The Winter Fruits

Have you ever heard of the Santa Claus Melon? Didn’t think so. Just because it’s the winter doesn’t mean we should stop eating fruit! In fact a lot of delicious fruits just came into season! A Santa Claus Melon is very similar to a Honeydew Melon, but even sweeter. 

Clementines are one of the most popular winter fruits, they’re easy to eat, and provide many health benefits for your body. Clementines are like mini oranges, making them easier to peal, and the perfect snack! These small fruits are packed with vitamin C! They also offer you more potassium than most other fruits, which helps promote healthy function of your nerves and muscles, and can help you fight muscle cramps. However the citrus fruits aren’t the only winter fruits you should be paying attention to!

Kumquats are fantastic winter fruits! They’re itty-bitty citrus fruits that are great source of fiber, which helps control the glucose and insulin in our bodies. Not only are they a great source for fiber, but like all other citrus fruits, Kumquats are a great way to get more vitamin C into your body!

The Star Fruit is one of the funnest fruits, and it happens to be one of the best winter fruits! First of all, they are delicious. Secondly, they are one of the fruits with the smallest amount of calories, but with the protein and healthy sugar they hold they offer your body a surprising amount of energy. Most large Star Fruits are about 28 calories, that’s almost nothing for such a delicious little snack! It is even believed that the Star Fruit can help prevent Kidney Stones. 

Pomegranates are known as a “Superfood” because they offer many different benefits for our bodies. They contain a large amount of vitamin C, fiber, and potassium, and the juice also carries tannins that act as antioxidants. The antioxidants are important for your body’s immune system, it helps your body’s natural process which fights “free radicals” which could attack your cells. And an added bonus is they’re fun to eat and easy to throw into almost any salad!

So, just because it’s winter time does not mean you should be skipping out on eating fruits! It just means there’s a new variety of fruits for you to try! There are plenty of fruits around in the winter, it’s just gives you a chance to try some new and interesting fruits!

IPF Community Spotlight Member of the Year!

Within the red painted walls of INTEGRATE you'll find a unique group of people. Across their diversity in gender, age and fitness levels, they share a single commonality; they are athletes. INTEGRATE clients train like professionals, and as soon as you walk through the INTEGRATE doors we consider you one of us. 

You belong to our community. We are a group of recreational athletes who train, compete and enrich our lives through fitness and we love working with all of you. 

With that being said, each week highlight one of our community members for exercise achievements, goal obtainment or just because we like them! And now, we will have for the first time in IPF history, the "Community Spotlight of the Year!"

This is the highest level of recognition we can give out at the studio. The following nominees exemplify what it means to INTEGRATE through their effort, attitude and approach to training. So please cast your vote be sending an email to info@integratefitness.com and help us select our 2013 IPF Community Spotlight of the Year!

Jeff Raddick
By far one of the greatest people you will ever meet. In 2012 he's lost over 75lbs and is still going. His incredible attitude is only matched by his herculean effort when he trains!

Debbie Young
From having never ridden a MTB to 2012 NorCal Cat 3 Women's State Champ, in only about eight months! She's got an incredible attitude, works her tale off and is always a blast to train.

Heather Savage
10 months at IPF, 21.75 inches and over 25lbs lost. She trains as hard any professional or collegiate athlete whose ever come through IPF's red doors, and she keeps us in stitches every time she comes in.

Joan Deitchman
She finished the 2012 Race Across America and FINALLY did a MTB race and lived to tell about it.

OK people, there are your three nominees for IPF's 2012 Spotlight of the Year. Please send your vote to info@integratefitness.com and help us pick our winner!!

Get Out for the Holidays

The holiday’s are around, family’s visiting, kids are home more often, it’s getting chillier out but that is no reason to stay shut up inside the whole holiday season!! There is so much to do outside, things for the whole family to enjoy together that will get you guys out and about!

Downtown San Jose has been transformed into a a beautiful Christmas wonderland. Christmas in the Park happens every year in the downtown San Jose. Anything you want to see for the christmas season can be found there. Over 60 decorated Christmas trees and musical exhibits line a walk through the Plaza de Cesar Chavez, where you can also find an ice skating rink, hot chocolate, rides, a train, and Christmas carols being song by choirs from throughout the Bay Area.

