3 months later...

As promised, I'm back! In my defense, I never said when exactly I'd be back, so that makes three months later completely legit.

It's a bummer that I let the blog go by the wayside these past couple months, but it was pretty much necessary. I did NOT anticipate my work load being so difficult to manage. In one class, I had to write a "life story" that was basically a series of meaningful snapshots from my life, answers to questions about the deep stuff (my identity, beliefs, etc.), and a commentary on all of it! The whole thing was 50 pages in the end!! Good prep for the senior thesis, I suppose. Anyway, once that was combined with exams, an independent research project, quizzes, papers, and the like, it was (sadly) time to give the blog the boot for a while.

But now it's back!! And not a moment too soon!!! Cool things are happening! I will share:

1) I am leaving for France in less than two weeks. My school's town has had this ongoing "sister city" relationship with one of the cities in France, Noisy-le-roi. Many of our French TAs have come from Noisy (say Neuh-wa-zee) and students have gone back and forth between Noisy and here for the past ten years. Noisy is about 15 miles west of Paris and 4 miles northwest of Versailles. While I'm there, I'll be staying with a host family and doing an internship in a junior high school with its culinary/nutrition course track. Other activities will be kind of spontaneous-- lots of tours, walking, and eating good food! Mostly, I'm really interested to see the different attitudes toward eating between French and American people. It seems that the French look at food with more pleasure and ritual than Americans, and I'm excited to be immersed in a culture that fosters a love-love relationship with food rather than a love-hate. You can be SURE I will be making an effort to maintain the blog while I'm there. 

2) I was recently appointed to my school's Food Commission, which is basically a forum between our cafeteria's staff and students interested in making improvements in the dining hall. I'm also heading up a communications project for the cafeteria. I will be making a weekly e-newsletter with nutrition articles, spotlight food items, recipes that can be made in the cafeteria, interviews with staff, etc. This is 100% up my alley and I cannot wait to get started!

3) Finals are over and summer is here at last!!

4) I'm 20 now! My birthday was on Monday... which means no more blaming the dumb things I do on being a being a teenager. Sigh. Feels good though-- all mature-like. 

As for today's eats, I'll be brief (and without pictures-- I apologize. I didn't know I was doing this today). For breakfast, I just had an apple because I slept until 10:30 after making a Coldstone run at 3 AM to celebrate the end of finals last night!! Lunch was a turkey, swiss, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber sandwich on yummy whole wheat bread, some watermelon, and some steamed broccoli. For a snack I had half an avocado (sooooo gooooood) and a few almonds. Dinner was comfort food at its best: an Amy's Mexican casserole bowl, with a little more avocado and some Pom pomegranate-mango juice. Those healthy fats kept me full for a long time today- score!

First post of the year and ever!

I'm writing my first post from week 4/5.5 of my winter break at HOME!!! It might seem a bit ironic that this blog is all about facing the challenge of eating healthfully at college and I'm writing this first post on break, but... I have my reasons. 1) I have time! I feel like it's a good idea to get into the swing of blogging without lotsa homework, papers, and exams while I have the chance! And 2) It's the dreaded second wind of the holidays at my house... as in... New Year's resolutions have been made, but there's still splurg-y leftovers staring me in the face every time I open the fridge! Not to mention the Ghiradelli chocolates we got as a Christmas present. It's probably MORE of a challenge for me to eat healthfully during this time than at school during a regular time.

That being said, here's just a skosh more information about the blog. My goal is for it to be a realistic example of eating for pleasure AND for health in a place where free pizza abounds, references for portion sizes are almost nonexistent, greasy, fried food is a "normal" main course, desserts are available at least three times a day in unlimited quantities, and food is eaten on the run, in front of the TV, during a late night study session, or else skipped altogether when other priorities take over. Altogether, I envision this blog to be a poster child for one of my fav. principles: everything in moderation. I will be the first to admit that I looooove just about anything sugary. I'm a sucker for flourless chocolate cake, a variety of pies, ice cream... the list goes on. I don't, however, particularly crave McDonald's Big Macs... or McDonald's anything, for that matter. (Albion is a small town, but we do have a McDonald's that is open 24 hours. I've never been). So... I might indulge at Coldstone from time to time but I skip midnight McDonald's runs. I'm constantly trying to figure out compensations like that so that I can cut out the foods I know I won't miss and make room for occasional splurges on the ones it would be difficult to live without. 

The one challenge you will not see me deal with on this blog is how to balance drinking with living healthfully because I don't drink. When I'm of age (in two years), however, I might become a wine connoisseur of sorts because I'm a Parisian at heart. My reasoning for abstinence is basically that I am a total control freak and I never want to experience the loss of control that can come with being drunk, I absolutely detest throwing up, and I think that school is difficult enough without the influence of alchohol. I also have unhealthfully low blood pressure that makes me a frequent fainter (try that for alliteration), and alchohol is known to lower your BP. I try my best not to judge people I know who drink, and am generally too chill to preach about it unless it's a serious problem that might endanger a person's health. Sometimes it's tough to refrain from drinking when a lot of people you know do it, but I think it'll be worth it in the long run. Plus... it spares me from consuming a bunch of empty calories and gives me a little wiggle room for Mint Oreo Pie Day in the caf :-P

Without further ado, here are today's eats:

Pictures forthcoming, but today my camera is out of juice!

Breakfast: 1 Iced Oatmeal Raisin Luna bar and 8 oz Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost smoothie These smoothies are fantastic!! Even though I prefer "sit down" breakfasts, they're a great options for times you're in a hurry. I was in a hurry today because I wanted to get to the gym before the lunch hour crowd took all the good machines.

Lunch: Yellowfin tuna salad in a Kangaroo brand whole grain pita pocket, 1 pickle spear, and fruit salad (blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, and grapes). The tuna salad was from Whole Foods and it is delish. Expensive, but worth it every now and then.

Snack 1: 3/4 cup Honey Nut Cheerios with skim milk

Snack 2: Handful raw carrots and sugar snap peas before dinner

Dinner: Whole wheat basil and mozzarella ravioli, 1 slice garlic bread, 1 cup skim milk

And after dinner... 1.5 cups of Rooibos Tropica tea from Teavana with a sample packet of Truvia I got in the mail. Mmm.

Can't wait to blog again!