healthy Students on a Budget: Counting Calories

I am posting a bit late, for two reasons.  I had to work last night, and I totally forget about today is my blog day.

So today we are going to talk about counting calories.  But who cares about calories, and whats the point of counting them.

Since calories is the main source of energy that goes into your body, if you take in too much energy in a day.  The left over energy not used, will be turned into fat.  That is the main reasons some people will try to keep track of their calories.

I am going to leave some tips or ideas on ways to count them.

1) There are many sites that may count your daily calories throughout the day.

2) There are some good apps on your phone that can track your calories.

3) If you work at a office daily you can track on a word document that you have eaten throughout the day.

4) there are some foods you cannot keep track off, even just rounding it a bit higher will give you an good idea.

5) instead of counting the total amount of calories that you intake, try to count the calories that you take out in a day.  With change certain types of food with a lower calorie version.

If you are able to cut 300 calories from your diet within a day, you can lose 2100 calories in week which is the same amount as the average person would intake.

Have any questions or comments let me know

-Matt

Healthy Students on a Budget: 20 Recipes for Under $30

Yup, you read that title right! Since our blog competition is over Tuesday I wanted to give you this good one before we say our goodbyes. I now realize I have one more but that's okay. These are all from Better Homes and Gardens.

Here are the titles of the recipes. There is so many I'm not going to put them all here but if you click that link you can see them all!

Lemon-Dill Shrimp & Pasta- $2.45 per serving

Spicy Apple-Glazed Meatballs- $0.90 per serving

Southwestern Meatball Chili- $2.68 per serving

Turkey-Vegetable Casserole- $2.89 per serving

Fajita-Style Quesadillas- $0.43 per serving

Minestrone Soup- $1.75 per serving

Chicken-Noodle Casserole- $0.98 per serving

Five-Spice Beef Kabobs- $2.43 per serving

Farfalle with Mushrooms & Spinach- $1.48 per serving

Spaghetti with Tomatoes & Shrimp- $2.58 per serving

Herbed Salmon- $2.49 per serving

Chicken Tomato & Cucumber Dinner Salad- $2.57 per serving

Five-Spice Pork Kabobs- $1.96 per serving

Fast Shrimp Bisque- $2.03 per serving

Fajita-Ranch Chicken Wraps- $2.05 per serving

Tamale Pies- $2.35 per serving

Pork Steaks with Plum Salsa- $2.15 per serving

Sunday Dinner Stew- $2.14 per serving

Gnocchi, Sweet Corn & Arugula in Cream Sauce- $2.24 per serving

Another place you can find great cheap recipes is a show called The Chew. Website

It has tons of money saving tips and great recipes courtesy of Clinton Kelly, Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Mario Batali and Daphne Oz. Its on CityTv at 1pm weekdays. One of my faves for sure!

I hope you like our blog. There are two more posts and we will be parting ways. Please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @BudgetSnacks

Hoppy Easter!

--Robyn

Organic vs Non-Organic

It is time to put this debate to rest. Many of you have probably had this debate whether it be in your head or with a friend. I know I have. The media puts it out there that you have to eat organic, because it is the best. Well says who? Organic foods tend to have higher prices, but can those prices be justified? Are they safer? Do they actually have the benefits that they say they do? I know these are questions I ask myself. I try to eat as healthy as possible and stay on a budget but deciding between organic and non-organic foods is a tough choice. What makes it even more difficult is that I am a student and I only have a part time job so I only want to purchase organic if it is actually worth it. I am sure most of you are in the same "boat" as me. I am going to try to lay it all out there for you to try to make your decision a bit easier.

To begin with, some of you may have heard of "organic" food but do you know what "organic" really means?

Organic: Food that is produced using both environmentally and animal friendly farming methods. ( Soil Association )

After reading that definition you are probably thinking to yourself "It is better for the environment and keeps our animals safe, why wouldn't you buy organic?" Then think to yourself the extra cost for organic food. You are paying more to keep the environment safe. It sounds like a good thing but unfortunately with the economy like it is a lot of people, students especially don't have the disposable income to choose organic over non-organic. In a perfect world organic food would be cheaper because it is better for the environment and that is our goal as a country to save the environment right? The only thing standing in the way is the fact that it costs the farmers more when they use environmentally safe methods and they certainly aren't going to take a pay cut, can you blame them? They are people too, they work hard for their money and can't afford to give any up.

