Brain Food

Hey friends!

Sorry if posting gets a little sporadic this week—it’s midterm week already and I have to dedicate 80% of my time to studying. (10% eating, 10% sleeping). So basically no time left to do anything else—thankfully on Friday it’ll be all good till finals!

Whether you’re in school, out of school, or in between, there’s always going to be a time you need to use your brain for things other than everyday easy tasks. Tests, problem-solving at work, multi-tasking, planning, etc all require your brain to be working top-notch. How to make sure it will work for your advantage? Well ample sleep and good food are priorities.

I like to call it brain food!

How to eat to best benefit your brain?

• Breakfast: If you’re strapped for time in the morning, as we all tend to be, a bowl of fruit is a much better energy source that will start the brain working. Later on in the morning something with more protein, a cereal, will do the same to keep energy in the brain all day. A piece of toast or sandwich does the same, directly improving memory and attention.
• Snacks: Energy bars with not a lot of sugar such as Lara bars provide a steady stream of good for you ingredients that will satiate you and stop stomach grumblings from disrupting you until your next meal.
• Lunch: Vegetables do much of the same good as fruit. Glucose levels alter during cooking so sticking to a salad may be better. Think about adding an egg to the mix. Egg yolk is a leading source for choline, a nutrient that, recently, has been proven to boost brainpower by speeding up the sending of signals to nerve cells in the brain. Complementing this with nuts [particularly walnuts] balance omega-3 acids with omega-6’s while neutralizing blood sugar levels.
• Drinks: While eating food for the brain, it is important to keep hydrated. At least 80 ounces of water every day reduce stress hormones. Drinking non-caffeinated tea, like green tea, relaxes the brain and induces mental alertness. A juice, such as grapefruit juice, has the same affects for the brain as fruits and vegetables along with the hydration benefits.
• Dinner: Let your dinner contain some carbs because when eaten with protein or fat they may indeed be mentally soothing. Pizza is a good example because it contains a lot of carbs, but protein and fat as well. Soothing for the mind. There are times when we all need some of that!

Here’s my brain food I am eating this week to power me through this studying and tests!

Fruit, yogurt, and granola parfaits. The perfect balance of protein(yogurt), carbs(granola), and natural sugar(fruit). Also easily packed for lunch!

 

Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal. Not only is cereal a breakfast food, but it can be put in a small baggy to eat as a pre-portioned snack, which is what I like to do for in between classes or a test snack! :-) This cereal reminded me of Captain Crunch, but with a honey touch instead of PB—now it’s a definite staple in my cereal stash.

Nature’s Valley Nut Lovers clusters consist of cashews, pecans, peanuts, granola and a smidgen of honey. Such a good snack to hold you over—not only are nuts super good for you in moderation, these are a little tastier than your average plain nut! (Watch for the review on the whole line in the near future!)

Okay, so a lollipop is a lollipop, but lets just say Yummy Earth takes it to a whole new and healthier level. Their lollipops are handcrafted and the flavors are made with real fruit extracts.  They even use organic black carrots and
organic pumpkin for fabulous color!! Be sure to check out their 21 YUMMY flavors! Studies show that students who chew gum or suck on candy concentrate significantly better.

 

These Meteor Bites are from Galaxy Granola are super hard to find. But they are worth the hunt! The flavor I had this time was Blueberry Yogurt Flax—I’ve tried em’ all and this is my favorite! It even has a delicately sweet icing over the top of the quarter-sized granola snack! Most granola contains good for you fiber to keep you satiated. I buy these here.

 

I received these yummy Nature's Path toaster pastries from the company itself awhile back to review. I used to be a Pop-Tart fan when I was younger, so I was up for the review! Looks similar to a Pop-Tart? Check. Tastes like a Pop-tart? Not so much. But in fact it was much better than a Pop-Tart, and much healthier as well. The Wildberry Acai filling was rich along with the decadent frosting and perfect flaky crust. A must for a healthy breakfast to keep that brain fueled! Acai berries are ranked in the Top 5 Brain Health Foods!

And lastly, to keep myself fueled with a guarantee for no rumbling tummy, I reach for Special K protein shakes in three yummy flavors—Vanilla(favorite), chocolate, and strawberry. With  10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, it’s a surefire way to satisfy your hunger.

Time to study!

Food in the News

I haven’t done any Food in the News posts lately, so I thought it was long overdue, and I thought this one was interesting! If you ever have any interesting Food in the News shoot me and email!

Cars of the Future Will Be Built With Food

And you thought filling up with a corn-based ethanol was a little crazy? Now auto makers are introducing earth-friendly and edible materials.

