Sleep and the college student

More about the sleep topic in a minute but first some eats from today

Soy Sauges and Coffee

Hit the gym and ran for 45 minutes and then did toning work for 45 minutes

Lunch 

A banana, spinach, skim milk, and vanilla protein powder- hit the hot spot

Dinner:

A health bowl of swiss chard, red cabbage, sweet tator, tofu, and bulgar with peanut sauce on top.  

Add in a granola bar and some almonds and you've got yourself my day of eats!

Okay so On to my Title

Sleep and the college student

I know there are many people more sleep deprived than I am but. . .  If your in college you know that sleep is considered to be an reward rather than something one must have.  Even as a nonparty girl- sleep can be hard for me to get.  One can always study more

The other day I was flipping through Self magazine and I read this

"People who sleep 5.5 hours on average eat 25% MORE calories after dinner than those who get three more hours of sleep"

Okay yeah duh- the longer you are up the more your eat.  But something I had never though about

"When you hit the sack at night, your skin goes into repair mode.  Blood flow increase, and with it skins oxygen supply"amino acids also kick into action, producing collagen."

Yep Sleep is good for your skin

ALSO sleep is very beneficial to learning.  

Think about it

When I get a good nights sleep I 

Eat better

Move More

Focus 

am Friendlier

So this college student is going to work on getting a few extra Z's.  The key I think will be staying focused and working everyday.  Trying to keep things balanced.  At some point I think the key is just to tell myself I have no choice but to go to bed.  

SLEEP the miracle drug

"

One Misty Moisty Morning

One misty, moisty morning,

When cloudy was the weather,

I chanced to meet an old man

Clothed all in leather.

He began to compliment,

And I began to grin,

How do you do?

And how do you do?

And how do you do, again?

The weather today is the weather that always make me think of this little ditty.  I found myself repeating it to myself as I biked to class.  

I had an extra 20 minutes and in my head I thought- Oh I'll make myself a really great breakfast.  However, when push came to shove I someone wasted that time and ended up just having a simple bowl of cereal and a banana.

Kashi Go Lean and a Banana with a side of coffee

You can even tell from this picture that it is a rainy day!  While I was biking I remembered I had one last soup leftover form the summer.  I will only be in this apartment for another three weeks so it's time to start cleaning things out.  Plus the weather is soup weather.

Enter

3 servings of veggies and

and some cottage cheese for calcium and protein

Crazy Ellie's

Afternoon Study Skim Latte

In undergrad our favorite place to crash was Crazy Bowls and Wraps (CBW).  It's a chain found only in the Saint Louis area (and according the the web page California).  We loved the warm healthy real food, good radio stations, people who came in and out, and the iced tea.  We would sit there for hours and went to celebrate birthdays and support each other through break ups.  I can't tell you the hours we spent in that place.

It's one of the things I miss about STL.  While I know it was really the company that made the place the food was also amazing.

Tonight I was really craving it so I picked up some Crazy bowl like ingredients and made my own

red cabbage, broccoli, edamame, tofu, and bulgar


with this on top

Peanut sauce from Schnucks.  Tasted really good but was really hard to get out of the bottle.  I had to let  it sit upside down while I showered.

Now if only I could have my crazy bowl company :(

A few hours latter I wanted a simple snack to serve as dessert and also to get a little extra Calcium. Growing up we always drank milk with dinner but now that I don't do that I use dessert as a time to help out my bones

1 cup Pomegranate Kefir with a little kashi go lean sprinkled on top.  I hope my gut and bones are happy

Balancing Act

Happy Wednesday!  For me it's one more day of class this week and a weekend full of studying.  Downside of a six week class- there is no down time and it feel like we are always studying.  Upside.  I'm half way done!

The eats of the day:
Started with a protein muffin

It's a weird color cause my apple sauce has blueberries in it and is purple.  But it tasted amazing and gave me 15 grams of protein for about 200 calories.  Bang for your buck huh

Lunch was full great.  I was glad to have produce back in my life!  Turns out going to the grocery store is a good idea for one's diet

So far today I've stuck with simple foods that taste amazing.  I'm headed to a coffee shop that just opened down the street to get a little more studying in.  I think i'll pick up a latte.  I'm still feeling groggy from my weekend low on sleep.

SO the balancing act

I decided to bike to the grocery store today.  It's very close to our apartment but I almost always drive because I dislike trying to juggle grocery bags on a bike.  I find the reusable bags help because the bags are sturdy enough to make it all the way home (and they are good for the environment).  I try to balance the weight of the bags between both handles and don't buy a lot (such as eggs-needed them but I'll get them another day when I have to be in my car).  

