When choosing broths, go with the low-fat variety. If you are making a creamy soup and the recipe calls for heavy cream, use a lower-fat substitute, such as 2% milk. You could also try a non-dairy milk if you are vegan or lactose-intolerant. Need a thick soup? Switch out the sour cream for some pureed, mild-tasting white beans. This would also give you an extra dose of fiber, protein, and other nutrients. Cutting fats and calories are not the only ways to make soup healthier. Another common culprit in soup is the excess sodium, and you can make your soup healthier by using low-sodium broths and less salt. This does not mean that your soup has to be flavorless. Try adding some fresh or dried herbs, such as: cilantro/coriander, ginger, garlic, or pepper.  Spices not only add flavor, but they also contain antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, both of which are beneficial to your health.  Other ways to add a salty flavor is to use lemon juice, lime juice, or rice vinegar.  Switch out seasoned salt (ie: garlic salt) for herb-only seasoning, such as: garlic powder or onion salt. Vegetables are a great way of introducing antioxidants, fiber, minerals, and vitamins to your diet. Beans can add fiber and protein while making your soup thicker. You can use fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables. If you are using canned vegetables, however, make sure that they are low in sodium. Meat is a great way of adding protein to your meal, but it can also add unhealthy fats. Whenever you can, try to use lean meats, such as chicken and turkey, in your soups. If you can't replace the meat you are using, go for a lean or reduced fat option, such as:  Extra-lean or lean ground beef Ground chicken breast or turkey breast Turkey bacon or Canadian bacon If your soup recipe calls for pasta, noodles, or rice, try using whole wheat pasta, whole wheat noodles, or brown rice instead. If you don't like brown rice, you could also try wild rice or pearl barley. Whole grains are full of beneficial fibers, vitamins, and nutrients. There is nothing wrong with adding a little bit of bacon, cheese, or sour cream to your soup. Instead of using them in the main body of your soup, however, use them as a topping instead. This way, you will extra the extra flavor, but not the extra fats and calories. Here are some other ways you can cut corners while indulging in the goodies:  Use reduced-fat, finely shredded cheese instead of regular, full-fat shredded cheese. Love bacon? Try turkey bacon or chopped up Canadian bacon instead of regular bacon. Need sour cream? Try low-fat sour cream or plain, non-fat Greek yogurt. Want to add some crackers? Try toasted whole wheat break or whole grain crackers instead.

Summary: Use a base that is low in fat. Watch the sodium. Add some vegetables or beans for extra fiber. Watch the kind of meat you add into your soup. Use whole grains. Go easy on the extras, such as bacon, cheese, and sour cream. Finished.


Count to 10 or 20 seconds as you inhale. As you breathe, your belly should expand. If it does, you are reaching the deepest part of your lungs. If your chest and shoulders move, you are breathing from the top part of your lungs.  Avoid hyperventilation, which is the practice of taking quick, small breaths before you submerge yourself. This practice can increase your chances of blacking out. If inhaling for 10 seconds is too much, start out by taking in as much breath as you can. Each time you do it, try to inhale for a second longer. Once you can no longer take in any more breath, dive underwater or otherwise submerge yourself. Holding your breath while underwater may cause you to blackout. Instead, slowly exhale through your mouth or nose while you are underwater. As you exhale, you should be pushing out a constant stream of bubbles from your nose or mouth. Exhaling will not cause water to enter your nose or mouth. If you exhale properly, your body will sink to the bottom. If you are not, your body will rise to the surface. As you get better at this exercise, try sitting on the bottom of the pool until you need air. Unless you are an experienced free diver, you should not stay underwater for too long. If you do, you might black out or drown. Instead, come back up for air once your exhalation is over or you feel the need to breathe.

Summary: Inhale deeply from the bottom of your lungs. Submerge yourself in the water at the top of the inhalation. Exhale while you are underwater. Sink to the bottom of the pool to see if you are exhaling properly. Rise back up as soon as you feel the urge to breathe.


Fake news is often “recycled”; a popular fake-news story from five years ago may be resurrected by an unscrupulous site. Click through the links and sources in a potentially fake news article, and check the publication dates of every article. If a current article cites sources from a decade ago, the news is likely fake. Fake news can also circulate internationally. For example, a fake story could originate in the United States, die out over time, and be presented as “breaking news” in the UK three years later. Especially during national elections, fake news sites will publish information that plays directly into the hands of one political party. Fake news sites often accomplish this by playing into the fears of a specific group or political party, and relying on individuals in that party to believe the fake news that confirms their fears without evaluating the source for authenticity. This phenomenon is known as “confirmation bias”: individuals with strong beliefs are eager to read news that affirms those beliefs, and hesitant to believe sources that they disagree with. When something groundbreaking or surprising happens, multiple news outlets will report on it. If only one website is reporting on a newsworthy event, then it is unlikely that it is real. Websites such as Snopes and FactCheck.org, The Washington Post Fact Checker, and politifact.com are sites dedicated to discovering if stories are fake or true. They fact-check bogus news stories and report on their authenticity. Before you believe a suspicious-looking news article, check a “debunking” site. These sites have the time and resources to investigate news articles and their sources, and provide unbiased evaluations of news authenticity.  When evaluating news, it can help to be a skeptical reader. Doubt claims that seem engineered to anger or shock you, and turn to sites like Snopes when in doubt. Fake news is often engineered to appeal to irrational readers, so by methodically evaluating the news site and article, you can prevent yourself from believing falsities.
Summary: Follow the history of the news. Beware of explicitly partisan news. Search keywords related to the event, and see what you find. Check fake-news debunking sites.