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19 up-and-coming athleisure brands that aren't Lululemon

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yogasmoga

Lululemon has been poised for a comeback; Wells Fargo analysts have stated that Lululemon has been improving its design, production, and supply chain.

But the company faces steep competition.

Over the past few years, the athleisure market has become incredibly popular. Everyone is trying to cash on it, from Dick's Sporting Goods to Nike.

And Lululemon still has its troubled history; customers were furious when founder Chip Wilson commented in 2013 that his pants didn't work for everyone.

These companies could make it harder for the company to hold such a large portion of the market share.

Some companies, like Gap's Athleta and Nike, are huge. Others are more niche brands that can be ordered online. 

Under Armour

Under Armour is arguably Lululemon's biggest threat. The company has explicitly stated that it wants to focus on growing its women's business. CEO Kevin Plank said that he wanted to make its women's business bigger than its men's, which would thereby make the company completely usurp Lululemon's stronghold on women's athletic apparel.

Under Armour also has the added benefit of having supermodel Gisele Bundchen and star ballerina Misty Copeland as faces of the brand.



Nike

Nike has been making huge efforts to boost its women's business. Its #BetterForIt campaign has been paying off.

With its ubiquitous store presence and its status as the biggest apparel retailer in the United States, Nike has the opportunity to hook customers who Lululemon can't even reach yet. 



Yogasmoga

Yogasmoga was founded by brother-sister pair Rishi and Tapasya Bali. Although the company's clothes have high price points similar to Lululemon's, the company prides itself on being a more authentic yoga apparel company.

"While other companies use Yoga as a marketing tool, we are yoga company that makes things for life, and this difference in philosophy makes us operate at a much higher level than any of our competition and have a deeper connection with our customer," Bali told Business Insider's Maya Kosoff in April. "Our authentic connection to yoga helps us understand the needs of our customers and make a very luxurious product that stands up to the demands of the consumer."



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37 thoughtful Valentine's Day gifts under $50

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couple romantic feet

Valentine's Day is a chance to show our loved ones that we care ... and perhaps gift them a token or two of our affection.

Whether your Valentine is a friend, family member, new date, or treasured spouse, check out 37 gifts under $50 that will make them smile. 

We didn't include chocolate or flowers, because: duh.

And remember —  a homemade, heartfelt card is usually just as appreciated. 

SEE ALSO: 50 fantastic holiday gifts for $50 or less

Charm your favorite person with a heat-changing heart mug.

The heart turns red as you fill the mug, for another boost of affection with every cup of tea.

Price: $7



Make your office a little more festive with heart cookie cutters.

Bake and decorate cookies with your Valentine, then enjoy them with your cubicle-mates.

Price: $10



Keep bits and bobs safe with a tiny ring dish.

It might be made for rings, but there's no rule it can't hold earrings, cuff links, or keys.

Price: $10



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The best high-paying job in every state

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It pays to go into the medical field. According to U.S. News & World Report's 2016 Best Jobs rankings  which determines the 100 best occupations in the country based on median salary, employment rate, growth, job prospects, stress level, and work-life balance — the two best occupations in America this year are orthodontist and dentist, with many other healthcare occupations ranking highly as well. 

The healthcare sector is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. As highly skilled doctors meet increased demands from an aging community of Baby Boomers, jobs forhealthcare support workers will increase too.

Salaries for these jobs are among the highest in the country as well. U.S. News compiled data on which of the best jobs pays the most in each state. In all 50 states, a job in healthcare is the highest paying, and the jobs all command salaries of more than $150,000, according to national average salary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Check out the map below to find out which of U.S. News' 100 best jobs pays the most in your state.

BI Graphics_Best Paying Job By State

NOW CHECK OUT: The 20 best high-paying jobs in America for 2016

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NOW WATCH: Here's when it's smart to procrastinate

24 cities every music lover should visit in their lifetime

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ultra music festivalFrom the pioneering electro sounds of Berlin to the grunge scene of Seattle, some of the world's biggest cities have birthed the very best in music.

Thanks to their rich musical history, many of these cities have become hubs for music lovers to explore.

From the US and Canada to Europe and South America, here are 24 cities every music lover should add to their bucket list. 

SEE ALSO: 15 incredible concert venues around the world

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AUSTIN, TEXAS: Nicknamed the "Live Music Capital of the World", it's not hard to see why Austin made the list. Besides festivals like South by Southwest, Austin City Limits, and the Fun Fun Fun Fest, the city has a myriad of bars for catching live bands throughout Sixth Street, East Austin, and in areas around the University of Texas.