What I'd really love is one of these

A bike basket. And can I just say that this is the cutest bike basket I have ever seen

I need SLEEP

So this crazy schedule I have been keeping hit me like a rock today.  I pretty much wasted the entire day in a half asleep state.  I tried to lie down at one point but I'm a horrible napper and it just didn't work.

I woke up at 5:45 (okay fine i never really fell asleep) and made a good breakfast for my drive

about a tablespoon of peanut butter on some of my dad's homemade bread and an apple to brush my teeth with

Lunch was uncreative due to my need for sleep.  This seems to happen to me when I need sleep.

chicken breast, spinach, salsa, and hummus

Along with being very tired.  I also am need of groceries.  I headed out for a 6 mile run and came back thinking- I'll go to the grocery store.  However, after that, it was just hard to get back out the door.  So dinner was from a box in the freezer

and I added in extra frozen broccoli to get a little extra veggies

Dessert was really simple but filled me up (protein powder does that to me).  

Okay fine I can't figure out how to flip this picture.  Sorry guys- I'll work on that

but this was Protein Powder, Banana, and some almond milk 
Great fake ice cream!

Well sleep must happen.  My body is weak.  I'm hopping to get out of the apartment for a couple hours Wednesday and study/ grocery shop.

Working for the weekend

This summer I have an internship with a catering company working weddings.  I am learning a lot about food service and catering and weddings.  I also have the coolest boss who remains calm even when things go wrong.  I hope I can pick this up from her.  She is truly amazing at what she does!

Plus I will get a lot of free flowers

These are from last night.  Check out how dense the petals are.  The brides Mom was so cute- she came back to bring them us.  Telling us how much she appreciated how hard we worked and that she thought we needed some flowers.

The best part is getting to go to all the weddings.  I AM a GIRL after all :)  Is is bad that my go to kill time website is J Crew wedding? 


Saturday I worked from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.  and Sunday I worked 12 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.  If you have ever worked in catering you know you spend that whole time running around on your feet.  I think I sat down both nights for about 20 minutes.

As you know, the blood pooled in my feet and ankles.  I needed a way to quickly refresh the blood but a run sounded awful.  SO I devised a two step plan to help things out.

Step one: go for a walk.  Today i drug my dog up and down country roads for 4.5 miles to refresh the blood in my ankles and feet.

Step Two: and this is key- yoga!  Yoga stretches out all the muscles I used and uses all the muscles I didn't.

I've devised this plan to make it possible to recover quickly, seeing as we don't have a lot of down time between weddings.

Happy Memorial day- have a great week!  Back to biochem

Dear Summer, Please come

I'm freezing.  I know it's supposed to be the unofficial start to summer this weekend but it sure as heck does not feel like it.  Despite still having to wear socks in the house and wishing my hands and feet would warm up it IS perfect running weather.

I got out and got 6 lovely miles in.  Then tried a workout from my workout binder (I promise to fill you in on my workout binder soon).  I did a Shape bikini body workout that was only six moves but seemed to work all parts of my body.  

However, I didn't shower quickly enough and am now FREEZING!

I decided to try to fix it with this

I'm gonna need a refill.  Still very cold

Lunch was a easy few of my favorites

A pear, a piece of walnut cranberry toast with butter, and greek yogurt

 

I had never had Dannon Greek yogurt but it really hit the spot.  It's thick but sweet.  It doesn't have the tang of greek yogurt.  I kind of missed the tang but I still liked it.  It is lower in calories than some of the other brands of greek yogurt but it is a little lower in protein.  

Well friends it's back to biochem for me.  Happy Friday

Food Rewards

I know when people think about food rewards they think pizza, chocolate chip cookies, and potato chips. I, however, also believe that reward food can be much simpler and be good for you. Rewarding yourself with good for you food that tastes amazing is a great way to end a day.

I did both today. It was my last day with the family I babysit after school so we picked up great harvest chocolate chip cookies. I had about a half of one and it tasted AMAZING.

Dinner also tasted amazing but it was the other type of reward food. It was good for you, filled with nutrients, and full of flavor food.

I present

4 egg whites, about one half of a sweet potato, spinach, and a wedge of baby bell light cheese.


Frittata style I quickly cooked the sweet tatos in a little olive oil and then added the egg white.  I let it cook until the bottom was set.  Sprinkled spinach and cheese on the top and baked in the oven at 250 for 5 or so minutes.

and that my friends is on amazing reward.

Dark Greens, Whole Grains, and Legumes

First off!  I did very well on my biochem test!  YEH!  I'm doing the happy girl dance.
Breakfast my friends was one of my favorites

about 1/3 of a banana and a 3/4 cup of kashi go lean
Note:  I LOVE kashi go lean!  First I was a kashi go lean crunch girl and then I switched and I like Kashi go lean even better.  It's the slight sweetness with the whole grains that I LOVE!


