What does healthy eating mean to you?

Have you heard of the phrase old habits die hard? This is the same for eating habits. I am sure some of you recognize that what you didn't like as a kid, you still tend to avoid it.  That is why it is important to develop healthy eating habits at this stage so it can be carried out throughout the rest of your life.

A good question to ask yourself is what is considered as healthy eating? Is it follow the Canada's food guideline? Is it listening to your mother? or what your University has to say? Watch the video below to find out what some of your HealthyU students said.

Maintain a Healthy Eating Lifestyle

It’s been 9 weeks since we started the HealthyU blog. Its been an amazing 9 weeks of sharing what healthy eating means to us as university students. We hope you have been enlightened that healthy eating is doable and is within your reach.

Below are a few things to keep doing to sustain a healthy eating lifestyle:

• Eat a balanced meal containing fruits, vegetables, grain products, dairy products is an important step towards a happy and healthy lifestyle (WHO, 2015).

• Stability- Making a healthy food choice as a university student includes budgeting and planning ahead. It’s important to plan ahead and make meals than grab something at the campus cafeteria. Planning ahead saves you money and you’re less likely to spend outside. 

Set yourself up for success! Start your day off right by making breakfast or packing breakfast, healthy snacks/nuts before leaving home for the day. Be your food environment! http://bit.ly/1EOHaNy

Bringing Sexy Back.... by Eating Healthy!!

There are a lot of rumours online about things that can help your sexual health. Many of these things are just rumours with very little evidence to prove that they are helpful. Today we are going to look at a few essential vitamins and minerals that have some evidence showing that they are needed for sexual health. 

Vitamin A is used in changing cholesterol into steroid hormones. Steroids are used in the production of sex hormones in both men and women. So if you want to have a healthy sex drive you need to eat foods with adequate vitamin A. These foods include eggs, liver, and milk as well as some meats like poultry and seafood

Vitamin B6 is also needed for sex hormones – but in particular is related to the decrease of prolactin hormones – which are a good things because prolactin in high amounts causes a decreased sex drive. Many food preservatives found in processed foods can decrease B6. You should also pay attention to B6 if you are taking in plenty of alcohol. Foods that contain B6 include liver, nuts (especially walnuts), wheat germ, brown rice, yeast and salmon.

Eating for beauty

Today we are going to be talking about how food influences your body. Have you heard that vitamin E gives you healthy skin? The nutrients you put in your body changes how you feel and influences the way you look. Adequate nutrition keeps your body functioning at its best, meaning it’s looking its best. Vitamin deficiencies decrease the body’s metabolic mechanisms leading to negative effects on the body that can be very harmful.

Macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are both essential to a healthy diet. Miconutrients play a role in supporting skin (physical barrier, cellular immunity and antibody production, which a crucial to maintenance of skin equilibrium (Humbert, 2011).

The cells of the body are composed of proteins that support biological processes. Proteins are composed of amino acids that are supplied by consumption of animal and vegetable sources. Collagen is a protein that controls skin elasticity. Deficiencies in amino acids have been shown to be associated with hair loss (Ryan, 1996).

Beat the blues with food

‘You are what you eat’ is an old saying. But it does have some truth to it. Some of us might have experienced, in one way or the other, how food changes our emotions. Meals like the big Thanksgiving make us feel drowsy and tired while the fresh morning smoothie gives an energizing quick start to the day. So what we eat has a significant impact on how we feel.  There is considerable evidence to suggest how nutrition can impact mental as well as physical health. Oddy et al found that poor mental health outcomes in adolescents aged 13-15 were associated with a Western dietary pattern (a diet high in red and processed meats, take-out, and sugary and refined foods). Better mental health outcomes were found in those who had a higher intake of fresh fruit and leafy green vegetables (Oddy WH, 2009).

