College Cafeteria 101
My school and your school have at least one thing in common: the food. Some days are better than others, but school food generally consists of the same few choices. They have you by the short ones because you don't have any other options when you're between classes and have 30 minutes to get a meal down. We prefer cooking at home because we have more control over the nutrients, but you can still make better decisions than others when it comes to your cafeteria choices.
Breakfast
Hard Boiled Eggs Eggs are always an easy pick-up for breakfast. In my school, hard boiled eggs come three to a carton. This amounts to 18-22 grams of protein and leaves you feeling pretty full. Be warned though, because eggs do have a decent amount of fat in them - don't eat yolks all day every day. Bobby is all about liquid egg whites from the grocery store, but that only works when you have time to make breakfast at your place. Anyway, I like to wash my eggs down with some orange juice - great for vitamin C and simple sugars.
Whole-Wheat Bagel with PBJ This is another easy, healthy choice for breakfast that will leave you feeling nice and full. The complex carbohydrates from the wheat bagel, along with the calories and protein from the peanut butter and simple sugars from the jelly, induce that lovely feeling of satiety that keeps you running all morning. For those of you're looking to stay more on the lean side, I'd recommend skipping out on the peanut butter.
Cottage Cheese and Fruit Cottage cheese can be pretty disgusting (note: consistency issues) but it is so healthy that it may be worth biting the bullet. It's high in protein and carbohydrates, as well as offering non-fat versions...what's not to like about that? It can be a great snack all day if you're OK with it.
Yogurt Especially Greek yogurt. It's absolutely loaded with protein and carbohydrates. Yogurt is typically a cheaper menu item and it really completes your breakfast when you add it to these other options.
Lunch
Salad Bar I love going to the salad bar for this reason: I can pick what goes in it. I usually throw in grilled chicken, eggs, cucumbers, peppers, and I add a pinch of dressing. Overdosing your salad with dressing can be very counter productive, even if the dressing is non-fat. The thing is the dressing still adds unwanted calories to your diet that you may not want, so be careful when choosing and applying dressing to your salad.
Grilled Chicken Sandwich My school has a selection of premade sandwiches and wraps ready to go. A personal favorite, the grilled chicken sandwich is high in protein, very low in fat, and I usually only eat half the bun. And sometimes when I'm feeling a little on the wild side (lolz), I add a little dressing to it to give it a little taste.
Sushi I love sushi because it's premade and healthy (especially when I get the brown rice kind), although it could be quite pricy. I love going with salmon and tuna, which are two fish filled with protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids your body needs, along with the delicious raw vegetables they pack in there. If you have a meal plan and sushi is an option, it's definitely worth a swipe of the ID.
Dinner I am typically back at my apartment for dinner so I make my own food - chicken, meat, fish, whatever. If I were still on-campus or stuck late studying, my choices for dinner would pretty much be the same as they were for lunch.
In closing, eating at school is all about sacrifice. Most options are loaded with sugars or grease; the problem is that sugar and grease make everything taste good. You need to train your body to eat healthier so that you don't miss the gross stuff too much. The best way to say sane is to allow yourself a cheat meal from time to time. Look for Collegiate Fitness to post the details about cheating (with food) and our personal favorite cheat meals.
Bobby H.
[http://collegiatefitness.com]
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