Announcement

Bootcamps are cancelled until further notice. Thanks!

Your Daily Apple: Winter Running

Think it’s too cold in the winter to run outside?  Experts claim there is no danger to running in chilly weather as long as you take care of yourself.  If you dislike jogging in the gym as much as I do, you might want to keep up your outdoor exercise routine while keeping these 10 tips in mind:

1. Dress in layers

Try dressing for weather that is 20 degrees warmer than the actual temperature (so if it is 25 degrees outside, dress for 45 degree weather). Sweat-wicking materials are great, since wet clothing can cause a severe chilling effect, especially if it is windy outside.

2. Wear a hat

About 40% of your body heat is lost through your head!! If you can, wear a hat that covers your ears.

3. Protect your extremities (hands, ears, etc.)

Mittens are better than gloves…but in general, I’m just fine with gloves.

4. Moisturize

The amount that you use and what needs moisturizing varies…I moisturize my hands and lips daily.

5. Take it easy

You’re more likely to pull a muscle in the cold, so warm up slowly and easily.  I like to stretch during (at stoplights) and after running.

6. Don’t ignore warning signs

If you do feel uncomfortably cold, go somewhere warm as soon as you can (even if it means stopping in a heated restroom in Riverside Park for a couple minutes)

7. Wear bright/reflective clothing

It gets dark early.  Bear in mind that if you start running at dusk, it will probably be dark before you return.

8. Run into the wind before running with the wind

This way, you won’t deep-freeze on the way home once you’ve worked up a sweat!

9. Be careful of ice

Riverside Park is super-icy in the winter.

10. Stay hydrated

Once you’ve finished your run, reward yourself with some chocolate milk!  (Research shows drinking some is a great way to replenish your muscles after an intense workout.)

Your Daily Apple: Exercise: the heart of the matter

You can thank Jeremy Morris  for our society’s near-obsessive love of exercise. Morris, who proved that exercise keeps our hearts healthy, died on October 28th. What better a way to remember the great scientist than to heed his data and exercise regularly?

Interestingly, Morris initially compared the rate of heart attacks among bus drivers, who spent almost all of their working hours driving, ie sedentary, with conductors, who engaged in vigorous activity, walking up about 600 stairs daily, according to an article by Dennis Hevesi published recently by Thew New York Times. Morris found that the drivers had more than double the risk of having a heart attack as the conductors. In further studies, he ascertained that the conductors’ risk was lower regardless of their size; that is, exercise more strongly impacts our risk for heart attacks than does how thin we are.

So get some exercise and keep your heart healthy!

Your Daily Apple: Great Healthful Recipes

I am usually looking for healthier recipes when it comes to the foods I enjoy. However, I am often overwhelmed with all the options that I see when I put in a search.That is why Ellie Krieger’s cookbook The Food You Crave, is an exciting tool for the health-conscious recipe seeker. She has many recipes that will surely satisfy any cravings and she provides all of her recipes’ nutritional information.You can watch clips of her show and find her recipes on the foodnetwork website!

Krieger is a registered dietician with a master’s degree from Columbia University.  Additionally, Krieger has her own show on the Food Network called Healthy Appetite.

11/5 Bootcamp Cancellation notice

Please be advised that there will be no bootcamp tomorrow morning. Thanks!

Your Daily Apple: A healthier take on Halloween

It’s that time of year again. In a few days, we will celebrate what in my opinion is one of the more fun American holidays. It fills me with the nostalgia of dressing up as a Disney Princess in elementary school. How many holidays do that?

Halloween is super fun not only because it provides us with an excuse to disguise ourselves, to revel in spooky tales and gather with friends, but because, of course, of the copious amounts of candy and sweets that Halloween brings.

A great way to avoid the junk, ie high fructose corn syrup, gums, and hydrogenated oils, that we find in the majority of Halloween candy is to bake your own Halloween treats.

