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“I came for Old Faithful, but I stayed for the yogurt parfaits?” I don’t know how many people visit our national parks for the food, but if they do, that food will be good for them, thanks to the National Parks Service’s new healthy food choices program.

Don’t worry, you can still get hot dogs, burgers and ice cream, but the 23 million visitors-a-year who buy meals in national parks will soon have more healthy, nutritious menu options, according to Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

“Our national parks are renowned around the world for their breathtaking landscapes and important cultural and historical sites,” Jewell said in a press releae. “Today, as part of the administration’s efforts to promote healthier choices, we are adding yet another reason to visit our national parks and increasing the number of healthy food options available to visitors at parks from coast to coast.”

The new Healthy Food Choice Standards announced by Sec. Jewell are part of the Parks Services’ overall Healthy Parks, Healthy People US initiative intended to harness the people-drawing power of the national parks systems to promote health and well being. Signs displaying nutritional data, including calorie counts, are already starting to appear in parks restaurants and snack bars as part of the Healthy Parks, Healthy People program.

Also See: USDA Unveils Healthier School Meals Rule

“There is no reason that you should have to take a vacation from eating well when you visit a national park,” said Healthy Parks, Healthy People director Jonathan B Jarvis. “Traditional favorites such as hot dogs and ice cream will remain, but the new standards will provide additional choices, such as fish tacos and yogurt parfaits, for the 23 million people who buy meals in national parks each year.”

Along with more nutritious food options, the Parks Service’s Healthy Food Choice Standards urge parks food concessionaire to use locally grown or raised products when available. A move the Parks Service says will ensure fresh food, reduce environmental impacts, and support regional economies.

For example, at Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore, concessionaires are already offering a variety of seasonal ingredients from local vendors, including fish, beef, bread, and tomatoes to dairy products, blueberries, cage-free eggs, and vegetables. Mount Rushmore’s “Lakota Popcorn” is from the harvest of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

The new Healthy Food Choice Standards require fruits and vegetables to be included with all meals or as side dishes, with low-fat and low-sodium options available. Whenever possible, reduced serving sizes are to be offered. Low-fat and fat-free milk should be offered and at last 30% of all drinks should be sugar-free.

The new standards also encourage the use of organically grown foods, along with fair trade and shade grown coffees, while discouraging the use of genetically modified (GMO) foods.

“There is no reason that you should have to take a vacation from eating well when you visit a national park,” Sec. Jarvis added.

Also See:
2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The US Food Safety System

Starbucks is celebrating Memorial Day weekend by kicking off a new special offer.

With the Frappuccino Limited Edition Cold To-Go Cup Bundle offer, buy a 16 oz. limited edition Frappuccino cold to-go cup ($12.95) and receive a free Grande Frappuccino blended beverage at the time of purchase.

This offer is available at all participating stores in the U.S. from Friday, May 24 – Monday May 30, 2013.

Need some suggestions on a new Frappuccino flavor to try? Two customer favorites is the new Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino blended beverage and the Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino. Both drinks are refreshingly delicious.

border="0" alt="oreo milkshake" hspace="5" width="190"
height="200" align="left"/>These non-alcoholic summer drinks are perfect for the kids for parties, picnics and barbecues or any time. These recipes include classic favorites, like lemonade (ideal for enterprising kids who want to set up a stand), to ice cream parlor favorites, like my oreo milkshake recipe (so simple and it tastes like it came from a fancy shop) to a kids’ virgin pina colada recipe (tastes every bit as great as the original, but without the alcohol).

Try making these recipes with the kids. They’re that easy!

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Oreo Milkshake image by Stephanie Gallagher 2013, licensed to About.com Inc.

Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, made some comments in 2006 that certainly made his fashion brand sound nothing short of uber-elitist. Now, those comments are coming back to haunt him and his brand. And it looks like they will do some permanent damage.

It’s one thing to be honest. But anyone from the UK will know what happened to Ratner’s jewelers when their CEO, Gerald Ratner himself, made the following comment:

“We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, “How can you sell this for such a low price?”, I say, “because it’s total crap.”

Ratner’s lost over $500 million in value, which spelled the end for the chain. It changed its name to the Signet Group, but the damage was done.

Now, although Abercrombie is not a purveyor of cheap clothing, the CEO has committed the cardinal sin of advertising. He ignored his brand. There is nothing wrong with being honest, but really, his opinions of “fat people” and “ugly people” are not opinions you want tied to your multi-million dollar empire.

People are donating Abercrombie clothes to Goodwill left and right. Sales are dropping. Soon, A&F will stand for Assholes and Fascists. You can read more about this right here. But in a word…disaster.

border="0" alt="frozen hot chocolate" hspace="5" width="200"
height="170" align="left"/>From frozen hot chocolate ( just like the kind you get at Serendipity 3 in New York) to chocolate strawberry smoothies (like a chocolate covered strawberry in a glass), these Valentine’s Day drinks make festive, non-alcoholic treats for the kids.

Of course, chocolate figures prominently in this collection of Valentine’s Day drink recipes, but some of these drinks are actually pretty healthy, like my strawberry smoothie recipe. Try it, and find out why it consistently gets rated 5 stars.

