Thank You Cereal!

Every year we come around the bend of finals week, I start to reflect on why my body feels so much like crap (to be blunt). Obviously the stress of all the work and the very few hours of sleep has something to do with it, but personally I feel like what I eat is a major contributing factor to that feeling as well. I was sitting and thinking about what I've eaten this past finals week and the list is not too enticing. The main dish I consumed, was cereal. I ate it at various times in the day and night, and sometimes ate it with milk and other times ate it dry. There were also times when I would sit and eat a bowl of cereal in the dining hall, but other times where I would dump some dry cereal in a plastic baggy and munch it on the go. Cereal is never more a part of my diet than in finals week, and I believe this is because it has proven itself to be one of the most convenient meals. Like I said, I can sit and eat it or go and eat it, and even when I take the time to sit, it is a fast paced sit down meal. Also, to me, and I think to many college students, cereal is a food that does not carry a distinct label of what "time of day" food it is. I mean, sure it's mainly a breakfast food, but most of us college students don't feel very weird eating cereal at different times of day (including 12am!) Cereal also comes in handy during finals week when the dining hall doesn't have much to offer, due to the fact that we are ending the semester and not ordering more food. The cereal is always out and always in the same place. It is a food that we can rely on; you can't do much wrong with cereal. So heres to cereal, not the most nutritious food, but a helping hand to the end! 

Tis the Season to Get Creative!

Tis the season!

Hark how Emerson seems to be giving up on actual meals!

Be jolly now that fresh crops are nowhere to be seen in Chase!

Crowd round the soup, the seemingly only good choice this season!

Be merry and rejoice the semester is almost over!

            Of course the above are just some personal observations of the dinning halls now that fall session is coming quickly to a close. The food served seems to get more and more sparse with fewer and fewer variations.

So… let’s get a bit creative here.

            You could host your very own version of Chopped, a show where you are given a set number of ingredients and have to ‘transform’ them into something completely different, tasty and creative. My friends and I did this on Sunday in Emerson- the worst day by far- and the results came out surprisingly good. From a pizza to a Thai influenced veggie wrap, we each utilized the food differently to create our own version of a healthy meal.

            Upon first instinct we might be tempted to grab a bagel and smear it with cream cheese, but I’m asking you to step away. I’ve observed that we often try and fulfill our hunger cravings with foods such as pasta, bread, bagels and any other carbs we can get. In first world America, where we do have many options to be healthy and have a balanced diet, I find we often mimic the food habits that people in the book “Dancing with Skeletons” have. In the impoverished area where Dettwyler completed her research, the children would often grab potatoes and other readily available carbs- since that is often the only choices they had- to eat whilst their bodies craved something nutrient rich to help balance a diet and aid in their physical development. Every time we grab a nutrient-empty food we forgo vitamins and minerals that could help keep us at peak performance.

            Emerson and Chase might not really offer a full variety to keep a balanced, healthy eating routine BUT this is where the fun begins. Mix and match your foods. Take pride in your college-self and eat food that seemingly do not go together. Today, for example, I ate Chinese lemon infused snap peas with a side of tofu.

            Normal enough, eh? I was able to get some greens and protein from the latter, but then I took some sweet potatoes and a banana and my “balanced meal” was complete with a drink of almond milk.

Would I ever eat the combination again?

Maybe.

Would I ever eat this anywhere else?

I hope not.

A 'normal' breakfast of bananas, cheerios, a dollop of peanut butter, and some yogurt I mixed with nutella.

I must admit, sometimes I do ‘get lucky’ and find foods that are actually supposed to go together, very rarely, but occasionally- even these foods are often supplemented with a tablespoon or two of hummus on the side.

            College is supposed to be the place where we start to act as independent entities, separate from parental oversight. If we do not start good eating habits now, then when? I know my body would slowly break down if all I ate were bagels and cream cheese- no matter how delicious. I’m anemic, but my condition is nowhere near as severe as it used to be. Looking for iron-rich foods is darn near impossible here, especially no that that spinach is not readily available at the salad bar. I really do have to come up with some crazy creations that aren’t always making my taste buds jump in delight, but the choices I make always help fuel my body in what I think is nutritional.

So cheers!

Get your thinking cap on and create!

What do you do when you are on campus... and no one else is?

Like most students, I left this past Tuesday for a much needed Thanksgiving break with some delicious food and family bonding. Unlike most other students, however, I made the trek back to campus bright and early on Friday morning to join my teammates for an early afternoon basketball practice. As a senior, this routine is nothing new to me. I am used to the early return to an eerie, but peaceful campus. Accordingly, I am used to the campus without open dining halls. Thanksgiving break is only a warm up for winter break when we arrive on campus a couple of days after Christmas. As much as I miss the ease of the dining hall during these times, I look forward to the small stipend that is passed out for food. As a team we take advantage of the closed dining halls to take some of the stipend money and venture out to local restaurants for dinner. A team favorite is Maguire's in Easton. Maguire's is a wonderful pub restaurant with a wide array of yummy food to feed 16 hungry girls (see link below for their menu!). Other favorites include Albertos, Daddy’s Dairy Ice Cream, Farmer’s Daughter, Café on the Common, and Patty’s Place among others. Additionally, as a student who has been on the meal plan for the last four years, I have rarely shopped for my own food. Snacks, yes. Always. But rarely for “real” food. So I like to look at the no dining hall days as a taste of what it is actually like to buy my own food. 

A normal breakfast during break consists of cereal and milk!

After a tough morning practice, a couple teammates and I will squeeze into the car and head out to the closest grocery store, Roche Brothers in Norton. Once we get there, I look for my staples- cereal, milk, oatmeal, peanut butter, bread, turkey, cheese, fruit, goldfish, soup, frozen veggies, and maybe something sweet. While this list may still not seem like a “real world” shopping list, under the confines of a fridge and microwave, it is as close as I can get-one step closer to life after college. The non-dining hall days seem long on paper, but end quickly. As I write, I see cars rolling in with the rest of the student body- signaling the end of our break and the opening of the dining halls. See you in December, stipend money. 

For more information about Maguire's check out the link below!

http://www.maguiresbarandgrill.com/