5 Tips for Dieting and Eating Healthy in College

By Isabella Trelles on February 17, 2019

As a 5th year college student, I know that eating healthy can be tricky. As students, we have to deal with budgeting, time management and trying to keep that freshman fifteen off. Fortunately, with years of experience, I will attempt to share my knowledge through these 5 tips and tricks.

Grocery Shopping 

Believe it or not, Publix is not your only option for grocery shopping. Over the years, I’ve tried different grocery stores to find places that have the best deals and that are affordable for healthy eaters. Lately, one of my favorite finds has been Lucky’s Market!  This store has great organic food at low prices and features local produce so everything is really fresh. Lucky’s also has some of the cheapest meats, (even cheaper than Publix) like chicken, beef, pork and even well priced New York strip steak!

Pro tip: Download the Lucky’s Market app to rack up points when you shop, earning you rewards like 5 dollars off your next purchase.

Lucky’s has really healthy food at discounted prices, so no need to break the bank at whole foods. Oh, and did I mention samples? They also offer free samples all over the grocery store!

Another great grocery store is Trader Joe’s; this store cuts out the middleman so they carry little to no brand name items. Instead, everything is their own brand, meaning they make all the food themselves. This makes their items much cheaper and they offer many different organic foods (also great for vegetarians because they offer lots of meatless options). Although you do need to check if Trader Joe’s and Lucky’s Market are offered near you because they are not always in every city.

For those of you in college that do not have cars, there’s a great app called Instacart that delivers your groceries straight to your home. If you split the 40-dollar annual price with your roommate, this service will cost you about 20 dollars, getting you free shipping every time you order for the rest of the year.

Snacks

Eating healthy and dieting in college is also all about finding the right things to snack on. It’s important to find food that doesn’t go bad fast but is still healthy and portable (for rushing to class). Below I’ve listed some healthy and easy snacks that can be bought at almost any grocery store.

  • Cheese! Most kinds of cheeses are a great filling snack that provides a ton of protein but the key is to get low-fat cheese. Brands like Baby Bell, Laughing Cow, and Sargento Balanced Breaks have low-fat portable cheese snacks.
  • Sparkling water also pairs great with snacks because it gets you feeling full and helps promote digestion.
  • Smoothies are a great go to as well. You can make easy smoothies by picking up some frozen fruit and almond milk, these items last weeks in the fridge and freezer so you can always have something to snack on.
  • Seaweed chips. This sounds strange but these are a great low-calorie snack that takes care of your salty cravings! My favorite kind is the GimME Organic Roasted Seaweed Snack.
  • Peanut butter and apples are also a great snack that’s filling and healthy, but it’s very important to buy peanut butter that contains low sugar.
  • Lastly, small hummus packs are my favorite. Pair these with celery or carrots to make a low calorie and high protein snack!

Tip: It is important to choose low-fat options whenever you can because snacks that have a high fat content can cause issues like weight gain, diabetes and high cholesterol (it also tastes exactly the same!).

Image via: Sargento

Food That Lasts

It’s hard to know when is the next time you will be able to go to the grocery store given our busy class schedules, so buying food that will last is always necessary. This will be a great help so you don’t have to make that last-minute trip to the grocery store when you’re running low on money and cramming for a test. It’s also difficult to find long-lasting healthy food, so don’t go for pizza rolls in the freezer aisle. Here are some good suggestions!

Going for canned items is always a must. Amy’s organic soups are great for this, some selections include Thai Coconut Soup, Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque, and Organic Fire Roasted Southwestern Vegetable Soup. Campbell’s Soup also released a new line of organic ‘to-go’ soups called Well Yes, these are great for walking to class in the cold! They have flavors like Tomato & Sweet Basil and Roasted Red Pepper.

Food that can go in the freezer is also always a must. The frozen section in Trader Joe’s is great for this, you can get anything from frozen dumplings to organic chicken tenders. You can also use the freezer to preserve food that you don’t want to go bad (great for BOGO deals, eat one and freeze the other). Freezing meats is always a good idea, as well as freezing bread. My own personal favorite bread would be Dave’s Killer Bread Thin Sliced; this whole grain bread is packed with nutrients and tastes great. The Amy’s brand for frozen dinners are also amazing, as well as cauliflower crust pizzas. These pizzas can be bought in most grocery stores; they are easy to make and so healthy!

Image via: Target

 

Superfoods

Believe it or not, superfoods can be affordable!

Superfoods are nutrient-rich food products that are considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being. Some great drinks are GoodBelly Probiotics, GTs Enlightened Kombucha, and coconut milk. Value-sized Kombucha can be bought at Sam’s Club or Costco for really affordable prices and coconut milk is extremely inexpensive at Trader Joe’s (one glass of this a day can improve your skin, promote digestion and weight loss). Coconut milk can also be used in smoothies or even as a coffee creamer. Other great superfoods can be bought from Amazon, especially Raw Chia Seeds and Flax Seeds.

Image via: Target

Drinking

When dieting, it’s very hard to drink alcohol and remain thin. So here are a few tips that I’ve learned over the years!

  • Stick to light beers (half the calories, more the fun).
  • The dreaded vodka water. These don’t always taste the best, so instead, ask for a vodka soda with extra lime. This drink contains club soda (0 calories) which can help mask the taste, and the extra kick of lime might actually help you forget you’re drinking watered down vodka.

Tip: Pouring in a bit of portable water flavoring in your drink like Mio or Crystal Light, can turn your vodka water into a strawberry lemonade.

If you’re focused on losing weight, it is also important to be careful about exactly what you’re eating on the given day you’re going to drink. It is important to eat something with substance so that you do not get intoxicated but also take into account the number of calories you’re about to consume from alcohol. My advice would be to stick to proteins and light carbs.

Read on for some examples!

Don’ts:

-A cheeseburger with fries, although it has substance, is too fattening.

-Apples with a tablespoon of peanut butter. This is too light and will cause you to get sick.

Do’s:

-A salad with chicken, avocado, tomato and homemade vinaigrette (homemade dressings are easy to make and you know exactly what you’re consuming).

-Lean ground turkey tacos with cauliflower rice.

Image via: Mio

It’s safe to say that over the years; I’ve developed many methods for dieting and eating healthy in college. So I hope my advice will provide some guidance for you. I know it can be hard, but it’s important to know that you can always live a confident and healthy lifestyle under any circumstances!

Stay healthy, my friends!

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