Beetles for Breakfast?

When I was in college I travelled to South Korea to stay with a good friend and her family who lived in Seoul.  During my visit they introduced me to many of the local traditions, including many cuisine and food-related customs. Imagine my never-been-out-of-the-U.S.-before surprise when one of their favorite delicacies was silk worms! What!? I marveled at the women cooking these worms in pots on fire pits outside at a traditional Korean festival.

Although exotic to me, many cultures regularly consume "insects" as protein sources.  An estimated 2.5 billion people regularly consume insects. The United Kingdom is considering adding insect protein to its food supply. The basic reason to include insects in the diet is to provide a non-animal protein source. Read more about it in Insect and food pyramids could help reduce meat consumption , which sourced info from a new article in the journal Appetite called, "Can we cut out the meat of the dish? Constructing consumer-oriented pathways towards meat substitution."

Are you trying to reduce your meat consumption? If so, here are ways that Dining can help you with that goal:

• try Meatless Monday dishes at the grill every Monday at all 5 residential restaurants
• visit Roots, the all-vegan restaurant on Muir College
• choose the vegetarian or vegan options available daily; check Dining's site for the green VT label (vegetarian) or blue VG label (vegan)
• utilize the salad bar
• order a vegetarian sandwich at the deli
• who says you have to have an entree? try a meal of 3 vegetarian "sides" such as the vegetarian soup, a spinach leaf salad with garbanzo beans and tomatoes, and a yogurt
• choose veggie options at a Place & Market
• no, Dining is NOT serving bugs!

Happy Meatless Monday!

Are You Keen on Quinoa?

I've heard the word quinoa pronounced many different ways but here's the deal, it's KEEN-wah.  I like it when people say kwah-NO-ah, though; that's just fun.

Anyway, quinoa is healthy and really getting popular in the U.S. these days, which is neat because it's been used in South America for thousands of years.  Dining's executive chef Vaughn Vargus likes quinoa so much that he even included it in a culinary competition he was in last year. Here's Chef Vaughn providing a cooking demo at the Zone.

UC San Diego Dining's executive chef Vaughn Vargus, CEC, CCA

Why eat quinoa?

• it's yummy
• it's higher in protein than most grains**
• it can be eaten all sorts of ways
• it's vegan
• it's gluten-free for those who need gluten-free options
• it's filling

**Technically quinoa is not actually a grain. The Whole Grains Council says that, "Botanically, quinoa is related to beets, chard and spinach, and in fact the leaves can be eaten as well as the grains." Read more about it here.

Where can you get some quinoa on campus right now? At Roots! Check out the Half Dome, a
multi grain burger made of red quinoa, barley & cornmeal on a vegan roll.

Passover Style Meals Available All Week

Dining Services has the following options available for students celebrating Passover this week.

In our Places & Markets:

• sparking juices
• macaroons
• matzah
• matzo ball soup
• regularly stocked plethora of Kosher items

In our Residential Dining Restaurants:

• A Passover-style station each day
• Today's Passover-style meals are Rosemary Chicken for lunch and Herb Crusted Tilapia for dinner
• matzah
• matzo ball soup

Finals are Here - Dining Restaurants Open Earlier

During Finals Week, Dining restaurants are open earlier for those of you getting up early to study or take an exam.  All restaurants are open at 7am this week.  The Places & Markets are also open as usual.

Make sure to eat to fuel your study sessions and test-taking.  Your brain needs food to perform best.

What are some healthy pre-exam breakfasts available in Dining restaurants?

• yogurt with chopped fruit and a cereal mixed in
• hot slow-cooked oatmeal with raisins
• scrambled eggs with salsa on top, toasted whole wheat bread and an orange

Short on time and running in-and-out of Place & Market on your way to your exam? Try:

• Amy's oatmeal bowl or breakfast burrito
• Kashi bar or Lara bar
• Hospitality Express fruit and cheese box (in the refrigerated cases)
• yogurt cup (my current faves are the Greek-style yogurts)

Best of luck on your exams!

