Thanks for all the laughs

Hello all!
Well, today marks my final post because our project is due in some minutes, and I just wanted to tell all of you up here on the Bluff good luck with finals and getting everything done!
I am sitting here on the patio out by the campus coffee shop, sipping coffee and listening to the Jazzcats, a very talented jazz group from our school, and I'm reflecting on the past few months in our attempt to live less stressful lives. What I can tell you is that at the beginning of this project, I was pretty optimistic that I could efficiently and functionally end stress' effect in my life. However, now that I look back on the beginning of the semester, I remember my naivety and I laugh. I read somewhere that every two years or so, we look back on our lives, realize what idiots we were and reevaluate, moving on in our wisdom until we do that same exact thing two years later.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-they-never-told-us/
 I found the link: a good read for keeping things in perspective during finals.

I have found throughout this year and through doing this project that we do not change overnight, and even if we do, the change is probably hardly worth keeping. I also learned that our mission should not be to eliminate stress, because let's face it, life is stressful. However, what we can change is our perspectives in facing the stressful situations we must face in our lives as college women. I have also learned that sometimes, taking a break, a walk, a bike-ride or a frozen yogurt run is not only fun, but necessary to maintaining our mental health.

Friends also make a HUGE difference. Sometimes it is tempting to isolate ourselves by surrounding ourselves with our work, and yet, when those all-important tests or papers (or college years for that matter) are over, will they really matter that much?

Probably not, but I can tell you what will: the relationships we have built and the friendships we have made, which will continue for the rest of our lives. With that in mind, happy finals week LMU and good luck in whatever you undertake!

Thanks for reading!
-Kate

Coffee???

And here's a tribute to Michael Scott - "World's Best Boss"

Hi!
So I know we here at LMU get a break this week because our school is giving us Easter Break, but for everyone else out there as you slog your way through papers and finals, and for all of us on the Bluff as we make our final push toward finals and graduation, I was thinking about how oftentimes we neglect to care for ourselves during the insanity. I know time is a limited resource we all have little of, and I know that many of us tend to burn that candle every which way we can come finals week, but I was wondering if the methods we use to keep ourselves awake (think massive amounts of caffeine here) are really helping us in the long run. You know me, when I want to know what's up, I go to google scholar, and once I was there I found this study on the effects of caffeine on human salivary melatonin levels, as well as circadian rhythms. If that sounds like a bunch of nonsense to you, melatonin is a hormone secreted by the hypothalamus (brain) which regulates our sleep patterns. Melatonin is closely linked to serotonin, which regulates mood and (to an extent) how happy we are throughout a given day. If you can remember melatonin at night and serotoin during the day, you're golden. Oh, and circadian rhythms are just a fancy term for describing our daily cycles, (Latin: circa = around diem = days), so our circadian rhythms are the patterns which we fall into in terms of when we're asleep, sleepy, alert and awake.

Here's the abstract for the study in case you're interested:

Abstract

The effects of caffeine ingestion and exposure to bright light, both separately and in combination, on salivary melatonin and tympanic temperature were assessed in humans. Four treatments during a 45.5 h sleep deprivation period were compared: Dim Light-Placebo, Dim Light-Caffeine, Bright Light-Placebo and Bright-Light Caffeine. The Dim Light-Caffeine condition (200 mg twice each night) relative to the Dim Light-Placebo condition suppressed nighttime melatonin levels and attenuated the normal decrease in temperature. Combining caffeine ingestion with bright light exposure (≥2000 lux) suppressed melatonin and attenuated the normal nighttime drop in temperature to a larger degree than either condition alone; i.e. effects were additive. Circadian effects were also observed in that the amplitude and phase of the temperature rhythm were altered during treatment. These findings establish that the human melatonin system is responsive to caffeine. Other evidence suggests that caffeine may influence melatonin and temperature levels through antagonism of the neuromodulator adenosine.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6SYR-3PF5C55-3G&_user=945462&_coverDate=01%2F30%2F1997&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000048964&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=945462&md5=6c1062feeb4bbd099748836956ffe971&searchtype=a)

In a nutshell, caffeine intake affects our melatonin levels, which in turn affects how we fall asleep, and for how long we stay asleep. This is something you might want to consider when you're up at 3AM two days after your finals are over. Trust me, I'm doing 40 days of water (no soda, juice, slurpees, milkshakes, COFFEE or tea for 40 days of Lent) for religious reasons (http://40days.bloodwatermission.com/), and I know life sans caffeine can be a little rough. However, if we don't take care of ourselves during finals, who will?

