An apple a day keeps the pounds away

Here is an article I wrote for the Duke this week:

 

… or so the myth goes

By: Brittany Katz

Posted: 11/5/09

Most people trying to lose weight would assume that they should eat less and exercise more. If you’ve been dieting, hitting the Power Center and still not seeing results, the Recreation Department’s Nutrition Series could prove to be a powerful tool.

This two-part series, which focuses on the nutrition aspect of staying healthy, involves two interactive speakers. The first event, titled “Why You Need To Eat To Lose Weight” was held on Wednesday, Nov. 4, with Duquesne’s registered dietitian Barb Benedict. The second interactive lecture will be held on Nov. 11, and will discuss “Dining Healthy on Campus” with Aramark’s Lisa Lipp.

Shannon Foster, assistant director of the Recreation Department, said the goal of the series is to give students a well-rounded knowledge of health and fitness.

“We are focused on exercise, but we get lots of questions about nutrition,” Foster said. “We wanted to bring in professionals in the field of nutrition. We are working with Health Services because of the existence of eating disorders in young men and women, and to battle the myth that you have to restrict calories in order to lose weight.”

Foster said the Recreation Department invited Lipp to inform students about why they need to maintain eating while on a diet and where and when they can find healthy food on campus.

Nikki Antoszewski, a fourth year physician assistant major, said she sees the benefit of helping young adults learn the right and wrong ways to lose weight.

“As a future health-care provider, I know that one of the biggest issues Americans are facing is obesity and weight problems,” Antoszewski said. “I think presenting this information to college students while they still have time to change their eating habits is great. So many diseases and troubles can be prevented by properly managing weight, and the young generation is a great target for this campaign.”

According to Foster, students should take advantage of the opportunity to speak with a registered dietitian. The sessions are not simply speeches, Foster said, they involve student participation.

“Students are encouraged to participate, and our speakers welcome tough questions to dispel weight-loss myths,” Foster said.

The first session, which Benedict presented, explained the truth about a common myth among college students: if you don’t eat, you lose weight.

“From years of working with people trying to lose weight, I thought this was a topic that would draw a lot of people in,” Benedict said.

In her lecture, Benedict emphasized the fact that people must maintain a consistent lifestyle in order to lose weight and cannot ingest too few calories.

“This isn’t a quick fix,” she said. “It’s a pattern of eating you have to be committed to for a lifetime.”

Benedict recommended that people looking to lose weight should watch out for diets that cut out entire food groups. She said she advocates a sensible, healthy, well-balanced diet without an excess of fats and empty calories.

Junior English major Meredith Fabian said she believes in Benedict’s message.

“I’ve taken nutrition classes before, so I am aware that you have to eat to lose weight, or else your body will go into self preservation, or starvation mode,” she said. “Education about this is really important because a lot of people probably don’t know that, and eating disorders are so prevalent.”

The Nutrition Series’ second session will discuss eating healthy on campus, which for many students, is a huge benefit.

“I think it’s really important for college kids to get educated on nutrition and fitness because I feel like they don’t have enough knowledge about that,” said Alexis Antoszewski, junior health management major.

Antoszewski commented that she could have used the information in this lecture earlier in her college career.

“It took me until my junior year to figure out what was healthy on campus versus what was probably not the best foods to eat when attempting to lose weight,” she said. “There are healthy options on campus, but I just don’t think enough people have the right resources to understand what exactly is healthy on campus and where to find them. Discussing them so that others have a better idea of what food options are available is a great idea.”

To learn more about the Recreation Department’s Nutrition Series, visit www.recreation.duq.edu/fitness-wellness.html. The Nutrition Series’ second session will be held on Nov. 11 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in room 205 of the Power Center. To RSVP, e-mail fitness@duq.edu, or just walk in.

 

Thinking Out Loud – 11/5

http://media.www.theduquesneduke.com/media/storage/paper1278/news/2009/11/05/Opinions/Thinking.Out.Loud-3823403.shtml

The New Legend of Late Night
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Media professionals know how to effectively balance what kind of ratings a show will receive with its production costs. Nowhere is this truer than in the comedy department, where shows made to make others laugh are dwarfed by big-time hospital dramas or cop shows. The success of shows like Two and a Half Men are offset by Charlie Sheen’s $825K-per-show salary while shows like America’s Funniest Home Videos cost virtually nothing to produce because the audience provides all the material.

Then, there’s the golden mean of comedic television, the late night talk show, where big bands, big guests and big laughs lure viewers. In the past, the show’s hosts were also larger than life, but look beyond the land of greats like Jack Paar, Steve Allen and Johnny Carson, and you’ll find a revolving door of hosts who take on the role of show manager rather than ringmaster of a three-ring circus. These hosts, like Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien, seem happy to be along for the ride.

