Planning ahead!

One of my tips for eating healthy on a budget is to plan ahead!

After the past few days of disorganization and lateness I definitely had the motivation to pack myself a lunch for work. Packing my breakfast and lunch ahead of time generally causes me to eat healthier and spend less money, so overall positive!

I work at Mass General from 7:30 am - 6 pm so the food I bring tends to span me from breakfast to afternoon snack.

Today I brought:

A grapefruit, which I pre-peeled, because inevitably whenever I attempt to peel a citrus fruit at my desk it never really ends well.



a salad including: baby spinach, romaine lettuce, whole wheat spaghetti, two whole carrots, some frozen corn and snap peas, pumpkin seeds, and raisins.



and some multigrain cheerios and a banana.




In my locker at work I also keep a stash of Healthy choice soup, some plain oatmeal, sometimes some granola bars, and of course A LOT of tea bags, for those times (aka every day I work) where I am not actually hungry but want to put something in my mouth.

If you are trying to eat healthier, or tighten the wallet, I definitely recommend buying your own groceries and prepping ahead of time. You are more likely to make wiser, healthier choices, and pay a fraction of what you would at a restaurant or work cafeteria!

Class and Cheerios

Yesterday was my first day of class. Those who know me, know I generally am exceptionally punctual (I am getting better on being late sometimes...) but in general, I HAVE to be early. Sooo... being the first day on campus I left Somerville at 7 am, I made it to Framingham fine, HOWEVER, I did not make it to Framingham State College, so successfully. I somehow got turned around on one road and accidentally wound up back on the Mass Pike and couldn't turn around without going to the next exit and turning around.

Of course, being directionally challenged I was also relying heavily on Dot, my handy GPS. I guess at some point during our journey after I got lost, I hit something on Dot and changed the destination location... soo my GPS sent me all the way back to Worcester (16 miles out of the way...)

Here's the map of what I drove: from Somerville, to Worcester, to Framingham, and then of course back to Somerville.



I finally made it to class 10 minutes late >___<

Thankfully I had planned well the night before and packed lots of snackies for the day.
I brought: 2 tangerines, a banana, some multigrain cheerios, and soymilk



The intent had been to eat the cheerios, milk, and banana together, but the opportune time never came around and they were all eaten seperately throughout class/ running around on campus.

The multigrain Cheerios have been my new thing lately-- namely because they have been on sale at Shaw's for $2.22 the past two times I've gone shopping.

I love cold cereal, but a lot of times I have to swear it off because I can't eat it without binge eating, but these guys don't tend to cause me to overeat. They are lightly sweetened, and more multidimensional than plain cheerios as they are made with five different kinds of whole grain O's. Nutrition Facts wise: 1 cup = 110 calories, 1 gram fat, 2 grams protein, 23 grams carbs , 6 grams of sugar and 3 grams of fiber.

So, they are not nutritional superstar, but pretty good. I am a fan that there are only 110 calories in 1 cup, and only 1 gram of fat. The sugar could be lower, and the fiber could be higher. But overall, tasty and healthy.

As for class, I had my first Medical Nutrition Therapy Lab, which will be the second part of my internship (Still haven't found out my rotation location), and then my first Human Nutritional Science Class-- which is basically Metabolism/ Nutritional Biochemistry.

I have been really nervous about the Metabolism class, since I was not so stellar at Biochem, but day one wasn't so bad, albeit already boring.