Hangovers: the foods to eat and those to avoid for relief

The key to getting over a hangover isn't a trip to the local fast-food joint or the Starbucks drive-through— actually, the answer is likely to be lurking in some common health foods. To help get you feeling back to your pre-partied self, chow down on some of these nutrient-dense foods:

Asparagus: A study published by the Institute of Food Technologists shows that eating asparagus could help metabolize alcohol quicker, thanks to the veggie's amino acids and minerals.

Coconut water: Because alcohol has a diuretic effect, it causes your sodium and potassium levels to drop. This results in dehydration, bringing on feelings of shakiness. To restore all of those lost electrolytes, forget the Gatorade and reach for some all-natural coconut water. Containing fewer carbohydrates, calories, and sugar than most sports drinks on the market, coconut water is a prime alternative to tongue-staining Cool Blue or Fruit Punch. Just be sure to select a variety with no added sugars.

Bananas: Another option for replenishing your electrolyte stores is eating a banana. Since they're easy on the stomach, they make for a solid choice if you're experiencing nausea.

Honey and toast: Grab some whole-grain toast (crackers work too) and spread on some of the golden liquid. Honey is full of antioxidants and concentrated fructose, which could increase the rate at which the alcohol leaves your body. The toast contributes by bringing your blood sugar back up.

Eggs: A plate of scrambled eggs or an omelet may be just what you need. Eggs contain the amino acid cysteine, which can help rid of acetaldehyde (the chemical that causes the painful hangover headache), along with taurine, which has shown to help dispose of alcohol's toxins faster.

Some foods and beverages to avoid?

Greasy foods: By the time that burger digests, the alcohol will have already left your stomach and entered your bloodstream, so there won't be any alcohol for the food to soak up. Rather, the grease could upset your stomach further and cause acid reflux. Some may have success with greasy foods to relieve a hangover because of the sodium (helping to retain water in your body) and carbs (raising blood sugar). It's true that fatty foods can help prevent a hangover, but they have to be eaten before you start drinking to help slow the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream. That being said, I'd recommend taking in healthy sources of fat (such as olive oil, salmon, or avocado) to keep your waistline and heart happy and to prevent you from feeling sluggish before heading out.

More alcohol, a.k.a "hair of the dog": A mimosa at breakfast could temporarily take away your hangover symptoms, giving you relief while your liver goes to break down the new source of alcohol. Once that drink gets metabolized, though, back comes the hangover, but even worse than the original.

Coffee: After a night of drinking, our bodies need to be rehydrated, not dehydrated further by a cup of caffeine. Being a vasoconstrictor, caffeine also causes the blood cells to swell and, thus, can increase the intensity of a headache.

Lastly, a few tips to help avoid the hangover altogether:

• Stay hydrated throughout the night by drinking one glass of water for every alcoholic beverage you consume.
• Eat a good meal beforehand to slow your body's absorption of alcohol. 
• Opt for clear alcohols over darker ones. The brown-colored alcohols often contain more congeners, which can increase the severity of a hangover. 
• Don't forget to down a glass of water (or coconut water) to rehydrate before hitting the sack!

Have a safe New Years, everyone! I look forward to sharing more of my health and fitness findings with you all in 2014 ~ Cheers!

Mexican Hot Chocolate: your guiltless winter beverage

Picture this: you're sitting by the fireplace (or by the computer, pretending a YouTube video of one is real... #collegelife) on a cold winter night. You're sipping on a mug of Mexican hot chocolate— spicy, sweet... sugar-free and nutritious. You read that right. A warm cup of guilt-free deliciousness. This chocolaty beverage could be in your hands in just a matter of minutes, sending an indulgent sizzle from your tastebuds down to your belly.

To turn this inviting thought into a feasible reality, you'll need:

- 1 cup skim milk (you could also try out a dairy-free milk, such as soy or almond)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 packet stevia
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of cinnamon
- A pinch of cayenne powder (I recommend using a very small pinch to start; you can always add more after a taste test if you'd like a spicier flavor. If you don't like spicy foods, you can always omit the cayenne to make regular hot cocoa.)

Pour the milk into a medium-sized pot and set the stove to medium-low heat. Begin adding the cocoa powder into the pot, adding a little at a time and stirring slowly as you go to avoid clumping. Then add the remaining ingredients into the pot, continuing to stir until all is clump-free. Once ready, pour into a mug and enjoy!




For the original recipe and a few other healthy hot cocoa concoctions from Mother Nature Network, click the link here!

