Episode 18: Back to School Nutrition
Watch on YouTube
Episode Transcription
Participant #1:
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Upbeat Dietitians podcast. Hi, guys. Welcome back. Today's episode is going to be all about back to school nutrition. We think that when you guys hear this, it'll hopefully be around time where everyone's going back to school. We're going to kind of aim this towards people going to College, whether it's freshman year or sophomore year, whatever year it is. I guess some things can apply to, like high schoolers as well, but it will be a mostly at College age students. We're going to go over how nutrition affects our academic performance. Talk about things like caffeine, how to navigate the dining halls, how to Cook in your dorm room. That kind of stuff. So if you are a College student looking to better your health, you have found the perfect episode. Yes. Okay. Well, let's jump right in. So I really do want to start by talking about kind of like the why behind this episode. So why it is so important to be in good health in general, when you are trying to perform academically studies, do show that those who eat a balanced diet, which we've kind of defined in the past as being very different for everyone. And if you really don't know what a balance diet is for your recommend of working with a dietitian. But anyway, a balanced diet can be beneficial for you to perform academically to help improve your grades. It can help you so you don't get sick as often. And I know, especially if you're a freshman like first going into College, the chances of you getting sick are pretty high. You're exposed to all these new people or immune systems are just like all to wax. Sometimes like, I know fresh veneer. I got sick, like, so much. I don't know about you, Emily, but I was sick. I feel like a ton freshman year. I think I was sick all throughout College. Yeah, it's true. Personal profit. It's so true. So that could be a good reason to get in a balanced diet. Other reasons that this is important, and that helps with depression and anxiety and improve concentration as well. So a lot of good reasons to eat healthily when trying to be a good student. Yeah. And we're going to kind of dive into a study. We really wanted to touch on where they found that one in four College students gained a significant amount of weight during that first semester of College. And you've probably heard of the freshman 15. I feel like that's something almost everyone knows going in, and they really wanted to kind of dive into what factors were contributing to the significant weight gain. And one of them was the access to buffet style and buffet style dining halls. It's kind of all you can eat. There's no limitation on what you can and cannot have in terms of quantity. And this can kind of change depending on the College. I know if they have a specific type of meal plan, but buffet style is pretty popular in addition to that late night eating while studying. Since a lot of College students stay up pretty late studying and they might have increased hunger needs at that time. So you're typically not going to go and eat some vegetables at 01:00 a.m. You're going to snack on some chips or candy or something. In addition to that, a lot of students they found were eating cheaper types of food or more convenient foods such as Ramen, because ramen is crazy cheap. And for any type of College student, that's going to be a preference because we're kind of all poor. And then something I wanted to know that they did not really go over in this study. But I felt like this is something that's kind of a taboo topic that I wanted to bring up and let any College students know that are going either new to College or a couple of years out from going to College. I think a significant amount of this waking is related to drinking alcohol. And I know like, no one really talks about people do talk about underage drinking, but they talk a lot about why not to drink or they don't drink if you're underage. But kind of experience I had I was in RA at Purdue and we kind of had to change our mindset around. They're going to do it even if you tell them not to. And sometimes the more you tell them not to, the more they will want to do it. That can backfire, but kind of educating on the potential negative side effects of that. And one of those is weight gain. And we talked about in our last the last episode that came out right now. We're recording a couple of weeks ago episode where we discuss alcohol is there is a lot of calories in alcohol, especially if you participate in binge drinking. Often those calories can add up and can transfer over into weight gain. So that's something I really think at least the freshman 15 can be really contributed to because it is like convenience food. It is you're kind of living away from home for the first time. You can see whatever you want. But something that a lot of people don't talk about is how much drinking has an effect on weight gain. Yeah. I like how you brought that up because you're