Cafeteria food is unappealing, vending machines are everywhere and fast food is easily accessible, making being healthy in college seemingly impossible. We can’t always have the healthiest options in college, but there are a few ways to try to eat a little healthier:
Salads
Though the food in the caf is either greasy, fattening or kind of disgusting, there is always the salad bar. Put together a plate of leafy greens, cheese, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, croutons and your favorite vinaigrette dressing, this is your first step to healthier eating in college.
Trail Mix
Though it’s simpler to buy a big bag of trail mix when grocery shopping, its cheaper to make your own. If you buy bags of nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds, etc.), dried fruit, granola, raw seeds (sunflower, pumpkin seeds, etc.), dark chocolate, and plastic sandwich bags, put them together and you’ve got your own trail mix. Not only do you get everything you want, you’re satisfied that you probably have a larger quantity of mix, you’ve saved money, and it tastes good!
Fruit and Vegetables
You can never go wrong with an apple, orange, carrots, celery or any other healthy plant as a snack. Whether you take a few apples from the cafeteria, or buy them in quantity from the nearest grocery store, you’ll feel better by eating them. You can even cheat a little by dipping apples in peanut butter or carrots and celery in a dab of ranch!
Smoothies
This may be a little difficult considering a lot of dorms don’t allow blenders, but if you live off-campus or you’re allowed to have a blender then this is a great snack or possible meal substitute, to go. With a mix of fruits, yogurt, juice and even vegetables, and a hit on the blender, you’re good to go. Also, nutri-blenders are smaller and have the same effect as a kitchen blender.
Yogurt Parfait
This is one of my favorite snacks. It’s tasty, quick and easy. If a mix of vanilla (or your favorite) yogurt, mixed with granola, blueberries, raspberries and any other fruit sound appealing to you, then you’ll love this snack as much as I do.
Healthy Alternatives
Though it may seem difficult to be disciplined in eating healthy, there are a lot of alternatives for your favorite unhealthy snacks. Instead of potato chips, try chips and salsa, veggie straws, pita chips, pretzels, crackers, nuts or sunflower seeds. They all give you a nice crunch and still taste very good.
Instead of fattening dips with nacho or pita chips, try hummus, guacamole, or salsa.
Candy is one of the most-craved and eaten snacks in college, so this is something that’s extremely difficult to avoid. The beauty is, the alternatives to candy can taste just as good, without all of the extra sugar and calories. Eating fresh fruit, dried fruit, or dark chocolate are great options to artificial candies.
We all crave sugary fruit drinks or pop, when eating a meal or late at night. Instead of the latter, try drinking water, flavored water, 100 percent juice, or tea.
There are many alternatives to the unhealthy snacks on our campuses and in our dorms. With a little self-discipline and structure, these healthy snacks will not only be appealing to you, they’ll feel and taste like second nature. So, what are you waiting for? Get to snacking!