When in college, it is often hard to maintain a healthy diet while dealing with the everyday stresses of being a student. It almost always seems easier to grab a slice of pizza and a can of your favorite soda while on the go from class to class, even when you know that you should be reaching for the salad instead. We’re all guilty of it, and that is okay! You don’t have to completely change your diet to make yourself a little healthier. Here are my top five easy ways to improve your diet:
1. Eat wheat bread instead of white bread.
Wheat bread, to me at least, tastes better than white bread. Beyond my personal opinion, wheat bread uses all three parts of the kernel: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm, while white bread only uses the endosperm. This causes white bread to lose a lot of nutrients that wheat bread still maintains. This in turn, provides plenty of health benefits like helping with your digestive system.
2. Use 1% milk or 2% milk rather than whole milk.
I personally use 1% milk when eating my occasional bowl of cereal in the morning (or night for that matter). However, using 1%, 2%, or even skim milk is a great alternative to using whole milk. Whole milk does not go through the processing to remove extra fat from the milk like the other three kinds of milks mentioned; the lower the percentage means the least amount of fat in the milk.
3. Drink sparkling water instead of soda.
I am a huge fan of sparkling water, and would rather drink it than a can of soda. Sparkling water has no calories, no sugar, no fat, but still has the same carbonation that a freshly opened soda has. Of course, I am not saying to never drink soda again (sometimes there is nothing like sipping on your favorite soda on a nice day), but limit your soda intake and try my healthier alternative.
4. Eat dark chocolate, not milk chocolate.
I’m not going to lie, I can completely taste the difference, but I still love dark chocolate. When it comes down to it, chocolate is chocolate. Plus, dark chocolate is healthier for you, which makes me choose it over milk chocolate any day. Milk chocolate contains less of the original cocoa bean, which makes it lack some of the nutrients still found in dark chocolate like immune-supporting zinc and iron, which strengthens your bones.
5. Don’t deprive yourself!
Everyone gets so caught up when going on a diet, that they forget that sometimes you need to eat the unhealthy stuff. Moderation is key when eating anything, whether it be healthy or not. Try to eat as much fruits and vegetables as you can. Remember that grains and dairy are important too. And never forget about eating enough protein, but treat yourself every once in while! Sometimes you need that can of soda or that milk chocolate candy bar.