{"id":31359,"date":"2017-05-01T16:06:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T20:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=31359"},"modified":"2017-05-01T16:06:04","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T20:06:04","slug":"rewarding-yourself-healthily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2017\/05\/01\/rewarding-yourself-healthily\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewarding Yourself Healthily"},"content":{"rendered":"Congratulations on finishing exams and another year of university! The end of school\u00a0definitely calls for a reward, but while junk food and 24 hours of Netflix are certainly tempting options, I don't usually feel great after a full day of indulging in those. That's not to say that they don't have their place -- I've certainly spent hours in bed watching\u00a0<em>How I Met\u00a0Your Mother\u00a0<\/em>this past week -- but I've found that interspersing the chocolate, lattes, and TV with healthier alternatives typically leads to a far more refreshing break.\r\n\r\n<strong>Cook Your Own Meals (and try vegan\/\u00a0vegetarian alternatives!)<\/strong>\r\n\r\nI love to cook and bake but don't often have the time to prep a fancy dish\u00a0during the school year. Now is the time to try new recipes and\u00a0spend time making a meal to look forward to. The other night, I made marble chocolate chip vegan cookies with my friend; they only took a half hour in total and were delicious -- a (somewhat) healthier and cheaper snack than if we'd gone out. Experimenting with different kinds of pasta is also a failsafe option.\r\n\r\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-31362 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18176225_10208965526163371_591595637_o.jpg\" alt=\"Salmon and asparagus pasta\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18176225_10208965526163371_591595637_o.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18176225_10208965526163371_591595637_o-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18176225_10208965526163371_591595637_o-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Walks Outside<\/strong>\r\n\r\nLuckily, I have an active dog who gets me outside for a couple hours every day. My step count has been solid with all our walks in High Park and along the lakeshore. Even before we got a puppy though, grabbing a friend and taking a long walk was always a favourite activity of mine. While it hasn't been all sun and warmth this month, it's been nice enough to start coming out of hibernation -- especially after so much time studying indoors.\r\n\r\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-31363 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136673_10208965527243398_370197227_n.jpg\" alt=\"Border collie on lawn\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136673_10208965527243398_370197227_n.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136673_10208965527243398_370197227_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136673_10208965527243398_370197227_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136673_10208965527243398_370197227_n-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136673_10208965527243398_370197227_n-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Pleasure Read<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe first thing I did when I finished my exams was read a chapter from\u00a0<em>Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.\u00a0<\/em>Children's literature is my sanctuary, and I think a lot of people can say the same. My boyfriend's first post-exam read is\u00a0<em>Ender's Game,\u00a0<\/em>and I know his mother loves returning to\u00a0<em>Winnie the Pooh\u00a0<\/em>in times of stress. From there, I started on my long list of to-read books -- just finished\u00a0<em>The Inconvenient Indian\u00a0<\/em>-- and can't wait to keep going down the list. Interestingly enough, I had tried reading\u00a0<em>Inconvenient Indian\u00a0<\/em>in the middle of the semester but couldn't seem to focus on it. When I picked it up again last week, I ploughed right through it, which really shows how much clearer my head is right now.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18175249_10208965584364826_126049081_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-31366 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18175249_10208965584364826_126049081_o.jpg\" alt=\"Northanger Abbey book on coffee table\" width=\"1152\" height=\"2048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18175249_10208965584364826_126049081_o.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18175249_10208965584364826_126049081_o-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18175249_10208965584364826_126049081_o-576x1024.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1152px) 100vw, 1152px\" \/><\/a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Sleep Early<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThis was my big goal for recuperation. I always used work as an excuse to be up late,\u00a0and now that I have more time, I'm determined to no longer push back my bedtime. It really makes a huge difference to sleep before midnight and get a full eight or nine hours. If I could recommend one thing to prioritize, it would be to set an early bedtime and stick to it, regardless of how tempting it may be to watch just one more episode.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136240_10208965527283399_580819194_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-31364 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136240_10208965527283399_580819194_n.jpg\" alt=\"Cat stretching and basking in afternoon sun\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136240_10208965527283399_580819194_n.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136240_10208965527283399_580819194_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136240_10208965527283399_580819194_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136240_10208965527283399_580819194_n-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/18136240_10208965527283399_580819194_n-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nCongratulations on finishing exams and another year of university! The end of school\u00a0definitely calls for a reward, but while junk food and 24 hours of Netflix are certainly tempting options, I don't usually feel great after a full day of&hellip;\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2017\/05\/01\/rewarding-yourself-healthily\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Rewarding Yourself Healthily&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2017\/05\/01\/rewarding-yourself-healthily\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Rewarding Yourself Healthily&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7204,59,62,60,58,67],"tags":[78,25499,13612,193,25500,12435,9307,25506],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31359"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31368,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31359\/revisions\/31368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}