When all the dining halls serve are french fries and questionable chicken, it can be hard to stay healthy. I often find myself reading BuzzFeed articles with titles like "12 Ways to Eat Healthier This Week" or "8 Healthy Meals You Can Make in 30 Minutes". The problem is that BuzzFeed works under the assumption that you have more than a mini-fridge and a microwave to work with. Living in a dorm, that's all I have to work with. Frustrated and hungry, I close every tab and reach for whatever snack is closest to my bed.
When my parents came to visit, we took a trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on healthy snacks for my dorm room. We filled the cart with hummus, fruit, granola bars, and healthy microwavable meals. The issue is, hummus starts going bad about five minutes after you open it, fruit molds if you don't eat it, and a box of granola bars lasts a week, tops. As I angrily threw out my half-full extra-large tub of hummus, I thought it might be easier to give up on my goal of not eating dining hall food for every meal.
When it comes to eating healthy, my Achilles' heel is my snacking. No matter how much I eat at breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I'm always hungry throughout the day. It's so easy for me to head to CVS and pick up chocolate, Cheez-Its, and any other quick snack to satisfy my mid-afternoon hunger. Back at home, my mom did all the shopping, making it relatively difficult for me to buy all of the gross junk food that I wanted. Now that my mom lives 400 miles away, I make all the choices about the food I buy, and I'd be lying if I said I always have self-control.
Another problem I have when it comes to eating healthy is the dining hall food. Although I appreciate their attempts to make healthy food, slightly brown broccoli and overcooked spinach don't necessarily encourage me to eat healthy. When there's pasta or french fries as another option, it's pretty hard for most students to will themselves to eat anything else. Overall, it's no easy task trying to eat healthy in dorms, when you have no way to make your own food and are getting used to buying food for yourself. Hopefully, as the semester goes on, it'll get easier.