 

 

 



BERLIN, GERMANY: From punk rockers and DJs to classically trained musicians, Berlin attracts some of the world's top talent. Its Kreuzberg district is the historic home of the Berlin punk rock movement and continues to attract music lovers to legendary locations like the SO36 music club, a favorite stop for Iggy Pop and David Bowie back in the day.



CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: From blues and jazz to rock and hip hop, Chicago is rich in musical history. Pay homage to famed blues musicians like Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon at Buddy Guy’s Legends, or check out Metro for alt-rock bands like Wilco and the Smashing Pumpkins. Chicago is also home to festivals like Lollapalooza and the annual Chicago Jazz Festival.



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We tried the ‘Elon Musk food challenge' and lived off $2 a day for a month

The 13 richest people in tech

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Larry Page

Almost one-fourth of the 50 richest people on earth made their extraordinary fortunes founding and building today's largest tech companies.

Together, the 13 billionaires have a net worth of about $450 billion. That includes Microsoft visionary Bill Gates, the richest person on earth with a fortune of $87.4 billion, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the richest tech CEO in the world with a fortune of $56.6 billion.

This comes from new data provided to Business Insider by Wealth-X, a company that conducts research on the super-wealthy. Wealth-X maintains a database of dossiers on more than 110,000 ultra-high-net-worth people, using a proprietary valuation model to discern the size of their fortunes.

Although the American tech scene is home to the most billionaires on our list — nine of the top 50 — the emerging economies in China and India are starting to churn out enormously rich tech moguls of their own.

Read on to learn about the richest tech titans in the world.

SEE ALSO: The 29 richest people in America

SEE ALSO: The 50 richest people on earth

13. Jun Lei

Net worth:$14.4 billion

Age: 45

Country: China

Source of wealth: Self-made; Xiaomi

Like several of his fellow 21st-century Chinese billionaires, Lei Jun earned his $14.4 billion fortune in tech. His smartphone maker, Xiaomi, became the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the world, and the largest in China, within about three years of its founding.

Lei got his start in tech shortly after college when he joined Kingsoft, a Chinese software company similar to Microsoft, as an engineer. During his tenure at Kingsoft, Lei served as chief technology officer, president, and CEO, succeeding in taking the company public in 2007 before resigning. In 2010, after spending a few years as a venture capitalist, the already-wealthy Chinese entrepreneur founded Xiaomi with a former Google China executive. Lei was appointed chairman of Kingsoft in 2011 and forged a partnership between the two companies to provide cloud-storage capabilities for his phones.

Xiaomi, often referred to as "the Apple of China," is now the second most valuable private-tech company in the world, with a $46 billion valuation. But as sales growth has slowed, experts are contemplating the sustainability of Xiaomi's business model in overseas markets.



12. Azim Premji

Net worth:$16.5 billion

Age: 70

Country: India

Source of wealth: Inheritance/self-made; Wipro

In 1966, 21-year-old Azim Premji dropped out of Stanford in the wake of his father's death to take the helm of his father's company Western India Vegetable Products — later renamed Wipro. It was under Premji's leadership that the company diversified into toiletries and bath products and, eventually, IT, and the company grew exponentially. Now India's third-largest IT giant, Wipro generated revenues of $7.6 billion in its most recent fiscal year.

Just days into the new year, Premji named Abidali Neemuchwala, a Dallas-based consultancy executive, the new CEO of Wipro, citing him as the best leader to take Wipro into "its next phase of growth." Neemuchwala had been brought on to Wipro as chief operating officer last April after years of working for rival Tata Consultancy Services.

Premji is known for his generosity. He signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate at least half of his wealth to charity, and in 2015 was named "the most generous Indian" on the Hurun India Philanthropy list for the third year in a row.



11. Ma Huateng

Net worth:$17.1 billion

Age: 44

Country: China

Source of wealth: Self-made; Tencent Holdings

Softward engineer Ma Huateng founded China's largest internet portal, Tencent Holdings, in 1998. He was 26. Ma's company has a number of successful and widely used platforms in its portfolio, including QQ, its instant-messaging service, which is one of the world's 10 largest websites; a mobile-texting service (WeChat) with 600 million users; a mobile-commerce product (WeChat Wallet); and an online-gaming community (Tencent Games), the largest in China.