Go out and cut down your Christmas tree! Go up into the Santa Cruz mountains to cut down a gorgeous fresh Christmas tree! This can get the whole family out of the house and excited for Christmas! Most Christmas tree farms usually have picnic benches for people to eat lunch at if you want to make a whole day of it. 

Join the Santa Run! There’s a 5k this Sunday in downtown San Jose! For an extra $5 every participant can even get a complimentary Santa suite, and all participants are encouraged to dress up as their favorite holiday character! The sponsors of the event are even having an extra holiday festival at Christmas in the Park after the race, so if you can’t make it to the race, consider checking out the festival which is open to everyone, spectators or participants!

Go up to San Francisco! They know how to spread the holiday cheer! Every where in the city is beautifully decorated for the holidays! The Union Square area especially has a lot going on. Even just walking around the Macy’s windows in San Francisco will give you that great holiday feeling!

Go caroling!! Okay I know this isn’t for everyone, but if you’re with the right group of people it can be a really fun evening! And who doesn’t enjoy being surprised with holiday carolers at their door!

Get up to the snow! We live only a couple hours away from hills that are covered in snow at this very moment. Whether you want to make a day trip out of it, or spend a weekend up there, it’s fun to spend some time in the snow! There are beautiful hikes in Tahoe, skiing and snow boarding, and of course many other activities.

Don’t stay stuck inside all holiday season, find some time to spend outside, there’s plenty to do, and if you dress right it won’t even be that cold! 
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Chrisi Keating
Santa Clara University
Communication Major

Keep the Holiday Weight Away

With the holidays around, everyday becomes increasingly hectic in anticipation of the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Everyones schedules get full with parties, family gatherings, and school performances and concerts.

The holiday’s are wonderful but they can also become a very stressful time; the kids are home, there are parties weekly, you need to get the presents bought and wrapped, the cookies baked, the house decorated, pull the winter clothes out of their summer hiding spots, it’s a never ending list causing the diet and workouts to go out the window until it’s time for you to make your New Years resolutions again. 

It’s hard to avoid all those delicious foods at gatherings, or the cookie trays that get passed around and it seems like everyone has bowl of festive candy at there desk, it’s hard not to get sucked into eating it all! And who has time to continue there normal work outs while the kids are back home all the time, or you’re traveling or having family visit? Here are a few simple ways that may help you not feel quite as guilty come New Years!

Eat something heathy before you go to a party. 
By eating before going out to a holiday party you are less likely to start grabbing all the food you see, and instead save the room you have left for the foods you really do want to eat. Try eating a handful of almonds before leaving for a party, their healthy and ward away hunger!

Avoid temptations! 
I know, easier said than done, but if you do, you will be so happy with yourself! Don’t go grabbing candy from all of the holiday candy bowls around the office, or avoid the break room when you know people have brought in trays of holiday cookies or sweets. 

Stay away from the food areas at parties! 
Don’t hover by the table that has all the horderves, stay away from it! When your standing by the horderve table it’s hard not to keep grabbing those perfect little bite size snacks. Moving away from the table allows you to still have your conversation, but without the temptation of snacking the whole time. 

And when you go to the mall to do the holiday shopping, consider parking a bit further away from the entrance, or maybe walk a bit faster than you normally would. This will get you moving more, even just making your walk a bit longer than it normally would be could help you burn a few extra calories!

Though none of these are fool proof answers to avoiding that holiday weight gain, they could definitely help! But no matter what, make sure you enjoy your holidays!

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Chrisi Keating, is IPF's Lois Lane reporting on all things fitness for our Community News Blog. She's a senior at Santa Clara University studying Communications. Please feel free to post any questions that you've got!

Delicious Pear Stuffing

Ingredients

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 ounces slab bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 4 ribs celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 Spanish onions, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1/4 fennel bulb, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• Kosher salt
• 4 sprigs rosemary, picked and finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
• 8 ounces peeled chestnuts, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 4 Anjou pears, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 12 cups cubed crustless, stale sourdough or peasant bread
• 4 cups chicken stock, warmed

Directions

1. Coat a wide, straight-sided pan with olive oil and add the bacon. Bring the pan to a medium heat and let the bacon get brown and crispy.
2. Add the celery, onions and fennel and season with salt. Cook the veggies until they get soft and very aromatic, 8 to10 minutes. Add the rosemary and garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.
3. Toss in the chestnuts, cranberries and pears, and stir to combine. Add the wine and let it reduce by half.
4. Put the bread in a large mixing bowl and add the cooked veggie mixture to the bread. Stir to combine and douse the bread with half the stock. Use your hands to combine the bread, veggies and stock. Add more stock when/if needed to really saturate the bread. Season with salt and taste it to make sure it is delicious.
5. Use the stuffing to stuff a turkey or pork crown roast, or place in a roasting pan and bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees F.

