eat a breakfast twice in one setting. At this size, four French Toastix is three too many. Eat this instead: Denny’s Smiley Alien Hotcakes with Sugar-Free Maple Flavored Syrup and Anti-Gravity Grapes 313 calories; 3 g fat (0.5 g saturated); 71 g carbohydrates.

Worst Frozen Supermarket Meal: DiGiorno for One Garlic Bread Crust Pepperoni Pizza 840 calories; 44 g fat (16 g saturated; 3.5 g trans); 1, 450 mg sodium. Another reason to read the nutrition label: The name says it’s made to satisfy a single appetite, yet it contains a child’s full day of saturated fat and a giant glob of trans fat in the crust. Whether fresh or frozen, keep your pizza crust thin and it’s topping pepperoni free. Eat this instead: Red Baron Singles Thin & Crispy 4-Cheese Pizza 300 calories; 14 g fat (8 g saturated); 600 mg sodium.

So many times we have no idea what is in our favorite kids food. I hope this sheds a little light on the subject. I have done much more research and will be writing more articles highlighting other restaurants kids meals.

I used to weight over 500 pounds and since losing over 300 pounds of fat, I am constantly reviewing and learning what is being served to me. Best rule of thumb, ask, and see if your favorite restaurant has dietary guides available.

Hyundai has carved a special name for itself for coming out with vehicles which have great value, can compete with the best in the business and all this can be done while saving yourself a little amount of money.

Introduction

The Hyundai Elantra is one car which will take you by surprise. With the added advantages of low price and long warranty, this machine has the capability to compete with all the big boys in the compact sedan segment. The 2008 Elantra is counted amongst the midsize sedans nowadays on account of its spacious interior volume.

Hyundai Elantra Models

Hyundai Elantra is available in two trim levels: SE and GLS. The GLS is equipped with standard equipment like tilt steering, keyless entry, rear seat which can be 60-40 split folded and power accessories. The SE model includes air-conditioning, cruise control, fog lights, six-speaker stereo CD\MP3 player, satellite radio, audio jack and vanity mirror. These features can be added to the GLS as part of a package comprising of popular equipment. The SE also has features like tilt-and-telescoping-leather-wrapped wheel having audio controls and trip computer. The cost of owning an Hyundai Elantra ranges from $14,000 to $17,800 depending upon the trim level as well as body style which can be either a sedan or wagon. The Elantra gives an impressive mileage of 24 mpg in city conditions and 33 mpg in highway conditions.

Engine Specifications

Even though the Elantra only has an old-design 2.0 L, four-cylinder engine, it is extremely competitive in terms of its fuel economy and responsiveness. On account of its extremely low emissions, it has garnered a lot of recognition in the automobile segment. The 138 HP engine is coupled to a five-speed manual transmission drive with a four-speed automatic transmission being optional. The Elantra takes 8.4 seconds to reach from 0 to 60 mph.

Internal Features

The cabin volume of the 2008 Elantra is an impressive 112.1 cubic feet. Rear seatbacks are foldable allowing the carrying of cargo. Hip room and trunk area is also quite impressive. It also has abundant storage compartments. The interiors are notably quiet as compared to other compact cars as the road and wind noise is negligible.

External Features

The dimensions of the new Elantra are 1.6 * 2.0 * 2.2 inches. It has trapezoidal headlamps, cup-shaped grille having chrome bars and a simple face. It is available in white, pearl and metallic colors.

Safety Features

All Hyundai Elantra Models ABS, anti-whiplash head restraints and side airbags at the front, and full length curtain airbags at the side. The SE model also contains brake assist and stability control for ABS.

Roomy interiors, good safety, long warranty, decent styling, and high mileage makes the Elantra a desirable as well as an enjoyable machine to own. Armed with the low prices, the Elantra surely scores above its competitors in various aspects.

The video game industry has exploded in the last decade. Video games are not just for kids and teenagers any more. More adults than ever and even seniors are now playing video games. The video game industry has exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry in a very short amount of time and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Even in tough economic times video game sales keep growing. When people are laid off and stuck at home they need something to do. That’s just more demand for video games. After playing a game for a while it doesn’t take long before people have to have something better and most will find a way to buy the latest release.

This demand is so huge that video game producers are having a difficult time keeping up and hiring enough employees to meet the demand. One of the easiest positions to get into in the video game industry is being a tester for new products. Often times when a game is released the programmers are in such a rush to make the deadline that they are sometimes released with bugs and errors. Because of this there is an increasing demand for people who are willing to get paid to test video games.

Testers who get paid to test video games are sent new releases free so they can play the games just like they would for their own entertainment. Then they log any problems they find and send the list to the company. Different people play games differently so some people may miss an error that another person might catch. And the programmers have had their heads buried in the program for months so they are not very objective and are likely to overlook a lot of things. So what the video game producers need is many testers who will play the game at home just like someone would do in the real world. Testing by average every day users playing at home provides a more real world experience where the errors are more likely to happen and less likely to be overlooked.

For people who love to play video games being a video game tester from home can be an excellent opportunity. For more tips and ideas about how to get paid to play video games

Wordpress.Com is growing in popularity as a blog host offering free services. As of this time, it has some     blogs in its roster and the number is growing everyday. Now why are more and more bloggers shifting to Wordpress as their blog host of choice? Take note of the following reasons:

1. Ownership – Wordpress allows bloggers to take full ownership of their blogs without sub-domain name structures. Having your own Wordpress domain allows you to establish a stronger personality and brand, at affordable rates, too.

2. Blog Longevity – With Wordpress as your blog host, your blog will never expire or be deleted from the World Wide Web unless you do it yourself. Wordpress has a back-up system that enables you to restore your blog in case your page was hacked or you had server problems.