Last year Ma made two big deals. In April, he bought a $400 million stake in Chinese classified-listings platform 58.com, of which Tencent already owned a 25% share. That same month he also bought a 15% stake in mobile-game maker Glu Mobile for $126 million.



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14 behind-the-scenes photos showing Bob Dylan joking around with his famous friends backstage

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Rolling Thunder page1

In the summer of 1975, the late photographer Ken Regan received a phone call at 3 a.m. from music promoter Barry Imhoff asking him to photograph the entire first leg of Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue", a multi-city tour.

Regan, jolted awake and confused, couldn't believe what he was hearing. All of a sudden, Dylan was on the phone line, confirming that he wanted Regan to be the one photographer documenting the entire experience. 

By that afternoon, he was at Studio Instrument Rentals in Manhattan, attending a Dylan rehearsal, and an agreement was met.

This March, Ormond Yard Press is releasing a limited edition of "ROLLING THUNDER", featuring the photographs, some of which have never been published, that Regan took on tour.

Ahead, see 14 images of Dylan goofing off both on and off stage with stars like Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, and Muhammad Ali.

    

SEE ALSO: These 18 photos taken by Ringo Starr show how The Beatles liked to chill and cut up behind the scenes

Rehearsals began in early October 1975 in New York City.



The Rolling Thunder tour was different from Dylan's previous in that he invited many musicians to tour with him, including The Byrds' lead singer Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, and others.



Regan is quoted in the foreword of his book: "Bob had given me free rein to shoot it all — onstage, offstage, dressing rooms, parties, trailers, whatever was going on."



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I went an entire month without drinking — here's what I learned

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Christina New Year's Eve

Forbidding myself to drink alcohol for four full weeks tested the limits of my self control.

In moderate amounts of course, alcohol can help people relax after a long day or feel more comfortable socializing. (Some studies even suggest red wine can fight the effects of aging, not unlike unicorn blood.)

My beer, wine, and spirit-free January, more widely known as Dry January or Drynuary, was alienating, often boring, and most importantly, made eating less enjoyable. (There's nothing like a glass of malbec with a juicy steak.) I almost fell off the wagon multiple times ... every weekend.

Regardless of the struggle, I'd recommend it — if only for the affirmation that I could. As it turns out, the health benefits aren't as steadfast as everyone thinks. 

'Why?!'

The first question to arise when I refused a beer or bourbon in favor of water was usually "why?"

I'd respond by rambling off some explanation about the scientific and medical benefits of an alcohol-free month, but upon studying the literature now, I've found the jury's still out.

In 2014, 14 members of the British science magazine New Scientist decided to conduct a little experiment where they stopped or cut back on drinking. For the 10 who stopped drinking alcohol entirely, benefits included weight loss, improved sleep, improved liver health, reduced cholesterol — a lot of good stuff.

Because of its minuscule sample size, though — not to mention several dozen other variables they failed to control for — the staff admitted the results didn't offer many takeaways aside from a "hugely encouraging start." 

Another oft-repeated benefit of not drinking hinges on sleep quality — people say they sleep better when they don't drink. While alcohol can help people fall asleep more quickly, it also reduces rapid-eye-movement, or REM, sleep, widely considered the most restful and important stage of sleep.

Hypnogram

"If you drink alcohol before bed, it actually makes you fall asleep faster and sleep deeper, but then your body starts to metabolize that alcohol, and you'll go through withdrawal," Thomas Roth, director of the Henry Ford Sleep Research Center, told Business Insider. "Your sleep will be terribly disrupted." 

In typical studies looking at the relationship between alcohol and sleep, participants drink alcohol 30-to-60 minutes before bed. As a result, blood-alcohol level, or BAC, usually peaks at "lights out." Thus, the negative effects observed likely stem from imbibing so soon before sleep, not necessarily from drinking alcohol in general. 

"I don't know of anybody that's done studies looking at alcohol consumption, let's say, in the afternoon and its effects on sleep," Roth said. "If you drink two drinks a day, that's not going to make your sleep better or worse."

Personally, my sleep fluctuated, as it usually does. Some nights, I drifted off just a few minutes after my head hit the pillow. While others, I tossed and turned for hours. I also noticed myself craving sweets more often, potentially to offset the sugar I lost by giving up alcohol.