A Healthier Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

For Crust:

• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• 1 Tablespoon Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (brown sugar substitute)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 1 Tablespoon water

For Filling:

• 6 Tablespoons Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (brown sugar substitute)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 cup egg substitute (like Egg Beaters)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin 
• 1 (14 ounce) can fat free evaporated milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

To prepare crust:

1. Mix oats, flour, almonds, sugar, and salt in small mixing bowl.
2. Blend applesauce and water in measuring cup with fork or small wire whisk until well mixed.
3. Add applesauce mixture to dry ingredients and mix well. If needed, add small amount of water to hold mixture together.
4. Press into 9-inch pie pan, and bake for 7-9 minutes, or until light brown. Remove from oven.
5. Turn down oven to 350 degrees F.

To prepare filling:

1. Mix brown sugar substitute, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in bowl.
2. Add egg substitute and vanilla, and mix to blend ingredients.
3. Add pumpkin and fat free evaporated milk, and mix well to combine.

Putting it together:

1. Pour filling into prepared pie shell.
2. Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees F or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

Yield:

9 servings
Serving size: 1/9 of 9-inch pie

Each serving provides:

Calories: 160
Total fat: 7 g
Saturated fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 20 mg
Sodium: 207 mg
Total fiber: 3 g
Protein: 5 g
Carbohydrates: 19 g
Potassium: 223 mg

Join "The Trainers" Group on Facebook and get Cutting Edge Fitness Information

If you'd like to get the inside scoop on the most cutting edge fitness information (other than the Fitness411 blog of course!) available, then join "The Trainers" group on facebook.

I've invited some of the best trainers that I know from the Silicon Valley to join this group with the goal of all of us sharing as much training information as possible. And then it hit me, why limit it to trainers? Why not invite create an exclusive group for the IPF community so they can learn with us as well?
 
So I did, and the result is each week the trainers in the group post:
- articles we read
- the RSS feeds/blogs we follow
- books we like
- podcasts to listen to
- continuing education things we are reading/watching
- great DVD's
- topics for discussion
- we field any and all fitness questions that you've got

The group was put together with the goal of the IPF Community learning together, trainers and trainees alike. A foundation of fitness facts if you will.

Some of the info is pretty dry, and will help you cure insomnia, but some of it is pretty entertaining. Either way, join the group, and learn a ton about strength and conditioning from the biggest names in the industry.

After you join, ask as many questions as you can! We want some great discussions started!

• Email questions: thetrainers@groups.facebook.com
• Join the group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thetrainers/

See you online!

Got Water?

Water makes up approximately makes up 60% of your body. Water! No wonder it’s so important to drink water. By drinking water you are keeping your body hydrated, allowing your body to function as it should. Drinking enough water throughout the day keeps your body hydrated, which does more for you than most people would think.

Our brain’s consist of at least 70% water. This water helps protect the brain, your very important spinal cord, and other sensitive tissues. Water acts like a cushion in our body. Not only does it protect our nervous system, but water also cushions our joints. The fluids (aka water) around your joints is what keeps them moving smoothly! 

And of course there are the obvious reasons to why our body needs water to keep going. Water is what moves the waste out of your body, it flushes the toxins out and eliminates the waste! 

Water is also what helps keep our body’s temperature regulated. Water helps keep our body cool, especially during hot days and intense exercises. Plus if you’re sweating during an intense work out, it’s going to be the water your drinking that keeps your body from losing too much liquid. 

I know, water is not the most exciting thing to drink. I personally don’t care for water at all unless it’s the middle of a hot summer day and I’m in the sun, or I just finished a tough work out, so I found a few tricks to make hydration more delicious. By adding a tiny bit of lemon juice to the water, the water automatically becomes even more refreshing, and has more of a taste to enjoy. And on days where I have time, by adding some strawberries, cucumbers, or mint to the water creates I sweet healthy way to drink water as well! I know not everyone needs this, but I find that with these tricks I usually double the amount of water I drink in a day!

