Straight From The Fox Hole 3/23/12


I’M A MORNING PERSON. I can usually jump out of bed, get a shower, scarf down some breakfast and a cup of coffee, and I’m good to go for the day. However, a new study shows it takes a little more to get most people firing on all cylinders first thing after waking up.

As much as most of us hate to admit…
Mom was right…the key to a productive morning starts with breakfast. And as if she needed the support to prove her point…a recent review of 134 breakfast studies found that your memory, problem-solving skills, verbal fluency, and a bunch of other measures of cognitive ability all suffer when you skip breakfast.

Here are 5 Steps To A More Productive Morning

1. Eat like a cow. Verbal reasoning and problem-solving ability improves almost 35% among those who divide breakfast into four smaller meals spaced an hour apart. This gives your brain a more consistent supply of energy in the form of blood glucose.

2. Go nuts. Eating a small handful of walnuts every day improve working memory 19%. The polyphenols in walnuts have been shown to reduce oxidative stress…which may help improve communication among your brain’s neurons.

3. Walk your brain awake. Just 20 minutes of walking improves your your brain’s ability to produce a flow of ideas and answers when presented with a problem by 16%.

4. Protein power. Eating a protein-rich breakfast results in a nearly 20%  boost in brain activity compared to either no breakfast or a breakfast high in sugar. That’s because protein, unlike sugar, provides your brain with a consistent energy source. Eggs are a great source of protein, not to mention a lot of other good stuff.

5. A better source of caffeine
. A recent study found that as little as 20 to 30 mg of caffeine boosts brainpower…regardless of how alert the subjects felt. That’s about 100 mg less than your average cup of coffee. Sorry…but higher doses didn’t provide any additional brain boost. You can also have a small amount of dark chocolate in the morning. In addition to giving you an energy boost…dark chocolate improves blood flow and cholesterol levels, and may even help you lose weight. One ounce…that’s about two 1-inch squares…with 70-85% cocoa has about 25 mg of caffeine.

I’M HORRIBLE AT BUYING GIFTS FOR MY WIFE. It’s not that I don’t like buying her gifts…I’m just not good at it. With that in mind, I’m always on the lookout for tips on what to buy…and maybe even more importantly…what NOT to buy.

Since Mother’s Day is only a couple of weeks away I’m trying to get an early jump on things. And since I know a lot of guys are in the same boat as I am…here’s a list I found of things moms DON’T want.

Good luck guys. Who knows…maybe I’ll see you at the mall.

THE DOG WHISPERER IS IN THE DOG HOUSE. Cesar MillanThe Dog Whisperer
…recently got divorced. And to keep his ex from whispering about their sex life he’s agreed to pay her off to the tune of $400,000!

But that’s just the beginning. He’s also agreed to pay her $23,000 a month in spousal support, and another $10,000 in child support.

In return Cesar gets the assurance that no “intimate, personal and/or private information about the other party…
including details of their personal and/or sexual relationships” will be revealed.  Of course that includes any “photograph, film, videotape, recording which is not commercially available” must remain private.

Sounds to me like The Dog Whisperer has a sex tape!  Who knows…maybe doggy-style isn’t his best trick.

ONE OF THE HOTTEST CONCERT TOURS of the summer has to be Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw.  Kenny by himself is a great show, but adding Tim cranks this show up to 11.

For those of you that still think Country music is all steel guitars, whiny, cry in your beer lyrics, and redneck noise…I challenge you to listen to this song and tell me it doesn’t rock. Go on…give it a listen. Here’s the new…”just released”…video for the song, Feel Like A Rock Star.

HERE’S A LIST OF DATES for the Brothers of the Sun 2012 Tour.

6/02 – Tampa, Fla.
6/03 – Atlanta, Ga.
6/09 – Dallas, Texas
6/10 – Kansas City, Mo.
6/16 – Philadelphia, Penn.
6/23 – Nashville, Tenn.
6/24 – Charlotte, N.C.
6/30 – Pittsburgh, Penn.
7/01 – Cincinnati, Ohio
7/07 – Chicago, Ill.
7/08 – Minneapolis, Minn.
7/14 – Anaheim, Calif.
7/21 – Denver, Colo.
7/28 – Indianapolis, Ind.
7/29 – Cleveland, Ohio
8/11 – East Rutherford, N.J.
8/12 – Washington D.C.
8/18 – Detroit, Mich.
8/24 – Foxboro, Mass.
8/25 – Foxboro, Mass.

BUY TICKETS for any of the dates HERE.

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