Large-scale studies have shown one benefit of Drynuary though: After successfully abstaining from alcohol for at least a month, a majority of people continued to drink less often as well as fewer drinks, even six months later. Most also described having an easier time refusing alcohol and showed lower dependence scores on the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).

Regardless of the murky science, multitudes of people say they feel better after laying off the sauce. "More energy, more cash in the pocket and dropped over half a stone! What's not to like about this?" writes Patrick, one of the more than two million participants who pledged a Dry January last year. 

While I didn't keep track of my weight or finances, alcohol does cost money and have calories. (And I did feel comfortable enough — with my bank account and my weight — to take an impromptu trip to Miami and don a bikini on the beach.) 

Next year, a new generation of dry-seekers will undertake the challenge. I don't know if I'll count myself among them, but I can say experimenting with  1/12 of my year booze-free paid off in the end — knowing you hate failing more than you love drinking feels pretty good.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Your favorite bar is ripping you off — here are the drinks that are worth spending money on


How the 'perfect body' for men went from chubby, to skinny, to muscular over the last 150 years

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perfect male hero pose

Everyone has their own perception of the perfect body. It is influenced by a number of trends, changes in culture, and even the availability of food.

Artist Nickolay Lamm — who brought us the realistically proportioned girls' doll named Lammily, a direct challenge to Mattel's Barbie — wanted to see how the male ideal had changed over time. So he collected reference photos for what was considered among Americans to be the "perfect man" from each decade since the 1870s, then sculpted 3D models.

In the late 19th century, for example, the Dad-bod was the perfect-bod. Having a large waist and chubby cheeks was a sign of wealth and social class. 

As with all generalizations, this will not be "perfect" for everybody. Lamm's study is only interested in body shape and does not take into account skin tone for example, explaining the whitewash. But the illustrations give insight into how pressures around the male ideal have changed so dramatically over the past couple of centuries.

SEE ALSO: What Barbie would look like if she had the body of an average 19-year-old

1870s: Before everyone had easy access to food, obesity represented wealth.



In 1866, a "Fat Man's Club" was founded in Connecticut, which became popular and spread across the US — its members had to weigh at least 200 pounds. Here's a photo of that same club from 1894.



1930s: By the '30s, food was easier to find, and Hollywood actors created the slim ideal.



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13 Google Chrome hacks that will boost your productivity

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google chrome ride

We spend so much time online that it's important to maximize what we get out of it. Being more productive on the internet can help you make time for things you love.

While there are many websites out there that can suck your time, there are also web extensions and programs people have created to help you focus. With them, you can limit the amount of time you waste on social media, quickly find the site you're looking for, and even improve your writing so you can get a point across fast.

These 13 extensions and apps help you streamline your Chrome browsing and free up your time.

SEE ALSO: These 13 Google Chrome hacks will change the way you use the internet

Avoid stupid mistakes in your writing with Grammarly.

Have you ever sent an email and then seconds later realized there's a typo in it? That's what Grammarly is for. The extension looks for misspellings and improves the quality of your writing. And it's not just for Gmail. Grammarly works on social media, too.



Simple Blocker is perfect for when you need to focus.

Simple Blocker is great if you're the type of person who gets easily distracted by Facebook or Twitter. This extension allows you to block access to certain domains for a given period of time (from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., for example). It was designed with students in mind, but is really useful for anyone with a penchant for procrastination.

Download Simple Blocker here.



OneTab is great if you find yourself with too many tabs open to keep track of.

OneTab is a lifesaver for anyone who keeps a lot of tabs open. If you begin to feel overwhelmed, OneTab will take them and turn them into a list, organized by date. This also frees up your computer's memory for other things.

Download OneTab here.



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12 photos that show why Cam Newton is the most stylish guy in the NFL

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Cam Newton

Cam Newton is confident.

And why shouldn't he be? He's the Super Bowl-bound quarterback of the Carolina Panthers, likely MVP, and —we're calling it right here, right now — the most stylish man in the NFL.

From his penchant for camo blazers to his spiky gold loafers and zebra-striped Versace pants, the man knows his way around some of the more adventurous arenas of men's clothing.

But with so much of the sports media focused on his sartorial outliers, his more conservative outfits (by his standards) often get ignored.

And that's a shame, because the dude knows how to dress for a press conference.

He knows how to pair a blazer and pants, and his accessorizing is second to none. He even has his own line of clothing with Belk called "MADE: Cam Newton," where he sells clothes for normals.

