Recipe for Coconut Shrimp

This recipe for coconut shrimp is super easy and incredibly delicious!

Ingredients: 

Cooking Spray

1 tbsp curry powder

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

3 sliced scallions

1/2 cup of light coconut milk 

1 lb of shelled shrimp 

Directions:

Spray skillet with cooking spray.

Pour olive oil into skillet, add curry powder and salt, stir for 1 minute.

Add scallions and stir for 2 minutes.

Add coconut milk, stir to blend.

Add shrimp and cook until pink.

(Serves 4)

If you want to portion control your meal, eat 5-6 pieces of shrimp, along with 1 cup of rice or brown rice, and 1-2 tbsp of sauce. 

What I love about this meal is that it is really fast to make. The light coconut milk adds a creamy texture to the shrimp with half the calories as a opposed to regular coconut milk. You can control the amount of curry powder you want to add depending on how spicy you like your meals!

(Recipe courtesy of Weight Watchers)

What Role Does Beauty Play in a Healthy Lifestyle?

Recently, the makeup company Bare Escentuals has launched a new beauty campaign. The above ad is one of their main campaign pages. The first thing I noticed was the differentiation it emphasizes between "beauty" and "pretty"? Judging by the ad, Bare Escentuals appears to define beauty as a force of nature, a powerful way to change the world; whereas, pretty is simply an outer layer of beauty, a visual stimuli. I take interest in this ad because my Philosophy group at Hunter is exploring the nature of what beauty is. 

So what is beauty anyway? What do we really mean when we say something is beautiful? Can beauty act as an underlying factor to the promotion and maintenance of good health? 

We should consider the essentials or characteristics of beauty. Perhaps, beauty can be an emotion; for example, the ad says beauty can make spirits "soar". Therefore, a motivating emotion. And how about beauty as a form of intelligence. The more we become familiar of something, whether it's the color, smell, and texture of a flower, we formulate an opinion of how beautiful something is. So when we feel good and attain knowledge about something, are those really forces of beauty at work? 

Readers! Pause for a moment and consider the roles of beauty; intellect and motivation. Think about how often we use motivation and intellect to maintain and promote a healthy lifestyle. Motivation keeps us on track, inspires us to try new things to better our health. Moreover, motivation can affect those around you. Secondly, intellect teaches us the power from what is good for our bodies and what is bad. 

What else defines beauty? What other roles can beauty play in a healthy lifestyle?

Sleepyhead Syndrome

I promise I didn't have any school work to do, but on my break today at school I picked up "Self" magazine in hopes to pick up some helpful health tips. After getting past the numerous ads, I came across an article related to the benefits of sleep. I know it's a hectic world out there and sometimes an "all nighter" is inevitable because of our procrastination. However, maybe procrastination could be banished with a little help of time management :) And then....there comes sleep.

For those who are craving a good sleep, here is why you deserve some zzzZZZzzzs....

• Sidestep Aches: sleep is a form of physical recovery
• Enhance Speed: it's all in the name, a power nap! 
• Focus, focus, focus: 30 minutes to 2 hours can help improve your determination and sharpness

Source: ("Self" Magazine, September 2011 edition, pg 34)

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Wow! This article expresses great points on the cultural and political influences that affect American society and their eating habits. Although this has been an ongoing hot topic in the health industry, this New York Times oped breathes new life into this old debate. One specific point took ahold of my attention: society seems to be losing its ability to cook a meal. From a sociological viewpoint, cooking is no longer as popular as it was. Gender roles have been altered tremendously. It is no longer the norm for a women to be a housewife, rather more and more women are a part of the working world. With both sexes working, cooking has taken on an "express" nature. Just look at down the aisles of any supermarket, you will surely find an instant form of a meal; for example, rices, mac n cheese, vegetables, pre-cooked chicken! 

America, we need to be utilizing our kitchens more.

7 Ways to Prevent Breast Cancer

As September comes to a close, the nippy weather of October will eventually settle of NYC. Moreover, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month; a month filled with inspiring stories of Breast Cancer Survivors. My grandmother serves as my inspiration; even she had breast cancer twice it never affected her sweet and caring nature. For the strong-willed women who had to endure Chemotherapy alongside with the mental stress, whether survivors or not, they contribute to female empowerment. By female empowerment I specifically mean the spread of knowledge. Prevention of diseases is so incredibly important. This blog post will highlight some helpful tips women need to know to keep their breasts at their healthiest! 

1. Maintain a healthy weight: a factor recommended not just to prevent cancer, but most diseases
2. Exercise: this will help you maintain a healthy weight
3. Load up on veggies: specifically kale and broccoli contain sulforaphane which can prevent cancer cells from multiplying
4. Family history: talk to your relatives, find out if anyone has had breast cancer, a small percentage of family case studies have shown a string of family history of the disease
5. Get checked: make sure you are undergoing clinical breast exams, mammograms usually become more frequent for women over 40
6. Genetic testing: if it does run in the family, consider genetic testing to search for any BRCA mutations
7. Lower your alcohol intake  

Source: (http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/protect-yourself-from-breast-cancer)

Helpful Links: http://ww5.komen.org/ , http://www.nbcam.org/

Healthy Choice of The Day: Spinach Feta Wrap

Don't be fooled Starbucks lovers! Not everything that they offer is light on calories, such as fattening frappucinos and coffee cakes. However, as my hunger rolled around in my stomach, it led me to walk into Starbucks. My choice of food was a spinach feta egg white wrap, and wow was I glad I had gotten it. It was extremely tasty. If you aren't such a hot spinach fan, no worries, you hardly taste it. But it's health benefits come from the nutrients in the tomatoes and spinach. Also, egg whites have no cholesterol and are very very low on calories. 

Try it out and let me know what you think! 

Healthy Choice of the Day: Frozen Yogurt

Living in NYC leads you to encounter a wide variety of food trucks, and I'm not just talking about ice cream trucks! It was as if the healthy Gods came down and gave me an opportunity to snack. Yes, after my Psychology class there was an adorable fat free frozen yogurt truck on Lexington and 68th. I ordered a fat free frozen vanilla yogurt with strawberries and rainbow sprinkles. It was totally delicious and definitely tasted like ice cream, minus the fat. It's great finding healthy ways to treat yourself after class. 

Not to mention, yogurt has incredible health benefits. It's packed with calcium, promotes good digestion, and is great for your skin.

Eat up yogurt lovers!

Red Lobster...Olive Garden...Bahama Breeze, OH MY!

Will Eating Out Still be a Treat?

Everyone always has room for a little improvement! Even Olive Garden and Red Lobster. Click on the above title for an interesting article concerning chain food restaurants. 

Mrs. Obama should be recognized for her strong willed efforts to improve the quality and health value of restaurant chain food. The article highlights an important point that a lot of dishes may appear to be healthy. Certainly, the preparation of food can alter the essence of vegetables; for example, if the vegetables are fried, mixed into heavy sauces and laden with excessive salt. So not only should restaurants make healthier menu options available but also prepare their foods in a healthier manner.