This post provided by college nutritionist, author, and all around excellent source of healthful info, Melanie Jatsek.

If I were to tell you that eating certain foods in the right combination will make you more alert and focused, would you give them a try?  How about if I told you that some of your food choices are literally draining your brain power? Would you think twice before chowin’ down on them?

The bad news – it’s true!
The good news – you don’t have to completely overhaul your diet in order to get results.

Three factors influence what I like to call your “brain power”:  meal composition (the foods that make up your meal), meal size and meal frequency. Allow me to break it all down for you:

Meal composition:

Carbohydrates:
Seratonin, the chemical in your body responsible for calmness and sleep, is triggered by carbohydrates.  A meal or snack high in simple sugars will produce more serotonin and sedate your brain.  Not exactly what you need when you’re trying to study for that big exam, is it?  Another reason to limit the sweets: they enter your bloodstream at a rapid rate, leaving you “crashing and burning” within the hour.  Simple sugars include foods like: cake, candy, cookies, frostings, fruit drinks, syrups, sodas, sweet tea, table sugar, etc.

Stick with “brain building” carbohydrates like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, low fat milk and yogurt.  They digest nice and slowly, delivering a steady stream of glucose (your brain’s preferred fuel source) to your brain.

Hint:  If you are really craving something sweet like a piece of candy or cake, eat it after a meal to weaken the serotonin effect.

Protein:
Dopamine is the chemical in your body responsible for revving up your brain, making you alert, energetic and focused.  It’s triggered by protein-rich foods like dairy products, eggs, meats, seafood and soy.  Be careful because a “brain building” protein can turn into a “brain draining” one depending on how it’s prepared- cold cuts, fried or breaded meats and those covered in cream sauces will put you in a slump.

Hint: The American Dietetic Association and The American Heart Association recommend eating 2 servings of lower mercury fish per week.  Salmon and canned or pouched light tuna are two good sources of brain building omega 3 fatty acids that are lower in mercury.  Each serving is 3.5 ounces cooked, or about ¾ cup of flaked fish. Fish with higher mercury levels should be avoided: Shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish.

Fat:
You have a fat head.  Really!  Your brain is made up of two-thirds fat, so eating enough of it is important.  “Brain building” fats include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.  Monounsaturated fats promote healthy blood blow to your brain and include olives, olive oil, nuts and seed, peanut oil, canola oil and avocados.  Polyunsaturated fats, specifically omega 3 fatty acids, are the main structural component of your brain. Eat them and you’ll have a much higher functioning noggin!  They include herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, trout, tuna, chia seeds, canola oil, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, soybean oil and walnuts.  Because they are calorie-rich, remember to keep portion sizes small when it comes to oils, nuts and seeds.

Your brain hates trans fats (trans fatty acids), otherwise known as “brain draining” fats.  That’s because it’s not a natural fat, so it stands to reason that it doesn’t act naturally in your body.  Trans fats make their way into your brain cells, line your brain cell membranes and disrupt communication, resulting in diminished mental performance.  In other words, your brain malfunctions in the presence of trans fat.  Possible trans fat-containing foods include:  cookies, crackers, doughnuts, foods fried in partially hydrogenated oils (fried chicken, French fries), frostings, margarine, pastry, potato chips, shortening, snack cakes and tortillas.

To check if a food is made with trans fat, look at the Nutrition Facts Label for grams of trans fat and also under the ingredient list for the words “partially hydrogenated oils.”

Hint:  Carbohydrate, protein, and fat are all necessary components of a meal. Take out the carbs and your brain won’t have a reliable source of glucose to function properly, take out the protein and you may not be as alert, take out the fat and it’s just like eating Chinese food…you’ll get hungry in an hour!

B-Vitamins & Choline:
B-vitamins help your body take the energy from the foods you eat and turn it into energy you can use.  Without B-vitamins it would be difficult for your brain to operate at its peak.  Fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products, meats, beans, soy, seafood, nuts and eggs are all good sources of B-vitamins.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy to get your B-vitamins if you follow a balanced diet with lots of variety!

Choline belongs to the B-vitamin family and improves thought, memory and focus.  Eggs, soybeans, wheat germ and whole wheat products are all rich in choline, so be sure to have them on your plate during exam week!

