Joy Wang

in Spring 2016, Student's Blog
March 31st, 2016

Living Healthy is a Choice

Joy Wang
Spring 2016

During this semester in Washington DC, I had a goal is to live a healthy life here. In DC, we live in an apartment with all the students in the program and two RAs; this is basically the same as living off-campus. The Debonair is the name of our apartment building and we have an open kitchen on each floor with a roof-top balcony. With the advantage of having a kitchen, I started to cook healthy meals for myself everyday.

To eat healthy, first, you need to begin with healthy groceries. I normally do my grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s which is about a 25 minute bus ride from the Debonair. I buy a variety of vegetables, fruits, dairy, and meat to sustain myself. For vegetables, I always get spinach, kale, lettuce, avocados, carrots, onions, etc. For fruits, I eat a lot of apples, bananas, and different berries. For dairy, I eat eggs, and drink unsweetened soy milk and greek yogurt. And for meat, I only eat chicken breast, beef, and salmon.

For each meal I have everyday, I try to make something different so that I will not get tired of it. Today I will introduce you some of my favorite meals’ recipes that I use throughout the semester.

Breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal

I put 2-3 cups oatmeal in a sealable jar and fill up the jar with soy milk until the oats are well covered. In addition, I will add 1tbsp of chia seeds to include more protein for my breakfast. Leave the jar in the fridge overnight, and in the morning I will put a handful of fresh blueberries in the jar with a decent amount of greek yogurt.

This is a really quick breakfast that does not need much preparation. When I am running late in the morning, I just bring my jar with me to work and have breakfast at the office.

Lunch: Chicken Salad

I marinade the chicken breast with salt, pepper, and soy sauce for few hours in a sealed bag. And covering the chicken breast with foil bakes it in the oven under 360 degrees F for 20 minutes. While waiting for the chicken breast, I gather a handful of spinach, kale, lettuce baby tomatoes and half avocado in a mixing bowl. When the chicken breast is done, cut it into small pieces and mix it with all the vegetables and some soy sauce as the dressing.

Dinner: Banana – Berry Delight Smoothie

I use 2 cups of mixed frozen berries, a banana, spinach/kale, soy milk, greek yogurt, and 1tbsp of chia seeds to make my delicious smoothie. Sometimes, I will also add some oats in it if I do not have overnight oatmeal for breakfast.

Throughout this semester, I have realized that it is not hard to cook for yourself and eat healthy. You just need to be determined with what you want to do and be persistent with your goal. Living healthy is your choice.