By Bobby Croshere
It’s Monday morning and your alarm goes off earlier than you would like. You press the snooze button knowing those 10 extra minutes will cost you a healthy breakfast. The day ahead includes a few classes, a club meeting, a shift at work, not to mention the paper that needs to be written by tomorrow.
For the busy college student, balancing homework, classes and possibly a job, finding time to eat a healthy meal may be challenging. Although food options may seem endless, from Grubhub to Adelphi University’s on campus eateries, making the healthy choice may be the hardest to do. Not only can poor eating choices affect your health, but they can affect your wallet too.
Students at Adelphi are faced with the daily decision of what foods to eat. Many factors impact these choices including cost, time and nutritional value. With so many dining options available, making the right eating choices are important. Developing healthy eating habits as a college student can play an integral part of leading a balanced life.
Food Costs
When selecting food to eat, although you may be aware of what is healthy, it is often the cost that impacts those eating choices. According to a survey of 66 Adelphi students, 77% think it is more expensive to eat healthily than it is to eat unhealthily. In fact, over half of the respondents have avoided buying healthy foods because it was too expensive.
However, the reality may be that students aren’t exactly keeping track of how much money they are spending on either option when dining out. As a recent Adelphi business management graduate Ashley Zingale ‘24 pointed out, “I honestly do not know many students that actively budget. It's easy to swipe a card and forget the money behind it.”
Additionally, the survey revealed that 61% say most of the time they choose food based on cost, not nutritional value. Eating healthily does not necessarily mean you have to go broke.
As Zingale said, “Balancing cost and quality is part of operating any company.” Just like how various food services balance cost and quality, students must be aware and do the same when making nutritional choices.
Planning Ahead
While 42% of students on campus rate their overall health as good, an astounding 79% are not satisfied with their diet. While part of these results could be due to the cost of food, a larger reason may be attributed to college lifestyles.
Shannon Shields, a national board-certified health and wellness coach and functional nutrition practitioner, said it’s not as hard to make healthy food choices as college students on the go may think. She recommended preparing healthy food choices in advance of a busy day like hard-boiled eggs, bags of nuts and olives (without seed oils and sugars), various types of jerky sticks, pre-cut veggies, low sugar yogurt and whole fruit.
Adelphi senior nursing major Emma Pappas is proof that planning has nutritional and monetary advantages. “I wouldn't say I spend a lot of money on food, maybe around $50 a week or so on groceries that will last me a good amount of time. The food I get is typically healthy, such as Greek yogurt, berries, cereal, trail mix and things like that. I am also a pretty frugal person so I try hard to budget my money as best as I can.”
Eating Habits
It is important for college students to understand some eating habits could affect your diet. For students who tend to be up late or snack after hours, there is a possibility of yielding unwanted results. As Shields pointed out, “Your body needs sleep to digest food and repair body systems. If you don’t sleep enough and snack throughout the night, your body can’t work in optimal condition. Although life as a college student is challenging, perhaps with knowledge comes the ability to make better choices more often.”
About three quarters of survey participants reported that Adelphi should play a greater role in providing healthier, more affordable food options. Around 85 percent of survey participants also claimed not to know of any campus resources that help with healthy food options. However, learning to make healthy eating choices on a budget doesn’t need to be complicated. Shields recommends eating whole fruits, vegetables, protein, and healthy fats as part of every meal. Although many students tend to choose foods such as pizza or ramen, Adelphi’s eateries offer numerous healthy food selections, and it is up to each student to make the effort to find and pick the healthy alternative.
While healthy options are available on campus, it is not always the easiest choice to make. Trying new foods and being open to new possibilities may allow for greater opportunities to find both affordable and healthy options.
Adopting healthy eating habits is important because it affects not just your body but your overall performance. “We truly are what we eat, and food does have the ability to heal us or harm us,” Shields said. “Every system in our body is connected. The way we fuel ourselves affects how we think, how we move, how we feel.”
It is never too late to start considering one’s health and changing bad eating habits around. Your body needs proper nutrition to reach its full potential. Junior Rossi Romero, a history major in the Scholar Teacher Education Program for adolescent education, has the right idea when it comes to nutrition.
“Personally, I never found it quite difficult to find healthy food options on campus as there are a variety of choices to eat at certain locations.” Romero added. “Eating healthy is about finding a balance. It’s typically a switch of both. For example, I may eat a salad or sandwich on one day then splurge for something not as healthy on the other day but not often. It alternates throughout each week depending on how I'm feeling.”
Eating healthy must be a lifestyle choice. Healthy options are available if you take the time to look. Survey results point to the idea that healthy eating should be a priority on campus as well as an individual choice. Perhaps Shields said it best: “Making healthy eating a priority is a win for everyone. Healthier eating options for students help to create healthier students which in turn helps to create healthier human beings.”
Tips for Healthy Eating
According to Shannon Shields, a national board-certified health and wellness coach and functional nutrition practitioner, here are some basic tips to follow:
Whole fruits, vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats should be a part of each meal in some way.
Prioritize vegetables (½ your plate) and protein (¼ or more of your plate) first, then consume carbs.
Be wary of portion size. Many places serve larger portions than needed.
Caution: Unlimited refills can lead to unnecessary calories
Comments