How do I eat well at college?!!

I often ask for alterations at campus places. For example this one grill has a veggie panini and makes turkey sandwiches, so sometimes they'll let me put the vegetables on a turkey sandwich (sweet talking cashiers help haha).

Or if I do get something carby, like a sandwich, I'll take off the top bread portion and eat only the bottom.

Also if I end up eating something fried (chicken tenders for example) I'll rip off the ends which have no chicken, only fried saucy bits, and not eat them.

Check out www.budgetbytes.com and you might be able to start cooking cheap, healthy food for yourself. I wish this site was around when I was at school!

My son is in a dorm/suite with 5 other young men. They have a full kitchen they can use for cooking (whether they actually DO is another story). What is your housing situation? That could make a huge difference. Are you far from your parents? Do you go home regularly?

i just found my new favorite term.

saucy bits

Salad bar with vinegar/ oil dressing?

The dining service should have nutrition information posted on their website. At least my university does so I'm going to assume most colleges/universities do as well but don't quote me on that. If they don't make a suggestion to them that they should look into adding it. If they have it check it regularly and use that to help gauge your options. Like in our cafeteria (not the dining hall that something else entirely since I'm a commuter) has a sub shop and a salad joint. Both places will typically let us make our salads/subs a la carte it costs a bit more but they typically try to pick a menu item that exists that you have most of the components of already and then add for anything extra like sauce on the side or something. Usually comes out to be 0.50 more expensive.

Soup is a good option too but watch out they are loaded in sodium so even if the calorie content is relatively low you can end up walking away with a 300-400 calorie soup but it has 1200mg of sodium in it or more.

Lastly talk to the service, see what healthy options are available. My dining service is always trying to find ways to take our suggestions for improvement into account both in food and service. I've seen a lot of menu items come and go in the last five years I've been attending the college. It might be you're the tipping point in providing more healthy options.

Party all night, and sleep all day! Not as many food places open!

Nah, I'm in college too so I feel your pain. I find that if I bring little snacks in between classes I'm less likely to splurge on a big meal at the end of the day. And I have about an hour and a half break in my classes, and in the past I would go get an early lunch, but now I take that time to hit the school's gym

Avoid that "freshman 15" "sophomore 20" "junior ah *kitten*" and "senior who gives a d*mn"!

Can you reduce your sugar & grain intake?

All breads turn into sugar as soon as they mix with the enzymes in your mouth. The more complex carbs you eat, you spike your sugar and when you crash, you eat more.

My husband and I have been reducing and working towards eliminating sugar and grains from our diet.

We have noticed we don't feel the urge to eat as often or in the same quantities as before.

Good Luck

One solution: cook for yourself. That's what I do.

hmmm - salad bar (broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, snow peas, chick peas, romaine lettuce)

if they have a grill - ask for some grilled chicken or a burger...without the bun...Cheddar cheese (one slice) is a great option over american cheese...

For the veggies they serve with meals - ask them if they can steam them for you, instead of having the ones cooked in butter...

for breakfast - ask them to make an egg white omelette with stuff like mushrooms, onions and cheese...or if they have spinach that is a great add too. You can always ask the grill cook NOT to use butter when cooking, and to go super light on the oil...Check to see if they carry a non-fat yogurt (Chobani or Light 'n Fit)...feel free to add some granola. One brand of granola that I use is Bear Naked Fit (Triple Berry Crunch) - it is low in fat and has 3g sugar...You can find this in the health food aisle at most grocery stores...and you can keep this in your dorm room...

Snacks - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries

Are you permitted to keep a small fridge in your room?! Do you have access to a microwave/kitchen? Will they let you use a crock pot?

Good luck!!! When I was in college, I was fortunate to be able to eat my meals at home...

I go to the University of Oklahoma, and they have a cafeteria that I go to, and they will cook you burgers, chicken sandwiches...ect.. I just tell them to cook me a piece of grilled chicken without any bread or condiments, and I add salsa/guacamole.

When I was in college (like 2 years ago)... I literally lived off of Slim Fast for Breakfast & snickers marathon bar for lunch. I was broke and refused to spend my money on fast food... I have a sweet tooth hence the slim fast and snickers marathon... I seemed to do just fine and just kept myself busy when I found myself hungry... but now that I have learned to eat better I really wish I would have just invested in a cooler and brought a sandwhich and veggies for lunch

If you feel like you don't have enough energy then you need to eat more, try eating back half of your exercise calories. Do keep in mind machines and the companies that make them are invested in making it seem like you burn more calories using their machine, and they can be artificially inflated. Don't focus on what the machine tells you, focus on the time you spent and activity. So 30 minutes running 5mph, or 30 minutes walking at 3mph.

If you're going to be working out hard, a banana is a good carby choice pre-workout. And drink water about 15 minutes before exercising so it has enough time to get into your body and start helping you. Post workout, I like to drink chocolate milk, 1 cup. Tastes good and has good mix of protein and carbs.

Also slice of bread is good preworkout, a little peanut butter on top if you want more protein.