A new crop of late-night hosts are poised to take the throne this fall with George Lopez, Wanda Sykes and Mo’Nique starring in late night roles on TBS, Fox and BET, respectively. These networks have begun advertising well in advance to prove to potential viewers that their host will be smart, edgy and “tell it like it is,” whatever “it” may be.

In a way, late night has become a type of sanctuary for these forgotten humorists to revive their fading careers. (Really, Fox? Wanda Sykes hasn’t been funny since Ross Perot was a legitimate presidential candidate.) With Jay Leno moving to primetime and David Letterman aging and struggling with serious issues of his own, who will become the next king of late night? Craig Ferguson? Jimmy Kimmel? Maybe Arsenio Hall will come out of retirement, but I don’t think we could get that lucky.

Nevertheless, look no further, TV junkies. Your savior has arrived, and he’s wearing a ridiculous looking backward hat and a big stupid grin. I’m submitting a blueprint for The Obscenely Late at Night Show with Matty Kaznel to you, readers.

Late night needs a few changes to pull in a younger audience who will stick around for years to come. Guys like Letterman did a lot for the 40-and-over crowd, but what group is usually awake from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.? Other than obsessive stargazers, the answer is college students. Although the average college student is probably watching South Park, studying or jamming to Dave Matthews Band during that time, I believe if we bring those interests into our program, it will be a success.

First, I would make DMB the show’s official house band. I feel I could bring out Dave Matthews’ comedic side and turn him into the wisecracking co-host I know he could be. Acceptable alternates include O.A.R., Pearl Jam and Metallica. (Come on, how cool would it be if the show opened with “Master of Puppets” every night?)

Second, I would hire Trey Park and Matt Stone to write South Park for our show. Instead of running a full 30-minute episode, it would be broken up into three sections spread throughout the show, the way The Simpsons aired on The Tracy Ullman Show. The big difference is that South Park already has a huge, loyal audience. We get South Park, we get their viewers.

Finally, no great late night talk show is complete without a truly epic announcer, the disembodied voice that brings out the guests and goes back and forth with the host on occasion. After a lengthy search, I’ve decided to go with the legendary Michael Buffer. If you don’t know who he is, just search “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” online and see what comes up.

The rest of the show would follow a similar format (guests, crowd interaction, etc.), only much better. I’m a confident guy, what can I say? But if my dream show can’t be made, I have just one request: give Bruce Campbell his own show. He would be so good at it. Instead of giving jobs to failed actors or comedians who think they’re good, why not give a job to someone comfortable with his own B-rated star power? Make it happen, late night. Make it happen.

-Matt

SWSG Activities

As the weeks go by, I am even more inspired by the program Strong Women, Strong Girls. Let me recap a little about my recent involvement. Last week, the girls at Roosevelt Elementary were introduced to journals for the first time. I spoke briefly about these in a past blog, but in general, they are a means of intimate communication between us, as mentors, and the fifth grade girls participating in the program. It offers them a chance to say things that they would not want to say around their peers, and also get input from someone in between a peer or an elder. I was surprised to find that many of the journal entries focused on the Halloween Dance the school would be having on Friday night, namely the date situation. Girls with dates were excited and proud, and girls without dates were torn. Should they find a date? Should they go alone? Should they stay home? I was shocked to find the issues surrounding my senior prom. These girls are in the fifth grade! Nonetheless, my responses centered on the admittance that I went to senior prom dateless and had a great time.

On Friday morning, I was invited to attend a meet and greet with Lindsay Hyde, the president of the organization. Lindsay began the organization as a college student in Boston, and would be making a guest appearance in Oakland after receiving some prestigious award. So at 8:00 A.M. on Friday, I headed to the Panera in Oakland to meet Lindsay. It was a great opportunity that not many people took advantage of, probably because of the logistics, but I was happy I went. She is a really cool and inspirational woman, who dreams of expanding the program to cities all over the country.

Then, on Saturday, I participated in the Halloween parade in Carrick. The plan was for the girls to come out with us wearing pink. They would throw candy to the crowed while we held the banner, marched, and yelled out SWSG cheer. However, the weather was awful, and because the girls needed to be accompanied by a parent, only two showed up. Yet it was a great time to bond with those two girls, and the parade was still a blast. The crowd still got their candy, and although I started to lose my voice, I’m pretty sure the whole parade now has our cheer memorized! (: It’s a great program, try to get involved with it if you have the time.

Alyssa

Interesting class topics, painful classwork!