When we don’t drink enough water throughout the day, or drink beverages with a dehydrating qualities (like coffee or soda) that water in our body begins to get used up, the percentage goes down, and we become dehydrated. Being dehydrated is not good! So make sure you keep drinking!

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Chrisi Keating

Santa Clara University

Communications Major

Increase your Metabolism

We all know that an increased metabolism leads to easier weight loss and makes it easier to keep weight off. Our metabolism is the process used to break down the foods we consume and produces the energy your body needs to make it through the day. By increasing our metabolism we are speeding up how quickly our body is breaking down the foods. The quicker the metabolism, the shorter the food sits in your body. Not everyone is lucky enough to be born with a great metabolism, for some people it does not matter what they eat or how much, their body will just burn it off. However for many of us in order to have a fast metabolism we need to do something in order to increase it.

The most obvious way to increase your metabolism of course is to increase your body’s need for energy. If your body needs energy it’s going to burn the food you have in your body and the fats you have saved up. You can increase your body’s energy needs by exercising! That was obvious, I know. But what you probably didn’t know is that the more muscular you are, the higher your metabolism will be. We are all constantly burning calories, and every pound of muscle in your body uses approximately six calories a day to sustain itself. The more muscles you have, the more calories are going to be burned to feed those muscles.

It’s hard to find time to exercise everyday. We all have other things we need to do, like go to work.. Thankfully exercise is not the only way to boost your metabolism, though it is one of the most effective! Adding some spice to your meals will help you boost your metabolism as well! Adding a few chili’s or something spicy to your meals will surprise your body and will speed up your heart rate causing your body to burn food faster to produce energy for your body.

Coffee! Believe it or not coffee can help boost your metabolism. The caffeine in coffee is believed to boost your metabolism up to 5% on any given day. Not only does coffee increase the metabolism, but it is believed to act as an appetite suppressant, saying that with coffee in your system you are less likely to have as big of an appetite as you would without the coffee. And for all those non coffee drinkers Green Tea revs up your metabolism as well as burns fat!

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Chrisi Keating

Santa Clara University

Communication Major

  

Easy ways to program a week at the gym

I was talking about this the other day with someone, and it actually turned out to be a useful use of words. So, without further ado, here are some easy ways to program a week at the gym.

If you organize it around upper body press, upper body pull and lower body it is a lot easier. For instance, for a three day a week program:

Day One
Push where you do two pushing exercises, one pull and one lower body

Day Two
Leg day with two leg exercises, one pull and one press

Day Three
Two pulling exercises, one press, one leg exercise

Two days a week:
Day 1 Legs (2) + pressing (2)
Day 2 Legs (2) + Pulling (2)

If you use body weight exercises for your "unloading movements" you can work in the core, and put together a killer workout that will get you in and out of the gym in 45-50 mins.

These books are pretty top notch in regards to programming, and can easily help you create a pretty solid program:

• "Power Training" by Kevin Dos Remedios
• As Always, "The New Rules of Lifting" series (5 books with a 6th on the way)
• If you are more experienced with your lifts, "Maximum Strength" by Eric Cressey 
• If you are an extremely experienced lifter and have PERFECT deadlift/hip hinge form, "5/3/1" by Jim Wendler is great. It is EXTREMELY ADVANCED, but really good if you need to break through training plateaus at a high level.

These eight books can easily fill an entire year of programming for strength training, and get you some killer strength gains. Enjoy!

Halloween Candy

Halloween is one of the hardest times of the year to avoid sugar!! Candy is literally everywhere; offices have bowls of candy corn out, teachers throw candy around for well answered questions, and chances are you have a big bowl of candy at home just sitting there waiting for trick or treaters to come by, just sitting there teasing you. How do you not grab a piece or two or ten? With that candy sitting there, just waiting to be handed out, it’s hard not to eat some. And then, the next day you’re faced with dilemma of what to do with the leftover candy that you still have sitting around, or the buckets of candy your kids brought back! It’s impossible to avoid the candy!

It’s hard to stay away from the candy, so the best thing to do is set guidelines! Make little rules for yourself when it comes to candy, or else you’ll find yourself halfway through the bucket of candy before you even realize it! 

