Brain food to fuel CU

Ever wondered why your attention span is waning even after all that coffee you drank?

For most of us, reading week is crucial to our semester’s success: Either we’re playing comeback kid to boost our grades, or striving to maintain the grades we’ve worked so hard for since January. For sources of energy that won’t put your body through the ringer, here are some important nutrition tips to give you strength and energy for studying and help you ace your finals and papers.

To start off: Make sure to eat enough. It’s easy to put eating on the back burner while studying, but this attitude can end up doing more harm than good. When a body needs sustenance, it focuses on assuaging that hunger. When people consume fewer calories than they use for an extended period of time, they will lack the fuel needed to perform energy-intensive tasks like studying, writing papers, or working out.

It is also a good idea to consume a consistent stream of complex carbohydrates like rice, cereals, breads, and pasta—these are the body’s primary sources of energy, and they supply minerals and fiber to help you stay healthy and alert. Choose whole grains instead of enriched white carbs whenever possible, because whole grain foods are less processed and contain more nutrients.

Fruits and vegetables are also important because they contain crucial minerals and vitamins that help the body repair itself and ward off diseases. Fruits are a natural sugar source that can give you an extra burst of energy. Ferris Booth Commons in Lerner Hall offers freshly cut fruit and fruit smoothies made with Odwalla juice, for an alternative (but still healthy) energy source.

The amount of nutrients in two bananas can provide enough energy to study hard (or take a stress-releasing run) for about 90 minutes. Spinach is a great super food, because it’s high in calcium, potassium, vitamin A, and magnesium. Protein-rich foods like almonds and other nuts are great for late-night studying, because they will fill you up and last longer than most vending machine fare. A trail mix with almonds, raisins, chocolates, and other nuts is a good snack as well—just make sure it’s low in sodium to reduce the likelihood of increased blood pressure.

If, like many students, you’re staying up late and need another source of energy besides food or sleep, drink coffee instead of energy drinks. Research shows that coffee may actually be much better for your body because it is derived from plants and relies on natural caffeine. Energy drinks, on the other hand, rely on artificial sugars and synthetic sources of caffeine to unnaturally jolt the body into action.

There are, of course, certain foods to steer clear of entirely during this high-stress period. Any food with trans or saturated fat, ingredients that include the words polydextrose or high fructose corn syrup, and foods with unhydrogenated oils will harm, rather than help, your productivity. Too much trans or saturated fat raises blood cholesterol levels and increases the risk of heart disease, according to the United States Departmemt of Agriculture. High fructose corn syrup and polydextrose are synthetic sugars that take longer and require more energy for a body to break down than natural sugars, and are often stored on the body as fat. Synthetic sugars also cause extreme withdrawal, without the added benefit of sustained sugar high to get you through your studying.

And above all, remember that while grades are important, so is your health.

Tags: Arts & Entertainment, Laura Taylor