Water, water everywhere!

Hello again!
Today I was staring at my full water bottle and contemplating the urinary system, not something you would find me normally doing on a Sunday night. Fear not though, the reason I have urine on the brain is that we just finished up the Urinary System unit in our A&P class and I can tell you that I know more about the micturition reflex and nephron loop than I ever cared to at the start of the semester (those are real things which you can read up on here):
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072495855/student_view0/chapter27/animation__micturition_reflex.html
and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephron

 Anywhoo, thinking about urination led me to thinking about how much water we should be intaking every day, and the fact that I stated in the top of this here blog that I will be trying to drink 9 cups of water per day. Since I haven't been as faithful to that goal as I would like, I have decided that this week is "water week" for Kate Jones. I am going to be drinking 3 of these (28oz, 3.5 c):

per day. Wish me luck! I found an article from the Mayo Clinic Website recommending that females drink about 9 cups of water per day, which sounds like a good idea to me because of the reasons they give, and because the more water we drink, the less work our kidneys have to do to retain water, and the better we will function!
Yay! Happy Drinking! ; )

 Article Link:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

Food for Thought

Hey all!
I realized today it's been a while since I've updated you all on how my part of the stress project is going, so I thought I would do that now. I just found this article online from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine Online about some more foods thought to relieve stress. What I'm finding to be true no matter who I talk to is that the vitamin B12 is essential to overall health and can also help balance cortisol levels to keep us from rocketing through the roof with stress. The article said that foods high in B vitamins and folic acids, like really green vegetables or certain fruits can help stead our mood because they are both essential to our serotonin production, which is the hormone responsible for keeping our mood elevated and stable. This makes sense, no?

The article also recommended staying away from stimulants and depressants as dependence on either over a long period of time could be harmful to our ability to self-regulate our mood. Foods high in sugars and salts do not serve us well, even though they tend to be the things we reach for when the going gets tough.

Dr. Tara Geise, a dietitian in Orland, Florida and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association said, "One of the keys is avoiding things that will give your body and mind real highs and lows like caffeine and alcohol. You don't want to intake a lot of stimulants or a lot of depressants when you're stressed." Of eating foods high in sugars, Geise says, "Sugar causes your blood sugar to spike and then fall quickly, which can make your energy level dip, then you're low energy and stressed and that's not a good picture."

Some foods the article said were particularly helpful in relieving stress are:
- Bluberries
-Asparagus
-Beef
-Milk
-Cottage cheese and fruit (I get this for breakfast all the time - SO GOOD)
-Almonds
-Tuna
-Cornflakes or Crispy Rice Cereals

After reading this I was encouraged, because I had an asparagus red pepper sandwich from the Corner Cafe today, and a bowl of strawberries, pears, pineapple, bananas and cottage cheese for breakfast. Basically whta I'm finding more and more is that the more foods high in B vitamins and antioxidants I eat, the better I feel. Next time you're at the Lair in the morning, try a fruit bowl with cottage cheese from the Bionics station, I didn't think I would like it, but now it's one of my favorite breakfasts!

http://www.bhg.com/health-family/mind-body-spirit/natural-remedies/superfoods-for-stress-relief/

Choppin' Brocoli!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4195/saturday-night-live-derek-stevens-chopping-broccoli
(The best part is from 1:48)

I thought I'd start today's post off on a lighter note, but what I'm trying to say is that this week is broccoli week for Kate Jones. I read in an article on stress relieving foods that said that broccoli and blueberries can help to relieve stress by providing you with the antioxidants necessary to rejuvenate your system, so I thought I'd give it a try. I have some fresh broc. in my fridge and I'm looking forward to steaming it, or just eating it plain with some mushroom vinaigrette. I'll let you know how it goes, but even if the stress relieving theory is hogwash, I will be getting a lot of good fiber in my body this week, which is always a good thing. =) Happy eating.

An Interesting Article

I found this article online. It is by Dr. Susan M. Lark who worked at Standford, studying stress in women, and includes techniques for relaxation including breathing and visualization exercises. Hopefully this is helpful to you. I think I might try the muscle relaxation exercise today before my nap. =)
http://www.healthy.net/Health/Article/Relaxation_Techniques_for_Relief_of_Anxiety_Stress/1205/3

Interesting...

