Another week down. This week came and went faster than the rest because I was looking forward to the Tri-mixer.

Classes

We also had PowerPoint presentations in Science of Diet and Nutrition. My favorite presentation was by a fellow student who is a certified strength and conditioning coach. She did her presentation on protein. She discussed the regulation of Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS) and the role the essential amino acid leucine plays. Leucine starts the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway which initiates the translation of muscle protein. The pitfall is too much mTOR stimulation could result in cancer due to over-production of proteins. The chart she used in the presentation is displayed below. To summarize the picture, low leucine results in low protein synthesis. High leucine starts the process leading to MPS. 

(Image source: jn.nutrition.org)

Tri-Mixer

Every trimester, all the students of NUHS-Florida go out together to a social event organized by the Student Council. We had our own area of the restaurant reserved for us. We had a great turnout including students from every trimester. I was excited to hang out with the upper and lower trimesters alike.

We all had a great time. The first tri students liked how we are all friends with one another, regardless of how far in the program we are. We were happy to welcome them into the NUHS family!

After a few hours we decided to wander around downtown Saint Petersburg. We went to a jazz club and another bar that had a live cover band. It was a ton of fun and as I can’t wait for the next one.

Sunday I attended a Super Bowl party with some friends from school. We enjoyed the football game, the commercials, the halftime show, and of course the puppy bowl! After devouring a few vegetable platters we ordered chicken wings from a local restaurant in Largo. It was a great game among great company. It was all NUHS students in attendance. My classmates have become my closest friends down here in Florida, just another reason I love NUHS.

That’s all for this blog, be sure to read my previous posts, and email me at mailto:[email protected] if you have any questions!