Antioxidants:
Free radicals are harmful substances in your body that cause damage and loss of brain function over time.  Your body naturally eliminates some, but not all of them.  This is where food comes in to finish the job.  Antioxidant-rich foods in particular are what you are after.  Antioxidants literally act like a broom, sweep up these nasty free radicals and eliminate them from your body.  This means a healthier body and brain.  Foods high in antioxidants include fruits (especially berries), colorful vegetables, dark chocolate, legumes, oats, green tea, spices, nuts and garlic.

Meal size:

Larger meals that are higher in calories take longer to digest, contribute to serotonin production, make you sleepy and diminish your mental performance.  Lighter meals with fewer calories, on the other hand, will not only nourish your body and brain, but will keep you energized and with peak mental focus.

You probably have to be at your most sharp during daylight hours, so breakfast, lunch and snacks should be lighter on the calories.

Meal frequency:

If it’s extra energy and more focus that you’re after, it is critical that you “refuel” every few hours.  This includes the most important meal of the day – breakfast of course!  To break the overnight fast that happens when you sleep, breakfast is a must.  When your blood sugar levels drop below a certain level, say after about four hours with no food, your stress hormones go up in an attempt to raise your blood sugar.  This process weakens your brain and your ability to concentrate suffers!

Focusing on that boring lecture and studying for your first exam will come much easier when you:  eat often, eat light, and fuel your brain with a wide variety of “brain building” carbohydrates, proteins and fats.  If you’re dying for something sweet, go ahead and have a small portion of ice cream…after you’ve eaten a well-balanced meal!

Melanie Jatsek is a speaker, author and registered dietitian who teaches college students how to eat to look better, feel better, think better and stress less!  Send her an email at melanie@melaniejatsek.com or connect with her on her new Facebook page for college students: “The Healthy Campus Project.”

Now, for someone who hasn’t exercised consistently in four years, that’s quite the lofty goal. I would venture that it’s relatively impossible. But my intentions were good–I wanted to come out of this One Month Challenge with exercise as part of my daily routine, a regular part of my life, rather than a series of one-time attempts at athleticism.

Needless to say, I didn’t exercise every day this week. I exercised one day. So I’m going to throw my “go big or go home” philosophy out the window right now, because I’ve found that in exercise, sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference. Maybe this is just an elaborate attempt to prove to myself that I didn’t fail this week, but let’s just go with it for now.

Following the tips of fellow College Candy writer Jill, I set out this week to make a series of small changes to my lifestyle. I stretched every morning when I woke up and every night before I went to bed. I ate breakfast every morning, bypassing the Reese’s Puffs for fat-free yogurt, a bagel and veggie cream cheese, half a grapefruit, a banana, oatmeal. I took the stairs instead of the elevator at work. And I set a more reasonable goal: to attend a fitness class in our campus rec center.

I planned to attend a Pilates class on Thursday evening, because I’d gone to the class before and it wasn’t something that was outside my comfort zone. But once I’d returned from a full day of classes and had gotten comfortable watching Gilmore Girls on the couch, my dedication to attending that class waned. In what I assume is God’s way of telling me to get off my lazy ass and exercise, I overheard one of my sorority sisters, Jane, asking another girl if she was going to Pilates that night? I took it as a sign that I should go to the class with Jane, and so I did.

Despite the ridiculous amount of pain I feel when I try to sit down, I consider Pilates a success. And despite the awkward noise my hips made during some leg exercises (Irish dancing made me oddly double-jointed), I had a lot of fun at the class, and I’m excited to go back. I’m also two stamps closer to a free T-shirt (our rec center bribes us for going to fitness classes), and you all know how I feel about physical rewards.

I’m going to start smaller this week, making an effort to go to Pilates on Tuesday and Thursday, and hope to Rollerblade around a local lake on Wednesday. It’s not much, but it’s a start, and it’s a lot more realistic than expecting myself to do a hardcore workout every day of the week. And I’ll keep up with the easy little changes I’ve made. I’ve only got one week left, so I’m going to make it count. I’ll keep you posted!

People are talkin’. Could it be true?

Is Jesse James competing with Tiger Woods?

Ed Westwick has a diva moment.

Eat breakfast. Lose weight.

This is your brain on drugs.

Isla Fisher totally keeps Sacha in check.

But I’m also a self-confessed foodie, and I want my food to taste GOOD. If it doesn’t, it’s out. So I have been searching high and low for months now in an effort to find the perfect pancake recipe—one with both taste and health benefits. Most pancakes aren’t bad for you, sure, but I wanted a recipe that really packed in the good stuff and had a flavor that couldn’t be beat.

