OUSA

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Wednesday Blog:

What a great day! Free hair cut, nice weather, acceptance to a prestigious leadership conference in the summer, OT win in intramaural ball hockey, and a championship-clinching win in intramaural ice hockey. Good mood for me all around! In terms of my diet, I continued the cereal streak and coupled it with some yogourt and a banana, for lunch I had a slice of pizza, and for dinner (I had to have late because I came home too late to eat beforehand) I made pasta. The total expenditure for today was about $7. I am glad that I have been very physically-active lately because the other side of the ledger (my diet) is not living up to its end of the bargain. Think about it…I only had $0.50 left over, but I was still missing 2-4 servings of grains, 2-3 servings of meats/alternatives, and at least 4 servings of fruits and veggies…admittedly, if I did not buy the slice of pizza, I could have likely made up a lot of those servings, but not enough to satisfy them. However, my busy schedule dictated that I had to buy something on campus and since pizza is about the only thing I can buy without really impairing my ability to eat well at other meals, I have to go with it…
To tell you the truth, I think that today was one of the best eating days I have had in a while and I still fell way short of the food guide requirements.

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Sarah's Final Blog

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Sarah's Kitchen

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Thursday, March 25, 2010

So today was a bad day.  I woke up and had three muffins and a glass of milk and then five minutes later it all came back up.  I went back to bed because I felt horrible and then got up later and tried toast and butter.  That didn’t stay down either.  So I broke open my 2L bottle of ginger ale that I keep for when I am sick.  Mom says that the ginger helps settle your stomach so she always gave us a big glass when we were sick.  So I drank a glass of ginger ale and seemed better so I tried the toast.  Nope, not a good idea.  So I stuck with just ginger ale for the time being.  I had to go to meet a friend because I said we would go to this class together but then I came home and had another nap.  After that I got a piece of toast with butter down.  I felt a little better, so I tried to add a little peanut butter in the mix.  It stayed down but was not a good idea.  I then had to go to campus to run the Fourth Year Meeting as I am the Fourth Year Rep at the School of Music and they had pizza there for people taking part.  I looked at the pizza and felt queasy so I stayed away and kept drinking my ginger ale.  After the meeting Shirley insisted I take a couple slices home with me so I wrapped them up and stuck them in the fridge when I got home.  I then slept for another half hour and got up and had another slice of toast with peanut butter.  By 9:00 I was starting to feel better and I was starving for something other than toast. So I got out the cold pizza and ate half a slice.  Then, realizing how silly that was, put the rest back in the fridge.  By the end of the day I had drank half the bottle of ginger ale (which I originally got for $1.99).  I don’t know how many servings I kept down today but my total spending were $2.94.  Here’s hoping I am better tomorrow.

Sarah Baker

TORONTO, March 25 /CNW/ – Ontario students welcome the McGuinty government’s 2010 Ontario Budget commitment to promote access to education through the funding of 20,000 new spaces in Ontario’s universities and colleges. Though facing a record deficit, this $310 million strategic investment is the right choice for Ontario’s future.

“The government has demonstrated once again that it understands the importance of higher education to Ontario’s social and economic future,” said Dan Moulton, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). “While students appreciate this investment, a number of critical questions have been left unanswered.”

The 2010 Ontario Budget is silent on the issues of tuition fees and financial aid. The recession has driven youth unemployment to record levels, and students with the greatest need have been hardest hit. Students remain hopeful that the government will continue to demonstrate leadership and increase financial assistance during this difficult time.

“Ontario’s students are cautiously optimistic about the government’s commitment to ensuring the affordability and accessibility of higher education,” added Moulton. “We are hopeful that our calls for significant improvements to the Ontario Student Assistance Program and capping of tuition fees to the rate of inflation will not go unanswered.”

The government has also announced plans to increase international student enrollment by 50 per cent over five years. These students add greatly to the learning environment, providing an increased diversity of ideas, experiences and opinions. However, international students at the undergraduate level continue to pay exorbitant and unregulated tuition fees that far outstrip the actual cost of their education.

“Students support further internationalization but are concerned that many barriers to access are not being addressed,” said Moulton. “Ontario should be attracting the best minds, not just the richest.”

OUSA represents the interests of over 140,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at seven Ontario institutions.

For further information: or to arrange an interview, please contact Alvin Tedjo, Director of Communications & Public Relations, Office: (416) 341-9948, Cell: (647) 669-6885, Email: communications@ousa.on.ca

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Food For Thought: Day 17

So, today was a pretty typical Wednesday, although I didn’t have a council meeting which always simplifies life.  I got up around 9:00, had some breakfast, and headed off to campus for my science lab.  At 11:30 I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, but he messed up his schedule; he thought he had class 10:30-11:30, but it was actually 11:30-12:30.  So, we decided to forgo lunch and I headed off to a meeting, and then another hour of class.

