Coffee: What's the Verdict?

This morning I was up early and headed out for an easy run. The Map My Run program on my phone wasn't feeling like working, so I had to time my run and figure out the distances on google maps, which was rather frustrating... I ended up running 2.5 miles in 23 min, which comes out to about 9:15 min/mile. Not awesome, but I was a bit distracted by trying to fix my phone.

When I got back, I had a banana with some bread and PB2 powder made into peanut butter (2 tbl PB2 and 1 tbl water with a bit of honey!).

After I ate, I got a few things done around my apartment and then headed off to Power sculpt at Core Power Yoga. My Groupon for one month of yoga classes at Core Power Sculpt starts today, so I'm going to be taking advantage of this for the next month! I hope I don't get tired of yoga! Power sculpt is one of my favorite classes there because it's more of a workout than a normal yoga class. They use weights during the yoga moves and have pumped-up music. The purpose is to both add in strength training and get your heart rate up!

After yoga I walked home (in the rain...), jumped in the shower, and then made myself a smoothie before heading to school!

On my first day back at law school I immediately headed to the Starbucks across the street on my way to the building and felt my old law-school self coming back. I spewed out my complicated order in Starbucks terminology and felt like someone else was talking. I hadn’t been to Starbucks in months!

That afternoon, I came across an article from Health.com discussing the never-ending coffee debate. I’ve heard that it’s bad for you and that people should cut back on coffee. On the other hand, I’ve also seen articles saying that coffee can actually be good for you! The article in Health.com featured two doctors with different opinions.

Rob van Dam’s, PhD and adjunct assistant professor of nutrition at Harvard, found that for most of the population, coffee is not harmful and may have certain benefits. The only reasons to stop drinking it, he claims, is if you have hypertension or if you believe that caffeine is interfering with your sleep.

Dr. van Dam also found that drinking coffee may lower your risk of becoming diabetic. A review of research in Archives of Internal Medicine found that after three or four cups a day you see a 25% lower risk, while another study found that it might not be the caffeine that reduces diabetes risk, but another ingredient in coffee. Caffeine also has benefits, such as possibly reducing the risk of Parkinson’s and even Alzheimer’s.

On the other hand, James D. Lane, PhD and director of the Duke University Medical Center Psychophysiology Lab, believes that coffee is not a good choice. He found that the research showing that coffee is helpful is weak since the studies compare non coffee drinkers with coffee drinkers and believes that just because there is a correlation between coffee and benefits doesn’t mean there is causation.

Dr. Lane also points out that the caffeine in coffee can make health conditions worse, especially for people with high blood pressure or diabetes, finding that quitting coffee brings down high blood pressure. He also has seen many studies that show caffeine can aggravate stress as well as give you sleep problems.

So coffee or no coffee? As long as you don’t have diabetes or high blood pressure, drinking coffee probably won’t hurt. I’m sure not ready to give up my morning cup or my afternoon pick-me-up! It really depends on how coffee affects you. Personally, I always make sure to have my last cup by 6pm, that way the caffeine won’t keep me up at night. As long as it doesn’t seem to be affecting your health, stress or sleep, there’s no need to cut back! Coffee lovers, rejoice! 

French Dining with the Family and... JAZZERCISE!!!

Last night I went out to dinner with my grandparents, my mom and dad, and my little brother! We went to a French restaurant called Aixois in Brookside, which is in Kansas City, MO.

Aixois! And my dad.

The chef, Emmanuel Langlade, trained in Marseille before opening his restaurant in Kansas City in 2001. He uses local, organic foods and imports his cheeses, oils and seasonings from France.

To start, I had the house salad, which was bibb lettuce with hearts of palm, some red onions, tomatoes and a few glazed pecans (I think pecans.. could have been walnuts). Either way, it was delicious! Very light and I love hearts of palm so I devoured this!

I wasn't as pleased, however, with my dinner entree. I ordered the salmon, which came with rice and green beans. I have to say the green beans were delicious... but that was all. The salmon was overcooked for my liking and the rice tasted like rice my mom makes from a bag at home.

However, everyone else seemed to love their meals! My dad had skirt steak, my mom had the veal (which she said was wonderful), my grandparents both had the trout (which looked great, should have ordered that!), and my little brother had shrimp pasta. For dessert, we ordered the mini sampler. My favorite was the gelato!

All in all, it was a great night with my family in a beautiful atmosphere! It really was a charming restaurant. I saw they have a great looking coffee bar, maybe I'll get a chance to stop by before I leave to check it out!

Fuzzy picture... Trying to take the picture without getting left behind!