Pre-exams/De-Stress Sunday Brunch TOMORROW

Allow Dining Services restaurants to help you fuel your study sessions on Sunday, 3/18, from 10am-2pm with a Pre-exams/De-Stress Sunday Brunch

• Creatively displayed Chocolate Fountain with assorted dipping items (strawberries, large marshmallows, pound cake, banana chunks, pineapple)…FREE!
• Carving station to include baked Pit Ham and Roast Beef with accompaniments (creamy horseradish, mustard and pineapple chutney)…$6.95
• Traditional Eggs Benedict…$2.95 each
• Steel Cut Oatmeal Breakfast Bar (assorted berries, raisins, craisins, chocolate chips, honey, etc.)…$1.75
• Bagels Built to Order…$5.95
• Omelet /Crepe station made to order with choice of accompaniments …$4.95
• Texas Style French Toast Entrée…$3.75

Oh, and Happy St Patty's Day!

Think Before You Drink

my decaf vanilla latte from Roger's Place & Market

Well, it's St. Patty's Eve so the phrase, "Think Before You Drink," might have led you to believe that I was posting about a different topic.  My focus is actually on coffee beverages and the calories in your favorite mocha-cappucino-hold-the-whip-half-caff-with-a-shot-of-hazelnut.

Ordinarily I am a devoted 1-2 cups of caffeinated coffee cups per day kind of gal.  At this time in my life, I am sticking with decaffeinated because I'm nursing my little 4-month old who has plenty of energy without a shot of espresso in her mid-morning meal! My drink of choice at this time is the decaf vanilla latte, which I usually pick up at Roger's since it's near my office on campus.  Which Place & Market is your favorite to make a coffee stop?

Dining Services brews Starbucks coffee and follows the Starbucks recipes so the entirety of the Starbucks coffee nutritionals is available to you here. My favorite drink, the grande decaf vanilla latte, has 250 calories, 6g fat, 37g carbs and 12g protein.  That's a pretty significant contribution to my nutritional intake and most people don't realize that flavored coffee beverages carry quite a few calories, fat, and carbohydrates.  I could save 60 calories and about half the carbohydrates if I didn't get the shot of vanilla but I love the drink that way I order it and I have the room for the calories and fat at this time.

So the moral of the story is Think Before You Drink.  On this St Patty's Eve, I hope you'll also consider that phrase in its traditional meaning as you head out to celebrate the raucous holiday. Have fun and be safe!

Under the Weather but I Gotta Eat

Like many others on campus, I've got some sort of nasty cold. I was fighting it over the weekend and had a rough night of little sleep last night.  Combine that with having a 4-month-old baby and, well, don't judge me on my haggard appearance today...I'll try to brush my hair before I see any of you!

Anyway, when I'm under the weather, I pretty much just want to eat soup and Plaza Cafe on Revelle College did not disappoint. For lunch Plaza has 2 of my favorite soups - Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle and the Albondigas. I opted for the Chicken Noodle and paired it with a salad. Because of congestion, I can't taste that well today but the crunch of the veggies and the smoothness of the ranch (yes, I love ranch, even if it's not the healthiest of dressings - I use it sparingly and it's simply not one of the things on my list to make "healthier") paired very well with the piping hot soup.  For a drink I had soda water - I got this from the fountain by clicking on the "soda" tab (same kind of tab that you can press to get just plain water at the fountain.)  Soda/seltzer water is my new drink obsession. I love the fizz of soda but do NOT want all the sugar rotting my teeth and giving me non-nutrient-associated calories. So, for me, soda water is a great option. I get the fizzy pop feeling but without sugar or calories.

Salad and Soup from Plaza Cafe (Revelle)

Here's hoping you don't have a cold this season. Stay healthy as you gear up for your final exams. Get plenty of rest and wash, wash, wash those hands!

Chocolate Milk: Slick Marketing or Good Post-Workout Snack?

Chocolate milk is getting a lot of press lately for being a good post-workout recovery drink.  The Milk Processor Education Program, the group responsible for the Got Milk? campaign, has a new campaign to promote chocolate milk to adults. You can see the ad on the USAToday news article about this topic here.

College students often ask me whether chocolate milk is "good" for them. The answer is not a clear-cut yes or no.  If you dislike plain, fat-free or lowfat milk and would never drink it and are of normal weight, then I'd recommend chocolate milk to you in order to get some great nutrition (vitamin D, calcium, protein.)  However, I would not recommend chocolate milk as a regular drink to everyone because it is a sugar-sweetened beverage with more calories than most people need to consume from a beverage.  I tend to agree with most of what Marion Nestle says about nutrition topics and I agree with her on the chocolate-milk-as-an-exercise-recovery-meal debate. Instead of drinking your calories, eat something! 

