College Cafeteria 101

By Bobby H. 

My school and your school have at least one thing in common: the food. Some days are better than others, but school food generally consists of the same few choices. They have you by the short ones because you don't have any other options when you're between classes and have 30 minutes to get a meal down. We prefer cooking at home because we have more control over the nutrients, but you can still make better decisions than others when it comes to your cafeteria choices.

Breakfast

Hard Boiled Eggs Eggs are always an easy pick-up for breakfast. In my school, hard boiled eggs come three to a carton. This amounts to 18-22 grams of protein and leaves you feeling pretty full. Be warned though, because eggs do have a decent amount of fat in them - don't eat yolks all day every day. Bobby is all about liquid egg whites from the grocery store, but that only works when you have time to make breakfast at your place. Anyway, I like to wash my eggs down with some orange juice - great for vitamin C and simple sugars.

Whole-Wheat Bagel with PBJ This is another easy, healthy choice for breakfast that will leave you feeling nice and full. The complex carbohydrates from the wheat bagel, along with the calories and protein from the peanut butter and simple sugars from the jelly, induce that lovely feeling of satiety that keeps you running all morning. For those of you're looking to stay more on the lean side, I'd recommend skipping out on the peanut butter.

Cottage Cheese and Fruit Cottage cheese can be pretty disgusting (note: consistency issues) but it is so healthy that it may be worth biting the bullet. It's high in protein and carbohydrates, as well as offering non-fat versions...what's not to like about that? It can be a great snack all day if you're OK with it.

Yogurt Especially Greek yogurt. It's absolutely loaded with protein and carbohydrates. Yogurt is typically a cheaper menu item and it really completes your breakfast when you add it to these other options.

Lunch

Salad Bar I love going to the salad bar for this reason: I can pick what goes in it. I usually throw in grilled chicken, eggs, cucumbers, peppers, and I add a pinch of dressing. Overdosing your salad with dressing can be very counter productive, even if the dressing is non-fat. The thing is the dressing still adds unwanted calories to your diet that you may not want, so be careful when choosing and applying dressing to your salad.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich My school has a selection of premade sandwiches and wraps ready to go. A personal favorite, the grilled chicken sandwich is high in protein, very low in fat, and I usually only eat half the bun. And sometimes when I'm feeling a little on the wild side (lolz), I add a little dressing to it to give it a little taste.

Sushi I love sushi because it's premade and healthy (especially when I get the brown rice kind), although it could be quite pricy. I love going with salmon and tuna, which are two fish filled with protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids your body needs, along with the delicious raw vegetables they pack in there. If you have a meal plan and sushi is an option, it's definitely worth a swipe of the ID.

Dinner I am typically back at my apartment for dinner so I make my own food - chicken, meat, fish, whatever. If I were still on-campus or stuck late studying, my choices for dinner would pretty much be the same as they were for lunch.

In closing, eating at school is all about sacrifice. Most options are loaded with sugars or grease; the problem is that sugar and grease make everything taste good. You need to train your body to eat healthier so that you don't miss the gross stuff too much. The best way to say sane is to allow yourself a cheat meal from time to time. Look for Collegiate Fitness to post the details about cheating (with food) and our personal favorite cheat meals.

WeightWatchers Diet Recipe Review - Review of the WeightWatchers Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

By Paul Darlow

Soups are one of my favourite meals. They are quick, simple, cheap, filling, healthy, adaptable, and tasty. Butternut squash is likewise one of my favourite ingredients. The Gods were therefore smiling when I went looking this morning for a new recipe to try and found a WeightWatchers recipe for Butternut Squash, Red Pepper and Soft Cheese Soup. Okay, I'll admit that the "soft cheese" bit doesn't sound overly appetising, but I decided to try it nonetheless.

WeightWatchers diet recipe for Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup

Firstly, boil the kettle. You will need 2 pints of hot water to make stock.

Then, peel and finely chop 1 onion. Put the chopped onion, together with a dash of oil, in a large saucepan and heat. Do not use a frying pan (unless you particularly like washing up) since you will need to fit a lot of other stuff in later. Don't let the onion brown - simply cook gently for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Next, prepare 1 butternut squash and 1 red pepper - they both need to be cut into relatively small dice. Don't worry about getting the dice too small though, since everything is going to be blended later anyway. As an aside, I like to keep the skin on my butternut squash - I don't really know why, but part of me thinks that there must be a health benefit from eating skin?