Eatingwell.com is a great resource for healthy recipes, and it has a whole page dedicated to fun Halloween ones!

I’m particularly excited about the Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Marshmallow Frosting. YUM!

The recipe for the cupcakes calls for whole wheat pastry flour, but you can substitute 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 cake flour if you don’t have any whole wheat pastry flour on  hand.

Enjoy, happy baking and have a great Halloween!

Your Daily Apple: The Deal with Coffee

If you practically drown yourself in coffee during midterms (or in general) you are not alone.

Personally, I’m not addicted to coffee, but I enjoy a nice cup of joe (Nussbaum’s is my favorite) as much as the next person. Plus, I have tons of friends who have said they should be connected to an I.V. to feed them caffeine at all hours of the day.  We all know how it goes… you start off as a kid taking a sip of coffee and thinking there is no way in hell you will ever enjoy drinking whatever was in that cup. Then going to Starbucks becomes cool, and bringing a cup of coffee to school becomes the thing to do, and before you know it, you’re doomed. Somehow, you’ve gone from drinking a cup of coffee in the morning to needing two before 11AM, and another in the afternoon. Uh oh.

There’s a lot of contradictory information out there in terms of whether or not coffee is  harmful to your health, but it’s pretty obvious across the board that it’s definitely not doing anything good for you. Sure, I’ll admit that it can be really nice to get that jolt of energy on days when getting out of bed is a serious challenge. But is it worth the toll it takes on our bodies?

First off, caffeine causes headaches and digestive problems (diarrhea and constipation are the least of these; we’re talking serious irritation of the stomach and bladder, peptic ulcers, etc.). And let’s not forget fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Ironic, no? We drink coffee to wake us up and get us motivated, but in the long run, addiction to caffeine produces exactly the opposite effect.

Lastly, a quick word on the relationship between consuming caffeine and retaining fat. I know, you don’t want to hear it, but it must be said: coffee pretty much equals fat cells. “Coffee, whether regular or decaf, is highly acidic. Acidic foods cause your body to produce fat cells, in order to keep the acid away from your organs” (Barnouin and Freedman, Skinny Bitch). (This isn’t the case for acidic citrus fruits; your body can handle that kind of acid.)

So, sad as it may be, a caffeine addiction takes a serious toll on your body. Enjoy an occasional cup here and there, sure, but don’t overdo it. The truth is that any kind of addiction is unhealthy, and luckily, this is one that you can beat without extreme measures… so do it! Trust me, your body will thank you for it.

Announcement: No Bootcamp this week

Hello everyone:

We will not be holding a bootcamp this Thursday morning.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Barbelle

Your Daily Apple: Product Review #3

Our third installation of product reviews comes from two companies; Clif Bar and Zevia.

The people at Clif Bar kindly sent us a generous array of their products to sample. The items included Luna, Clif, and Mojo bars.

Now, I generally prefer whole foods over pre-packaged bars, but let’s be realistic here. As a college student, studying almost always takes top priority over cooking. These bars provide a better option then skipping to the vending machine and they will definitely power your mind through an intense study session. Plus, you can discreetly nibble them in the library without people shooting you annoyed glances!

My top two favorite flavors would probably be the peanut butter pretzel Mojo bar and the white chocolate macademia Clif bar. I enjoyed the Mojo one because it contained the perfect balance of salty and sweet while retaining an interesting texture combination.

I liked the white chocolate macademia one because it possessed a dessert-like taste and a certain level of sophistication.

The berry almond Luna Bar also had a strong berry flavor, without being cloyingly sweet. Unlike the other varieties of Luna Bar, this one does not have an “icing” coat on the bottom, which ensures the bar doesn’t become too sweet. I worried that the bar would be dry, but it actually was extremely moist. If a brownie could be berry flavored, this would be it! I also liked the almonds scattered throughout the bar since it provided a nice alteration in texture.

