Whenever I go back home, I’m blown away by my ability to eat healthy, work out regularly, and actually get a decent amount of sleep. Then, I come back to campus and eat late night Pitchforks, skip leg day, and average five hours of sleep a night. This year, I have been determined to change these less than stellar habits and stay healthy while at Duke, and this is how.
1. Group Fitness Classes
The group fitness classes that Duke offers at Wilson and Brodie gyms are truly incredible. Mostly because they’re TOTALLY FREE. You can look up the schedule online and go to anything from a cycling class, to cardio dance, to yoga. I love to go with friends to different classes throughout the week because there’s no better motivation for going to the gym than knowing that your friend will kill you if you made her rush over from her lab for nothing.
2. Eating a Balanced Breakfast
It is so easy, especially as a freshman, to skip breakfast either to save money or try to be healthier. But for the latter, this is the worst thing that you can do. Waking up for an 8:30 and not eating until 12:30 is a great way to ensure that you totally cave and eat a huge meal for lunch. It is a lot harder to convince yourself to get a salad over a panini at ABP when your stomach is growling. Beyond that, skipping meals has been shown to slow down your metabolism. So instead of eating nothing, grab an apple or breakfast bar if you’re in a rush and start your day on the right foot.
3. Avoid Late Night Snacking
This one is a tough one, especially on a college campus with so many late night options. Yes, I know that a breakfast quesadilla from Pitchforks at 2am may sound like a really great plan at the time, but it’s really not. Eating a fourth meal, especially so late at night, is a surefire way to counteract any other healthy eating that you may be doing. It can also be really tempting to hit up the vending machines during a long night in Perkins and this can be a lot more tricky. Vending machine snacks are usually complete junk food and empty calories, but they can also be a real pick me up and attention focuser after staring at your math book for five hours. So on that front, I’d say to at least try to find something healthier and slightly more fulfilling in the vending machine than a Twix bar.
4. Don’t Procrastinate
Procrastinating is a great way to end up in the situation I just talked about. It leads to a lot of late nights and even more stress. And stress, at least if you’re anything like me, can often times lead to stress eating. Beyond that, staying on top of your work and not being forced to pull all-nighters to get it done is really good for your mental health and sanity. It is so easy to fall into a loop where you procrastinate on one class to pull in an all-nighter to finish work for another class and just continuously repeat the negative cycle. But preventing this starts in the first few weeks of school and is still totally possible!
5. Drink Smart
Being conscientious about what you drink is very important, especially in college where unhealthy choices are at every turn. Simply exchanging iced tea or Dr. Pepper for water at dinner can make a huge difference in your attempt to eat healthy. Even more notable, however, is the nutrients, or lack thereof, in the drinks you consume while out. Mixed drinks can be especially unhealthy, especially when they come in the form of a mysterious punch. Exchanging a vodka soda with a vodka cranberry or vodka seltzer can help limit the negative nutritional effects of going out and make it easier to stay healthy this semester.
Stay healthy!