• It's time to challenge yourself and improve your life.
• In order to make a positive change, you'll likely need to overcome obstacles and bad habits.
• Check out these life-changing tweaks that might seem hard to adopt at first, but will ultimately pay off.

Challenge yourself to lead a better life.

Making a change for the better isn't always easy, but it's worth the effort all the same.

So what tough-but-worthwhile tricks can you start applying to your life today?

The posters on this handy Quora thread had some excellent suggestions. Business Insider also scoured the web for other ways you can challenge yourself to live a better life.

Here are some uncomfortable habit changes that could ultimately help you improve your life:

SEE ALSO: These 13 daily habits will seriously improve your life — and they each only take 5 minutes

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Wake up extremely early

Ekin Öcalan said he loves to wake up before sunrise because it provides the perfect study-and-work environment. While everyone else sleeps, waking at 5 a.m. is the perfect, albeit challenging, way to begin the day in silence, he wrote.

Start the day with exercise

Take cold showers

Taking a frigid shower at the end of a long day doesn't sound too relaxing.

But research indicates that cranking up the cold can be good for your health. According to Medical Daily, the cold water can improve your skin, soothe your stress, and boost your body's circulation.

Plus, people who've given icy showers a chance have reported feeling more alert, motivated, and ready to tackle the day.

• The McDonald'smenu has tons of options for customers.
• And McDonald's crew members themselves have their own frequent picks— as well as orders they tend to avoid.
• Business Insider spoke with numerous current and former McDonald's employees about the menu items they were not crazy about and why.

SEE ALSO: McDonald's employees share 11 annoying things they wish customers would stop doing

DON'T MISS: McDonald's employees reveal their 20 favorite menu items — and one bonus secret menu item everyone should try

SEE ALSO: McDonald's employees share the 14 strangest orders they've ever gotten

A famous, fishy sandwich

The McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich has a storied history. It was the first new non-hamburger item added to the fast-food giant's nation-wide menu in 1965.

The sandwich has since become iconic, and it's responsible for a whole bunch of piscine imitators. Business Insider's Mary Hanbury reported that the Filet-O-Fish is a massive hit during Lent, when many Catholics fast from meat on Fridays.

It's one of President Donald Trump's favorites, too. He's known to put away two of the fish sandwiches at a time, along with two Big Macs and a large chocolate shake.

But that doesn't matter much to two crew members who spoke with Business Insider.

One former crew member from Virginia described viewing the Filet-O-Fish as a meal popular with older customers "because I assume it's easy for them to chew," but the crew member personally didn't like the taste of the sandwich.

Another crew member told Business Insider that they found the fish sandwich "generally gross" according to their personal taste.

Some of the greener options on the menu

A crew member from Minnesota told Business Insider that they steered clear of a batch of the chain's ostensibly healthier options: the salads.

"I'm not a fan of tons of vegetables, and the caloric count in the items is astronomical," the crew member told Business Insider.

The Southwest buttermilk crispy chicken salad comes in at 520 calories, the bacon ranch salad with buttermilk crispy chicken boasts 490 calories, and the bacon ranch grilled chicken salad has 320 calories.

For comparison, a Big Mac sandwich is 540 calories.

The chain's side salad is only 15 calories, however, for customers looking for a leaner, leafy option.

A particularly sugary beverage

One Reddit commenter said the chain's sweet tea was a bit too sweet for his or her taste.

"Pound. Of. Sugar. Per gallon," the person wrote in a 2013 Reddit thread.

A pound of sugar per gallon of McDonald's sweet tea would translate to a quarter pound — or about 113 grams — of sugar in a large, 32-ounce serving. That is much larger than the still-formidable 38 grams of sugar that McDonald's reports is in a large, 32-ounce McDonald's sweet tea.

A large Coca-Cola contains 77 grams of sugar.

The American Heart Association recommends that men should take in no more than 36 grams of added sugar a day — and that women should consume no more than 25 grams.

The smallest sweet-tea option at McDonald's, the extra-small cup, has 15 grams of sugar.

• Panera Bread employees know all about how things are run at the popular fast-food chain.
• A number of current and former employees have posted about their experiences on social media.
• Here are some insider facts, tips, and hacks that Panera Bread employees have shared online.

SEE ALSO: Costco employees share their 9 best tips for getting an even better deal on your next shopping trip

DON'T MISS: 7 of the worst things McDonald's employees have seen on the job

SEE ALSO: Trader Joe's employees share 8 annoying things they wish shoppers would stop doing

You can always try asking for a specialized order...

If you want an order tweaked at Panera Bread, it can't hurt to ask.

In a 2018 Quora post, associate trainer Ariana Dickerson wrote that calorie-conscious customers should ask for help.

"If you're worried about calories or how many just ask any associate, they'll grab their nutrition guide and help you create your perfect salad," she wrote on Quora.

Former Panera Bread employee Josh Benner took to Quora to make all sorts of suggestions, including asking for free granola toppings on fruit salads, requesting toasted sandwiches, and swapping the bread on certain sandwiches.

"Some sandwiches are on breads that just don't make sense," he wrote. "I'm looking at you turkey avocado on sour dough. Nobody should have to deal with the hassle of fitting that big sandwich on such a small piece of bread."

... and you can also ask for options other than the standard baguette side order

Not in the mood for one of Panera Bread's traditional side baguettes?

That's okay. You've got options.

"You also have the option of a sprouted grain dinner roll," Panera Bread catering coordinator Laura Biermann wrote in a 2018 Quora post.

What's more, associate Luis Torres wrote in a 2017 Quora post that customers also "have the option to pick two slices of any of the other breads we offer."

The bread is really baked in the store

At Panera Bread, the titular product is really baked at the restaurant. Individual stores receive daily shipments of pre-mixed dough.

"I do really bake the bread," a Panera Bread baker wrote in a 2015 Reddit AMA. "The bread is just mixed at a big factory and than transported to us every night or morning, so we can let it rise."