Some of the main differences between organic and non-organic are:

1. In non-organic chemical fertilizers are used, whereas in organic natural fertilizers (manure, plants, etc.) are used to promote the growth of the food. 
2. In non-organic the farmers give their animals growth hormones and other medication to help prevent sickness, whereas in organic they allow the animals to have a balanced diet, keep their living environment clean, etc. to ensure animals stay healthy naturally. 
3. In non-organic insecticides are used to reduce insects/pests around the food, whereas in organic they use natural sourced pesticides such as traps to kill the insects/pests. 

After reading that, what do you think? Would you pay a little bit more to ensure you are not consuming all of those chemicals? 

All organic food must be certified and will be labelled correctly. Usually you can find organic foods at your local grocery store and sometimes even convenience store. In order for the food to be labelled as organic it has to pass government tests and inspections. This include inspecting the farm to make sure farmers are following all of the guidelines and that they are not "cheating" to make a few extra bucks. You also have to look out for the correct labels. If a label says "100 percent organic" then it is completely organic. Marketers have obtained the right to put a label on food that just says "organic." To the normal consumer this means it is organic but the thing is if it only says "organic" then that means it is only 95 percent organic. There will also be some labels that say "made with organic materials" this means that it is at least 70 percent organic. Marketers are very sneaky and you have to watch out. Matt, Robyn, Kate and I are marketing students, we can tell you from experience. 

Why non-organic?

Think about it, our parents, our grandparents, great grandparents, etc. all ate the food how it was made. They didn't care if it was "environmentally" friendly, they didn't care if anything was sprayed on the food, and lets face it we were the result of all of those generations so clearly they did something right (One could also argue that what they spray on the food now is way worst than back in the day). Up until not too long ago no one knew about organic and no one really cared about it. Farmers did their thing, no one asked questions. One could say why change what isn't broken? Many have tried organic food and said it all goes down the same way and tastes the same, so it is difficult to justify. Many say it is a ploy to get us consumers to spend more.

Why organic?  

Organic is supposed to be the better choice because of the environmental safeness. It is more expensive but some think it is worth the extra. If you have the money to pay the difference then organic might be the way to go, if not then you have some tough budgeting decisions to make. Organic is the "ethical" way to go according to the companies that produce it. Next time you go grocery shopping just compare the prices to see for yourself.  

I am not biased one way or the other. I am writing about this topic from neutral ground and trying to give you the facts from both sides. I am in no way an expert, so it is up to you and whether or not you can justify whether organic is worth it. Just remember that whether it is non-organic or organic, there is no way to know if  the food is being grown properly unless your there when the animal is being raised or plant is being grown. The choice is yours, so tell us which team are you on? TEAM ORGANIC OR TEAM NON-ORGANIC. Please leave a comment with which side you're on. 

Thanks for reading this post, hope you enjoyed it and maybe even learned something. Please feel free to comment and if you need any clarification on anything comment as well, we will get back to you ASAP. Enjoy the rest of your week, and stay tuned for Matt's post tomorrow. FOLLOW us on Twitter @budgetsnacks and LIKE our Facebook page Healthy Students on a Budget !    

Helpful sites: 

Nutrition and Healthy Eating

RSC

- Kurtis

Healthy Students on a Budget: Boost Your Energy!

Do you find yourself really tired just after lunch? Its especially hard on students having classes all day, you get all ready and awake for that 10-1 but that 2-5 class hits and you're just drained. As students we need all the energy we can get with homework, projects and studying. I'm going to give you some tips on how you can boost your energy.

1. Increase your magnesium intake. 

Okay so this could be difficult as you don't want to spend money on silly supplements when you have some other things to purchase. But some easy ways to do it would be add a handful of almonds hazelnuts or cashews to your daily diet. All three are high in magnesium which provides energy. Increase your intake of whole grains, also full of magnesium. Lastly, eat more fish, especially halibut.




2. Walk around the block.

When I saw this I honestly thought it was so weird. Then I thought after I take my dog for a brisk walk I feel a lot better. Increasing physical activity increases energy, particularly walking. Walking is pretty easy to fit into your daily routine. Walk your dog once more a day, go for a night time walk or walk to work/school instead of driving if it isn't too far.



3. Take a power nap.

Now this can be confusing, there is a difference between taking a power nap and a nap. If you sleep too long you will actually become more tired so timing is key. On the site I found 60 minutes is the magic number, I usually take a 30 minute nap and feel pretty good.





4. Don't skip breakfast- or any other meal.

You've heard this a thousand times, don't skip breakfast. Its so true though. After your last meal at night your body uses all those nutrients for its well-being, by the time you wake up again they're all used up. If you skip breakfast your body is searching for these until you finally eat again. You need a lot of this to just focus.





