Q: Are there specific foods I need to eat to keep my energy level up for school and other activities?

A: One way we get an energetic disposition by eating a balanced diet. The major energy nutrients in food are carbohydrate, protein and fats. The majority of our energy comes from carbohydrates, then fats and, finally, protein can be used if all else fails.
If you are skipping meals your body will not have the nutrients it needs to fuel itself throughout the day. Skipping breakfast in the morning is common, and can lead to students falling asleep in class and not having the energy to function at full mental and physical capacity. A quick bowl of high fiber cereal with skim milk will do your body a world of good in the morning. Or even a handful of trail mix.
Consuming a meal or snack high in complex carbohydrates, while also containing a small amount of protein, can help to make sure that your body has sufficient energy to function properly. Complex carbohydrates are plant products that haven’t been heavily processed – for example, brown rice. Whole grain cereals and grains – think bran flakes, shredded wheat, cracked wheat bread are other examples. These are excellent foods to include in meals and snacks but don’t forget to include a protein rich food too. Just a small amount will help with steady digestion of the energy by your body. One egg is an ounce of protein. 2 Tbsp of peanut butter will do it, or a handful of nuts. Dairy products have protein as well as a host of other useful nutrients – choose 1% or nonfat products to avoid excessive saturated fat.
Fat is critical to consume daily but the type of fat matters when it comes to your health. Saturated fats and trans fats are not as beneficial as the more unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are found in fish oils, whole grains, avocados, olives, nuts, nut oils and other vegetable oils.
Vitamins and minerals play a role in the release of energy from the foods you eat. B-vitamins, especially, are important. B-vitamins are found in many of the foods mentioned above…whole, unprocessed foods. Processed foods contain fewer B-vitamins.
Iron plays an important role in oxygen transportation in the blood. Inadequate iron can lead to a feeling of fatigue. Women need to consume a larger quantity of iron than men due to physiological differences. If you are not getting enough iron in your diet, you may want to consider taking a multivitamin. Iron is found in fortified cereals, dry beans, peas, lentils and in much higher quantities in red meats.

How to relax with Progressive Muscle Relaxation

As I said before, PMR involves the tightening of a specific muscle group while simultaneously inhaling, then complete relaxation of the muscle group with exhale. You may find at first it seems a little funny to flex just one area of your body, especially in places like your forehead. But it results in total body relaxation because you become completely aware of any sort of muscle tension in your body, thus focusing you on relief of such tensions. To start, isolate yourself in a quiet room and lay down on your back. Then you can begin moving down the muscle groups. For an idea, here is how WebMD.com outlines progressive muscle relaxation:

1. Breathe in, and tense the first muscle group (hard but not to the point of cramping) for 4 to 10 seconds.
2. Breathe out, and suddenly and completely relax the muscle group (do not relax it gradually).
3. Relax for 10 to 20 seconds before you work on the next muscle group.
4. When you are finished with all of the muscle groups, count backward from 5 to 1 to bring your focus back to the present.

Muscle Group Focus                                               What to do

Now that you are a pro at the Progressive Muscle Relaxation technique, give it a try next time you are tense and stressed. Try using an audio guided progressive muscle relaxation tape or video such as this one from youtube. Enjoy!

Vitamin Water is the obvious front-runner of the vitamin fortified water market. It offers a wide variety of flavors that all vary in their taste and vitamin content, and thus will differ in the function it carries out in the body. Vitamin Water takes full advantage of this by basing their product naming of the different Vitamin Water varieties on the vitamin’s function rather than it’s flavor. This thoughtful marketing strategy suggests that these beverages are on the shelf to help invigorate your well-being rather than follow the sugary beverage clique. For example, instead of “Orange,” we have “Essential.” (To view all of the vitamin water selections and their contents, click here). This particular flavor provides a good balance of many essential vitamins and minerals that us humans require to provide healthy tissue function and prevent deficiency. “Essential” contains calcium for healthy bone growth, many b vitamins to aid in energy production, brain function, and muscle development, vitamin C for immune boosts, and many more (for more info on structure and functions of b vitamins, click here).

