Blog - Page 11 of 25 - MikedUp Blog

Healthy Holiday Tips for a Fun and Festive Season

December 3, 2018 No Comments

Mel, our resident clinical research nurse, is back to share some great healthy holiday tips for the upcoming holiday season. Whether you’re hosting a holiday party or just generally trying to avoid holiday weight gain – some healthy tips from an industry professional are perfect for the season! Mel has done the research and worked with the patients, so without further pause – here are some of her great tips! The “heavy” hitting holidays are here – so we need to be armed with some healthy holiday tips! It starts with Halloween and various fests (pumpkin and apple to name a few) then moves on to Thanksgiving, Christmas and other religious holidays. Let’s not forget about birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, retirement parties, going away parties and on and on…… This translates into many occasions to eat, and, not the healthiest foods. But why? Why have these joyous occasions turned […]

Finance, Family

I Cry Actual Tears Every Time I Shop at Aldi…

November 21, 2018 No Comments

After decades of shopping at other stores that we don’t need to mention here, about 2 years ago my wife and I decided to shop at Aldi – exclusively – and we haven’t looked back! In this post, I’ll give you all the reasons why we chose Aldi in the first place, why we stick around, and what the few things are that we would change if we could. But before that, a little background: There I was for THIRTY WHOLE YEARS! A sucker. Mark. Pawn. Call me what you want, but I was definitely spending so much more money on groceries every month than what was necessary. Do you want to know the worst part…? I didn’t even know the difference!! Aldi hadn’t entered my mental space. I was gleefully oblivious and didn’t see the lead weight forming that would eventually drag our monthly […]

Fitness, Personal Development

How to Get ahead of the calories – a Thanksgiving strategy

November 19, 2018 No Comments

This is not a research-backed, peer-reviewed, piece on how to get/stay healthy during the coming holiday season. If that’s what you’re looking for, please see Mel’s – our clinical research nurse – post (Healthy holiday tips). There, she’ll help guide you to make smart choices in terms of portions, meals, and food items while still enjoying fellowship and family during the season. This post is for a different crowd. The crowd that knows Thanksgiving is a few days away and that means 3 things: 1) The best food day of the year is upon us 2) We get to hang out with family, watch football, and play games 3) Did I mention – the best food day of the year is upon us For those of us who know that bad caloric decisions are in our immediate future, no amount of portion control or, “Which pie type has fewer […]

Personal Development, Family

Generational Differences – A Poor Excuse for An Argument

November 14, 2018 No Comments

Generational differences have caused more arguments at more family gatherings and company Christmas parties than my research capabilities can count. “Millennials are killing ____” “Boomers left our castle in ruins…” Yes – I’ve heard both of these from multiple folks on either side of this… “argument”. I even went so far as writing a post on the subject: I Hate Avocados… But Call Me a ‘Snowflake’ Millennial Any Day! I actually started that post cautioning the use of stereotypes and ultimately said we can all do better. Well, it turns out that my hot take on generational differences enticed a few responses… And honestly – I’m thrilled that it did. Because Rosie from Cash Crone had a few insightful things to say on the matter, and I think we’d all be better off hearing from someone a little ‘wiser’ than me. (Photo courtesy of […]

Finance, Family, Personal Development

When Quitting Your Passion Might Be the Best Option

November 12, 2018 No Comments

Quitting Your passion is a process I’ve struggled with in the past… And one I’m also wrestling with at the present (more on that… in time). But no matter what your passion or your specific situation, quitting can be so… shameful. But I’ve recently come to know another great blogger, SC from MissFunctional Money (I know, great blog name, right??) who has also had some intimate experience with quitting something that was her life – for nearly all her life. And news flash – it wasn’t easy for her to make that decision. And because SC has been so open and honest in her post below, I think we’ve been given the fortunate opportunity to see when quitting the thing you love – may be the best thing that could’ve happened to you. I’ll let SC take it from here: “What are you going to be when you […]