Keep scrolling for 12 photos that prove Newton is the most stylish player in the NFL.

SEE ALSO: Cam Newton dropped $850 on a pair of crazy striped Versace pants that only a very confident man would wear

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Cam Newton has made splashes with his attention-getting sartorial choices, like this navy camouflage blazer.

 



But with all the attention on his most outlandish outfits, the perfection that is his more toned-down wardrobe slides underneath the radar. This all-brown three-piece-separates suit is basically perfect in palette and fit.



Here's a similar outfit in gray, where he goes monotone but avoids the pitfall of being boring with an interesting patterned blazer.



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The 20 best jobs in business for 2016

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statistician

It's a great time to be a job seeker. The US economy is humming, adding a total of 2.7 million jobs in 2015, and the potential for job growth in 2016 is bright as well. 

U.S. News & World Report's recently published 2016 Best Jobs ranking provides a tool for job-seekers to compare professions based on important metrics like salary and expected number of openings.

To compile their ranking, U.S. News identified jobs with the greatest hiring demand — those with the highest projected number of openings from 2014 to 2024 — as categorized by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The jobs that topped the list were then scored using seven measures, including stress level, work-life balance, median salary, and employment rate. Read more about the full methodology.

U.S. News also broke down the best jobs by industry, including the best business jobs for 2016. The top business jobs this year are statistician, operations research analyst, and accountant. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts more than 30% job growth for positions as statisticians and operations research analysts and more than 10% job growth for positions in accounting.

Check out the 20 best business jobs for 2016 below, along with their average annual salary, according to 2014 figures from the BLS.

SEE ALSO: The 29 smartest questions to ask at the end of every job interview

SEE ALSO: Recruiters explain 6 social media habits that could cost you the job

20. Loan officer

Average salary: $73,670

Best-paying cities: Grand Junction, Colorado; Ocala, Florida

Loan officers are available to help clients with financial milestones like paying for a college education or buying a new car or house. The best loan officers have excellent interpersonal skills and advise, evaluate, and authorize loans to people and businesses. Positions are available in a range of settings from commercial banks and credit unions to mortgage companies and car dealerships. Employment growth of 8% is expected for loan officer jobs through 2024.



19. Fundraiser

Average salary: $56,840

Best-paying cities: Durham, North Carolina; Washington D.C.

Fundraisers raise money for nonprofit organizations like educational institutions, health research foundations, and political campaigns. People in this position are relied upon to bring in the big bucks by cold calling, grant writing, and event organizing. Fundraising jobs are expected to have a growth rate of 9% through 2024.



18. Administrative assistant

Average salary: $34,500

Best-paying cities: Trenton, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts

This position is defined by the employer, though many fill diverse roles such as operations managers, event planners, accountants, and maintenance workers. Administrative assistants provide support at all levels of an organization and are often tasked with keeping track of budgets and ensuring all departments adhere to their budgets. In 2014, there were 2.4 million jobs in this position, but the BLS projects that number to grow by 3% within 10 years.



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You've been loading your dishwasher all wrong

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If you're like most people, you just throw your dishes in the dishwasher wherever they may fit. That's the luxury of having a washer in the first place right? But being lazy with your placement of dishes ultimately leads to additional wasted time and water trying to rewash what didn't get cleaned properly. Follow this dish placement advice if you want clean dishes every time. 

Produced by Justin Gmoser. Additional camera by Jason Gaines. Narrated by Sara Silverstein

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A recipe called 'Mississippi Roast' came out of nowhere and got shared on Pinterest 1 million times

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A recipe for slow-cooked beef is taking Pinterest by storm. It's called "Mississippi Roast," and it has been pinned more than 1 million times on the photo sharing site in the last two years, according to the New York Times.

The Times traced the recipe back to Robin Chapman, a home cook from Mississippi who started making the dish 15 years ago. In the early 2010s versions of the recipe started popping up on various blogs. Now, it has fully blown up on social media.

YouTube creator TracEy Monster shared her own version from her channel with INSIDER.

Story by Tony Manfred and editing by Alana Yzola

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The 10 most active cities in the US

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Boulder, Colorado

recent study by online real estate listing site Trulia revealed the most sinful cities in America.

Included in the list were cities deemed the least lazy — or most active — in the US.

Trulia determined the ranking by looking at the country's 150 largest metro areas and creating a "sloth index", which used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data on the proportion of residents who reported not having exercised at least once in the past 30 days. The cities with the lowest percentages were deemed America's most active.