I woke up starving, so breakfast this morning consisted of a bowl of blueberries and strawberries with some almond milk and Truvia sprinkled over them, a cup of non-fat greek yogurt with PB2 Powder mixed in, and then the crumbly bits at the end of the bag of my Dad's Raisin Bran cereal, with a few freeze dried banana chips from Trader Joes!

And, of course, a cup of coffee!

After breakfast, and a little blog work, my mom and I headed off to Jazzercise! You're probably thinking, "Jazzercise? Isn't that some kind of dancing exercise with leotards from the 80s??". Well, you're right. Sort of.

I started taking Jazzercise classes at the beginning of my senior year of college. My sorority "twin", Amy Lee, wanted to try out the classes because her mom is an instructor in North Carolina and so Amy Lee had done Jazzercise growing up.

From their website:'

WHAT IS JAZZERCISE

Burn up to 600 calories in one fun and powerfully effective 60-minute total body workout. Every Jazzercise group fitness class combines dance-based cardio with strength training and stretching to sculpt, tone and lengthen muscles for maximum fat burn. Choreographed to today's hottest music, Jazzercise is a fusion of jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, and kickboxing. Start dancing yourself fit and change the shape of your body today!

I loved going in college because it was a fun way to get in some cardio and strength training, but also have fun! I loved the community atmosphere and getting to know all the women there! The Jazzercise instructors are so helpful and such kind and fun women! They keep you laughing and smiling the whole class! (and sweating!). I definitely miss my Jazzercisers at East Cooper Jazzercise (in SC) but loved getting to see everyone at Jazzercise today!

I got my mom to start going over a year ago, and she loves it too! It's for women of all ages and all fitness levels (I've even seen some men!). I HIGHLY recommend looking for a Jazzercise class near you!

What's your favorite exercise class?

Diet Soda Debate

Yay for packages! I order some pictures from Snapfish about a month ago and FINALLY got them! They are pictures from my brother's wedding and my trip to Michigan with my friend Caroline for the 4th of July. I also ordered a collage of pictures from the wedding to give to my sister-in-law! Can't wait to put these up around my apartment!

So after yoga and some oatmeal (just blueberries and bananas... haha too hungry to remember to take pictures) I showered and headed to a new coffee shop near my apartment called Java Coast. It's a great place because they have coffee, but then they also have breakfast, sandwiches and wraps, desserts, beer, wine and a few other fun drinks!

I'd also been dying to go here because every time I walk by I see people sitting at the counter, which is open to the sidewalk. It looked so peaceful to sit there and work with the nice breeze and people-watching! (I LOVE people watching).

When I got there the counter was full, so I got a cafe au lait and waited a few minutes until a couple girls left and I snagged a spot! Perfect place to sit and work. Too bad this won't last long... It's going to get cold!

I promised in another post that I would write about diet coke and whether it causes health problems, so here you go!

Is Diet Coke Okay?

Now that people are watching their calories and switching from regular soda to diet soda, a new debate has arisen: is diet soda any better? Although it has zero calories, which is much better compared to regular soda, diet soda can also have harmful health effects.

Now don’t freak out! This doesn’t mean you can’t drink diet soda! I became interested in this subject (not being much of a soda drinker myself) when I had lunch with my aunt and we discussed her love for diet coke. She didn’t give a number, but her shocked face when I suggested only having two diet cokes a day said it all.

After doing a little research, I found out that there aren’t any studies saying, conclusively, that people should not drink diet coke but they did demonstrate a possible link to poor health. An article by Leah Goldman in the business insider discussed a study done by the American Diabetes Association, which showed that diet sodas can contribute to weight gain, as well as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic conditions.

The study watched adults over a nine and a half year period who drank diet soda, finding that those who drank more diet soda per day gained more weight and added more to their waistlines. The gain was then explained by a study done on mice which showed that mice who had added aspartame to their diet (an artificial sweetener used in diet sodas) had higher blood glucose levels at the end of a three month period.

I read another article on msnbc.msn.com which discussed another study, which showed that people who drank diet soda every day had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events, including stroke and heart attack, than those who did not drink it at all.

Jillian Michaels, personal trainer from the Biggest Loser, mentions that there may not be clear cut facts that diet soda is harmful to your health and waistline, but once she kicked her diet coke addiction she felt much healthier because she wasn’t consuming all of those chemicals anymore.

As an advocate of all-natural eating, I recommend that any diet soda addicts out there try and wean the drink from their diets. I can’t say I’m perfect and never eat anything artificial, but why not replace a few of those sodas each day with a glass of water? After a while you’re body will probably thank you! Every little bit helps!

What are your opinions on diet soda? Yay or nay? What about alternatives?