5. Reduce stress and deal with anger.

Easier said than done, trust me I would know. I'm constantly stressed out and when it gets bad and then goes away I find I have more energy. I also run into the problem of not liking confrontation so when I am angry I keep it in instead of dealing with it. All this weighs heavily on my mind which affects my sleep and mood. Take some time out of your day to relax a bit, whether its yoga or just sitting there watching mindless TV. Just take a load off.



6. Drink more water and less alcohol.

That would be hard for any student to hear but its true. Alcohol makes you tired and doesn't allow you to fall into a deep sleep.








7. Eat less sugar.

Sugar is great for a small energy boost but you crash quite quickly and quite badly. Ever heard of a sugar crash? That is when someone eats sugar for a boost and once it wears off they have less energy than before.




8. Have a power snack.

This could be something like the granola bars or a peanut butter sandwich. Something to keep you going throughout the day.







9. Let yourself yawn.

Most people look ridiculous when they yawn but it helps your brain cool down and makes you feel less tired, so yawn away. If you look as cute as that puppy, force yourself to yawn.







10. Go to YouTube.

A good laugh will help give you some energy. It wakes your body up by raising blood pressure and boosts your heart rate.




11. Chia seeds.

Yup, you read that right, chia seeds. I promise you won't grow a chia pet inside your stomach (we were all scared of growing a watermelon of orange inside our stomachs when we were little, right?). Chia seeds are actually packed with vitamin B, fibre and protein which helps with energy without making you jittery. A good idea is to stir them into your yogurt. You can find them in stores with supplements.


12. Stretch

After lunch, give yourself a big stretch, awaken your senses.








13. Exercise.

I know this from first hand experience. I always have a lot of energy after hockey and I can't fall asleep right away. Those 11pm games and 8am classes don't mix but hey.









14. Eat healthy.

More good things= more energy.








I hope these tips help you keep your energy up. Use them for projects and exams or just daily life! Stay tuned for Kurtis' post tomorrow. Also make sure you follow us on Twitter @BudgetSnacks and visit and like our Facebook Page!

--Robyn

On The Go Mornings

It's Monday Madness! 

Hello again everyone. Hope you all enjoyed this beautiful weekend. It's still a bit chilly, but it's getting there slowly but surely. 

Today's post is dedicated to those morning you're rushing around, usually running behind schedule, and just do not have time to eat properly. To help everyone out with that, I will give you some tips, and recipes that will ease your morning, and still give you enough time to get through the Timmie's lineup, and to class on time. 

First I'll start out with some easy, small snacks that will get your morning going. These recipes were taken from the online Parenting magazine, but altered in some ways. 

Dress up your yogurt: By grabbing your favourite flavour of yogurt, and simply adding chopping up almonds, granola, or honey on top, it will give you a powerful boost, and hopefully fill in some of the hungry feeling. Granola and almonds are also a great source of protein.

Here's a simple recipe to try out. What you will need:

• your favourite flavour of yogurt (I recommend Greek yogurt)
• 1 Tbsp. raspberry jam 
• 1 tsp. honey
• 2 Tbsp. toasted almonds, roughly chopped OR granola

Combine all ingredients in the yogurt container. Grab a spoon and go!

Granny-Smith Apple Quesadillas

What you'll need:

• 2 flour tortillas (regular or whole-wheat)
• 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
• several thin slices of a Granny Smith apple

Preparation:

• Sprinkle an even layer of cheese over one tortilla. 
• Scatter the apple slices on top of the cheese and top with the remaining tortilla. 
• Microwave for 30 seconds or until the cheese melts. 
• For a crisper tortilla, use a large skillet and crisp for 1-2 minutes on both sides, until the cheese is melted. 
• Cut into 6-8 wedges.

This quick and easy recipe is ready in less than 5 minutes. Easy and mess free for your venture to work or class. 

One of the easiest things that I fine make your morning less of a hassle, is to just make it simple, and toast a pieces of bread. I like to smother the bread in Smucker's raspberry jam, or my guilty pleasure Nutella. 

My ultimate fast and easy breakfast definitely has to be my fruit smoothies. I buy big bags of frozen fruit (usually strawberries or mixed berries), so that I can make multiple fast breakfasts for class or work. 

