Choosing Healthy Foods

With assistance from Northeastern graduate student Melissa Pryputniewicz Winter is probably one of the least popular times of year. The days are shorter, the weather is gloomy and can be brutal – sometimes it feels as though winter will never end! For many reasons, people are less active during the winter months. Some people develop mild depression during the winter while others don't want to travel in the snow or cold to go to work let alone go to the gym. Even though it would be nice to curl up and hibernate, it is important to be physically active during these chilly winter months. Benefits of Being Active Decreased Depression – According to a clinical study, exercise was an effective antidepressant over both the short and long term. This could be especially helpful during the winter months when many people develop a form of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder. Immunity Boost – According to the Cleveland Clinic, studies have shown that regular exercise can boost part...

Water is an essential nutrient and is involved in a variety of body functions, including regulating body temperature, transporting nutrients and oxygen to cells, and carrying waste products out of the body. But how do you know how much is enough - or too much? Your need for water depends on many factors such as your health, activity level, and climate you live in. Each day, we lose water through our breath, sweat, and urine. When it is hot and humid (which it is definitely not right now!) we need even more. We need to replenish these fluid losses through foods and beverages. The Adequate Intake (AI) of water recommended by the Institute of Medicine for women (ages 19-30) is about 11 cups/day (2.7 liters/day) and about 15 cups/day (3.7 liters/day) for men (ages 19-30). Although these amounts sounds like a lot, keep in mind that you do not need to consume all of your fluid needs from water alone. Foods, specifically fruits and vegetables, provide about 20% of your water intake - and...

Hi everyone! Chef Barton here with our weekly Cooking 101 recap. After a week off last Tuesday so everyone could enjoy Mardi Gras , we got back on schedule last night with session three of our Cooking 101 series. This week featured the " Garde Manger ," or cold section of the kitchen. We talked about strategies for putting together great looking contemporary cheese boards, crudité platters, fruit platters, and antipasto displays. We also prepared several dressings from scratch and everyone got to try their hand at making their own vinaigrette. The ranch dressing I made with homemade mayo came out a little thin but tasty - I think I got carried away with our housemade buttermilk! We also tasted many different salad greens to showcase the wide differences there are of greens there are to choose from. We saw some different salad presentations with "bowls" made from baked parmesan cheese, or frico , and also created a thinly sliced cucumber round just large enough to ho...

With assistance from Northeastern graduate student Melissa Pryputniewicz The heart's main function is to pump blood throughout your body. Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to your organs and carries waste products like carbon dioxide to be excreted from the body. When you think about it, the heart is a pretty important organ - and it is one that many young people take for granted. It is very easy to think that you don’t have to start worrying about your heart health until your 40s, but the truth is that many behaviors you are engaging in now have an impact on your heart health later in life. So, what puts you at risk for developing heart disease? According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, risk factors include: High blood pressure High cholesterol Smoking Diabetes Being overweight or obese Being physically inactive Having a poor diet Excessive alcohol use As you can see from the list, there are many risk factors that can be controlled through your lifestyle choices....

Chris Jennings - Northeastern Dining Quality Assurance Manager We rolled right into Session II of the Cooking 101 series last evening in the XK. Before you start cooking your food, it is generally a good idea to cut it to your needs; so we worked on knife skills. Chef Tom helped us identify some different types of knives from a French Knife to a Slicer to a Boning Knife and what applications they are best suited for. In order to make sure that our knives where not dull, a honing demonstration needed to make the sharp edges keener. After some quick safety tips and discussion on potential cross contamination we started to rock - our knives that is! With fingers tucked in and knife tip on the board the cutting began. Everyone started by trying their hand at dicing and chopping. By the end of the evening we had some great brunoise onion, julienne carrot, and paysanne potato to name a few. It was a job well done by everyone. The best part of the evening was that no one cut themselves (phew!...

With assistance from Northeastern graduate student Melissa Pryputniewicz A new year brings the hope and promise of new starts. This makes it the perfect time for people to make resolutions to change certain behaviors. But even with good intentions many people don’t succeed in keeping their resolutions. A study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that only half of the people who made a resolution stuck with it after six months. So you may be asking, what are the keys to success? Calvin and Hobbes , Bill Waterson Make Resolutions Realistic and Specific Many people make big resolutions like "I want to lose weight," or "I want to eat healthier." While these goals highlight positive changes, they are not very specific. Instead trying reframing your goals into more specific terms. Not only will this help you measure when you have achieved a goal, but it also gives you a clear plan of action for starting to work on the resolution. Break Big Goals Into Smaller Ones ...