College cafeterias worldwide boast about their unlimited food stations and healthy options for students.
However, it’s only after stepping into college that you realize the intricacies of navigating a college cafeteria and how tricky the whole ordeal can be.
Here is a quick guide on how to make healthier choices and what to keep in mind when munching away after a long lecture.
Menu Schedules
College dining halls often have set schedules on the menu and they rotate for the whole semester. No matter how often it rotates, the menu can get boring pretty quickly.
This might lead you to make unhealthier choices as a classic pizza sounds so much better than having to eat some boring cafeteria food again.
However, you can make it more interesting in many ways.
One of the easiest ways is to know that you don’t have to eat only what is available at each station.
For example, if there is pesto at the pasta station, you don’t have to eat it only on pasta. Pesto is great on sandwiches and wraps too.
So try to create your combinations to keep things interesting. Get creative while staying healthy.
Skipping Meals
Another way to make healthier choices at college is to stop skipping meals. Oftentimes, when there are a lot of assignments or students are running late for class, skipping a meal to save time starts from feeling like a valid option.
Snapping out of this mindset is necessary as skipping meals will not only make you feel lethargic but can also have effects on your metabolism.
If you feel the need to skip a meal to finish an assignment, you should look into other options where you can just hire some people to write your papers for you.
You should not be skipping meals no matter how low you run on time. Many cafeterias will have grab-and-go options for this exact reason and you should be taking advantage of this.
Grab something like a sandwich or a grain bowl to make sure you get enough protein and carbs to make it a filling meal.
Avoid food and drinks that are pre-packaged or processed if you can.
Special Diets
One of the hardest things to maintain in a dining hall or cafeteria is a special diet full of restrictions. Special diets and dietary restrictions can often force you to eat unhealthy as there are no healthy options that meet your restriction requirements.
For example, if you are vegetarian then getting fries and a milkshake might be your only option as the burger contains meat.
Similarly, if you are lactose intolerant and vegetarian, you might just have to settle for fries and onion rings.
It is easy to see how quickly your options get depleted when there are any special needs.
The easiest way to combat this unhealthy eating is to be confident and ask for what you need from the staff working in the cafeteria.
If you find that your needs are not being taken care of, take action whether that is in the form of rallying student government to make a change in dining options or cooking food in your dorm room.
College is four years of your life and you should not spend it eating junk food in the hopes that you can start being healthy once you leave.
Conclusion
Finally, navigating the college cafeteria should not be too hard considering there are so many options, but this may become a disadvantage quickly.
There are bound to be many places where you can make unhealthy choices but the importance of nutrition in college needs to be stressed immensely.
Try to stay creative when choosing from many options and steer clear of the greed that comes with unlimited quantities.
Also, keep in mind that eating an unhealthy meal is better than not eating at all, but avoid making this a habit.
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