College students have the hardest time finding what is
appropriate to eat for their bodies while eating in dining halls and grocery
shopping. When you think of the dining hall most would think junk and all you
can eat. This is a problem. Students are hungry and end up over eating and not
getting the nutrients their body needs. Here are some tips to avoid and do that
will make your body thank you!
1. Firstly, do not skip breakfast! Skipping breakfast
usually leads to overeating later. Most dining halls best, healthiest meal is
their breakfast. This is why you should eat breakfast. There are options such
as eggs, omelets, yogurt, fruits, oatmeal, toast/bagels, and cereal/granola.
2. Secondly, avoid socializing in the dining hall. Students
meet up with their friends to eat in the dining hall. It is time to catch up in
between classes and talk about all the gossip from the weekend. You should
avoid this because then you social eat, which leads to overeating that you
don’t even realize you are doing.
3. Eat small and controlled. Snacking can be okay, but it
has to be small, healthy options. By snacking you limit making yourself too
hungry, which helps stop binge eating in the dining hall. This will help
control portion size and not letting your eyes be bigger than your stomach.
Even if you are paying for so many meal plans, you do not need to get your
swipes worth of food.
4.Keep a balance. Don’t get too much of one food group.
Don’t just eat all carbs or veggies. The body needs the right amount of each
food group like what was disgusted in my first post. Get creative on how you
mix and match your foods. Take a look around before you decide what you want to
eat.
5. Lastly, it is okay to have a bad day, but don’t let that
bad day turn into a bad week or month. If you have to eat a whole thing of ice
cream because of that boy/girl drama or failed exam make sure it’s not a daily
occurrence.
So, how do you do this at EIU? Well, there are a wide
variety of dinning halls. The dining halls all offer a salad option. Salad is a
good way to get the vegetables needed. Also, each offers a good selection of
fruits. Some options include bananas, oranges, apples, etc. Taking a fruit to
go and saving it for later is good for a healthy, controlled snack between
meals or breakfast. Having some fruit and maybe some peanut butter to give you
some protein is a fantastic morning breakfast. Stevo has a great variety of
healthy options. There is a sandwich station to make a healthy sandwich,
fruits, vegetables, salads, yogurt etc. Also, the Union has a really good
variety of healthy options including sandwiches and salads, Subway, and
fruits/vegies. Eating healthy while living in the dining hall is not absolutely
impossible, even though it may seem like it. Keeping these simple tips in mind
can help.
Woodruff, C. (n.d.). 7 Tips For Navigating The Dining Hall.
Retrieved March 04, 2016, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/dining-hall-nutrition_n_3757333.html
