Students’ poor eating choices could be to blame for falling asleep in class, drifting off during powerpoints or trying to disguise the strange noises coming from your stomach.
Many students begin the school year without access to a meal plan and find themselves responsible for their meal decisions for the first time.
This doesn’t have to cause panic or lead to the purchase of a $100 gift card from Chipotle.
While a growing number of fast food chains and restaurants have added healthful alternatives to their menus, cooking at home is a far more cost-effective way to incorporate healthful eating decisions, and it provides a greater variety of meal selections.
“I like cooking because it is cheaper and typically healthier than going out,” public relations senior Jill Ward said, “It’s also gratifying to eat something good that I made; it gives me a since of accomplishment,” she said.
Making the decision to cook at home is an important step toward making healthful eating choices, but the grocery store offers a variety of unhealthful temptations to overcome.
“The most common nutritional area college students lack is fruits and vegetables,” nutritional sciences professor Peggy Turner said.
Her fellow scholars in the nutrition science field seem to agree.
According to a recent article published in the Journal of Nutrition and Education Behavior, college students are failing to eat even one serving of fruits and vegetables a day.
This is of concern, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food pyramid guidelines recommend a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
Paring fruits and vegetables with a variety of proteins and grains should be students’ goal when making meal decisions.
“Students should focus on eating a variety of proteins; poultry, dairy foods and peanut butter are all good sources” Turner said.
Too often students swing through the fast-food drive-thru and pick up a bag of whatever is convenient, but with a little planning, healthful options can work, too.
Sandwiches with whole grain bread and deli meats or peanut butter are healthful options to fulfill mid-day hunger, Turner said.
Some students are already making healthful choices to go.
“I like to make grilled chicken wraps with lettuce; they are easy to make and fit in a sandwich bag,” medical science senior Cord Demoss said.
Pre-physical therapy senior Matt Hawkins said if he needs a snack throughout the day, he will fix a hard-boiled egg, which he considers way more filling than something like chips.
Eggs or lean proteins are examples of an inexpensive way to eat healthfully and shows that eating healthfully doesn’t have to break the bank.
It doesn’t take an economist to discover that.
For example, the $6 spent on a Big Mac, fries and a soda could buy a loaf of bread and package of deli meat, which could be used for multiple meals.
Ten dollars spent on a meal at a restaurant could be spent on a package of chicken, some instant rice and vegetables, all good for more than a single meal.
The most important ingredients needed when deciding to cook isn’t a fistful of cash or master chef skills, simply some willpower and imagination.
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Tank 9 months ago
You guys should look into hiring an editor.