The Eight Hour Experiment

So on Oct 19th, about three weeks ago, I posed the challenge to get a minimum of 8 hours each night for week. To be totally honest, I half-failed. I was able to get an average of 7 hours a night for two nights, and 8 hours for two nights and I think about 6 hours for two nights, and one night I think I had to stay up and study. However the nights I did get at least eight hours of sleep, the results were worthwhile.

• I had the energy to go to the gym the following morning
• I woke up calmer and more relaxed
• I got up early enough to have breakfast
• I got up early enough to have ample time to get dressed

These are just subjective findings. Some of the benefits are formally listed in the challenge entry of course.

In general, I’ve been making both time for ample sleep and dinner and I feel so much better for it. I remember my friend Ryan (who is actually the subject of my upcoming Podcast entry) thought I was even upset with him one day I was edgy from just being drained from school and not sleeping much. With sleep, it seems like everything is easier to make fall in place–schoolwork, exercise, eating right, etc.

Bon nuit,

Lucia

A Healthy Concern 1

So I decided not to my first food fact be on the article “A Few Cookies a Day to Keep the Pounds Away” in the Fashion & Style section of the New York Times on October 21st after all, because it was basically a fad diet and we don’t promote fad diets here! Unhealthy!

What I will post about today is in an interesting Op-Ed in the New York Times by Op-Ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof. Some time in the future, I will talk about one of my favorite sections of the Times–Health; I especially enjoy the interactive parts (“Patient Voices” is especially moving) and with breakdowns like “Mind” and “Well”. It’s awesome, but we’ll get to that another time.

Kristof’s latest Op-Ed is “Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies”. No, I’m not trying to scare you, but it makes me think of again how much better it is to cook fresh and avoid canned foods/ prepackaged meals.

Today was a great day for me. I ran outside this morning at The Fens, ran the track at the gym (4 laps), did 50 sit-ups, 25 crunches, and 25 bicycle crunches (I don’t know the proper name but they are pretty tough) and finished up with 20 minutes on the elliptical machine and 2-minuate cool-down jog and walk at Marino (Northeastern’s gym). I’d love to get in the gym tomorrow but I am studying for two exams tomorrow and expect to be up late (that reminds me, I will post the findings on “8 hours of sleep” week soon).

I had cereal beforehand to have more energy and ate waffles and beef sausage. I then napped and then left to do some work. I ate some Brie, applesauce, and a fruit snack pack, as well as two mini Reese’s (80 cal.)

I knew I had a lot of work this evening, but as soon as I finished my French, I ran home and within an hour cooked and ate Beef Stew. I feel great and only hope I can get at least 7 hours tonight.

(As opposed to eating baked pasta with ground beef and cheese on top for the last few weeks )

_______________________________________________________

So stumbling upon that Op-Ed upon having drunk my plastic water bottle of Poland Springs is a little unsettling. Here’s the gist of it:

Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. It’s a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in everything from plastics to epoxies — to the tune of six pounds per American per year. That’s a lot of estrogen.

More than 92 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine, and scientists have linked it — though not conclusively — to everything from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike.

Now it turns out it’s in our food.

Now I wouldn’t panic yet.

The chemical industry doesn’t think so. Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council dismissed the testing, noting that Americans absorb quantities of BPA at levels that government regulators have found to be safe. Mr. Hentges also pointed to a new study indicating that BPA exposure did not cause abnormalities in the reproductive health of rats.

Touché, but there is concrete evidence for concern. 200 studies can’t be wrong that linked adverse health effects with even low levels of BPA.

“The vast majority of independent scientists — those not working for industry — are concerned about early-life low-dose exposures to BPA,” said Janet Gray, a Vassar College professor who is science adviser to the Breast Cancer Fund.

I think I’d rather trust the little guy on this one. Most of these studies have been on animals, but the article goes on to reveal that “…the Journal of the American Medical Association reported last year that humans with higher levels of BPA in their blood have “an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities.””

Hmm, well Kristof also reports that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is finally going to look at it again. Thank goodness, if you weren’t aware of flub ups earlier this year (peanuts, etc.). Congress may potentially ban BPA from food and beverage containers (remember trans fats and resulting local regulations?)