What you'll need: (I guesstimate all my portion sizes)

• Frozen or fresh strawberries
• Orange juice
• Greek Yogurt (of your choice)
• **sometimes I throw in some baby arugula for my greens (because I'm iron deficient) 

Blend up in a blender, and pour into a travel cup (I bought a great one from the Real Canadian Superstore for $5.00, and they come in a variety of colours) 

I hope you have found today's post helpful. I know that any suggestions I can get to make my morning less stressful and rushed benefits me (and others from my grumpiness). 

Hope these tips can help you every morning this week, and every morning from now on. 

--Kate 

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

A friend of mine, mentioned this great recipe to me and I didn't want to wait until my post on Wednesday. I figured it is an excellent meal idea for a Sunday since it  takes little preparation and can be made quick. The main addition that puts this recipe over the top is the kidney beans. Beans are great for losing weight, and are very healthy as well as good at fighting diseases. Beans are high in fiber and antioxidants. Another great thing about beans is that they are cheap and can be used as an alternative for meat.

The recipe idea was found at: Beans: Protein-Rich Superfoods

The recipe prepares approximately 12 small bowls (6 large bowls) of soup.

What will you need? 

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped onion
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of dried thyme or 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme
• 3 teaspoons of minced garlic
• 4 cups of coarsely chopped green cabbage
• 14.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes
• 2 cups of sliced celery
• 2 cups of diced carrots
• 8 cups of low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth) 
• 3 cups of diced potatoes
• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
• 3 cups of zucchini
• 15 ounce can of red kidney beans (White kidney beans can be substituted) Make sure they are rinsed and drained
• Optional: Shredded Parmesan cheese

Preparation steps:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, nonstick pan on medium heat. 
2. Add your onion, thyme, and garlic and then let it saute for between 3 and 5 minutes. 
3. Stir in the cabbage, the stewed tomatoes, celery, and carrots and let that saute for between 8 and 10 minutes. 
4. Stir in the chicken broth, potatoes, fresh basil, zucchini, and kidney beans until it comes to a boil. 
5. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the saucepan, and let it simmer for about an hour. 
6. Spoon it into soup bowls and if you decide to use Parmesan cheese then you can place a tablespoon of it over your soup. 
7. Bon appetit! 

Nutritional Information: 

All nutritional information is an educated guess, it varies based on portion sizes. 

Per serving without Parmesan cheese: 138 calories, 7 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of fat, 3 mg of cholesterol, 7 grams of fiber, 113 mg of sodium. 

Per serving with Parmesan cheese: 168 calories, 10 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbohydrate, 5 grams of fat, 11 mg of cholesterol, 7 grams of fiber, 241 mg of sodium. 

Try this recipe out and let us know what it is like. Hope you enjoyed this posting and stay tuned for many more coming up within the next couple weeks. Thanks for reading! FOLLOW us on Twitter @budgetsnacks , and LIKE our Facebook page Healthy Students on a Budget ! Have a great rest of the weekend! 

- Kurtis 

Your Wake Up Call Without Caffeine

So it's almost the weekend. Yahoo! 

Here's a little dose of how you, yes tired, grumpy in the morning you, the caffeine fix you need, without having the 5 cups of coffee before you head to work or school. 

I have done some research on this topic, as I am not the avid coffee drinker, I prefer tea (some of which contain caffeine), so I will focus on the foods you can eat and the different modalities you can try out, to give you that energetic, ready to get on with the day feeling, without having a single sip of coffee. 

Here's a quick video I thought was suitable for the topic of giving you the umph you need to get out of bed in the morning and wake up. 

I bet you, you did not know the following foods and products can be helpful in aiding you to get out of bed in the morning. 

SOAP: ThickGreen (company) offers Shower Shock, which is a peppermint scented soap, that will give you the morning buzz you need. ($6.99/bar at www.thinkgeek.com)

WATER: Decreasing your water intake in the night will help you sleep, but drinking a glass of water when you wake up in the morning will get you hydrated quickly. 

"Imagine going an entire work day without drinking. Your body does the equivalent of this every night when you sleep. Many Canadians are starting the day dehydrated, which leads to fatigue very early on in the day."  --Kim Stinson-Burt

DARK CHOCOLATE: Yes, indulge in a small amount of dark chocolate in the morning. Dark chocolate energized by providing a substantial amount of iron and magnesium.

BANANAS: They are rich in potassium and Vitamin B, and they also help slow down digestion and can keep blood sugar levels stable

WET FACECLOTH: By keeping a wet facecloth on your bedside table (non-wooden surface) and slapping it on your face in the morning, the initial shock will make you quite alert.

SOUR CANDIES: As soon as your alarm goes off in the morning, eat a couple sour candies to awaken your senses. 