I was just online looking up the difference between melatonin and serotonin because of an ongoing friendly debate between my mother and me, when I found this blog entry from allfall.blogspot.com:

http://allfall.blogspot.com/2005/08/banana-and-milk-or-melatonin-as.html 

which led me to wonder what other health issues this person addressed on their blog, which led me to this article at health24.com. Here's an article I found which is right in step with what my part of the project is about! Here it is...I think I will try to formulate a plan for how I can get each of these foods into my diet in some way over the next couple of weeks.

http://www.health24.com/mind/Diet_and_your_mind/1284-1293,48479.asp

If you can...Can!

I was talking to my hairdresser the other day (who by the way is a veritable font of wisdom as many hairdressers are) and we were discussing how ridiculous it is that I have an apartment on campus with a bathroom, a bedroom, and a living room but no kitchen. I do have a freezer however, and once Robin found that out, she gave me a great idea: this summer I'm going to can. No, that was not a grammatical flub on my part, Robin's going to take me canning in May when I get back from school. She said it's very easy - all you have to do is boil up a vat of your favorite fresh spaghetti or soup, then pressurize it in a canner and pop a top on it. Buying a canner can be expensive, but I would ask around to find out if anyone you know (like crazy old Aunt May) has one and then just borrow it. I am excited to do this because if you can stuff, unlike jarring (yes it's real, look it up if your don't believe me) you don't have to freeze the contents and the product will last for 2 to 3 years. This is a great idea for us college kids because the one thing we can never stop complaining about is how the food here doesn't taste like home. (Oh dear old Sodexo...) Seems like this will be both nostalgic and useful - a winning combo if you ask me.

Set....PUNT!

So today I ran out of ingredients. Not only could I not make the crock-pot lasagna I wanted to make today, but I was left staring at an almost empty refrigerator wondering how the hell I was going to pull this one together. Just when I was on the verge of "throwing up the white towel" as a friend of mine would say, and calling Mom to bring home Costco pizza, a thought hit me. I went out to the outside refrigerator and found the jackpot: a bunch of frozen chicken thighs.

Starting at 4:30, I threw together some onions, garlic and olive oil to brown and chucked the chicken in the microwave to defrost. I then brazed the chicken in a pot with some broth and white wine. Meanwhile, I added red peppers, green beans and tomatoes, fresh basil and parsley. Once the chicken was brazed, I added the chicken and wine-broth to the simmering veggies. I threw in some fresh pasta and when it was done, I ladled my chicken, veggies and sauce over my noodles. I added some salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and voila! "Chicken whatchamacallit!"And boy was it tasty!

More kitchen miracles coming soon.

Jamaican Jerk Potroast Crockpot recipe

From the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes:

1 2 or 2 1/2 lb boneless beef chuck roast
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup steak sauce
3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs quick-cooking tapioca
1 tsp cracked black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Jamaican jerk seasoning
3 cups hot cooked jasmine or basmati rice

1. Trim fat from meat. Place beef in cooker. In a small bowl combine water, raisins, steak sauce, balsamic vinegar, sugar, tapioca, pepper, Jamaican jerk seasoning and garlic. Pour mixture over roast.

2. Cover, cook on low heat for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours. Pour cooking-liquid gravy into a bowl. Skim fat from gravy. Serve roast with rice and gravy.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 359 cal, 7 g total fat (3 g sat. fat) 92 mg chol, 269 mg sodium, 39 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 33 g protein.
Daily Values: 2% vit A, 4% vit C, 3% calcium, 26% iron

Killer Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
Mix together until creamy:

        1 cup softened margarine

        1 cup sugar

        1 cup brown sugar

Add 2 eggs and mix well

Sift together:

       2 cups flour

       1 tsp baking powder

       1/2 tsp baking soda

       1/2 tsp salt

Mix sifted dry ingredients into the creamed sugar mixture. Blend well.

Add:

       2 cups oatmeal

      1 tsp vanilla

      1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, about 12 min

Cool on a cooling rack (get them off the baking sheet immediately, otherwise they will stick)

Pizza with Pizzazz

In order to make home made pizza, the first and most difficult step is making the dough. Here's the way I made some of the most delicious pizza I've ever tasted....Warning: this is not a recipe to try on a day when you have an hour and 20 people coming over. Making pizza takes time, but if if it's a rainy day and you've got some time then andiamos!

