Try incorporating any of these five foods into your diet and you will see and feel the positive health benefits. Seems daunting? I’ve even included some ways to sneak these foods into your everyday meals, so now you’ve got no excuses not to get healthy.

1. Fruit: Raspberries
These cute lil’ red things are a great source of fiber, potassium, and Vitamin C. As translation, eating just a cup of berries a day will reduce cholesterol levels, maintain organ balance, and improve your immune system. In fact, studies have shown that these great tasting berries even diminish risks for cancer. Snack on them in between classes, top them on your breakfast parfaits, or cool down in the summer heat with a raspberry-peach smoothie!

2. Nuts: Raw Almonds
Yes, that says RAW. That means no added sugar, salt, “honey-roasted”, or “dipped in chocolate”. If you snack on 20-23 of these organic nuts, you can be guaranteed some heart-healthy fats, 6 grams of protein, and over 35% of your daily need of Vitamin E. Okay, so “raw” and “nuts” doesn’t sound tempting for your belly? Slather some almond-rich, homemade beauty products on your face! Almonds have been proven to create an awesome complexion and soft skin.

3. Vegetable: Broccoli
Personally, I absolutely love broccoli. Not only does it taste good, but it can also be added to any dish! Put it in pasta, salad, soup; have it sautéed, broiled, eaten raw. Whatever you do, it’s a guaranteed yum. Imagine my great surprise when I learned that this super food was rich in fiber for a healthy digestive system, and abundant with calcium for my bones that endure so much shock from my daily runs. Oh and get this: adding this green healing machine to your diet may even reduce risks of Alzheimer’s. So don’t forget it!

4. Grain: Brown Rice
This replacement for white long grain rice may be difficult to adjust to at first, but the benefits are amazing. Brown rice contains a great source of manganese and magnesium, which can reduce the severity of headaches and migraines (goodbye boy drama!). In fact, studies have shown that when you replace white rice with the brown alternative, you lower not only your blood pressure, but your risk for atherosclerosis, too. Yay for long, healthy lives.

5. Fish: Salmon
Salmon is great because it has low mercury levels (if that’s what you were worried about), few calories (only 127 calories for 3 ounces), and good levels of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (necessary for proper brain development, and more). Bake it, grill it, eat with the above brown rice, make Salmon burgers, put it on top of your sushi…the possibilities are endless.

Let me know what your other favorite super foods are. Better yet, share some of your favorite recipes with me! Body blog cook off, anyone?

Got something awesome everyone needs to know about? Email your “The Know” ideas to Jill@collegecandy.com and I’ll pass them along to everyone right here, right now.

Well, not right now, but soon. Like, every Thursday.

Rachel Paula:
Every now and again a blog comes along that you just. can’t. stop. reading. Before you know it, it’s 4am and you’ve read every entry. TWICE. Your midterm paper sure as hell isn’t going to write itself, but, hey, it was worth it.

That’s how I feel about Rachel Paula. A single girl tackling the big-bad-real-world in the biggest, baddest more real worldest place of all: New York City. But for entries of glitz, glamor and fabulousity, you will need to look elsewhere. While the blogger herself reeks of fabulousity, it’s because she is so candid, funny and, for once, honest about life and love in the big city. You will laugh, you will cry and you will feel like you want to be her BFF.

Brown Rice Pasta
I love carbs. Really, I do. but carbs don’t share that mutual love and adoration with me. So when I tried giving up all flour based products for 3 months last year, I was sad. Like really pathetically sad. Maybe that’s because I thought if I looked at once more piece of brown rice, I would in fact turn into one.

But then, like a beacon of light in the Trader Joe’s aisle, it was a like a food cupid shot my heart and directed me towards my carb-replacement soul mate: Brown Rice Pasta. It looks like pasta, it tastes like pasta but it is made out of brown rice. Read: flour-free AND a complex healthy carb. I did the hora (you know, that weird circle Jewish dance) in the aisle, ran away from the people giving me weird stares,  stocked up and have never looked back. It’s a great pre-run, pre-major study sesh, post bar, quick dinner, great anytime, fix.

What do you do when you’re craving delicious, spicy quesadillas? Put down your car keys — there’s no need for Taco Bell (especially when you are sober…that stuff is nasty!). This awesome dinner for two is healthy, inexpensive and easy. No drive-thru required.

You’ll need:

Whole wheat tortillas
1 cup instant brown rice
1 can black beans
1 green pepper, chopped (or you can buy frozen, diced peppers to save time!)
1 onion, chopped
Corn (on the cob is in season, therefore inexpensive and delicious, right now)
Organic salsa (or a chopped tomato)
Mojo marinade/sauce (sold in bottles at the grocery store)
6-8 oz. of chicken, marinated in the Mojo
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Salt
Your favorite toppings (lettuce, cheese, sour cream, guac, etc.,)

How You Do It:
1. Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the corn, bring to a boil, then add corn.

2. In a deep skillet, sauté half the peppers and onion in canola oil spray, about 5 minutes or until they’re tender. Set aside about half of them, leave the other half in the pan.

