May 17, 2012 -

Eating healthy in college

Eating healthier in college

Eating healthy in college is very important! Being in good shape and healthy means that you will be able to study more efficiently.

The research showed that many students have irregular and unhealthy eating habits. They most often skip the breakfast and don’t have enough meals trough out the day. Students also enjoy too many sweets and sugar related products and don’t consume enough vegetables and fruits. To eat healthy in college you must not eat such food but rather consume more healthy food. Read on.

The mentioned research showed that among adolescent boys there are 17.1% of those who are overweight and 15.4% of girls that are overweight. 6.2% of boys and 3.8% of girls are obese and. These numbers are not positive at all.

Unhealthy lifestyle is one of the key causes of formation and progression of major chronic non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer, some chronic lung disease, obesity and osteoporosis and other musculo-skeletal system.

How to eat healthy in college?

For a healthier lifestyle of students it is important that we chose the correct selection of foods (vitamins, minerals, nutrients…), the methods of preparation of meals and the frequency of meals. It is advised that students should eat at least 5 times per day, in smaller amounts.

Eating healthy tips

Choose healthy food, containing more plant foods than animal foods.

Choose and quality cereal products.

Several times a day eat locally grown fresh vegetables and fruits (at least 400 g per day).

Be physically active and maintain normal weight. Do some sports – jogging, cycling, maybe fitness.

Body mass index is the ratio between weight (in kilograms) and the square of height (in meters). You can calculate BMI this way: weight / square of height. So if you weight 100 kilograms and you are 2 metres tall than you calculate like this: ((100kg)/(2*2)) = 25. Normal body mass means if your index is between 20 and 25.

Control the amount of ingested fat (no more than 30% of daily energy intake) and replace most saturated fats (animal fats) with unsaturated (vegetable oils – best oils are olive oil, coconut oil, kanabis oil).

Replace high-fat meat and meat products with fish, chicken meat, horse meat.

Every day enjoy a reduced-fat milk and less fat dairy products (yogurt, sour milk, kefir, cheese).

Eat less salty foods. Daily salt intake should not exceed 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt, including salt you eat in the bread, ready meals and canned foods.

Add a little sugar to your drinks and choose foods that contain little sugar. Limit the frequency of consumption of sweets and sugary drinks (don’t drink too much of CocaCola, Sprite etc. – such drinks are nothing more than sugar itself).

If you drink alcohol, do not consume more than 2 units a day (1 unit is 10 g of alcohol).

Prepare food in clean kitchen and in healthy way (cooking, baking or preparation in the microwave. Do not make fried food.).

Guidelines for eating healthy in college

When reading guidelines for eating healthy in college, please take into account the proper frequency of eating which should include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and possibly two minor intermediate meals, the correct way of eating of food (eat slowly: 20-30 minutes for the main meals, 10 minutes for the intermediate meals), and appropriate distribution of daily energy intake with meals:

breakfast should consists of 25% of energy intake,

2nd breakfast – 15% of the energy intake,

lunch should consists of 30% of energy needed,

afternoon snack should consists of 10% of energy needs,

and dinner 20% of energy needed.

It is recommended that breakfast should be quite heavy – you can consume a lot of energy with breakfast (which can be nutrient enriched meal). Snacks may include fruit, vegetables, milk or milk products, dried fruit or cereal products. Dinner should be easily digestible, so that digestion and metabolism will not interfere with sleep. It is recommended to enjoy dinner at least two hours before bedtime.