Pizza Crust & Toppings
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 1/3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups bread flour
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- Place all ingredients in a mixer and mix thoroughly with dough hook
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 min. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Roll out dough onto a pizza pan or a baking sheet - raise edges of dough if you want a crust
- Spread your tomato sauce around the inside of the crust, sprinkle mozerella cheese and other toppings over sauce.
- Bake at 425 for 20-25 minor until crust around perimeter turns golden brown.

I used this recipe and doubled it to make 3 medium sized pizzas. For toppings I used Italian low fat turkey sausage, (which you will have to brown in a frying pan before you put it on your pizza) Baby Bella mushrooms, red bell pepper and onions.

Margarita pizza is very similar; all you do differently is top the tomato sauce with pieces of fresh mozzarella instead of grated mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and minced garlic. Pop your pizza in the oven for about 10-15 min, then add fresh slices of tomato on top. You can choose to sprinkle the pizza with fresh Parmesan cheese as well. Then it's back in the oven for another 10 min until the crust turns golden brown and you're set.

My family greatly enjoyed the fresh pizza, and I hope yours will too. It was definitely worth the time and effort!

Home Made Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

 

This is my mom's homemade mac and cheese recipe which I prepared Sunday night. I love it when I'm sick, or when I just need a little extra TLC time.

Mom's Macaroni and Cheese

-  Mix together 4 TBS. butter and 2 TBS. corn starch with a wire whisk in a medium-sized pot

-  Cook and stir on medium heat until bubbly

-  Add 2 C. (or so) of non-fat milk*

-  2 C. grated Tillamook mild cheddar cheese

- 1/4 to 1/2 C. of Parmesan Cheese

-  1 TBS. mustard

-  Stir until your hand falls off, or until the sauce thickens enough to where it looks like cheese sauce

*At the same time that you add the milk, cheese and mustard, put a pot of water on to boil, then when the water is at a rolling boil, add macaroni noodles, a little olive oil and a pinch of salt. After eight minutes or so, test a noodle to ascertain if they are cooked enough. When the noodles are done, strain them into a colander and rinse them to get the excess olive oil off. (Nobody likes greasy noodles!)

- Pour noodles into a casserole dish and generously drizzle the cheese sauce over them

- Stir gently to coat every single noodle with optimum amount of delicious sauce

- If you're like me, add an extra schpritz of mustard and maybe some canned tuna and then go watch the Oscars (or what ever it is that you do) whilst you enjoy your comfort food masterpiece

Well folks, there you have it. More recipes to follow. =)

It's Been a While

For the past couple weeks I've been patting myself on the back for how faithful of a blogger I've been, however, I realized this afternoon that I have been MIA for a while now, and I thought I should get back to you!

The past 3 weeks have been a struggle in terms relieving stress. Thanks to midterms, I've found myself up until all hours, sacrificing sleep and peace of mind for the all-important grade. I've also found that when I stress, I eat, unhealthily and often. I know this is a problem many of us can relate to -- how many times in the past week did I head for the dark chocolate rather than the pile of homework looming over my desk? Last week was a real doozy, combining school with personal and computer problems into a Molotov cocktail of explosive stress. When my adrenaline was at its highest, I felt like I was in danger of getting up and bolting out of class to go run laps around U-hall and when I had squeezed out my last dregs of frenetic energy, I felt like a limp noodle. Let's just put it this way, the past three weeks have been rough.

However, now I am home in Oregon for Spring Break, which came early this year, for which I am eternally grateful. Now that I have some distance from the craziness vortex which has become my life on the Bluff, the dust has begun to settle, and my head is starting to clear. This week I am focused 100% on my family. Since they don't get Spring Break for another month, it's just Chance (my hound) and me kickin' it at the Jones ranch this week, and though the peaceful quiet was a little difficult to get used to at first, I'm now thoroughly enjoying it. 

Now that I'm in a place that has an oven and stove, I feel my old love of cooking coming back into full swing, and since Sunday when I got home here's a list of what I have concocted, all of it from scratch:

- Macaroni and cheese (+ tuna)
- Brownies
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Sausage, mushroom, red pepper and onion pizza, vegetarian pizza (minus sausage) and my masterpiece: margarita pizza based off what I remember eating when I was in Italy last summer

Since I have a lot more free time than normal, I have decided to post both the healthy and indulgent recipes I prepare for my family this week for your viewing pleasure. Rest assured, they will probably feed at least 5 people very well (I always bulk up recipes when I'm home on account of my 2 voracious teenage bros) and they will make your taste-buds positively dance. That being said, I haven't decided what's for dinner tonight, but I will keep you posted.