The baker added that Panera Bread employees bake all the breads — including sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia, croissants, and challah— the sweets behind the glass, and soufflés.

Likewise, the employee added that Panera Bread soups are delivered in bag, and then heated up into "this scary-looking thing called a thermalizer."

Another Panera Bread baker wrote in a 2013 Reddit post that "the final baked product was always baked during the night before" at Panera, and surplus product is typically donated to local charities.

• Craft beer can elevate your taste buds to a new level when paired with the right foods.
• According to a Nielsen CGA survey, 80% of craft beer drinkers typically drink craft beer on food-led occasions.
• Craft beer expert Julia Herz shared her best food pairings for more than a week's worth of craft beers, from BBQ short ribs to mint watermelon salad.

Summer is officially here, and with it, craft beer season.

While a perfectly handcrafted beer is palatable on its own (in any weather), pair it with the right bite and your taste buds will be elevated to a whole new level. 

Food can make, break, and even drive the experience of a craft beer. In fact, 80% of craft beer drinkers typically drink craft beer on food-led occasions, Julia Herz, craft beer program director for the Brewers Association, told Business Insider, citing a 2017 Nielsen CGA survey.

But there's an art to master behind craft beer and food pairings. Luckily, Herz offered her best pairing recommendations with enough craft beers to last you more than a week.

From expected pairings, like BBQ beef short ribs with malt-forward beers, to unexpected complementary flavors, such as mint watermelon salad with a lemondrop pale ale, take her tips to the tap and craft your ultimate beer experience.

SEE ALSO: The best beer in every state, according to beer enthusiasts across the US

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Seventh Sons is a strong ale that matches the intensity of grilled peaches with a dense, creamy dessert-like summer sweet corn custard. "Jammy malt character (as described by the brewery) should provide contrast to the seasonal custard and intertwine with the fruit," Herz said.

Pair The Cold One with grilled littleneck clams with garlic, butter, and Sriracha. Herz calls contrasting cold beers with warm, buttery clams "the stuff of summer legends."

A malt-forward beer like Ponysaurus Scottish Ale shares complementary flavors with the caramelized sweetness of BBQ beef short ribs. Herz recommends adding red cabbage and carrot summer slaw for a shot of acidity to brighten up the pairing.

• An Instagram profile belonging to accused Russian spy Maria Butina showed what her life was like while she was allegedly "laying the groundwork" to commit high-level espionage in the US.
• She posted photos of her appearing on TV shows to discuss her work, exercising at the gym, spending time with family, and some of her cooking.
• Butina, 29, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy against the United States and being an un-registered foreign agent.

The July arrest and indictment of Maria Butina, a 29-year-old Russian woman accused of being a spy, sent shockwaves through Washington and left the political world wondering where she had come from.

Her Instagram page showed a glimpse of what her life looked like in Russia while she was allegedly "laying the groundwork" to move to the United States and conduct high-level espionage on behalf of the Russian government.

Butina's Instagram seems to be removed now, but Business Insider reviewed the posts before the account was shut down.

The selfies, pictures of her at the gym, and photos of food paint the picture of a normal 20-something professional, who also happens to like guns.

Both the official criminal complaint filed against Butina and an affidavit from an FBI agent who investigated her say that during the time she posted on Instagram, she was "laying the groundwork" to infiltrate the American right on behalf of the Russian government.

The affidavit alleges that from 2013 to 2015, she worked with her boss, Russian Central Bank deputy governor Alexander Torshin, as well as a "US person 1," believed to be GOP strategist Paul Erickson, to forge relationships and develop a network of high-level Republican operatives and officials with the National Rifle Association, whose conferences she began attending around that time.

The FBI agent who wrote the affidavit described Butina's communications before she arrived in the United States a "plan to conduct activities as an illegal agent of the Russian Federation in the United States through a Russian influence operation."

Butina's Instagram profile had around 2,000 followers and 150 posts from the same timeframe of 2013 to 2015, the year before she moved to Washington, DC on a student visa. At that time, she also managed a furniture business and worked in public relations.

Her bio, roughly translated from the original Russian, said: "Member of the board and founder of the movement 'Right to Arms.'"

This movement, founded in 2011, advocated for increased gun rights in Russia, which then helped Butina become involved with the NRA. Her bio also included a link to a website titled mariabutina.ru, which appears to have since been hacked or the ownership has changed, as it now re-directs to a pornographic website.

Here are some of the posts that help give a sense of who Butina was before the world learned her name from the Justice Department's criminal complaint.

Posts from 2013 show her early interest in guns and gun rights

"In the arms store. Israel, Tel Aviv," a post from 2013 was captioned.

She posted another photo of her with the result of her wild boar hunting:

In another post, she was picketing outside a government building in Moscow for her "My House, My Fortress" initatives, according to a translation of the caption.

Butina also appeared on several talk shows and panels to discuss her gun rights work, and documented her appearances on Instagram.

She posted several photos with Torshin, her former boss. A powerful Russian political figure, Torshin served for many years in the Russian parliament, has been a deputy governor at Russia's central bank since 2015, and is also involved in pro-gun rights activism.

He and Butina started attending NRA conventions in the US, and were named "life members."

Torshin, who is believed to be "Russian official 1" in the affidavit, has been accused of money laundering for organized crime groups by Spanish authorities, and was was placed on the US Treasury Department's list of sanctioned Russian officials in April 2018.

Outside work, Butina posted like a normal 20-something

Butina posted photos of her working out, receiving a boxing lesson, and painting.

"When the whole gym is at your disposal. An interesting feeling, like no one interferes," a translation of the caption for one read.

She also shared some interesting culinary creations.

Butina described one meal as a cottage cheese casserole with apples, strawberries, black currants, and eggs. Another showed open-face sandwiches with tomatoes on cold, un-melted shredded cheese.

