Buffins: the breakfast of champions

As a dental student and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast, I grapple face-to face with new techniques, drills, and people. The plethora of information thrown at me can seem overwhelming. But performing in these situations becomes second nature with enough repetition and practice. Both disciplines helped me become more intuitive of my surroundings and the people with whom I interact on a daily basis.

During the second semester of my first year, my classmates and I realized that the pace of school was picking up. There was even less time to eat and sleep, let alone meal prep or exercise. Dental school was a constant gas pedal and I saw how drained other students got as each week passed. That was when my Health & Wellness Committee put together a breakfast event. I brainstormed recipes that were a quick, simple and healthier alternative to what we, as machines with no time, would normally scarf down in a hot minute. Someone suggested that I just make muffins and call it a day. I shook my head because to me, muffins are basically cake for breakfast. But since I do indeed love muffins, I decided to find a way to make myself feel less guilty.

Don’t overdo it

In high school, I started going to the gym every day and avoiding junk food because I wanted to be healthier. I couldn’t run 400 meters without getting winded. I spent hours in front of my computer. My favorite Saturday lunchtime tradition was getting a pizza from Pizza Hut and eating it all myself. At first, exercising more and eating less junk food did make me feel healthier. I felt more alert. I could finally run a mile without stopping. I became more confident in myself and less clumsy when I walked.

But with my aspiring-dentist Type-A personality, exercise and eating became parts of my life that I liked to work on obsessively. When I moved away to college in Boston, hundreds of miles away from home, I was excited to make my own decisions.