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Frozen Hot Chocolate image by Getty Images/Photodisc 2013, licensed to About.com Inc.

Early in my college career, I worked as a barista to make ends meet. I used to love creating different drinks, and never minded it when people had special requests. Now that I’m on the other side of the espresso bar, I still like my drinks to be a little unique, to the point that, when asked whether or not I want whipped cream, I may respond with a request for baristas to “surprise me!” (I case you’re curious, they tend to give me whipped cream roughly 4 out of 5 times, which I love, and when I don’t get it, it makes the whipped cream “surprises” all the more sweet.)

I recently told a group of friends about this occasional practice, and they had responses that surprised me, but make complete sense. One friend laughed and said, “Ooh, that’s dangerous! If they didn’t give me whipped cream, I would wonder if they thought I needed to hold off on the calories!” Another friend said, “If they did give me the whipped cream, I would wonder if maybe I looked like I needed a pick-me-up.” It occurred to me that I may wonder if the decision to give whipped cream would mean that they thought I looked like a “fun-loving” person, or if they didn’t give it, it was because they were trying to help me with my health and fitness goals. Then, as a former barista, I remember how much fun it was to put a swirl of cream on the top of a drink, and realized that it could be a reflection of how much the barista wanted to have fun with my drink, or save time by omitting an extra step.

The reason I bring this up is not to make you thirsty for espresso drinks, but to point out that there are many, many different ways to interpret the events that happen in one’s life, or the motivations that drive the behaviors of others. And these differences can affect how stressed we feel in our lives. Much of our stressful experiences come down to our attitudes and our perceptions, as these attitudes and perceptions literally lead to different interpretations of events, different actions we may take in response to these interpretations, and experiences of the world. For example, if 20 people asked to be “surprised” on the whipped cream decision, we may have some people walking away feeling lucky, some feeling insulted, some feeling affirmed, some feeling self-conscious, and some merely feeling pleasantly surprised.

How many times do you think you may be interpreting something more negatively than you may necessarily need to interpret it? How many areas of your life may be less stressful with a change of attitude?
The following resources can help you to examine your attitudes and perceptions, assess how they may be affecting your stress levels, and see what you can do to change these things.

Attitude Resources From Elizabeth Anne Scott

• Take The Optimism Self Test
• The Importance of Optimism
• How To Be More Of An Optimist
• Common Cognitive Distortions–Which Ones Sound Familiar?
• Cognitive Restructuring: How To Reprogram Your Self-Limiting Thoughts

Have you ever had experiences where a shift in attitude has made all the difference? If so, please share your thoughts in the comments section below! And if you enjoyed this blog, I’d love it if you’d pass it along with the ‘share’ button!

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Well, 90 million monthly users definitely explains the overwhelming abundance of over-saturated, sepia-toned photos of sunsets or Starbucks drinks all over the web. But it’s true — with 90 million users, it’s obvious that Instagram is doing quite well only a few short weeks after many of its users threatened to delete their accounts because of its privacy changes.

According to All Things D, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says that the hot little photo app is actually seeing continued growth. About 40 million photos are posted to Instagram every day, with its users generating about 8,500 likes per second and 1,000 comments per second.

• Cinemagram is like Instagram for GIFs

Pretty impressive. Quite a few people decided to delete their accounts after last month’s big kerfuffle, but it definitely looks like Instagram is going to remain pretty popular for quite some time.

Photo © Instagram

The holidays are all about gatherings.  Whether it’s with friends, family, co-workers or a mixed medley of all three, you can shake things up from the traditional spread of random appetizers and drinks by hosting a festive holiday wine tasting party.

It makes mingling a little easier, especially when guests don’t know one another well. The focus becomes the wine and conversations easily turn towards what people are experiencing in the glass, how the pairing with cheese is holding up, and then spins out from there.

Wine tasting parties are easy to prep for and guests often enjoy being able to contribute by bringing an “assigned” bottle of wine (making the party prep and budgeting even better). Interested in hosting your own holiday wine tasting party?  Take a peek at our wine party prep here.

Image Courtesy of Getty Images / John Foxx

Have you tried any of the Starbucks holiday drinks? I haven’t tasted them all, but so far my favorite is the Caramel Brulée Latte. It is beyond delicious and this holiday, from now until January 2, they are running a buy five, get one free promotion.

Just pick up a sticker card from a participating Starbucks, get a sticker each time that you purchase one of their holiday beverages and when you get five stickers, turn in your card for a Grande-sized handcrafted beverage of your choice. You have through March 4 to redeem your card. For more details visit the Starbucks blog.

With Black Friday right around the corner, it’s time to start planning for holiday spending if you haven’t already.  A lot of people will spend hundreds of dollars or more on holiday gifts, and if you buy some new outfits for the parties plus food, drinks and decorations, you’re looking at a major expense.

Here’s the good news: you can reduce your spending for Christmas with a budget that you set up easily with personal financial software.  4 Steps to Setting Up a Christmas Budget tells you how it’s done. So, start now to be prepared next year, and don’t forget to read the money saving tips in that article.

• How to Budget for Thanksgiving
• The Best Free Budget Spreadsheets