However, if you take a closer look at the nutrition label (always a good idea), you will notice that all Vitamin Water flavors have 13 g of sugar per serving and there are about 2.5 servings in every bottle. Do the math, and that’s 32.5 grams of sugar per bottle! As many newly educated American consumers already know, high sugar consumption is a major contributor to this country’s overweight and heart disease epidemic. So what am I saying? Don’t buy these drinks that seem to supply you with all the beneficial nutrients I listed above? Fortunately, Vitamin Water and other companies anticipated this criticism shortly after they released their initial product line. Vitamin Water now has Vitamin Water 10 and Vitamin Water 0 options with much fewer calories and lower sugar contents (more about Vitamin Water 10). Reach for these drinks instead of the sweeter, more tempting options I listed above as a much healthier alternative. These drinks are also a much better choice if physical activity is not part of your daily life. Excess sugar is more readily converted to fat if exercise is absent from daily habit. Other companies like Sobe have also created 0 calorie vitamin enriched waters (Sobe Lifewater) with their own vitamin contents and marketing strategies.

Although Vitamin Water contains some of the vitamins and minerals we need as health demanding individuals, they usually do not supply anywhere near the recommended amount we should be consuming on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, Vitamin Water (especially a low calorie option) is a great choice over canned soda. However, I am very concerned that students, parents, and children are replacing their lack of vitamin consumption from wholesome foods with drinking Vitamin Water. All of the vitamins found in Vitamin Water are more abundant in fruits and vegetables. All the healthy nutrients that a person can obtain from Vitamin Water are more readily available in a small healthy snack. So why spend the money when you could be getting the same (if not more) of the benefits from your diet? Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by the fortification and enrichment marketing strategies. Make it your own responsibility to obtain the vitamins you need by spending a little more time in the produce aisle.

Dietitian’s criticisms? Click here.

During the NFL Combine, players go through a series of tests for professional scouts. Some of these tests include shuttle drills, broad jump, vertical jump, bench press, and the ever so popular 40- yard dash. In many cases, these drills can make or break an athlete’s stock going into the draft. As the competition continues to grow stronger among college players, the popularity of pre- combine training has grown as well.

Many players seek the help of notable training academies such as IMG Performance Institute, Cutting Edge Sports Training, and Athlete’s Performance Institute. These training regimens include everything from weight lifting and position drills, to proper nutrition plans individually designed to boost each player’s numbers.

Possibly the most popular institute out there today is Athlete’s Performance. Since 2006 their training has produced 14 top ten draft picks and proudly boasts the number one pick overall in each of the last four years. Many athletes have chosen Athlete’s Performance over all the others due to their prestigious track record as well as their advanced facilities and services.

Every athlete who chooses to train with Athlete’s Performance is given the opportunity for strength and speed coaching, individualized nutrition plans, on- site meal services, massages, and video analysis. The biggest advantage that these NFL hopefuls receive, however, is the combine specific training. Not only are they prepared for the combine drills, but they are also exposed to the Wonderlic test, interview skills, and even media training.

Athlete’s Performance takes its player development to a completely different level by making sure every player walks away with better skills both on and off the field. This year 5 of the 16 draft attendees trained with Athlete’s Performance, including two of the top three picks. Oklahoma’s QB Sam Bradford and DT Gerald McCoy scored a big paycheck on draft day, and after receiving the proper preparation needed to succeed in the NFL, teams can be confident that these guys will earn every penny of their investments.

I’m going to take a different approach at looking at drinking instead of preaching that drinking is bad, when drinking in moderation isn’t in fact all that bad. I’ll focus on how healthy or unhealthy drinking can affect an individual. Body image is important to some of college students, drinking can defiantly affect the way a person looks, inside and out. Here is more information on health and alcohol.

What’s really in a shot? More than just alcohol 1 shot is very high in calories; in fact a lot of alcohol is high in calories and sugars especially beers and vodkas.

So what are you drinking on a typical night out at the bars or some party?

It is important to know that one 10-12oz beer = one 5oz glass of wine or wine cooler = one 1.5oz mixed drink. Knowing how much you are drinking when you do decided to drink is important, and usually stops someone from going over board when they drink.

A standard drink is about 100 calories which means if someone drinks about 6 shots every Saturday for 1 month they have consumed about 8 cheeseburgers which is about 2952 calories from just drinking alone. This very useful information about what you maybe drinking can be found on this website.

Another common thing to do in today’s party scene is mix alcohol with energy drinks. This can be a deadly combination that can have serious effects on the heart and brain. For more information on this common trend Alcohol and Problem solutions explain it the best. Energy drinks claim to stimulate the mind and body but when mixed with alcohol they can have effects that can stimulate the mind and body for longer periods of time. Causing a person to stay awake longer, make the heart beat a lot faster, and causes blood pressure to raise.