The blueberry Clif bar was moist, chewy, and contained a definitive blueberry flavor without being overly sweet. The flavor was highly reminiscent of a freshly baked blueberry muffin, without the excess fat and calories.

I usually consume half of a Luna or Clif Bar as my pre-workout fuel and it always keeps me energized. Barnard Barbelle strives to only promote companies who produce their products in a conscientious fashion. Clif Bar certainly meets and transcends this criteria by supporting sustainable agriculture, donating one percent of it’s profits to charitable organizations and by committing 2080 hours to volunteer work.

Thank you, Clif Bar, for sending these awesome products!

Our next review is of Zevia, an all natural diet soda sweetened with stevia. The company was extremely generous and sent a HUGE amount of their fizzy beverages. Zevia prides themselves as being “Natures Answer to Diet Soda”, since they sweeten their product with stevia, rather then chemically engineered sweeteners. I was particularly excited to try Zevia since I tend to rely too frequently on diet coke to power my study sessions and aspartame usually gives me headaches.

Some random facts about stevia include:

-Found in South America

-30 times sweeter then sugar

-Does not effect blood glucose levels and is therefore safe for diabetics

-Was used in Europe long before the FDA approved it in the United States

(Source)

Stevia, like other sweetners, does not come without controversy. My personal opinion (though I am in know way an expert on the subject) is that everything in moderation is fine.

Since the company was so incredibly generous with their samples, I decided to distribute some cans to my psychology classmates to try. Even my professor ( a self-proclaimed stevia enthusiast) was interested and grabbed an orange flavor one to try. Overall, however, the general consensus was mixed. Some people enjoyed the drinks while others were bothered by the stevia aftertaste.

I sampled each flavor shot-glass style in order to taste the entire spectrum. The flavors Zevia sent included root beer, coca cola, black cherry, lemon/lime, gingerale, and orange.

The root beer was quite enjoyable and would be a great component of a “healthified” root beer float made with frozen yogurt.

The cola flavor constituted the least favorite among my peers since it possessed a bizarre after taste. Cola in general, however, is a difficult flavor to successfully reproduce.

The gingerale tasted quite authentic and did not possess a strange aftertaste.

Everyone, however, agreed that the black cherry was the best flavor. The taste was remniscent of a Dr. Brown’s black cherry cola and aroused the distinctive pangs of nostalgia.

Thank you, Zevia, for sending such generous samples!

Your Daily Apple: CSAs!

Fall CSA Vegetables (when you're lucky)

For me, cooking and eating vegetables is therapy.  If you happen to be a weirdo like me, than a CSA might be for you.  Morningside Heights has its very own CSA that you can pick up in JJ’s place on campus!

A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a great way for veggie lovers to support local agriculture.  Members of a CSA pay a fee to receive a “share” of a local farm for 8-12 weeks.  Each week, participants pick up seasonal produce at a convenient pick-up location.  Once every couple months, the farm asks for members to volunteer to help pick up, organize, or clean up the CSA collection.

In my opinion, there are two super important things to know about CSAs that you might not read on a website:

1) Most farms offer individual shares or family shares.  In reality, what you receive depends on how the season is going.  Most of the time, farms are very generous and give members a truly immense amount of food (as my suitemates wouldn’t hesitate to tell you).  The 6 of us (admittedly, 1-2 don’t eat vegetables at all) never finish the entire CSA.

2) CSA vegetables sometimes aren’t what the typical customer would pick out at the supermarket.  Turnips, collard greens, kale, and beets are often provided along with lettuce, tomatoes, butternut squash, and other more commonly purchased vegetables.  To fully enjoy a CSA, one must be willing to experiment with cooking and eating new things.  In my experience, I’ve found a whole bunch of vegetables that are cheaper and just as delicious as more expensive ingredients!

If you’re interested in purchasing a CSA, click on this link to the farm I receive my CSA from: Norwich Meadows Farm CSA.