APPLES:  Apples contain fructose, which is a natural sugar that can wake you up, and help keep you going.

EXERCISING: Even if you just run around the block, you are not only staying healthy and fit, but you are also waking up your body in a very good way. 

MUSIC: I know when I get out of the shower in the morning, I like to put on my favourite playlist from www.songza.com on, and jam to the music while I get myself ready. It pumps me up for the day, and also distracts me from the fact that I am still tired. 

LEAVE YOUR BLINDS/CURTAINS OPEN: the light from the sunshine/morning will awaken you, and you will not have the urge to go back to sleep. (I'm definitely guilty of trying to go back to sleep when my room is very dark). 

This alphabet of healthy foods will also be helpful when waking up, if you are not the morning person you were on Sunday morning as a child. 

I hope you find this informative, and I hope you try some of these methods out, as I know they sometimes work for me. 

Here's a task for everyone who reads this post. Try one of these methods, and then tell me how they worked out for you. If you woke up and were raring to go because you slapped that cold cloth on your face, or if you jammed out to some music. Let me know if these methods worked for you, and if not, what did you do to wake yourself up?

Let me know, comment below, and stay tuned for my next post on Monday. 

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

--Kate 

Healthy Students on a Budget: Portion Control

What's up boys and girls!!

Today were going to talk about portion control.  Why is it important?

Well if you are able to portion your food sizes, you are able to consume lower calories.

With the help of cooking light, we develop some great ideas.

We will be talking about different tips on controlling your portions.

1) Increasing your intake in vegetables over bread.  Bread has a lot of calories due to the large amount of carbs.  If you increase your amount of vegetables and decrease the amount of carbs can really help with weight control.

2) Using smaller plates as your main dish can help with portion control.  It sounds weird, but if you use a smaller plate compared to a bigger one, your consuming less.

3) If you are the grocery shopper in the house you have the power on what the family consumes, if you are increasing the amount of fruits and veggies within the house, compared to junk food.  You are controlling how much junk food is in the house.

4) Eating more smaller meals throughout the day, can help you never become hungry.

5) Don't skip breakfast, eating breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  This is due to you were sleeping for the last 8 hours, so you haven't ate any food in those 8 hours.  By eating breakfast you will be less hungry for lunch, meaning you will consume less calories for lunchtime.


With these great tips, you can lower your overall caloric intake.  Therefore making you to lose some weight.

Healthy Students on a Budget: Eliminating Junk Food

Imagine that it is 2 in the morning. You're laying awake in bed and your stomach starts growling. You walk to the kitchen and look through the refrigerator and can't seem to find anything that will fulfill your hunger. You look over and sitting on the counter is a chocolate bar. It seems like there is  a spotlight on it, everything is drawing you to it. You walk over and grab it, and eat it. It tastes so good, but now you're going back to sleep with a full chocolate bar sitting in you're stomach with no way of burning off. We have all done it, it may not have been a chocolate bar but any high fat junk food. The objective by the end of this post is for you to grab an apple instead of the highest fat snack you have sitting around.

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: 
I want everyone to try something. Go one week and record every high fat junk food you eat on a log. Also, record what time you consume it and if anything major happened just prior to the consumption. If you want to go even further you can record the calories off the labels and add those up too. The results will probably amaze you. If you don't think you eat too many junk foods during the week, then take this challenge. After you have done this, feel free to comment with your results.

The problem with junk food consumption is that too many of us don't realize how much we consume and the negative effects it has on us. We need to educate ourselves. I bet if you ask 10 people that consume junk food on a regular basis, if they can name 3 negative effects of consuming junk food. 9 out of 10 might get one or two but only the 1 would be able to name three. Junk food is so readily available and it is quick food which requires little to no preparation so it seems like the easy choice. With so much already going on in our lives and the fast paced lives that many of us lead, we don't have time to prepare snacks so we turn to junk food. Stress also leads to many of us eating consumption. It is reaction to eat when we get stressed.


I will provide you with some tips on how to eliminate junk food from your diet: 

1) Get rid of all junk foods in your house: The reason for this is because if it is not readily available then you won't be able to grab it when you have the craving. If it is not available then you will have to substitute something more healthy for it. You may think that you wouldn't be able to get by without them but once you remove them you will find the craving will go away.

2) Go back and read my last post on "Why you should eat breakfast": If you start your day with a good filling breakfast then you won't have the urge to snack all through the day. People tend to snack when their hungry and try to bridge the gap between meals, but if you fill yourself with a good breakfast then you won't want your sugary snacks.

