Final exams. Holiday parties.  End-of-semester ragers. Shopping, shopping, and more shopping. That last chance to hook up with the dude from Middle Eastern History, or your eagerly awaited reunion with your hometown honey.  You get the picture: this time of year, there’s a lot on your plate. So if you’re looking for something to fill up your plate (literally), may I be the first to suggest: clementines! Not only are they portable, affordable, and in-season, they’re powerhouses of Vitamin C—quite necessary to combat your surely-tired immune system from supporting your hectic schedule.

Easy Meals:

1. They’re the poor-man’s Mandarin oranges. Peel apart the baby slices and toss in your salad (I like them with feta cheese, peppers, craisins, and walnuts, with a little oil and vinegar for kick).
2. Two clementines a day give you 120% of your daily Vitamin C. Feeling a little sniffly? Toss ‘em in your bag on your way to class to nibble on during your lecture. (You’ll be glad you didn’t skip!)
3. Peel apart the slices of three clementines and toss in a blender with some vanilla frozen yogurt and dash of cocoa powder for a light, refreshing smoothie Read More »

I know, I know – us glamorous CollegeCandy readers are so busy saving the world, getting better than A+ grades, and flirting with the boy next door, that it’s so hard to incorporate a consistent healthy diet into our daily lives. Yet it’s important to understand that beauty and health last beyond our college years, so we have to do everything in our power to keep the summer glow and prevent any aging wrinkles… or at least offset the 5-day benders that seem to get more and more frequent every year.

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. Read More »

Graduation is no longer just a corny Vitamin C song to me anymore. Next week is my own high school graduation, and now that the event is nearly here, it all feels so incredibly real: leaving home, heading to college, living mostly on my own without the guidance of my parents. I remember starting freshman year thinking that high school would be the longest four years of my life. In reality, the time flew by all too fast.

Looking back on my high school career, I was never that sentimental about moving from one grade to the next. I often counted down the last days of school on a huge calendar on my desk, just to make crossing off the final day that much sweeter.

But now, I find myself feeling rather schmaltzy about it all. On the last day of classes, I shambled after classmates and teachers to get signatures for my yearbook. I spent most of last week reminiscing with friends about the past few years the way my grandparents do about the “olden days.” I’m normally not one to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but something about this particular milestone in my life has been bringing these feelings the surface. The sadness about leaving friends and family, the uncontainable excitement of a new adventure – the mixture of the two is something I’ve never experienced before now. Read More »

So finally it is spring…well, at least the snow is sort of melting here, and the temperature is starting to average above freezing during the day. This is the time to be outside on the slushy grass or walking around campus, right?

Well, I wish. It seems like spring at college, I am realizing, is the time of the cold, the headache, the sore throat, and the contagious undergrads.

I’ve noticed everyone here is getting sick. I’m told it’s because I’ve never lived with so many people before, and that we’re all staying inside so much. Basically, germs are running wild. So drink your orange juice for Vitamin C and avoid sneezing classmates. Not that any of that really worked out well for me. And I must say, I’ve learned a very important lesson: taking care of yourself when you’re sick at college is the worst. Read More »

Whether you are preparing for that last final, gearing up for the LSAT, or just trying to get through a Summer course, the time is here (or surely on its way!) when your brain decides to go on vaca and leave you high and dry in the deep, dark stacks of the library. You can try everything – coffee, candy, that Adderol your friend offered to sell you – but none of it will make much of a difference. You’re tired and over it; your time would be better spent taking a nap or enjoying some Sangria on the porch.

That, of course, is not an option. You are going to have to try something else to get you to the finish line. The good news is that there is another – much healthier – option: these natural and healthy snacks will nourish your noggin and get you to the end without breaking a mental sweat.

Green Tea: Research keeps popping up everywhere celebrating the magical effects of Green Tea. It is chock full of antioxidants and other great stuff that increase alertness, improve learning and relax the brain. Sigh. The stuff doesn’t always taste so great, but there are lots of fun new flavors coming out every day (I prefer blueberry pomegranate), so you can actually enjoy this typically icky green beverage. Read More »

First day of class. I’m sitting in the front row, binder open and pen at the ready. The teacher is going over the syllabus. “This is the attendance policy in the class. You are allowed…”

“*sniff.*”

“…absences.”

I wrinkled my nose in distaste and glared at the various people in my Criminology class, coughing and sniffling and sneezing for a while, leaning forward and straining to hear my professor. “As for the papers, the due dates have been posted on…”

“*cough*”

Gritting my teeth, I glanced over my shoulder at the girl to the left, covering her mouth and looking miserable. I turn my head back to my teacher and listen to her explain to me why I’m taking a course on crime when a horrendous gurgling grunt comes from the back of my throat, and I am horrified at the way I just cleared my throat and made the same sound my mother’s Camry makes when it starts up. No way in hell on the first day in class was I already sick.

I was determined to not be taking off days to roll around miserably in my dorm so early in the semester, and sure enough, a few days and a few tissues later, I’m back to my normal and almost entirely healthy self – without the help of anything from the “Cold/Flu” aisle in Rite Aid. How?

Sit back and learn, ladies. Read More »