Managing your weight and eating a healthy diet while in college may be difficult, but not impossible. Although many universities and colleges offer healthy choices in their dining halls, the availability of fast food and all-night delivery services can make choosing healthy foods challenging. Learning how to incorporate healthy foods into your college lifestyle can help you feel more energetic and meet your body's nutritional needs.
Balanced Diet
Grueling tests and long classes require alertness, physical endurance and a good memory. The food you eat not only gives your muscles and organs nutrients, but also provides nutrients to your brain. College students often eat large amounts of fast foods, little fruits and vegetables, inadequate fiber and calcium and often skip meals, according to a study published in 2007 in the "California Journal of Health Promotion." As a college student, following the USDA's guidelines means eating between 1,800 to 2,400 calories daily if you are a female, and 2,400 to 3,000 if you are a male. Eating the right number of calories throughout your college years can help you manage your weight.
Breakfast
Whether you eat at the dining hall, or grab a quick breakfast in your dorm or apartment, eating breakfast is important to your metabolism and ability to control your food intake for the rest of the day. If you have access to a microwave, make oatmeal topped with fruit, or cream of wheat in the morning. Both are complex carbohydrates, which fill you up more than a sugar-filled breakfast bar or toaster pastry. A cup of low-fat yogurt vanilla yogurt has 12 g of protein, about 200 calories and 420 mg of calcium. Add some heart-healthy walnuts to your yogurt. Whether you dine in the college cafeteria or cook for yourself at home, choose whole fruits, scrambled or boiled eggs, vegetarian bacon, whole-grain breads or cold, low-sugar cereal.
Lunch and Snacks
You may have classes that span the traditional lunch hour, making planning ahead important to avoid feeling hungry and snacking on vending machine candy bars or chips. Eat a larger snack of trail mix, an apple and a cheese stick before a lunch-time class. For a healthy, easy-to-prepare lunch, purchase pre-washed, bagged salads and add healthy toppings. Small amounts of feta or cheddar cheese, sliced almonds and pre-cooked chicken add protein to the nutrients in the salad greens. Use whole-wheat breads for take-along sandwiches that include almond butter and 100 percent fruit spread, lean deli-meat and lettuce or chicken salad made with Greek yogurt. Pack fruit and cut-up carrots and celery to accompany your lunch.
Dinner and Dining Out
Eating out with friends is often part of the college experience. Because restaurant meals such as a chipolte chicken burger can have almost 1,000 calories and over 2,200 mg of sodium, planning ahead will help you avoid eating almost half your calories in one meal. At the dining hall, choose lower fat proteins such as bean burgers, grilled chicken breasts, vegetarian pizza and main dish salads. When eating at a restaurant, ask a friend to share the entree, order baked seafood, substitute plain potatoes for fries and eat a side salad with fat-free dressing before the main dish arrives.
References
- University of Texas at Austin; Fighting the Freshman 15; September 2006
- "California Journal of Health Promotion"; Keith A. King, et al.; 2007
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory: Yogurt
- Center for Science in the Public Interest: 10 Worst and Best Foods
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