I have really enjoyed some of the topics covered in my classes recently, but the loads of classwork attached have been a pain!

In my Media and Sports class, we are discussing the Duke rape case that occurred in 2006, when three Duke men’s lacrosse players were falsely accused of rape. We had to read the book “Until Proven Innocent” about how the media’s coverage and the corrupt local justice system negatively affected the case. The book was really interesting and I enjoyed learning about the details of the case because I remember when it happened. On the other hand, reading the 500+ page book took forever and I am in the middle of writing a 6-8 page paper about it! I find myself really enjoying the topic I am learning about, but glancing wearily at my paper that still isn’t long enough!

I am in a similar situation in my American Literature class. We are discussing The Scarlet Letter, which is my new favorite book! I hadn’t read it until now. (I know, I think I am the only person who didn’t read it in high school!) I looked forward to Tuesday’s discussion of the book all weekend! The only bad part was that we were assigned to read the entire book over the weekend. Once again, I love the topic, but I’m getting tired of the work!

Only 15 more school days until Thanksgiving break!

-Brittany

Break WDSR with the Matt and Matt Show!

In the month of November, WDSR is holding a contest for the station’s DJ’s–Be the first show to “break” the stream and win a prize.
Here’s the deal–the WDSR stream can only support a certain number of people. If too many people try to stream the station, the stream will go down. If EVERYONE tunes in at the same time, we’ll have a good chance of breaking the station and winning the contest.

If you haven’t listened to the Matt and Matt Show before, this week’s the perfect time to start.  It’s really simple: to tune in, go to www.wdsr.org, find the “Shout Stream” in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and click “Play.”  (Or click “Listen Now” and stream the station through iTunes or Winamp)

Tune in from 7-9 on Wednesday, November 4th–be sure to go on at 7 and keep streaming until at least 7:30.
If you don’t feel like listening to us talk, just open the stream and turn the volume all the way down–we won’t be offended.  (though hopefully you WILL listen!)

This is HUGE. If you guys can do this, it would solidify us as one of the top shows on WDSR. Stanz and I are trying to think of a great prize or something for you, the listeners, if you all can do this for us. We promise it will be awesome–like getting a really awesome, legit guest. Or free candy for everyone! One or the other.

I’ll be live-blogging the show, so be sure to check out this blog for my updates through the night.  Peace!

-Matt

Hurry up and wait…

That’s about how I feel right now.

Throughout the first six weeks of school, I spent every minute of free time applying to graduate school: updating my resume, filling in my basic info, and sending transcripts from every school I’ve ever attended. I chased down professors and former bosses for letters of recommendation, and tried to convey what I want to do with my life in a statement of purpose.

Although I am a Journalism major, sometime recently I decided that is not what I really want to do. I’ve applied to a few graduate schools for my Master’s of Arts in Teaching for middle grades (4-8) in English and Social Studies. I have enough required courses from my English minor and some sociology, history and political science classes.

I’ve realized that I really enjoy working with younger students through my experience with Strong Women Strong Girls, tutoring, and my job at the Pittsburgh Young Leaders Academy. I often tell my younger sister, who is applying to colleges this year, that you won’t know what you really want to do until you are exposed to a few different areas in college. I never would have known that I like working with students so much if I had not gotten involved in different activities.

It really is true when people tell you that you can always change your mind. Even when you are one semester away from graduation…

I applied really early to undergrad, and was rewarded by hearing back from schools soon after. Because of this, I chose to work hard at the beginning of the school year to apply to a handful of school and get it out of the way. After weeks of reading and re-reading my essays and resume, and getting a million documents and test scores together, all I can do now is wait…

-Brittany

All Saints Day

This weekend, the American public celebrates the holiday of Halloween. Traditionally, children all across the states will dress up as movie stars, cartoon characters, or their favorite super heroes. This is in all good fun growing up, up until a certain age. In college, I wasn’t sure that should or would be Halloween was ‘celebrated’. But as I am learning, this is just another opportune time for many to go out or party.

Unfortunately, I have discovered that many students preoccupied with Halloween will allow All Saints Day to go unnoticed. However, I did hear a group of students lamenting that because Halloween falls on a Saturday, the famous day after off would get skipped. They then began discussing what “we got that day off for anyway”. Well, to clear up the ignorance, all Saints day, which is celebrated annually on November 1^st, is a solemnity of all saints, known and unknown. This is a holy day of obligation, which means that Catholics are expected to attend Mass, thus the day off of school.

My goal for the weekend is to have fun with Halloween and maybe but dress up but be awake to attend Mass in the morning. Nonetheless, I wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

Alyssa

Happy Halloween! :)

Two days till Halloween!!