• Seaweed is being used by Toyota for improving its bioplastics(plastics made from natural sources such as corn starch) in hopes of creating superlight chassis. It should be on the road by 2020.
• Soybeans is being used in millions of vehicles from Ford. How? Soybean-based seat cushions of course! Manufacturing the cushions with soybean oil helps the company cut down on petroleum and CO2 emissions. Next up: interior trim made with soy-based plastic.
• Carrots  are being used at England’s University of Warwick to build a race care equipped with a steering wheel made from carrots and other veggies. It reaches speeds of 135 mph and runs partly on chocolate waste from a nearby chocolate factory.

Article adapted from Food Network Magazine

What do you think of the food-mobile trend?

I think it’s great to use foods for something else other than eating—under one condition; that it isn’t using up the whole surplus of food meant for eating—we still have so many people in the world starving that could use some carrots or soy foods. I think that should be a priority before cars, but it’s still a cool concept as long as they don’t start using Larabars for brake pedals or an oat-weaved carpet…hey who knows?

 

p.s. Cha-cha-cha-chia! Do you want to jump on the chia seed bandwagon? Diane at Greens Plus offered to send all readers a free sample! Interested? Email her at diane@greensplus.com.

A Monday Mix

Today's post is a mix of things I've collected over the weekend to share..
[[First Up]]A couple cool things going on in the blog world.
*There is an official blogger cookbook being made! How do you get your copy? Well first off, you need to have a food or recipe blog and you need to submit 5 of your best and healthy recipes with or without pictures. Yup, that's all! Otherwise it's free as long as you contribute. Once it's put together, it will be distributed via the computer(so you'll get an e-copy)and then you'll have all of the best blog recipes in one spot! Talk about convenient. So head on over here to join in on all the fun.
*2nd on the list of fun things is a giveaway! Who doesn't like giveaways right, especially when it's food! here is the link to win Simply Bars which look delish!
[[Next Up]]
Yesterday as I was sitting at the laundromat watching my clothes go round-and-round, smelling the fresh scent of laundry detergent,blah,blah..I was reading the newspaper and like I always do, turned to the food section first. An article really caught my attention & I thought I should share!!
Super size Trend Finds Its Way to Cookbooks
It's not just fast-food restaurants that have super sized the way Americans eat--cookbooks share the blame! So-called portion distortion, the trend of eating larger and larger servings is as much a problem with recipes as it is with restaurants. The study done by Annals of Internal Medicine found that classic recipes have changed tremendously in the past 70 years. There has been a 40% increase in calories per serving for nearly every recipe reviewed, which equals about 77 extra calories. The study identified the trend in numerous cookbooks, but focused on "Joy of Cooking" first published in the '30s and regularly updated with new editions since then, most recently in 2006. Of the 18 recipes published in all 7 editions, 17 increased calories per serving & larger portion sizes. Only the chili con carne recipe remained unchanged, but their chicken gumbo, however, went from making 14 servings at 228 calories each in the 1936 edition, to making 10 servings at 576 calories in the 2006 version. It is still a fact though that most Americans get their share of excess calories outside of the home. The increase in restaurant portions started in the '70's.
I found this a little shocking, considering McDonald's and other fast food joints are always targeted for "super sizing" and the "Whopper" deals, etc. But now it just goes to show it's not all on restaurants. Most importantly, I think it's just about being in tune to your hunger and knowing when to put the fork down. What do you guys think? Can this cookbook phenomenon be considered an added marker to obesity epidemic, or is it really all about being aware of nutritional values, the food on your plate,etc?

Food in the News

Good morning all. I had a nice and relaxing morning so far. "So far" being the key words just because I have half a morning to go that includes giving a pretend eulogy in my public speaking class--kind of odd to say the least. Anyhoo, I was reading my local newspaper this morning and came upon 2 articles about..food! So I thought I would quickly share a little summary of each.

[First] off, as we all know the beloved peanut butter has been getting the cold sholder lately due to the salmonella outbreak craze. According the MN officials, at least one death is confirmed due to this and seven other infections are thought to be a effect of this. Almost 500 people so far have been sickened by this outbreak--yikes! Also production at the Peanut Corp. of America has been shutdown. Will peanut butter ever make a comeback? Let's hope so!

The [second] article is more of a satire one, but I think it still gets a serious point across. First off, I am totally oppposed to wasting food. It really irks me when people take more than they can eat and then can justify just throwing into the trash and forget about it. When I very rarely do throw food away, it's usually because it's rotten or no longer in an edible state. Well this guy (Tom Purcell) claims that the food police that are in Britain should and maybe are making there way over to the US. What they do is send contractors door to door to teach citizens how to manage their leftovers. The Brit gov. claims 1/3 of the food bought is trashed. That's bad not only because it's wasteful, but so many fossil fuels, and work goes into getting that food to your table in the first place. These "food champions" are teaching people simple ways to shop better, eat less and manage leftovers in a resourceful way. So shoud these people be making there way over to the US? Well if people continue to be wasteful, I would welcome them to my town! After all, if America keeps wasting in this already bad economy, will things ever get better? Hmm.. just a bit of news to keep you thinking for the day!

Have a super Tuesday!