One photo showed scrambled eggs with a pool of liquid around them.

"Omelet from 2 eggs, a glass of low-fat milk and yogurt this morning. Come on, criticize for a liquid omelette - and I love it and specially do it," a translation of her caption read.

"The site is supposed to be where we put food photos we're proud of, not some slapped together dish we made after a jog and then — it would seem — left out in the rain," the breakfast food website Extra Crispy said of Butina's egg-stagrams.

In another post, Butina posed with her cat. She also shared her thoughts about family, writing in one caption:

"With dad and sister at the parents' house, grilling kebabs. Family is a real treasure. Do not forget. No one will ever be closer in life!"

SEE ALSO: Grand jury indicts Maria Butina, a Russian national with deep ties to the NRA, for conspiracy and acting as a Russian agent

DON'T MISS: 29-year-old Russian suspect Maria Butina viewed trading sex for favors as a 'necessary aspect of her activities' in the US, DOJ says

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: North Korean defector: Kim Jong Un 'is a terrorist'

• The "Manhattan Madam" was reportedly questioned as part of the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
• Kristin M. Davis, 41, is notoriously known for running a high-end prostitution ring in the 2000s.
• She is also a close friend of Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign adviser who has become a target of Mueller's investigation.
• Davis went to prison for running a prostitution ring and selling drugs, and also ran for governor of New York.

New York's notorious "Manhattan Madam" has come back into the limelight.

Kristin Davis, 41, who was known for running a high-end prostitution ring in the 2000s, was questioned as part of a probe into Russian's interference into the 2016 presidential election by the special counsel Robert Mueller, multiplemediaoutlets reported.

Davis told The New York Times in July that she didn't know why she had been called in for questioning, but confirmed that the special counsel's office had contacted her asking where they could serve a subpoena.

The Washington Post reported then that she was expecting to be asked about her close friend, Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign adviser who has become a subject in Mueller's investigation.

Here's everything we know about the Manhattan Madam:

SEE ALSO: Manafort trial day 4: Prosecutors dive into the money trail and a key witness admits to helping Manafort commit financial fraud

DON'T MISS: Roger Stone says he could be indicted by Mueller

Kristin Davis started her career working at a hedge fund. She claimed that by the end of her stint, she was senior vice president of operations for a $2 billion fund.

Source: XO Jane

In her time working in finance, she said she was asked to book escorts for her bosses. It was from here that she decided to set up her own agency.

"I was working at my last hedge fund job when I began toying with the idea of opening an agency as a means of making additional income to help support my mother and her medical expenses,” she wrote in a blog post for XOJane in 2014.

She set up and ran an escort agency for five years.

In 2008, Davis was arrested and accused of running a prostitute ring. She was sent to Rikers prison.

She claimed to have provided escorts to Eliot Spitzer, a former governor of New York. Spitzer denied he had contact with Davis, and her name didn't come up in the investigation into his conduct.

He resigned as governor that year after admitting that he had patronized a prostitution ring.

She pleaded guilty to one count of prostitution.

Sources: The New York Times, XO Jane, WNYC, Manhattan Madam

• First lady Melania Trump praised NBA star LeBron James and said she is open to visiting his newly opened school, less than a day after President Donald Trump lashed out at him on Twitter.
• A statement from the first lady said James is doing "good things on behalf of our next generation," and compared his work to her childhood welfare initiative, "Be Best."
• James recently announced he opened a school for underprivileged children in his hometown.
• Trump attacked the three-time champion after an interview in which James said Trump uses sports to sow divisions among people in the US.

First lady Melania Trump praised LeBron James less than a day after President Donald Trump lashed out at the NBA star on Twitter.

She also said she is open to visiting the school for underprivileged children James recently opened in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, which he said in an interview that aired last week prioritizes a holistic experience for students.

In the same interview, James said he thought Trump was using sports to sow division in the US.

Trump trashed James and CNN host Don Lemon in a tweet late Friday.

"Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon," the president tweeted. "He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!"

Trump's tweet prompted an outpouring of defense for James, the latest of which comes from the first lady.

In a statement released by her spokesperson Stephanie Grisham on Saturday, the first lady praised James, saying he "is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation," and said she "encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today."

The statement also references her childhood welfare initiative, "Be Best", for which she "has traveled the country and world talking to children about their well-being, healthy living, and the importance of responsible online behavior."

As a part of continuing her work, the statement says she "would be open to visiting" the I Promise School, which James established for students who are at risk of falling behind.

Here's the full statement, via CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins:

This is the second recent instance of the first lady has issuing a public statement that seems to counter the president.

On July 25, Grisham replied to a report from The New York Times about the president's apparent anger that the first lady's TV aboard Air Force One was set to CNN, which Trump publicly attacks as "fake news."

Though Grisham refused to comment on the report directly, she said the first lady watches "any channel she wants."

SEE ALSO: Melania Trump's spokeswoman says she watches 'any channel she wants' after report said Trump was irate her TV aboard Air Force One was set to CNN

SEE ALSO: Athletes and politicians erupt at Trump after he takes aim at LeBron James on Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: North Korean defector: Kim Jong Un 'is a terrorist'

• President Donald Trump held a campaign-style rally in Ohio on Saturday night.
• He was there supporting the Republican he endorsed for a special election to fill a House seat on Tuesday.
• Trump revived many of his famous tropes from the 2016 campaign, and the crowd loved it.

In the lively style typical of his campaign, President Donald Trump held a rally with a cheering crowd of supporters in Lewis Center, Ohio on Saturday night.

Trump was there supporting state Sen. Troy Balderson, who's running in a special election on Tuesday against Democrat Danny O'Connor for a vacant House seat.

Roughly 3,000 people packed the main event space at Olentangy Orange High School, with more in an overflow room, according to Fox News.

It was apparently quite warm, as Trump took a moment to say it felt like it was "110 degrees in this crazy room." The White House press pool reported there wasn't any air conditioning.