After class I went and got my hair cut – it was $10 for charity, so all in all it was a pretty good deal.  I didn’t eat the hair, so I’m not counting that as part of my food and nutrition for the month.  After that I came home, showered to get all the hair off me, and changed.  Then I headed back to campus.

Since lunch had fallen through, we re-scheduled to dinner.  I took a look at the budget and decided that, since I had skipped lunch, I probably had enough money to afford to buy a decent meal on campus, so I grabbed a caesar salad and a glass of chocolate milk at our on campus restaurant.  He bought spinach dip for us to share (but he paid for it, so there was no cost to me).  The total for my salad and milk with tip?  $13.  Ouch.

After that I did some school work, met with a friend for an hour to discuss plans to head to BC next year, and then stopped by the campus pub for some live entertainment and a beer with some friends.

All in all it was a pretty good day, although in hindsight I probably didn’t eat nearly enough.

Andrew

Meal Breakdown:
Breakfast: an apple and two pieces of toast with peanut butter.
Dinner: a large caesar salad and a glass of chocolate milk.
Midnight Snack: a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s.  Bleh.

Estimate on Food Guide Servings:
Vegetables and Fruit: 4-5
Grains: 4
Milk and Alternatives: 2
Meat and Alternatives: 2-3

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Tuesday Blog:

Memo to those giving blood–make sure you eat well in pre and post donation! If you do not do it beforehand, you will likely faint or get very light-headed. If you do not eat well afterwards, you will take much longer to recover. Problem is, it is difficult to do that on a $7.50 budget…however, I was determined to take full advantage of the free food they give you post-donation (mmm cookies…). But since my diet was not-so-good post donation, I suffered in energy today. I slept in much longer than I wanted to because I simply was too tired to move. I ate breakfast today which consisted of cereal, yogourt and a banana (but since it was so late it was kind of lunch too), and then I went to eat pizza at the on-campus Pizza Pizza since I could not buy anything at the on-campus restaurant (Wilfs)–I simply did not have enough money. Since my friends did not eat much of their meals, they offered me what was left, and, once again, I took full advantage. Afterwards, I went to work on a group project and then went off to play hockey. After hockey I ate a granola bar…quite an uneventful day on the food front but the example of me having to eat pizza first before going to the restaurant is a great example of how a restrictive budget can really hamper even a rare time to go out with friends.

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Nick's Interview with Jason Pt. 1

Nick's Interview with Jason Pt. 2

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Food for Thought – Day 17

I decided to spice things up (literally) with a Spanish recipe that was referred to me by a friend. (Thanks, Josh!) He said that this is a typical dish found all over Costa Rica. Since it is very healthy and student-budget friendly, I wanted to give it a try to see how well this typical, healthy and delicious meal would work with my $7.50 per day experiment.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons canola oil <http://www.recipezaar.com/library/canola-oil-387>

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups cooked white rice

2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2-3 tablespoons vegetarian worcestershire sauce (regular can be used as well)

salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

fresh cilantro (optional)

sliced green onion (optional)

Obviously, I leave out the cilantro and green onion as these are some simple luxuries that I do not really need. The ingredients for this recipe costed about $3.50. I made enough for a second plate which I paired with a grilled chicken breast and steamed broccoli for dinner.

Breakfast = $1.50 (+ 1st of 5to10)

Lunch = about $3 (+ 2nd)

Dinner = $5 (+ 3rd and 4th)

Nighttime study snack = $1 (yogurt and an orange for my 5th serving)

TOTAL for Day 17 = $10.50

Overbudget and typical…

Rachel

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Food for Thought – Day 16

I have my first of five finals tomorrow. Today is all about mental preparation. I need to get serious into reviewing my notes, therefore, I need to make sure I have a serious supply of brain food by my side.

In the morning, I skipped the gym to prep food and commence studying. For breakfast, a poached egg on rye toast, a serving of asparagus (1st) and an orange (2nd). $2

I headed to campus where I settled into the on-campus café. Dave at Starbucks treated me and my wallet to a tea. What a gem. I answered some emails and got back down to business. Then, I conversed in Italian with my professoressa and headed to the Centre for Student Leadership and Engagement to do some work.

I started to get hungry again so I unleashed the curry and coriander cous cous smorgasbord with red pepps, onion and steamed broccoli (3rd, 4th, 5th) that was snuggled into a fresh pita wrap. YES. $1.50

For a snack I ate a banana (6th) and an All-Bran ($2) while studying and purchased Mango Hurricane Booster Juice (7th serving and $6.61) to give me a boost for my 7-10 lecture.

I’m blogging right now during my break from studying… I’m sipping on a tea ($0.10) and reflecting on my very very typical day.

TOTAL for Day 15 = $10.21

Just another day in the life,

R