“When you have 92 percent of the American population exposed to a chemical, this is not one where you want to be wrong,” said Dr. Ted Schettler of the Science and Environmental Health Network. “Are we going to quibble over individual rodent studies, or are we going to act?”

Kristof admits that the evidence is not conclusive, but he’s taking action now by cutting down on he and his family usage of plastic containers that contain BPA to store or microwave food. Kristof is also drinking out of one of those metal bottles now.

Better safe that sorry, or simply better to not be asleep at the wheel when it comes to your own health. I would just check out what in the products hold your food as well as what’s in your food is all. As my mother loves to quip, “Prevention is better than the cure.”

Oh, and try to cook fresh. Your body will love you for it. I’ll have to thank my mother (and my Dad) for that one too.

Ciao,

Lucia

Health Websites (Women’s Edition)

As you can see down the side of my blog, I have links for several healthy living oriented magazines : Fitness, Self, Shape, and Women’s Health. This post is going to do a mini critique of each of their websites–the good and the bad–in a score of 1-5, 5 being the best. We’ll focus on Fitness and Food for today.

Workouts

Fitnessmagazine.com (Unique sections- Store, Video): First of all, I think it’s great that they break the section down into categories, mostly by what part of your body you want work out, i.e. Arms and Shoulders, Back or by type, i.e. Yoga, Running, Cardio Workouts, etc.  There are also informational links, such as Motivation, Tips, and even informaton on losing the “baby weight” and workout music playlists. Pretty impressive! 4

Self.com (Unique sections- Reach Your Goal, All Blogs, All Videos): Not really catergorical, but topical. Its current topics are 100 healthiest cities for women, sculpting sexy curves, toning up, and then it has a break down of specific goals for 4 weeks. There’s also tips for quick workouts and a chance to register for a 14-day program with Biggest Loser trainer, Jillian Michaels. I wouldn’t go to Self’s website for comprehensive workout information, but for the newest things being talked about, for something short and interesting. They do offer something different, as in links to the hottest blogs on people writing about different things relating to health. 3

Womenshealthmag.com (Unique sections- Sex & Relationships, Yoga, Fit Coach, Store): So the graphics are pretty awesome, but just like its brother site, the website seems to be more focused more on sexy than healthy (which comes with being healthy). However, this site will probably keep you reading and is more interactive. It scrolls through for you to the different topics, from equipment free workouts that bring big results, getting a tight butt and legs, to smaller things like improving your posture and specific workouts like things to improve agility. Pretty fun site! 4.5

Shape.com (Unique sections- Lifestyle, Sweeps/Products): The design of the website I have to say is my favorite. It avoids the slight tackiness of Women’s Health and the (possibly at times) monotony of Self. Shape seems to embody a mixture of Shape and Self. Under the header workouts, you can currently find tips on weight training, yoga, and cardio,  as well as fitness faux pas and breaking out of your cardio rut. However, I’m not sure if “summer calorie burners” is topical, so I’m not sure if the website’s content will always be up-to-date. Under sports, you find basically information for walkers and running, there’s also information on Gear and Gadgets, and Tools and Calculators. Each section links to more on the topic. Overall, very good! 4

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Food

Fitnessmagazine.com: I like this section for Fitness. The break down again is fantastic from 150 healthiest foods, to creating a diet, and a healthy grocery guide. Their content seems to be consistently original. They also include some topical topics as their center content, which is nice as we can see that the categories are always there, but we receive new information as well. Some of the topics currently are healthy fall foods that are also budget-friendly, guilt-free holiday recipes, and a new food for breakfast–a low calorie French toast. You can also browse for recipes with a spotlight on the most popular. Overall, really great! 4

Self.com: The content for this section leans more on the topical once again. The focus seems to be on the food diary, information on healthy comfort foods during this cold season when people tend to hibernate and snack, and super foods to fight stress. There is a food and diet Q and A, foods to combat fat, and awards for the most slimming yet delicious meals. There are again links to the newest Self blog posts and specific dinner and shopping information for November. The content is pretty original though probably always subject to change. 3.5

