Eating Healthy In College: Tip #4

Workout: ran 4 miles on the trail

Kris woke me up early this morning even though it was his day off (crazy man), but I didn’t mind because he took me to Mickey D’s for breakfast and (after lots of begging) ate with me at the park. Although, he refused to swing or play on the playground because he said he was too cool for that… yeah, right!

He got like 40 breakfast burritos, 1 hashbrown, and an orange juice, boy’s gotta get that vitamin C! I ordered the yogurt parfait and we shared an iced coffee that was a tad too sweet for my liking. I know, weird, it was too sweet.

Anyway, after that I busted out 4 miles at race speed and it was a glorious run! We actually had some clouds and the air was cool today and I realized how much I’ve missed running outside.

On to the tip for today!

Dorm Food

My freshman year I lived on campus in the dorms. While I didn’t enjoy my whole dorm experience, I actually got very lucky in the food department. I went to the University of Washington (I transferred after 1 year to Central Washington University), and they are a very liberal and diverse university. The options in the cafeteria have such a wide range that everyone is able to get what their heart desires. But I made an effort to stick to healthy grub most of the time through these ways.

-Try out the vegetarian lifestyle. Don’t freak out, it’s not that scary and there are tons of tasty options. I actually challenged myself to go vegetarian the whole year and although it didn’t stick, I’m really glad I did. Your world gets opened up to so many new healthy foods when you aren’t always going for the chicken and pasta everyday. Which brings me to my next step.

-Stay away from the pasta line. When cooks have to make a butt load of food, you can almost guarantee that 1) it’s not whole wheat, 2) it’s bathed in butter, 3) the portion is gigantic and 4) once you start eating you’re not going to have the will power to stop. Just don’t even put yourself in that situation and if you absolutely must, consider it a treat and then hit the treadmill to burn those carbs.

-Don’t buy breakfast. That does NOT mean don’t eat breakfast. Don’t you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? But this is just my personal preference because first of all, you’re going to save a lot of time. Those lines aren’t worth getting up a half hour earlier. Secondly, you’re going to save a lot of calories when you’re not reaching for that muffin with you’re king sized scrambled eggs and your grande caramel macchiato. My tip is to buy that big Costco size pack of instant oatmeal and have one a day with some fruit. These are the perfect portion, easy to make and store in you’re jail cell of a room, and pretty filling. You can even add nuts and what not for added protein.

– Take advantage of the salad bar. Seriously, where else are you going to get fresh tasting fruit and veggies all year ’round for the same price? You don’t have to slice any tomatoes, dice any onions, chop any lettuce and there’s a whole variety of dressings. I’m telling you I was a super fan of the salad bar and I miss it. Waah.

– Live on the top floor. This isn’t really a tip but having to live on the top floor sure made me eat a lot less sweets. When I’d have a craving at 9pm, the last thing I wanted to do was wait 10 minutes for the elevator or walk down and back up 11 flights of stairs just for a chocolate chip cookie.

Anyway, that’s it for today!

PS. Sorry no verse today. I’ll double up tomorrow though! And today’s Sunday of all days, gosh I’m terrible!