At Uni I struggle to eat healthy... Help!!

Aoife101

Hi guys,

At the moment i'm in Uni and struggling to eat healthy. I've always eaten well throughout school and was heavily involved in competitive swimming so i had loads of energy and a good figure however since coming to Uni in 2006 ive let things slip a little and its seriously affecting my health! I wake up in the mornings feeling tired and go to sleep feeling exausted!
In University I find it difficult to meet my calorie intake or on the flipside go completely over it, I cant seem to find a balance.. healthy food is generally expenisive and to prepare a well balanced dinner takes up a lot of time which would effect my grades! Its a catch 22 i'm afraid... does anyone hve any suggestions about food I can prepare quickly and cheaply to bring back some of my energy!?
Aoife x

Aoife101

Hi guys,

At the moment i'm in Uni and struggling to eat healthy. I've always eaten well throughout school and was heavily involved in competitive swimming so i had loads of energy and a good figure however since coming to Uni in 2006 ive let things slip a little and its seriously affecting my health! I wake up in the mornings feeling tired and go to sleep feeling exausted!
In University I find it difficult to meet my calorie intake or on the flipside go completely over it, I cant seem to find a balance.. healthy food is generally expenisive and to prepare a well balanced dinner takes up a lot of time which would effect my grades! Its a catch 22 i'm afraid... does anyone hve any suggestions about food I can prepare quickly and cheaply to bring back some of my energy!?
Aoife x

staliajones

Hey...been there, done that! Do you have your own kitchen or are you in a dormitory style room? I realize that eating healthier requires more money and this is usually not a luxury that undergrads and even graduate students have -ugghhh! :grumble: Anyway, since you seem to be on the go with school, I would suggest getting a box of sandwich bags and distributing snacks (based on calories) into each one so that you have stashes of them to throw in your book bag when you are running out the door. Even though I work full time and can afford to eat healthy, I am still a creature caught in the "wake up in just enough time to run through the shower and go" habit because I am also a full time graduate student. Other things that I do is hard boil eggs (12 or so) and keep them in the fridge so that I can take one or two with me for quick snacks. I only eat egg whites for the protein and toss the yolk. Eggs are cheap and it doesn't take much work to boil them either. I also like to get large jars of natural applesauce (no sugar added) and aliquot a serving size into smaller tupperware containers so that I can also grab those out the door and eat when needed. It seems like a little extra work, but it is cheaper to buy things that aren't already individually packaged (applesauce, tubs of yogurt, etc) and just do that yourself instead of buying the cute little containers of applesauce or 100 calorie packs of cheese crackers, etc. I know that it is tempting to want to grab pastas (ramen noodles) because they are very inexpensive, but the sodium alone is enough to kill ya! English muffins (thomas whole grain light) are usually a good price and very low in calories/fat. I eat these religiously because they are packed with fiber and it helps maintain a 'fuller' feeling. Toast them and throw some spread (peanut butter or jam - definitely watch the serving sizes) and they are yummy as well. If you can handle canned tuna, this is a great source of protein as well as other nutrients. I'm not a mayo fan so I tend to eat my tuna plain or even put in on a toasted whole wheat english muffin. I have noticed that when I s..l..o..w.. down my eating then I tend to register that I am satisfied with smaller portions so keep that in mind. WATER, WATER, WATER, and some more water. If your diet consists of high fiber (and even if it doesn't) you need to make sure that you are drinking enough water to hydrate and flush through your system. Fruits/veggies like apples, baby carrots and bananas seem to be fairly reasonably priced, which make for great snacks. Oatmeal is another great food that you can just pop in the microwave with water and go. As for dinners, the frozen bags of chicken are fairly easy to prepare and inexpensive when you figure that you are getting 'x' amount of breasts for 'x' amount of money and that makes for 'x' amount of dinners. Throw one in the fridge one morning and by the time you come home, it will have defrosted and you can make an aluminum foil bag (I do this with salmon and chicken often) with fresh squeezed lemon juice and maybe some pepper to bake in the over. I will also do this with veggies such as carrots and broccoli but the broccoli takes a bit longer to cook. Usually while all this stuff is in the over, I do things around the house or clean up after working out.

jaclynd

Do you have a microwave? The freezer section in the grocery store has lots of microwaveable meals that are alot healtheir than the usual prepackaged crap. I love green Giant Terriyaki Vegetables, I turned my cuz and her fiance (who are in UNI as well) onto them and they eat them all the time now. I'm a vegetarian, and became one 12 years ago in college...so I know about how eating healthier can adversely affect the pocket! But there is a way. Staliajones had some great ideas as well. I say go to the grocery store (BTW....Target and Walmart have cheaper prices on groceries) go down all the aisles, and REALLY look at what is out there. They have come out with lots of quick, affordable ways to prepare food now (i.e. veggies in microwaveable steam bags). I find that the junk food is what really kills ur pocket, so walk quickly down the chip/soda aisle!

LightenUp_Caro

I'm right there with you!
I'm always stuck at Opera rehearsal or doing homework or in the practice room or whatever they ask me to do.
I've become a person who eats the same stuff almost every day. I'll make a huge pot of soup or oatmeal at the beginning of the week and just put it in the fridge for whenever I need it the rest of the week.
I also love sweet potatoes. I just toss them in the oven and do my homework.
I don't like buying things in bulk because everything goes bad before I get a chance to eat it.
I'm getting by on this and I'm actually happy with it. I do love to cook, but when I know I"m going to be busy all week, I just have to keep things planned.

Good luck with everything, I'm really looking forward to the other responses!

Aoife101

Thanks guys you all have some really good ideas! I'm going to give the bagging the food thing a go and see how it works out!! Ive always been a little wary of microwavable food but il definately give that ago... as for the tuna i'm a huge fan! I can definately relate to you caroline with the eating the same stuff all the time!! Thanks again:flowerforyou: