Image via Unsplash/Ben Moore

An estimated 31 million Americans skip breakfast in the morning. That’s 31 million people who on any given day are probably are over-caffeinating, over-snacking and feeling like they’re never getting enough work done. Maybe they just need better sleep; maybe it’s really because they’re not starting the day right with the most important meal of the day (especially if you’re trying to lose weight). If this sounds like you, then listen up: Here are six easy-to-eat superfoods you should eat in the morning to supercharge your day.

1. Oatmeal

Oatmeal is one of those breakfast superfoods that really packs a punch. One of the best reasons for having it in the morning is because oatmeal has a high dietary fiber content, which means it’ll keep you full longer — keeping those mid-morning munchies at bay. It also contains beta-glucan, which is a unique fiber that helps lower bad cholesterol. Need more convincing? Oatmeal also has lots of omega-3 fatty acids, folate and potassium. And best of all, oatmeal is easy to prepare and easy to dress up, so you can add lots of the other foods on this list to it and have the ultimate superfood breakfast.

2. Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are a unique superfood that date back to Aztec times. Because they have almost no taste and balloon up when added to liquids (again, keeping you full longer!), they’re the perfect addition to morning smoothies or oatmeal. Just 1 ounce contains almost 10 grams of fiber and more than 4.5 grams of protein, plus there’s calcium, magnesium and iron to be gained from a little sprinkle of chia seeds in the morning — all of which are important for healthy bones and brain function.

3. Berries

Yet another great addition to your oatmeal with chia seeds are fresh berries. Any of them — blueberries, strawberries, raspberries — are packed with antioxidants and Vitamin C (which you always need to keep your immune system fighting off myriad of office germs floating around) among other good stuff that helps prevent cancer and fight off the neurological decline that can occur with aging.

4. Almonds

A handful of mixed, unsalted nuts in the morning can be a better breakfast additive than you realize. Nuts like almonds have lots omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin E, which are essential for good heart health. Minerals like manganese, copper and riboflavin found in almonds have also been found to aid in energy production, so coffee isn’t the only thing you should be reaching for when the sleepies hit you after lunch.

5. Eggs

When you think of breakfast, you think of eggs. Though this delicious and versatile morning food once had a bad rep for being too high in cholesterol, experts now say they’re still perfectly okay in moderation. Plus, this protein-rich food is a great way to stave off hunger throughout the day, and you’ll get lots of Vitamin D, the B vitamin choline, and carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which are important for memory and eye health.

6. Bananas

Another great fruit to add to your oatmeal or cereal (or have on its own) is the banana. They’re a great source of resistance starch, which helps you feel full longer, burn more calories and even feel more energized. Plus, bananas have tons of potassium to help lower bad cholesterol, and they’ll come in handy when you get muscle cramps from sitting at your desk too long.

7.Greek Yogurt

If you’re not an oatmeal fan but want to find another delicious medium for all your fruit, try a cup of Greek yogurt in the morning. Just one container can have up to 17 grams of protein, making this your ultimate morning meal. Plus with no preparation and its easy packability, you can literally just grab and go with this one. No excuse to skip breakfast!

8. Tea

While not exactly a food, tea is definitely a super breakfast item. Green, black and white teas have been known to have cancer-preventing properties in addition to lots of antioxidant flavonoids, which are immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory substances. Try adding natural honey instead of sugar to sweeten your tea, and enjoy the caffeine boost almost all of us need in the morning without guilt.

The post 8 Superfoods To Eat In The Morning To Supercharge Your Day appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

Image via Flickr/ Fried Dough

A Florida jury awarded a widow $23.6 billion in punitive damages in a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

The woman, Cynthia Robinson, claimed that the tobacco giant killed her husband (who died of lung cancer in 1996) because it neglected to be informative that cigarettes contained harmful ingredients that could cause cancer. Her husband, Michael Johnson, died at the age of 36 and had started smoking when he was 13 years old.

He really did smoke a lot,” Robinson told The New York Times about her late husband’s chain-smoking habits.

Vice president and assistant general counsel for R.J. Reynolds, J. Jeffery Raborn, released a statement in response to the jury’s verdict calling the damages awarded “grossly excessive and impermissible under state and constitutional law.”

This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness and is completely inconsistent with the evidence presented,” Raborn said in the statement. “We plan to file post-trial motions with the trial court promptly and are confident that the court will follow the law and not allow this runaway verdict to stand.”

The post Florida Jury Awards Woman $23.6 Billion In Smoking Lawsuit appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

In a documentary titled, “Weediquette: The War on Kids” produced by VICE, we’re introduced to the story of Jesse Snodgrass: a high school senior from California who was busted when an undercover cop befriended him and then tricked him into selling him weed.

Jesse was one of 22 students who were arrested from three high schools in the LA suburb of Temecula, California in 2011 for similar drug-related crimes in a sting called “Operation Glasshouse” that the documentary says is an example of “how the war on drugs preys on the most vulnerable.”

Jesse’s parents say their son, who has Aspergers syndrome was mostly friendless in school, and so it was a big deal when he made a friend in a fellow student named Daniel — who later turned out to be an undercover cop. Wanting to please the only friend he had made at the new high school he transferred to his senior year, Jesse figured out a way to get his buddy some weed from a homeless man on the street. What he thought was a favor for his only buddy turned out to be a ploy to catch him dealing.

Following the bust, Jesse was expelled from the high school and not allowed to graduate, and his parents say he was so affected by the whole incident that he suffers from PTSD, also refusing to appear on camera. Three years following his senior year, Jesse was finally allowed to graduate and walk the stage this year.

But Jesse and his family want his story heard and to make sure that no one else suffers through a similar incident like his. The Snodgrass family is suing the Temecula Valley Unified School District for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other charges, and ultimately want to help end these types of undercover drug stings.

To donate to The Jesse Snodgrass Legal Defense Fund, click here.

The post Watch How An Undercover Cop Tricked An Autistic Teen Into Selling Him Weed (Video) appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

Image via Ken Wolter/Shutterstock

Love it or hate it, Walmart is not going anywhere. Friend to savvy shopper and foe to local businesses, the giant global retailer has created its share of controversy in the last 40 years or so since its inception. You know they’ll beat prices, and you can probably locate one of its thousands of locations in your sleep: but you don’t know the whole story. Here are 18 facts about Walmart’s story that you didn’t know until now.

1. Sam Walton, Walmart’s founder and formerly a military captain and J.C. Penney employee, took over a Ben Franklin variety store. With his keen business sense, he increased sales from $72,000 to $105,000 in just the first year.

2. Walmart is still very much a family business today. The Walton family still collectively owns more than half the company and are estimated to be worth $152 billion — making them the richest family in the entire world.

3. There are more than 11,000 Walmart stores in 27 countries, but they operate under 55 different names. It’s known as Asda in the UK, Seiyu in Japan, and Best Price in India.

4. “Always Low Prices, Always” was Walmart’s signature slogan for 19 years until it was replaced by “Save Money, Live Better” in 2007.

5. Walmart worked with Michelle Obama and her staff to announce a program in 2011 to improve the nutritional value of its store brands over the next five years, reducing sugar and salt in its foods and eliminating trans fat.

6. Walmart is the biggest private employer, according to the 2014 Fortune Global 500 list and the largest retailer in the world, employing more than two million people.

7. In 2005, Walmart announced that it would be making an effort to become a more energy efficient company. The company designed three experimental stores in Texas, Colorado, and Las Vegas with wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, biofuel-capable boilers, water-cooled refrigerators, and xeriscape gardens.

8. According to research by Global Insight, Walmart’s price level reduction has saved people $287 billion — about $957 a person.

9. Walmart didn’t make it into the Northeast until 1990, when it opened its doors in York, Pennsylvania.

10. Saving customers money has been Walmart’s main goal since its very beginning. Sam Walton’s entire focus was to sell products at high volume so he could get them at low prices. He found low-cost suppliers to offset his other expenses and succeeded in his goal in passing on the savings to his customers.

11. Walmart donated $20 million in cash, 1500 truckloads of merchandise, and food for 100,000 meals in the relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.

12. Texas Retail Energy, an electric company in Texas, was created by Walmart. By supplying its stores with cheaper power, Walmart is aiming to save the company $15 trillion a year and eventually start selling its own electricity to Texans.

13. Walmart sells more than 1,000,000 products and even offers music downloads for purchase these days.

14. @WalMartLabs is a tech company set up by Walmart in Silicon Valley that works on creating ways to combine services and shopping for Walmart’s customers by developing new e-commerce technologies.

15. The one competitor Walmart hasn’t touched yet is Netflix. The company made an attempt at launching a “beta” version of a movie download service in 2007 but failed miserably and pulled it within the year.

16. Walmart prides itself on offering growth and opportunity as an associate at one of its stores, saying that depending on the time of year, there are anywhere between 15,000-50,000 job openings at their U.S. stores. About 75 percent of the company’s store management teams start as hourly associates and climb the ladder (according to Walmart) earning between $50k and $170k — “similar to what firefighters, accountants, and even doctors make.”

17. Walmart launched the Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative in 2011 to make progress in the company’s sourcing, training, and diversity numbers. The majority of Walmart’s employees are women.

18. In November 2012, Walmart launched Goodies, the company’s first mail subscription service which allows customers to get 5-8 food samples a month delivered to their homes for $7.

The post 18 Facts About Walmart That Will Give You A Glimpse Into The Retail Giant’s History appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

Image via Facebook/Pal-V

Forget about the Batmobile — it’s all about the PAL-V One these days. Just like it sounds, this is a three-wheeled car that turns into a helicopter, and you don’t have to be a superhero to own it. Although, in order to fork out $295,000 for this puppy, you will have to be rich.

Sound too good to be to true? Well, believe it. This is how the PAL-V One works:

Converting the PAL-V ONE from airplane to automobile is a very easy process which takes about 10 minutes,” the Pal-V site says. “Once the engine stops, the propeller folds itself automatically into the driving position. Pushing a button then lowers the rotor mast into the horizontal position. The same motion lowers the tail. The outer blades are folded over the inner blades via hinge mechanisms. The last steps in the process are to push the tail into its driving position and secure the rotor blades. This conversion can be executed by the driver/pilot after just a short training lesson. To convert from driving to flying mode, simply reverse the sequence.”

Image via Facebook/Pal-V

The PAL-V One seats two people and has a 230 hp, four-cylinder engine that reaches speeds of up 112 mph in the air or on the road. It also has a 27-gallon gas tank which will take you 220 miles by flight and 750 miles by road.

So, grab your Sports Pilot certificate and that extra few hundred thousand you have sitting around and meet us on the landing pad.

The post This Badass Hybrid Car And Gyroplane Will Set You Back $295k appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

Image via Flickr/ World Travel & Tourism Council

Carlos Slim, the second richest man in the world, is calling for a new redesign of the traditional work week. No more Monday through Friday schedule — here’s his idea: People should only be working three days a week.

Er, we could jump onboard with that.

With three work days a week, we would have more time to relax; for quality of life,” Slim tells Financial Times. “Having four days [off] would be very important to generate new entertainment activities and other ways of being occupied.”

The self-made Mexican billionaire and CEO of telecommunications company Telmex asked for this “radical overhaul” at a business conference in Paraguay, saying, though, that we should also be working longer days and later into our years.

Slim suggested, rather, that working 10 or 11-hour days would be more productive and would allow people to enjoy their time off better. And with generally higher life expectancy rates across the board, Slim says that we should retire later, too. Instead of throwing in the towel in their 50’s or 60’s, Slim’s idea is that people should keep working until they are 70 or 75 — much like himself, who is still clocking in hours at 74 years old.

Slim’s own employees at Telmex were recently offered a new contract that aligned with the billionaire’s ideas on work life. Employees who join in their late teens and retire before the age of 50 will have the option of continuing work past retirement and working for full pay on a four-day week work schedule.

Slim, who was once the world’s richest person (even surpassing Bill Gates), is also head of mining company Minera Frisco and is estimated to be worth around $80 billion, according to Forbes.