Half of the cities on the list are located on the West Coast, while the top two are in Colorado. 

Check out the rest of the ranking below. Trulia also included the median price per square foot for a home in each market.

SEE ALSO: An exercise scientist reveals the fastest, most significant way to lose weight with minimal effort

AND: 12 'healthy habits' you're better off giving up

10. Lincoln, Nebraska

Adults reporting no exercise: 15.9%

Median price per square foot: $130



9. Orange County, California

Adults reporting no exercise: 15.7%

Median price per square foot: $379



8. Sacramento, California

Adults reporting no exercise: 15.6%

Median price per square foot: $198



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An NYC restaurant serves the most mesmerizing dessert

The hottest restaurant in the world has a 27,000-person waiting list and is only open for 70 days

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Noma in Copenhagen, long considered one of the best restaurants in the world, recently opened a pop-up restaurant in Sydney under acclaimed chef René Redzepi.

With a waiting list of 27,000 and only a few weeks until Redzepi and his team return to Denmark, it's the hottest restaurant in the world. Take one look at the food, and you'll know why.

Story by Tony Manfred and editing by A.C. Fowler

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Kanye West’s Adidas sneakers were even more valuable than Nike's last year

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It's no surprise that 2015 was a huge year for sneakers. And the biggest winners of the year are no surprise either: collaborations.

Fashion and sneaker blog High Snobiety teamed up with Campless, a database for sneaker resellers, to find out what were the highest selling sneakers of the last year, on average. These are the sneakers that are considered "deadstock" — meaning they're brand new, but the retailer no longer sells them, as they were a limited run. Basically, they're rarer than rare.

And the results will surprise no one.

Kanye West's Yeezy Boost 750 in Triple Black took the top spot, selling on Ebay for an average of $1,876. 

most expensive sneakers 2015

In fact, the Kanye and Adidas' Yeezy collection took up six of the top 20 most valuable sneaker spots.

The ever-present Air Jordan collaborations with Just Don, Public School NY, rapper Drake's OVO label, Dover Street Market, and both versions of the Supreme collaboration together count for another six, though none cracked the top 10 except for one.

The number-two most valuable sneaker was the Nike Foamspoite One Tianjun, which, according to High Snobiety, was only released in China, thus making it super rare in American reselling markets. 

The market for rare footwear has risen to $1 billion in the US, according to High Snobiety. Nike is still dominating —12 of the top 20 most valuable sneakers were from a Nike or Jordan brand.

The chart below shoes the total dollars spent on individual sneaker models. Three Yeezy models were in the top 3, essentially dwarfing the dollar value of the rest of the sneakers released last year.

most expensive sneakers 2015

SEE ALSO: The number one mistake guys make when buying shoes

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15 products you probably thought were healthier than they actually are

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granola bowl

Most Americans say that they want to eat healthier. It's a beautiful — and fairly new — thing.

The problem is that most of us don't know how.

But the next time you take a stroll down your grocery's "health food" aisle, take note: Most of what you're looking at likely doesn't belong there.

Here are some of the most egregiously unhealthy products we've been tricked into buying:

SEE ALSO: 17 'healthy habits' you're better off giving up

DON'T MISS: Most dietary supplements are useless, but here are the ones you should take

Peanut butter and jelly

The problem: The PB&J is a ubiquitous lunch item among American kids — there's a song about it, folks — but it's actually a less-healthy alternative to sandwiches made with hummus or lean meats.

Peanut butter is high in fat; jelly is high in sugar. Slap those ingredients between two slices of white bread and you've got a sandwich that packs 20 grams of sugar, 14 grams fat (3.5 grams saturated), and 400 calories.

Marketing origins: World War I rations officers, Welch's — which came out with Grapelade — and peanut companies that latched onto it.

How it happened: The Great Depression popularized peanut butter on bread as a cheaper-than-meat substitute for protein. When it was combined with Welch's Grapelade— one of the first iterations of jelly — in the rations of WWI soldiers in the US, the PB&J became an official hit.



Fruit smoothies

The problem: Just because they pack lots of fruit, bottled smoothies and those sold at places like Jamba Juice are not necessarily healthy. But most are also incredibly high in sugar and calories. A 15-ounce bottle of Mighty Mango-flavored Naked Juice has 290 calories, 68 grams of carbs, and a whopping 57 grams of sugar — a 16-ounce bottle of Coke has 44 grams of sugar.