right. It's not really talked about in terms of, like, nutrition. It's talked about because of the dangers of drinking and you shouldn't drink under 21 and that kind of thing. But nutritionally, you're right. It doesn't get talked about very often. And whether you're 18 or 23, you're still going to risk having that excess intake of calories if you are been drinking regularly. So no matter what your age is, whether you're drinking legally or illegally, the nutritional negatives are still there. Either way. Exactly. Let's talk about dining halls. So what you said earlier is very true. Like, different colleges are very different in terms of what meal plans they have. They don't all do buffet style. I know when I visited Ross at IU I don't think it was buffet style, but he was only in the dorms for one year, so I don't really remember very much. So if anyone from IU is listening and I'm wrong, let me know. But I know that Purdue is like very much buffet style, every single dining core. And it was like, what five or six of them. They were all buffet style. They had some cafes and things where you would go and use, like, your dining dollars to buy, like, a hamburger or whatever. But for the most part, the main dining courts were all buffet style. And when you are fresh to College and you have all this access to this amount of food, it's pretty normal and expected to want to overeat. I feel like it kind of like tapers off after that first semester. You kind of like get used to having the access to food so much you don't get as excited by it anymore. And so I guess in the study I didn't look too much into it. But I'm wondering after that first semester, hopefully it kind of, like tapers off the weight gain. I doubt you're just like getting £15 every semester. No, I think it definitely is an initial exposure to the environment. Exactly. So take it with what it is. I mean, absolutely. Enjoy yourself. Get the full experience of having all those new foods that you get to have depending on your meal plan, hopefully in an unlimited fashion. But do know that that isn't really going to benefit you long term if you are just like going crazy courts. But best things to do to kind of navigate that is to first of all, plan ahead. Most of them do have their menus posted so you can kind of like look at all of them and see who does have the best option for you. Whether it's like whatever tastes the best, whatever might be the healthiest option for you that day. Do try to just plan ahead the best you can and experiment. You have all these different new foods. That a lot of dining course, at least at Purdue. They have different cuisines and even different dining courses themselves had different focuses. So you could really try to experiment with new foods and see what you liked. That was actually the next bullet point, too, trying to get familiar with all the different cuisines. And even if you're not someone who say typically does vegetarian style feel free to experiment with different vegetarian dishes? Or maybe you don't always do. I don't know, like Indian food. Maybe try like an Indian dish and see if you like it another way to kind of help yourself. Maybe not over indulge as much would be to try to get in plenty of protein at your meal. So instead of going hard on, like the French fries, the tater Tots I don't know what else they might have, like baked beans, for example. I guess you can have those things, of course, but do try to get in plenty of protein at your meals as well, because that will help you stay full for longer, so you don't feel the need to get like three plates of food. You might get a lot more satisfied if you did like some chicken breast and then also had your starches on there as well. And then our last little point here is they often will have a lot of those, like super easy, I guess, like convenience foods that you maybe are comfortable with. Like again, like burger and fries. I'm like blanking on all the different foods we used to have. Pizza is a big one. Pizza is a good one. Pizza, pasta like barbecue. Yeah, barbecue, hot dogs. And again, it's a place for those. Emily and I are not anti any kind of food at all. All food should be enjoyed in moderation. But when you have burgers and pastas and that kind of stuff, day in and day out, three meals a day, it's likely that you might be overdoing it a little bit. So do try to again add variety, maybe just eat those foods on occasion. And then when you can try to add like fruits and veggies to your meals as well, it'll help you not only add some color and get some different vitamins and minerals, but also help you just add some volume. So you do kind of felt a little bit faster than you would if you were just eating a plate of fries where you could probably eat, like three plates of fries and still not feel full. Yeah. And I just wanted to know, especially with Hannah kind of mentioned all throughout is like a common theme of over indulging yourself. These foods are not going anywhere, and they're not going to be a one time and done. Unless it's like