When the kettle has boiled, make 2 pints of vegetable stock.

Once the onion has turned translucent add the chopped vegetables along with the stock. Bring to simmering point and leave to cook gently for around 25 minutes. Do not allow it to boil.

Once everything is cooked turn off the heat, add 100g of medium-fat soft cheese and use a stick-blender to blend the mixture into a soup.

When you have achieved a nice smooth texture, add 150ml skimmed milk together with a few chopped chives. Season, and warm gently.

Then serve, topped with some fat-free natural yoghurt and more chopped chives.

My opinion of this recipe

I loved this soup - the taste is great, the texture nice and it looks appetising.

The only problem with the recipe as written above is that it is slightly too thin - my yoghurt wasn't so much a topping, as a depth-charge that quickly sunk to the bottom. Using slightly less stock next time would remedy this.

If the weather was more autumnal, I think I would be tempted to roast the vegetables before adding them to the pot in order to intensify the flavours. I might also add some chopped sage instead of chives if the mood took me. Either way, it's a great soup.

Yummy Vegetable Tray Ideas

By Andrada Plaiderai 

Not once did I hear that vegetables are destined to accompany the meat, the eggs or at least the cheese on your plate. Many ask themselves with disarming sincerity: How can I have a meal without meat? Is that a real meal? Well, vegetable servings can substitute meat, eggs and dairy with great success and will also provide the necessary nutrients for your well-being.

But what about the taste, you may ask. It is very important to have your meal taste really good, so you will feel happy and satisfied with your choice. Let's see how to accomplish this goal.

1. Choose the vegetables with care, so you will have fresh and pleasant smelling products to work with. When you buy any fresh veggies from the market smell and feel them, look closely to their color and avoid anything that seems lifeless or treated with preservatives to endure more. Remember that you will cut it anyway, so you don't need the pepper to look huge, perfect and shiny. The smell will tell you more about the taste of any vegetable. It has to be fresh and strong.

2. Combine different textures. Your taste buds react better if you give them different sizes and textures to work with. Cut some in small slices or bigger chunks, grate or blend others, it really does not matter how you decide to prepare them, if they are mixing tastes and textures to your liking. An example that works for me is to cut small slices of onion, bigger ones of red pepper, grate the carrots and cabbages, chop some garlic and mushrooms and blend some hot pepper with different spices and olive oil. I love to mix all these and spread them on a plate with sliced leaves of lettuce.

3. Always remember the sprouts. In order to really top any meat plate use sprouts to enrich your vegetable serving. These tiny plants are so concentrated in nutrients and flavor that will just blow your mind. Think of them as little bombs of vitamin and micro nutrients that will explode in your mouth and take the vegetable meal to another level altogether. The secret with sprouts is to use more of the mild tasting ones like lettuce, sunflower, broccoli and less of the spicy ones like oregano, onion, leek, mustard and others.

A very important thing to remember with vegetable trays is that you need to eat them fresh. Unlike cooked food, if you let them stay more than a few hours they will lose their taste, nutrients and may even become toxic for you.

5 Super Weight Loss Foods (Also Suitable For Vegetarians and Vegans)

By Laura Ng

Let's cut to the chase.

Carrot

Carrot is one of the best plant-based weight loss foods due to its low calorie but high nutritional content (such as vitamins A, C, beta carotene and fiber). It fills you up easily, preventing you from heaping on excess calories.

Tip: Carrot is more nutritious when eaten cooked than raw as cooking breaks down its tough cellular walls. This enables your body to convert more beta carotene into vitamin A.

Apple

Like carrot, apple is also relatively low in calories and high in fiber. You can eat one or two as one single meal but do not consume apples for all your meals. You need a balanced mix of all weight loss foods to obtain multiple vitamins and minerals for good health and effective fat loss.

Banana

Banana contains a good amount of natural sugar (sucrose, fructose and glucose) and fiber that together, provide you with sustained and substantial boost of energy within minutes. This boost of energy in turn kick starts your metabolism for fat loss.

Reminder: Banana works effectively in an active body. If you eat lots of bananas but refuse to move, the excess calories in the fruit will get stocked up in your fat reserve when not expended via exercises.

Whole Grain Bread and Biscuits

I always choose whole grain bread and biscuits as they are rich in vitamin B, iron and fiber. The goodness of fiber, whether soluble or insoluble, is plentiful. You're aware that constipation is a common problem in obesity and during dieting (with meat-laden diet). Fiber not only gives you a feeling of fullness but also helps to prevent constipation by flushing out toxins from your body.