By giving yourself a few simple guidelines it’s easy to stop yourself from indulging to much into all the sugar. Only choose the best treats and candies to eat! It’s easy to see candy and want to eat a piece even if you’re not necessarily a big fan of the sweet. Choose you’re favorite pieces, and stay away from the rest! Don’t waste yourself on the candy’s that you don’t even like! It’s an easy way to avoid the extra sugar you don’t need! We’ve all done it before, we’ll grab the candy that we see, even if we’ve had it in the past, and know we don’t care for it, we grab it anyway figuring it’s still candy. But there’s no point in eating candy you don’t like! Save your splurging for the candy you actually like!

Think about making room in your diet for some candy! You know that the Halloween candy is around and you’ll probably snack on some, so think about cutting out a different splurge you usually have! 

Halloween is the slow start into the holiday season’s so it’s good to start preparing. It’s candy now, but soon the pumpkin pies, gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies will be showing up so it’s good to prepare! If you’re trying to stick to a diet it’s good to remember to make some room in your diet for the sweets. Or make sure you pick and choose what sweets you want! There’s no reason adding some sweets into you’re diet should lead to over eating. Just make sure to stay balanced, having only sugary things in your diet never leads to any good….

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Chrisi Keating

Santa Clara University

Communications Major

Mac n Cheese

Ingredients

4 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 1 1/2 pound squash)
4 cups of low- fat milk
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
9 ounces of cheddar cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce)  of finely grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 pound uncooked your favorite pasta
1 head of cauliflower finely chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the squash, and milk, in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, being careful not to scorch the milk. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat.

Blend the milk and squash until its smooth. While it’s still hot, add in the 9 ounces of cheese.

Cook the pasta, with the cauliflower according to package directions, and drain well.

Combine the pasta and cauliflower mixture with the squash mixture, in a dutch oven.

Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

End of Season Changes. Qualifying for Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

Typically a professional road cyclist’s season ends around September each year. After months of travel and racing, the well-deserved off-season is welcomed. My “season” actually began January 1 and was to conclude in September after a hard block of training for Ironman Canada. Surprisingly I qualified in Penticton for Ironman Hawaii, while elated this also meant a precise plan of recovery, some training and taper. While a few questions stirred in my head; Can I financially and physically afford this was the main one? But one thing I know, is slots to Kona are not easily acquired by any means and my body is not getting any younger. SIGN ME up!

ke the slot and better prepare for a key race next year. After going against his suggestion, he explained he no longer wished to coach me for this event. Ok, now to find someone who can get to know my training, habits, physiology from over the last 12-13 years?! This was not going to be easy, however after 5 days, some personal sponsorship and tracking down a tri-coach who is one of the best in the business I was on the right track and very relieved to work with Matt Dixon from Purplepatch.

Next up, my goal was to improve the functionality of my knee which had undergone serious trauma, inflammation and probably shock from the day.  I had x-rays, acupuncture, physical therapy, ART and almost daily cyro-massage to look after it.  At approximately 1 month later I was able to run for :30-:40 minutes which is still my current maximum time, but along with this slow improvement other ailments arose. Two weeks before I had my last solid brick to complete and an old hamstring injury decided to return in full-force. A headcold  just 12 days out put me into a few days of immediate rest, possibly for the better. While typically these few set-backs would completely frustrate me I remained patient and calm, doing the best I could to possibly treat them and hope to heal in a week’s time. Mind over matter I thought.

My arrival to Kona-minus 8 days before the start. This was just about the right timing, enough time prior to soak in the time change, warm weather, fresh foods and relax before the days became filled with running around.  The weekend included some good training rides and a few short runs, concluded with a beautiful open water swim. My husband, Jono and I are staying at a host family just up the road 1.5 miles from the start, so our daily walk has actually helped build up some strength in my hamstring and knee which I am very pleased about. The population on the island grows daily and Alii drive is packed with ripped bodies running, cycling up and down the road in preparation or for show before the  race.  I try to not get too wrapped up in all the various pre-race activities because it can really suck the energy out of you and I have also found myself dreaming about the race way too far in advance. The heat, my equipment, nutrition, pacing, body’s response and everything I will be concerned with on race day will come soon enough.

There is just 4 days leading into the event. I’m very settled in my environment with great hosts. The time change has been easy and now starting to really stay off my feet and rest before Saturday. Anything can happen on the day, but staying mentally strong, inspired and motivated will remain key in my quest for a finish at the Ironman Hawaii World Championships.

Thanks for reading.

