Healthy at Starbucks

While living or going to a school with such a busy campus, such as Penn State, it is very easy to grab a snack on the go. Starbucks is a chain with numerous locations, two being directly in The Hub itself. It is a very easy stop to make on the way to class, for lunch, or for some studying. Making a pit stop at Starbucks usually meant buying a drink with empty calories or purchasing a pastry oozing with loaded fat.

So you thought.

There are ways to eat and drink healthy while maintaining your weight at Starbucks.

Stressing over an exam usually navigates me to Starbucks to order a comforting drink. However the whipped cream ordered atop my luscious delight only adds extra bulge to my waistline. Optioning the order without the whip saves you a whopping 70 calories and 7 grams of fat. That can save your diet from going down the wrong road.

Another calorie saving tip is to order your coffee, late, or specialty drink with skim milk. By choosing skim, the drinker is saving around a hundred calories and numerous grams of sugar. You can vastly improve the drink’s health value by adjusting your taste buds. Eventually skim may become a part of your new favorite drink.

Other than drinking, eating at Starbucks is helpful while on the run to and from school. Donuts, cookies, and other pastries are obviously not the healthy route to take when maintaining a healthy diet. However, Starbucks now offers sweets under 200 calories. My favorite is the peanut butter cupcake, with a real peanut butter cup on top! If you are looking for a nice meal, there are fruit cups made from real fruit, breakfast sandwiches made with real ingredients and whole wheat wraps, also oatmeal is served.

Remember, when ordering, the bigger the drink and longer the name, typically the more the calories you will be consuming. Debating on what to choose while waiting in line, use the Starbuck’s online calculator to find out the nutritional values of the product. By making these simple switches, it will help improve your health and waist. 

Stay healthy while Partying

Like many college students, I myself, like to spend the weekends relaxed and not stressing about school. Between exams, never-ending readings, and papers, spending time with your friends, teammates, or classmates is a way to unwind and simply not think about classes, if only for a couple of hours. By having an enjoyable social life, a student can maintain happiness and live more freely. Whenever I have free time with no practice or team meetings, I find myself happier. Lame as it can be, it can include by watching an episode of “Once Upon a Time”, or “Modern Family.”

However, most of the Penn State student population likes to relax and unwind from the week in other ways. That includes binge drinking, drinking until you black out, or binge eating due to drinking.  Partying can be a good way to unwind but it can also be a damper on your health and diet. Most college students will not react to their decisions until consequences from police, coaches, and parents are made, they become sick, or develop “freshmen fifteen.”

The best tip I am willing to give to help with the rapid weight gain from partying would be to drink moderately. Students can still have a fun time but without the harmful effects from binge drinking. From non-binge drinking there would also be less of a chance of getting hung-over or being in a stage where you would want to eat everything in sight.

From personal experience, I remember going to a party and seeing examples of binge drinking first hand. There would be people, whom I never meet before, drinking excessively to have fun. As the night went on, the empty cans multiplied and saw partiers eating food they found, like a whole bag of potato chips or making a Snappy’s run somewhere to get more food.

Therefore, have fun on weekends to relax from the demanding week. If you do decide to party make responsible decisions and be accountable for your actions.  Lastly, if drinking is your answer, try to find ways to not drink excessively, and take turns between drinks with water, that way you will not find yourself drinking as much. 

New Year's Revolutions

Hi! I am going to start off this blog by telling you a little about myself. 

My name is Abbie Benson, from Elma, NY. It is a small town outside of Buffalo. I am a young freshman at Penn State, for recently turning 18 a couple weeks ago. My reason for coming to Penn State is too be on the Track team and to study Nutrition. 

Like most of my English 15 classmates, I will be posting weekly for Penn Staters to be healthy, and more importantly, happy. 

A little while ago, it was New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is a time to look at your past, yet make goals for the upcoming year. After reflecting my years, I wanted to resolve some poor habits, and change myself for the better. 

As exercise has been associated with great health benefits, great bodies, and lots of energy, however, being on a demanding and tiring track team- extra exercise is not the first thing on my mind. I am looking more towards food, joining clubs to become happier. 

Therefore for weeks too come I'll be posting about ways Penn State can provide happiness and healthiness. 

First topic I will discuss is how to stay healthy in the cafeteria/dinning commons. A way to not eat much is to ditch the cafeteria tray. That way, there will be no need to pile too much food or grab bad food choices. But most importantly, you only have two hands and can only grab the necessary food.

Another tip is to skip the soda! You can easily save 200-400 calories a meal, which is half a meal, or dessert. Stick with water, that way you will save calories and keep you hydrated.

Lastly, another tip is eating slower in the cafeteria. When you eat slow and enjoy the food, you will know when you are full and not go over the limit and into a food coma.