Fiber also stabilizes your blood sugar and controls your food cravings as it slows down your sugar absorption into the bloodstreams. Thus fiber plays an extremely important role in your weight loss diet. Keep your body free of toxins and you'll lose weight easily and naturally.

Coconut Oil

Unlike other oils, coconut oil contains fat-burning fat. It helps to regulate thyroid function and boosts your metabolism to effect weight loss. I was skeptical at first when a doctor told me that. But after few years of consumption, I am convinced. All you need is to replace your existing cooking oil with coconut oil or you can also add 1 - 3 tablespoonfuls into your diet, and you can start reaping the weight loss benefits of this powerful metabolism-boosting food.

Rapid Weight Loss Diet Fads - Important Information and Advice

By Loren R Antonios

How many diets or crazy weight loss regimes have you tried in the past? No doubt countless. In fact, because today's society has more overweight persons than ever before in the entire history of the human race, weight loss regimes are among the number one practices that humans spend so much time, effort and money on. I'm sure you would agree. But why are so many of us still fat? Clearly these rapid-burn weight loss regimes (i.e., fad diets) do not work, otherwise we'd all be skinny by now, and weight problems would be a thing of the past. The following paragraphs will relate some of the crazy fad diet ideas which clearly have proved to be faulty and non-fruitful.

Crazy diet fad #1 - The Grapefruit Craze

This promises rapid weight loss if you eat unlimited amounts of grapefruit (and little else) during the day. This is based on the belief that grapefruit speeds up one's metabolism to the point where weight will magically start to melt away. This diet is not only based on starvation methods but is also very dangerous and could cause one's body permanent damage.

Crazy diet fad #2 - The "No-Carbs" Diet

I honestly don't know who made this diet up, but when you think about it, it makes little to no sense. Everyone knows that if you have 100g of fat, 100g of protein, and 100g of carbs all lined up on the table - it is the fat should be avoided due to the high kilojoule content, not the protein or the carbs. In fact, carbs by themselves are very low kilojoule. I've never been able to work this one out!

Crazy diet fad #3 - The Low-fat to No-fat diet

This also makes no sense. Fat is a highly nutritious and important element to our daily food intake. In fact, avocado, olive oil, fatty salmon and walnuts all contain healthy omega 3 fats which are absolutely essential to a healthy diet. If these fats are omitted or drastically cut back from one's intake - cravings, low-energy, low-concentration and extreme bouts of will inevitably occur. Clearly this is not how we are supposed to eat in the long-run!

Crazy diet fad #4 - The Replacement Shakes

Although I see no harm in swapping one meal a day with low-calorie diet shakes, any more and a person is liable to start going crazy. That's right, literally bonkers! You know why; it's because us humans are born to enjoy fine food, and most days, we incorporate this into our social life. If we are not able to sit down and enjoy a meal anymore, depression and moodiness often take over our 'otherwise' happy or positive self. Can this type of diet be maintained for very long? You tell me.

Crazy diet fad #5 - Counting Calories to Lose Weight

Let's be honest - who of us has not attempted counting our calorie (kilojoule) intake at some point in the past? I know I have. It can sort of be fun at first, but after a few days of it you seriously start to go loony! Keeping this up requires a massive amount of work, not to mention a lot of time involved in reading food labels and recipe energy content, recording your energy consumed, and calculating your new daily total with each consumed addition! If you want to remain reasonably sane, then counting calories to lose weight is NOT the way to go! I'd stay clear from this idea altogether.

Clearly, there are no rapid weight loss diets (i.e., crazy fad diets/ crash diets) that are really safe or suitable to conform to for very long. Attempting to burn rapid amounts of weight off is not safe and is liable to damage your body. The initial weight that comes off from fad diets may excite you, but this is only water weight that you are losing, not actual fat. Rather than attempting to lose weight rapidly you should instead undergo a healthy diet plan and moderate exercise regime that will give you steady results and will be achievable.

How Can the Raw Food Diet Weight Loss Plan Help Me?

By M Nizam Sualman

There are so many diet plans available, it is often difficult to choose which ones can benefit you the most and which can have the most effective results. It isn't just about the initial weight loss either - we all want to be able to find a diet plan that will help us sustain that weight loss as well. So what can the raw food diet weight loss plan really do for you? And is it as easy to sustain as you might think?