Dining Out: how to order healthier Chinese food

This Christmas eve, many of us will be sitting down to a wonderful, home-cooked meal. Just as many of us, I'm sure, will be hitting the local Chinese restaurant or dialing in take-out. It's no secret that Chinese food isn't among the lightest and low-cal out there. If we're talking calories alone, a typical meal of an egg roll (approx. 200 calories), white rice (220 calories), sesame chicken (approx. 450 calories), and a few pork dumplings (approx. 70 calories each) comes in at over 1,000 calories. Keep in mind, these amounts are largely based on single serving sizes, not an entire order of each.

Sticking to a single entree for your meal isn't likely to do your waistline much justice either. A carton of lo mein could easily cost you more calories than the entire meal listed above. Even the vegetable dishes can do you in, which are often drenched in oil to enhance their flavor and texture. To put things in perspective, an order of stir-fried eggplant comes in at around 1,000 calories. And I haven't even mentioned the loads of sodium and fat that commonly lurk in Chinese dishes. The amounts found in single servings are scary enough; you don't even want to know what you'll find in an entire order. If you're thinking about ordering some beef and broccoli, be aware that a serving could have around 12 grams of fat and over 1,500 milligrams of sodium. Of course, these amounts are all relative to where you're ordering from and how the dishes are prepared.

For a lighter meal, consider taking some of the following suggestions:

• Request brown rice over steamed rice.

• If the dish you'd like to order is deep-fried, see if it can be pan-fried or braised. To seriously lighten up your dish, ask for it to be cooked in vegetable stock instead of oil. This will make the dish moister and less crispy, saving you a considerable amount of fat and calories.

• Ask to have sauces provided on the side rather than having them added directly into your entrees. Sauces are where many of the calories, fat, sugar, and sodium lurk, but the good news is that you don't need much to obtain their flavor (nowhere near the hefty amount that restaurants use). To keep those numbers down, add a modest amount on yourself, or lightly coat your fork in the sauce before taking each bite.
• If the restaurant simply can't cook the dish without the sauce being mixed in, take a tip from NBC News and eat with a fork or chopsticks to allow some to drip off before the food hits your mouth.

• Order spring rolls over egg rolls. In general, avoid anything crispy (tofu included). 

• Opt for a vegetable-based dish (made with as little oil as possible), and if you're seriously craving some lo mein or kung pao chicken, take FitSugar's advice and order some to be shared with others. Serve yourself a small amount, just enough to obtain the flavor and satisfy your craving.

• Though lo mein is far from a healthy choice, if you're going to order it, shrimp lo mein is your best bet for the lightest option. Yep, even over veggie lo mein. 

• To keep the sodium down, steer clear of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and duck sauce.

• Avoid the pork dumplings, even if they're steamed (an order of 6 packs around 500 calories). To save calories and sodium, go with steamed veggie dumplings, or better yet order a cup of wonton soup (coming in at just a mere 100 calories).

• Split an entree with someone else or pack up half of the meal when it arrives. This way, you can avoid the temptation of devouring the whole order.

• For the healthiest of options, order your meal steamed to ensure what you're getting is low-cal and low-fat. You can always add some sauce for added flavor!

Wishing everyone a joyous and relaxing Christmas! Stay warm my friends!

Christmas: recipes for a jolly good (and healthy) meal

Christmas is less than a week away, which means that if you're celebrating, it's time to start thinking about meal preparations! Similar to Thanksgiving, Christmas spreads frequently feature some less-than-healthy dishes, but are of course necessary for keeping up with holiday tradition. You can still enjoy these foods and sidestep any feelings of guilt that may arise by balancing your plate with some more nutritious options. Check out the recipes below for some lighter additions to serve at your holiday celebration! (I was sure to include extra dessert recipes— they're the best part, after all!)

Glazed Ham with Blackberry Sauce

Creamy Garlic Mashed Cauliflower and Potatoes

Cinnamon Quinoa with Dates

Broccoli Boost Soup

Citrus Green Beans with Pine Nuts

Upside-Down Beet Salad

Spice-Brined Turkey with Cider Pan Gravy

Mashed Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes

Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin

Christmas Kale Salad

Easy Oven Roasted Vegetables with Sage and Thyme

Vegan Eggnog

Almond Cacao Cookies with Salted Maca Caramel

Slow Cooker Coconut Rice Pudding

Sugar Plums

Grain-Free Sugar Cookies

Candyland Peppermint Bark

Roasted Rosemary Almonds

Holiday Gingerbread Protein Truffles

Mexican Chocolate Silken Tofu Pudding

Happy cooking to all! May your meal be merry, delicious, and nutritious!

