It’s that time of the year in the student’s calendar: papers are due, exams are on the way and sleep is a far-off mirage on the horizon. We call on every last resource to get us through this time of extreme stress. But what if the food we eat could affect our performance, stress levels and concentration, having the potential to make life easier or just a whole lot tougher?
Most students live on a diet of sugar, caffeine and a sprinkling of salt during exams: “I’m not going to lie about eating habits during exams. I can tell you now, I live off chips, chocolate, coke and bubblegum during exams. Coke for energy, bubblegum for concentration and chocolate for stress” says Michelle, a second year Humanities student. Sugary snacks are even used as part of a study method – sweets are eaten as a reward for finishing a certain section or piece of work. The urge to snack is constant.
And it’s not just undergrads who feel the need to snack. “Most postgrad students hardly ever eat proper meals, they just snack constantly on chips and junk food and drink coke and coffee. Sometimes the vending machine is the only place to get food when you’re here late,” says one postgraduate student.
Coffee is the student’s right-hand man – the best friend who’s always there when you need him most. In the postgraduate rooms, they have kettles available for a constant source of tea and coffee. The rest of the students go to the coffee shops littered around campus, where the queues are long and the machines constantly on the go. Claire, a Humanities student, says she drinks coffee to help her stay alert. “I definitely drink more coffee during exams! I always drink tea or coffee when I’m studying, and every hour I have more.” And she’s not alone – most students use coffee to help them stay awake and alert in times of need. But being on a student budget, quantity is rated above quality, and the coffee is usually cheap and instant.
But what is the effect of consuming so much sugar and cheap caffeine? Is it really helping us to study and write exams? According to Wesley Larkan, a Cape Town biochemist with a special interest in nutrition, they don’t – “Sugar actually causes your body to go into a more stressed state.” He says that too much cheap caffeine does the same thing.
Sugar may make us feel great initially, as we all know from that instant rush of energy which comes after gobbling down a handful of gummy bears, but it won’t last long. Our brains release chemicals which make us feel happy and full of energy, but the high blood sugar is a trigger for the production of stress hormones. “It’s basically the reward mechanism, but after that you’ll get hyperglycaemic, and get hyperactive, but then you’re going to crash, and get hypoglycaemic” says Wesley. A sugar crash is no fun, as you’ll get irritable, tired and probably hungry. If you go back to sweets for treats, it just turns into a vicious cycle. “It’s a spiral of slow depression, so it’s not a good idea.”
Surprisingly, Wesley does however advocate coffee, but only good quality coffee. “Cheap coffee I don’t recommend because it’s not actually coffee. They’ve made coffee and turned it into a powder, but they lose so much of the good stuff that’s in proper coffee. Cheap coffee has just got caffeine, which will stress out your body.”
He says that there are many benefits to drinking ‘real’ coffee (from beans, rather than instant powder). Increased metabolism and more oxygen being sent to the brain, helping you think more clearly, is just one of many benefits. “There are a lot of things that will calm you down, counter intuitively, things that will actually mellow you out.” This is great news for stressed students who want to think clearly – all students really.
According to Wesley there is no strict limit as to how much coffee one should stick to daily, he only recommends staying below more than six to eight cups, depending on how you react to caffeine. The real issue is not really the limit, but the dehydration caused by coffee. “You’ve got to bear in mind that coffee dehydrates you quite badly… so if you’re going to continuously drink coffee you need to seriously take in quite a lot of water, about two litres plus, otherwise you could end up with liver or kidney damage.”
So we can drink just about as much good coffee as we want, but shouldn’t be having too much sugar. What exactly should we be eating in these dire times? Wesley recommends nuts, seeds and fruit, especially fruit high in fructose, an easily digestible and naturally occurring sugar. All these foods promote the production of chemicals which make you calm and happy, just what is needed during exams.
I’ve noticed that most students fall off the wagon with snacks, citing that they don’t have enough time, energy or money to make their own. To prove that wrong, I’ve concocted a few recipes for study snacks which are cheap, easy and super healthy to boot:
Quick Banana Smoothie:
This easy recipe can be made quickly before leaving in the morning – you can even put it in a cup and drink it on the way. A good way to save bananas on the cusp of inedibility is to slice them up, place them in an airtight bag and freeze them. This recipe can be made using fresh or frozen bananas.
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: N/A
– 1 banana, sliced and frozen
– ½ cup milk
– Juice from ½ an orange
Place bananas and orange juice in a blender, and blend until it consists mostly of small chunks. Add the milk and blend until smooth.
Seed and Oat Crunchies:
This recipe is moderately adapted from the Eden Project’s Granola Flapjacks. The dried fruit and seeds may seem expensive, but the amount you save on making them yourself really makes it worth it. You can change the fruit and nuts as you please. The low GI oats and fruit will keep you going for a while, as well as giving you an instant burst of energy.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
– 100g brown sugar
– 120g butter
– 300g oats
– 2 tablespoons golden syrup
– 1.5 bananas
– 60g dates, chopped
– 60g apricots, chopped
– 60g pumpkin seeds
– 60g sunflower seeds
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
In a pan, melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup together.
Mix all ingredients other than the banana in a large bowl, and add the wet ingredients from the pan. Mash the banana with a fork and add it to the mixture.
Spoon the crunchie mixture onto a baking tray, pushed it down firmly with the back of a spoon to compact it, then bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown.
Let it cool in the tray and then cut into portions.
Note: These will last for a few weeks in an airtight container.
Oat and Banana Muffins
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
– 1 cup cake flour (wholemeal is best)
– 1 cup oat bran
– ½ cup rolled oats
– 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
– Pinch of salt
– 1 cup of mashed banana (about 2 large bananas)
– ½ cup sunflower oil
– ½ cup brown sugar
– 1 egg
Preheat the oven to 190°C and grease a 12 bun muffin tin.
In a bowl stir together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together the banana, oil, sugar and egg.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined (don’t over-mix or the muffins will be tough).
Spoon into the prepared muffin tins, dividing the batter equally. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Note: These freeze very well, and it’s very nice to pull one of these out of the freezer when you’re in need of a quick snack.
Spiced and Salty Nuts
This will satisfy those salty cravings, and is much better for you than a packet of salt and vinegar chips! You can use whatever nuts you like, and the spices are purely optional.
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
– 150g of your favourite nuts
– 1 teaspoon of cumin
– ½ teaspoon of coriander seeds
– ½ teaspoon of chilli flakes
– 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
Place the nuts in a pan on a medium heat. Toast until golden brown, but stir frequently as they burn the moment you take your eye off them!
Add the spices and toast for a few seconds.
Add the soy sauce while still on the heat, stirring quickly so as to cover all the nuts in the reducing sauce. Turn off the heat and take the nuts out of the pan. Place in a bowl and enjoy!
These store well for a week in an airtight container, but mine never last that long.
The old school dinner party. Image: http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com
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