For years preceding college, you hear stories of this dreaded "Freshman 15". What is it? The Freshman 15 is, in other words, the weight gain freshmen usually notice as they're adjusting to college. While I always believed it was a myth and that there was no way that my education could have that big of an effect on my weight, I was wrong.
While I'm probably over-exaggerating, I definitely noticed that me and the people around me were picking up on impacts in what we ate and how it affected us.
Going into my fall semester, I had all intentions of eating healthy and maintaining the figure that I carried the past 18 years of my life. If I could do it that long, I'm sure a dining hall won't foil my plans of remaining healthy. Boy was I wrong.
In as little as a month, I started to realize that I was eating garbage. The dining hall, while it does an okay job at providing healthy meals, was literally a trap. The healthy meals were bland and unappetizing, so naturally, we'd all hover towards the pizzas, chicken nuggets, and tons of other greasy foods.
Eventually, I started feeling gross and I found myself forming habits of one: overeating because there was so much provided, and two: not knowing what was good for me.
During winter break, I attempted to tidy up my diet and get my health back on track. I was eating better-portioned meals and had healthier options. I was watching an unhealthy amount of YouTube videos describing how college students, like me, manage to eat healthy while at school.
I returned for the spring semester with a new attitude towards my eating. While I was not about to take the unhealthy route and limit myself, I decided to make it my mission to find healthy meals around campus that I actually enjoyed.
I did.
Breakfast Ideas
For breakfast, I like to keep my options open, depending on how I'm feeling that morning. Some mornings, I'm up earlier. On the mornings where I need to wake up earlier, I like to eat a bigger breakfast. Some staples that I go to are a pressed juice from local smoothie and juice shops, an egg white omelette that I make in the dining hall, or on the days I want to treat myself, a bagel.
The juice I get is from Playa Bowls, and it's called Mermaid Fuel. This juice is pressed from kale, apples, pineapples, and mint. While I'm usually not a big fan of mint, this is one of the best juices I've ever tasted. It fills me up pretty fast and it tastes amazing.
The egg white omelette I like to make is super easy. I pour the egg white mixture onto the sauce pan and then I add broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, and spinach. That's it. It's quick and it fills you up fast.
Lunch Ideas
Lunch, like breakfast, happens differently. If I have a busy day ahead of me, I usually opt for making myself a smoothie in my dorm, along with some snacks like nuts and a new favorite of mine, pumpkin seeds. This is a quick lunch, and while it's good, I try to avoid it since it's not enough to last me until dinner most days.
If I have time to spare, I like to have salads for lunch on most days. If you're not a salad person, trust me, I understand. I used to hate salads because I found them so boring. But I realized that salads are so easy, and they can be customized to your liking, so there's almost no shot of you not liking it since you're handpicking the ingredients.
For my salad, I like to start with a spinach and romaine base. I usually don't put a lot because I'm not the biggest green eater, even though I'm working on it. Next, I top it with chickpeas, red beans, edamame, corn, carrots, and a hard-boiled egg. I use Thousand Island dressing and TONS of crunchy noodles on top.
Dinner Ideas
For dinner, I love to pair a meal with a soup or salad from my dining hall. I usually look for a fish like salmon or cod since I try to avoid red meats as much as I can (vegan in progress) (the progress is slow). On a daily basis, I will have either grilled chicken or salmon with a ton of grilled veggies that my dining hall serves.
If the vegan process is going good for me, I will have a full plate of veggies with rice, a salad, and soup. I also try to include a lot of beans and chickpeas in all my meals since I don't eat a lot of meat. #Protein.
Another easy idea is takeout. While it isn't the healthiest option, most dining halls or food services around college campuses are aware of an influx of students watching their nutrition and diet. They offer healthy dinner options. For example, my school has the option of getting a veggie or turkey burger instead of a beef burger.
It's all about finding what you like and sticking to it.
Other restaurant options can be anything from smoothie bowls to sushi, depending on what you get. It's all amazing and very good for you.
Snack Ideas
Once a month, I go food shopping for my dorm. I try to keep it below $50 since I am a broke college freshman. Here are the basics of what I usually get:
-Pumpkin seeds (my favorite are Superseedz in Coco Joe flavor)
-Shelled peanuts (unsalted)
-Guacamole
-Pita chips
-Frozen fruit bags for smoothies
-Chick pea snacks
-Hummus
-Trail mix
