You already cook meat on the grill. Why not add fruits and veggies? They help you boost your summer nutrition and taste delicious.
Choose Fresh Produce
Whether you decide to grill pineapple, watermelon, corn or asparagus, make sure it’s fresh. Ideally, the produce you grill should be firm and picked within the past three days.
Brush on the Oil
You’ll want to stock quality canola, olive or coconut oil in your pantry before you grill produce. It adds extra flavor to your grilled produce and a light coating works together with foil packets or a non-stick grate to ensure the fruits and veggies don’t stick to the grill.
Mix a Few Marinades
In addition to the oil, prepare a few marinades. Olive oil infused with herbs, raspberries, mint or other flavorings, honey and low-fat or Greek yogurt enhance the taste of your grilled produce.
Leave the Skin On
The skin of many fruits and veggies contains healthy nutrients. So, leave veggie skins on when you grill them and maximize the nutrient content of the grilled veggies you eat. Most fruits, however, grill better without the skin.
Pre-Cook Some Veggies
Certain veggies cook more evenly on the grill when you pre-cook them in the kitchen. To prep asparagus, beets, broccoli, parsnips, potatoes, squash and carrots for grilling, steam or blanch them until they’re al dente. Alternatively, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, onions and eggplant will cook evenly when you grill them raw.
Use the Right Temperature
When you cook fruits and veggies over moderately hot coals, the outside could cook faster than the inside. You’ll want to rotate the produce between direct and indirect heat so that each piece cooks evenly and completely.
Whether you cook for one or 100, prepare fruits and veggies on the grill and enjoy a summer nutrition boost. They help you stay healthy, and you’ll feel good knowing that you’re helping your family and friends stay healthy, too.
You might love the warm summer temperatures, but they can be dangerous when you are working out. If you are not careful, you could end up with dehydration or heatstroke. The following tips can help you keep up stay safe while you stay in good shape over the summer.
Exercise During the Cool Parts of the Day
Avoid the intense heat of the noon-time sun when possible. Instead of going for a walk during your lunch break, exercise early in the morning when temperatures are lowest. Another option is to wait until the sun goes down and the temperature starts to drop in the evening. If you work out before dawn or after sunset, wear reflective clothing so that car drivers can see you more easily. If you exercise during the day, use sunscreen.
Stay Hydrated
You can quickly become dehydrated when you exercise. To prevent dehydration, men should drink 12 8-ounce cups and women should get 8 cups of water per day. You need extra water when the weather is windy or dry.
Consume an additional 2 cups of water about an hour before your workout, and drink 8 ounces of water every 15 minutes while you are exercising. Weigh yourself before and after your workout, and drink an additional 16 ounces, or half-liter, of water for every pound that you lost during your workout.
Symptoms of mild dehydration can include thirst, headaches, fatigue, muscle cramping and muscle weakness. Stop exercising and drink some water immediately if you notice these symptoms.
Adjust Your Exercise Program
Be flexible with your exercise program during the summer. Water activities, such as swimming laps or taking water aerobics classes, can give you an excellent aerobic workout while you stay cool compared to participating in activities such as running or cycling. You can also adjust your workout program while maintaining a high level of fitness by lowering the intensity of your exercise sessions on hot days.
Finally, you can opt for indoors workouts instead of heading outdoors. You can follow an exercise DVD in your own air-conditioned home, or go to a health club with air conditioning. There, you can run on the treadmill, use the stationary bikes or elliptical machines, lift weights, and take group fitness classes without exposing yourself to the sun.
With a bit of caution, you can have fun, stay fit, and stay safe this summer.
Create a safety culture within your organization. Let every employee know safety is the number one employee benefit. The top executive takes the lead and mentions some safety news in every company meeting. Simply talking and promoting safety is time, it does not cost a great deal of money.
Some specifics:
Drivers must use seat belts, must be sober and drug free, not use cell phones or text while driving, and not pick up unauthorized passengers. At least semi-annually, drug test every driver and check their driving records. Randomly test one quarter of the drivers every three months. Establish a threshold for tickets and accidents, and stick to that standard. These minimum safety standards cost about as much as a tank of gas in a pick-up.
Supply personal safety protective equipment for employees. Although this requirement comes from OSHA regulations, it’s a great investment too. One eye wash at the local doc in the box costs about as much as a hundred pairs of safety glasses.
