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"Just Say No" to Drugs. But to Pizza...?

Picture yourself standing outside, happy to be enjoying the vice you’ve been itching for all afternoon. A colleague next to you is smoking a cigarette, but you’re savoring a slice of leftover pizza.   Pizza, like nicotine, can have addictive qualities , according to information provided by Erica Schulte, a researcher pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan, via email.   Highly-processed foods have high quantities of ingredients like fats and sugars that hit your system rapidly and produce a rewarding feeling similar to that which comes from drugs, wrote Schulte. This can cause addictive behaviors, such as cravings. That’s good for Taso Alimonos, owner of both Georgio’s Pizzeria locations in East Lansing, who gets most of his business from the after-bar crowd, he said.   Customers can choose a slice from between 20 and 40 types of pizza, he said, so there are plenty of options when picki...

Lansing Encourages Independent Restaurant Growth

The greater Lansing region has established itself as a bit of a foodie area in recent years, said Michelle Rahl, the Director of Business Development with the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce.  There's room for everybody, she said, but Lansing has been trying to provide a welcoming environment for non-chain restaurants to flourish. "These non-chain restaurants have a really unique ability to think outside the box and push the food envelope a little bit, if you will," said Rahl. She recommends The Cosmo's in Old Town, Lansing, citing the Runny Egg #8 pizza (which "literally has a runny egg on it") and the Trust Us (a mystery until it arrives at your table). "It's a phenomenal pizza," said Rahl, "I'm not going to say it's better or worse than anybody else, but it's very unique."

Instagram: Take It or Leave It, or Something In-Between

   Some people put a lot of time and thought into how they utilize the Instagram app. For others, it’s less than essential.    Social media is often used by young people as a means of comparison against their peers, said Jacqueline Nesi , a social, clinical, and developmental psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They use it as a way to assess the popularity and coolness of others, and see how their own online presence measures up.    Olivia Baratta, a freshman at Michigan State University, said she deleted Instagram and all other social media platforms after the constant comparison grew to be too much.    “It’s not gonna fill you up…and it made me feel worse about myself like nine times out of ten,” said Baratta.    For MSU sophomore Gideon Bush, it’s more of a matter of indifference. He checks Instagram every once in a while, he said, but prefers Twitter...

Selfies and Works of Art: Instagram Has Room for It All

   For some students, the Instagram app, a popular photo-sharing platform, is both a time commitment and a creative outlet.     Those students are likely to be girls. According to a study on millennial social media use by the Harvard Institute of Politics, 53 percent of females ages 18 to 29 use Instagram, compared to 34 percent of males in the same age group.  In a survey of both male and female college students, 53 percent have the app.     Girls tend to gravitate toward visually-oriented platforms, said Jacqueline Nesi, a social, clinical, and developmental psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.    Taylor Sternenberg, a sophomore at Michigan State University, uses three Instagram accounts, she said. One is her personal account, one is for her watercolor designs , and one is for VIM Magazine, MSU’s student-run fashion magazine.    For Alyssa Bedaine, a senior at MSU wh...