A Bite of Freshness and Nutrition

            Welcome back to Amy On The Go. I hope everyone’s long weekend was filled with delicious food and plenty of rest. Since my last two posts I have tried to continue my commitment to eating breakfast and replacing coffee with green tea. Trust me, it is not as easy as it sounds to break old habits. So far, my breakfast streak has been on and off in eating full meals. But what I have learned to do is grab a granola bar, fruit, or even a smoothie when I might not have that much time on my hands. If any of you have other easy, nourishing options please comment or email me; I’m all ears. On the other hand replacing coffee with other morning drinks has not been that difficult for me. I’ve tried going to bed earlier so I don’t have to depend on caffeine waking me up, or I’ll just have tea throughout the day to keep me going.  I hope that my effective results have inspired or maybe just gotten some of you thinking on ways to improve negative dietary habits.

            This weekend I was able to go home to Los Angeles and actually have my mom disciplining what I ate. I know it doesn’t sound like fun, but I honestly prefer to have her narrow my options rather than having to make up my mind all on my own. I couldn’t wait to arrive Saturday morning and have a delicious home cooked meal at my favorite chair in our round, glass kitchen table, with the smell of cinnamon candles my mother always keeps in our kitchen. As luck would have it, this was not the case at all. I woke up Saturday morning to chills, heat flashes, a sore throat, and cough. To make this morning even worse, my flight got delayed by half an hour, preventing me from getting home as soon as possible. Nature seemed to be against me that morning.

http://brothatech.com/lax-airport-tech/

            I finally arrived around 11:07 a.m. and going through the front door of my house, I felt this unexplainable awe that automatically made feel at peace. All I wanted to do was sleep. My body ached even more than it did in the morning and I expected a lesson from my mother with the way I looked. She obviously hugged me and told me she missed me, but then questioned my illness. She asked why it seemed that I was getting sick every other week. “Are you not taking care of yourself? Are you not sleeping enough, showering too late, or not washing your hands enough? Have you been eating all your fruits and vegetables?” As she overwhelmed me with questions, I knew most of the answers I would give wouldn’t be good enough for her. Even though I spent the whole three days at home sick, one of her questions really stood out to me. Was I getting my full amount of fruits and vegetables? My answer was obviously no.

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/children-are-still-not-eating-enough-vegetables-but-heres-a-solution

According to the center for Disease Control and Prevention an eighteen-year-old female like myself that does more than sixty minutes of physical activity a day should eat about two cups of fruit and three cups of vegetables. The websites states that, “Your age, sex, and activity level determine how many calories you need each day, and your calorie needs determine how many fruits and vegetables you should eat” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In other words, fruit and vegetable servings vary for individuals. Below is the link for the website that includes a fruit and vegetable serving calculator where you can input your age, sex, and amount of physical activity to see how many cups you should be eating.

http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/fruitsvegetables/howmany.html           

            Once you figure out how much fruits’ and vegetables’ you should be eating the question is why comply with these calculations. According to the “Choose My Plate” website sponsored by the USDA, eating the right amount of fruits and vegetables provides many health benefits. Both help reduce risk of some chronic diseases, maintain a healthy body, and can even serve to reduce calorie intake.  Many people don’t realize how fruits’ and vegetables’ nutritional advantages really aid with health related problems, and the prevention of many illnesses. I knew that I was definitely not getting my two to three cups of fruits and vegetables here at Santa Clara. Obviously all those patterns needed to change if I wanted to build a strong immune system that would fight back against all the germs that were roaming around campus. It was true I was getting sick too often for me to even count, and we all know being physically sick away from home is not fun at all. Ok, so I need fruit in my system. The question is how do I begin including that in my diet without having to carry around a bag filled with fruits and vegetables. Here are some ideas I will try to continue practicing from this weekend to develop a better immune system during college.

http://www.hellawella.com/why-a-juice-cleanse-is-a-waste-of-your-time-and-money/6495

First option is to go to my nearest grocery store and buy actual fruits and vegetables. Both can be eaten raw and taste delicious. My mother always keeps fresh grapes, oranges, bananas, raspberries, carrots, celery, and broccoli at home for us to eat as snacks. But I don’t have all of this in my room. So I sought out the Safeway that’s across the street and a couple blocks from my residential hall. I purchased three bananas, two organic apples, and two oranges. These three are easy fruits that easily fill me up in the morning accompanied with another snack for breakfast or maybe just a snack throughout the day. The banana will be approximately 200 calories, includes protein, about 28 grams of sugar and both vitamin A and C, iron, and calcium. Apples are about 65 calories; include 13 grams of sugar, both vitamin A and C, iron, calcium, but no protein. Then oranges have about 85 calories with 17 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein, vitamin A, a lot of vitamin C, calcium, and iron. All these fruits as well as others can be great options, but the amount of fruit and getting the correct number of cups is crucial for my daily intake.

http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/safeway/melbourne

            Not having an actual kitchen in one’s dorm can make it difficult to keep some of things from going bad. Another way of getting one’s daily servings is smoothies. Not only do Mission Bakery, The Sunstream café, Cadence Cyber café, and even the Bronco’s Fresco make fruit/vegetable smoothies, but you could also ask them to make them with just water to get more natural taste. Some of my favorite smoothies include Straw-Nana (strawberries, bananas, frozen yogurt, apple juice), Super Sunshine (orange juice, mango, bananas, frozen yogurt), and Tropical Vacation (Pineapple syrup, coconut syrup, mango, and frozen yogurt). Although they all may sound delicious, they don’t all include the best fruit options. Each drink can be customized and made into healthier options when ordered. Each probably contains maybe half the servings of fruit one should have and ranges from 300 to 600 calories. When considering options like smoothies taking into consideration the huge servings of sugar is critical to not exceed the amount of daily sugar intake.

http://smoothieideas.com/2013/03/what-is-a-smoothie/

            Having fruit options is important, but not forgetting about one’s vegetables is also crucial. Vegetables can also be bought and eaten raw the way many fruits are. Some of my most popular picks include carrots, broccoli, and celery. The three options include significant amounts of Vitamin A and C, calcium, and iron. Each vegetable is known for different health benefits. Such as carrots helping eyesight and broccoli helping reduce cholesterol. Like fruit, it is up to the consumer to what they choose to eat. It may become difficult to eat veggies at times so I’ve suggested a few ways that getting one’s daily dose of veggies will be easier and fun. Try eating your vegetables with ranch, humus, or maybe even lime and salt. When on the go and looking for an easy snack, vegetables are always a wholesome option. Then if you want to include your vegetables during a full meal sautéing them are always a delicious option.

http://www.cakechooser.com/vegetable-platter/

            Getting creative with what you eat may be hard, but doing so makes it easier to eat the healthy choices. It is important to become educated on all the different food groups and the benefits of including each of them in our diets. From our daily servings of fruits to the necessary greens, every serving counts in avoiding many health risks. I hope you all takeaway at least one advantage from eating delicious, all natural, fresh fruits and vegetables because not only are they filled with nutrients, but every bite leaves me wanting more. Try mixing up some meals with fresh produce here and there and I know you won’t regret it. Please stop by and comment on the fruits and vegetables you tried or made recipes for and I’ll be glad to share them on my next post.

http://recreation.gmu.edu/2013/02/february-love/

Works Cited

"Food Groups." Choose My Plate. United States Department of Agriculture, 2015. Web. 17 Feb.

2015. <http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/>.

"Results and Recommendations." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USA

Government, 28 June 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/

fruitsvegetables/results/women.html?age=18&gender=female&activity=active&folder=U

SCDC_466&email=>.