Eating healthy on campus

Healthy choices for food are now widely available on the RIC campus since the renovation of Donovan Dining Center. Eating healthy is the number one thing to do to keep your body healthy during college. There is always the tempting greasy burger and fries, but there are other options to help with the food cravings your body has throughout the semester.

First, eat breakfast. Breakfast is and has been the most important meal of the day. This means waking up instead of sleeping in. Make sure you have at least some sort of protein, carbohydrate, and a milk product; for example, two eggs, two pieces of lightly buttered toast, and a container of 1 percent low-fat milk. Also, if wanted, throw in a piece of fruit. If time is a problem, grab a bagel, fruit and some milk; a grab-and-go breakfast. Eating a good breakfast will help you concentrate during your classes and will get you 'till lunch time. Breakfast should also be your biggest meal of the day.

College students need foods fortified with calcium. Eating foods with calcium will help you down the road into old age and prevent brittle bones and osteoporosis.The best option for a calcium-rich product is milk. If milk is not an option, try low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheeses and leafy greens.

Lunch and dinner should also have forms of protein and carbohydrates in them. For example, lunch could be a sandwich from Donovan's sandwich line and contain both meat and bread. Add a piece of fruit or a small side salad. Dinner could be a large salad full of leafy greens, carrot pieces, ham slices, shredded cheese, chicken pieces and low-fat salad dressing. Stay away from anything like macaroni salad or potato salad because those may taste delicious, but they are full of fat because of the mayonnaise content in these salads. Adding these salads to your already healthy salad can be like eating that greasy burger and fries from the grill line.

If you are hungry and dying for a snack in between classes, don't venture to the vending machines, because some of these snacks can ruin any healthy college diet. Instead, carry healthy foods with you in your bag or purse. The many things you can have include 100-calorie snack packs, small bags of baked potato chips, dried fruits, low-fat pretzels, whole wheat crackers, rice cakes and unbuttered popcorn.

Hydration is also important. Drinking at least eight, 8 oz. glasses of water a day is needed for a body to stay hydrated, and if you sweat or work out a lot, your body will need more. Drinking a lot of juices can give you benefits like calcium and potassium, but drinking a lot of juice is like drinking away calories you could eat with food.

Eating a maintained diet will help you from gaining that infamous "Freshmen 15." Skipping meals is also out of the question even if you are not trying to lose weight. Skipping a meal can make your body go into survival mode. Your metabolism will slow, and this will cause your body to actually gain weight if you eat too much after you skip a meal.

Keeping the quote, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar" in mind will keep your college diet balanced and maintained. Don't think of food as just a nutritional value; think of food as a fuel to keep your hard-working mind and body going, and enjoy the foods you eat.