No Coffee, No Problem

            

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/219972763019328917/

                 For over five years now I have been an active coffee consumer. The delicious brew, hot or iced, blended, with whipped cream options, and that zest it brings when I drink it are why many people may choose to drink coffee every morning. Not once during all my years drinking coffee did I ever think something so delicious could bring me any harm. My addiction goes back to my experience with coffee in high school. Senior year, as I mentioned last week, was absolutely ridiculous. The homework load, constant exams, and having to fill out college applications was just alarming. Apart from never having time to eat breakfast, I went to bed after midnight and always woke up at around 6:30am to prepare everything I would need at school, given the fact that I wouldn’t come back home until around 6:00pm. So my question was, how do I survive this madness? My solution was drinking a venti-sized coffee from my favorite vendor Starbucks. In the fall I would get a hot caramel macchiato, to stay warm. During the winter I’d spice it up with various holiday drinks like Pumpkin Spice Latte or Peppermint Mocha. Then once the weather warmed up I would go back to my caramel macchiatos but now they were iced. Drinking my favorite drinks was like being able to call my friend after an exhausting and miserable day at school. Towards the end of freshman year and all through sophomore and junior years my coffee dependency increased immensely. I was not caring about my bedtime because I knew my friend coffee would always have my back no matter what.

http://www.kitchendaily.com/read/starbucks-reveals-new-drink-holiday-season

The unexplainable bond coffee and I had is similar to the way many other people feel about the drink. In Ronald J. Troyer’s piece, “Coffee Drinking: An Emerging Social Problem,” he suggests that coffee is known as a stimulation for “social gatherings” varying from “morning newspaper, over which most people drink their first cup of coffee” to popular “coffee breaks” in the workplace (Troyer 403). So my question is, how can something that brings people together possibly harm me in any way?

            Then I read Ai Kubo Shlonsky’s article, “Traits of Persons Who Drink Decaffeinated Coffee,” and found out that the replacement of caffeinated coffee with decaffeinated was not a personal choice for many individuals. Before getting into his argument of the harmfulness of coffee, he did mention that, “Approximately 80% of Americans consume coffee, and among coffee drinkers the average US consumption is 3.1 cups of coffee per day” (Shlonsky 273). With Shlonsky’s and Troyer’s articles emphasizing coffee’s popularity, I knew I wouldn’t feel as bad reading the harm that can come with drinking too much of my go to drink.

            First I stop to think again, could coffee really harm me, or does it only cause harm to certain individuals? Variations in the consumption of it can cause multiple levels of health problems and overall has different effects on individuals. Schlonsky states that “the relation of cardiovascular history to decaffeinated coffee use leads us to briefly review the unresolved issue of an association between coronary heart disease and total coffee consumption” (Schlonsky 278). He explains that although caffeine is not the only thing responsible for the disease, that there is a higher “total blood cholesterol levels” in heavier coffee drinkers” and does in fact “contribute to higher coronary disease risk” (Schlonsky 278). Therefore not only does the overconsumption of coffee add to our dependency of caffeine, but its ingredients put consumers at risk of developing a disease. Caffeine in general shouldn’t be something we drink excess amounts of. 

            I asked myself one more time, could drinking coffee really harm me? Knowing that the answer to this question could be yes completely terrifies me. Something I was so dependent upon had betrayed me, and I couldn’t really turn to it on a daily basis.

            The problem is that my reasoning in high school is very similar to what I’ve been doing since I got to college. This constant dependency on caffeine isn’t healthy for me. Looking back to senior year I remember my mother saying she had had enough of my coffee obsession. She immediately cut it out of my diet. I’ll be honest; I didn’t comply with her new rules for a week. But after that I came to understand the importance of honoring something my mother felt so strongly about. She saw how tired I was, how agitated I’d get all the time, and then the crash that’d come with drinking caffeine on my way home from school. I saw the way my body began responding to this ongoing cycle, so I, myself had to help put a stop to this. I began ordering a venti iced green tea, lightly sweetened from Starbucks and I just liked the way I felt. It was refreshing and I didn’t feel as anxious as I did with coffee.

