Despite the healthy veneer I have coated my personality with, deep down, I enjoy McDonald’s. Too much. From the fries to Egg McMuffins, I think I could successfully take on the Supersize Me! challenge set by Morgan Spurlock. It takes a lot of self control and creativity for me to make my healthy diet as tasty and exciting as a hamburger and fries. Okay, it’s really not that hard. It just takes a little more time.

I recently made the choice to scale back the amount of meat I eat. I’m typically a “one animal protein meal per day” girl. I decided to scale back to only eating 2-3 meat dishes per week and making them really count. I read a report that stated “flexitarian” eaters were more healthy than people who ate a lot of lean animal protein and vegetarians. (I will say that this report included all vegetarians, which can include your 12-year-old next door neighbor who uses vegetarianism as an excuse to only eat potato chips! So, yes, a little skewed). I decided to make the transition.

I’ve never been much into eggs. They have to be cooked really specifically – I’m not someone who typically orders eggs in a restaurant. However, on a whim, my best friend and I decided to make homemade egg McMuffins on a morning where I had taken the GRE and she had accidentally left $20 in an ATM. Eggs are a great source of protein and are super easy to cook. Combined with chopped spinach (for a little extra veggie nutrition), turkey bacon and your favorite cheese, the results are truly magic.

Homemade Egg McMuffins

You’ll need…

• 1 can of biscuits
• a few slices of your favorite cheese – I like smoked Gouda or smoked cheddar for these!
• 3-4 eggs
• 2-3 slices of turkey bacon
• about 1/4 package of spinach, chopped
• 1 tomato, sliced

How to make them…

Bake biscuits according to package instructions.

Spray a skillet with a bit of nonstick cooking spray and place on stove top on medium heat. In a bowl, whisk your eggs. Add to the skillet. Chop spinach finely and add on top of the eggs. Stir to allow spinach to wilt. Then, let the eggs cook before flipping.

In a smaller skillet, cook turkey bacon until warm and slightly browned on each side. Cut each slice in half and set aside.

On a plate, prepare about 1/2 a slice of cheese for each biscuit. Use this time to slice the tomato.

When the eggs are cooked through, cut into fourths. When the biscuits are done, remove from the oven and split in half. Each biscuit gets 1 slice of bacon (cut in half), 1/4 of the egg, about 1/2 a slice of cheese, and 1 slice of tomato.

Note: This recipe makes four McMuffins, with extra biscuits left over. I save the biscuits and just reheat them for dinner or for more McMuffins later! 

Mmmm. Irish Coffee should fix this right up!

It’s no secret that much of the college social life revolves around drinking. We drink to celebrate, mourn, express loyalty to our football teams, to ease boredom, hell,  some people drink to make homework a little more interesting (no, no one else does that?).  Well, all that super fun drinking  sometimes results in not-so-fun consequences: mysterious bruises, ruined shoes, hours’ worth of un-tagging on Facebook, that dude lying next to you, and the raging, horrific hangover trying to escape your brain by splitting it open.

What’s a girl to do? Your mind jumps to Gatorade (don’t have any), Egg McMuffins (dammit, it’s past 10:30!) and water (your Brita pitcher is full of hunch punch) before remembering that bottle of Bloody Mary mix in the back of the fridge. Should you suck it up, stir in some vodka and take a hair of the dog that bit you?

Nope.

The phrase itself refers to an old school Rabies cure (literally, they would place a hair of the dog that bit you in the wound), but has evolved into the idea that if you drink a small amount of whatever got you into this hung-over state, you’ll feel better. It didn’t work for rabies, and it won’t work for your hangover.

A hangover results because of the dehydrating effect alcohol has on your body. Remember what we learned about breaking the seal? Alcohol suppresses your brain’s ability to create anti-diuretic hormones, so you lose essential water, electrolytes, salts and glucose via bathroom breaks. The morning after, your body is frantically trying to replenish all that lost hydration, resulting in fatigue, headache, nausea, etc. These symptoms get worse as your body tries to rid all alcohol from its system, leading some to believe that all this hangover nonsense could be cured by simply drinking more.

Unfortunately, more alcohol will only postpone your hangover. It might temporarily relieve some of the symptoms of a hangover (and keep you in those beer goggles until the boy actually leaves), but when it wears off your body will still have to recover, only now it your liver has extra toxins to break down and remove. So in the end, your headache and nausea will probably be worsened by more alcohol, definitely not relieved.

The best cure for a hangover (besides, you know, not drinking in the first place) is to drink plenty of water to fight dehydration, some Gatorade or Powerade to replace electrolytes, lots of rest, and at least 4 hours worth of mind numbing TV, preferably Real Housewives or True Hollywood Stories, but whatever’s on VH1 will do in a pinch.

Anyways, this occurrence is not inevitable, but pretty regular for me, and from what I’m told, countless other Weekend Warriors. So to make my (and your) Sunday morning/afternoon nausea slightly more tolerable, I present my Top 5 fave Hangover Foods.

5. McDonald’s Diet Coke + an Egg McMuffin.

This makes the list for both its deliciousness and medicinal values. McDonald’s Coke and Diet Coke WILL cure your hangover. My best friend swears by it. So does her Mom. That stuff is great. Unfortunately this meal is 1) highly inconvenient, as there’s very little chance that you will be up early enough to get an egg McMuffin and 2) usually eaten under the circumstances that your hangover is very very severe and you can only manage small bites and sips.

4. Fresh Bagel toasted lightly with cream cheese and O.J.

Delicious when prepared correctly, which is almost always because operating a toaster isn’t (usually) that hard. Also very convenient and easy make when it’s that kind of hangover where you’re still drunk (most likely tequila induced).

3. Stouffer’s Mac & Cheese.

This heap of cheesy goodness will set you back 529 calories, but come on, you’re body is seriously depleted of nutrients right now and you MUST restore them. Right? I like to add gourmet touches to mine, like micro-waving for an extra 3 minutes to develop a nice golden crunchiness around the edge or adding some ketchup. It might sound disgusting, but trust me it is divine.

2. Hot Pizza from your favorite local place.

A chain restaurant pie simply will not do the trick in this situation. Whether you’re game (and sober) enough to drive over there and dine in, or you can barely dial the number for delivery, the soothing taste of gooey cheese and wonderful, glorious carbs should improve your condition any day.

1. Panera Bread’s Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with a Turkey Sandwich.

When I am hungover, Panera is my substitute Mom. But better (no offense Mom). Where my mother will criticize me for being hungover in the first place, on a SCHOOL DAY no less, Panera greets me with warm, fresh bread, sometimes friendly service and plenty of hydration, compliments of the free refill fountain drinks.

Most importantly, they have the most delicious soup. This is incredibly important, as hangovers force me to revert to feeling like an 8 year old with a cold, and the ultimate sick food is obviously soup. Pair that with freshly baked bread, wonderful turkey and a tallllll glass of water, and I may just experience instant recovery–and so might you.