The final week of school

Aah finally it is that time of year where its busy and hectic, and this only means one thing....it's finals week and summer will soon be upon us! I really feel pretty accomplished after Friday because I will have officially completed my first year of graduate school. Now only two more years to go. I feel like I'm going to be one of those people who is in school forever, I don't mind though I like learning, especially about things that interest me like nutrition.

Moving on....

This weekend I made a trip back to my undergrad. for it's pigroast tradition. It was a great weekend and I loved seeing all my friends. That's the thing that sucks about growing up, your friends get spread out all over the country :( This just makes reunions that much better! While in central PA for the weekend I got to visit on of my favorite cafes, Standing Stone. I got the breakfast panini with strawberry jam and cream cheese, and of course a chi tea latte, yum :) This is definitely one of those places I love going back to.

Now that the weekend is over, I'm trying to prepare myself for my final exams this week. I had one yesterday, which went well I think. And then I have 3 more this week. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, just get me to Friday!

Here are my eats of the day so far:

My morning started off with 3/4 c. oats, 1 c. skim milk, 1/3 c. frozen mixed berries zapped in the microwave for 3 min. A little sprinkle on top to make it taste a little sweeter.

I also had a cup of coffee for breakfast. It was a new flavor that my friend had given me over the weekend called Jamaican Me Crazy from Leaf and Bean. Definitely makes a good cup of coffee and I highly recommend it.

Then for a snack while I was a work I had a mini clif bar that my sister sent me in the mail for Earth day, what a nice sister :).

Lunch consisted of a casserole I concocted yesterday and a yogurt. The casserole consisted of 1 can black beans, 1 can corn, 1 c. brown rice, and 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies. I baked it in the oven for 30min and 35o and then melted a slice of cheddar cheese overtop before eating it. Simple but it hit the spot.

Dessert was a Strawberry Pomegranate yogurt, which also was hit the spot. (Sorry its a little blurry haha)

Now time for some solid studying before hitting the gym for either aerobics or kickboxing...still deciding.

Tip for the day: A healthy heart is a happy heart. While following a healthy "schedule" (exercise, taking the time to prepare/cook your own food, etc) may be time consuming, make sure to leave time for things that you enjoy besides being healthy. For instance, visiting friends or family like I did this weekend. While being healthy is definitely important, other things should also be able to fit into your schedule as well :)

Earth Day!

First of all Happy Earth day :) Gotta love the awesome place that we all live in. However we really do need to start taking better care of it. Here are 10 ways that I try to help save our planet:
1) Use reusable grocery bags when I go shopping
2) Recycle plastic and glass containers that food comes in
3) Use tubberware instead of plastic baggies when packing my lunch or snacks
4) Wash my clothes in cold water to use less energy
5) Recycle my magazines and newspapers
6) Use a re-fillable water bottle
7) Take old clothes and items I don't want anymore to goodwill
8) Walk to places that are within walking distance when it's nice outside (and not dark)
9) Turn off all lights when I leave the room
10) Open windows and use fans instead of air conditioning

Anybody else have some good earth day tips on how to be green?

So this morning started off with a big bowl of oatmeal, which is usually what my breakfast consists of.

After that I did a few last minutes of studying before my test. Then I headed off to campus, of course I walked since it is Earth day and it is a beautiful day outside. Perfect spring weather.

After my test I came home and finished up my two projects and presentations that are due this afternoon. While I was doing this I had a cup of chi tea (my favorite drink every, definitely one of my comfort foods) and a pumpkin muffin that I had stashed in my freezer, I think I only have one left now from the 2 dozen I made.

After I was done doing work I made lunch around 1:30pm. I made a huge delicious salad for lunch consisting of spinach, carrots, radishes, broccoli sprouts, dried snap peas, a sprinkle of cheese and some light ranch. Yum.

Then for dessert I had 2 clementines. I don't really like oranges, but clementines are delicious! I think because they are little and cute I like them better. Plus they are easier to peel and don't make my hands as sticky.

