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Keeping Up Your Health During Midterms

University is stressful - that is a known fact. However, when it comes to midterms week, our stress reaches a whole new level. Suddenly, we are picking up on unhealthy habits - skipping meals without realizing, eating junk food all week, and losing sleep in order to study. Ordering food, amongst being unhealthy, consumes a lot of our budget - and that is not good. So, let’s start with some doable, quick and healthy recipes to boost your energy during midterms!

Quinoa Salad:

Quinoa, although a carbohydrate, it is healthy, helps fill you up and it can be quite tasty!

For this recipe, first of all, you will need to cook the quinoa (it is super easy - even simpler than rice): put one part of quinoa and three parts of water in a pan, along with sliced onions, and put it in medium-to-high heat until the water dries up. It should not take more than half an hour.

Then, mix it with salad ingredients of your taste! My personal recommendation is either smoked salmon or chicken as proteins, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, one type of dried fruit or nuts, and black olives. A good sauce could be the honey mustard sauce (mustard, honey, olive oil, lemons and salt).

P.S: you can also substitute the quinoa for couscous!

Chicken Cakes:

This may sound weird, but it is one of the quickest recipes you can make and I promise it is delicious!

What you’ll need: - chicken (cut up into small pieces) - eggs - chia seeds

This works somehow like an omelette: in a bowl, beat the eggs until they are fluffy, then add the chicken and the seeds and mix. From there, just get a cupcake baking tray, separate the mix into the different compartments, and put in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Stuffed Zucchini:

It is easier than it sounds, and it is delicious!

Here is what you will need: - 4 zucchinis - 500g of preferred meat - spices of your choice (I recommend pepper, cinnamon and paprika) - onion and garlic - a spoon of flour - water - grated cheese - pinch of salt

First of all, cut the zucchinis in half and put them in a preheated oven for about half an hour. In the meanwhile, cook the meat in low heat and add the spices, the onion and the garlic. When it is almost fully cooked, add half a cup of water, and the flour, so that the meat will become “sticky”.

Take the zucchini off the oven and take off its filling with a spoon, which should be soft by now.

Lastly, add the cooked meat as the new filling, throw the cheese on top, and put it in the oven for another 15-20 minutes.

Baked Cherry Tomatoes:

It is super simple to make and it is absolutely delicious!

You only need: - cherry tomatoes - a spoon of sugar - balsamic vinegar - olive oil - salt

All you have to do here is spread the cherry tomatoes into a baking tray, throw some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top of each of them, and spread one spoon of sugar and a pinch of salt throughout the whole tray. Place it in the preheated oven (about 200°C) for 30-40 minutes.

Banana Pancakes:

This recipe is fairly simple, it is a great breakfast option, and it satisfies any sweet tooth cravings.

What you will need is: - one egg - one smashed banana - two spoons of oats - cinnamon and vanilla extract to your liking

All you have to do is mix the ingredients together, put some oil on a small pan (wait for it to heat up) and just do it as if it was a regular pancake.

Tip: for an extra-simplified version of this in case you are in a hurry, just one egg and one banana will be enough!

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies:

Do I need to say more?

What you will need: - 1 cup of oats - 2 bananas - 3 spoons of chocolate chip.

Preheat the oven. Mash the bananas and mix them with the oats, then add the chocolate chips last. Take a spoon and portion the cookies on a lined baking tray, then bake for 15-20 minutes!

Although eating properly is crucial, it is also important to maintain a healthy frame of mind during exams (it is possible, although it might not seem like it). In order to do that, it is necessary to stop procrastinating (unless it is for a good purpose), and get all the studying done as soon as possible - so that during the night, you can actually sleep for 7 or 8 hours.

Lastly, meditating once every day can help keep your mind at ease, by taking off the stress for a certain amount of time and helping you focus much better on studying - and it does not take more than 10 minutes of your time. I personally recommend downloading the app Headspace, which guides you through it.

That being said, good luck on your midterms, do your best but do not forget to focus on your health, both mental and physical! After all, a grade is just a number, while your body is yours to take care of for the rest of your life!

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