By limiting the amount of alcohol that you may consume in a single outting and exercising more, you can see positive changes in the way you look, feel, and act. Doing things like playing drinking games and not being aware of what and how much you are drinking can have lasting effects on your body over time. The negative thing about most drinking games is there really is no limit to how much a person is drinking, they just drink and drink until the game is over. Eliminating those things or having more rules that don’t allow people to just drink and drink when they play can show positive changes on a persons health.

For more tips on college drinking and drinking in general, please check out this video on Binge Drinking

“Yeah, I get so bored”

Does this sound like you?  If you answered “yes” you are not alone.   I have encountered numerous amounts of people who hate to do cardio, attempt to do cardio, then quit and those who neglect to participate in cardio altogether.

What is Cardiovascular Exercise?

The word cardiovascular can be broken down into two parts:

“Cardio” – refers to the heart (from the Greek root kardia)
“vascular” – refers to your blood vessels (from the Latin word vasculum)

When you are doing cardiovascular exercise you are doing aerobic work.  Common cardiovascular exercises include: running, cycling, swimming or taking a step class.

What are the Benefits to Cardiovascular Exercise?

“If so many people complain about doing cardio then why are they doing it and why should I?”

There are countless benefits to doing cardio exercise. Let’s take a look at a few.

Benefits:

· Decreases the risk of heart disease.

· Decreases the risk of diabetes.

· Weight loss.  Complimenting cardiovascular exercise with strength training and healthy eating habits is generally the most effective way to lose excess body fat.  By taking one of these three things away it may disturb the formula to get to your goal.

“Okay, I know why cardio is important, but that doesn’t make it any less of a pain or a bore”

I understand and I did not write to talk about the benefits you probably already know.  Let us find some ways that can assist in the struggle to perform and enjoy a cardio workout.  One of my favorite ways to get my cardio is an interval workout paired with my favorite new songs.

An interval workout is where you have periods of the workout where you increase the intensity level and then recover by returning to a lower intensity level.  The idea is to create a playlist and, to make it an interval workout:  speed up during the chorus.

You can perform a cardio interval workout on an elliptical, treadmill, stationary bike, stair climber, outdoor running/jogging/walking, outdoor cycling or something similar.

The recommendation is to make you interval workout around your favorite type of music.  Whether it is hip hop or oldies there is a genre that gets you going.  Music is an easy way to motivate your bodies to move, particularly music that “calls” to our individual tastes.  By listening to a playlist you not only pass the time during your cardio workout, by create an original interval workout – and it’s easy to make.

Steps to Design a Cardio Playlist:

· Determine the length of your workout. This depends on your time constraints, but more importantly, your current cardiovascular endurance level.  It is best to start small and build.  By taking on too much too soon the chance of injury increases.  The American Heart Association recommends that all healthy adults ages 18–65 should be getting at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity five days of the week.

· Set aside time for a warm up and cool down. Whatever amount of time you choose, let’s make the first 5-10 minutes a warm up and the last 5-10 minutes a cool down.

Example: For a 45 minute workout set a side 7-8minute warm up and 7-8 minute cool down.

· Choose warm up and cool down songs. Warm up songs should be slower than the workout songs.  Your warm up pace is easy and feels like you could go on with your exercise for a very long time.  Cool down songs, similarly, are slower are meant to calm your mental state down after pushing it during the work phase.

· Choose work phase songs. These songs are intended to get your body moving so let’s pick your favorites.  These are the songs in between the warm up and cool down were you will be increasing your pace during the chorus.

• Hatha yoga: This is a general beginner’s yoga class. Hatha yoga encompasses the basic physical movements of yoga and is often a combination of slow, gentle movements.
• Ashtanga yoga: This style uses the traditional movements of yoga but is performed in a faster pace. The poses go from one to the next in a non-stop sequence, so it creates a more intense, flowing yoga class.
• Power yoga: This type of yoga uses an Ashtanga flow basis, but is geared toward a fitness-based athlete. It does not have the specific poses of Ashtanga yoga, so it may vary from one instructor to the next but will generally have a more vigorous basis as compared to the other yoga styles.
• Bikram yoga: If you want to get your sweat on and toxins out, give this style of yoga a try. Practiced in a room of 95+ degrees, Bikram yoga is definitely a challenge, but also my personal favorite. If you like to push yourself in a workout but need a rest from cardio, this kind of yoga is perfect for you. But be warned: you may want to try a more traditional yoga first and then add on the heat. Check out this video for some Bikram student’s insights: http://www.webmd.com/video/hot-yoga