"So much for my brand new, beautiful suit!" he joked as he picked up his suit coat for emphasis.

Between erupting in loud applause and fanning themselves with "Women for Trump" signs, the lively crowd shouted some of the popular chants from Trump's 2016 campaign, including "Build that wall!"

Trump used his visit to Ohio as an opportunity to relive election night 2016, recalling multiple times how he won the state and clinched the presidency.

Taking aim at his favorite opponents

Like most of his rallies, Trump also took the opportunity to complain about critical media coverage, to which the crowd started chanting, "CNN sucks!" multiple times.

He praised Fox News but attacked MSNBC, calling them elites.

"They're more elite than me? I have better everything than they have, including this," Trump said, pointing to his head.

Trump also took aim at another favorite target, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, disparaging her looks and calling her "a seriously low-IQ person."

In a litany of attacks on the special counsel Robert Mueller's and Congressional committees' Russia investigations, Trump said he didn't like that Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California didn't know she had a Chinese spy working as her driver for almost 20 years.

Touting his goals, accomplishments

Trump ran through a list of things he wants to get done, from building his proposed wall on the US-Mexico border to confirming his Supreme Court nominee.

He touted his nominee Brett Kavanaugh's and confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch's Ivy League credentials, saying he wanted Supreme Court justices "with the highest test scores."

Outlining how he needs "100%" of the Republicans in the Senate plus Vice President Mike Pence to vote for Kavanaugh if there's a tie, Trump said some Democrats say nicer things about him than Republican lawmakers do.

"A couple of them compare me to some of the greats," he said. "They talk about Abe Lincoln, Honest Abe. I tell the people, it's wonderful that they're saying nice things, but they are never going to give us the vote. Say bad things about me, but give us the vote!"

Trump also touted his economic accomplishments, at one point saying there were more Americans employed today than at any other time in history.

A fact-checker for the Washington Post analyzed this claim when Pence made it in November, and rated it three out of four Pinocchio's, because there are more Americans today than ever before, making the number of jobs the highest, but the labor force participation rate is lower than it was in the 1990s.

As Trump and many in the crowd behind him grew slick with perspiration, the president ended the 71-minute speech the way he ends most, with the crowd joining in on the final phrase:

"Together, as a nation, we will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again."

Watch the full rally below:

SEE ALSO: Athletes and politicians erupt at Trump after he takes aim at LeBron James on Twitter

DON'T MISS: Melania Trump praises LeBron James and says she would visit his school after Trump insults him on Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you hold your boss accountable, according to a Navy SEAL

• 78-year-old English actor Patrick Stewart is making a return to "Star Trek."
• He will continue the story of character Jean-Luc Picard in a new CBS All Access series.
• The title and release date is not yet known.

Patrick Stewart is returning to "Star Trek" — and he'll continue the story of Jean-Luc Picard.

The 78-year-old English actor, also known for his role in the X-Men franchise, is set to take the character's story further in a new CBS All Access series, which does not yet have a title or release date.

Stewart announced the news when he made a surprise appearance at the annual "Star Trek" convention in Las Vegas, according to The Guardian.

"I will always be very proud to have been a part of the 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' but when we wrapped that final movie in the spring of 2002, I truly felt my time with Star Trek had run its natural course," he said.

"It is, therefore, an unexpected but delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him. Seeking out new life for him, when I thought that life was over."

The character of Jean-Luc Picard has appeared in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and four feature films: "Star Trek Generations," "Star Trek: First Contact," "Star Trek: Insurrection," and "Star Trek: Nemesis."

Stewart went on: "During these past years, it has been humbling to hear stories about how 'The Next Generation' brought people comfort, saw them through difficult periods in their lives or how the example of Jean-Luc inspired so many to follow in his footsteps, pursuing science, exploration and leadership.

"I feel I’m ready to return to what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times. I look forward to working with our brilliant creative team as we endeavour to bring a fresh, unexpected and pertinent story to life once more."

The executive producer will be Alex Kurtzman, showrunner of "Star Trek: Discover," which is set to return in January.

Of the new project, Kurtzman said: "For over 20 years, fans have hoped for the return of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and that day is finally here. We can’t wait to forge new ground, surprise people, and honour generations both new and old."

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NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different

• Men everywhere are wearing broken watches, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• We spoke to Hamilton Powell, CEO of online luxury watch market Crown & Caliber, to find out why.
• Powell said that although aesthetics played a big part in it, traditional watches are one of the few simple luxuries left in life and offer a rare distraction from the modern world.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article suggesting that men around the world are wearing broken watches because they are now items of jewellery, rather than timekeeping devices.

The author of the article, Jacob Gallagher, said: "With smartphones practically glued to our palms at all times and smartwatches muscling in, traditional timepieces are just no longer as vital as they once were in any practical sense."

It's logical, too.

"Any digital time-keeping device, be it a phone or a G-Shock is going to keep much better time than any mechanical watch, no matter how high-grade," a mechanical watch collector told Gallagher.

But if they have been surpassed technologically, then why are men still wearing what have effectively become artifacts of the past?

We spoke to Hamilton Powell, CEO of online luxury watch market Crown & Caliber, to find out.

"When I check the time, half the time I'm looking at my iPhone," Powell concedes. However, he added: "If the watch were a pure time-telling device then it would have been replaced years ago."

In 2017, Apple sold more watches than Rolex, Swatch, and the rest of the Swiss watch industry combined — a statistic that terrified traditional watchmakers everywhere.

Despite the disruption in the marketplace, smaller (often cheaper) watch brands like Marloe and Daniel Wellington are appearing all the time thanks to platforms like Kickstarter and Instagram.

Even Swiss watch exports seem to be recovering from a slump at the moment, and untracked sales through the grey market may mean the revival is even better than it seems.

"The fact that [the traditional watch] continues to not just survive but thrive has got to cause people to stop and think 'what is a watch in 2018?'" Powell said.