Happy Day After Valentine's

I just spent the past 10 minutes writing a blog entry in which I complained about midterms, bemoaned the unusually high amount of baked goods I consumed yesterday, belleyached about how little sleep I've gotten in the past few days and sniveled (yes, sniveled like Snape snivels) about my failure at trying to take a walk this morning to burn off all the cookies and pinkberry from yesterday...

HOWEVER

I just wanted to let you know I'm kicking all of that shiznat out of my system right now, and I'm going to make a recommendation to you, even though it has to do with fitness, not eating.

TRY YOGA! I did it on Sunday night and trust me it's SO worth it even if your session goes a little long. For those of you who would prefer to do yoga in the comfort of your own homes, "there's an app for that" - go to the Mac store online here:
<http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/?cid=wwa-naus-seg-mac10-029&cp=wwa-seg-mac10-operatingsystem&sr=sem>
then type in "pocket yoga" to the search bar. Pocket yoga is awesome. I just whip out my computer when I can't make the yoga schedule at the gym and voila! There are like 6 sessions you can choose from, with time variations of 30-45-60 min and you can get your warrior I on in your living room!
I'm going to yoga class tomorrow at the gym and I hope to see you there! Let's get our flexibility on and actually do something to lower our stress! =)

Midterms Blues

I'm sitting in Anatomy class and I feel like my stress levels have jumped from a 0 to 10 in the past 4 hours! My natural inclination would be to hit the Rocky Road ice cream when I feel like this, but somehow I don't think pounding the Hagen Daaz will help with all the midterm studying I have to do. On the up side, I did yoga last night with the girls and even though I'm sore today, I feel like I'm sitting up straighter and breathing a little deeper today than I was yesterday. All this to say I am knee-deep in midterms, I'm stressed out, and I feel like my eating habits are going to suffer.

Less Salt = More Sanity

I was talking to my friend Karin last night and she gave me an eating tip from a nutritionist which makes total sense:
Eating less salt in your diet will help if you're feeling bloated.
The more salt we take in, the more water we retain, hence the more bloated we feel! So tomorrow, rather than salting your eggs, potatoes, pasta, etc. drink some water and revel in the non-bloated results! Also, in the same conversation, Karin and I talked about the fact that we don't know how high in sodium most of the foods we consume on a daily basis are, especially here at LMU, compliments of Sodexo. So next time you're munching at the Lair, take a couple extra seconds and actually read the nutrition facts to check and see if that convenient wrap will stress you out later on.

Yogalicious = good thinking?

I got yogalicious today for an afternoon snack, something I would like to keep in my stress-relieving diet! However, though yogalicious froyo is delightful, I wonder if it is truly helping my cause in eating to relieve stress or not. I know that getting some froyo with chocolate sauce and crumbled up brownies in it is probably not very healthful (though sometimes necessary!) but I wonder if the fruity frozen yogurt is a good choice in my mission to de-stress. I would say short term, the decision to treat oneself occasionally is a good thing, but I wonder if this is a good choice long term or not.
Here are some articles I found on the subject, the first one seems to think froyo is not so great, the second one seems to think it's fine:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0675/is_n6_v8/ai_9223152/
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/frozen-yogurt-nutrition-facts.html

Day 1 : Making this blog is stressin' me out! =)

Hello world! I've decided to create this blog in order to assess and attempt to lower my stress through working on this project for Anatomy 153. This week, I will be involved in the preliminary stages of planning for my technique which will be reducing my stress through changing my diet. This will be interesting because I know I tend to eat more and eat unhealthy things when I'm stressed out; last night I had a bag of peach rings for dinner because I had a presentation this morning. However, I am excited to start this project to start feeling better and eating healthier to reduce stress. I haven't decided yet whether I will follow a pre-formed diet, or whether I want to just pinpoint foods that lower stress and eat those, so please comment and let me know! So here's to a new project, a new blog and a new way of looking at food - here's to eating our way to sanity, one bite at a time! L'Chaim!