3. Categorization – One advantage of Wordpress compared to its other competitors is its effective categorization system that allows you to organize your thoughts and arrange your posts better. It is not only easier for you, but for your visitors and search engine users as well.

4. Customization Options – As discovered by the millions of Wordpress bloggers, there are thousands of Wordpress plug-ins available to help you tweak your blog according to your taste and personality. The blog host also allows you to customize your blog and make it more search engine friendly.

5. Pings – Ping services and blog directories work well with RSS feeds from Wordpress. The feeds could be automatically pinged once a post is published.

Marketing is one of the best strategies in business production.  It is massive approach that convinces people to patronize a product.  Moreover, the best important asset in marketing is the member or staffs, who conduct the planning, advertising, over-all presentation and launching of the product.  Marketing means direct selling to the target clientele by way of advertising the merchandise in various ways that are most effective to the target costumers.  Conventional ways in marketing include giving of flyers, brochures, leaflets, workshops and orientations.  Long ago, this is highly applicable because there is a direct contact between the costumers and the marketers.  Questions are directly asked and straightforwardly answered as well.  The presentation of the product is done through sample testing and testimonials so that clients who attended the orientation can more or less testify or rectify the veracity of the marketing strategy used.

In marketing a best featured product, skill is the most essential element in selling.  Probably, this is the reason why employers would recommend their staffs to be people-oriented, dynamic and should have strong interpersonal skills.  The more charismatic a person is, the greater the chance his convincing effect is to the target clients.  It is not an easy task to be a good speaker.  Additionally, emotional intelligence is far more preferred compared to a high intelligence quotient.  However, if the individual possesses both aspects, it would be much better; the training would just serve to enhance the employee’s innate capability.
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Today, we now say hello to USB Flash drives and good bye to the floppy disks. These flash drives are now part of the everyday fashion too. You can see some persons wearing it with their ID’s, and even clinking with their key chains. This only tells one thing, USB Flash Drives are very handy and trendy.

There are some benefits in using USB Flash Drives that become the reasons why it is now the preferred tool of many people in storing and transporting data on computers.

Compact and lightweight. Compare with compact discs and floppy disks, the owner can carry it in his pockets without worrying about its breakage, and scratches.

Another good thing about having flash drive as a data storage tool is its protection from dusts that can ruin all the files inside because of its hard plastic covering and sealed caps.

It is also convenient and less hassle when you use of your USB flash drives because it fits almost all USB ports of every modern computers.

These flash drives come in different memory sizes. Unlike those floppy disks that only has more than one megabyte of file storages, there are now up to eight gigabytes of storage capacity that are out in the market. Who knows, that someday there will be more usage of these amazing tool other than storing and transporting data.

As long as there are still things that man can create to satisfy their needs, technologies on computer don’t stop to grow and develop.

These days everyone seems to be getting on board the fitness train and I’m sure you, like everyone, is looking for a gym to join. But with so many to choose from where do you begin and what things should you consider? Other than the fact that it should be near your home, making it more comfortable for you and less expensive since you don’t have to pay for transportation fees there are a few more things to consider. First are the amenities that the gym has. Find out the features such as the equipment, classes that they offer, free use of facilities, their spa, their sauna, the food that they serve, their personal trainers, parking as well as if they offer babysitting. These are the first things you should ask about.

Another factor to consider is the cost of membership. This would require you to visit the gym itself so that you can also learn about the different packages that they have on offer that you can take full advantage of. They would ask you about how long you plan on staying as a member and if you were recommended by anyone, perhaps a friend, the latter can potentially get you a good deal if the gym offers that kind of discount. Basically, it’s all about comfort and how comfortable you are inside their facility. They can offer the best of the best but if you aren’t comfortable with being there then you will not enjoy your work out. In the end, you would want to be in a place where you feel comfortable and at the same time enjoy working out.

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a muscular minority mandate Tuesday night as Canadian voters entrusted the prime minister with the levers of government in tough economic times — but not a blank cheque.

The outcome saw the Liberals sink to their lowest level of popular support since the election of 1867 — and surely means a third change of leadership in five years for what was long dubbed Canada’s natural governing party.

Aided by vote-splitting in Canada’s most populous province, the Tories climbed to within a dozen seats of a majority. They did it without significantly boosting their share of the popular vote.

The Conservatives won 143 seats, up from 124 in the last election, while the Liberals were down to 76 from 103. The NDP was up by eight seats to 37, and the Bloc Quebecois shed one seat to 50. Two Independents also won.

In terms of vote share, the Conservatives got 38 per cent, the Liberals 26, the NDP 18, the Bloc 10, and the Greens 7.

Voter turnout was just 59 per cent, the lowest in federal election history.

The Ipod 4th gen nano will be released soon and here are the latest spec from Apple.

Size and weight:

  • Height: 3.6 inches (90.7 mm)
  • Width: 1.5 inches (38.7 mm)
  • Depth: 0.24 inch (6.2 mm)
  • Weight: 1.3 ounces (36.8 grams)

Display:

  • 2-inch (diagonal) liquid crystal display with blue-white LED backlight
  • 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 204 pixels per inch

Capacity:

  • 8GB or 16GB flash drive2
  • Holds up to 2,000 or 4,000 songs in 128-Kbps AAC format3
  • Holds up to 7,000 or 14,000 iPod-viewable photos4
  • Holds up to 8 hours or 16 hours of video5
  • Stores data via USB flash drive

Battery and power

  • Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
  • Playback time
  • Music playback time: Up to 24 hours when fully charged
  • Video playback time: Up to 4 hours when fully charged

You can find out more at the offical apple web site.

Now that the Olympics are over there is tons of images online.  Here is some fun images that the guys from student metro posted.  Hope you enjoy then and hopefully this will extend your Olympic spirit for an extra few days.