I just learned that my alma mater Virginia Tech is ranked at number three in The 25 Healthiest Colleges in the U.S. on Greatist.com. The author Nicole McDermott sites exercise incentive programs and contests where winning students are rewarded with free personal training sessions and exercise passes as one of the reasons VT received this ranking. In addition to exercise programs, the dining halls and snack bars offer healthy food choices.
Bill, Beth (Paris Marathon friend), and Deb in front of Burruss Hall after a campus run
Seeing the healthy colleges article got me to thinking about my other healthy foundations as I was growing up. I grew up in a very health conscious home. We ate healthy, and I was rarely allowed to have junk food and sodas, which I’m sure explains my fondness of sodas today (I strive to drink them only occasionally). Don’t get me wrong, Mom and I made cookies and other desserts; we just didn’t always have them around the house, so they were a treat. My parents exercised regularly, too; my dad was a dairy farmer, so his lifestyle was one of very hard work. Now in their retirement, both of my parents have strength training routines that I set up for them. Mom also walks outside or on her treadmill, and Dad rides his stationary bike and uses his rowing machine six days a week. I remember running into my parents room at bedtime as a little child to get my dad to come tuck me in, and I would find him doing his nightly push-ups and crunches. 🙂
I had pretty active friends in college. I spent a lot of time on the tennis courts, and even more time in the quad and on the Drillfield throwing a Frisbee around. I ran in college, but not as regularly as after I graduated. I really ramped the running up the first year after I graduated.
Throw-back photo
Speaking of healthy, look what we had for dinner last night… Sliced chicken breasts over baby spinach with grape tomatoes, scallions, mushrooms, and dried cranberries with balsamic vinaigrette dressing; and roasted red, yellow, and orange sweet peppers and asparagus.
On a not so healthy note, Bill and I lived in Utah the first two years we were married while he attended grad school. USU had a dairy where we would buy five-gallon size (or maybe it was three-gallon) containers of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yep, those are the big brown tubs that Baskin-Robbins serves ice cream from. We also had a fondness for Steak-umms piled high with fresh mozzarella cheese from the USU dairies. Fortunately, that was a short lived grad school thing, and not among my proudest memories! Hey, at least I was running every day!
- Questions:
- Is your school on the top 25 list?
- What’s your favorite healthy “go to” dinner?
- What’s your guilty pleasure?
Yayyy go Hokies!!! And mint chocolate chip ice cream is my favorite!! 🙂
Tech really is great 🙂 Right now the personal trainers at tech have challenged us to complete 12 of the workouts they have designed (each personal trainer has made his or her own workout). You can complete any 12 of the workouts and if you do so, you are automatically entered to win a free session with a personal trainer! Also, all the healthy food options in the dining halls have stickers on them that say “Yes to go!” Just another reason I love this place.
None of the colleges I attended, nor the one where I presently teach made the list 🙁
I was surprised Glenn’s college – Springfield College in MA ~ didn’t make the list.
Ah, well.
My guilty pleasure is pizza. Tonight I ate until I was satisfied… I wouldn’t even describe it as “full.” My present relationship with food is REALLY good… so I was surprised at how hard it was for me to stop eating! I wanted to finish the whole pie!
yum, I love mint chocolate chip ice cream, my favorite!! No, my school is not top 25, I graduated from a small school in San bernardino, CA (Cal State Univ). That salad looks so healthy and delicious! My healthy “go-to” dinner is broiled salmon w/ roasted root veggies.
I love broiled salmon. It’s one of my family’s favorites, and so easy to do!
Our healthy go-to dinner is fish. We prefer to have it fresh, but we always have some frozen in the freezer for a quick, healthy meal. We usually have it with a side of asparagus or green beans and sweet potato.
Yes my school is on the top 25 list because my school is your school! 🙂
My favorite go to dinner is very similar to your (delicious looking) dinner… I like to put grilled chicken breast over salad with chick peas, grape tomatoes, sliced carrots, cucumbers, and a hard boiled egg.
Hmmm guilty pleasure… fro yo and sweedish fish oh and strawberry ice cream from Homestead Creamery.