While a lot of us claim to be mature adults here, I think I can speak for a lot of people, including myself, when I say we still get excited for the holidays. The university seems to recognize this and offers us the Masquerade Ball on Friday night so we can get dressed up, too. Personally, I always get excited for the costume parties, candy, and scary movies that come every October and it’s no different this year.

The excitement began when I saw the hallways of St. Anne’s transform into creepy pathways filled with decorations and window paint, and it continued as my floormates began carving pumpkins and starting Halloween countdowns on their doors.

Later, I went shopping and felt a little guilty about spending money on a costume, (we all know the money issues of being a college student) but I think it’s okay to have some fun every once in a while. That’s why it’s a holiday right?

So whether you decide to go to a Halloween party, pass out candy to Trick-or-Treaters, or stay in and watch horror flicks, don’t think you’re too old to get in on some of this season’s fun!!

-Erica

My first trip to a Steeler game

In addition to my regular column, Thinking Out Loud, I also had an online exclusive piece posted on the Duquesne Duke website.  On Sunday, I attended my first professional football regular season game, which is startling considering how huge a football fan I am. Though I am not a Steeler fan, I was thrilled for the opportunity to attend the Steelers-Vikings game with my dad and uncle on Sunday, and I wrote a brief recap of the day’s events.  Here’s my piece…
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A Steeler Fan for a Day

It’s been printed numerous times within these pages that football ranks highest on my hierarchy of sports. A good, exciting football game will tie me down for hours, whether it’s played at the college level, in the NFL or even a high school game. Surprisingly, though, I had never attended a regular season NFL game in my entire life; something about the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia having a courtroom for unruly fans made my dad decide not to take me there as a young’n.

So when my uncle, who has lived here in Pittsburgh for the last twenty years, offered my dad and I tickets to see the Steelers play the Minnesota Vikings this past Sunday, my father and I jumped at the chance like Santonio Holmes jumps at a dimebag. Seeing as my dad and I were rookies to the live Steelers experience, my uncle accompanied us on our journey.

However, as a diehard Eagles fan, I owned no Steelers gear. I knew the uniform of the black-and-gold nation well, and arriving in my Kevin Curtis jersey simply wouldn’t do. I grabbed the closest thing I had to Steeler colors-my old black CKY shirt with gold and red text on it-and headed out.

My uncle drove my dad, who had come in from Philly the previous afternoon, and I to a parking garage downtown and we hoofed it the rest of the way to the tailgate outside the stadium. A man named Bruce, good friends with my uncle, assumed the role of “fan leader” as he leapt onto the back of his car and delivered a rallying speech that would have made President Obama cry. All right, maybe not. But it certainly elicited a reaction from his fellow Steeler fans akin to that which the President received on inauguration day.

We wandered about the tailgates, sampled food from caterers trying to make a name for themselves, and talked to a few more of my uncle’s friends. One of them, a quieter, older man, spoke with us at length about his love for the city and its sports fans, particularly for hockey. But when he mentioned the depiction of himself in the movie “Miracle,” I perked up. Turns out I had been speaking to Craig Patrick the entire time. No big deal, just a member of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” U.S. hockey team and former Penguins GM. Happens all the time, right?

Finally, it was time to enter Pittsburgh’s coliseum of football: Heinz Field. I had attended an Eagles pre-season game at Lincoln Financial Field before, but the electricity in the crowd for this game was incomparable. I was swept up in an ocean of black and gold…that is, except for the brave soul in our section donning an Adrian Peterson jersey. The entire game, she cheered after every positive Viking play, then apologized to the Steeler fans surrounding her. I decided to cheer for Pittsburgh today-besides, a Vikings loss would be good for my Eagles.

The Steelers PA announcer struggled from the start, announcing 9 yard runs that had really only been 3 yards and routinely missing down and distance by miles. Was he hanging out with Jeff Reed the night before the game? I wouldn’t rule it out.

We had great seats near the end zone, so we got to see goal line plays up close. It was an incredibly entertaining game. Brett Favre vs. Ben Roethlisberger. Adrian Peterson vs. the stout Pittsburgh defense. Terrible Towels vs. Viking helmets. The battle was fierce.

At halftime, I downed a bucket of Quaker Steak wings as two games of Pop Warner-type football were played between four teams of players ages 10 to 13. Since quarterbacks at that age aren’t reliable passers, the teams traded runs, reverse plays, and fumbles. One player finished off an impressive, juke-filled run by diving over the pylon into the end zone. Shortly afterwards, Browns coach Eric Mangini offered the player a long-term contract.

