Finals are done, break is here, and Christmas songs are a playin’.  Life is as sweet as mom’s home-made apple pie.  As we enjoy this holiday season, with the glistening, bright lights, beautifully decorated Christmas trees, and much needed home-cooked food, it is also time to start planning those annual New Year’s resolutions.  As a senior in college, I can report from experience that there is a prevailing rationalization among my peers that, given its deleterious consequences on one’s health, clearly needs to stop. Hence, a perfect New Year’s resolution.  The rationalization spoken among my peers goes very much like this:

“Because I am young and in college, I can now treat my body like crap and get away with it.  After all, college really is only about three things: studying, relationships and overindulgence.  Heck everyone else is drinking to what would technically be considered alcoholism in the real world, indulging in all-you-can-eat dining halls, pulling all-nighters and living off of coffee and candy in between.  What is socially acceptable must be okay! I’m still healthy because [insert a plethora of excuses here].”

If this sounds a bit like you, I’m going to bring you back to reality.  Even if you feel reasonably fine now, this lifestyle will surely lead to ill health in the long run and will just perpetuate bad health habits post graduation. There is a reason why over two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese and cancer and heart disease rates are skyrocketing. Our bodies cannot handle the stresses we are placing on them over time and the long-term effects are sure to appear if we do not take action NOW to protect ourselves.

After all, there is nothing more empowering than taking care of oneself and feeling great. Why not make this year’s New Year’s resolution about just that?  Here’s a list of suggestions, along with motivating facts, to make a healthy New Year’s resolution become a reality: Read More »

We all feed our stomachs daily, but are we really giving them what they want and deserve?

Sometimes it’s hard to fit healthy food into a busy schedule, making it even harder for us to keep our digestive tract happy and healthy.  Unfortunately, one of the most common side effects of an unhappy tum-tum is bloating (ew).  Luckily, with a few easy tweaks to our diet, we can get on our way towards a fitter and flatter stomach.

Tummy Tip #1: Drink tons of water.  Water is probably the closest thing to a silver bullet you’ll ever find.  Not only does it improve the look of your skin and stimulate mental clarity, it also aids in digestion.  This translates into a flatter, bloat-free stomach for you.  Make sure you’re getting enough agua by listening to some advice from the Institute of Medicine.  They recommend that the lovely ladies, like ourselves, drink about 9 cups of H20 a day.

Tummy Tip #2: Hold the salt. As a general rule of thumb, wherever salt goes water will follow.  This is good for maintaining a good balance of minerals in the blood, but can be bad when it comes to belly bloat.  You don’t have to cut out salt completely to diminish bloating, but try to avoid overly salty foods like chips, canned soups, frozen meals, and salted nuts. Read More »

Bad news. Bad, bad news.

There are certain things we just know are bad for us.

Smoking? Check.
Too much Jersey Shore? Check.
Tanning beds? Check.
Drunk texting? Again, check.

But salt? Salty, delicious salt?

Brace yourself, ladies; new research is out and it looks like my favorite condiment (slash de-icer) is a whole lot worse for us than I originally thought.

According to most health experts, we’re only supposed to consume one teaspoon of salt per day. That’s it. In an entire day. Guess how much salt the average American consumes per day? Two to three times that amount! And when you go over, you’re really screwing yourself over.  New York knows it – they are urging “food manufacturers and restaurant chains to reduce salt in their products nationwide by 25 percent over the next five years.” Read More »

My best friend came up to visit me at school once and ended up meeting a guy at a party.  She went home with him and amidst hooking up, said: “it’s not me, it’s you.” Harsh. Anyways, shortly thereafter, this guy, now with a seriously bruised ego, encountered me at another party.  Recalling that I was her friend, he took out his frustration on me. With a cup of beer.  That he poured from a porch. Onto my head.

While at first I was angry that this unfortunate boy was taking out his anger on me ruined my straight hair that I spent an hour on, I now know better. After some research on natural beauty remedies, I learned that beer actually adds volume to hair!  This guy wasn’t trying to hurt me; he was trying to help me out!  His glass was empty, but I’m choosing to look at the situation as a glass-half full kind of thing.