Womenshealthmag.com: Again, interesting shots and moving images to keep you interested. You can scroll through yourself or again it moves through and highlights the content for you. Their content seems a little more modern and would probably appeal to young women more as they have nutritional information on the worst drinks when you go out and healthy alternatives–great for those 20 somethings. There’s also information on 100 calorie candies and then more expansive content like recipes, the best fitness foods for women, and 30-minute meals. They have a bit of everything. 5

Shape.com: They have again a balance between the topical and the in-depth content a reader would want. They have a section called Nutrition 101, which also talks about super foods, a critique of energy drinks, and  substitutes. There’s also information on meals and menus from quick breakfast ideas to healthy sandwiches for lunch and building a healthy meal yourself. There’s also information on calories, carbs and fat–facts and myth busters. They also have information for when you’re on the go and how to handle that junk food. You can also find recipes by season, nutrition, meal type, main ingredient, or cuisine. Nice! 5

Ciao!

Lucia

Been Gyming It

I tend to come down on myself way more than I congratulate myself (as most people do). I must say, despite being pinched for time, I went to the gym three times the week before Halloween and the two times the week of. I haven’t gone this week, but intend to try to make it tomorrow morning. The bane of my existence as been a paper for History of Journalism, which has left me tired, anxious, and unhappy.

I will try though. I will be posting about the benefits of exercising soon enough. Too tired right now. My time was somewhat wasted tonight. Time to be a little selfish.

Ciao,

Lucia

Rediscovering Old Foods

So I was kindly bought dinner at The Globe tonight and I rediscovered this guy:

Brussel Sprouts!

I loved brussel sprouts as a kid (Grandma made them a lot), which I know is pretty odd. I also loved carrots, corn, and completely thumbed my nose at onions, tomatoes, and green beans or string beans.

Now my taste buds about 15 years later pretty much like the opposite: string beans, tomatoes sliced, onions, still corn. I can’t remember the last time I had a raw carrot or a boiled brussel sprout with butter.

But I as I mentioned, I was offered the cafeteria fare and spotted the baby cabbages. I think I might have even felt nostalgic. Either way, I requested them on my plate and upon my first one I realized just how much I missed them. I’ll be cooking them on my own soon.

I wonder what you loved as a kid that you’ve forgotten about, or believed you hated still?

Ciao,

Lucia

Your Poop and You

So I remember sometime ago, probably back in 2008, stumbling upon an episode of Oprah. I don’t catch it all the time, but the ones I do catch are fairly entertaining or satisfying.

Apparently I had stumbled upon her “Tuesdays With Dr. Oz,” which was the regular appearance of Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Ivy-league educated cardiothoracic surgeon. This particular episode was “Everybody Poops” (most certainly an homage to the Japanese children’s book by the same name that was translated into English).

The emphasis of the episode was on digestive health, the focus on if you are digesting things properly and eating healthily. Your bowel movement is actually a pretty good indicator!

When it comes to figuring out if you’re digesting things properly and eating healthy, Dr. Mehmet Oz says that you should rely on your senses in the bathroom. For starters, have you ever thought about the importance of what your bowel movement sounds like when it hits the water? Listen up!

“You want to hear what the stool, the poop, sounds like when it hits the water. If it sounds like a bombardier, you know, ‘plop, plop, plop,’ that’s not right because it means you’re constipated. It means the food is too hard by the time it comes out. It should hit the water like a diver from Acapulco hits the water [swoosh].”

The next thing Dr. Oz recommends is looking at your stool—c’mon, you’ve done it before! You should look twice—look at the shape and then, the color.

“It should be an S shape and you want to make sure the color’s normal because the color of the poop tells you a lot about how you made it,” Dr. Oz says. “You don’t want [pieces]. Food is a medicine for you. It helps you. [If the stool is in pieces] by the time you finished digesting your food, you don’t have enough of it left to poop out in the right way and probably it’s hurt the colon that has to process it. At the end of the day you can analyze your body really effectively by looking at what comes out of your body.”

Okay, so maybe all of this is starting to sound just a little gross, but I found it pretty fascinating. What was gross was one woman description of her hemorrhoids *shudder*.