So what is it?

Powell says the humble watch "represents something that mankind has been able to do through the forging of steel and gold and precious metal."

He adds: "We have been able to capture the most elusive thing that there is, and that's time. It's maybe the greatest engineering feat of humankind in that we've actually been able to measure time."

And a watch is a constant reminder of that feat.

In a world where we we are constantly connected, messaging and being messaged, and frequently receiving notifications, Powell says something as simple as winding a mechanical watch every morning offers a moment of serenity.

Powell says: "It's kind of a poetic thing." He says that by winding a watch we "create a small moment where we're intentional about how we're going to use that time."

"So I think people have come to recognise that it's not about telling the time of day," he adds.

"It's a moment where we remember that there's a beauty to not being so busy, there's a beauty to simplicity and this is actually the last simple thing that I own."

SEE ALSO: The 3 biggest mistakes people make when buying a watch, according to an expert

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you hold your boss accountable, according to a Navy SEAL

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Approaching Noma, perhaps the world's most famous restaurant, one can't help feel the sort of trepidation that comes with any trip to a high-end dining experience. Fancy restaurants are by their nature intimidating places — expensive, filled with wealthy, successful people, and often, snooty staff.

Noma, a restaurant that takes immense pride in defying almost every convention in the book, doesn’t fit that stereotype, and makes its point from the very beginning.

Rather than a greeting from an aloof maitre'd with a waxed moustache and immaculate hair, guests' first contact at the restaurant is with a 63-year-old Gambian immigrant called Ali Sonko and his infectious smile.

Sonko, a permanent fixture at Noma since it opened almost 15 years ago, started as a dishwasher at the restaurant, and having worked his way through the ranks, now owns a 10% stake in the business.

Voted the best restaurant in the world four times in the well-respected, but often controversial World's 50 Best list, Noma is portmanteau of the word's "Nordisk," meaning "Nordic," and "mad," the Danish word for food. The restaurant’s name perfectly defines its ambitions.

Noma and its founder Rene Redzepi have built a culinary dynasty by focusing solely on ingredients from the Scandinavian region, shunning things like olive oil, and focusing instead on foraged ingredients from near the restaurant.

Famous dishes to appear on the restaurant's menu over the years include dried moss, ants, and more recently mould.

Located in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, it has a fair claim to be the most influential place of gastronomy in the world. Alumni are spread all over the world, and have taken the restaurant's philosophy of hyperlocalism with them.

Any time you eat an edible flower at a local bistro, or hear about the house churned butter at that trendy new spot downtown, Noma has probably had at least some influence.

I've been lucky enough to visit Noma twice, once in November 2011, and more recently in late July. Here's what it was like on my most recent visit.

SEE ALSO: What it's like to eat at the best restaurant in the world

The original Noma was open from 2003 until early 2017, when founder Rene Redzepi and his team closed shop with a vision of reinventing the restaurant. A wildly popular pop-up in Mexico filled part of the intervening time, with the rest dedicated to building a new restaurant almost from scratch in a new location roughly a mile from the old restaurant.

Situated on a small lake just outside the centre of Copenhagen, Noma’s new location was formerly an ammunition storage facility for the Danish military, and comprises the main restaurant, its kitchens, and numerous greenhouses where the produce served to diners is grown. Designed by renowned architect Bjarke Ingels, the site's 11 buildings stretch more than 60 metres from end to end, and are designed to resemble an old Danish village.

In its previous iteration Noma changed its menu based on what ingredients were most readily available, but used vegetables, meat, and fish throughout the year. Now, it operates in three seasons, focusing on seafood for four months, vegetables for another four, and then game for the final four. Visiting in July meant I was served the vegetable-focused menu.

• Using a sample résumé to help you spruce up your own doesn't mean it has to be bland.
• Business Insider and TopResume career expert Amanda Augustine put together a strong sample résumé as inspiration for job seekers.
• Augustine also provided insight on what works in this particular résumé so that you tailor your own résumé to your needs.

A good résumé can be hard to find — so here's a solid sample résumé to help you get started.

After all, your résumé is your key to new and exciting job opportunities.

Business Insider and Amanda Augustine — who currently works as TopResume's careers expert and previously worked in the same capacity as Ladders— put together the following résumé for all current and future job seekers.

While résumés should be tailored to the industry you're in, the one below offers a helpful guide for entry- and mid-level professionals with three to five years of relevant work experience.

What makes this résumé so great? Augustine outlined the following reasons:

SEE ALSO: These real résumé makeovers will teach you exactly how to fix your own résumé

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1. It includes a URL to the job seeker's professional online profile

If you don't include URLs to your professional online profiles, hiring managers will look you up regardless.

Why not include your URL along with your contact information? This will prevent recruiters from having to guess or mistaking you for someone else.

2. It uses consistent branding

"If you have a common name, consider including your middle initial on your résumé and online professional profiles to differentiate yourself from the competition," said Augustine.

For example, decide if you're Mike Johnson, Michael Johnson, or Mike E. Johnson. Then use this name consistently, be it on LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

3. It includes a single phone number and email address

"Choose one phone number for your résumé where you control the voicemail message and who picks up the phone," Augustine said.

The same rule applies to an email address.

Going on a diet is a losing game. Some research suggests more than nine out of every 10 people who try to diet will fail.

Even people who are able to diet successfully often fight a tough battle against the body's evolutionarily savvy attempts to store extra energy. In fact, scientists have found that the bodies of severely overweight people who lose weight can actively work against them: as they slim down, their metabolism drops, making it harder to lose more weight. 

Experts agree that extreme diets and juice cleanses aren't good long-term strategies for maintaining a healthy weight. To that end, the US News & World Report's 2018 ranking of the best diets put the trendy ketogenic diet dead last. 

But there are a few simple things you can do to stay trim and satisfied in the long run. 