Carbohydrates provide glucose, which is a preferred energy source for erythrocytes and nerve cells, including those of the brain. When we eat carbohydrates, they trigger the release of insulin that helps blood glucose enter the cells. Glucose is a vital fuel to brain and muscles and helps us with the ability to concentrate and focus. As insulin levels rise, it leads to increased serotonin levels in brain, which is a chemical that has a calming effect. Perhaps, this is why we often crave for carbohydrate rich food when we are under stress. Eating regular, healthy breakfast and meals with carbohydrates including wholegrain, vegetables, fruits, legumes and low fat dairy would provide enough glucose in blood (Arens, 2014).

Eating food insufficient in vitamins and minerals affects energy, mood, and brain function. In general, plenty of fruits and vegetables and wholegrain cereal foods, with some protein foods, including oily fish would ensure a sufficient supply of nutrients for good physical and mental health. The table below shows the effect of missing vitamins and minerals and sources to replenish them in your diet. 

Eating With Friends

If you have been following our blog, you know we talk about healthy eating. We have focused a lot on nutritious foods, and sharing tools to help you cook for yourself. But eating involves far more than just food. There are many social aspects of meals that are an integral component of the eating process. When I think about my favourite meals, I don’t simply think about the nutrients that I am consuming. I think about where I am, who is with me, the sounds, the smells, the taste, the feelings, and perhaps even laughter shared with others. Eating is a social activity and a way of interacting with others. Research shows that social isolation is a factor that interferes with the ability to eat well. Therefore, the social experience around meals can make a big difference to your food consumption. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies social engagement as a strong determinant of health. Friendship and social relations help build strong support networks and provide us with emotional and practical resources we all need. It is this sense of belonging that has a powerful protective effect on health. Nutritious meals are also an important determinant of health, so why not boost your health status by incorporating social gatherings with healthy meals.

Did you know that you are more likely to try new foods when eating with a group of people (Vanderbilt, 2013)? I don’t know about you, but I am often guilty of falling into the routine of eating the same foods every week. By enjoying foods with friends/family we are more likely to include these new foods in our future meals. Just a few weeks ago I had never tried kale before, but after trying it with friends I loved it and even learned to make my own kale chips! Friends are a support system to try out new foods. When you surround yourself with a variety of new foods you have more opportunities to incorporate more vitamins, minerals and nutrients into your healthy diet.

We are also much more mindful when eating with friends. This means that we take more time to enjoy and savour the foods we are eating. By eating with company, we tend to engage more in conversation, which slows down your meals (Vanderbilt, 2013). This gives your body time to feel full because it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to tell your body you are full (Vanderbilt, 2013). Since you slow down your mealtime, you are less likely to overeat.

Send us a pic of you eating with friends and we’ll post it on one of our social media platforms!

EWF (2012). Eating With Friends Project retrieved from: http://nht.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/EWF-benefits-docFINAL2014.pdf

Vanderbilt (2013)Together is Better: Why Eating Together Promotes Good Health. Retrieved from  http://www.vanderbilt.edu/recreationandwellnesscenter/wellness/wp-content/uploads/The-Science-Behind-It-Together-is-Better.pdf

Tips for Eating Out

As I mentioned in one of my old posts, I used to be a dine-out-holic (read my old post HERE) I still do eat out time to time but now that has decreased tremendously.  I used to eat out a lot in my hometown because I had easy access and also because it was a social event. Now I eat out at restaurants maybe once in 2 weeks. This change was easy for me to adopt because of my physical and social environment.  I don't have a car so I am unable to have easy access to take-out foods; my friends are doing their assignments/ readings every single day so we don't really get the chance to meet up and go for dinner. So eating at home is somewhat inevitable and beneficial in cost savings and also for my health.

Since school is now coming to an end, I started to think about ways to maintain my healthy habit without pushing my friends away since my social interactions are important to me. According to the European Food Information Council, the impacts of social influences can be shown when one or more persons affect others' eating behaviour directly or indirectly. We may not realize that this is happening and this is because social influences can occur both consciously or subconsciously (European Food Information Council, 2004).