If you hunt around the site a bit, you can find “Five Tips to Digestive Health” from Dr. Oz and fellow doctor, Michael Roizen.

I’m going to give you a quick run down and summary of the five tips:

Step 1: Live Clean

Take steps to help reduce the pollution that pummels your body.

• Choose charcoal-filtered purified water over unfiltered tap water.
• Choose unrefined and unprocessed foods over the ones that spend more time in a factory than in the earth.
• Choose fruit over Froot Loops.
• Choose legume proteins over red meats and avoid eating any liver of any species that has been exposed to toxins.

Step 2: Add the Crunchy Veggies

Cruciferous vegetables—broccoli, cauliflower, brussels spouts and cabbage—are good cancer fighters. They’ve also been shown to help aid the detoxification processes of the liver.

It’s also important to have foods loaded with vitamins B and C to aid the detoxification process by helping your innate antioxidant system.

Step 3: Sprinkle on Some Health

Ginseng, cinnamon, coffee and tea have been shown to help increase insulin receptivity, which can help lower the risk of aging from type 2 diabetes. Some studies have shown that one of the substances in ginseng berries—not the root—or a half teaspoon of cinnamon a day can increase insulin function by more than 50 percent.

Step 4: Get These Nutrients

Promote good digestive health and avoid digestive troubles with these nutrients and supplements (you can read the description on the website, but it seems more age specific and obviously young people would need different things and something you totally figure out with your doctor).

Step 5: Don’t Toxify the Detoxifier

Getting vitamin A through food seems okay (there are potential risks with other supplements, etc.)

I would take all that with a grain a salt of course, as everyone’s body is different and people should always communicate with their personal doctors first.

(A place including the slightly more comical parts of the episode: http://www.poopreport.com/BMnewswire/oprahs_poop_report.html)

So I’ve also definitely taken into consideration Dr. Oz’s observational tips since then. When I am eating healthy salads, or other lean meats and vegetables, I definitely have a healthy trip to the bathroom. The days I’ve goggled up fast food or an over excess of candy I’ve also had the unhealthy movements. Your diet is totally reflected back at you in that bowel. Try it!

Ciao,

Lucia

Oh God, Please Don’t Tell Me I’m Skinny

Friend I haven’t seen in a while: “Wow, you look good! You’ve lost weight!”

Mother: “You’ve lost weight” *said with curiosity*

Friend(s) I see all the time: “What have you been doing? You’ve lost so much weight”

“Oh my God, what’s the secret? What do you eat?”

Dad: “Wow! You’ve lost weight! You looked different freshman year”

I thanked them all kindly but currently I am in a crisis because of all those kind compliments.

I’ll admit, I can over analyze things and engage in a session of self introspection to a fault. But it’s unconscious a lot of the time and annoys even me that sometimes I can’t just shrug it off. I have to devote some merciless hours to whatever is bothering me until I can package it all neatly and rationally into my brain. I dislike allowing my emotions to cloud me.

But it’s not like I’ve suddenly become overly critical of my body, saying things like “Oh my God I hate my thighs” but I basically soaked up each compliment like a sponge until my unconscious thinking tipped over into believing “Oh my gosh, I can eat anything I want because I am sooo skkinn–nny now!”

I don’t know if I said that in my brain once, who knows, but basically I’ve been pigging out. In the article I linked to last week said, the mind and the body are inextricably linked.

Have I been mentally dieting myself? Guilty of my own admonishments? I think so. I’ve become obsessed with what I’m eating, even if I am eating what I desire and not semi-starving myself. Some would say this blog isn’t helping. Yeah, maybe. Or I could blame my talks with friends.

I would say at the heart of it, is I feel stressed out. The last three weeks have been midterms for everyone. I’ve had papers due, and extra work just because I’m doing an extra class. My job for this semester is drawing to it’s close, but now I have to make a decision with its continuation, which in my junior/senior at school now, that final decision can affect my final resume upon  leaving college and my dreams for post-grad. I’m worried about finding an international co-op, finishing up my bill for this year, and figuring out where to find my recommendations.