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            I have now made it my goal to bring my high school habit to college and for three days observe how my behavior differs with replacing my daily dose of coffee with something more natural like green tea. I needed a new way to vamp up my mornings and why not do so with something as Kevin Cirilli’s article, “The Face-Off: Coffee Vs. Tea,” from Men’s Health magazine suggests, “can aid in repairing a weak immune system…that prevents viruses from reactivating.”

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Monday February 2^nd:

I started off my morning with boiling water with my Mr. Coffee, machine. I had previously purchased Bigelow’s certified organic green tea from Safeway when I had gotten all my breakfast supplies last week. I made the tea with two tea bags, hot water, and some organic honey. The taste of tea isn’t obviously as great as a fancy delicious coffee drink from Starbucks, but if I made it work in high school, I could make it work in college. Throughout my entire Monday morning I noticed I was a lot calmer than my usual mornings. I had both a croissant and tea for breakfast because I wanted to make sure I continued to practice having breakfast as well. I wasn’t as tired as usual but I can say that I didn’t immediately wake up when I drank the tea like I do when I have coffee.

Tuesday February 3^rd: 

On Tuesday I tried making my own tea in my dorm room following the same procedures from the day before. But this time I was able to sleep in more because my class didn’t begin until 10:20am so lets just say I was in a better mood about having to make my own tea. The taste of tea itself wasn’t as pleasant as coffee. It was bitter, not as satisfying to start drinking the way that coffee presents itself to be. But what I really enjoyed about drinking green tea is that I genuinely felt better throughout the rest of my day, even though at first I initially tend to feel more tired than when I usually have coffee. I would highly recommend not really following the quote about not judging a book by its cover. Being more awake this day than the last I noticed that tea doesn’t have that great of a smell, which can make it harder to drink. But I was able to go through both of my classes drinking my tea and feeling more at ease with my busy schedule.

Wednesday February 4^th:

I really screwed up my whole process when I went to bed around 2:00am and woke up at 9:00am for my Wednesday class. Waking up to an annoying xylophone sounding alarm, my morning was already off to a bad start. Unfortunately, I turned to Tapingo. I ordered a grande chai tea iced and it was absolutely delicious. I am not sure if it was because someone else made it for me and I just had to pick it up. But I enjoyed it way more than I enjoyed the teas I had made myself the previous days. Although I was tired again in the morning, when I drank the tea I never really crash. I don’t go through an acceleration stage, mellowing out, and then crashing stage throughout my day. Tea evens out the emotions and just calmly accommodates me throughout my day.

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            Coffee is an aggressive friend that I can depend on to get me going in the morning, wake me up, but leave my system when her job is done. Tea is not so aggressive and makes time to hang out with me all day but not force me to wake up immediately. I’ve noticed that tea for some reason calms me down and why not turn to tea when I know she helps prevent me from getting sick and keeps me in a good mood. My days experimenting with tea were honestly really nice. Not only did I save five to six dollars a day that I would spend on my morning coffee, I even learned the value of making an effort to get more sleep and allowing more natural drinks to enter my body. I hope you can all learn a little something about limiting your consumption of coffee or maybe just getting some green tea here I know it has definitely helped me and hopefully brings you the same wholesome results. Stop by next week to learn about the importance of daily fruit servings and making the best choices to keep yourself as healthy as you can.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/369506344398967829/

Works Cited

Cirilli, Kevin. "The Face-Off: Coffee Vs. Tea."menshealthmag. Rodale Inc, 06 Apr.

2012. Web. 04 Feb. 2015. <http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/the-showdown-

coffee-vs-tea>.

Shlonsky, Ai Kubo, Arthur L. Klatsky, and Mary Anne Armstrong. "Traits of persons

who drink decaffeinated coffee." Annals of Epidemiology 13.4 (2003): 273-279.

Troyer, Ronald J., and Gerald E. Markle. "Coffee drinking: an emerging social problem?”