We asked dietitian Jason Ewoldt from the nation's top-rated hospital, the Mayo Clinic, for his simplest, sanest ideas for staying lean this summer. Here's his advice:

SEE ALSO: The most surprising foods Weight Watchers considers zero points — and why

Stay hydrated. If you hate drinking water, zest it up with citrus or drink it carbonated (without adding empty calories into your diet).

Ewoldt says patients often end up misinterpreting thirst for hunger.

"A lot of times, people just seem to be a little dehydrated," he said. 

A 2016 study of more than 18,000 people in the US found that those who drank more water were consistently more satisfied and ate fewer calories on a daily basis. They also consumed lower amounts of sugar, fat, salt, and cholesterol than more dehydrated participants. 

There's also some limited evidence that drinking water can help you burn through more calories, at least for a little while. So keep sipping.

Whatever you drink, it's probably best to steer clear of both sugar and artificial sweeteners.

Drinking a lot of sugary coffee , tea, soda , or juice could increase your risk of an early death, according to a study of over 17,000 Americans above the age of 45. 

But researchers are starting to discover that consuming drinks with fake sugar may not be any better than downing the real stuff when it comes to developing dangerous chronic diseases.

Scientists studying the blood vessels of rats have discovered that while sugar and artificial sweeteners act in very different ways inside the animals' bodies, they can both up the odds of developing obesity and diabetes.

The researchers think that artificial sweeteners may mess with the way our bodies process fat. 

Aim for seven to eight hours of shut-eye per night.

Most of us like to think we can operate well without a full night's sleep. But neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker says that's wrong. According to Walker, lack of sleep is literally killing us.

And it makes us eat more bad food, too. 

Research published in 2013 in the journal Nature Communications revealed that sleep-deprived eaters are more likely to reach for high-calorie foods and gain weight than well-rested people. That's because being sleepy also snoozes the region of the brain that helps tell us when we're full.

• The "Xtreme Eating" list from the Center for Science in the Public Interest ranks unhealthy meals in America.
• Some of the meals on the list for 2018 contain almost four days' worth of the recommended fat content.
• Among the nation's unhealthiest dishes is a 1-1/2-pound pretzel that contains 1,920 calories.

If you've ever wondered what four days' worth of fat content in one meal looks like, you finally have your answer.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has put together a list of the unhealthiest meals in America, known as the "Xtreme Eating" list. These highly calorific, artery-clogging meals make a KFC family bucket look like child's play.

The list is collated by nutrition experts who reviewed menus at 200 restaurant chains in the United States to find the meals heaviest in calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the daily recommended intake is 2,000 calories, 20 grams of saturated fat, 2,300 milligrams of sodium, and 50 grams of added sugar.

Unfortunately for the chains on this list, chain restaurants nationwide are now required to list calories on all menus and menu boards.

Here's the list, ranked lowest to highest by calories:

SEE ALSO: Chain restaurants are now required to post calorie counts — and these meals are the biggest offenders

8. BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse: Peanut Butter S'mores Pizookie (1,580 calories)

This extravagant-looking dessert is the least calorific of all but has a massive sugar content at an estimate 135 grams.  

At the base is a triple-chocolate cookie topped with peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, marshmallows, and vanilla ice cream.

7. The Cheesecake Factory: Chicken Parmesan "Pizza Style" (1,870 calories)

This is one of two Cheesecake Factory dishes to make the list. It ranks high in terms of fat, sodium, and calorie content. 

It's made of chicken coated with breadcrumbs, covered with marinara sauce and melted cheese, and topped off with angel-hair pasta in an Alfredo cream sauce. It's the best of all worlds. 

6. AMC Cinemas: Bavarian Legend Soft Pretzel (1,920 calories)

This 1-1/2-pound pretzel is sprinkled with salt and served warm with nacho cheese and mustard.

It's a salt sprinkling that it definitely doesn't need, as the sodium content in one portion is nearly equivalent to four days' worth of the recommended amount. 

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Abusing the store's sampling policy

Trader Joe's wants customers to try its new products without having to commit to buying them outright. So workers are instructed to open items — aside from alcohol and products that require cooking — to allow shoppers to dig in to some samples.

On occasion, however, people take advantage of this sampling policy.

"I've only experienced two or three occasions where a customer tried to take advantage of this and wanted us to open literally ten plus products," one person who described working at Trader Joe's wrote in a 2017 Reddit thread. "Management had to step in and kindly inform them that one or two products is fine, but we have to draw the line somewhere."

Plus, even if you purchase a product you end up hating, you still have some recourse.

"We have the no-hassle return policy where you don't even need to bring a receipt, so they can buy the product with confidence and, if they don't like it, they are welcome to return it," the person wrote.

Another Reddit poster said handing out samples was "only annoying when I am the one running the sample station and a customer wants to try like three things — and I'm swamped with people wanting samples."

Acting impatient when it comes to finding products

One Reddit poster said customers sometimes irritated employees by asking multiple workers to check for the same product in the back of the store at the same time.

The poster also described being sick of customers "walking up to me — or sneaking up on me — and just saying the name of a product they have a question about, instead of saying, 'Hi, can you help me for a moment?'"

Leaving frozen items all over the store

If you decide a product isn't for you, Trader Joe's employees would appreciate it if you'd put it back where you found it.

One person who described being a Trader Joe's crew member wrote in a 2018 Reddit thread of feeling irked by "people who decide they don't want something refrigerated or frozen, who just leave it on a shelf somewhere."

"It inevitably gets to room temp and is ruined," the employee added. "It's just so wasteful. One time, I found a package of chicken breasts hidden behind the bottled water. Why?"

San Francisco has avocado food festivals and vending machines that spit out $50 down vests for techies venturing through the airport. So it's entirely in keeping with the city's character that San Francisco has a water bar — as in a bar that will pour you different flavors of water. 

