Want to know how to be realistic and healthy in college without killing yourself over crazy diet fads? Well we’ve got the answers and tips from a studying nutritionist.
I find myself, in these college years, being the more frustrated then ever with my eating habits. It seems I never turn down a 3 a.m. trip to Cook Out; I just can’t resist a burger and fries…or a peanut butter fudge milkshake. I also feel the need use the most sugary mixers and chasers for my weekend festivities; typically something in a shade of red, like fruit punch, I inevitably spill on my friend’s top I borrowed. I have also recently gotten into watching trash TV (uh-hmm, Dance Moms) while eating a bowl of cookie dough that my roommates that I intended on baking but “just never got around to it”. Despite all my terrible slip-ups, I honestly do eat healthy most of the time. But with my late night binges and appalling college-habits I’ve developed, it just counter balances itself.
Now, I’ve seen tons of girls try ridiculous diets through out college, and the crazy thing is they seem to work – but never last long. There’s the cookie diet, in which you eat cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sounds fun, I know, but surprisingly you can get sick of cookies. Then there’s always the liquid diet: just drink prune juice like it’s going out of stock and “flush toxins” out of your body. But wait, who likes prune juice? And by popular demand, due to Reese Witherspoon’s endorsement, the baby food diet where you resort to eating just one jar for every meal. At least there’s a good variety of flavors these days?
Since I’m entering my final year here at UT, I’ve decided to get a grip on these crazy
eating habits once and for all. I spoke with Nicole White, a graduate nutrition student at Dominican University in Chicago, about the flaws and slip ups that college girls make with their diet choices. We, as young college women, need first and foremost to be realistic about what we are willing to do, without compromising the good time that comes packaged in our four years here at UT!
White says the way to make long-standing changes to your body is to kick the word “diet” all together. “I don’t think in diets because diet means temporary. It’s a quick fix and what you need is a lifestyle change,” says White. White dishes on some of the keys to success (and secrets) needed to see changes in your body last permanently. So let’s drop the cookies and prune juice and say our goodbyes to diets!
1. Everything in moderation: might be ancient, but it’s brilliant. It’s the honest key to eating and being slim, says White. There’s no need to deprive yourself of natural cravings and eat fat free 24/7; but when someone orders Spicy Cheese Bings at OCI, just have one or two instead of 10.
2. The “no-carb diet” fad: carbohydrates are essential as a primary nutrition source to help us get through our days, but again, revert to number one.
3. White meat vs. red: ground turkey or chicken is an excellent substitute for anything you would ordinarily put beef in; it’s lean, contains less fat and still has a ton of flavor. And the majority of restaurants you eat at these days can easily exchange a beef patty for a turkey one for you.
4. More expensive does NOT equal healthier: lastly, do not blow your allowance at Whole Foods or Earth Fare buying Silk Pure Almond milk and Kashi frozen meals because in the end, the only changes your going to see are in your bank account, says White.
Lisa Lillien, Cooking Channel chef and a real-life “Hungry Girl”, devotes her time to educate and provide other hungry girls with great recipes, grocery lists and tips on how to be smart about the food you intake both health wise and monetarily on her website, hungry-girl.com. We’ve adapted some items off Lillien’s Official 2011 Hungry Girl Supermarket List to make shopping quick, easy and relatively budget-friendly for you. These are great base items for the college girl because they can be snacks or meals, and even if you’re still up there in South Carrick Hall, they are microwavable! Everything on this list will suffice something, be it your sweet, salty or soda craving.
The 2011 Her Campus UTK College Girl List
The Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedges, 35 calories per serving
Chobani Low-fat Greek yogurt, 130 calories per serving
Baked! Lays Original, 120 calories per serving
Quaker Mini Delights, 90 calories per serving
Special K Cereal Bars, 90 calories per serving
Boarshead lower sodium turkey breast, 1 lb, 60 calories per serving
Eggland’s Best Eggs, dozen, 70 calories per serving
Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal, 180 calories per serving
Purity skim or 1 percent milk, 90-130 calories per serving
Baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and fresh broccoli (great for snacking), 30-50 calories per serving
Apples, bananas and pears (great for on-the-go), 50-80 calories per serving
Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats bread, 100 calories per serving
Morningstar Farms Veggie Corn Dogs (great for guilt-free indulgence), 150 calories per serving
Amy’s Three Cheese Pizza with Corn Meal Crust (see above), 340 calories
Coke Zero (great for suffices that mid-day Coke craving), 0 calories
Weight Watchers GIANT Fudge Bars, 110 calories per bar