Well, you guys, I’ve finally found it. All Recipes saves the day once again! This time, though, I modified the recipe to make it even yummier by adding extra flavor to these bad boys. As if that wasn’t good enough, you can also whip up all twelve of these pancakes in just about 15 minutes. It may not look it, but this recipe is SUPER easy.

Sunday mornings never tasted so good.

What You Need
• 1 1/2 cups regular oats (NOT quick oats)
• 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/4 cup skim, 1%, or soy milk
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp chopped walnuts
• 2 bananas, sliced thin

What You Do
1. You’ll need a food processor for this. Put the oats into the processor, and pulse them several times until they’re ground like a coarse flour. Transfer them to a bowl, and mix them with the whole-wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. Use a second bowl to mix together the buttermilk, milk, canola oil, egg (whisk it slightly first), sugar, and vanilla until they’re smooth. You can use a whisk instead of an electric mixer as long as you put some power into your strokes.

3. Heat up your skillet. Coat it with a thin layer of butter, oil, or cooking spray. Let it get nice and hot before you pour on your pancakes.

4. Combine the wet and dry mixtures, and stir in the nuts and banana slices. Use a 1/3-cup measuring cup to scoop portions of batter onto the skillet.

5. Cook each pancake until it’s getting bubbly and dry at the edges. Then flip it and cook for another minute or so, until both sides are browned and the middle is no longer raw.

6. Keep pancakes warm in a 200-degree oven until you’re finished cooking the whole batch.

7. Eat up!

Unfortunately, I’m not Jewish and don’t celebrate the holiday, but just because I can’t indulge in 8 days of presents doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy everyone’s favorite Hanukkah treat: the potato latke.

According to Jewish tradition, latkes (or potato pancakes) are cooked to symbolize the miracle of the Maccabees’ oil burning for 8 nights when there was only enough for one. Too bad most latke recipes do the opposite, using enough oil for 8 nights for one greasy (yet totally delicious) side dish.

Well not anymore. Behold the sweet potato pancake. It’s moist, it’s tasty, and it’s not drenched in oil. Yes, it’s a Hanukkah miracle of its own. One that anyone – from Jews to those of us who really just like delicious food – can enjoy.

SWEET-POTATO PANCAKES
Makes 12-15 pancakes.

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups of buttermilk
• 3/4 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (about 1 large potato)
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla

Here’s what you do:
Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. (Dry ingredients)

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, sweet potatoes, butter, and vanilla. (Wet ingredients)

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined (a couple of lumps are OK).

Lightly grease a skillet and heat to medium-high.

Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto the skillet. Cook 2-4 minutes, then flip and cook 1-2 more minutes until done.

I know it’s tempting to blast the stove when you’re making pancakes so that they’ll be done faster, but resist the urge for these beauties. If you crank it, you’ll end up with blackened pancake on the outside and raw batter in the middle. It’ll still taste good because this recipe is just that awesome, but really, it’s much better to have a golden-brown pancake that’s light and fluffy and cooked all the way through, so keep an eye on the temp.

You can serve these guys with applesauce, whipped cream and brown sugar, mini marshmallows, powdered sugar, or the traditional butter and maple syrup, but I just like to eat them plain. Mmmmmmm.

It’s shakshouka!

Native to North Africa and the Middle East, shakshouka is a breakfast often served straight out of the skillet, with a side of pita bread in which to stuff the piping hot concoction. However, I am a celiac, which means I’m gluten-intolerant (can’t eat anything containing wheat, barley, or rye).  I’m also a distance runner, and I’m constantly looking for more protein to stay full and rebuild muscle. Hence, the following recipe, which reflects my own spin on the ethnic favorite. The chickpeas and black beans offer lean, healthy proteins and the rice, a staple in the celiac diet, allows this classic breakfast to transition easily to lunch or dinner.

Yeah, it might be hard to pronounce, but this stuff is easy to make.
See for yourself! 

Ingredients:
Extra virgin olive oil
1 chopped green (or red or yellow) bell pepper
1 can chickpeas
1 can black beans
1 chopped red (or white) onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 clove chopped garlic
1 jar tomato sauce
4-6 eggs
Black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, and tumeric, to taste
2 cups brown rice
4 cups water

Instructions:

1. Boil the water in a sauce pan. Once the water is on high boil, add the rice and cover, removing the top periodically to allow steam to escape. Do not stir the rice, let it absorb the water on its own.