Even though I’d never attended a Steeler game before, I knew all too well the significance of the song “Renegade” by Styx to the fans. The song was played twice in the fourth quarter, and both times, the crowd got louder than it had been the entire game.

Midway through the fourth quarter, my uncle decided that the position of his hat directly impacted the result of the game. Following the Steelers’ first defensive touchdown, he turned his hat to the “Let’s lock this baby down” position. After Minnesota returned a kickoff for a touchdown, he returned his hat to the “Alright, things just got serious” position. A few minutes later, Pittsburgh returned its second defensive touchdown of the game to ice the victory, proving my uncle right…sort of.

I left the game with a few lasting images: Adrian Peterson steamrolling a Steelers defender, the crowd’s reaction to Jeff Reed’s first appearance in the game, the two Pittsburgh defensive touchdowns that took the wind out of Minnesota’s sails and the sight of the largest crowd in Heinz Field history going absolutely bonkers both times. It was a fabulous game from start to finish, and the experiences surrounding the game were as entertaining as the product on the field. Moments like these had me wondering if I should denounce my home team Eagles and convert to Black and Gold nation.

Nah, just kidding. You thought you would get me that easily? E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!

-Matt K

Thinking Out Loud – 10/29

Americans Study Too Much

With the United States economy begging for mercy, Americans have done everything short of installing Lo-Jack in their wallets to keep tabs on where their dollars are going. Gone are the days when affluent old men and women in cartoons tossed wads of cash onto the fire to keep it roaring in the winter. There is no doubt a good portion of the world, let alone America, is bleeding green.

But where is it all going? The culprits are numerous, but I believe you can place a significant portion of the blame on folks who simply have far too much time on their hands.

Yahoo! Music blogger Lyndsey Parker recently posted a blog regarding the effect of singing “Feeling Good,” by John Coltrane and Nina Simone, on TV talent shows. Parker took the time, effort and resources to go back into the annals of reality television and find that every contestant who sang the ballad on American Idol and The X Factor was voted off the show in a shocking and untimely fashion.

Usually, if one can reply to an article, paper or blog entry in less than three words, you need to rethink what you just wrote. I refer to this as the Calvin Coolidge rule. In this case, an appropriate response to Parker’s piece would be, “Who cares?” Of course, you could easily violate the Coolidge rule by adding your own expletive in the middle, but the message remains clear. Yahoo! may be a massive internet/news group, but can they really afford to allocate resources on posts like this?

I wish I could say that pointless research and studies are limited to the entertainment world, but unfortunately, research like Parker’s only represents the tip of the iceberg. In the past five years, we have seen medical and psychological studies proving that night-shift nurses have poor sleep habits, playing with puppies makes you feel good, daytime soap-operas are not realistic in their depiction of comas, and women are more attracted to men who use John Travolta-esque dance moves in nightclubs – you know, the kind of research any doctorate or Ph.D. would kill to have on their résumé.

We’re just about to close out the month of October, when the nation coats itself in pink to call attention to breast cancer. So instead of pumping cash into finding out why squirrels prefer certain trees, how about re-allocating funds to one of the deadliest and most difficult-to-detect diseases.

I know I’m being somewhat unreasonable. After all, I just wrote a few weeks ago that irreverent humor and sporadic behavior would make any serious situation better. So, I will level with those who want to partake in such bizarre studies. Not every piece of research has to be groundbreaking or life-saving, but has to at least provide some reasonable benefit to society. In short, I’m in charge now.

I want to see someone research the effect of listening to music, talk radio, or simply nothing while falling asleep. Do you actually retain information from listening to news podcasts when you sleep? Do you end up mentally deranged by drifting off with Marilyn Manson blasting every night? Or does it have some undiscovered mentally stimulating effect, the way listening to Mozart is supposed to improve your math skills? The answer might not be as obvious as the answer to “Do people who work the night shift have difficulty sleeping?”

I want to see a study examining the psychological effect of adding the word “smart” to the name of a product. If I tell somebody “I’m sexy,” why would they believe me? They wouldn’t; I obviously have some ulterior motive. So, why buy something simply because the people selling it claim it’s “smart”? What’s so “smart” about a bottle of electrolyte-enhanced water that you can’t hold onto while running, or a car that can only seat the average 12 year old comfortably?

And lastly, I want someone to study the effects of reading the “Thinking Out Loud” column on a regular basis. How many brains cells does it kill per word? Is it more entertaining than digging your eyeballs out with a spoon? Or does it improve the self-esteem of its readers, who know that no matter what they do, they can’t be as ridiculous a writer as that Kasznel guy? Be sure to keep all spoons away from you while reading the summary of that research.

-Matt K.