Harnesses to tie off workers at heights cost little next to broken bones and death from a fall.
Hard hats are about fifteen to twenty dollars each. Closing a head wound runs about five thousand.
Reflective vests or coveralls, again, cost much less than a man versus loader collision.
Now, suppose you could save five percent of your workers’ compensation premium for the next three years from reduced experience mod or lower premium rates. You can afford to make the investment in safety equipment.
Consider an incentive program like this: quarterly bonus for no injuries and perfect prompt attendance. Perhaps pay everyone who meets those criteria an extra fifty cents per hour for the quarter. This extra pay amounts to about one hundred dollars per month. Wouldn’t it be worth everyone earning it? Or, maybe one quarter the earners get a pair of Red Wing boots, a gift card to their favorite tool store, a gift card oriented towards their spouses, a flat screen television or use your imagination.
Small investments in safety awareness and loss prevention do pay large dividends in reduced losses.
Rear-end collisions are the most common accidents between vehicles.1 They occur when drivers do not have enough time to perceive and react safely to slowing or stopped traffic. Increasing your following distance can help give you time to react when someone brakes in front of you.
The Three-Second Rule
Increasing the distance between you and the car ahead can help give you the time you need to recognize a hazard and respond safely. The National Safety Council recommends a minimum three second following distance.2
Determining the three-second gap is relatively easy. When following a vehicle, pick an overhead road sign, a tree or other roadside marker. Note when the vehicle ahead passes that marker, then see how many seconds it takes (count 1-1,000; 2-1,000; 3-1,000) for you to pass the same spot. If it is not at least three seconds, leave more space and increase your following distance.
Think of following distance in terms of time, not space. With a standard of 2.5 seconds, highway engineers use time, rather than distance, to represent how long it takes a driver to perceive and react to hazards. The National Safety Council also uses this standard (plus a little extra for safety) when recommending the three-second rule for following distance.3
Sometimes Three Seconds Is Not Enough
The three-second rule is recommended for passenger vehicles during ideal road and weather conditions. Slow down and increase your following distance even more during adverse weather conditions or when visibility is reduced. Also increase your following distance if you are driving a larger vehicle or towing a trailer.
Distractions, such as texting, reaching for a drink or glancing at a navigation device, also play a role in rear-end collisions. Even if you use the three-second rule, you may not have time to react to a hazard if you are distracted. It is another reason why you should avoid distractions while driving.4
Nine out of 10 Americans drive to their travel destination.¹
If you are among those planning to hit the road, remember: safe driving starts before you even leave the driveway. Securing luggage, maintaining vehicle balance and keeping clear lines of sight from the driver’s seat is key.
Learn how to pack your vehicle for safer travels in these videos with Travelers specialist Chris Hayes — and make your road trip a memorable one, for all the right reasons.
The fastest-growing white-collar crime in the United States is identity fraud. ID fraud is when someone commits a crime or fraud in your name using your stolen personal information. No one, regardless of background or financial status, is immune to identity fraud and various cyber threats continue to grow with no sign of slowing down.
If your identity is stolen, it can affect your finances, credit history and reputation.
Take Action Immediately:
Flag your credit reports. Contact the fraud department of one of the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). Tell them you are an identity theft victim. Ask them to place a “fraud” alert in your file and confirm that they will contact the other two companies.
Get copies. Ask for a copy of the credit report. They are required to give you a free copy of your report if it is inaccurate because of fraud.
Consider requesting a credit freeze. You might want to place a credit freeze on your credit file, which means that potential creditors cannot get your credit report. This makes it less likely that a potential identity thief can open accounts in your name. First, contact your state’s Attorney General’s office, then contact each credit reporting company.
Contact creditors. Contact your creditors about any accounts that have been changed or opened fraudulently. Ask to speak with someone in the security or fraud department.
File a report. File a report with your local police. Get a copy of the police report, so you have proof of the crime.
Keep Records. Keep records of your conversations and all correspondence.
You already cook meat on the grill. Why not add fruits and veggies? They help you boost your summer nutrition and taste delicious.
You might love the warm summer temperatures, but they can be dangerous when you are working out. If you are not careful, you could end up with dehydration or heatstroke. The following tips can help you keep up stay safe while you stay in good shape over the summer.