Marketing originsBottled juice and smoothie companies that capitalize on consumers' desire for fresh, healthy foods.

How it happened: The first blender was invented in the late 1930s, and Steve Kuhnau, who was reportedly experimenting with blending fruits and veggies to combat some of his own allergies and health problems, founded the first Smoothie King restaurant in Louisiana in 1973.



Cereal

The problem: Bowls of sugar-laden empty carbs got swapped for protein-rich components of the "balanced breakfast." A cup of Reese's Puffs, for example, has 160 calories, 4 grams of fat (1 gram saturated), 13 grams of sugar, 29 grams of carbs and more than 3 grams of protein. A high-sugar, low-protein diet can increase hunger pangs and mood swings and leave you with low energy. Not exactly the best way to start the school day.

Marketing originsCereal companies.

How it happened: As Jaya Saxena writes for Serious Eats, "Cereal's position as America's default breakfast food is a remarkable feat, not of flavor or culture, but of marketing and packaging design."

It all started, Saxena writes, with Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, manager of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a Seventh-day Adventist health resort advertised as a place where upper-middle-class Americans could go for a health tune-up.

Kellogg, a vegetarian, advocated turning away from meat in favor of yogurt, nuts, and grains. Then, in 1895, C.W. Post, a former Battle Creek patient, founded his own cereal company with Postum, a "cereal beverage intended to replace coffee," as its poster product.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A popular way of cooking broccoli is leeching potentially cancer-fighting compounds from it

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broccoli

Broccoli is one of America's favorite vegetables, which is great for our health — but only if we prepare it right.

A common method of preparation is boiling. This process is notorious for leeching water-soluble vitamins, like Vitamin C and B, from vegetables, including broccoli.

But there's more to this story that researchers have only just begun to discover.

It turns out, the nutritional damage from boiling goes deeper than just water-soluble vitamins:

It hinders the body's ability to absorb a class of compounds called glucosinolates, which a growing body of scientific research suggests could play a role in reducing the risk of lung and colorectal cancer.

Broccoli, supplements, and boiling

thai curry dinnerIn a 2011 paper, researchers compared the level of certain cancer-fighting glucosinolates in humans who ate broccoli versus those who took broccoli supplements, made from broccoli sprout extract.

They discovered that the vegetable contains a key protein that helps our bodies break glucosinolates down for absorption while supplements lack this protein.

The result was that subjects who took supplements had up to eight times fewer glucosinolates in their blood and urine than those who ate the vegetable.

Moreover, the lead researcher of the study said that intensive cooking, like boiling, severely reduces the level of this enzyme in broccoli, so you get about as much nutrition from boiled broccoli as you do from broccoli supplements, which isn't much.

Luckily, there is a way to combat the disadvantages of boiling: Preserve the boiling water for later consumption.

Broccoli water (but there's a better way)

broccoliBroccoli water isn't a new concept. In fact, the 1999 Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide suggests that you store broccoli water to later use in soups, sauces, or even gravy, LiveStrong reported.

One concern with broccoli water, however, is pesticides. In addition to leeching nutrients from broccoli, boiling water can also absorb pesticides that farmers use to avoid rot, weeds, and insects during the growing process. One way to avoid pesticides is to buy organic.

However, if you want to avoid the extra cost of organic produce, just steam your broccoli instead, said Guy Crosby, who teaches a food science course at Harvard School of Public Health and is the editor for America's Test Kitchen.

Get the most out of your broccoli by steaming it

broccoliCrosby called preserving broccoli water from non-organic broccoli a "balancing act":

"If you're concerned about the level of pesticides — some of them are water soluble and will be separated out in the cooking water, which would offset consuming the cooking water for the nutrients that are leeched out, so it's a balancing act," Crosby told Business Insider.

The bottom line: Ditch the acrobatics and just steam your vegetables. It will benefit you in the long run.

In a paper published last November, Crosby and his colleague at Harvard, Adriana D.T. Fabbri, reviewed the literature on how different cooking methods affected the nutritional value of certain legumes and vegetables, including broccoli. They reported that:

"The total content of glucosinolates of fresh broccoli increased by steaming methods," the two stated in their paper adding that "Steam cooking: best procedure to preserve and enhance nutritional quality of fresh broccoli."

There you have it: If you want to get the most out of your broccoli, just steam it.

CHECK OUT: This is the single best diet for your overall health

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