Again, I think I may be making mountains out of mole hills because I am over-thinking it. I think if I could first organize my room that would probably help with my mental game. We’ll see.

Ciao,

Lucia

P.S. So over Halloween!

Be Fair to Your Body

On an article I’ll cover in another blog post, entitled, “A Few Cookies a Day to Keep the Pounds Away,” the question that came to everyone’s minds was asked:

COOKIES? On a diet?

The answer: Apparently so.

Well for the focus of today, let’s declare an often ignored fact; diets in general–especially fad diets–are unhealthy. The Medical Review Board reviews all the health and disease content on About.com article, and back in an article on Women’s Health, circa 2005,  written by doctor Cynthia M. Bulik, Ph.D., and dietitian Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D., stated this telling answer to the question and title of the article–Are All Diets Unhealthy?:

Want the short answer? Yes. Now, you may be thinking, “If I don’t stay on some kind of diet, I’ll just blow up like a balloon. I need to be on a program just to keep control of myself.” But consider that any kind of dieting involves a diet mentality, which ensures failure, encourages you to ignore hunger and satiety signals, and promotes a negative relationship with food, because you have to give up “forbidden” foods and, often, eat foods you don’t really like. This inevitably results in giving in, which often means binging and feeling terrible about yourself. So, though this idea may sound radical, we firmly believe there is no good diet.

By “diet,” we mean the conscious restriction of the amounts or kind of foods you’re allowed to eat for the express purpose of losing weight. A diet is something that you go on when you want to change your body, and go off once you’ve reached a certain goal. Though we certainly do endorse consuming a wide variety of healthful foods, paying attention to portion sizes, and thinking twice before eating a lot of foods that are high in calories but low in nutrition, we don’t recommend following any kind of plan that tells you what, how much, and how often you should eat, without regard for your body’s hunger and satiety signals. And we definitely don’t recommend any eating plan that you go on and then go off.

And that pretty much sums it up. The article goes on to discuss the physical and psychological effects of dieting and some of the most infamous consequences are:

1. You become obsessed with food

Have you ever noticed that as soon as you go on a diet, all you want to do is eat? Even if you weren’t particularly concerned about food prior to dieting, all of a sudden you become obsessed with it. You find yourself preoccupied with what you’ll have for your next meal, whether you can have a snack, what others are eating, or even what you’ll allow yourself to eat tomorrow. What’s going on?

God knows I did! Okay, so I’ve never truly have dieted. I just can’t do it; I get headaches if I eat too late (as I mentioned) and I just feel overall crappy–as most people do. What I have done is try to the restrictive part of dieting. Thank goodness I don’t like most bad foods, as for once, being a picky eater works in my favor. However, all though moderation is healthy, I became obsessed with only eating twice a day, and only having so many “bad things” per day, which were not necessarily bad, and if I did have one thing that potentially high in calories (I was trying to keep all that information in my head), I was “banned” from a few things to make up for that same amount in calories.

As the article mentions, the “mind and body are inextricably linked.”

2. Your metabolism immediately slows down as your body goes into “starvation mode”

Geared to survive during feast or famine, both body and mind switch into survival mode when the food supply is radically diminished. While the body turns down the metabolism and becomes a “slow burner” in an attempt to hang on to every single calorie, the mind gears itself to one overriding purpose: getting food.

So, guess what? You’re going to end up gaining weight for some time. Yay!

3. I-hate-everything-and-everyone-including-myself  -don’t-talk-to-me Syndrome

After a few days of extremely restricting your food, you’ll probably become more depressed and anxious. Although this may be due to changes in neurotransmitters like serotonin, it may also occur because you are depriving yourself of things that are very pleasurable that aren’t replaced by anything else — leaving a pleasure void. You may suddenly prefer to spend more time alone — it takes too much energy to deal with others — and your self-esteem may start to drop.

Remember when you used to eat and how crabby you were when you didn’t or we’re really, really hungry? Remember how no one wanted to be around you and what that guy called you under his breath? Now multiply that times every day you continue to diet.

Like the article says, some can “hold out” longer than others, but you’re going to inevitably end up binging and possibly looking like this guy:

The basic, simplest, healthiest, de-facto solution to this is:

Consume less calories than you burn. That’s all.

