Making Eating A Priority

Becoming a college student is a major advancement into adulthood. A major part of becoming a  successful college to student is becoming more responsible. Coming from a situation where your parents do a lot for you to having to do everything for yourself can be quite difficult for many people. One of the biggest things impacted in this adjustment is the diet. Many people are used to having three standard meals a day with snacks in between, at normal times. However, from my personal experience at college this is not so.

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Coming to college has significantly changed my schedule. When I say my schedule that goes for sleeping, eating, studying, and going out. I have noticed that many people tend to go to bed very late and thus wake up late. This is something that takes a huge toll on your eating schedule. Ideally, you want to wake up hungry to have a high protein and carb breakfast so you are able to have enough energy to start a busy day. Many students skip breakfast which is a huge mistake. Some people say they don’t need breakfast or forget to eat it. Breakfast is arguably the most important meal and every student should make an effort to eat it. To find out more about the importance of breakfast read this.

Now that we have established that we have extremely busy schedules that aren’t necessarily convenient you still must remember to get your proper nutrition. With such busy schedules I know form first hand experience that it is easy to forget to eat. Usually I will try to get the nutrition at another point in the day if I remember. This isn’t the greatest way to do it, but sometimes you have no choice. The biggest misconception is when people skip meals in effort to lose weight. While it may seem as though you are losing weight this is not healthy nor is the most efficient way to lose weight. This strategy forces you to be hungry which in result makes you eat more when you do decide to eat. Eating a lot in less meals will actually put on more weight than if you spread your meals out throughout the day.

My mom is a fitness trainer/nutritionist and the number one thing she preaches is portion control. You can eat the same food each day, but the way in which you do it will have different effects on your body. The body needs to process food and it is hard to do that when you are binge eating. Having food throughout the day, but portioned properly will increase your metabolism. In result this will help maintain or even lose weight.

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At the end of the day everyone has some sort of idea or goal when it comes to there weight. They may be perfectly content, but there is many people who want to see a change in the way they look. It all comes down to the diet. If your trying to lose weight you have to do it properly. It may take longer, but it is much easier to make the weight lose more permanent by eating throughout the day. Skipping meals does much more than impact your weight. As college students we need every bit of energy we can get. Food is energy and the backbone of overall health. Practicing the proper eating habits is the best way to go about any physical change and create a more permanent and safe result.

8 thoughts on “Making Eating A Priority

  1. Anna Strahle

    Hi David,
    I strongly agree with your point that eating breakfast is essential to having a productive and healthy lifestyle. I live in an apartment this year, and I find it much easier to make time to eat breakfast because I don’t have to walk to the dining hall if I want a substantial breakfast. Recently, I took the time to make a batch of healthy protein packed oatmeal muffins and stored them in a Ziploc bag. Now, right before i leave for class, I can grab a muffin and I’m set. I have been trying to add a lot of oatmeal to my diet because it fills me up, while also containing additional healthy nutrients such as calcium and potassium.
    For a full article on why you should eat oatmeal:
    http://www.medicaldaily.com/benefits-oatmeal-why-you-should-add-power-food-your-high-fiber-diet-328788

  2. Katharine Marie Sayer

    Hey David,
    I personally do not eat breakfast and I hate myself for it! I always want to and regret not eating once I’m in class and my stomach grumbles, but I feel that I never have time. I will definitely have to start waking up earlier, which means I should probably go to bed earlier as well. I’m glad I read this post because it made me acknowledge how unhealthy I am currently living. I guess I didn’t adjust to college the way I originally planned. Here’s an article that list reasons why you should never skip breakfast (http://www.fitnea.com/7-reasons-you-should-never-skip-breakfast/). Thanks for bringing awareness to this sensitive subject for me!

  3. lkv5058

    Hey David,
    As a student who has had college pizza about a dozen times in the past few weeks, I really needed to read this. I didn’t realize how much portion control effects my health. With my busy schedule it may be hard to maintain a perfect diet but this is definitely a helpful blog. This site here also lists portion control as the #1 way to stay fit in college but also has some other tips. Take a look.
    https://healthservices.camden.rutgers.edu/topics_wellness

  4. Ashley Elizabeth Day

    Hi,
    I really enjoyed reading your blog post and immediately related to it. The first week of classes were rough for me adjusting to the new schedule. Also by the end of the first week I was tired of eating the common’s food so I just stopped. I was down to eating maybe one meal a day. I knew that was extremely unhealthy for myself, skipping breakfast especially. Here’s a link code that explains all the bad things that can happen to your body when you skip breakfast. Your post really reinforced to me how important keeping a healthy balanced diet throughout college was. I did some research myself and found a Nutrition Plan Code with tips to help me keep a healthy college diet. I think everyone could benefit from reading your post and reevaluating their own diet.

  5. Melissa Raquel Fraistat

    Hi,
    I really liked this blog post, because the last couple of days I’ve been thinking about my eating habits since I’ve gotten here, and how bad it’s become. It’s not necessarily what I eat, but when and how much I do. I recall one day where I was too busy to go get food, so all I ate that day were three granola bars. Like you said, I think having an eating schedule is essential in helping to create a regularity with eating, so I found an article that helps guide you through eating at college on a meal plan.

  6. Zihan Wang

    Hi, David
    Eating is a very common thing like sleep, and everyone need to have meals per day. I agree with your perspective that after I enter university, my diet is no more regular because of schedule. Even though scientists propose us that three meals are most healthy way, we can’t do it. Some girls hope to lose weight by skipping meals, but it’s totally ridiculous. According to a survey, doing more exercise in gym will be effective way to achieve this goal, and let muscle fill with your body is more appropriate than just skip meal. Eating is so important for growth and health of people, especially for teens.
    https://www.verywell.com/exercise-health-4013651

  7. Kateryna Okhrimchuk

    Hey David,
    I really love this topic and was actually just think about how much my eating habits have changed ever since I got to college. I was here for summer session and to be honest, I don’t think I ate a single fruit or vegetable the entire time. It’s not like I don’t like them either, it’s just that whenever I went to eat it wasn’t breakfast, lunch, or dinner time in the dining hall because I had classes whenever those meals were served. I ended up always showing up at an awkward time when only grilled cheeses and pizza were being served. I’m definitely one of those people who forgets to eat too. I found this really interesting article, which I’ll link here: http://livehealthy.chron.com/dangers-not-eating-anything-day-2733.html , that talks about what happens to your body when you don’t eat for an entire day. It’s kind of scary to think about the fact that simply forgetting to eat because you’re busy causes things like hypoglycemia, constipation, heartburn, and anxiety. The fact that some people do it just to lose weight, like you mentioned, is even worse. There are better ways to shed the extra pounds, like going to the gym or playing a sport that you like. Nutritionists can also help with this because they can guide you to a healthy solution for losing weight that doesn’t include not eating.

  8. Pengji Wei

    Hello David.
    After I read your blog, I just know my bad behavior in the school. I am that kind of person who always not eating breakfast because I just could not get up in the morning. And before today, I always thought this is ok, and also gonna help me lose weight. But I am surly agree the statement you said that skip a meal is not a efficient way to lose weight, also could makes people eat more food when people decided to eat. Just like you said, food is the energy, so it is really important to us. And I also found a link why most of people eat three meals a day.
    http://www.medicaldaily.com/how-3-meals-day-became-rule-and-why-we-should-be-eating-whenever-we-get-hungry-324892

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