Who knew that beer was helpful for more than getting drunk?  Actually though, it turns out that lots of food and beverage products are quick fixes for hair and skin problems.  Spend 5 minutes looking through your pantry or fridge and you’re sure to find some ingredients that could improve your beauty problem areas.  Below are some super simple ingredients and what they can help you fix.  Save money, be natural, and be beautiful?

Win-win-win. Read More »

I have an obsession with cupcakes that is so intense, sometimes, I think that it borders on addiction. If someone offers me an adorable little sugary cake of pure bliss, there’s just no way I can refuse. And, whenever I have a craving for one, I won’t be able to stop thinking about it until I satisfy my inner voice screaming, “feed me cupcake!”

Not to mention that once I’ve consumed a few bites of one, it’s all downhill from there and I find myself consuming way more calories than I would have prior. Frosting is my gateway drug and I cannot control myself when I’m near it.

Up until now, I always thought my problem was completely mental and something I just had to force myself to get over. Then, I read an article in the Washington Post on Dr. Kessler, a Harvard-trained doctor, lawyer, medical school dean and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who spent months dumpster diving behind chain restaurants such as Chili’s to find out the real amount of fat, salt and sugar used to make dishes like the Southwestern Eggrolls.

What he discovered (and details in his book, The End of Overeating) was surprising and clued me into why this high intake of sugar had such a great effect on me…

“Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain’s chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat.” So it’s not just me! The sugar is actually f-ing with our brains! Sweet, sweet validation (no pun intended). Read More »

It’s that time of year again: cold season.

Ew.

I’ve been noticing more people sneezing, which is why sanitizer is my new BFF. Unfortunately, thanks to all the common surfaces in college – computers, desks, ice luges – no matter how hard we all try we are gonna catch a cold. Pretty much everybody does. Even if they can avoid the germy keyboards and doorknobs on campus, the change in weather usually has them sniffling before too long.

But I have the cure for what ails us all: the best chicken soup EVER. Don’t use that canned stuff; the time and effort to make this soup is totally worth it. It will fill you up and make you feel all warm and toasty inside, no matter how chilly and snowy it is outside. Read More »

I’m sure I am not the only one who knows how frustrating it is to find the perfect recipe, start making it, and then realize that I am out of a crucial ingredient. (What’s that? You don’t make recipes without double-checking that you have all the ingredients on hand? Well, aren’t you special.)

Because there is nothing more annoying than having to run to the grocery store and leave your raw cookie batter sitting on the counter, I took the liberty of putting together a handy-dandy substitution cheat sheet of things you can use when you find yourself without the genuine article.

For self-rising flour, substitute flour with baking powder and salt. Self-rising flour is really just a fancy name for flour that already has baking powder and salt added, so you can cheat the system by adding those things yourself. For each cup of flour, just throw in 1 ½ tsp baking powder and about ½ tsp salt.

For cream/half-and-half, substitute milk. Keep in mind that this will only work sometimes. Milk is a lot thinner than cream and has a lot less fat (added health bonus), but that also means that it doesn’t behave the same way. For a recipe in which you’re mixing everything together anyway (quiche), it will work fine, but it’s not going to get you anywhere if you pour it in a bowl and try to whip it into real fluffy cream. If you don’t have regular milk, try using buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream. Read More »

There are very few things I love more than a loaf of bread fresh from the oven. It makes the kitchen smell great, it’s cheaper than buying bread at the store, and it’s sooooo good.

The problem is, making fresh bread usually requires fooling around with yeast. I don’t have anything against yeast, but it’s temperamental. If the water you mix it with is too cold, it won’t ferment. If it’s too hot, the yeast will die. I don’t have time to screw around with that stuff! That’s why this bread recipe is great… if you can get water to room temperature, then you virtually can’t screw it up.

For one loaf starter, you need a cup of water, 2 cups of flour, and ¼ teaspoon yeast (rapid-rise yeast is best). Then, for the bread, you need an additional ¼ cup water, 1 cup flour, 1 ½ teaspoons yeast (again, rapid-rise is best), 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional). If you want to brush something nice over the top so the bread is shiny, you need more olive oil or 1 egg white.

To begin, mix the starter ingredients together. The water should be at a cool room temperature. Once you’ve combined the ingredients and mixed them so that all the flour is absorbed, put plastic wrap over the bowl you mixed them in, and let the starter rest overnight or for 12-16 hours. The dough should rise dramatically and look somewhat bubbly when it’s done. Read More »