3) Find out your peak time and be prepared: We all have a peak time when we snack more often. Reports say that men are more likely to consume junk food at night, while women are more likely to consume junk food in the late afternoon. If you take our weekly challenge then you can find out your peak time. Once you have determined your peak time, then you can have healthier snacks prepared so you won't be searching for junk food.

4) Keep your meals creative: If you are constantly eating the same boring meals over and over then you are going to turn to junk foods to keep your life exciting. This is the worst thing that can happen because junk food tastes great but is terrible for your body.

Negative effects of eating junk food:     

1) If you regularly consume junk food then there is a greater chance of obesity and excess weight gain

2) Consuming junk food is a major cause of heart disease

3) High cholesterol

4) Your energy levels are affected because you get a high when you consume the junk food, but you crash soon after

That concludes today's post, hope you enjoyed it! I hope you learned some new things and if you have the will power you should definitely try to at least cut down your junk food consumption, if you can completely eliminate it then that is even better. Please take the weekly challenge, and let us know your results. You can follow us on Twitter @budgetsnacks and you can also like our Facebook page Healthy Students on a Budget ! Stay tuned for Matt's post tomorrow. Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your Wednesday!


- Kurtis

Healthy Students on a Budget: Healthy Holiday Eating

Its Christmas time and you get to eat turkey, potatoes, vegetables, gravy and more 3 times, then after you feel like you gained 20 pounds (you probably did and more). I'm going to give you a few tips on how you can keep that holiday weight off.

First thing being, portion control. I can stay that 10 times for everything but in reality it is one of the easiest ways. Instead of taking a huge scoop of potatoes, take a smaller one.

Another way is to avoid eating as many desserts. You see, I say as many. Around holidays its almost impossible to avoid it all together, but instead of eating 6 cookies, have 2.

For holidays like Easter and Valentine's Day ask family members/significant others for gifts other than chocolate. Sure chocolates for Valentine's Day are the normal, but as a girl I must admit I'd rather get flowers. For Easter, remind your family that you are older now and don't need the thousand calorie chocolate egg hunt. Instead go for one package of Peeps or a chocolate egg and just enjoy the company.

One of the hardest things I see some students go through is they go from eating as little as they do away at school and go home for holidays and have the home cooked meals and eat like they've never eaten before. You have to remember the smaller portions you eat away from school are actually probably the right size.

If you eat turkey at holidays, avoid the skin and eat white meat over dark, it is a lot healthier. Ask for potatoes to not be mashed, once you put all the butter and cream/milk in them that's it, you're done. Avoid gravy if you can, or don't make a gravy ocean on your plate.

Remember to continue working out around these times so you can work off whatever you did eat.

One last thing, if you are away at school whatever you don't eat bring it back with you for leftovers. Win, win situation!

Hope this helps!

--Robyn

Super Great Greek Salad

Happy Monday again everyone!

I'm currently sitting in Entrepreneurship class, and I would much rather be posting this quick and easy recipe for my super great greek salad.

I personally like making this salad as a side, and sometimes when I am in a rush I make it for a quick work or class lunch.

Ingredients You Will Need: 

• Lettuce (romaine or iceberg) 
• Tomatoes
• Red onion 
• Cucumber
• Feta cheese (crumbly stuff) 
• Greek Feta Kraft Salad Dressing
• Olives (optional) 

**Make sure you wash all your vegetables before you start**

Directions:

1. Start out by ripping up your lettuce into chewable size, and putting into a large salad bowl 
2. Dice the tomatoes into small pieces, and throw them into the bowl with the salad
3. Cut the cucumber into small pieces as well, I tend to cut a few pieces, stack them on top of each other and slice into 4 sections
4. Next, cut your onion into long, skinny pieces OR dice into smaller pieces
5. Toss in some olives if you would like 
6. Sprinkle some feta cheese on top
7. Lastly, pour some Greek Feta salad dressing on top, and holding both sides of the bowl firmly, shake the bowl so that everything gets mixed together OR use salad tongs to toss

This is an easy salad for any occasion. Quick lunches, sides at dinner time, or functions such as family parties etc. 

I hope you find this salad as enjoyable, and healthy as I do. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post from Robyn. 

--Kate 

Healthy Students on a Budget: Factors that control weight loss

Hello boys and girls, today is my favorite day of the week FRIDAY!!!!

Today's topic will be about factors that contribute into weight loss,

Calories  what is it?
Pretty much is the amount of energy that goes into your body to function.  Calories is made up of 3 things fat, carbs, and protein.  This is why a lot of diets will focus on taking out one of these things such as carbs.