As you can see, there is a style of yoga for any level of athlete or for a range of fitness interests. Coming from a student under high stress, I always suggest yoga to my friends for relaxation because it is the one thing that I have found completely frees me from anxiety. If you go into a yoga class with an open mind and a will to de-stress, I can guarantee you will feel more calm and clear-minded after trying it. For yoga classes near you, check out the ARC’s group exercise classes that include Ashtanga yoga, Fitness yoga, Mindful yoga and more (http://campusrecreation.ucdavis.edu/cms/internal.aspx?uid=82b1214b-5638-4d7a-af46-d2773725e71f ). Or check out Davis’ Bikram yoga studio on L Street at www.bikramdavis.com . Namaste!

Sharon Coulson, the director of Coffee House dining operations, is extremely optimistic about the potential of the currently closed off Coffee House west wing. In a July of 2009 interview with Dateline UC Davis, Sharon said “we have to go through the pain and come out the other end with a better food service operation.” And I think we can all agree she is correct. The food lines and crowds at the Coho, even at its calm hours, can be a little overwhelming. It’s obvious that the students crave the Coho food for its variety, taste, and nutritious options, so why not cater to Davis’ growing population with a smoother food service organization and a revamped focus on nutrition?

Rather than walking into the west wing of the Coffee House with all the food choices arranged along one wall, the restaurants will now be displayed around the perimeter of the room for easier access to registers and comfortable seating. According to Sharon, these restaurants will include a new “Tex Mex Grill” for Mexican options, a station for salad entrees and wraps, a sandwich deli, an improved pizza and pasta bar, a section with fresh sushi, and hopefully a new smoothie bar. Sharon is “all about healthy eating,” so it made my interview with her on February 26^th very informative and enjoyable.

Sharon hopes to design the new Mexican “Tex Mex Grill” around healthy eating. She wants to ensure customers can acquire Mexican food without suffering the extra calories. “If people want 300 calories in their meals they should be able to get it.” “Tex Mex” will offer two sizes of burritos: a basic size with only beans, rice, and salsa with a choice of meat or a super size with added cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. Sauteed vegetables will also be an option for a burrito or taco add-on. Now people of rich taste preferences and diet enthusiasts can equally satisfy their Mexican food cravings.

The salad portion of the renovated Coho will include the new tossed salad and wrap entrees in addition to a grab n’ go section for students on their way to class. Sharon hopes to add wholesome options such as a salmon salad rich with field greens and other vegetables or a grilled chicken breast wrap in a wheat tortilla. The entrees may not provide the same extensive variety as the pre-renovation full salad bar, but lack of space has pushed Sharon (who admits she will also miss the salad bar) to create the smaller salad “station” as a very worthy alternative.

The pizza and pasta bar is the option that Sharon is most excited about. To support her belief that “we definitely need fresh veggies every day,” she is offering a side of steamed vegetables as a side for pizza and pasta dishes. She is also adding a “grain of the day” at the bar, providing students with brown rice, quinoa, polenta, and barley among others. Customers can also get whole wheat pasta and a vegan marinara sauce to give the meal an extra nutritional boost.

The sushi station will include pre-packaged Sushi prepared fresh daily. If you guys ever wanted to meet me, you can probably find me at this section of the Coho the day that it opens.

Although this update on Coho improvements may have inadvertently caused an increase in your hunger level, I hope you share my excitement for the impending arrival of what seems to be the future nutritional Mecca on campus. The funding for the new Coho would not have been possible without the students, so don’t be afraid to reap the benefits and exhaust this resource to fulfill all your old and new cravings.

Cooling down is often times the most neglected part of a workout. Many people think it is unimportant or a waste of time. I know from experience that sometimes I just get too lazy to cool down after a strenuous routine. But without the proper- post workout activity, all of that hard work could potentially go to waste. I mean if you’re going to get after it for a full hour lifting or running, you might as well spare that extra 15 minutes afterwards to maximize your progress right?

Just like warming up before you exercise, cooling down is a necessary tool to enhance your results from training and aid in recovery. It allows your body to return to a pre- workout level bringing your heart rate and breathing back to a normal state. Cooling down also flushes out the body of waste and toxins built up during physical activity, and can help reduce post exercise muscle soreness.

