Staff Writer: Sophie Machesky
I want to preface this article with a disclaimer. I do not have any experience in a health-related education or field. I am simply giving advice through my research and involvement with this topic, as a fulltime college student, on ways that my peers and other readers may be able to have cleaner diets.
Are we dying at a quicker pace than we should be?
Undeniably, eating is one of the most important ways that we can be monitoring our health, by focusing on what we’re putting into our bodies. This is difficult to do, though, when almost every food we consume contains additional ingredients that are detrimental to our health.
A lot of processed foods contain ingredients called “food additives.”
These make our foods taste good, but they do so by adding extra sodium, sugar, and other properties that are unnecessary in our diets.
So, how can we stay away from these? Let’s first explore some common food items that aren’t good for us.
Drinks
What’s your favorite drink to have in the morning? Is it something simple like sweet tea or is it a 10-step long, $12.00 Starbucks order? Whatever it is (if it’s anything but water), it most likely isn’t good for you.
According to a study at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, sugary drinks may be the worst things for us to be consuming.
“When it comes to ranking beverages best for our health, sugary drinks fall at the bottom of the list because they provide so many calories and virtually no other nutrients.”
The only decent result from consuming these drinks is a happy sensation from all of the added sugar.
But, how much added sugar is too much?
There is an excellent guide provided by the study at Harvard, detailing the amount of sugar in a variety of beloved drinks.
Drinks categorized as red are obviously ones we should stay away from, yellow are better choices but should only be consumed on rare occasions, and green are the best choices.
If you’re someone who is partial to energy drinks for a means of waking up, you may want to investigate other alternatives. These have excessive amounts of sugar and caffeine, which could unfortunately lead to serious heart and blood vessel problems.
And when it comes to placing complicated orders at coffee shops, be mindful of asking for something that sounds unhealthy.
Some examples are extra caramel drizzle, sweet cream cold foam, and an extra pump of vanilla syrup. All of these requests indicate the addition of more sugar to your drink.
Next time you’re tempted to spruce up your coffee, try asking for sugar-free vanilla or liquid cane sugar, and try out almond and oat milk instead of dairy milk and creamer.
RESTAURANTS
We all have our favorite restaurants that we frequently visit.
Maybe we’re adventurous and order something new every time. Or, we may have already tried everything on their menu and know what we like.
If you want to try your best to eat healthier, eating out will more likely than not be risky. It is common that most restaurant foods contain extra salt, sugar, and fat in order to please the customers’ taste buds.
So, it would be the best option to only dine out whenever there is a special occasion to be celebrating.
But we’re only human; visiting restaurants is something that gives a lot of us enjoyment and quality time with our loved ones.
With that being said, the next time you go out to eat, you should try to order items that are healthier for you.
The menu options will differ depending on what time of day you’re arriving (breakfast, lunch, or dinner), so to make everything simpler, let’s base this example on a restaurant serving lunch at our time of visitation.
A typical restaurant will have a plethora of options for lunch. Some common ones are sandwiches, salads, soups, pastas, etc.
Not everyone will be in the mood for a salad, and quite frankly, not everyone likes salads. So instead of telling you the obvious (that a salad would be the best option out of any of these), I’m going to offer some advice on editing your favorite menu items to make them healthier.
Starting with a lunchtime staple, sandwiches are an American favorite. However, some ingredients have food additives that could harm us in the long run.
The first thing to consider when ordering a sandwich is the bread that it will be on.
If your choice could be converted into a wrap, that could be the best transformation. Some restaurants offer lettuce and pepper wraps, holding together your sandwich toppings with tasty, crunchy vegetables. Others have common flour wraps that you could choose, but these typically have a similar amount of carbs in them as breads, so you could choose whichever you’re craving!
If you want bread, try to go for whole grain, rye, or whole wheat over white breads. Wraps can also be made from whole wheat, but restaurants tend to be limited on their options. So, if you can, try the lettuce or pepper wraps.
Finding a healthy soup can be just as easy as looking at the titles. A vegetable soup will clearly be better for you than a broccoli cheddar soup.
Rice bowls are another common lunch item. Through my experience, I’ve noticed that there are many ways to alter your order into something that’s more nourishing than fattening. Rice bowls are already healthy, but these simple alterations can make them even better.
Brown rice has many more nutrients than white, while quinoa is even better for you, containing more proteins.
Then clearly, you can add more veggies onto your bowl to give yourself a well-rounded meal!
Being a student with a busy schedule, grocery shopping is something that I dread doing.
It takes up a lot of time and money, and going to busy markets can be overwhelming if you have to go by yourself.
That’s why I started to invest in online grocery shopping. Through apps like Walmart and Instacart, for example, you can search what items you need and add them into your cart. Then, you can choose a specified time that you will be home and able to bring the groceries inside.
I’ve been greatly enjoying this luxury not only because I can’t find the time to take the trip to a store, but also because I can take my time in choosing the best groceries.
On Walmart.com (the delivery service that I use), I can search items then look at their nutritional ingredients before deciding if they’re what I want.
This has been an enormous help in restricting myself from purchasing foods that have food additives. The best way to narrow your search (online or in-store) is by looking at the food labels. Try searching for foods that were organically sourced, non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, have no added sugars, etc. This will give you options for groceries that are incredibly healthy.
I’ve also began to lower my intake of high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. This is just as easy as looking at the ingredients and seeing if they made the list. If they did, that means that the food will have unnecessary additional calories and other factors that make that food more addictive.
Whether you want a significant change in your diet, or just some small adjustments, I hope that this article has been helpful for you. You could immensely be eating healthier just by substituting some ingredients for others.
But please, don’t forget what’s most important: we eat because we need to, but we’re also all human who love to treat ourselves at times. There is nothing wrong with eating what you love!
Listen to your body and do what you think is best.