1. Peer pressure: There’s nothing more depressing than going out to dinner with your friends, listening to everyone order as the waiter goes around the table, and when it’s your turn saying “I’ll just have the house salad with balsamic dressing and no croutons.” If your friends are eating unhealthy food, most likely you will want to give in and eat it, too. You don’t want to be the only one sadly munching on lettuce as you watch carbs being devoured right and left around you. It’s just too hard to stay strong in these situations.
2. It's cheaper to eat junk food: Let’s face it, in college, the goal is to find the cheapest options available while also trying to eat the biggest portions possible. This deadly combination usually leaves you with one of two options: fast food or fast food. Why pay $12 for one whole wheat Caesar wrap when you can just swing by the nearest McDonald’s and get an order of 10 piece chicken McNuggets, two Cheeseburgers, large Fries, a drink, a parfait, and cookies, all the for the same price? To a broke college kid, that sounds like a no-brainer.
3. Eating after going out: The number one reason college students find it impossible to eat healthfully is eating after drinking. After a long night out, people want nothing more than to come home and binge-eat anything they can get their hands on. This also means ordering large pokey sticks with every kind of sauce, and that Papa John’s cookie pie. After those have been consumed, you move on to the pantry and raid it for all it’s worth. Drunk you doesn’t discriminate when it comes to carbs or calories, so this is the time where you do your very worst and eat literally anything in your sight.
4. Roommates: Your roommates can be your best friends, but also your worst enemies when it comes to eating healthy. You ultimately have no control over what food they bring into your apartment, and once they decide to grab that two for one Nutella pack at Publix, you’re done for. You can only exhibit a certain degree of self-control when you open up the refrigerator doors to find that your roommate generously brought home a tub of cookie dough that’s staring back at you tauntingly from inside it’s shiny packaging.
5. Time constraints: When you’re crunched for time, it’s hard to sit down and cook yourself a healthy, homemade meal. Instead, the more logical option is to order Chipotle online and then go pick it up so you don’t even have to wait. Our busy lifestyles don’t leave us with time to spend cooking healthy meals, especially during college when you’re balancing jobs, school, and other activities. Although it might be nice in theory to make homemade stir-fry tonight, just think about all of the time it takes to wash and chop every vegetable and ingredient–yeah, I didn't think so. So, whose ordering Chipotle?