Holiday Weight-Gain: tips for keeping it trim

After a week of packing and studying, I'm back on my blogging grind, and just in time to dish out some  weight-gain defying tips for the holidays. With all of the cookies, eggnog, and candy canes floating around this time of year, keeping off the holiday pounds can be challenging. This doesn't have to be the case, though. Below, I've provided some helpful tips to help keep those excess pounds at bay:

Hit the gym, but don't go in thinking that if you workout, you can eat more. Throughout the holiday season, we're inclined to eat more than we normally would. This means that even if you keep up with your normal exercise regimen, you won't be burning off the excess food you're taking in. Elisa Zied, RD, recommends tacking an additional 10 minutes onto your workout for a week to help counter the additional food.

Don't go to a holiday party on an empty stomach. This tip draws on another one of Zied's; coming from experience, we all know that holiday gatherings are not synonymous with healthy eats. Sure, you may be able to spot a fruit or veggie platter, but that's not likely to stop you from loading your plate with buttered up potatoes and an assortment of desserts. And it shouldn't! The holidays are all about relaxing and taking in the delicious food it has to offer, but that's no excuse to let yourself go wild. If you're worried about maintaing self-control, Zied recommends eating a light meal made up of protein and a fiber (such as grilled chicken and veggies, or greek yogurt and raspberries) to fill you up a bit before hitting the party. When you sit down to eat, you can avoid feeling as if you need to fill your plate with everything in sight. If you still feel the urge, opt for a smaller-sized appetizer plate over a larger one.

Refrain from sampling everything— yet another of Zied's helpful tips. If you're presented with a wide assortment of goods, don't tell yourself that by taking just a small portion of each you're keeping the calories down. All of those cookies and cheese balls can add up pretty quickly. Instead, serve yourself a larger portion of the healthier options (such as salad and lean protein) and take Prevention's advice by sampling only what gives you the most satisfaction. That could mean that instead of eating one of the grocery-store bought cookies, you indulge in a piece of your mom's homemade pie.

If you're cooking, make some healthy ingredient swaps to bring down the calories and unhealthy fat. Anyone that keeps up with the blog knows that I'm always advocating for this. With so many easy and healthy substitutions available, there's no reason not to take advantage of them! If you don't tell your guests about the substitutes in your recipes, they probably won't even notice! This was the case with my batch of black bean brownies; my roommate, Casey, a.k.a. the brownie connoisseur, had no idea there were beans in them. Even before I told him about the healthier ingredients they were made with, he couldn't get over how great they were! For some healthy baking substitutions, be sure to check out Greatist's list, providing you with 83 of them!

If you can't handle the temptation, don't sabotage yourself. Going back to all of those great unhealthy holiday foods, if you know that the mere sight of them will have you digging in, don't keep these foods out in the open. As a wise person once said, "out of sight, out of mind." I've always found it helpful to keep such goods in places that I'm not likely to frequent, such as the back of the pantry or the fridge. If simply knowing that they're there is too much to handle, clear them out altogether! As your holiday party comes to a close, send your guests home with the leftovers, or if you're having a smaller gathering with the family, take whatever you don't want tempting you over to the office the following day. I'm sure your co-workers would appreciate the treats!

Instead of watching TV for hours on end, get in some active quality time with friends and family. The Christmas specials aren't going to stop airing if you leave the couch for a few hours. There are plenty of fun, calorie-burning activities you and your fellow companions can partake in! Why not get everyone together and go iceskating, take a walk around the neighborhood that's notorious for their Christmas lights, or go for a group bike ride?

Don't wait until you get going with your New Years resolutions to start making healthy decisions. You can still maintain your health and fitness goals throughout the holiday season without forgoing the gingerbread!

Peppermint: getting you through finals and into the holiday spirit

It seems as if every student on campus is doning sweats and overloaded backpacks— a clear indication that finals week has arrived. We're officially entering the second week of December, in which stressful exams are juxtaposed by the care-free and light air of the holiday season. With these coinciding events taking place, peppermint seemed to be the perfect super-food to write about for today's post!

When I think of Christmas, one of the first things that come to mind is peppermint. Between the candy canes, peppermint bark, and Starbucks' Peppermint Mocha making its annual reappearance, there's no escaping the cooling herb throughout December. And why would anyone want to? I personally love the constant reminder of the holiday season, and I'm especially keen on peppermint's function as a medicinal herb. Asides from giving sweets and treats a distinct, Christmassy flavor, peppermint can help to relieve you of ailments typical of finals week. Whether it's a lack of concentration, headache, or a nervous stomach, peppermint has got you covered.