Flavored water company Hint launched the concept at its recently-opened retail location in the city's Cow Hollow neighborhood, right next to the company's headquarters. For 13 years now, the company has been in the sugarless, zero-calorie fruit-infused water business. More recently, Hint has become a hit with some of Silicon Valley's biggest tech companies like Google and PayPal.

With this new water bar, Hint CEO Kara Goldin told Business Insider that it's meant to "give customers a little more experience" with the brand.

I paid a visit to the bar recently, which also includes Hint-branded merchandise and a rustic swing for Instagram-worthy photoshoots. 

Here's what it's like.

SEE ALSO: I tried a $189, 10-course meal at the eclectic San Francisco restaurant that makes ice cream from milk mixed with hot coals and morphs trout into 'everything bagels'

Hint's new retail store sits next to its San Francisco headquarters, in the city's Cow Hollow neighborhood.

The bar serves up samples of Hint's fruit-infused water, on a rotating basis When I paid a visit, guests could get free samples of the lime and cherry drinks.

Here's what you'll see when you walk in.

• Mykonos is a Greek island, world-famous as a party capital and a popular vacation hotspot for millionaires and billionaires.
• I recently visited to see what the island would be like on both a frugal cheap vacation budget and on a more mid- to high-end vacation budget.
• Visiting during the peak summer months of July and August turned out to be an expensive, exhausting, and crowded experience, with every beach packed, lines out the door of most clubs and bars, and resorts that were hard to book and cost a fortune.
• While the resorts and beaches are gorgeous and the bars and clubs fun and lively, Mykonos feels like poor bang-for-your-buck unless you are a hard-partying clubber or drowning in money.
• There are a lot of less crowded, equally beautiful, and far cheaper Greek islands to visit nearby.

Mykonos is not for the faint of heart.

The island is famous as a glamorous destination for the world's most wealthy and famous. Come the booming summer months of July and August, the island swells with the A-listers, B-listers, C-listers, and D-listers, along with hundreds of thousands of vacationers, hard-partying dance-music junkies, and cruise-shippers.

While just 33 square miles in size, the sunny and cool island is stuffed with hip boutique hotels, thumping beach clubs, haute couture shops, white sandy beaches, whitewashed alleyways, and swanky restaurants.

If this all sounds a little like Ibiza, I'll stop you right there: the cool rich kids have moved on. They're in Mykonos now. If there were any doubts, a look off any bay on Mykonos' coast reveals waters swamped with freshly scrubbed yachts, superyachts, and mega-yachts.

Over the last several years, the number of international arrivals to Mykonos has nearly doubled.

But where does that leave the rest of the teeming masses that jostle for a spot at Mykonos' glittering carnival?

For us, visiting Mykonos is a far different experience. The doors that simply open for the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard Branson, Bella Hadid, and billionaire Stavros Niarchos III stay closed for mere mortals. A day at a beach club can empty out a savings account, and that's if you can even score a cabana at all. In the hottest of hot spots, the staff only have time to cater to millionaires and billionaires.

Those were my assumptions before I stepped off the airplane to see what Mykonos is like for regular folks — many of which I found were right by the time I left the island a few days later. Other expectations, I found, were pleasantly incorrect.

Here's what it was like to visit the world's hottest party island in the peak of the season:

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Gorgeous, glamorous, and luxurious, Mykonos is Greece’s answer to Ibiza.

In the 1950s, the island was barely a blip on the map. But in 1961, first lady Jackie Kennedy  visited, setting off the first wave of tourism from the world's monied and famous.

Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, and Rita Hayworth were just a few of the celebrities to vacation on the island in those days.

In the following decades, the island became known as a legendary underground party spot and a popular vacationing spot for the global LGBT community.

In recent years, tourism to the island has exploded as global partiers and a new generation of celebrities and the ultra-rich discovered the Grecian paradise after moving on from now-passé hot spots like Ibiza and San Tropez.

I arrived on the island one evening in late July, the peak of the peak season.

I was picked up by Michael, the driver for the guest house I would be staying at and a 50-ish "financial refugee" from Athens.

"The thing you have to understand about Mykonos," Michael said, in a riff that quickly turned Shakespearean, "is that Mykonos is absolutely nothing. There is nothing special about the island. It is a theater stage and you are the stars."

• The HALO jump in "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" almost had to be faked.
• The Royal Air Force would only allow Cruise to do the stunt from 12,000 feet, not 25,000 feet, which would be a true HALO jump.
• However, after Cruise broke his ankle while attempting a stunt for the movie, everything changed, according to Allan Hewitt, the "Fallout" skydiving coordinator.

The HALO jump in "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" took a year to execute, and required special equipment, building the world's largest wind tunnel for training, and over 106 jumps out of a plane to get it in the film.

However, all of that would have been wasted if Tom Cruise hadn't broken his ankle.

In a movie filled with thrilling moments, one of its most dazzling is in the beginning of the movie when Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and CIA agent August Walker (Henry Cavill) do a high-altitude, low-open (HALO) skydive into Paris. Though a stunt double did the jump in Cavill's place, Cruise did the entire thing — jumping out of a C-17 plane from 25,000 feet and playing out the scene in free fall. 

According to Allan Hewitt, the "Fallout" skydiving coordinator, the plan to do a true HALO jump was almost thwarted by the Royal Air Force. 

Because the production's home base was in England, the plan was to shoot the HALO scenes with the RAF's planes and crew. However, the RAF refused to fly the "Fallout" team to an extremely high altitude. They would only let Cruise jump from 12,000 feet. 

"Tom didn't want to fake it — he wanted to do it for real at 25,000 feet," Hewitt told Business Insider. "But the producers said they weren't going to another country. It really looked like we were going to fake it with the RAF."

But all that changed when Cruise broke his ankle while attempting a stunt for the movie. 

Because production was halted, they missed its scheduled time to jump with the RAF. With the wait time, everyone regrouped and agreed that the HALO jump would happen at the end of filming in Abu Dhabi, where Cruise would be allowed to jump from 25,000 feet.