a holiday or a special event, then the food will probably not come back. But the dining halls typically function on like a three to four week cycle, and even then, there will still be variety. But I know I Purdue with the menu. I'm blanking on the name of the app, but you could actually get notifications when specific items were available. Some people really enjoyed. For example, the first one I'm thinking of is they have a Mac and cheese bar. I think Windsor was most popular there, but people would Mark that, and then they get a notification for whatever that came up. So when you go to a dining hall, you might see a lot of food that you like and might want to try it all, and you can definitely do a little bit of everything, but you might end up eating a bit more and become a bit more uncomfortably full. But it's almost a guarantee those foods will show up again. And this is not your last time you will have access to them. Yeah, it'd be pretty expensive and hard for them to manage in terms of food service type of things. If they just had, like, different foods every single day, every single week. I think where I worked, I worked at one of the athletic dining halls on campus, and I think we had a six week cycle, but I'm not sure that's the same as the regular ones. It might have been like three or four, but yeah, they have repeats constantly. You kind of honestly get a little tired of having the same thing after that first semester because it is just the same things just on repeat over and over again. All right. So we want to touch on caffeine. I don't know why I said it like that. Caffeine. Caffeine. One word caffeine next. That's what I want to go over next. So we want to go over kind of what the limit is on that. It's very typical and kind of like, I don't know if taboo is the right word to be very into caffeine. As a College student, a lot of people really depend on it. And as we know, that's not the greatest thing in the world. If you are overdoing it. Getting your sleep is so much more important than you staying up all night and then just like having three monsters, it's not going to be good for your health, obviously in any way. And probably not for your grades either. Honestly, in my opinion, it's more important for your mental health and your academic performance to get a good night's sleep rather than studying all night. It's just not going to benefit you most likely. But anyway, in terms of caffeine, the just very general recommendation is like having no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine per day. That seems like a very typically safe amount for most healthy adults. That looks like about like four or five cups of coffee, which I have never had that much coffee today. My most is like two cups. I think a lot of me. Yeah, we want to go over some of the other different general caffeinated drinks and how much caffeine is in them. So a cup of coffee is anywhere from, like, I've heard, like 80 to 100 milligrams of caffeine, depending on what kind you do. A cup of tea has, like 26 milligrams give or take. Monster energy drinks have about 160 milligrams Red Bulls, a little bit less at 100 and 111 milligrams. I don't know how much those five hour energy has, but those are also a really common one as well. Yeah. And these are kind of all average because there are so many different varieties of monsters, and obviously how you take your coffee will be different and different teas. But this is kind of what we found to be like the average of one equivalent. It's important to note that the monster energy one, it's actually technically two servings. So the 160 is I added in both the servings. I feel like most people I knew did not just kind of drink half and then save the rest for another day. They kind of drink it all in one. Exactly. Other popular ones are probably similar in terms of caffeine, like those bang energy drinks right now. I know people I work with like the Celsius drinks. Those have, like 200 milligrams for a bottle. I don't do the energy drinks, but I'm loving, like, Alani New. Have you ever heard of them before? I think they have the really pretty marketing. It's like super colorful, like really pretty designs. Anyway, those are also really popular right now. Still, I think it's like 200 milligrams as well for one of those Dang don't have me jumping off walls. I know me too. One cup of coffee and I'm good. So anyway, we tell you all this just help you be aware of how much caffeine really is in these things. And I want to go over some of the different side effects of having too much caffeine. So biggest one I've experienced as well as jitters. You kind of have too much and you just feel like your heart's going to pop out of your chest, increased anxiety, which you don't need more of that. If you're in College, GI discomfort changes in your heart rate. It can disrupt your sleep cycle. So I recommend if you do have caffeine cutting it off at like noon 02:00. That's my own personal rule that I kind of follow that can really help. So you don't have to disrupt your