SECOND!  We started studying coenzymes - aka vitamins!  How cool is that.  I love this stuff.  It's very relevant for my future!

What I learned today- Did you know that vitamins are needed in our body so our enzymes can work.  The different vitamins bind with different enzymes and work thought out our body to help us get work done.  This is the best way I can explain things without getting overly scientific.

As we went over all of the different vitamins my professor stopped us at one point (his wife is an RD) and pointed out that almost all of the vitamins had one thing in common.  They can be found in dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.

While at the gym I planned my lunch from this inspiration.  I present

Spinach, legumes, and pasta (basically leftovers from dinner the other night on a salad).  I'm not a dressing girl but I am a lover of salsa so I use it as dressing.  


I was still missing some whole grains so I added in some leftover pita from last night

Well folks.  I'm gonna do a little reading and maybe close my eyes for a few minutes.  The test this week took a lot out of me.  I hope all these vitamins help :)

OH and a great break for the afternoon.  Todays My last day with the kids I babysit.  We are headed to Great Harvest!  I love knowing I have an amazing snack coming

Makes me think of Kath.  However, I've LOVED Great Harvest since my Freshman year of high school- 8 years ago.  But that is for another day

Girl Time

I adore my three best friends from college.  In fact we were together for the first time in about 5 months last weekend.  I usually just get to see one at a time.

I'm not sure about all of you but I feel SO much healthier after I have some girl time.  These girls are the most driven girls I know.  Sarah is in med school.  Cori is in a PHD chemistry program.  Christin is in her final year of a DPT program.  It's hard for us to all get together.

Oh and just as a fun side not- my other best friend in law school.  Yep I hang our with a driven group of girl.

Since I left college I have really really missed my girl time.  Tonight I was able to spend some time with a new friend.  New girl friends are the best!  You get to learn all kind of cool things and start to admit the uncool parts about yourself.  Such as. . . these girls make me feel judged. . . I don't understand why such and such teacher is no out of it. . .

Dinner was easy and fun for both of us

That is chicken salad

two chicken breasts

dried cranberries

pecans

enough olive oil mayo to make things stick together

Served with spinach and pita.  It was yummy.  The food was good but the conversation was much better.  I feel healthier and happier.  Even though I have a biochem test to get back in the morning and I am running on less than five hours of sleep

Vit girl :)  

Frozen Oats and Peppered Cheese

I started my day out bright and early.  I was "awake" by 5:30 and studying by 5:45.  Not sure how I did on the test- but I think I did pretty well!

Breakfast was my favorite pretest food- OATMEAL and coffee

On the stovetop I cooked

1/3 cup old fashioned oats

1/3 cup almond milk and 1/3 cup water

about 1/2 a banana

1 tsp brown suga

The oats filled me up and kept me calm.  Something about their warm yummyness just keeps me calm.

When I got home I took advantage of the time to pick up my apartment a little and start a few chores.  Things look and smell and feel better!  I really have to say- organization is key to life.

ONE thing I was really excited to do was start dinner (yes dinner not lunch).  Two of my friends are coming over for dinner tonight and I was excited get some chicken salad ready for tonight.  I found myself nibbling on peacans and dried cranberries.  So I thought it was time to get some lunch in me!

A really good green pear (My fruit supply is down to only a banana).  and some really peppered cottage cheese

yep I love me some pepper!  

Twas a good lunch but I think the nibbling really filled me up.  I plan to pick up the kettlebell and toss it a round for a little this afternoon and go for a run after I pick up the kids I babysit.

Biochem and I

I have my first biochem test in the morning so it's been a fun day of studying.  Actually it's not all that bad. While I may change my mind after the test, I kind of like biochem.

I studied biochem at panera for three hours and managed to down two whole cups of coffee.  Then ran a few errands and went roller blading for an hour.  I picked up some things to throw together for dinner and came up with a yummy and filling (very filling) combination.

I present

The start

Frozen Broccoli thawed in the microwave.  While I prefer fresh broccoli frozen is cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and has the same nutrients.  I girl can't be loose with that

And it ended looking like this

Added pasta, carrots, olives, and beans -in other words, carbohydrates and all 20 of the amino acids I can now write out!  


One portion ended up looking like this

It really hit the spot and all the fiber filled me up!  I am still full and it's been 2.5 hours!  No complaints from my belly or my body :)

Back to biochem.  I want to go through everything one more time before I hit the hay.  Not a lot of sleep planned tonight but maybe just maybe a good test grade in the morning.  I'm crossing my fingers (and studying more).

Happy evening