Some things they don't tell you about carbs is there are two types

simple carbs  such as sugar, and complex such as pasta, or other grains.  With simple carbs, your body breaks it down faster, making you hungry sooner, compared to complex carbs where your body takes a lot longer to break down in your system, making you feeling full. 

In this Dr Pepper there is around 40 grams of sugar in this one can, meaning that all the calories your consuming is sugar.

This drink can be simply exchanged with water, and water has no calories, and it hydrates you. By replacing all your beverages with water you can actually lose weight.  If drink a glass of water to replace one pop can which is about 150 per can you can cut 1050 calories in 7 days which is half a days worth of calories. 

In time you can lose weight slowly.

Salt is another factor in losing weight, salt itself makes you thirsty.  When you are thirsty you want to drink something like a pop can, surprisingly enough pop has salt in it.  ITS CALLED SODIUM, another fun word for salt.

So think in the chain you eat something very salty like chicken wings, you have a coke as your drink,  you get thirsty and finish your beverage and now you want another one. Before you know it, you consume 450 calories.

I can go on about about other factors that help weight loss, but for now I will end it here, please comment and give feedback on certain topics.

Thanks guys
- Matt

Healthy Students on a Budget: Gym plans for students

Whats going on guys, today we are going to talk about making a schedule going to the gym.

It is hard while your at school, working part time and trying to study and hand in projects on time.

I am going to leave some tips on scheduling your time at the gym.
- Try to go to the gym for an hour
- Try to pre plan your week with school work, classes, and your job, and find a way where you can squeeze an hour at the gym.
- Try to stop your self from procrastinating from projects and other assignments.
- have a set plan on what muscles groups you will be working on during each day.
- Try to keep your rest periods, and chit chat with others at a minimum, because you want to get in there, and leave. 

I'll do my self for an example!!

So Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays are the days I go to the gym, and maybe one day on the weekend if I am not working late.  Tuesday I have the one class, along with Thursday, and Friday.  So those days are my workout days.  It is hard to go to the gym 5 days a week. So when I am at the gym i will focus on one major muscle group etc. ( chest, back, legs, and shoulders).  One day I am at the gym I will focus on the one muscle group.

It is much easier for me the schedule myself this way because its a 2 minute trip to the gym for me.

If you are used to going to the gym for 2 hours a day trying cutting it to an hour and focus on compound workouts.  When your doing compound workouts your working at least two main muscles at a time.  Meaning your getting a overall better workout, compared to just doing bicep curls.

- Straight bench
- Pull ups
- deadlift 
- Squats
- Military Press
- bent over rows

By adding one or two of these workouts in your routine per workout session, you will see some strength gains, and helps your build muscle, by focusing many muscles at a time compared to the one.

Also going to the gym is a great stress reliever, especially when things are becoming busy with school.  By going to the gym you can take out your stress at the gym and come home relaxed.

Anyways guys, please comment, please ad any tips or comments on related articles you would like to see

Okay I'm off to the gym.
- Matt

Why You Should Eat Breakfast

Good morning! It's Wednesday again, this week is flying by. Today I will be talking about why you should eat breakfast. I will briefly go over the main benefits of eating breakfast on a daily basis as well as the negative effects of not eating breakfast daily. I will even add in some quick breakfast ideas because I know everyone is in a rush in the mornings.

To begin with, I know you have all heard this before "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I know personally when I was younger I always wondered if it was true. Then as I got older I realized the reasoning behind it. It is your first meal of the day so it is the meal that gives you a boost of energy to get through the rest of the day. We have all been guilty of skipping breakfast, mainly because it seems like there are not enough hours in the day. We try to get that extra 10 minutes sleep and it leaves us with less and less time to eat before heading to school or work. The main benefits of eating breakfast which make it worthwhile to get up 10 minutes early are:

• Eating in the morning increases your metabolic rate.

By eating anything in the morning, even if it is just a small snack will jump start your body and get it going for the day. If you skip breakfast then your body will hold on to your next meal as long as possible because it wants the nutrients. Therefore the body won't burn the calories you consume away as quickly which can lead to weight gain. 

• Having breakfast can help while trying to lose weight or can be a reason for weight gain.  

There have been studies that prove skipping breakfast results in the individual consuming more food during their other meals which isn't a good thing. Also, if you don't eat breakfast then you usually eat more smaller snacks and most snacks are fattening. 

