As someone who ate chicken fingers and fries almost every day of freshman year, I wanted to change my way of living as I entered into my sophomore year. I’ve always struggled with my weight, healthy eating, and exercise, but I was determined to make a change this year. With the help of the Penn State employee health insurance, I was able to meet with a nutritionist to help guide me through my new journey towards eating more healthy. I did not want to continually feel like I was on a “diet” or super restricted with what I ate, but I definitely needed an overall lifestyle change.
I’m here to help share some of the advice that I have received as well as a few things that I’ve learned throughout my journey.
- My first advice is 1) Baby steps are okay. I dove in pretty much head first into this healthy eating thing but even if it’s just small changes to your everyday life, do it. Change is change and change is good. Whether it’s as small as switching to only drinking one can of Diet Coke a day because you are addicted to it and can’t quite kick the habit, that’s great! Or eating more vegetables throughout your day. Whatever your small change can be, do it.
- My second tip is that you aren’t always gonna be perfect with your diet, and that shouldn’t make you feel guilty. Peer pressure is real in college, especially with food and alcohol. Your friends with high metabolism want to order greasy pizza? Well, you want to order greasy pizza too! And that’s okay!! I think the biggest problem with people on “diets” is once they mess up, they give up. If you focus on your healthy eating as more of a lifestyle change, then having a slip up every once in a while is not going to affect the overall result.
- Figure out easy and healthy alternatives to your favorite things. Pizza can be easily made healthy, brownies and sweets overall can have healthy alternatives, and chips can easily be replaced with healthy options. The list goes on and on about what options are best when choosing healthy, but here are a few ideas: if you’re looking for something salty to munch on: popcorn is a great option (Boom Chicka Pop is the best!!). And if you’re looking for something sweet, protein cookies are great and fill you up fast (The Complete Cookie are my favorite).
- Don’t listen to “fake news” articles online about some crazy diet that sooo many people have tried and seemed to lose weight fast. I personally would rather take my time and lose weight in a healthy way so that the weight stays off, than to lose it fast and gain it all back. There are plenty of different diets that are out there that say “No sugar,” “No carb,” “Low carb,” “High Protein,” the list goes on and on. No matter what diet you follow “correctly”, listen to your body. If you have low energy, change your diet. If you’re feeling sick all the time, change your diet. Not every diet works for everyone. Right now, I am on a high protein diet where I do not shy away from healthy carbs. But my exact diet may not work for you, I know it sucks but you do have to be patient with your eating and dieting to figure out what works best.
My biggest piece of advice is not to give up and to love the body your in. If you see healthy eating more of as a way to feed your body with good fuel that makes you feel good, it becomes much, much easier. Start treating your body right now, while you’re young, so that you can live a happy and healthy life.