Finals are Upon Us

Finals are under way at my University and that means that the stress is upon us as well.  Finals mean eating junk food late at night while you are studying, or not eating at all because you are too busy to think about food.  It also means your stress level can be through the roof, which can cause you to get sick, and make studying and taking those final exams even harder.  So, here are some tips to follow for finals!

1. Make sure you are eating.  Don't simply forget to eat because you are too stressed.  
2. Make sure you are thinking about eating, not just absent-mindedly nibbling on snacks while slaving over those textbooks or your computer,  
3. Also, choose snacks that will help with your studying.  Carrots, peanut butter, pretzels, celery, and fruit have all been proven to assist with brain function and study habits.  
4. Get lots of sleep.  
5. Don't stay up cramming until the wee hours of the morning.  It won't help as much as you think it will.  

When you feel yourself getting stressed and you know your brain is going to give up:

1. Take a study break.  
2. Take a walk around campus, or your neighborhood.  
3. Take a quick trip to the gym to release some endorphins and relieve that stress.  
4. Go grab a cup of iced coffee/tea/smoothie, whatever your favorite cool drink of choice is. 
5. Take a shower
6. Call a friend or your parents, make sure the phone call doesn't take too long, so you can get back to your studies, but sometimes hearing a familiar voice is comforting

Make sure when you study you are in an environment that suits your personal study preferences.  If you need noise, then play some music, if you need it silent, then go somewhere where you can find absolute silence.  

Do what works for you, and take care of yourself, so you don't get sick.  

Good Luck to all of you taking upcoming finals! 

Are You Gaining Weight Instead of Losing? Here are Some Tips that might Explain Why!

I have found a list of reasons why some "weight-loss" plans just end up backfiring in our faces.

1. Are you cutting back on your calories throughout the day and then gorging on a large dinner? By doing this you are slowing down your metabolism. Instead, eat a big breakfast, then a medium lunch and then a medium dinner.  You will be hungry for breakfast in the morning, versus still full from a huge dinner overload the night before.  
2. Don't graze, plan your meals out! Everyone is different, so figure out how many meals you need to eat a day to stay energized, and then focus on that.  Also, keeping a food journal can help as well.  
3. DON'T CRASH DIET!! I can't say this enough!! Some diets are healthy, but crash dieting, and starving yourself can be irreversibly harmful to your health.  By safely dieting, you are making sure you shed fat, not muscle.  If you crash diet, you are more likely to shed muscle as well and become weak, and possibly ill.  Burning calories is always healthier than just not consuming any.
4. Low-fat does not mean low-calorie.  Don't be fooled.  Studies have watched participants primed with a bowl of regular candy and a bowl marked "low-fat" candy, and the participants always pick the "low-fat" one and then eat more of it, thinking it is healthy.  It usually doesn't have any less calories than the regular one does though.  You can still loose weight eating the full fat types if you limit yourself

Also, have you ever noticed that the "low-fat" diet foods are usually more expensive than the regular brands? It is healthier for your bank account to get the original stuff and then just learn to portion control.  

Eating Healthy Doesn't Need To Be Expensive...and I'll Prove It!

Eating healthy doesn't need to be expensive, and I'll prove it to you! I went to the grocery store today and I was so peeved by how expensive a lot of the typical "health foods" were.   (Ex. Atkins and South Beach bars, Slim Quick system, and other similar products).  But, you don't need to eat those to stay healthy, in fact most of the time, just eating in a healthy manner is much better.