Liquid Diets/ Juice Fasts/ Detox diets: Good? Or Bad?

I am sure by now you've heard of something called liquid diets/ juice fasts/ detox diets. They are trending at the moment with juicers opening in many locations and pictures of colourful bottles being shown on popular social media platforms (i.e. instagram).  They are mainly promoted as a way to live a healthier lifestyle, but is this true? 

We don’t need to go on a liquid diet, juice fasts, or detox diets. Our body has a natural cleanser, the liver and it doesn’t need help from liquid diets it get rid of the toxins.

From our previous posts, we have been talking about the importance of eating a balanced meal and the benefits of healthy eating. These are the facts- you decide what is good for you.

1. Liquid diets are low in protein and dietary fiber

Protein is an essential food group and liquid diets do not have a lot of protein (Healthy years, 2009). We need protein for a healthy immune system and regeneration of muscle. In addition, liquid diets don’t give us the same satisfaction as solid foods because they eliminate dietary fiber that helps us feel full and satisfied (Satija & Hu, 2012).

Today we are going to spend some time Mythbusting!

Is 8 cups of water necessary? recommended?

NO and NO

Water is used by your body for many different processes and we constantly lose water via urine, bowel movements, perspiring and breathing. These losses need to be replaced. Your individual needs will greatly vary and may be even MORE than this amount! For example if you are working outside or exercising your perspiration amounts might increase, and therefore your water needs would as well. The 8 glasses of water was part of an ‘8x8’ health promotion campaign (8 glasses of 8 ounces of water) that was partially funded by bottled water distributors!!

Healthy Eating not Dieting

Dietitians of Canada say that fad diets eliminate many foods and food groups. The fads and cleanses that circulate the Internet do not have evidence on health or weight loss claims they make. Dieting could have harmful effects on the body, which is why it is important to eat nutritious meals. Often people engage in dieting because they want to lose weight however diets may give short term weight loss but it is not a long term solution. To maintain a healthy weight eating healthy and managing portion sizes is the key.  Spokesperson for Dietitians of Canada Krista Leck Merner recommends using smaller plates and containers and measuring out what a portion size looks like on your plate. More so than fad diets no products or pills are going to cause weight loss.  

For many the motivation to diet or eating healthy is weight loss. It is important to remember that the best way to maintain health is to eat nutritious foods and eat enough for your body. Steady weight loss is a sustainable change rather than dramatic weight changes. Diets that limit you to certain food and quantities restrict you from food groups, which deplete essential nutrients for your body’s functioning (Eat Right, 2014). Also eating a specific combination of foods will not cause you to gain or lose weight. Lastly, the best pairing with healthy eating is regular physical activity to maintain a healthy weight.

Kitchen Tips for Beginners

Cooking is a skill, which once obtained, stays with you for the rest of your life. We look for easy and quick recipes, but they only provide the ingredients and process to prepare a particular dish. There are a number of other aspects of cooking to learn to gain cooking experience. Read them through and try to incorporate them in your kitchen activities.

How to efficiently store foods?

Health Canada recommends safe food handling practices at home as well as at grocery store to prevent food poisoning (Health Canada, 2013). Besides food poisoning, safe and efficient food storage helps to avoid headaches, illness and food waste. Follow four basic steps while handling food:

• Clean: First of all, clean your countertops, dishes, utensils, sink and most importantly, hands before preparing food. After preparation, clean up completely before moving to the next recipe.
• Separate: Minimize cross contamination by using different chopping boards for meat and produce. When you use tools and cutting board to prepare meats or fish, do not re-contaminate the food afterwards by keeping the on the same unwashed surface.
• Cook: Take care when putting food in oil. Moisture presence often causes oil to splatter, with possibility of causing burns. A thermometer can be used to check the desired temperature. But be careful to clean it properly after every use. Do not taste food with cooking utensils or twice with same spoon.
•  Store: Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, says Health Canada. It would refrain bacteria from growing. Cool leftovers to room temperature first before transferring them into refrigerator. Keep the refrigerator temperature from 40 degrees F or less at all times (The beginners cooking manual, 2012). Defrosted foods should not be frozen again. Try to label stored foods for the “best before” date.

