5 Helpful Nutrition Tips for College Freshman
When you’re a freshman in college, there are a lot of lifestyle changes that you are going to have to get used to. You will have to do your own grocery shopping, manage your own money, and prepare your own meals. If you don’t learn how to do these things early, then you are going to really struggle through your college years. Here are 5 helpful nutrition tips for college freshman.
- Cut Your Sugar Intake
One of the best things you can do for yourself if you are trying to improve your diet is to cut down on the sugar. There is so much sugar in just about everything that we eat, that it can be difficult to tell at first just how much you are consuming. Even fake sugars are extremely bad for your health, as they turn off the inhibitors in your brain that tell you that you’re full. So be sure to cut out sodas, candy, and other sugary foods like muffins and cookies.
- Pack Your Lunch
If you want to stay healthy in school, then it’s usually best if you pack your own lunch. You probably don’t need to pack a lunch if you’re in one of UC’s online respiratory therapy programs, but if you’re like most college students, then you will be eating lunch on campus each day. So be sure to avoid eating the greasy junk food that they serve at your school and fill your lunch box with a healthy, balanced meal.
- Cook Your Own Food
In addition to making your own lunch, you want to be sure to make your own dinner most nights as well. This is the best way to really maintain a healthy diet while you’re in school, and it’s also one of the biggest ways that you can save money. When you eat at restaurants, you are usually paying a lot of money for food that is actually quite unhealthy. Even a salad can have as many as 1,000 calories. So save your cash and your health, and teach yourself how to cook.
- Eat Plenty of Vegetables
When you do cook, you want to be sure that there is some kind of vegetable in every meal that you make. If you don’t eat enough vegetables, then you won’t be getting the vitamins, minerals and fiber that you need to process all of the rest of your food. Eating a healthy dose of vegetables each day is truly the key to maintaining a healthy metabolism.
- Stay Away From Processed Foods
Any time you buy some kind of food at the market and it has a long list of ingredients that you don’t recognize, you are usually eating some kind of processed food. If the ingredients list includes things like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame, or anything like that, then it’s probably not something you should be eating. Instead, try and think of other alternatives that are similar, or just try to minimize your intake of these foods as much as possible.