Liza

Strawberry Salad

Ingredients

For the salad:

3 cups watercress
2 cups spinach
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (Cipullos recommends slicing your onion along the layers to prevent tears)
4 large strawberries, sliced or quartered
1/4 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup of cooked quinoa

For the dressing:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Wash watercress and spinach leaves, pat dry. Slice strawberries and thinly slice red onion. To make the dressing, whisk together olive oil, redwine vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper. Place watercress, red onion, strawberries, and hazelnuts into a bowl and toss well with dressing.

Makes 2 servings 

Per serving: 339 calories, 10g fat, 0.6g saturated fat, 13.5g fiber, 22g sugars, 52.5g carbohydrates, 133mg sodium, 10.7g protein

That 2 o'clock Feeling

A lot of people have the afternoon crash, you get to about 2 or 3 o’clock in the work day or school, and you just feel tired! You start wanting snacks or more coffee and you mind begins to wander more and more. The secret to the afternoon pick up that everyone wants is not that extra cup of coffee or two. The best way to avoid the afternoon crash isn’t by grabbing that sugary candy bar you’re craving, but rather by getting some low sugar, fiber or protein!

Like we have said before, there is more to most foods than you know. We take a lot for granted, and we really should know what foods are doing for us. Yes, we all know that foods are what gives us energy to keep going, and nutrition to make us healthy. But how much do you really know about the foods you are eating? Do you know which ones might be helping you fight against heart disease right now, or which ones are providing your body with might help boost your energy levels, or what might foods could help get rid of the afternoon defeated tired feeling, and help you power through the rest of the work day? How could food help you avoid that awful afternoon crashes. 

Almonds are a great choice to keep you going for the rest of the day. By eating a handful of almonds in the morning, the almonds can help regulate and stabilize your blood sugar level throughout the day. Stabilizing your blood sugar level will help prevent you from getting sugar highs and then the sudden drop in your energy level. It’ll try to keep you even for the rest of the day. Even eating just a few almonds during a crunch time, where you really need to get something done, but you cannot focus can help improve both your brainpower and your mood. Helping you stay focused on the project at hand!

However while this can be a good solution, the best way to get through that afternoon dip is by avoiding eating too many sweets which could lead you to sugar highs and lows, as well as not skipping breakfast so your body can really absorb the nutrients that your body needs from the food rather than just holding on to it for a bit of energy. By skipping lunch your body will be missing the nutrients it needs to keep going, and very little energy to keep you going! Don’t skip meals and bring a snack to work, and you won’t be getting that drop in energy when you’re having a long day at work!

Sugar vs Fake Sugar

We all eat sugar! However, when given the choice there are many people that choose to use artificial sweeteners in the place of real sugar. Some people do it without even realizing they are. If you pick a diet soda over a regular one, your drink is made with artificial sweeteners rather than sugar. Nowadays every coffee shop you go to has not one, not two, but at least three different types of artificial sweeteners, plus sugar! 

There are so many different artificial sweeteners, and they all say that they’re better than the rest, but are they really any good? They are all man made versions of sugar, a little chemical concoction. Like all things there are good things and bad about these sweeteners. 

There are a lot of good perks from substituting artificial sweeteners in place of natural sugar. A lot of people pick the artificial sweeteners over sugar because it has no calories, where as sugar is just empty calories. The artificial sweeteners like Spenda or Sweet n Low may actually have some good benefits over sugar. Artificial sweeteners have no effect on your body’s blood-sugar level, but if you eat sugar it throws your blood-sugar level through a rollercoaster! 

You also don’t have to use as much artificial sweetener to get to the sweetness level you want, but you would need more sugar to get there. And because artificial sweeteners don’t have the same empty calories as sugar does, it can be easier to lose wait by substituting artificial sweeteners for sugar.

There are however con’s to consider when comparing artificial sweeteners and sugar. Because they are artificially made some sweeteners still have not been approved by the FDA. And many previous tests of the products have been poorly done in the past.  People like them because they are said to have no calories, however that is still unsure as well! We are still learning about these artificial sweeteners that we have created. We still don’t know everything about them. Artificial sweeteners have not been around long enough to know about any long term effects the artificial sweeteners may have. We are the guinea pigs right now. They are still too new for us to really know if artificial sweeteners are good for us. 

Where know where sugar comes from, and what it’s doing to our bodies and we’re still learning about all of these new artificial sweeteners. But at least we know what sugar does to us!