Maria's 7 Day Breakfast Challenge!

I know we have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but a large number of us seem to ignore that all together. Especially me! I have found it next to impossible to eat before leaving my place in the morning, but the other day at school, we were provided breakfast before a presentation and what a difference it made in my day!
Being a nurse I find myself reciting this to many people over and over again. So it is finally time to practice what I preach. It's on! I am challenging you to 7 days of breakfast with me. To help you succeed, I am sharing with you super easy recipes that are fool proof. Stay tunned to us on facebook, twitter and instagram for help along the way. Going Grocery shopping tonight and breakfast challenge starts tomorrow!

Bagel Gone Bananas

ACTIVE TIME: 5 Minutes

This bagel topped with peanut butter and banana slices is ready in just 5 minutes and is easy to eat on the run. 
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 teaspoon of honey
1 whole-wheat bagel split and toasted
1 small banana sliced

 Breakfast Taco

ACTIVE TIME : 10 MINUTES

2 corn tortillas

1 Tablespoon salsa

2 tablespoons shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

2 Eggs

Top tortillas with salsa and cheese. Heat in the microwave until the cheese is melted, about 30 seconds. 2. Meanwhile coat a small non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Heat over medium heat, add eggs and cook, stirring, until the eggs are cooked through, about 90 seconds. 

Divide the scrambled egg between the tacos and enjoy

uumm cereal, still an all time fav, and it doesn't get any easier than this.

ACTIVE TIME: 1MINUTE

Nutritious pick: FiberOne

Milk

Cooking isn't as hard as you think it is

Cooking is not easy if it is your first time living alone. You're probably used to having your parents around to help you out with meals.  Even though many of us are studying about different disease states, and benefits of living healthy in University, we as students neglect healthy eating. Students are known to have bad eating habits and low activity levels. University students do not consume the recommended amount of grains, vegetables and grains and they tend to select choices that are quick which has a lot of sodium and fat  (Warmin et al., 2012). There are long term effects to poor diet which may not be evident until later on in life. Research shows that nutrition education and learning to cook improves one's nutrition behaviour and the choices they make in their eating habits (Warmin et al., 2012). By learning to cook, you will get to appreciate the tastes of different ingredients and how they all come together to form a delicious meal. It also gives you more control over what you're putting in your body. It may seem impossible to be able to cook your own meals, but rest assured, by the end of your University life, you will be an expert cook. Here are some tips to learn how to cook!

1. Start out with an easy recipe that takes a short amount of time
There are many recipes that you can use to cook up a delicious meal in 15- 30 minutes. Start with something that involves low amount of ingredients so it is not overwhelming. Also, don't be threatened if your food does not look like the pictures posted on the recipe page. (Remember that they were taken professionally)

Check out Jamie Oliver's 129 Quick fixes recipe HERE

Hungover noodles can be prepared in 20 minutes! 

Appliances to invest in as a student living on campus

Do you find it hard to eat healthy on campus because there are more unhealthy food options to choose from? Why not make a healthy meal in your room? It’s easy; you will need to invest in a kitchen appliance. Did you just say that you don't have money as a student? This will depend on what you love making because there are many affordable appliances. If you have roommates, invest in kitchen appliances together as a house.  Some of these appliances and tools include a rice cooker, smoothie blender, electric kettle, fridge, paring knife and a can opener.

1. Smoothie Blender- If you love smoothies you might definitely want to consider getting a personal blender which makes it possible to make smoothies in little or no time. It is small, portable and can fit into your backpack. Smoothies are very filling and packed with nutrients. Taking a smoothie can carry you through your morning till you can finally make time to get lunch. Smoothie Blenders can cost $15 and up depending on its quality.