Peppermint's aroma has shown to heighten memory and alertness (which may keep you from passing out on your textbooks) and by massaging peppermint oil onto your temples and forehead, it may rid of tension headaches brought on by hours of studying. For those who experience a nervous stomach due to test anxiety, multiple studies have shown peppermint to be an effective remedy for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) symptoms, including bloating, gas, and acid reflux; drinking a cup of peppermint tea or taking a peppermint supplement could help mitigate these feelings of discomfort.

If you happen to eat out this week, be sure to grab a few peppermint candies from the hostess stand before heading out the door. That, or consider picking up some peppermint tea or oil. They might come in handy when you go to hit the books!

P.S. ~
Being a student myself, I'll be taking next week off from the blog to focus on my studies. Be sure to check back in the following Tuesday, December 17th! 

Fro-Yo: a misinterpreted treat

For years following fro-yo's rise to mega-popularity, I would make frequent trips over to the many speciality shops in my area. Having a tenacious sweet tooth and a desire to eat healthfully, I viewed frozen yogurt as the answer to all of my sugar-induced needs. No feelings of guilt ever emerged as I'd hold down the handle of the shiny self-serve machine. The sign mounted off to its side further assured me that I was making a health-conscious choice, stating that the thick stream of goodness flowing into my over-sized cup was sugar-free, low-fat, or fat-free. Once satisfied with my serving, I would head to the toppings bar to garnish my fro-yo with sprinkles, mochi, fruit, and/or chocolate. I figured that since I was just eating yogurt, there was room for the extras! After years of what I believed to be sinless indulging, I came to learn that fro-yo wasn't as great for you as I'd thought. Sad to say, frozen yogurt is more complex than fans would like to believe.

The misconception stems from the name itself— frozen yogurt. Many of us naturally assume that this is simply yogurt in frozen form, and yogurt is a great source of calcium, protein, and probiotics (good bacteria that aid in digestion and immunity). In order to be considered yogurt by the National Yogurt Association, both of the probiotics' two chains of bacteria must be present (Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus). These bacterias are responsible for transforming pasteurized milk into yogurt during the fermentation process.

Some frozen dessert chains, such as Tasti-D-Light, don't include these active and live cultures in their formulas (which they are very forthcoming about), but even true fro-yos may not be as wholesome as you may think. As David Katz, founding director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, says, "the fact that there's yogurt in the name in no way exonerates what's in your cup...it's not an alternative to yogurt, it's an alternative to ice cream." And it's a sad truth.

Low-fat and fat-free frozen yogurt is a step up from ice-cream, but compared with regular yogurt, fro-yo contains a host of additives (which may or may not affect your health) and around double the amount of sugar. Most plain and original frozen yogurt varieties contain 100-130 calories and 15-20 grams of sugar per half cup (the equivalent size of one scoop of ice cream— an amount easily surpassed by those who go for self-serve). Pile on the toppings, and those numbers soar. Meanwhile, the dessert's freezing process can cause the probiotic content to drop. 

Simin Nikbin Meydani, professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, says that fro-yo's flash-freezing process shouldn't kill off the probiotics the way slow freezing in a freezer would, but you can't be certain that this won't still happen. He explains that the number of surviving probiotics is based on the type and amount of bacteria that a given fro-yo is made with, but frozen yogurt typically ends up having much smaller quantities of probiotics than regular yogurt. To be sure you're getting a beneficial dose, look for the National Yogurt Association's Live and Active Culture's seal at your local fro-yo shop (Red Mango is one such manufacturer that has been approved for the seal) and on pre-packaged varieties from the grocery store.

Although a large cup of frozen yogurt wouldn't make for the most nutritious meal, a properly portioned serving can be a delicious dessert to enjoy on occasion. If you're interested in options offering additional advantage, Lisa Brown, assistant professor of nutrition at Simmons College in Boston, says that the tart fro-yo flavors will slow down your body's release of sugar (helping to control appetite and energy), while the Greek yogurt varieties will have a creamier texture and provide you with a higher protein and lower carbohydrate count. Now, if you're feeling for Cake Batter or Triple Chocolate, I say to go for it. Fro-yo, after all, isn't a health food, so if you're yearning for something sweeter, treat yourself! Just be sure to take it easy on the self-serve handle.