sleep. And then you can absolutely get addicted to caffeine. Having it in these large quantities can make it difficult to get away from it when you no longer feel the need to have that much caffeine anymore. And you can go through, like, a caffeine withdrawal, which can include, like, sleepiness headaches. Lethargy, lethargy or lethargy. I never know how to say that word. I say lethargy. But I feel like that's like the fancy way of saying so that's why I say lethargy. Yeah. I'm like, I'm lethargic you don't say, like, lethargic. That's true. That's true. Okay. You're probably right. And then lastly, fluid symptoms as well. So like that feeling of, like, body aches and that sort of thing. Yeah. And something really important to note with caffeine is your iced coffee in the morning is not equivalent to breakfast or even lunch, for that matter. Like you ate a little breakfast and then you have a lot going on in his classes. You're like, oh, I don't have time to eat. I'll just grab a coffee that is not equivalent to a meal. Caffeine is not going to provide you with the same amount of energy that food will. So it's really important that you're prioritizing either like, preparing a meal to bring with you beforehand, or you're scheduling yourself so you have enough time to run to a dining court or to go, like, an on the go type of thing, because caffeine will give you that initial spark of energy, and then you will crash really badly, and it will affect all aspects of your life that day. And we don't want to build that reliance on caffeine. Yeah. I have so many patients I see that say, I'm like, what do you do for breakfast usually. Oh, yeah. Coffee. And then lunch is like maybe a sandwich or a salad. And then dinner is everything they can find in the house. What happens when you skip meals is that, yeah. You may not really feel hungry in the morning or even throughout the day, but then it all comes back later, and you just get those cravings that are just, like, through the roof where you're just, like, Ravenous for everything. That's another reason to kind of get in that consistent intake is that if you just do coffee and then just have that till, like, 02:00, you're probably going to make up for it later in terms of a binging episode. Yeah. Exactly. So our next topic of discussion is dorm room cooking, and this is kind of a tricky subject because a lot of residents halls don't allow. I think hot plates is the name of the open faced cooking appliance, but they will typically allow microwaves and fridges, which can be very helpful for College students, especially when you're needing easy and quick meal, because you have so much else going on. So if you do have access to a microwave. We wanted to just kind of go over some easy meal items you could have on hand. One of those is being soups. Obviously, don't stick the can in the microwave because that is metal, and we don't want you to hurt yourself in or anywhere or start some combustion or something. We do not want that, but you could bring, like, Bulls with you, like, ceramic bowls and stuff. I don't know what else bowls are made of. I'm just thinking of ceramic bowls don't stick plastic bowls in microwave. I don't know if that's a hard
Participant #1:
rule. It usually says, like, on the bottom of it. Like, if we're safe or not, okay. I normally avoid plastic just because it makes me nervous, but it's good to know. Check the box.
Participant #1:
But soups are super easy because you just kind of a lot of people make soup on a stove, but you can do the equivalent in a microwave as well. This is helpful for when you're sick. Just happened to me all the time because you will be sick in College. Yes. So many germs everywhere. I know. Get your chicken. Noodle soup or your clear broth soup. That will be a lifesaver. Yeah. Additionally, we wrote down Mac and cheese just because that is a very easy meal to go to. You could add some, like, vegetables and protein sources in there to make it a bit more satisfying and help you stay full longer. Obviously, we don't want you eating Mac and cheese for every meal, but this is a realistic list of what College students can eat, because we're not going to tell you to go create a three course meal for yourself when you have, like, 15 minutes to prepare a meal. That's not going to be realistic in College. Exactly. And then Additionally, there's a lot of really awesome, like lentils and bean packets. And, like, the rice and quinoa package that you can get from your store that you can microwave it in one to two minutes, and it's like two to three servings of whatever starch or protein. And there it is. You can eat it plain. You can add it with something and make it super easy to eat and it's convenient for you. Additionally, microwaves are essential for leftovers if you like to heat up your leftovers. I was actually having a discussion with someone the other day about how they don't like to heat up their leftovers. And I'm afraid of that. So I like my leftovers really warm, like they would just eat, like, chicken and rice cold.