The post World’s Second-Richest Man Says We Should Only Work 3 Days A Week So We Can Live Better Lives appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

Image via Kickstarter/Coolest Cooler

Coolest is the name of, what just might be, the coolest portable cooler to hit the market yet. Called the “21st century cooler that’s actually cooler” by its creator, this cooler just might be what you’ve been waiting for your entire life.

Besides doing its job to store ice and keep your food and drinks cool, Coolest comes built-in with a number of features that just seem to make sense. Coolest includes an 18 V battery-powered rechargeable blender, a removable Bluetooth speaker that connects to your phone, a USB charger (for when that phone died in the middle of nowhere), and even integrated storage for plates, a cutting board, and a knife.

Portable coolers are made for parties and good times, and for that you need a lot of stuff. Traditionally designed coolers do little more than hold ice and keep things cool, and they’re not the most reliable for durability. Coolest creator Ryan Grepper says he wanted to create a cooler that was the center of all the fun, not just an obligatory addition.

Why haven’t cooler designs changed in over 50 years?” Grepper says in a video posted on the Coolest Kickstarter campaign. “Boring coolers are boring, break easily and are a pain to get to and from your destination. I wanted to create a cooler that was really well built yet had so much fun built into that i would look for excuses to get outside and enjoy it. So, I created the Coolest.”

Among its other impressive features, Grepper made sure to address other issues that you might wonder why no one has fixed yet. The Coolest, for instance, includes a cooler divider to add functionality and prevent all your items from getting wet. It’s also built-in with an LED lid light, extra wide wheels for better movability, a bottle opener, and gear tie-down straps to hold all your other stuff securely in place when moving from one place to another.

The Coolest already has a huge fan base, with more than 33,680 people pledging funds to get the cooler into production. The Kickstarter campaign has more than surpassed its goal of $50,000 (which it reached in less than three days) with an incredible $6,594,210 raised and 39 days still to go.

As an inventor and creator at heart, this is the greatest dream come true,” Grepper said in an update. “Honestly, this is actually far beyond my wildest dreams. I’ve never been more happy and humbled in my life. It’s amazing how many people have connected with this idea!”

For more information on the Coolest and to vote for two new colors for the cooler, visit the product’s Facebook page.

The post Meet Coolest: The All-In-One Portable Cooler You Never Knew You Always Wanted appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

Image via Shutterstock

You know when you haven’t gotten enough sleep because your mood is all off the next morning. You wake up cranky, tired, and definitely not ready to take on any world that you know of. But besides your mood and the occasional headache and grogginess, research has shown that lack of good sleep can actually be detrimental to your health. From increasing your risks of serious conditions like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, depression, and even early death, lack of good sleep is a lot more detrimental to your health than you might suspect. Here are 6 methods to try, so you can sleep better tonight.

1. Get a Better Pillow

This is as obvious a solution as they come. Take it from Goldilocks: It should be not too hard and not too soft. One study showed that a medium-firm pillow significantly improved sleep for people, so step away from the feather and down-filled ones right now. Your head and neck need support, as if you were standing up. If your head is sinking in a concave of feathers or you’re waking up with a crick in your neck, take it as a sign that you need a new pillow.

2. Develop a Bed Ritual

Remember when your parents used to get you ready for bed and the whole process in itself prepared your mind to start shutting down? Changing into your PJs, reading a book, getting tucked in, and turning off ALL the lights — there’s a reason it worked then, and it’ll work now. Try making it a habit to have a sleep ritual just like you have one for the mornings. If you trick your mind into knowing it’s time for bed, it will start to know that it’s TIME FOR BED.

3. Take a Hot Bath

Warm baths or even showers before sleep can often be just the thing you need to zonk out. (It worked well as a kid, why not now?) The rapid cool-down effect that your body experiences after a hot bath can do wonders in relaxing you and putting you to sleep.

4. Keep Some Lavender Around

There is a reason why the scent industry goes so crazy putting lavender products into everything. It’s been long proven that this herb’s intoxicating scent really does relax the mind and body, giving it the perfect opportunity to lull away to la-la land. Lavender is known “to slow down heart rate, slow blood pressure and put you in a parasympathetic state, which is a relaxed state,” University of Miami School of Medicine scientist Tiffany Field told The Wall Street Journal Online. Bring some fresh lavender into your room, light a candle, or add a few drops of lavender-infused oil into your nighttime bath — the possibilities with this one are endless.

