Learning, learning, learning....

Remember college? Or maybe you're in it now. Regardless, you know how in college information is just always thrown at you? I mean not only in classes, but for some reason the college atmosphere just get's you thinking about things from time to time and you begin to learn so much more than you knew before. It was one of those days...

The day started out with my boring ol' breakfest when I'm on the run....

My GF vans waffles.

After only a 25 minutes drive to school and a whopping 45 minutes to actually just park, I was about ten minutes late to my nutrition class. So I snuck into the back while he was already well into the lecture to find him giving his same old advice on health, and talking about different hype in the media. This guy is so interesting. I've only been in his class for a few weeks and I already feel like I've learned so much. Enough that I fell like I can sum it up to share. Thought you guys would enjoy....
What I have learned from my nutrition proffesor so far...

• Always shop the periminter of the grocery store. Think about it whats the perimiter? The refridgerated products like eggs, cheese, and the fruits and veggies. What's on the inside of the store? The processed junk. The only time you should ever really go down the eisles are when you're going to get frozen veggies.
• If you must buy prepackaged food, really read the label. So we all try to do this. But his rule of thumb is to read the first 3 ingredients. If they're not real food products (i.e. flour, eggs, milk, nuts etc) and are just mystery ingredients, don't even bother getting it. It's junk!
• Colors and food are more closely related than you ever realized. Well maybe not food exactly, but how our mind percives it. Blue makes us eat less, red makes us eat more as does bright light. Ever seen a blue resturant? That's why some people buy only blue plates.
• Social situautions cause you to eat 60% more than you would eat alone. Think about it, when you're with your friends you just kinda chow down on pizza and don't notice what'sg going in your mouth. No, don't give up you're social life. But always be aware!
• High Fructose Corn Syrup isn't what you think. So we all know sucrose=good, fructose= bad right? Well... table sugar= 50% fructose, 50% sucrose. HFCS= 60% sucrose 40% fructose. Confused? So was I. But what it boils down to, is that it's just this mystery junk no matter which way you look at it. But the media has somehow latched onto to just this shelf life extender and by passed hundreds of others and have blamed it for obesity. Which is no nessicarily the case. Everything in moderation!
• "Natural" is not regulated by the FDA. How many people by Kashi because it's so "natural" and fresh? Well, natural doesn't really mean anything. Organic has a definition. Fruit loops cannot be called organic. But fruit loops can be called natural. And be sure that people would buy it if it were called natural. So you're not really getting "natural" when you buy something that says it on the box.
• Don't believe everything you hear. This is my favorite. There's sooo much information out there, that all contridicts eachother. If you believe everything you hear, you'd be eating Fruit Loops for fiber, and be on the taco bell diet now wouldn't you. Always do your own research. Stay informed!! And modify to suit your life needs :)

But anyway...I had to say goodbye to a dear friend today. :( She withdrew from the university and moved back up North.

:( If I knew she were leaving and we'd be taking pictures, I would've put on makeup and not rushed out the house haha woops!

By the time I got home I was so hungry from being so busy in class and being with my friends that I didn't eat a real lunch. Just some cheese and these blurry grapes...

So I went with these for dinner:

Heavenly sweet potato fries

• 1 med sweet potato
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tsp grey poupon
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all the wet ingredients and season the fries with them in a bag. Bake for 25 min of 425.

Soooo good.

Afterwards I jumped on the treadmill at my parents house and went about 4 miles. Don't even ask what my splits were... they were terrible. I swear, that treadmill ruins my knees. I just used it as an excuse to move a little.

So now for my college student enlightenment rant. Here's what I took out of today after hearing my nutrition class freak out over my proffesor saying that HFCS wouldn't kill them like they believed to be true, my phsycology class being CONVINCED that MRI's cause cancer, and my friends freaking out about my friend who is leaving have a long drive home. Let's face it, I know that after my mom almost got swept away by a tornado yesterday that life can throw a lot of foul balls your way that you are not prepared for. And even though you shouldn't just throw yourself onto the fire to try to live a bit more dangerously all of the time, being overly precautious and scared of everything doesn't do you any good. HFCS make you fat. MRI's kill you. Car rides kill you. This one always gets me too... living eventually kills you. Today I just really though about how we just need to take things wil a grain of salt. And as my nutrtion proffesor says, everything in moderation :) <3

So what do you think about HFCS?
And....

Tell a time when you had to say goodbye to a good friend...