2. Rice Cooker- This appliance cooks rice, vegetables, oatmeal, sauces and stews. On average it takes 20-30 minutes but it doesn't require your attention so you can study while you cook. It has a thermostat that triggers when it’s done.Price for rice cookers range from $20 and up.

What's in your food environment?

Your food environment includes all the things around you that involve what you decide to put in your body (i.e. eat!). Of course the food environment that we first think of is the kitchen. What's in your kitchen was already discussed on a previous post.

What we choose to surround ourselves directly effects what we put in our bodies. If your dorm room is filled with munchies like potato chips and cookies – that’s what you will end up eating. If you fill your environment with healthy food then that’s what you will end up eating. Seems simple but here's where it gets complicated.

A Motivational interview with Lola Adeshina

Lola has been my friend and classmate for the past 6 months and I have to say her well rounded and motivated attitude has been an inspiration. Lola has been on her healthy eating journey for 2 years, I decided I would like to interview her to find out the deets on how she does it. We sit down in our learning team room and of course she has a healthy looking smoothie and smile. 

Why did you begin your healthy eating journey?

I began this journey mainly because I started running into a lot of health issues and made the decision to start an overall healthy lifestyle to avoid further problems with my health, so I started out with clearing my refrigerator of any bad foods, ever since then I have noticed a huge difference in my health and never looked back.

What do you enjoy about eating healthy?

It makes me feel good! I wake up feeling energized, my skin feels refreshed and nourished. I find that when I don’t eat healthy I tend to be less happy... also, who wouldn’t love the perks of an acne-free face (she chuckles). Eating healthy allows me to be organized in the sense that I can have healthy prepared meals for my long days at work, instead of worrying about what to eat or even worse- what is going into my body.

What has been the biggest challenge of eating healthy?

Temptations! I don’t believe anyone that says they’d rather have kale chips than chocolate and ice cream on a bad day.

Get Motivated, Eat Healthy

Get Motivated: Eat Healthy

                      

Health Motivation Key 1: Set Realistic Goals to achieve success

The first step to any plan is the most crucial one. Planning the right, achievable goal as per your capacities would predict the long term success. The goal can be achieved by taking small steps time to time. stick to the goals and stay organized. If you set unattainable goals, you're setting yourself towards failure. Instead, you'll be more likely to stick with a diet if you focus on your health and create sensible eating strategies. Setting smaller, attainable benchmarks, like not skipping breakfast for one week, will give you the confidence to continue.

Health Motivation Key 2: Be a part of Buddy System

It's hard to make major behaviour changes when you are swimming upstream by yourself. Finding buddies and involving them in your plans by setting similar goals can greatly improve chances of success. When your spirit starts falling down, having people to call on can provide the support you need to continue. Having a support group to move ahead with, whether it's friends or people from classroom, can make all the difference for diet success.

Motivate Yourself

You’ve been thinking about eating healthy, I know it because otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this blog. Eating healthy is a lifestyle that we know is good for us but it’s so hard to get motivated sometimes. LISTEN UP motivation won’t come to you by simply waiting around long enough. The sky isn’t going to open up and pour a dose of motivation over you. It will not magically appear just because you need it. You have to dig deep within you and pull it out. You have to wrestle away excuses and find desire, I know you have it in you, we all do!

Motivation craves to be chased. It requires you to make an active choice to pursue and tackle it. Then you must stay the course and impose your will on it. It’s hard at first but overtime eating healthy will become part of your lifestyle.

Lifestyle seems too far away right now, I get it. So lets find ways to take small steps and start with a plan of attack. Set goals that are specific and accomplishable (check out our previous blog on SMART goals) and talk to yourself in proactive terms. Rather than making sure that you do NOT do some thing, tell yourself what you WILL do. For example, tell yourself that you will eat fruits rather than that you cannot eat fries. Then write it down. Cement what you want to accomplish in visible words and put this somewhere you can see it daily to remind you of your commitment to yourself.