Family

Today’s Veteran – This Hero’s Fight After Leaving the War

November 11, 2018 No Comments

Standing on the platform of a 34 foot tower he adjusts his harness, creeps toward the edge, and thinks, “What in the hell have I gotten myself into?” There are still two trainees in front of him so there’s some time to make last minute checks. Carabiner secure? Check. Attached to the overhead cable? Check. Only one in front now and it’s not the screams of the grown men before him that elicit terror, it’s the logic in his mind. “This cable will actually hold me? I’m not the lightest guy here… I’m not the heaviest either so we should be good. Maybe the cable’s been worn down by all the guys before me? Is my harness secure?…” Private First Class (PFC) Drew Mullee is 2 days into US Army Airborne School and he’s sufficiently out of his element as he toes the edge of the platform. […]

Finance

Why I’ll Never Consolidate Debt Again – But Why You Should

November 7, 2018 No Comments

Have you ever considered taking an opportunity to consolidate debt that you have hanging over your head? Well, as I’ve written about extensively, we have more than a few thousand dollars in debt to our names, and consolidation is a tool we’ve considered using at multiple points on our journey. But on the flip side, I’ve also heard more than a few horror stories about folks that consolidated their debt only to fall further into the hole they had dug for themselves… So today, I have an expert here to help educate us about the debt consolidation process – and when it may be an appropriate tool for you to pull out of that toolbox! Joseph Hogue worked as an equity analyst and an economist before realizing being rich is no substitute for being happy. He now runs five websites and a YouTube channel on beating debt, making […]

Fitness, Personal Development

Why you Should Start P90X3 – A Complete Review

November 5, 2018 No Comments

The original P90X program changed my life at a time when I needed it the most. After that transformation (almost a decade ago…), I kept on with maintaining my then “new” and decent fitness level until I found what I call the best workout program I’ve ever used – P90X3 helped me get even stronger, better, and more confident. In this post, I’ll describe why it’ll work for YOU too. It’s that time of year again… You know – the time when years transition from 1 to the next, bad habits are shunned for good, and resolutions are made. Let’s put aside for a moment that about 88% of those granite-clad and unbreakable New Year’s resolutions fail, and call this what it is. Some of us are big-time into fitness, some will join our tribe, and another group will join our tribe then fall off the fitness train after a […]

Family, Fitness, Personal Development

Hey Cancer – You Picked the Wrong Bitch (Part 2)

October 31, 2018 No Comments

This is the second and final portion of a story from Jen – a wife, mother, daughter, …, a breast cancer survivor, and a badass. Please click here to read Part 1 of Jen’s story and then come back here for the ending. As I said in the first half of Jen’s story – this is quite possibly the most important post that has been published on MikedUp Blog. Thank you so much for reading… Here’s Jen picking up where she left off: August 4, 2017 Exchange day. I was so excited about this surgery! This was supposed to be the end of this journey for me, and because the exchange is a far less complicated procedure than a mastectomy, I was optimistic about the road ahead. The surgeons simply open you up, remove the expanders, tweak the pockets that will hold the […]

Family, Fitness, Personal Development

Hey, Cancer – You Picked the Wrong Bitch…

October 29, 2018 No Comments

This post will be unlike most things you can find on MikedUp Blog. Normally, I will help to solve a pain point in your life in some aspect of fitness, finance, business, or personal relationships… But not today. Today, I am humbled and grateful to bring you the ultra-personal story of a breast cancer survivor – from life before cancer all the way through to present day… But this isn’t just any story from some random person… Much like the story I wrote about in 2016 – where a man deployed to Afghanistan away from his wife and child to wage war who ended up returning home in critical condition, not knowing if he would survive the multiple surgeries ahead of him… I too know the key character in this story pretty well. Jen (as you will read below) is a wife, mother, scientist, … a little OCD (her own […]