According to Brad Walker’s article, “Cool Down Stretching Exercises”, there are three important elements to gearing the body down after a workout. These three key parts are gentle exercise, stretching, and refueling.

Gentle exercise is a vital part of cooling the body down in order to smoothly transition the heart back to a resting state. When we engage in physical activity our heart beats fast circulating large amounts of blood throughout the working body. But once exercise has ceased, the blood in the body is unassisted in its return to the heart, causing swelling and pain in the muscles. In using aerobic activity or just simply bringing down the intensity of your workout towards the end, you’re gradually lowering your heart rate into a pre- workout level and avoiding the pooling of blood in the muscles. Stretching is also very important to the body’s recovery from exercise. According to Walker, muscle fibers, tendons, and ligaments all get damaged during physical activity.

“During exercise, tiny tears called micro tears develop within the muscle fibers. These micro tears cause swelling of the muscle tissues which in turn puts pressure on the nerve endings and results in pain.”

These tears lead to soreness which can help be prevented by some light static stretching after your normal routine. Gentle exercise and static stretching are also very important in aiding the body while it flushes out waste products built up during workouts. Static stretching is holding a stretch for 10-30 seconds without bouncing or pulsing.

Just as important as the first two elements of cooling down, refueling the body with nutrients can go a long way in your recovery. This can be achieved by nourishing the body with plenty of water, minerals, and carbohydrates. Check out Calorie Hunter’s article “Those Hungry Muscles” for more information on post- workout nutrition.

So don’t cut your training short by skipping out on a post- workout routine. Maximize your results with an extra 15 minutes a day and your body will thank you for it.

We’ve all seen the marketing campaigns for “Skinny” lattes and the “Drive Thru Diet.” If these new health conscious menu choices are supposed to make it easier for me to order and maintain a healthy diet, I should probably take a closer look. Let’s see what’s really on the menu.

Starbucks Coffee has recently released their new line of Skinny Lattes that provide alternatives to some of their high calorie, high sugar options. Customers could always enjoy a tall, non-fat, sugar free cinnamon dolce latte, but Starbucks is now offering the convenient reduction in adjectives with the Skinny while you wait in line. Starbucks has enriched the Skinny Lattes with artificial sweeteners that don’t contribute calories so the customers can enjoy their favorite choices without having to sacrifice the flavor (for more tips on saving calories at Starbucks click here) However, Starbucks has made an even larger step towards public nutrition awareness by requiring all stores to display nutritional information in their stores and on their website. According to Katie Thompson, senior nutritionist at Starbucks, the company is now “ahead of the game in that we are being transparent.” However, becoming nutritionally transparent means Starbucks cannot sit back and expect people to continue consuming their traditional high calorie drinks and snacks. The current Skinny menu is too limited to cater to all newly educated Starbuck’s passer-bys. In order to truly adapt to the nutritionally conscious era, more fruit and vegetable snacks with a larger Skinny menu catering to all coffee drinkers would be a good start. (for an example of a newly educated disgruntled customer, take a look).

“These results aren’t typical but for me they’re fantastic” These are the very inspiring yet deceptive words of Christine, the new spokeswoman for Taco Bell’s new Drive Thru Diet. She attributes her 54 pound weight loss to Taco Bell’s new Fresco selections on the menu. Just by viewing the commercial, Taco Bell is clearly trying to market a wholesome diet program to frequent fast food goers. According to this article, the difference in calories between the original and Fresco items is not substantial enough to be considered an improvement and the only major healthful alteration in the Fresco items is the substitution of salsa for cheese. Christine also mentions that she chose “other sensible choices” in addition to the fast food that contributed to her weight loss. My guess is those other choices included two carrots and some Cheerios tidbits if she was eating Taco Bell every day. Don’t be manipulated by Christine’s message! Use the Drive Thru Diet menu only if you are obligated to fine dine at one of the elegant Taco Bell locations. Taco Bell’s goals clearly were to manipulate the public and get people thinking they were making healthful changes by exchanging the Chihuahua with an attractive middle aged woman who may or may not have lost weight by sticking to the Fresco menu.

I think these restaurant’s attempts to re-create their menu are great. However, as customers, we are still in complete control of what we eat. Just because restaurants are making progressions toward serving healthier menu options, it doesn’t mean we will have a less- obese America. The bottom line is we need to be aware of what we are putting in our mouths and become more active. I just hope that this awareness will make us think twice before we “drive through” in search of a wholesome meal.