• You tend to be in a better mood throughout the day after eating breakfast. 

If you start your day off with a good meal or even snack, then you have more energy during the day and when you have more energy then you feel much better. If you have more energy then the small tasks during your day aren't so difficult which means you don't get frustrated. Also, eating breakfast tends to help regulate your blood sugar levels by lunch and can keep the rest of your day bright. 

I know a lot of people who skip breakfast because they don't know what to have or think that they need to have a huge meal in order for it to take effect. That is a myth, you don't need to have bacon, with eggs, toast, and hash browns. Sure it is nice if you have the time but realistically you don't have the time to prepare that every morning. Some simple ideas are: 

• Cereal
• Fruit smoothie
• Sandwich (Peanut butter, cheez whiz, jam, butter, etc.)
• Bowl of oatmeal
• Fruits (Apple, orange, mango, etc.)
• Veggies (Carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, etc.) 
• Waffles
• Bagel
• Snack bar
• Yogurt
• Eggs
• Fruit salad

Those are some really simple ideas that don't take much prep time. From that list you can mix and match to come up with some other ideas. Another tip is to change up your meal/snack everyday because if you don't then you may get sick of what you're eating and that can result in less motivation to eat breakfast. Next time you think about sleeping in for that extra 10 minutes, remember that you may lose 10 minutes sleep but overall it will be worth it based on how you feel for the rest of the day after eating breakfast. Please pass on the message "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them, we always like to hear from our viewers. Stay tuned for Matt's post tomorrow and hope you enjoyed! 

- Kurtis

What's In Kate's Shopping Cart?

Happy Monday All!

Keeping the tradition going with "What in ___ shopping cart?" I guess it is my turn today. 

I have learned many tricks of the trade, especially on the Food Channel as well as The Food Network. When going to the grocery store, you should always stay along the outside of the aisles, as this is where all the healthier food is located. 

I tend to be a fairly healthy person when I go grocery shopping, but if I am in the mood for something sweet, I will definitely cave and spoil myself. 

So here we go, on our journey to the grocery store with me:

I start with the produce section first, thus resisting temptation for a little bit, and making myself feel healthy inside. 

• Celery 
• Baby carrots in the bag (makes for easy snacks)
• Cucumber
• Onions (white and red)
• Lettuce/Spring Mix/Arugula (I tend to buy already cut and sorted lettuce/spring mix in a tight sealed container, as I use it for quick meals, and smoothies in the morning)
• Apples
• Dragonfruit
• Oranges
• Lemons
• Bananas
• Mango
• Kiwis
• Pineapple 
• Broccoli (my absolute favourite)
• Grapes
• Green onion
• Green beans
• Red, green and orange peppers
• Tomatoes
• Potatoes 
• Mushrooms
• Cauliflower 
• Asparagus
• Hummus

Next I move onto the meat/poultry sections. I buy fresh meat and poultry, because when I get home I usually make something for dinner right away. 

• Lean ground beef 
• Boneless/Skinless chicken breasts 
• Bacon (natural)
• Cold meats (salami, kielbasa, turkey)
• Anything else that looks appealing at the time
• Sausages (maple) 

Strolling on down to the refrigeration/frozen sections. 

• Orange juice
• 2% milk
• Greek yogurt (pomegranate-blueberry and vanilla)
• 2 cans of "No Name" pink lemonade (because it is so good) 
• Eggs
• Cream cheese (low fat) 
• Frozen strawberries 
• Frozen mixed fruits (usually tropical) 

Aisle shopping now. I like to make a lot of soup (makes for many meals) so I spend a lot of time picking out ingredients for the soups I am going to make. 

• Pasta (usually fettucini, spaghetti and shells)
• Pasta sauce (roasted red pepper and tomato)
• Lentils (mixed)
• Red kidney beans
• Barley 
• Corn 
• Peas 
• Mixed soup mix
• Vegetable and chicken broth 
• Special K morning bars (strawberry and blueberry) 
• Oatmeal Crunch Vanilla Almond cereal 
• Salt and cracked pepper Triscuits 
• PC flavoured carbonated water (lemon/lime)
• Cucumber dressing (for my veggies) 
• Crushed red peppers 
• Chick peas (helps your immune system when you're sick)
• Oatmeal (instant oats) 

I think that is mostly everything I purchase when I go grocery shopping. I try to stay within a set budget, but on occasion I do go over. Remember, on Tuesday's it is 10% off for students at the Real Canadian Superstore. 

Hope you enjoy, and I hope this helps with all your grocery shopping endeavours!

--Kate