Now time to wash dishes and get ready for my presentation. Oh I can't wait for this school day to be over, because then all that's left is finals!!

Healthy tip of the day, it's earth day...so be green and eat green :)

It's the day before the day before the weekend!

hopefully day of production

A quick recap about last night. Kickboxing was lots of fun! My legs definitely feel it this morning. I love going to work out classes because being around other people makes me push myself harder. When I got back I was pretty hungery though since I hadn't yet eaten dinner. For dinner I made:
1 Bean and Cheese Burrito
-1 whole grain tortilla
-1/2 c. fat-free refried beans
-1/4 c. red-fat cheddar cheese
Then fold into a burrito shape and bake at 350F for about 10-12 min. Then I topped it with some delcious mild salsa.
Dessert was two pieces of cantelope (definitely picked a good juicy one!) and a piece of chocolate topped shortbread made by my dad.
After dinner I got about one page of my paper done and decided to get some sleep.
When I woke up today I made a bowl of oats.
-3/4 c. oats
-a couple shakes of pumpkin pie spice
-1 tbsp crushed pecans
-handful of raisins
~3/4 c. skim milk
Microwave 2 min and yummmmmmm. Then I had a homemade mini pumpkin muffin that I had leftover in the freezer. I was a little extra hungry this morning and decided I needed good fuel to start out my day. I'm hoping to be productive today and get a lot done on my projects and papers that are due next week. The sooner I can get them done the more time I will have to relax after right? So I'm at work now til like 11:30 and then off to the library for the afternoon I go!

Finally tip of the day: Brown bag (or whatever color of bag for that matter) your lunch! This has so many benefits to you!
1) It's cheaper then buying pre-made food on your lunch break
2) You can choose the food that you pack
3) You can pack healthier options
4) It will taste good because you are making what you like
I pack my lunch every day becaue I am a graduate student so I'm trying to be thrifty but also because I'm trying to be healthy. Little changes like this can make a big impact on your life!

Crunch time is arriving

Once again time never seizes to amaze me. It is only Tuesday but I feel like I have been busy enough the past couple days that tomorrow should be Friday. In this case I'm lucky because I need all the time I can get to finish presentations/papers/study for tests before the next two weeks. Boy do I love the final crunch at the end of the semester. (This is sarcasm just in case you had doubts). At least I started off my week by having my all-time favorite dinner last night.

I had a HUGE sweet potato topped with some Smart balance, lots a cinnamon, and a pinch of brown sugar. I loooooove sweet potatoes. They are probably one of my favorite foods :)

With my potato I also had some frozen snap peas that I microwaved. You can kind of see the steam coming off of them in this picture haha.
And I also had some delicious salmon. I topped it with old bay seasoning and some dried onion and boy was it good! I'm always surprised how good my food comes out from my little George Forman.

Today started at like 7:15 am and for some reason I was extra tired. I let myself sleep in as long as possible. When I got up I made a bowl of oats. It was 3/4 c. oats, 1 tbsp. blueberries, 1 tbsp. walnuts, pinch of vanilla extract, ~1 c. water. Then after it came out of the microwave I added about 1/4 c. milk. I like to add milk after to cool it down a little :)

The I rushed around getting ready and packed my lunch before heading out the door for my 9am class. For lunch I packed a salad of mixed greens, topped with baby carrots, roasted red pepper hummus, dried cranberries, garbanzo beans, and a little bit of oil and vinegar dressing on the side. Plus I also packed some fresh strawberries, a yo-plus pomegranate blackberry yogurt, and a small bite-size chocolate egg leftover from easter. This all held me over til now, which is when I finally made it back from a loooong day of class and work. I just whipped up a green monster (~2 c. spinach, 1 tbsp. cocoa toasted almonds, 1 tbsp, nutella, 1 frozen banana, 1.5 c milk, and 3 ice cubes) and it's already gone. I might have to find another snack before I head off to kickboxing at 7pm. Now its time to accomplish some more paper writing before I finally get to work out.