2.  Coat extra large skillet pan with the oil, turn heat on medium-high. Add onion and peppers, stir until they begin to brown.

3. Add chickpeas, beans, tomato, and garlic. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add tomato sauce, heat until it begins to boil. Add spices at your discretion.

5. Once sauce is boiling and vegetables are cooked through, crack the eggs atop the mixture. No need to break the yolks. Cover the frying pan and turn the heat to low until the eggs are cooked through.

6. Once the eggs are cooked, serve over rice directly from the skillet. Makes 4-5 servings.

Ok, so maybe having some hottie do it for you would be nice, but you’ll forget all about that once you bite into these badboys.

This recipe is slightly complicated, but it’s nothing a relatively cheap trip the neighborhood grocery store and 30 minutes in the kitchen won’t fix.

And, like that thick trainer at my gym always says, “no pain, no gain.” I’m pretty sure he’s talking about a 45-minute run on the treadmill, but I just think it means all that cooking will be worth it when you’re filled with 2 lbs of pumpkin pancake bliss.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
4 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vegetable oil
Maple syrup

What to Do:

1. Whisk first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Whisk milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla in a medium bowl.

3. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just until smooth (batter will be thick).

4. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in 2 batches.

5. Brush large nonstick skillet with oil; heat over medium heat. Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls into skillet.

6. Cook until bubbles form on surface of pancakes and bottoms are brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side.

7. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with oil between batches.

8. Serve with syrup…and fall in love. Then go back for seconds. And thirds. We won’t tell.

Oatmeal is the perfect breakfast to warm you on a cold winter morning, or to keep you full and alive in a long, boring lecture until lunch. It’s tasty, healthy and super versatile, meaning it’s pretty much the perfect college meal.

So how do you make it well? It’s simple.

First, you need to get yourself some rolled oats. Not the quick-cooking kind – the regular kind. The only other staples you’ll need are milk (any kind, even soy is OK) and salt. And we all have that stuff lying around, right? Once you’ve got that down, then you can lay out your own personal oatmeal sundae bar: nuts, dried fruit, cream, sugar, honey, fresh berries, yogurt, chocolate chips, etc.

So here’s how you make your oatmeal:

1. In a small saucepan, put 1 cup of milk (or 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup milk) and a sprinkle of salt. Set the saucepan on medium-high heat.
2. When the milk starts to bubble up and simmer, pour in 1/2 cup rolled oats. Reduce the heat to low.
3. Cook at a simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring every so often so the oatmeal doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
4. When the oatmeal is the consistency you like, scoop it out and serve it!

Some of my personal favorite oatmeal combos:

• A teaspoon of honey, a few drizzles of heavy cream, and a fresh peace sliced up on top.
• Brown sugar and berries: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, whatever.
• Vanilla yogurt and sliced almonds with honey.
• Wheat germ with mashed banana and a few chocolate chips.
• Some chai tea or chai spices right in the bowl with cream, sugar, and raisins.

Any other great combos out there? Share ‘em here!

I learned more my first week at college than I did in my entire life. And I don’t mean academically. I mean socially, financially, emotionally and drunk-ly. Some things took longer to figure out than others (that I should visit the ATM before I get to the bar, to avoid extra fees and my tendency to tipsily make it rain) and other things took mere minutes (don’t eat dining hall hot dogs).

But there are 5 things that every freshman should figure out their very first week on campus. Consider this College Life 101: Intro To The Best 4 Years of Your Life.

The go-to hangover breakfast spot: For those mornings when a Gatorade and toast just won’t do the trick, you need to find the most happening breakfast place near campus. This is not only important for the mornings when you need to take things to-go (back to your bed where you can lie in the dark while watching Daisy of Love marathons), but also for the social aspect of morning-after breakfast. Because everyone knows, after the party it’s the after party…and after that and the hotel lobby… it’s IHOP.

So, on those mornings when your inner monologue sounds like “Hahalalala definitely still drunk and my hair and makeup still look great!” you’ll know where you and your girls can go to re-cap last night’s madness while chowing on carby goodness and watching people walk in wearing their clothes from the night before.