Social Problems 31.4 (1984): 403-416.

The Habits I Need to Break-Fast

  About Me:

Are you having a hard time transitioning into college? Ever miss your mother’s delicious, home cooked meals? Have you wondered how easy college would be with your parent’s telling you exactly what to do? If you’ve answered yes to one or all of these questions, this blog is worth taking a look at. Amy On the Go follows my journey transitioning from Los Angeles to Santa Clara, California, where I now attend Santa Clara University. Starting school in the fall of 2014 was no easy transition. My diet became unbalanced, my academics were hard to maintain, and like many first year students I became extremely homesick. Going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas break felt like all of the weight was lifted off my shoulders once my mom told me what to eat and how to go about my whole eating schedule. The problem is, my mom doesn’t go to school with me. She can’t tell me what to avoid, and most importantly she cannot tell me what to eat everyday.

            I created this blog to show not only college students, but myself that creating your own schedules and eating habits should not have to be that difficult. I want to bring some lessons my mother has instilled in me throughout my high school years and apply them to my college experience here at Santa Clara. I am not going to lie; it will be hard. College students have to worry about their academics, eating healthy, staying fit, and navigating through their crazy schedules. Amy On the Go, follows my college journey and the obstacles that come with being more that 350 miles away from home. But with research and experimenting for myself, I am sure that I will be on the pathway to being in control of my own schedule. Finding a balance and creating healthful habits will be my ultimate goal. But I am not an expert, I will be on this journey with my readers toward an easier college experience. I will serve as a source of education to surviving college without our parents. Hope you join me along for the ride. 

*My lovely mother and I*

            “Tienes que desayunar,” you have to have breakfast, my mother continuously reminded me all throughout high school. Lars Lien from the Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine and Institute of Psychiatry discuses the importance of breakfast for young people in his piece, "Is breakfast consumption related to mental distress and academic performance in adolescents." Lien states that, “regular consumption of breakfasts cereal [has] been shown not only to lead to being in a positive mood, but also to improve memory and driving performance,” and “has been linked to reduced stress and reduced infection rates…” (Lien 422).  Breakfast not only improves overall performance throughout one’s day, but it also helps lessen the poor health that may result from crazy college schedules.

                                           http://www.wellingtontutoring.com/researcher-offers-simple-tips-to-help-college-students-fend-off-freak-outs/

                Looking back to my high school experience, it started off very similar to my first quarter here at SCU. As I was busy with homework, extracurricular activities, and taking on endeavors that would impress college admissions, breakfast never seemed like the most important meal of the day. I stayed hard at work, making it difficult to make time to have a decent meal. At least for me, sitting down to have breakfast was never really an option.

            As luck would have it, running on no sleep, having a busy schedule, and of course not having the best options are a few of the daily struggles many college students deal with when thinking about having breakfast. I probably had breakfast once my first quarter of freshman year. Yes, I had breakfast one time, and I’m pretty sure it was a power bar that I only had half of. It was a poor choice. Lien also states that breakfast is so important that, “eating [it] regularly is associated with less mental distress and improved academic performance in a dose-response manner among adolescents” (Lien 425).  Breaking away from these poor habits would be key toward bettering my personal “mental distress” and “performance” in all my classes. I saw my sleeping habits become irregular, my homework not being completed to the best of my ability, and a constant exhaustion that followed me throughout my day. I knew things had to change during the winter quarter.

