College Dining

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laurenelha21
laurenelha21 Posts: 33 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone have any advice on how to have will power in college cafeterias? It’s easy to have food at home and cook healthy things hit in the cafeteria when there’s burgers, fries, and cookies...it gets hard

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  • Nmarine1996
    Nmarine1996 Posts: 166 Member
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    I buy my own food. Our cafe is trash and not desirable enough to be a temptation lol
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 1,049 Member
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    Have a slice, or even half a slice, of pizza to satisfy your craving and stay under your calorie limit. There are lots of ways to work in a slice or pizza or a burger.
    What service does your school use? Aramark posts their calories next to their food, but other companies may have some kind of reference you can use.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    At a certain point you just have to do it. I know that it's exciting to have the freedom to make your own food choices once you are out of your parents' house but part of maturing is learning to make healthy choices. One way to learn to do this is to tell yourself that you can have the burger/fry meal a specific number of times per week and then stick to that. This month you might do it four times a week and next month switch to three times. Or you could have the burger and a salad one day and the fries and something else another day. On their own, neither burger nor fries are terrible food choices. You just need to find the right balance and that may take some experimenting.
  • maura_tasi
    maura_tasi Posts: 196 Member
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    You kind of just have to do it. It's hard, but you just have to constantly remind yourself how much better you'll feel if you don't eat the yummy, yet high calorie and unhealthy, stuff every meal. When I had a meal plan I didn't do breakfast in the cafe (I did brunch there on weekends). I never wanted to get up early enough to get breakfast so I'd just have oatmeal and fruit or granola bar in my dorm. If I did make it for breakfast I'd have scrambled eggs or an egg white omelette loaded with veggies and a side of fruit and sometimes a piece or 2 of bacon. For lunch I almost always had a large salad loaded with veggies and a piece of grilled chicken on top. I went easy on the dressing as well. For dinner I'd either do a piece of meat or a turkey sandwich, or whatever homemade meal was being offered that day. I always had half my plate full of veggies. If I chose the pasta station I'd ask for them to give me significantly less pasta and mix in slot of veggies to bulk it up than they normally do so I wasn't being handed 4-5 servings on my plate. My cafe also had all of the calories displayed on tvs by the stations the food was being served at so I was able to see how many calories that piece of pizza had or that loaded cheeseburger had. If I wanted fries I'd take only a couple and not fill my plate with them. I also only drank water and stayed away from the fancy pop machines that were so tempting. I didn't have dessert every night and when I did it's because I really wanted it and not just because it was there. I actually lost weight my freshman year of college. It's actually easier than it seems to eat healthy with a meal plan, you just have to be mindful and conscious about what you choose to put on your plate. Most universities have the resources and tools for healthy eating in the cafe so use them!
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
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    Many colleges post daily menus and nutrition info online. If yours does, then look at what's available for the day and pre-log your food before you go to the cafeteria. Only take what you've already decided you'll eat. It's ultimately no different from being in a grocery store and having thousands of different things to choose from, but only buying what's on your shopping list.

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