My tip of the day is going to be a fact of the day, which most of you may already be aware of, but in my nutrition class today a group gave a presentation on obesity. Did you know that 1/3 of the US adult population is considered obese? Did you know that the mid-life age group (40-59) has the highest prevalence for being overweight? Right now my age group is in a transition stage, trying to figure out where we fit in out there in the real world. During this time we also establish our eating patterns. If we establish bad habits now, they will most likely stick with us later. Now is the time to start eating healthy and start caring about your body, because if you put in the extra effort now, 20 yrs from now they will be old habits and just a part of your regular routine.

Green Monster

So I have been reading about the Green Monster and I was iffy to try, because I honestly never thought I would enjoy vegetables in a smoothie. Boy was I wrong! This is the concoction I created, and I must say I was quite pleased with myself.

In my first green monster I put 1.5 cups of spinach, 1.5 cups of skim milk, 1 banana, a handful of cocoa toasted almonds, and a tbsp. of nutella (hence why my smoothie is brown and not green). This combination was delicious! I think I may have a new addiction and am already thinking up other ingredients to add.

The Green Monster was also very filling and held me over to til 1pm for lunch. This allowed to finish writing one of my papers. Now only 2 more to go. For lunch I had a turkey burger on a whole wheat english muffin, topped with a slice of nonfat cheddar and some ketchup and mustard. On the side I had a few carrots with roasted red pepper hummus, I LOVE hummus.

As you can see I snacked on some of the carrots while I was waiting for the burger to cook on my george forman. I was hungry. After lunch the rest of my afternoon consisted of doing more paper writing, a trip to the gym so I could run on the track, and then a nice walk out in the sun :)

When I got home I didn't really feel like cooking so I just popped a Healthy Choice meal in the microwave. This was pumpkin ravioli with butternut squash. Two of my favorites. Plus I also snacked on a bowl of cantaloupe, but I inhaled that before I had time to take a picture.

Now that I have finished dinner it's back to paper writing for another hour or two until bed. Gosh I'm lame, I guess this is what the end of the semester will do to you. Hope everyone has a lovely evening!

Down dog

So tonight at yoga I was finally able to get my feet flat on the floor during the standard down dog pose :) I could tackle and perfect more advanced poses but this one always caused me some problems. But now I have tackled down dog too!

Other than yoga tonight has been pretty standard, which means studying of course. For dinner tonight I made an awesome grilled chicken salad. It was made with some romaine, spinach, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, baby carrots, topped off with a piece of chicken that I cooked on my george forman and some light ranch dressing. Ranch dressing is my comfort dressing :)

Today was definitely a salad kind of day. It was too hot to eat anything else or to cook for that matter. That's one thing I love about warm weather, fresh veggies and fresh fruit :) As soon as it is summer I'm gonna find the local farmers market and stock up on my summer produce. And that is my suggestion for the day. Find your local farmers market. Not only will you get great fruits and veggies loaded with tons of nutrients, but you will be supporting the local farmers, so basically it's just a win-win situation.

Well off to bed now so I wake up in time for my run in the am....night!

How is it already April??

So it's been awhile since my last post, but when you're in graduate school things can get pretty hectic sometimes and then it was Easter break. And since I go to a catholic university, I got off Wednesday through Monday, and I am definitely NOT complaining :) But now that break is over I need to get back in the swing of things and really buckle down these next 3 weeks and get work done. After 3 weeks the semester will be over!! It's hard to believe I will be done with my first YEAR of graduate school. Boy does time fly.

Today I'm going to have a productive day working on papers and then later this evening I have to go and babysit. So I really need to get work done, starting as soon as I finish this post. I started off the day with a bowl of oats, topped with fresh strawberries, and a pinch of sugar to bring out the flavor in the strawberries. This should keep me energized to do my work. So my healthy tip of the day is to start buying the fresh fruit produce that the warm weather is bringing us. Now that things like strawberries and melons are coming in season they are cheaper and taste a whole lot better. Plus they are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Oh fresh fruit is so good :)

Enjoy the day!