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Chrisi Keating

Santa Clara University

Communications Major

Chili

Ingredients

    1 pound extra-lean ground beef
    1/2 cup chopped onion
    2 large tomatoes (or 2 cups canned, unsalted tomatoes)
    4 cups canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
    1 cup chopped celery
    1 teaspoon sugar
    1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder or to taste
    Water, as desired
    2 tablespoons cornmeal
    Jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped, as desired

Directions

In a soup pot, add the ground beef and onion. Over medium heat saute until the meat is browned and the onion is translucent. Drain well.

Add the tomatoes, kidney beans, celery, sugar and chili powder to the ground beef mixture. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Uncover and add water to desired consistency. Stir in cornmeal. Cook for at least 10 minutes more to allow the flavors to blend.

Ladle into warmed bowls and garnish with jalapeno peppers, if desired. Serve immediately.

Stress

We all have stress in our life, and we all have different ways of coping with stress, whether we eat more comfort food, complain more, eat less, or just let the stress bug us! But do you know what stress is doing for your body?

Stress is a completely normal part of life, it’s our body’s way of saying that we are doing to much, that we have taken too much on. Stress is our body’s reaction to a change that we have caused. It is a feeling of pressure you can experience, caused by events that happen to you, around you, something that you do, or even just a few small things that add up! All these changes and pressures can cause your body to react physically, mentally or emotionally.

Some stresses can be good or exciting, like weddings, and graduations, while others like work deadlines, or taxes can cause you to stress and not give you anything to look forward to. Stress can be conceived as both positive or negative. At times stress can be helpful; stress can keep us alert and prepared to work on the task, it keeps us focused on the problem. Stress can keep you on your toes! However stress can also be bad when the stress is endless, if the job (or activity) causes constant challenges with no relaxation at the end.

Stress can even lead to headaches, an upset stomach, raised blood pressure, chest pains, and trouble sleeping. All of these are not good for your body. When you get stressed your whole body realizes that, and even if you are just emotionally, or mentally stressed, that stress will transfer to your body. Trouble sleeping is one of the most common side effects of stress, which can lead to numerous other problems. When you lose sleep to stress, you wake up the next morning more tired, and you will not have the energy that your body needs to survive the day. Your body will not have gotten the sleep it needs, and will physically begin stressing out trying to keep up with what you need to be doing.

It is important for you to realize when you are beginning to stress, because stress can creep up on you quickly! We’ve all had it happen before, stress really does have a way of creeping up on you (especially right around a deadline time). You need to make sure that you stay in control though, you can not let the stress take over your life. It is important that when you realize that you are stressed about an event, activity, relationship, or deadline, that you try to make a change.

When you realize what you are stressing about, and you can find a better way to spread out the work, or a different way to handle the situation, you can ease the stress. Just doing little things like becoming more positive, laughing more often, or learning to say no to some things (you don’t always need to do everything) can already help you get rid of some of your stress. Little changes can go a long way to help rid yourself of stress!

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Chrisi Keating
Santa Clara University
Communications Major

Pear Walnut Bread

Ingredients:
2 to 3 fresh Bartlett pears
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup dairy sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup walnuts

How to make it:
1. Pare, halve, and core pears. Coarsely chop to get 1 ½ cups fruit.
2. In large bowl of electric mixer, beat together oil and sugar until well-blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add the sour cream and vanilla.
3. Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to oil-sugar mixture and continue to beat until well blended. Add nuts and pears and mix well with large spoon.
4. Spoon into well-greased, 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Bake in 350-degree oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes; turn out and finish cooling on rack. To serve, slice very thin and spread with softened butter or cream cheese.

* Add some cranberries for fun!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, preferably Dutch-process
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup fruit-based fat replacement, such as Lighter Bake, or unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 cups grated zucchini, (1 medium)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. Spread walnuts in a pie pan and bake until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Whisk eggs, sugar, fruit-based fat replacement (or applesauce), oil, vanilla and melted chocolate in another large bowl until blended. Add to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in zucchini and the reserved walnuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops.
5. Bake the loaves 55 to 60 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto rack and cool completely.

Chocolate!

You are seriously talking to one of the biggest chocoholics in the world right now. When I was younger I would have made every meal out of chocolate if I could, even nowadays it is rare for a day to go by where I don’t eat chocolate. There’s something about that piece of chocolate that always makes your day a bit better. So you can only imagine how excited I was to find out that chocolate actually does have quite a few benefits for you.

