Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Eating healthy suggestions for a college student and resident?

I've been a resident in college for a little over four weeks now (Sunday it'll mark a fifth), and since then I've been even more concerned with healthy eating than before. Since my parents used to be in charge of what goes through one end of me, I trusted that the food they made was healthy for me, so eating healthy wasn't a big concern of mine up until I got into college. Now I'm fully in charge, so since I've been here I've been more of a health psycho than ever.

I've also ironically been eating far worse.

I've been consuming much more sugar and fat than ever, especially when I go to the cafeteria to eat with my buddies (the main reasons I eat there are 1. my buddies are there, and 2. I often get lazy to cook for myself especially considering that my dorm doesn't even have a kitchen of its own so I have to walk all the way to the one next door). It's easier for me to eat what seems healthier when I make it myself.

For example, I've since developed a pasta sauce recipe involving tuna, olive oil, capers, olives, oregano and a little black pepper to taste. Seems fairly healthy.

Problem is I only have access to the grocery store on Tuesdays since it's the only time a transport service allowing students to go to said grocery store is available (as residents, the least of us actually have vehicles of our own). This cuts down my options to purchase certain foods such as veggies or fruits since I cannot keep those for too long and thus must eat them right away.

Another problem is the inherent contradictions every single friggin' dietician in the world seems to have with respect to every other. Some say vegetable oils are bad, whereas others say they're good. Same applies to fruit juice, red meat, nuts, grains, so on and so forth, so I have no idea what actually IS healthy.

That said, I'm an underweight (I'm 110 lbs when I should weigh AT LEAST 130 lbs, but I always have been underweight) 20-year old male who can't gain weight (fat or muscle) for the life of him, I work out at least once a week (I know it's not a lot; I used to walk every day before school started) with a buddy who already has a diploma in natural sciences (so he has insight of how the human body works), I have little access to the grocer, I am Canadian-Italian so I'm used to eating a lot of grain, I do drink but on rare occasions and NEVER to get drunk (I genuinely enjoy the taste of wine; again, I'm part Italian), and I generally don't have any blatantly unhealthy habits (I've never smoked nor have I done any drugs, and I tend to sleep well).

My meal plan roughly translates to:

- At least one 156 ml can of V8 (veggie juice) a day.

- Nuts; right now I'm eating pistachios;

- Meat, albeit not much outside of cafeteria meals and cold cuts. I've been debating meat-eating ethics with myself lately too, actually.

- A lot of grains; oat or granola breakfast cereal, bread (I'm going to buy brown bread next), rice of different varieties and pasta (I've started buying whole-grain).

- Tuna once a week.

- Eggs.

- Fruit on occasion, less than when I lived at home; fruit salad (for variety), capers, olives.

- Veggies as much as possible; salad and veggies served at the cafeteria.

- A small glass of orange juice.

- Coffee or tea at most twice a day, usually once, lately not at all.

- Sauces; tomato, pesto, homemade oil-based pasta sauces, store-bought vinaigrette.

- Raw sugar (cane sugar, aka the best-tasting sugar), used in coffee (more) and tea (less).

- Peanut butter and blackcurrant jelly on occasion.

- Much less dairy than ever; a little milk in my coffee.

- A lot more soda; I always fall for temptation when eating at the cafeteria. I never buy it at the grocer.

One problem is that my diet is rather erratic; I've never "laid out" any sort of schedule so I tend to just eat whatever I'm craving that I have access to. I've only really eaten eggs once since I got here, for instance.

All that in mind, what do you suggest? I'm obviously not concerned with losing weight; I just highly value health.

1 Answer

Relevance
  • ?
    Lv 7
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    College food is notoriously bad - it's mostly carbs and sugar - poor vegetables - no fiber - LOTS of fat. It's real junk often times.

    The best thing you can do - if you can swing it - is to get a plug-in pressure cooker - they've got a good one at Walmart for $80. And just to put in a cabbage for an hour and half makes you a gallon of really quite good soup. You can eat straight vegetables if you want with good fiber.

    You just load that thing up with anything - cabbage, onion, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, egg plant. If you can afford the fats, put in a couple pieces of chicken. Set for 1 1/2 hours and you can feed an army for cheap.

    This is the real article instead of junk.. Also it will make a great rice - beans - lentils - split peas.

    What you need for a mostly vegetable diet is to experiment with different flavors - maybe bullion - maybe "Better than Bullion" - maybe "Liquid Smoke"... But just a cabbage boiled down into soup is good with a little salt and pepper. Really low fat - it will keep you lean and mean.

    If you want a pretty sensible diet, get Dr. Furhman's book - he's a doctor who speaks on PBS. Nice diet - really low fat - it's designed for people with heart disorders. You get lots of vegetables, a little rice and beans, a few nuts and berries - a little fruit. But mostly the vegetables. Makes you feel great. And no - you don't need any vegetable oil.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.