Recipe | Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken

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Family Features - As you plan your summer fun, think also about adopting healthy habits that can help keep your blood pressure under control. When your blood pressure is consistently high - a condition called hypertension - blood flows through arteries at higher-than-normal pressures. This can cause serious health problems not just for your heart, but also for your blood vessels, kidneys, eyes and brain.

Hypertension affects women and men of all ages but making small lifestyle changes can go a long way toward prevention. Start with updating your summer menu with delicious, heart-healthy recipes, like Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken.

Following a heart-healthy eating plan, such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), which emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, low-fat dairy and healthy oils, can help keep your blood pressure in a healthy range. Developed through research by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), DASH focuses on reducing sodium and limiting foods that are high in saturated fat, including fatty meats, full-fat dairy and tropical oils.

Along with adding healthy recipes to your summer menu, NHLBI's The Heart Truth program encourages these healthy habits that can help you control blood pressure:

Move more: Aim for at least 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours) of physical activity each week. Try keeping yourself on pace each week by shooting for 30 daily minutes of activity over five days.

Aim for a healthy weight: Research shows adults with overweight and obesity can lower their blood pressure by losing just 3-5% of their weight. Ask a friend or family member to join a weight loss program with you; social support can help you both stay motivated.

Manage stress: Reduce stress - which can increase blood pressure - with meditation, relaxing activities or support from a counselor or online group.

Quit smoking: Smoking damages your heart and blood vessels. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or find other resources available online.

Get your summer off to a heart-healthy start by talking to your health care provider about your blood pressure numbers and what they mean. To learn more about heart health and blood pressure, visit hearttruth.gov and find DASH-friendly recipes at healthyeating.nhlbi.nih.gov.

Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken

Recipe courtesy of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4

Sauce:

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons orange juice

1 teaspoon garlic (about 1 clove), minced

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

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12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2 large breasts), cut into 1-inch cubes (about 24 cubes)

1 cup fresh pineapple, diced (about 24 pieces)

8 wooden skewers (6 inches each), soaked in water

To make sauce: Combine ketchup, soy sauce, honey, orange juice, garlic and ginger; mix well. Separate into two bowls and set aside.

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Alternately thread three chicken cubes and three pineapple chunks on each skewer.

Grill skewers 3-5 minutes on each side. Brush or spoon sauce from one bowl onto chicken and pineapple every other minute. Discard remaining sauce from first bowl.

To prevent chicken from drying out, finish cooking to minimum internal temperature of 165 F in oven. Using clean brush or spoon, coat with sauce from remaining bowl before serving.

How to spot Medicare scams and protect yourself

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Medicare fraud occurs when someone makes false claims for health care services, procedures and equipment to obtain Medicare payments.

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Family Features - More than 65 million people in the United States were enrolled in Medicare as of February 2023, with more people becoming eligible and enrolling each year. Anyone on Medicare is at risk of Medicare-related fraud, and the Medicare program continues to warn people to watch out for scammers who steal Medicare Numbers and other personal information to exploit beneficiaries' benefits.

Broadly speaking, Medicare fraud occurs when someone makes false claims for health care services, procedures and equipment to obtain Medicare payments. Medicare fraud costs taxpayers billions of dollars and puts the health and welfare of beneficiaries at risk.

"Anyone on Medicare can be a target of Medicare fraud," said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. "But there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones by using CMS' fraud tips to recognize and report potential scammers. Let's all work together to make sure you're not a victim of Medicare fraud."

How to Spot Medicare Scams
There are many types of Medicare scams, taking the form of unsolicited emails, phone calls, text messages, social media posts and phony websites. Scammers often claim to be from the Medicare office, an insurance company or a government office. They'll ask for your personal and financial information, such as your Medicare or Social Security Number, so that they can submit false claims for payment.

Remember that Medicare will never call, text, email or contact you through social media asking for your Medicare Number.

How to Protect Yourself
You'll also need to know how to protect yourself from potential fraudsters. Remember to:

* Guard your Medicare Number just like your Social Security card and credit card

* Share your Medicare Number only with trusted health care providers

* Review your Medicare statements, watch for services billed that look suspicious and ask questions if something looks wrong

How to Report Scammers
Reporting Medicare fraud protects you and millions of other people with Medicare and those with disabilities. If you or someone you know have experienced Medicare fraud or suspect an offer you've received is a scam, report it as soon as possible.

To learn more about Medicare fraud, visit Medicare.gov/fraud. To report potential Medicare fraud, you can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Information provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The perfect side gigs to get you through the next pandemic or economic downturn

Some side gigs are better than others. There are five that standout for people who need or want to work from home.

Photo:Bruce Mars/Unsplash

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Night deliveries can be a perfect solution for people who work long shifts at home and need something past bedtime.

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SNS - As much as we would like to think it is, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, even though most countries and aspects of life are returning back to normal. Facing the facts, the way we work and live has changed forever. In many respects, the pandemic has brought a new level of financial insecurity that might never ever fully go away.

Thousands of people were laid off in the last couple of years thanks to the global pandemic. For many, their earnings have been significantly reduced or put on pause. This increased the need to look for alternatives to full-time jobs and ways to earn money from home.

If you are looking for a side hustle rake in extra cash when you can’t go to the office, here are five pandemic-proof side gigs that will inspire you to jump into multiple income streams and make ends meet during the next pandemic outbreak.

Step up the delivery game

With people staying at and doing more from home than ever, the number deliveries on a daily basis has increased drastically. Nearly everything - food, drinks, medicines, and even building supplies - can be delivered to the customer's front door.

Kindel Media/PEXELS

Use this opportunity to step up the delivery game, and instead of joining big companies such as Uber Eats or Door Dash, go for something out of the ordinary.

Carefully research local delivery trends in your city. Look to see if there is a need for something else. Night deliveries can be a perfect solution for people who work long shifts at home and need something past bedtime. Plus, after hour deliveries are billed at a premium, too, so you can earn quite a bit of cash this way.

Sell and rent things you don’t need

Spending more time at home probably gave you time to clean up your home and eliminate the items you no longer need. You should consider selling some of these items and earn some extra money.

Also, renting excess stuff or space in your home is a great way to earn more without making a big commitment.

For example, people living in big cities often have storage issues in their homes. City dewellers are always looking for more space, and renting out space in your storage unit, shed, garage, or basement might be a low-stress way to bring in extra cash without having to really work at it .

Have an RV? Rent by the day, week or even month to people who love to travel. If you have a truck, you might rent out for a day to someone is moving to a new apartment or home.

Renting is a great side hustle because it is a relatively passive income, makes money from things you don’t use, and is incredibly versatile. You can rent almost anything – just be sure to market it correctly.

Become a content writer

Put those good grades in English grammar and information from all the books you have read for school or pleasure to work. It has never been a better time to be bookworm.

All sorts of websites and companies are looking for good writers to develop and provide content for their online platform. Writers who are creative, good with words, and can produce work on deadline will find no shortage of opportunites. Even working part-time, you can earn hundreds of dollars creating online content.

Photo: Alexander Grey/Unsplash

Concentrate on niches you are familiar with to make it easier to do research for you articles and write pieces quickly. And, who knows, this might become your full-time job!

On top of that, content writing is a career you can easily work from home at your own pace. It is one of the best pandemic-proof side gigs! All you need is a computer and an internet connection.

You will also need a place to work where you can focus. Create a writing nook or home office to help you stay away from noise and other distractions.

Virtual assistant – helps others be organized and efficient

If your old job was not the right place to show your organizational skills, punctuality, and creativity, this one might be the right for you. Working as a virtual assistant is a perfect way to demonstrate superior multi-tasking and problem-solving skills while helping others run their businesses smoothly or deal with significant life events organization.

While you can help a business owner deal with time-consuming, repetitive tasks such as managing calls and emails, you can also help people organize events such as weddings or even relocating to new cities.

Let’s say someone needs to move a big household without taking a break at work – you can step in and assist them with the packing organization, hiring a moving team, and other tasks, and show them they can stay productive during the move even when there is a lot on their plate.

Remote tutoring

Another pandemic-proof side-gig you can do with almost any skill you are good at is online tutoring.

The internet has given us the power of live communication, making it easy to teach someone the same way you would in person, so use this to your advantage and earn some money. You can teach kids, older students, and adults – just pick a skill or subject you are really good at and be ready to share your knowledge.

However, tutoring is not something everyone can do. You will need a lot of patience and excellent communication skills, not to mention the ability to adapt to different styles and paces of learning for your students. If you have a skill that is ready to share with others, this is the right side gig for you.

Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has caught the business world off guard, and many people struggled to make ends meet. A lot of Americans still have not recovered to pre-pandemic financial health.

This era brought many financial, physical, and mental health issues that we must deal with for years to come. With these pandemic-proof side gigs you can continue to earn money, explore your creativity, skills, and possibilities and feel better about yourself.

Staying at home during a pandemic can be challenging. Finding a way to keep moving forward and working is essential to your mental health and helps to keep anxiety and depression at bay. Throwing yourself into a new opportunity is a great way to develop an always-adapting mindset that will help you overcome hard times, such as job loss, and use your skill set to take advantage of the situation.

Photo: Brooke Cagle/Unsplash

Tutoring online or in-person to help others succeed is a fun and rewarding way to earn money during a pandemic or whenever you need to make extra cash.