Now the article I linked that sentence to is “Balance Food and Activity,” published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

An important part of maintaining energy balance is the amount of ENERGY OUT (physical activity) that you do. People who are more physically active burn more calories than those who are not as physically active.

The same amount of ENERGY IN (calories consumed) and ENERGY OUT
(calories burned) over time = weight stays the same

More IN than OUT over time = weight gain
More OUT than IN over time = weight loss

Your ENERGY IN and OUT don’t have to balance every day. It’s having a balance over time that will help you stay at a healthy weight for the long term.

And isn’t that the goal? To have a healthy -lifestyle-, not a healthy week, day, or year?

Please be fair to your body.

Breaking Bad Habits

I find myself speaking with more and more of my friends about our bad habits, especially with bad weather closing in on us (snow yesterday anyone?). Some of the number one reasons a few of them have mentioned for their bad habits are things like:

“I didn’t get enough sleep so I need coffee”

My friend Ryan is famous for this. Ryan is a swimmer, the brain child behind the online magazine I’m assisting with, in classes, which includes Journalism 2 and a film class, both of which, if anyone is familiar with them, involve a lot of outside projects such as attending showings, setting up interviews, and going on location for stories (court case story, ouch).

Ryan pretty much has given himself an artificial sleeping pattern. He “wakes up” with a Venti coffee from Starbucks and gets through the middle of the day on another Venti (maybe a tall), and finally by the early evening stays awake on another Starbucks coffee. I might not even be totally aware of the actual amount.

He finds himself unable to fall asleep at night, staying up sometimes to 3AM and usually has to take something to be able to go to sleep lately. He also has a terrible roommate who is supposed to have moved out who blasts death metal through the middle of the night and is on a gamut of illegal substances.

When he is stressed out, he likes to run–a lot. But imagine running let’s say 7 miles on a few hours of sleep and energy that is 50% coffee or more–empty calories. He’s tired and he finds himself reaching for a cigarette as he’s trying to quit. He’s mentioned it certainly doesn’t help in the pool (as you can imagine).

“My job’s stressing me out and there’s all this food at work.  I know people eat more and workout less once it gets cold”

My friend Yaewon is dealing with this right now. Her job is very stressful, but she loves her work. She works at a homeless shelter for women and they have a lot of food sent in. Lately, she was given a bucket-load of pastries from Starbucks to take home. I recently fell victim to eating one the giant rice crispies from the pile.

One thing I’ve noticed, at least for me, is a lot of times why you end up eating something is simply because it is there, even if you so called don’t like it. I generally don’t like doughnuts, cookies, or chips. However, like I mentioned, I ate the over-sized rice crispy, snacked on an apple muffin at Yaewon’s place that night as well, and at several of my meetings on Monday nights, I end up eating cookies or occasionally chips (though they were super healthy and yummy, a lot of our e-board are/ were Trader Joe’s/ Wholefood shoppers). I end up eating doughnuts if someone brings them in for some kind of function because everyone around me is enjoying one.

And like Yae mentioned, as the weather slowly grows cooler, a lot of Bostonians are going to find themselves moving into hibernation mode and watching more Mad Men, Grey’s Anatomy, or House. As Yae and I talked about this I told her the most important tip I can give her–and myself–is to literally fix your eating habits before the weather turns south. It’s so much easier because you can still march around the city without snow on the ground (she walks to work) and for every bad thing you end up eating, the 70 degree weather will be a huge incentive to go out and run it off. By then, you’re so used to running that when winter hits you imply put on the layers or stomp your way off to the gym because you’re restless.

Now I wrote part of this some time back, however, this rest of this week will be in the 60s. It’s shortly after 10 PM as I write this and I got back from my meeting at 9. I’m thinking if I can get to bed in the next 20 minutes I can get up at 6 AM and go to the gym. My MP3 is broken (no idea why), but I have to listen to my own advice. The snow on Monday was almost a warning. If I do run outside, I like to run in the evenings and obviously daylight is short.