College-friendly After Exercise Meals:

• bowl of healthy cereal with milk (there! I used milk, not chocolate milk, in this example!)
• fruit smoothie (example: yogurt, berries, orange juice)
• sandwich (example: whole grain bread, turkey, lettuce, tomato)
• pasta with marinara or meat sauce
• burrito or burrito bowl with rice (like at Goody's)
• pizza bagel (easy-to-make even in your campus apartment)
• peanut butter and jelly sandwich with....MILK!

Have a great weekend! Exercise today - it's gorgeous outside!

Get Your Plate In Shape

March is National Nutrition Month.  This year's theme is, "Get Your Plate In Shape."  The newly named Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) chooses and promotes the National Nutrition Month theme each year.

The key messages of this year's Get Your Plate In Shape platform are:

• make half your plate fruits and vegetables
• make at least half your grains whole
• switch to fat-free or low-fat milk
• vary your protein sources
• cut back on sodium and empty calories from solid fats and added sugars
• enjoy your food but eat less
• be physically active your way

I like these messages, especially the last two, "enjoy your food but eat less" and "be physically active your way." The key pieces of these two adages are ENJOY and YOUR WAY.  It is healthier to focus on enjoying our meals, with less obsessing over control, restriction, or calorie counting.  And with exercise, the key will always be finding out what works for you.  I'm a big fan of the elliptical trainer whereas my sister finds that to be a modern day torture device - she likes group exercise classes like spin or cardio-kickboxing.

Which of the main messages from National Nutrition Month listed above mean something to you?
For more on National Nutrition Month, click here. 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday today, Dining is offering special Seuss-themed treats:

• Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes for $2.25




Thing 1 & Thing 2 cupcakes - red velvet cake and blue icing


• Cat in the Hat cookies for $1.35

Why are cookies and cupcakes on a healthy eating blog?  There is a reason - all foods can fit into a healthy lifestyle.  If you try to completely avoid ALL sugary dessert-type foods, you'll be a real drag at parties. (Ok, that's not my real take on this situation.) Seriously, being overly rigid or restrictive in your eating habits is an unhealthy approach to nutrition and can lead to over-indulging when you "give in" or "give up" on your strict dietary rules.  It's better to have a cookie or cupcake when the mood strikes.  If you include these items here and there in your intake, your desire for these types of treats is less likely to build up and overwhelm you later.

So if you're into red velvet cupcakes and cookies shaped like a beloved Seuss character, today is your day to have a little something fun!

In honor of the wonderfully creative Theodor Seuss Geisel, I plan to read Green Eggs and Ham to my baby tonight.  What is your favorite Dr. Seuss story?

Tofu Enchiladas at Plaza Cafe

I've returned to UC San Diego from maternity leave and have jumped right back into eating in the various Dining Services outlets. 

On Friday I had lunch at Plaza Cafe on Revelle College - my lunch is pictured above.  The enchiladas were made with tofu. Both the enchiladas and black beans had a nice kick to them from jalapenos.  This meal was vegetarian. I went back to get some salsa verde (not pictured) to add a little more color to my meal. Usually I'd eat a nice green vegetable or salad with this meal but I was really pressed for time.

My favorite thing about this meal: There was a nice balance of protein (mainly from the tofu, beans and cheese), fat (mainly from the cheese), fiber (mainly from the beans) and carbohydrates (mainly from the tortillas and beans.)

Delicious, hearty, and high fiber.

The Importance of Being Well Fed

Dining Services locations will be open at 7am from Dec 5-9th for Early Bird breakfast hours. You should eat prior to taking your early morning finals -

If you're not convinced, check out this article:

Does Eating Breakfast Affect the Performance of College Students on Biology Exams? Gregory W. Phillips at Blinn College

http://amcbt.indstate.edu/volume_30/v30-4p15-19.pdf

Ok, I know, it's finals week and the last thing you want to do is read an article that won't be on your test! So here is the gist: in this study, the college students who ate breakfast had a higher pass rate than those who did not eat breakfast.

Booyah.

EAT BREAKFAST!

Good luck on your finals!