College campus food

tayblay1
tayblay1 Posts: 21 Member
edited December 18 in Food and Nutrition
I have found that it is so difficult to eat somewhat healthy while living on a college campus! While there are some healthier options (yogurt, fruit, salads etc) those cost almost as much as an entire MEAL for a tiny side item! I've been trying to keep up on my diary, but once I had a few bad days in a row I sort of gave up. I still go to the gym everyday, and i have strted the 30 day shred, btut with all of this procesed food around me i feel like its not getting me anywhere. I usually have a turkey sandwich for lunch, which I think is a healthy option? But most of the time it is difficult...I'm either tired of eating the same three things all week, or it's too expensive! I'm only here for two more weeks, so i keep telling myself I will eat much better at home over the summer...but then what happens when I come back in the fall? Has anyone else had a problem with campus food?

Replies

  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/60-college-and-grad-school-students
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1987-college-girls-on-a-mission
  • aquasw16
    aquasw16 Posts: 342 Member
    I am in the same situation. Workign out like crazy...but dont REALLY know how many calories or what is in my food! So, ive started eated half of whatever I put on my plate. i lost 2 lbs this week doing that. Here's to hoping it works again this week!
  • Rosa1213
    Rosa1213 Posts: 456 Member
    Yeah, I have issues with campus food, but I, too, try to go for the salads and sandwiches, although I agree that they're more expensive.
    What I also do is, I go to the grocery store and buy things to snack on, like string cheese, cottage cheese, nuts, etc.. so that hunger doesn't make me go for the processed foods when I know that I should know better.

    Sometimes you can make things not so bad, like if you have a burger, don't have them put any dressing on it, just the meat and veggies, and you can take the top half of the bun off. There's a delicious pasta place here on campus that I can never resist, I just get it with no sauce and extra veggies to fill me up.
  • miss_803
    miss_803 Posts: 6
    EATING ON CAMPUS EVERY DAY BECAME A BIT EXPENSIVE FOR ME AND I TOO BECAME BORED/TIRED OF THE SAME CHOICES EVERYDAY. BUT I TELL YOU WHAT I DID. I STARTED PACKING MY LUNCH AND IT NOT ONLY SAVED ME MONEY BUT IT MADE ME MAKE BETTER HEALTHIER CHOICES WHEN I PLANNED AHEAD. JUST A SUGGESTION.
  • LishaCole
    LishaCole Posts: 245
    I have totally been there, do you have a mandatory meal plan and/or your own kitchen/fridge?

    I have lived on campus before with a mandatory meal plan, and now I live just off campus and try an make all my meals (normally). Which can be difficult as I often eat 2-3 meals + snacks a day at school (9-14 hour days) . I find the key to success is planning ahead, and anticipating when you are going to be too busy to cook.
  • tayblay1
    tayblay1 Posts: 21 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/60-college-and-grad-school-students
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1987-college-girls-on-a-mission

    Thanks for the links!
  • tayblay1
    tayblay1 Posts: 21 Member
    I have totally been there, do you have a mandatory meal plan and/or your own kitchen/fridge?

    I have lived on campus before with a mandatory meal plan, and now I live just off campus and try an make all my meals (normally). Which can be difficult as I often eat 2-3 meals + snacks a day at school (9-14 hour days) . I find the key to success is planning ahead, and anticipating when you are going to be too busy to cook.

    We have mandatory meal plans, so I'm stuck with ten meals a week to eat on campus :( I usually only eat one on campus a day and use my second meal to get small snack items like yogurt, fruit, etc and make a sandwich or some pasta in my room. I do have a tiny fridge, and a microwave--but that kind of limits my options for cooking. Occasionally I will use the stove that my building has to cook pasta, but it's always so dirty I usually try to avoid that (no one ever cleans up after themselves) ! Normally breakfast is a granola bar, fresh fruit--I love kiwis and grapes!, or a yogurt so I think I'm okay on that end. I get either a salad or a sandwich when I'm eating on campus, but I'm sure those are processed too...they make it impossible!
  • tayblay1
    tayblay1 Posts: 21 Member
    I am in the same situation. Workign out like crazy...but dont REALLY know how many calories or what is in my food! So, ive started eated half of whatever I put on my plate. i lost 2 lbs this week doing that. Here's to hoping it works again this week!

    That's a really good idea! The campus has nutrition facts posted on the website, but I'm not really sure how accurate they are. I Doubt they actually serve things based on serving size, which isn't even listed in the nutrition facts, I'm probably dating twice the amount of calories I think I am!
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
    i feel you on that. i had the opposite problem in college. there were not many vegetarian options so my diet was mostly salad, cereal, or salad on bread to make a sandwich. i ended up losing over 15 lbs and was under 110 lbs, not very good. it is very difficult to eat at a dining hall, i ended up getting whey protein powder to help with nutrients.
    try to do the best you can, and see if they can cook you something to order. they may be able to grill some chicken for you, so you can add it to a salad. i found that once i talked to the head of the dining hall about the situation, they tried the best they could to accommodate me and started making tofu wraps and other things.
  • LishaCole
    LishaCole Posts: 245
    Yeah I had a similar situation, it was pretty tough. I got so sick of the same few things. I guess you just have to pick out some good items from the options you have. I am not sure what your campus/meal plan are like but about 3/4 into the year I found out that there were some random food places on campus that accepted meal cards (not just the cafeteria). And one of them turned out to be pretty healthy, and delicious.

    One of the things that I like to do is prepare bags of snacks on the weekend and just have them waiting in the fridge for me to grab and go.
    I will make up bags of :
    Veggies - cucumber, carrots, peas, peppers, celery, broccoli. Normally whatever I feel like or is on sale at the grocery store.
    Fruit - grapes, strawberries. Or sliced apples (with lime juice) and oranges (always prepared the night before, or they get gross)
    Dried fried, nuts, seeds - figs, dates, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds.
    "towers" of thin rice cakes and peanut butter in layers in a ziploc baggie.

    You could try making wraps, or pitas if you want a variation on the typical sandwich.

    I hope that gives you some ideas.
  • pduckworth
    pduckworth Posts: 133
    One idea depending in his serious you are about this is to talk to the department that is in charge of the dining halls at your CPUs about this. A group at my university was sick of the unhealthy food and rallies up enough students for our university to build a brand new dining hall with only healthy foods right next to the gym! All of our other dining halls are also required to have full vegetarian sections now.
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