staying on track in college

jnz17

Does anyone have tips for how to keep up with eating healthy and avoiding overeating when really busy? I appreciate the help in advance!

kk_inprogress

What's your living situation? (Home, dorm, apartment, etc)

PinkDeerBoy

I am a college student too, and the main advice I can give is preplan your meals. Usually the night before or in the morning I plan what I am going to eat that day. Another thing is getting a bowl, putting whatever snack your going to eat in there, and then putting the rest away. When studying I would do the mindless hand to mouth ritual, not paying to how much I'm eating. Protein bars/other kinds of bars are nice too since they are pre portioned and easy to carry in your bag, just make sure to pay attention to the labels. A lot of them seem to be just calories and provide little nutrition.

azia604

Leave a bag of healthy snacks (ideally nuts or a Qwest bar) in your school bag so when you get hungry you have something healthy to munch on. When you are hungry you make poor eating choices (it's a brain thing). If you're going to go out drinking, eat protein first as it slows down the sugar intake from booze and then have some cucumbers after (lots of water) to help your kidney get rid of the toxins. When studying, drink a big glass of water when you feel snacky instead. Then if you're still hungry have some fruit. A saying that has really stuck with me is, "If you're not willing to eat an apple, then you're not really hungry. You're bored."

Tips that I try to work with...

jnz17

I have an apartment with a kitchen, I live near a grocery store and convenience store, and I'm not on a meal plan. Last year I had a kitchen too but I ended up becoming really dependent on the microwave and caved to order food a lot more than I should. I'd like to avoid that by learning quicker recipes--does anyone have any?--before I go back so it's easier for me to cook.

What kind of protein bars do you recommend for keeping you full for a few hours?

iLoveMyPitbull1225

PinkDeerBoy wrote: »

I am a college student too, and the main advice I can give is preplan your meals. Usually the night before or in the morning I plan what I am going to eat that day. Protein bars/other kinds of bars are nice too since they are pre portioned and easy to carry in your bag

This. I just graduated in the spring and getting ready to start grad school in the fall, and the biggest thing for me has always been planning. Where this poster suggested planning night before/morning, I like to plan my week ahead of time when possible... meal prep for the week. Don't over complicate things; just buy and stash foods that you like that fit your calorie goals and are easy to take along. I find that having snack options on hand as well as a planned breakfast and lunch help me avoid overeating and I stay on track even when extremely busy.

On the "pre portioned and easy to carry" point, there are lots of things besides protein bars that might fit this, including nuts, fruit (like bananas, apples, oranges, etc.) string cheese, greek yogurt that are easy to grab and go. I bought meal containers on amazon that are great for packing your lunch. I also have a few of these cool little salad bowls that come with a plastic fork and a dressing container that are cheap and great for taking to class/work. Obviously you don't have to use them for salads either.

PinkDeerBoy

jnz17 wrote: »

I have an apartment with a kitchen, I live near a grocery store and convenience store, and I'm not on a meal plan. Last year I had a kitchen too but I ended up becoming really dependent on the microwave and caved to order food a lot more than I should. I'd like to avoid that by learning quicker recipes--does anyone have any?--before I go back so it's easier for me to cook.

What kind of protein bars do you recommend for keeping you full for a few hours?

Check the recipes sub forum here, but also check if your college offers cooking lessons. My college offers them every semester, because they know there are a lot of people who will be cooking for themselves for the first time. Obviously, though, that would not be until you go back, so may not be the best option.

I've been having Quest bars lately, as I've seen suggested here, but they are a bit pricy. I pay about $2.50 a bar at the store when they are on sale. They have a good amount of both protein and fiber in them, and keep me full for a while. Some of the other bars I have around the If you check Amazon, you can get 12 count boxes where the price comes to about $2 a bar.

kk_inprogress

Pre plan and pre log! I always have the best success when I plan my meals and carry my snacks because it keeps me from ordering high calorie things just because I'm starving midday!

Steve_ApexNC

jnz17 wrote: »

I have an apartment with a kitchen, I live near a grocery store and convenience store, and I'm not on a meal plan. Last year I had a kitchen too but I ended up becoming really dependent on the microwave and caved to order food a lot more than I should. I'd like to avoid that by learning quicker recipes--does anyone have any?--before I go back so it's easier for me to cook.

College students are busy for sure. I remember the days of school, working two jobs, and playing a sport. I also remember very little sleep. But, you are no more busy than folks with jobs and kids and homes and such. That is to say, life isn't going to get less busy so it is good you are building good habits now. Good job.

As to fast recipes....cooking is a series of learned skills and you improve through repetition like any other skill. Take some time and learn proper knife technique. There is no substitute for good knife skills and it will save you a ton of money on gadgets and storage space. Once you know the correct way to dice an onion or carrot or whatever it is just a matter of repetition. Before you know it, you can do it seconds rather than minutes. Truth is, most of the time in cooking is in preparation - not just dicing vegetables but having meals thought out in advance. I do one menu for my family each week and shop once. This cuts out the daily runs to the stores - at 30 minutes a day, that is 3 hours a week. In time, you learn to streamline further by cooking extra on Sunday for a meal on Wed (say extra chicken on sunday so you have some for soup on Wed). Also, by planning, you can see what days are going to be a challenge time wise and just make those soup/salad nights or slow cooker days (slow cooker is your friend). As you master knife skills, planning, and keeping a reasonable pantry, things get much, much faster.

Oh, and I am not dismissing the tips others have given you - carrying healthy foods and such are great ideas. Add them to your weekly shopping list and tuck them in your backpack.

kk_inprogress

Trail mix (weigh it out, can be high cal), fruit, sandwiches, yogurt, string cheese, PB & rice cakes, protein bars, chocolate almond milk, fruit leather - these are some of my go to s that I carry.

As for cooking- I plan a week ahead and always double so we have leftovers. Having small portion containers you can put them in for leftovers helps. Get a simple recipe plan down for a week (I prep 3-4 meals per week) and grocery shop sunday so all I have to do is come home and throw stuff in. Use a crockpot if you're gone a lot.

kellyship17

I am also a college student and I agree completely with the above posters. Plan ahead as much as you can. Cook for the week if you can. I used to eat out a lot, but now I'm on a really tight budget, so I can't eat out much. I cook ahead of time and plan my meals, I also plan my workouts around my job and class schedule. It sounds like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, it's really easy.

jnz17

Thanks everyone for the help! I'll be looking into stocking up on what everyone mentioned.

KrisiAnnH

I'm a University student and I can definitely relate to the being busy thing. If it's the convenience foods that are your weakness I'd definitely recommend buying frozen veg and meats (or buying fresh and freezing) so that if all else fails you can throw the veg in the microwave and meat under the grill and it wont take long to cook (and wont be super high in calories either).

Other ideas is bulk cooking when you do get the chance to cook- make up a few portions instead of one and freeze the rest Snack wise, portion things out into a separate bowl/container and put the rest away (or buy pre-portioned foods). My issue was definitely that I'd take a bag of snacks (like crisps or something) and just keep eating while working, without thinking about how much I was actually consuming calorie wise.

I'm the sort of person that gets bored of 'healthy' meals really easily, I cant eat the same thing over and over, so I'm always trying to find more interesting recipes. I've found Pinterest is a really good resource for healthy/different meal ideas

marykate_1203

I learned to pre-plan and cook all my lunches on Sundays for the week. I noticed that I want to binge on lunch time. It also saved a lot of time in the mornings each day.