Often times when we are stressed or nervous we like to indulge in a bit of chocolate. It happens to most of us, you get stressed and a comforting bit of chocolate always seems to help. It ends up that those couple bites of chocolate while stressing or nervous could actually help lower your stress level and calm you down. Even J.K. Rowling knew that when she was writing Harry Potter, Harry was handed chocolate all the time throughout the series whenever something stressful, or emotionally draining came up (e.x. Dementors)!

On those stressful days where you’ve spent your whole time working on the computer or studying for a big test, chocolate could actually be one of the best things for you to eat! Chocolate is a brainfood!! Professor Ian Macdonald conducted a study at the University of Nottingham in which he found that eating a piece of dark chocolate rich with flavanols boosts the blood flow to your brain. This new boost gives your brain a refreshed sense of energy that can help with concentration, attentiveness, and alertness for two to three hours after. Next time you feel tired, out of power or out of ideas just eat a couple pieces of chocolate, and notice the boost you’ll get!

Dark chocolate can even help you lose weight! Weird, right? Chocolate can help you lose weight? Chocolate (especially dark chocolate) is filling, which means that after eating a few pieces you will no longer be hungry or crave other foods that you don’t need. It can help stop the unnecessary eating.

Plus, Cocoa Beans (what coffee is made from) is full of an organic compound known as flavanols, which are known to help lower blood pressure while also increasing your vascular functions. By lowering your blood pressure and increasing your vascular function you will also be reducing your risk of heart attacks and stroke.

Now this doesn’t go for all chocolate though. While all chocolates definitely have some health benefits, the chocolates that contain more flavanols have been known to provide you with the most benefits. For example, dark chocolate is known be richer in flavanols than milk chocolate, and let’s face it something like a Milky Way bar is pretty much going to be all sugar. The darker the chocolate, the more flavanols it has, and the more it can help you out throughout your day! So never feel guilty about eating about eating your chocolate, you are actually doing something good for you body by eating it!
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Chrisi Keating

Santa Clara University

Communications Major

Egg-cellent

One of my roommates started this diet where all he ate was eggs. Well, that isn’t quite true, I caught him with a pint of froyo, but most of his meals consisted of eggs, whether they were hard-boiled or scrambled, he always ate eggs. It was weird. Or so I thought. Ends up eggs are in fact very good for you. I wouldn’t go as far to say that you should switch all you meals to consist of eggs, but they definitely are good. 

Eggs have been completely misunderstood in recent. Eggs have gotten a bad reputation in the past and they were believed to have possible negative effects on people. However that isn’t quite right. It ends up that eggs are a food that holds more nutrients than most other foods. As J.R.R Tolkien once riddled in The Hobbit  what is “A box without hinges, key, or lid; yet golden treasure inside is hid.” The answer of course is an egg! Eggs are like little treasure chests full of nutrients. 

Many people have spoken about how the consumption of eggs would raise your cholesterol. Though that is somewhat true, it is doubtful that eggs are the main thing making your cholesterol bad, chances are it’s barely playing a role. Eggs are stuffed full of different nutrients, not only are they a fantastic source of protein, but they also provide you with vitamin A, D, and E, potassium, folic acid, choline, carotenoids, amino acids, and plenty of antioxidant powers. 

And then this whole egg white craze began. Yes, egg whites are healthy. Egg whites only contain protein, which is good! Protein is important. However all the rest of the nutrients that the eggs hold are found in the yolk. Tolkien was right, the yolk of an egg is a treasure in its own way. The yolk of an egg provides your body with leucine. Leucine is an amino acid, that is a huge help in building your muscles. 

Eggs are can even be a superfood when it comes to weight loss. Egg’s are super low in calories, and filling making them a great food to eat while trying to lose weight. A hard-boiled egg is a mere 78 calories. Now they aren’t some magic food that will cause you to lose weight, but they can definitely be a great addition to any low- calorie meal or snack. Plus they can be just as satisfying when cooked right, as carbs, AND they keep you feeling full for longer. It’s a great substitute if you are used to a carb breakfast like breads or rolls. 

Eggs have so much to offer, it’s not fair to believe the negative ideas people began believing. Eggs are a treasure; a small little food, that is easy to cook, full of nutrients, and very few calories. How can you say no to a food like that? They’re egg-cellent! (Cheesy I know, but it’s true)!!