http://blog.bpm-latam.org/2011/03/harvard-business-review-blog-acerca-de.html

For my first post I’d thought I would keep in mind the number one lesson my mother gave me in high school: always have breakfast. Seeing as I wanted to improve my second quarter of freshman year, I thought, why not give this advice from my mom a try? Starting on Friday January 30^th, my plan was to put Lien’s and my mother’s facts to work and analyze my behavior after having breakfast for two days. I wanted to improve my diet, and performance in class, and hope that with this daily boost I’d even be happier during my time at SCU. But as Gail Rampersaud suggests in his piece, "Breakfast Habits, Nutritional Status, Body Weight, and Academic Performance in children and Adolescents," the nutrition that one’s breakfast contains is as important as having breakfast itself. He states that breakfast should “include foods from a variety of food groups (eg, whole grain, fruit, and dairy) to ensure that [individuals] receive a variety of nutrients and fiber” and a high intake of dairy products because, “a decreased consumption of milk products could result in low consumption of other nutrients such as vitamin A and riboflavin” (Rampersaud 754). Keeping this in mind I knew that I would not just have anything for breakfast. My first meal of the day had to be well balanced and contain a good variation within the food groups.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/diabetes2/subsection.cfm?SubSectionID=14

Friday January 30^th:

On Thursday, I immediately went to Safeway to buy foods to make sure I could start my Friday morning with a wholesome breakfast. I woke up earlier so I could boil some milk in my Mr. Coffee kettle and prepare my oatmeal before my 9:15am class. Using this plastic cup, I put in a small cup of oatmeal, couple cups of boiled milk, a small packet of sugar, and added bananas for it to taste better. It took me a total of about ten minutes to prepare my oatmeal. Altogether I received more than 25 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein, about 3 grams of fat, and 10% of my daily value of iron from the oatmeal. It is also rich in many other minerals. In addition to my oatmeal, the banana included about 50 carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein, and 1 gram of total fat. Overall it was a delicious breakfast that was easy to make and included various amounts of fiber and nutrients to get me through my Friday.

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Saturday January 31^st:

            Waking up Saturday morning I craved a tasty bowl of cereal. I had two choices in my dorm, Cocoa Puffs or Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds. Seeking a more wholesome option, I went for the Honey Bunches of Oats that included about 2.5 grams of fat, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein, 15% Vitamin A, 60% iron, 10% Vitamin D, and even 25% of riboflavin. I knew this cereal would be a better choice because of the whole grain wheat, oats, and almonds it contained. I was also able to include my diary products with adding non-fat milk to my cereal. The milk also included 32% of calcium, 10% Vitamin A, 4% of Vitamin C, 1% Iron, and 9 grams of protein. Not only was I able to include some grain and oats, but also the milk definitely helped boost the vitamins and protein I received from the meal altogether.   

http://onesweetappetite.com/apple-crisp/

            I would  my trial having breakfast in the morning was a success. Friday being my first day having breakfast was hard. I was not hungry at all, but I made sure I finished my cup of oatmeal for the sake of seeing the difference compared to days where I didn’t have breakfast. Usually I tend to be sleepy during my first two classes on Fridays before I have lunch. But surprisingly on Friday I didn’t feel as tired, and I was even productive during my break in between my 10:30am class and my math class at 2:15pm. I usually want to nap or just hang out during my break, but on Friday, I decided to work on math homework for the following week. Then on Saturday it was a bit different. Having cereal with milk did help me initially wake up, but I noticed I got hungry before my usual lunchtime. I’m not sure if it was because maybe I had a small bowl of cereal, but I did notice how soon I was ready for another meal. Both days taught me valuable lessons about the importance of breakfast, but most importantly the significance of what I include in my breakfast. These meals have to be nourishing and help me get through my mornings until lunchtime. One cannot simply slack off on what I've now come to see as the most important meal of the day. My goal is to continue this and make having breakfast a habit. I need to break away from my poor habits and structure my eating schedule now. Along with having breakfast every morning, I also hope to explore my morning drinks. Stop by next week to read about my decision to look into eliminating coffee with more natural options that will give me the same energy coffee does in the morning.

https://zero2sixtyevents.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/never-skip-breakfast-again/

http://weheartit.com/entry/134505711

Works Cited

Lien, Lars. "Is breakfast consumption related to mental distress and academic performance in

 adolescents?." Public health nutrition 10.04 (2007): 422-428.

Rampersaud, Gail C., et al. "Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic

performance in children and adolescents." Journal of the American Dietetic

 Association 105.5 (2005): 743-760.