Sometimes I just want to cheat…

…On my relationship with eating healthy food.  There are days that I am craving sweets or salts and I turn into a mad woman if denied (people, it’s scary).  In order to satisfy those cravings, I normally head to the grocery store and pick up a box of brownie mix. Oh yes, I love Betty Crocker’s Dark Chocolate brownies and I know the recipe by heart.

• ·        Preheat oven 350°

• ·        2 eggs

• ·        ¼ cup water

• ·        ½ cup vegetable oil

• ·        Stir about 50 strokes and you’ll get something that looks like this:

Look at that chocolate deliciousness, nommm. There is also nothing wrong with eating some of the batter along the way :] And after it’s been in the oven for the designated time (mine was 35mins) they looks like this:

They ended up being the perfect mix of fully cooked and a little gooey, the perfect brownie.

My roommate and I sat down to enjoy them during our favorite new show, The River.  If you don’t watch, you should check it out, it’s awesome.  But during the commercial breaks we began to feel bad about ourselves because we managed to finish a decent amount of brownies.  So I went online to see if there is a healthy alternative to brownies and there is!  The online version of Glamour Magazine has an article about making brownies with black beans!  You replace the eggs and oil with liquefied black beans, add a few teaspoons of water to give it normal brownie texture and voila! Healthy brownies with less fat and a new influx of fiber antioxidants from the beans!  I haven’t tried these yet, but from online forums people seem to be raving about them and even offer other alternatives (like using spinach!).  From now on, I plan on looking up healthy alternatives to the many guilty pleasure foods I love and trying them out.

So I’ve been thinking…

This morning as I sat down to write a post about how to cut calories during your weekend of bingeing and laying around, I saw this post from one of my Facebook friends:

Approximately 7 million girls and women struggle with eating disorders. Sunday is the first day of eating disorder awareness week. This year’s theme is "everybody knows somebody." I'm sure we all know someone who has or is fighting for their life. Repost if you do. Eating disorders can be deadly but recovery is possible. ♥

Reading this it just made me think of how society has created a world that is obsessed with their weight and it is a shame that beautiful girls and boys think that they look ugly because they don’t fit Hollywood’s standard.  Sometimes, I can be one of those girls.  I see these actresses on TV and feel like I am checking them out more than my guy friends to judge whether or not I am as pretty.  I’ve never struggled with an eating disorder because I love food too much and I can’t bear the thought of making myself get sick, but I know girls that have and it’s a sad to see them wither away not accepting your love or advice.  

It’s hard to help someone who is determined to look a certain way or blind to how beautiful they are, but try to be there for the person and talk to them. If one of your friends is constantly at the gym and then not eating, think of ways to educate them that they can see results and lose weight by changing their eating habits to a healthier routine.  If your guy friend is trying to bulk up and begins two-a-days, encourage him to consume more calories that have the nutrients to keep his body satisfied.  A piece of advice I’ve learned from my mom: eat a meal that is colorful (greens, yellows, oranges, etc.), because those are the food that are good for you.

It’s that time of year again…midterm season

Looking over my planner earlier this week, I realized that I have 1-2 big assignments coming up in every one of my classes.  I’m even lucky enough that three of those assignments are all on the same day…NOT.  Now, I guess this opportunity could improve my time management skills, which honestly are lacking, but I can’t help feeling overwhelmed.  Not to mention I also had my adviser appointment today about scheduling for my senior year, which always spikes my blood pressure.  

In order to get some stress out, I decided to go for a run/walk at a park near campus with my roommate. It was exhilarating. I am so happy that I decided to go with her! Normally, on days that I have a lot of schoolwork, I lock myself in my room and try to knock it all out—which is an epic fail.  I usually end up crashing because I’m bored or the lighting is just right for a nap. Not today though! I feel completely refreshed and energized from just being outside! It completely boost my mood and entire outlook on my day. Now I’m ready to get going and take out a chunk my work load so I can enjoy the weekend!

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed with school, just go do something active!  We’re students we have plenty of time to do work, more than half of us stay up late planted on the couch.  Do your work then and go outside in the afternoon while it’s still nice out.  You can do anything walk, longboard, swing, play basketball, something that gets your blood pumping and relieves you from your worries. I challenge you.

*first picture found at sommecards.com

**second picture found on pinterest