What is the Raw Food Diet?

This diet is pretty self-explanatory - throughout the diet plan you are encouraged to eat plenty of raw foods. These can include a diet of raw fish, fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy (or soya) products or a combination of these.

The raw diet is about producing more enzymes in your diet which can help you speed up your metabolic rate, improve digestion and aid weight loss. These enzymes have a range of health benefits but they can be destroyed when they are cooked at more than 116 degrees Fahrenheit. As such, this particular diet has been developed to make sure that you can benefit from the often neglected enzymes.

Advantages of the Raw Food Diet

Long-Term Sustainable Weight Loss - Once your body has adjusted to eating only raw products, you can truly begin to see the benefits and also realize how easy the weight loss plan is. You don't need to worry about finding a microwave or oven at lunch and dinners. This diet food can be quick and easy to serve which makes it an easy option for long-term healthy eating.

More Energy - People that have tried the raw food diet have said that they have much more energy than they had when eating cooked foods.

Improved Digestion - The enzymes and antioxidants in raw foods are the reason that you can feel so much better in terms of digestive health. The vitamins and minerals found in raw foods can help flush out your system so that you can lose weight easily and also reduce any feeling of bloating.

Better Skin - Thanks to the large amount of antioxidants in raw fruits and veggies, you can detox your system and benefit from a much better complexion.

Healthier Heart - With lower cholesterol levels due to lack of fried foods or oily ingredients, this diet can be great for your heart's health.

Tasty - One of the best advantages of taking on the raw food diet weight loss plan is the great recipes that you can create - and it just goes to show you don't need cooked foods to make up a yummy meal. These can include fruit dishes, salads, dips, cookies, desserts, sauces, breakfasts and dressings!

Loose Skin and Weight Loss

Loose Skin

How many of you have wondered about loose skin? How many have wondered how to get rid of it? Well, I'm here today to help you out a bit. I work for a medical reconstructive and cosmetic surgery practice in New Jersey and I get this question in emails all the time. People want to lose weight but are concerned about having loose skin. First, let me tell you that I am in no position to give anyone advice, I neither a dietician, nor am I a plastic surgeon but I do work for many surgeons and all my information comes directly from them. The number one thing that they will tell you is to not worry about your loose skin. Being healthy and wanting to be healthy is your number one job. Being healthy leads to a happier you, a happier you leads to a healthy happy life. I will explain further why this is so.

What Happens to our Skin?

Loose skin occurs when you lose a certain amount of weight faster than your skin has time to recoil, so pregnant women after giving birth will have some loose skin, people going through a mild to severe weight loss will also have loose skin. Loose skin occurs because once your body stretches through weight gain or pregnancy; your skin loses its elasticity. To better understand what happens to our skin when we lose weight we should first take a quick look at how we burn fat. When we lose mass by burning fat, the fat doesn't just disappear as we would like it to, instead our fat changes form. When we eat, glucose and sugar are harnessed from the carbohydrates we consume; this becomes our bodies' first fuel source and is stored away in the form of glycogen to be released into the bloodstream as necessary. Once our bodies run out of this energy then fat takes over during a process called ketosis. During ketosis our hormones then activate an enzyme in fat tissue which ignites to release triglycerides that then break into three components of glycerol and three fatty acid chains in a process called lipolysis. The liver then absorbs the glycerol for energy and the fatty acids move to the muscles for energy. Because the fat tissue is removed of some of its components, it shrinks and so does the skin but as stated before only to an extent. Skin stretches because rapid weight gain or growth (ex. pregnancy) outpaces collagen production in your skin which causes areas to overstretch. Just as plastic will tear when stretched too far, so will skin in terms of stretch marks. In cases of massive weight loss, where individuals lose 100 lbs. and over, folds of extra skin remains because the skin had become so outstretched that it hangs from the thinner body like a rubber band that has lost its elasticity. In cases of moderate weight loss, skin can certainly shrink back to fit the body's new size because of its elasticity. However, collagen fibers weaken with age and a few other factors thus resulting in wrinkles. The factors that determine your skins elasticity is dependent upon the individual and include whether the individual smokes, their race, sun damage, genetics, and even how often their weight has fluctuated greatly.

