Blog
Eating Pattern Series This week I'm covering an eating pattern that has an interesting history: Mediterranean! Because of this, I've added a history section to share more about this eating pattern. The History: Eating Mediterranean may not be what a lot of people think it is. Unfortunately, it does not exclusively promote eating pizza and pasta and drinking wine. It actually emphasizes eating the way that poorer communities in southern Italy and Greece would have eaten in the early 1960s. Why... Read More
A Guide To Making The Perfect Smoothie With the summer heat, people are looking for all kinds of ways to cool off. Smoothies are a great way to cool off and have a delicious and nutritious snack. Some may find themselves completely overwhelmed at the tought of coming up with something so creative. Fear no more; grab your blender and check out this "101" guide to making the perfect smoothie! Base: Every smoothie needs a "base." This is something that is going to give it that classic smoothie... Read More
How Can I... Welcome back! Today's blog is entitled "How can I educate myself?" To get us started, we're going to talk about the idea that what you think you know about American history is probably wrong. Specifically, what you were taught about slavery, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the civil rights movement; everything that has led us to the existence of racism in today's society IS PROBABLY WRONG. A 2018 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center indicates a widespread... Read More
Eating Pattern Series This week I will be covering a lesser-known eating pattern, DASH! The Basics: DASH is an acronym for dietary approaches to stop hypertension. In the early 1990s, the National Institute of Health allocated funds for research to see if there were specific eating patterns that could reduce hypertension (blood pressure) and risk of diabetes over time. The original study only changed the eating patterns that subjects followed, leaving other lifestyle factors unchanged such as... Read More
Managing Your Mental Health During the pandemic, many health experts are now concerned about people experiencing "crisis fatigue." When a person experiences a stressful situation, their body goes into fight-or-flight mode, and after the situation has occurred the body calms back down to a more restful state. This year has brought both a global pandemic and a harsh political climate into the United States. With no immediate end in sight, the body has responded to these stressful events but has... Read More
How Can I... Welcome back! I have titled this blog series “How Can I?” The idea is that as I offer information and share my experiences about racism, readers might feel motivated into taking action steps to further their education. Today’s blog is entitled “How can I be an ally?” An ally is a member of the majority group, who works to end oppression in his or her personal life through support of, and as an advocate for, the oppressed population. In plainer words, an ally is someone who sees... Read More
Eating Pattern Series This week we will be covering the plant-based eating pattern! The Basics: The plant-based eating pattern is often confused with vegetarian or vegan, but it is actually quite different. Plant-based does not eliminate meats or animal products, it simply places emphasis on plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes (beans), seeds, and nuts. There is also a limit on highly processed foods that contain added sugars, white flour, and processed oils. In... Read More
Workout Of The Week This week, I went far out of my comfort zone and tried dance workouts. I’ll preface this article by saying I am not a dancer; I’ve never even done a Zumba class before. That aside, I chose a style of workouts combining dance moves with exercises set to popular music. Dancing has many health benefits: it’s a great way to improve your cardiovascular health, balance, and strength. It challenges your brain, improving coordination, agility, and memory. Dancing is even proven to... Read More
Eating Pattern Series This week, I will be covering one of the most popular eating patterns out there: keto! The Basics: In recent years, the eating pattern keto, or ketogenic, has been talked about a lot in mainstream media. There is some confusion though as to what it is exactly. Keto, short for ketogenic, is a style of eating that heavily restricts carbohydrate containing foods and replaces them with foods containing fat. This is not to be mistaken with the “Atkins” style of eating which... Read More
Social Activism Series Hi! I’m Layla, a senior Communication student at UNH. I am using my internship with Healthy UNH as a platform to discuss my experiences with a topic lots of people are having a hard time talking about right now: racism. My family is Turkish-Cypriot, and I am not white passing. This makes me different from most people living in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is one of the top ten whitest states in America...in fact, it’s the 4th whitest. That means that there’s not much... Read More