3. Add the black beans (with sauce) and bring to a boil. Add rice and bring to a boil again, let it cook for about 5 minutes.

4. Cover the rice and beans, reduce heat to low.

5. For the chicken, the quickest way to cook it is on the grill or in a skillet on medium-high heat, for about 5 minutes on each side (just make sure the center isn’t pink). If you’re short on time, you can use frozen, diced chicken and just cook it in some Mojo sauce to skip marinating it.

6. Spray both sides of a tortilla with canola oil. Add toppings, chicken, peppers and onion, then fold in half.

7. Remove corn from water. Spread with half a tablespoon of butter and sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

8. Heat a small pan on medium heat, then add the tortilla with all the fixins’. Grill on both sides until it’s golden brown.

9. Serve with corn and black beans and rice, margaritas optional!

You’ll need:

a large skillet

10 oz. Turkey sausage

1 whole Green or Yellow Pepper

1 can STEWED tomatoes (make sure they’re stewed ladies!)

2 cups uncooked instant brown rice (instant is a must, any other kind will result in al dente Jambalaya. Yuck.)

8 chicken tenders, uncooked.

1 bunch fresh green onions.Chop up your pepper(s, if you love the spice). I only use one–because I’m still trying to teach myself to eat all my veggies– and prefer yellow because of the color it adds to the dish.

Slice the roots and tops off of your onions, then cut (the smaller the better). *Tip after slicing your green onions, wash your knife & hands, then rub your fingertips on the flat side of the knife (obv.) Tada! your digits won’t smell like onion all night.

Now slice about 8 oz. of sausage to the thickness of your liking. Teehee! Optional: dice another 2 oz. for more even distribution. Don’t be grossed out or worried if some of it squeezes out of the lining, it’s all good once it hits the skillet.

Speaking of the skillet, now would be a good time to start heating it up on medium.

Cut up your chicken strips into bite sized pieces.

Toss your sausage and pepper into the skillet, stirring for about 5 minutes, until sausage is evenly browned.

Crank that bad boy up to high, add a cup and a half of rice, 3/4 cup of water, a pinch of salt, and stir until it boils.

At this point, your skillet should look like a gross, gunky mess, but trust me you have done nothing wrong and this will only result in deliciousness

Once it’s boiling, cover and turn the heat to low and let the soupy mixture simmer for 10 – 15 minutes until the rice is cooked.Remove from heat. Mix in your green onions and serve! Goes best with a SoCo & Lime to maintain that Southern Hospitality.

You need:

1 small can chunk pineapple

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

½ red onion, sliced

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

½ cup carrots, sliced/chopped

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup sugar snap peas/snow peas in pods

¼ cup almonds (can be omitted per allergies)

Teriyaki sauce

Soy sauce

Garlic powder

1 cup brown rice

(**1 large can chicken broth can be substituted for water if you want more flavorful rice)

Please note; start the water for your rice early, as brown rice takes about 45 minutes to cook. Once its boiling, turn down heat so it continues to simmer until fully done.

Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and toss in your veggie mixture. Brown your vegetables at the edges, and then add pineapple and a little of the juice from the can. Add ¼ cup teriyaki sauce and a dash of garlic powder to the mixture for flavor. Add in a few shakes of soy sauce and let cook down further, about 10-15 minutes. Again, make sure to taste as you go! You can also use as many different vegetables as you want, throw in bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, celery, baby corn, etc. Go nuts.

Also, if you feel creative, substitute mandarin oranges for pineapple.

Serve over rice, add soy sauce to taste if you like, and garnish of parmesan is optional (random, yes, but enjoyable).

The toilet bowl is #1 killer of cell phones today, and being that before a date, we spend a lot of time in the bathroom, it doesn’t make for a good combination. I know so many people who have lost their phones due to unwanted trips down the ceramic place-in-the-sky. Haven’t we learned our lesson yet? DO NOT GO NEAR A TOILET WITH A CELL PHONE ON OR NEAR YOUR PERSON. It never ends well.

Well….that is until I found out about this little helpful tip.

The Washington Post reports the story of one guy who, after dropping his Blackberry down the toilet, saved it by sticking it in a bowl of rice.

Strange, but kinda cool, huh?

Supposedly, the dryness in uncooked rice sucks all of the moisture out of the phone.

The guy was able to turn the Blackberry on in just enough time to retrieve his date’s phone number, whom he had plans with later that night. Phew! Then, the phone died, he left it in the rice overnight (after his friend turned him on to the idea,) and the next day, it was up and working; it wasn’t working great, but after letting the phone sit in rice again the next night, he ended up saving the $450 it would have cost for an entirely new Blackberry.

Just something to keep in mind next time you drop your phone down the toilet, cause you know it’s gonna happen eventually. For a second I thought about dropping my phone in the toilet, you know…just to test out the Rice Method myself. But, naaa. I’ll just save that for when I have a date and it happens naturally.

Don’t panic! Wikihow also provides step-by-step directions as to how to save your watered down cell phones.