Go ahead and celebrate your small wins. No matter how tiny it might seem, it is al a part of the bigger picture and you deserve to be celebrated. Get excited, be in the right frame of mind, think positive and allow yourself to smile.

Confession of a dine-out-holic

So I have a confession to make. I love eating at restaurants and trying out different types of cuisines. It’s is amazing the variety of food I can try by eating out.  I can try Ethiopian one day and Japanese another.  It’s like traveling through different cultures in a short period of time in the same city. I get to learn more about what an injera is and how to eat it; I get to taste different types of ramen dunk in deliciously rich bone soup.  As an individual that values learning about different cultures, dining out has been a great teacher to me.

 Brunch

 Mexican

 Filipino

Fast food

Living in an urban city with a big University population made me dine out more often. It’s a social event. If I haven’t seen someone for a long time, I would meet up with them for lunch or dinner and grab a bite. I also enjoy trying new restaurants because being adventurous is part of being a dine-out-holic. Students get influenced by the social norms of our peer group all the time.  It has been shown that friends are an influential model agents with food selection (Kinard et al., 2011). So if your friends are eating unhealthy food, you’re most likely going to be engaging in the same behavior.  

Kale “The Queen of Greens”

Kale has many great benefits. It’s a high fiber vegetable that aids in the digestion and elimination of toxic waste from the body. With nutrients like vitamins, iron, calcium folate and magnesium¹; It’s no wonder why kale is considered a great detox and anti-inflammatory food filled with powerful antioxidants.²

How to Eat Kale

It can be difficult to eat green vegetables at times so it’s best to know different ways of preparing them. Here are some great ways to eat kale with a smile on your face.

Sauté it: Sprinkle some olive oil and a little bit of salt. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes. The leaf is tougher so don’t worry about it getting soft and losing the nutrients.

Budgeting

Being a student isn’t cheap. It requires that you balance what you are going to spend money on. Sometimes you need to do this on a daily basis and this requires compromises. For many students one of these compromises is nutrition, but it doesn’t have to be.

Eating and shopping on a budget can be stressful – especially if you aren’t getting the balance of the 5 food groups that we talked about in the earlier posts in the blog – but it doesn’t have to be. This can be a fun process, but requires a few skills and an eye for a bargain.

One thing students should look at before deciding on which store is whether the store has specials. Most major grocery chains post their flyers with specials online. Some chains offer a student discount – but be wary this may be at a chain that has a higher ‘markup’ (i.e. higher overall prices). One store in the general area of the university I attend has a 10% discount on Tuesdays for students.

Most students can't get specials from every store on a weekly basis (due to limited transportation and time) – You need to choose the store that fits your budget depending on the things that you need. So don’t go to one store just because two items are on sale if everything else you are going to buy cost more than another store. Be smart! (If you have a roommate going to another store ask them to pick up one of the specials there for you if you are not going there)

Some other tricks even before you get to the store: eat before you get to a grocery store; you’ll have fewer impulse buys – and make a list before you get there. Try as much as you can to stick to a list – it will prevent forgetting to buy things you need.

Sometimes living on a budget means changing the way you eat but this doesn’t take away your options of having balanced meals.. There are ways to eat from each of the 5 food groups on a budget.

Here are some tips for cheap ways to eat from each of the food groups:

Grains

Brown rice, multigrain/wheat pasta, wheat bread/pita are all frugal sources of grains. Grains are usually items that aren’t hard for students to get on a budget

Fruits and Vegetables

Getting fruits and veggies on a budget requires a little ingenuity. Try to aim for fresh fruits and veggies that are in season – they will be cheaper. Look around the produce section (or ask staff) they usually have fruits that are less aesthetically appealing (bruised or off color) that still taste great but are sold at a massive discount. You might have to forgo fresh produce and opt for frozen or canned veggies and fruits. These have the same nutritional value as fresh produce, but might require some inventive recipes to make them a bit more palatable. Frozen fruits are great in smoothies but you will need a blender. In particular canned vegetables are excellent sources of fiber and vitamins.