So in a sense, the actual amount of loose skin you might have is unknown as it is dependent on many other factors and also why the concern of loose skin shouldn't be a factor in your hopes of losing weight. The want and effort to be healthy will do your body and life a million more favors than worrying about loose skin will. Being healthy and doing the necessary actions to be so will add to your motivation in life, your self-confidence, your work ethic, you name it.

Mild to Moderate Weight Loss

In cases of mild to moderate weight loss, surgery is not required and loose skin can actually be prevented. As mentioned before, a protein in the skin called elastin allows the skin to shrink back to a regular size. However, when going through weight loss, losing 20-30 pounds is very different from losing 80 lbs. or more. In cases of moderate weight loss, there are ways to reduce the amount of resulting excess skin through exercise, muscle-building, eating properly, staying hydrated and by losing the weight slowly. Exercise that includes increasing muscle tone can tighten connective tissue and help stretch the skin as it essentially acts as a filler to your skin instead of fat tissue. By consuming the proper amount of food and water every day will ensure that your skin absorbs the necessary nutrients. Water is a crucial component of maintaining skin elasticity and you should be taking in at least 2 liters each day. The two ingredients that keep skin plump and elastic are elastin and collagen, the protein-rich foods to help form these is found in cottage cheese, legumes, tofu, milk, beans, seeds, nuts, and fish. For optimal absorption, try to consume these calories of protein immediately after your workout. Crash diets and excessive amounts of exercise can rapidly shed muscle and fat resulting in a huge loss of support for your skin as the underlying muscular structure that holds skin against your body is lost. It is important to aim for one to two pounds of fat loss per week and be sure to include weight lifting to keep your muscles strong and able. Loose skin may occur and that is okay, it is natural and will shrink to an extent over time. When this occurs it is important to nourish and take care of your skin by daily exfoliation to remove dead skin cells and increase circulation. Skin tightening creams with ingredients such as aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, yeast extract, vitamin E, C, A can help to hydrate and increase collagen and elastin formation. Make sure to stay away from harsh soaps and shampoos while limiting the amount of sun exposure. Tanning booths and chlorinated water will decrease skin elasticity.

Severe Weight Loss

As mentioned previously, in cases of a severe massive weight loss of 100 lbs. and over through traditional weight loss or weight loss surgery there are some serious health concerns. First, weight-loss surgery is not a quick fix, surgeons recommend having a regular diet and exercise plan even after the surgery to keep your weight stable to ensure the efforts of the surgery are maintained. Weight-loss surgery of over 100 lbs. will result in loose skin and while medical surgeons will remove the weight, the excess skin is not removed. This is something not all patients know before-hand resulting in patients having a poor body image as it was not what they were expecting sometimes causing emotional stress. The excess skin that results from weight-loss surgery and a severe drop in weight (100lbs.+) can cause health defects only because there is so much loose skin that the skin becomes a health problem itself. Folds of skin from a massive weight loss can result in psychological and physical problems. The physical problems that result from loose apron-like skin is intertrigo-a bacterial, fungal, or viral infection that occurs often due to the difficulty in keeping these folds of excess skin clean and dry. The skin can also cause back pains and ulcerations. Psychological problems occur when body image expectations are not met; an individual may lose 100+ pounds and not realize the effects of loose skin. So their incredible effort into losing weight results in having apron-like folds of skin. There are a few treatment options for these severe cases of massive weight loss and most are solved with plastic surgery. Post-bariatric surgery and body lifts involve many body areas as patients have loose skin not only on their abdomen but also through the face, neck, thighs, buttocks, arms and breast. Surgery will leave small and large noticeable scars though most patients find these acceptable and enjoy more self-confidence when wearing a bathing suit. Depending on the patient, procedures can be chosen selectively focusing on the most problematic areas. For example, a patient who has lost a moderate amount of weight but has a mild amount of loose skin can have just a tummy tuck to remove remaining fat and skin in the abdomen area. Men who have gone through a massive weight loss sometimes result in sagging or large breasts also known as gynecomastia. Here liposuction alone may be satisfactory, however, this is not typical and breast augmentation or reduction may be necessary. Each individual is different which is why it is crucial to first speak or have a consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon. Your surgeon will be able to identify if you are a good candidate for surgery and will guide you through different procedures that will ultimately give you the satisfactory body you would like to achieve. There are insurance options for severe cases as those mentioned above; this is because excess skin can cause serious medical problems and is not just cosmetic. Again it is best to speak with a surgeon to create an entire plan that is best for you.