5 Foods That Are Practically Made for College Students
You don't even realize how fuckin' good for you Broccoli is.
The food we eat has a huge effect on us. It’s a fact college students almost always neglect. Because it takes time to digest we often don’t associated an elevated mood around noon with the breakfast we ate 4 hours ago, but often this can be the case! The following foods have remarkable properties that make them seem like they were almost designed for the work-hard, play-hard college lifestyle.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a food whose motto should be, “Hey, if you want to feel less guilty about drinking….eat ME!”
To put a lot of scientific long words and chemical processes into short-hand, basically Broccoli kicks ass when it comes to helping your body detoxify itself. There are a number of compounds in Broccoli that aid the body in the activation, neutralization, and elimination of harmful toxins (alcohol, ahemm) throughout the body. This means that Broccoli is something your liver will appreciate before or after a night of drinking.
Note: This isn’t carte-blanche to go out and get blackout off shots of Jager….the stuff only works within reason. Nevertheless, if you are going to go out and pound Jager you might as well eat a shit-ton of broccoli anyway….can’t hurt
Further, Broccoli is rich in both Vitamin D and K, both of which are crucial to keeping an individual’s mood elevated. So if you feeling depressed, overwhelmed, hungover, and stressed out (as I suspect you might), maybe you should dive head-first in to a bowl of steamed Broccoli. Finally, Broccoli is also rich in a flavonoid compoud (that’s a type of antioxidant for those that care) called Kaempferol which may facilitate anti-inflammatory responses to allergens.
High Cacao Chocolate
High cacao MEANS high cacao. Eating a Hershey’s bar isn’t going to do much for you other than the momentary bliss, but high quality chocolate with as much as 85% or more cacao can be one of the best things you can put in your body. Between the array of anti-oxidants (an anti-oxidant is basically just a compound that prevents oxidation of molecules and therefore the production of potentially harmful byproducts known as free-radicals), vitamins, and delicious flavor, cacao is virtually guaranteed to brighten your day. It has mood-elevating properties, brain-stimulating properties (for nights of heavy studying), and loads of other body enhancing properties. Eat more of this brown gold.
Hot-Peppers / Spicy Food (Capsaicin)
Capsaicin is the compound present in Chili peppers, Jalapenos and other spicy foods. It has been shown to increase metabolism by causing your body to release stress hormones that stimulate your body to break down adipose tissue. This means that your body actually breaks down fat. Now, obviously the amount of capsaicin you would need to eat to actually see large results in fat loss is pretty astronomical, BUT in a controlled diet the regular inclusion of some spice can be incredibly helpful at keeping off that Freshman Fifteen!
Water
Ahhh, water. Cool. Refreshing. Free. AND NOW, super healthy.
Let’s do some math: College = (Coffee + Classes) * (High Sodium Food + Alcohol). That is one hell of an equation, especially where three of the monomials (coffee, food, and alcohol) can pretty much destroy your osmoregulation (that’s retention of water, basically). Sodium causes your body to produce hormones that tell it to retain water, whereas Coffee and Alcohol are both powerful diuretics (these tell your body to dump the water aka “Break the Seal”). One might think to themselves, “Hmm, perfect balance….” but no…not really.
SO, here comes water. A poorly hydrated body will have trouble focusing, performing physical activities, detoxifying, metabolizing, not to mention the fact that your piss will end up looking like Iced Tea. By drinking water, you are helping your body to do all the aforementioned activities, PLUS you will greatly reduce the mal-effects of a hangover, probably lose some excess weight (you will no longer be eating because you mistook your thirst for hunger, and you will probably get the drunk munchies less if you drink while hydrated), and you will generally be healthier. There it is. Drink more water. Your kidneys will thank you….even though they should be thanking me.
Oatmeal
To be honest, oatmeal is good for everyone…including your parents with high-cholesterol. Oatmeal balls-out when it comes to long-lasting fullness and providing the essential nutrients needed to keep yourself entertained through an hour and a half of some hippie talking about how the government needs to work harder to teach starving people in other countries how to grow organic foods and live vegan lifestyles. Plus, you know…minerals, vitamins, fat-soluble fiber, and all kinds of other good carbohydrates and high-density lipoproteins.
Category: Eating Right, Health
