What do teachers eat? As a beginning teacher, my answer to this question included seven cups of coffee and a donut. The afternoon combination of sugar and caffeine acted like a defibrillator, shocking my brain, heart, and pancreas and (temporarily) heightening my energy level. But in a few hours, I crashed. And in the meantime, for the middle school students who came to me after lunch full of high-fructose corn syrup, having class with Hyper-Mike was like taking a tour of a fireworks factory by torchlight.
Ten years later, I've learned that the Sherry metabolism requires a sustaining breakfast and lunch and a sugar- and caffeine-free afternoon if I am to make it to dinner. For a long time, I made my own protein bars each weekend using this recipe from the Food Network's Alton Brown (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/protein-bars-recipe/index.html). It makes for a quick and tasty breakfast or snack. And like other meals--oatmeal with nuts for breakfast or beans/lentils and rice for lunch--it provides complete proteins: certain combinations of foods, like grains and legumes, complement each other and provide sustaining energy (learn more here: http://www.theveggietable.com/articles/protein.html). And if you're really feeling daring, try quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah"), a grain-like food that provides a complete protein by itself and has been around since the Incas. It goes with almost anything and can be purchased in bulk for cheap. And taking quinoa in tupperware for lunch has the added benefit of attracting attention from students who ask, "What the heck is that?" And this as they unwrap a fruit rollup....
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Enjoyed reading this, Mike :) I have had many conversations about healthy eating habits with my students as they wandered in my room at lunch and looking disgustedly--and curiously--at the contents of my tupperware container. They are always valuable teaching moments--but often it leads to complaints about the poor school lunches. Are you following Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution at all?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the granola suggestion--tried this recipe out this past week and loved it!
ReplyDelete"Hyper" Mike? I've never met "Hyper" Mike, but I do remember the most attentive student I've ever taught. (I'm wondering if that is really fair to say because you always appeared to be positively nodding when I lectured- were you my audience of one?) When I went for masters in early 2000, I began to do what you did in my classes by nodding in agreement with the theory and dissemination of information by my mentor, Dr. Jean Wong. The lost point being that I can't imagine you as a hyper educator in the classroom, but I could imagine you as a lively educator inspiring young minds.
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