I still see students running, which isn’t very surprising as Massachusetts, as according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has three cities in the first 20 of the 184 healthiest cities in the nation, with Cambridge being #10.

I give my friends tips on whatever I know and I know especially Ryan is hopefully to get off the coffee (he tried tea, he went back to coffee). My friends are fit people in general, it’s just the little things that can cause someone to crash or skip class because they’re too tired or stressed out and low on energy because they haven’t taken care of themselves. I’ll be posting some updates on his progress.

Which brings me to my next big tip: Get Some Sleep.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Photo by: Eugene0126jp

I kind of already spoke about ways to eat better, so in regards to rest, personally I know I need to get more sleep which usually leads me to eat late. The longer you stay up, eventually you’re going to grow hungry again. This article from CNN has these tips on falling asleep:

• No drinking alcohol or coffee before bedtime.
• No TV in the bedroom.
• Have a regular waking time.
• Do early morning exercise.

Now without sleep, you’re not going to get up to work out and you’re going to end up eating late. I personally have fallen into that rut. My eating is alright–I haven’t really be eating much candy or cakes–but I’ve gotten Wendy’s nuggets and fries a couple times in the last two weeks. I had a major cold the week up to and through Columbus Day weekend. Basically all I could do was rest and I did my homework all on Monday. I flooded my system with orange juice, etc. but it was really simply sleeping that did the trick.

Top Ten Reasons to Sleep:

1. Sleep Keeps Your Heart Healthy

2. Sleep May Prevent Cancer

3. Sleep Reduces Stress

4. Sleep Reduces Inflammation

5. Sleep Makes You More Alert

6. Sleep Bolsters Your Memory

7. Sleep May Help You Lose Weight

8. Naps Make You Smarter

9. Sleep May Reduce Your Risk for Depression

10. Sleep Helps the Body Make Repairs

Main Article: http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongenergy/tp/healthy_sleep.htm

Each of those declarations links to an article for further information and all of them were written by doctors, but I offer you, the everyday person, this challenge that I’m going to start this week: Get a minimum of 8 hours every night this week. I’m going to do this and post my findings. Even this weekend I stayed in and recovered from the final flailings of my cold and was rewarded with the energy to finally organize my room. I’m looking forward to a week of productivity I hope to go to the gym by Wednesday morning (“gyming it” with an 8 AM and work tomorrow is going to cause me to be way too tired, as I’m closing this post up at 11PM and am getting up at 7AM).

Bon nuit,

Lucia

A Fairly Simple Dessert Snack

Lemon Squares

Lemon squares are one of my absolute favorite snacks/ desserts, and it actually wasn’t until recently that I mastered them. It isn’t exactly the healthiest snacks, though lemon is always good for you.

I simply went here for the recipe because it was the second link on my Google search for “lemon squares” and gave the most simplistic ingredient amounts.

Ingredients:

* 2 cups flour
* 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
* 2 sticks butter
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 4 eggs, well beaten
* 1 heaping tablespoon grated lemon rind
* 1/4 cup lemon juice

Preparation:

Sift flour and powdered sugar together. Cut in butter until well blended.Press mixture over bottom of a 9 by 13 by 2-inch pan. Bake about 25 minutes at 300° until lightly browned.

Combine remaining ingredients and spread on top of the baked crust. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Makes about 12 servings.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Photo by: carolyn.will

Some differences from the recipe in my experience preparing this firsthand:

When it says sift, it’s easier/ slightly harder than you think; I don’t have an actual sifter, so I’ve gone from using a sieve/strainer at my friend’s place, which I would guarantee is not wet, as you already have to thump it pretty soundly to get the flour/powdered to fall through. I also even used a spatula. You’re pretty much okay as long as you have something we holes in it in which the flour and sugar can fall through and mix together.

Also to put the butter in, just simply slice off little squares (don’t just drop in a whole bar as mentioned) to make it easier to mix in with the flour/sugar mix.

Also, this makes way more than 12 squares–unless you want them to be really, really thick. It makes more like a minimum of 20–which is all the better in my opinion. The prep time was about 15 minutes and the cook time with the crust and filling is about 50 minutes. It’s very simple and very yummy!

Chow,

Lucia