5. Turn Off The Electronics

One of the worst habits of our age is keeping our electronics all around us and in the bedroom when it’s time to go to bed. Whether it’s the TV, your phone, or your tablet, it’s important to turn them off long before your head hits the pillow. Not only does a lot of this activity tend to act as a stressor, causing an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, but the light that’s emitted from your electronics is also keeping you from better sleep. The light passes through your retina and into the hypothalamus, the part of your brain that controls a lot of sleep activities, delaying the release of melatonin — the sleep hormone that naturally gives you that “sleepy” feeling when your environment lets it flow. Give yourself 30 minutes AT LEAST of no-electronics time before bed, and witness the difference in your sleep.

6. Eat Some Almond Butter

Sometimes low blood sugar can contribute to bad sleep, even if you do get a “full night’s rest.” Incorporating a little pre-sleep snack into your nighttime routine can combat this problem — as long as it’s not too heavy. (Eating too much can just make it worse for your body to relax.) Author of The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman, Tim Ferriss, recommends two tablespoons of organic almond butter or peanut butter with some celery sticks to do the trick.

The post 6 Things To Try So You Can Sleep Better Tonight appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

screen shot via YouTube/Jibo

Ever wish you could just hire someone to be your extra helping hand all the time? Someone who would take the family photos and order dinner after a long day at work, someone to read you your emails and the kids their nighttime stories when you had your hands tied up with something else? Jibo, the “world’s first family robot” is coming to help.

Jibo is smart robot personal assistant who is made specifically for families. He looks like a table-top pod that comes equipped with two hi-res cameras that can recognize and track faces, 360-degree microphones, and natural language processors, and AI algorithms so he can get to know each member of the family.

Created to be part personal assistant and part family companion, Jibo works through Wi-Fi to connect to applications much like Siri does for your iPhone. He can connect to phones, computers, and even other Jibos. He looks like a robot, but Cynthia Breazeal, CEO of Jibo Inc. and head of the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab, wants you to feel like Jibo is your new best friend.

Jibo is this helpful presence that helps support your family, your human network, to be more efficient and feel more connected,” Brazeal told CNN.

Jibo isn’t quite ready to hit the market yet, but if you want to be apart of the early bird crowd that gets to refine all of this family robots kinks, it’ll cost you as much as a new smartphone. The first prototype edition of Jibo is $499 and ships in December 2015.

JIBO is the perfect robot for everyone in the family,” reads Jibo’s Indiegogo campaign page. “Because JIBO is an open platform, his skills and applications will grow, helping and delighting in ways even we haven’t even imagined.”

The crowd-funding campaign to develop Jibo started on July 16 with a goal of $100,000 and more than surpassed its goal in one day, with more than $380,900 raised. The campaign closes on Aug. 15.

The post Meet Jibo: The Family Robot That Wants To Make Your Life Easier appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

Image via Facebook/Lay’s

Don’t ever accuse Lay’s for just making a good potato chip. In its second annual “Do Us a Flavor” Contest, the company received more than 14 million crazy flavor entries for their next, big chip variety — and then there were four.

The craziest of them all? Cappuccino. Yes, that’s right. A chip. Flavored like coffee. A snack. That’s also your mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Disgusting or absolutely genius? Lay’s wants you to decide.

On July 28, the coffee-flavored chips, which were pitched by Ph.D. student and visiting lecturer Chad Scott, from “just a love of coffee,” will hit stores along with the three other finalist flavors: Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese, Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger, and Wavy Mango Salsa. You’ll be able to vote online for your favorite flavor through October 18, after which the winner will become a permanent addition to the Lay’s chip line.

Cheesy Garlic Bread beat out competitor flavors Chicken & Waffles and Sriracha in the 2013 competition.

Tell us in the comments: which one will you be voting for?

The post Lay’s Introduces ‘Cappuccino,’ And Three Other Crazy Flavored Chips: Wants You To Vote For Your Fave appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.