College dining hall?

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thethinnydiaries
thethinnydiaries Posts: 111
in Recipes
Hey guys -- Just wondering if any of you had the experience of trying to lose weight at college. At home, it's really easy for me to eat healthy food because I'm constantly cooking, but at school, I don't have a kitchen. The main dining hall is pretty much like every other college dining hall you could think of, food wise. Luckily, we have another dining hall on campus that is entirely vegetarian and vegan which is a blessing, but it isn't always open. I've been sort of struggling to find healthy options while still mixing things up.

Bottom line... Do you have any healthy recipe suggestions that I could whip up in a college setting?

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  • sjp_511
    sjp_511 Posts: 476 Member
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    My college had a stir-fry bar. It was the best thing ever!

    I am guessing that you have a salad bar in your cafeteria. So you can rely on salads. Do they label the calorie content of your entree options?

    If it is an unlimited plan, be sure to always grab a couple pieces of fresh fruit on your way out the door for a snack later on.
  • misschoppo
    misschoppo Posts: 463 Member
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    If you have no cooking facilities whatsoever that makes it a litle difficult to suggest recipes as it kind of limits you to things that require no cooking at all.

    Things like a nice big salad made with bagged mixed salad leaves and veg that you can just slice and add would be a good start point and you can add to it whatever you like, cooked sliced deli meats or tinned fish/meat options or nuts/seeds etc all easy to throw into a no cook salad meal, vary your dressings so its not always the same. Sandwiches or wraps are also an easy one for no cooking or a fruit salad just made by prepping and mixing together all yur favourite fruits.

    If I were you I would probably try and buy at least one appliance I could keep in my room if that is an option for you. You can get great combi microwaves that also act as a grill and an oven as well as a microwave so that would really open up a lot of options as you can use them for anything you would microwave/grill or oven roast so that way if you do want to cook something you would have the option to do so instead of having to rely on the offerings available to you in the dining hall. If that is not an option, I would just try to stick to the healthier options that are available - salad bar / soups etc
  • DMZ_1
    DMZ_1 Posts: 2,889 Member
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    Do you live in the dorms? Some dorms have a communal kitchen on the ground floor, but those kitchens can be a logistical challenge.

    It depends on the college, but at bigger public universities, most students are in apartments by sophomore and junior years, and even lousy apartments have a kitchen. Some may not have a dishwasher though.

    1-2 years of not the best eating can be mitigated by the metabolism of an 18-20 year old, and regularly visiting the on campus gym and/or playing an intramural sport.
  • eblakes93
    eblakes93 Posts: 372 Member
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    Snack foods that are high in fat + protein in the fridge. Then salads (with vinegar, sans oil, because it is nearly impossible to accurately measure oil at a salad bar) at the dining hall. This way you don't have to worry too much about calories, because veg has minimal calories. Save your high calorie things for when you can control your portions sizes.

    Think greek yogurt, nuts, sargento cheese snacks and apples with peanut butter in the dorm. Then salad at school with romaine, carrots, mushrooms, peppers, hard boiled egg and balsamic in the dining hall.

    I
    Plus what everyone else said!

    I'm in college and fortunate that we have really good, healthy and appropriately portioned entrees at our dining hall (well, most of the time... the meat loaf stacker is on the bigger side...)

    Also, USE THE GYM. Most campuses have a gym for students to use. I LOVE my gym at school.... way more then my family gym at home. There are 10 squat racks because of the focus on athletes, but that doesn't stop me from using them. :)

    Feel free to FR! I want to meet more college students to motivate each other.
  • aKate_
    aKate_ Posts: 72 Member
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    When I was in college and on the food plan for eating in cafeterias, I loved the a la carte versus buffet dining. I lost a load of weight in college (gained it back afterwards) by having yogurt, granola, and fruit parfait from the 'cafe' place for breakfast on campus, salad bar with dressing on the side for lunch, and dinner was always a meat and veggie from one of the dining halls. Stay away from the fried foods, large buffet counters and the chinese food bar that is on every campus! Those are loaded with salts and fats! Which while are not bad in and of themselves, you have no idea how much is actually in them

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