Where you can and can’t use your fake i.d. : I remember when I got my first fake i.d. (the same one I still have, actually, even though it expired in 2007 and I’ll be retiring it in a month). I was so excited to use it anywhere and everywhere (even when I wasn’t drinking). But that kind of enthusiasm definitely could have gotten me in big trouble if I hadn’t discovered very quickly where I could and couldn’t use it.

Ask any older friends or siblings you know who went to your school, hell ask friendly strangers! Just ask someone where your fake i.d. will get you in and where that puppy will taken.  The easiest way to figure out where to use your fake is to go out as much as possible, to as many bars as possible (which you’ll be doing anyways) and make a bartender/bouncer/shotgirl friend who can give you a heads up if the boss plans on, you know, enforcing the legal drinking age.

Your new address, where the post office is,  and protocol for paper mail and packages. Grandma needs somewhere to send those care packages! And you sure as hell can’t tell her where to send delicious cookies or money “for an ice cream sundae” if you don’t have your new dorm address memorized. Or written down. Anywhere. Also, figure out if packages should be sent to your campus p.o. box or the front desk of your dorm. Unfortunately the Fed-Ex guy won’t deliver that hot new mini dress straight to your dorm room.

The best campus hangouts: For those rare occasions you want to enjoy the company of your new friends sans Johnny, Jack and Jose…or even, you know, study, you need a place to go other than your oh-so-spacious dorm room. Read your campus newspaper, look at fliers around your dining hall or just listen to word-of-mouth. Your campus might have a famous burger joint where everyone chills, a live music hookah bar, a local coffee shop. Even if the campus hot spot is a library, it’ll be nice to hang out somewhere where you’re bound to know someone even if Starbucks starts charging for Wi-Fi (personal true story) and it gets too cold to lounge on the quad.

Fashion protocol: Even now that you’ve finally arrived on campus, it’s time to start dressing like you belong there (which, of course, you already do if admissions had anything to say about it). Take a look around to gather the general fashion climate of your school. Do you see a lot of girls wear their gym clothes to class or do they usually get more dressed up? Are PJ’s a do or don’t in the dining hall? If you needed to wear heels for an interview or event before/after class, should you bring a change of shoes?

I’m not saying you should get decked out to go to class or that you should go out and buy an entirely new wardrobe (although if you can swing it, by all means get your shop on), but you don’t want to stick out like a weird freshman sore thumb. The best way to figure out a way to college-ify your look is to check out older girls whose fashion sense you admire, or whose is similar to yours, and put your own spin on it. Then you’ll be “that girl who always dresses so cute” and not “that freshman who wears Crocs.”

What do you guys think is the most crucial stuff to learn your first week (besides all the important/boring stuff they go over at orientation)? What do you wish you’d learned right off the bat?

[College prepares you for a lot of things - like binge drinking competitions - but one thing it does not teach you is how to cook. At least how to cook things that require more than 30 seconds in the microwave.

But cooking your own meals means healthier eating, more money in your bank account, and the gratification that comes from making something with your hands. Everyone here at CollegeCandy loves to cook, so we're going to bring you our favorite (and easy) recipes every Sunday. Because it's a lazy day and you've got nothing better to than cook, right? Right.]

Frittata’s are a personal favorite because they’re insanely fast (10 minutes tops), super-easy (if you can stir, you’re set), can take pretty much whatever you have hanging around the fridge (baking soda - not recommended) and makes it look like you have actual cooking skill. Bonus points for giving it a fancy sounding name!

I am kinda infatuated (OK, not kinda…) with this frittata because it is a totally healthy, totally acceptable way to eat pizza in the morning. And who doesn’t love pizza in the morning? These ingredients make my favorite version, but you could substitute just about any leftovers or canned goods you have.

Frittata Pizzetta
Makes 2 servings

4 eggs
A handful of pepperoni – chopped
1 small can of mushrooms
1 small can of chopped black olives
4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon butter (for pan)

Crack eggs in a bowl and stir until combined, then mix in all ingredients. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. When butter is melted, pour egg mixture into pan and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip frittata over to cook top for another 2-3 minutes. (Depending on your level of culinary prowess, you can either flip this all in one piece using two spatulas, cut in half to flip, or just stick it in a 350 degree oven for 3-4 minutes.)

TaDa! Almost instant meal! Enjoy with a cup of coffee (or whatever form of caffeine you have lying around) some toast and you are good to go.