"If Tom didn't break his ankle, we would have ended up faking it, which nobody wanted," Hewitt said.

SEE ALSO: A "Star Wars" actor explains why the movies keep flopping in China

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• Marriage typically gets harder after you have kids.
• But it's important to prioritize your spouse and your relationship even after you become a parent. Two marriage therapists share their top tips for doing just that.
• This post is part of Relationships 101, a series which aims to help us all be happier and healthier in love — and to stop fighting over who should take out the trash.

"There is no such thing as a family vacation."

So says Hal Runkel. He's a marriage and family therapist, the author of "ScreamFree Parenting," and a father of two.

When you and your partner head to the beach, or the museum, or the streets of Paris with small kids in tow, Runkel said, that's basically the opposite of a vacation for the adults. "That's a business trip," he said. "You're working your tail off."

Working with couples in distress, Runkel helps them figure out other, more effective ways to re-invest time and energy in their relationship.

I spoke with Runkel and marriage therapist Rachel Sussman about the best ways to make your marriage a priority, even when you've got young kids in the house. Here are their top tips:

Get in touch with your guilt

Sometimes, when Sussman encourages clients to spend less time and energy on parenting, they're shocked.

"But then," Sussman said, "you start unpacking more."

Inevitably, the client will say something like, "I'm guilty because I'm a working mother, so I do extra to spend time with them." (Sussman said she hears this largely from female clients.) Or, the person will say, "I feel bad getting a babysitter," because their job prevents them from being home to put the kids to bed every night.

But Sussman will tell them: "By making your children the most important thing, you are neglecting your partner. And then how is your child going to feel if that marriage falls apart?"

That is to say, by giving all your attention to your kids and none to your partner, you're potentially putting the family in a very precarious position.

Know that your job is to make your kids need you less

"People feel like they don't have permission" to shift their focus from their kids to their partner, Runkel said. They'll say, "The kids need me."

But they're forgetting: "The whole point of parenting is to get them to not need me. They need to need me less and less every year if I'm doing my job right."

That's not to say you should leave your kids to fend for themselves every day — it's more that you don't need to hover. And you can feel OK about going away for the weekend with your partner every so often.

"By just going away," Runkel said, "you're communicating to your kids: You're able to handle life without me for a weekend. I believe in you."

Have a 'date night' every night

"I heartily recommend that you work like crazy to establish a consistent bedtime" for the kids, Runkel said, that gives you and your partner a few hours together every night.

Too many people think they have to hire a babysitter and organize an official "date night" every Friday, or spend tons of money on an international getaway.

And while Runkel said Friday nights out and trips to Cabo can be helpful, a more practical approach is simply to carve out adults-only time every night.

"It helps you get through the difficult 'now'," Runkel said — even if the kids are being especially fussy at dinner, you know that by 8 p.m., they'll be asleep and you and your partner can hang out together.

It's not just good for the two of you — it's good for your kids. If they see that their parents are "taking time for themselves, that they genuinely cherish each other, and are affectionate with one another, that gives them a sense of stability," Runkel said.

"It's supposed to be hard," Runkel said of marriage after kids. "But once you prioritize it and do it, you'll see amazing benefits."

SEE ALSO: I asked a marriage counselor for the 3 most common sex and relationship problems she sees, and they turn conventional wisdom on its head

Join the conversation about this story »

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Nepal is full of contrasts.

Sandwiched between China and India, the country's 30 million residents are scattered across a stark geography, from the snowy Himalayan plateau to sweltering jungle and arid plains.

A common refrain among Nepali people is that if you were to spread the country flat, it would be one of the largest in the world. Perhaps as a consequence of the country's topography, Nepal's people represent a panoply of ethnic groups, speaking over 100 languages, with varying styles of dress, cuisine, and architecture.

In Nepal's relatively cosmopolitan urban centers, you're just as likely to hear K-Pop blaring from taxi speakers as you are the latest Bollywood hit or the omnipresent Om Mani Padme Om, an ancient Sanskrit chant.

Tourism — along with remittance money sent back from citizens working abroad — is one of the largest drivers of Nepal's economy.

Most visitors and backpackers take a few well-trodden paths through the country, mostly in places where Western food and a toilet (with toilet paper) are almost always available.

Tangting, a village I had the pleasure of visiting for the second time in July, is not one of those places.

My girlfriend's family originally hails from the village. Having that connection is one of the few ways an outsider can spend time there and get to know the place. 

Situated in what Nepalis refer to as "hill" country, Tangting is a village of around 400 people in a deep valley under the shadow of Annapurna, one of the world's deadliest peaks. A dense subtropical jungle and rice paddies carved into the valley color the area a deep green. The sounds of yaks with bells jingling around their necks can be heard, alongside women singing while they work the fields. 

It's a place where, just over a decade ago, a group of Maoist rebels made their last stand in the civil war that pulled the country apart. It's only now getting sewn back together. 

These days, a rush of development is occurring. Power lines now run to the village, as does a new dirt road that leads from Pokhara, Nepal's second-largest city, to Tangting. 

The road is passable only in the dry season, however. So when we — myself, my girlfriend, and her family — traveled to Tangting during monsoon season, multiple landslides blocked our path, forcing us to walk most of the way. 

Here's what the journey and the village were like.

SEE ALSO: This record-breaking Everest climber has reached the summit nine times. She makes $11.50 per hour washing dishes at Whole Foods.

Reaching Tangting from Pokhara, the nearest major city, is an all-day affair.

The village is located deep within the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal's largest protected landscape.

The first step to get to the village is a three-hour Jeep ride over rough mountain roads. This road was built three years ago, during a wave of development spurred by the construction of a dam in the nearby Gandaki River.

Chinese and Indian conglomerates built the hydropower station on the Gandaki River, but the power isn't for the locals — it's for export.