Last year, when starting college, I thought that the freshman fifteen was not real. After going away to school, I realized that is not the case. I found that not only was I gaining weight, but I had less energy, my skin was breaking out, and I never felt full. Here are five ways I have been trying to eat healthier this semester.
1. Eat from the salad sections in the dining hall.
After visiting many of my friends at college, I noticed some similarities between the schools. In every dining hall, each had their own salad bars. In your school, explore this option when picking out food. For those of you who have not enjoyed salads in the past, try the salad bars out anyways. They may have different options that you never even realized was possible to include in salads. For a more filling salad, adding chicken is a good idea!
2. Stay away from eating late at night.
Let's be real, being away at college, it is known that you will be spending a lot of late nights up. At most school's they have a lot of options to indulge in late at night, which may not be the best food choices for you. First of all, eating late at night is not good for your body anyway. It is important to be able to digest your food before you go to bed. Having food sitting in your stomach before you go to bed can cause weight gain. Also, the fact that the food is not good for you to begin with, means it isn't a good idea to be eating. If you are looking for late night snacks, try purchasing some healthy snack options the next time you go to the store to avoid late night indulgences.
3. When in the dining hall, avoid highly processed food choices.
Where it is very tempting to eat from the cereal options that dining halls provide, as well as other processed food options, these options are not the healthiest choices. When in the dining hall lean for the foods that are less processed, such as chicken, fruits, vegetables, and rice. These options may not be available in all dining halls. If these are not available, look for the options available in the dining halls that look the least processed choices.
Talk to the kitchen staff.
If there seem to be no healthy options that you enjoy eating at your dining hall, this is very important to resolve. For your own health, it is important to be putting food that will benefit you and your body. Therefore, a conversation with your kitchen staff may be necessary. You will be surprised with how flexible they can be for your needs as a student. There job is to serve food that you enjoy. By the end the year, you will be satisfied with your food choices and your body will benefit from this at the end of the year as well.
5. Bring up some home cooked meals when you visit home.
As a college student, normally you visit home or have family visit you every three weeks. You come home for reasons such as holidays and parent weekends your university has. When you have family up or when you go home, ask your parent to supply a Tupperware of your favorite healthy meal from home for you. This will allow you to have a break from the dining hall food, and will allow you to have a little bit of home while you are away at school. If you are not seeing your family anytime soon, you can always ask your family to send you food from home. Also, go out to your favorite healthy food restaurant at school at treat yourself. Smoothie places supply smoothies that test good and are super good for you.