Participant #1:
My dad like that, and he kind of scares me with that because he'll eat anything cold, like anything. Oh, my gosh. And I don't like that, like, especially when it's something that might solidify that, like a soup or like a chili kind of thing. Oh, no. That's why microwave is essential. If you go out to eat one night and you're thinking about maybe, like, oh, I don't want to bring this back with me because I can't heat it up. Sometimes there are community microwaves on either the floors or in the middle of whatever dorm you're in, and you can utilize that. But that's why they're very easy and user friendly, too. Normally, microwaves are not a sponsor for this episode. By the way, I wish they were, though. Microwaves. If you're listening, we'd love to be a sponsor. Yes, but and then the last note relating to microwaves is if you have access to a fridge in your room, you can keep a lot of premade meals. There are so many at the grocery store where they're kind of like, I don't want to say, like TV dinners, but like, that kind of ideology where it's everything you need in one, and all you do is heat it up like a lean cuisine kind of thing. Lean cuisine, healthy choice. Those guys. Yes. Okay. But that's another thing that we want to look at, like, we don't want to rely too much on that because the sodium content is probably a bit higher in calories, which is totally okay if you're running around a bunch and you need those calories, but those are also a great option. And having a microwave makes it very easy to heat them up. Yeah. I feel like you're the expert on the storm room stuff as you were an RA through, like, all of College. I feel like that's a Disclaimer. I should note. I've never lived in an apartment by myself and had to Cook for myself. So take what I say with the greatest salt, because that's what I'm here for. I'll try minute, but then you say it's. Whack Hannah is the pro meal prepper and apartment College liver. I am the pro how to navigate dining course for four years. My gosh, I almost forgot that you did that for four years. That's crazy. My time is in RA. I was an apartment style, so I actually had a stove and oven and stuff which most people don't. So like, kind of apartment living. But I didn't have to Cook for myself. Right. You have a dining course still. Yeah. A weird time. I almost forgot about all of that. And you're like, I did it in my head forever. That was my full time job. Yeah. So the next appliance that is not sponsored for this video is the mini fridge. But again, mini fridge. If you're listening, we'd love to have you. Yes, absolutely. We definitely endorse what you're doing in your industry. Well done. You're killing it. But oftentimes a lot of people will either get a mini fridge to share with their roommate or if they're living by themselves. It's always good to have one on hand. This is really great for if you need to keep any type of foods at your leisure, and it needs to be refrigerated, because obviously, there are a lot of foods that need to be refrigerated, and we don't want you just letting it sit out on the shelf. So some of the examples with this is like going back to the leftovers. Since the microwave helps heat it up, your fridge will help store. You've never experienced leftovers before. I know people really will not eat leftovers. I have people I know that just won't touch them. I love leftovers. I am passionate about leftovers, and I've gone to restaurants with people where they have half a dish left and they'll leave it. I'm like that's a question. I will take your leftover. That should be illegal. That's so wrong. I know. I'm like food waste. One, two. You pay for the whole meal. You probably pay $30 for that. Yeah, you can experience it again another day. It'll probably be a little different because of how it's cooked. But still, Ross and I like to vamp it up. Like, say, I got some potatoes and steak for dinner. I'd add to my eggs the next morning, for example,
Participant #1:
since it won't be as good since it's leftover, they to, like, make it into a new dish somehow. That's so smart. Yeah, that's a helpful tip. What I'm here for? Get creative. That's right. But I guess, like, dorm room staples you could keep in your fridge are like yogurt, cheese, fruits, vegetables. If you want to just want to easily snack on those. If you're not the best at eating fruits and vegetables, you can just keep those on hand, like, wash them a little bit and you're hopefully a community thing. Don't go to the bathrooms in, because when I think there's a rule, you can't do that like no food down the sink. But also I don't want to wash my hands where there's, like, dirt or like, bugs. I'd be wrong. Let me know if I'm wrong about this, but I think my freshman dorm had, like, a kitchenette, like a community kitchen. Right. So you can head on over there and rinse off your fruit and veg. Yeah. And then Additionally, you could keep some deli meats if you want to make sandwiches and some little condiment things. Condiments are sold in so many different sizes. And also there are packets. If, like, you didn't hear this from me. But if you, like, grab a couple of extra packets from the dining course, then you can use it later. Those random podcasters said that I could pretty is going to come after me and find me. They already find me, like, $50,000.
Participant #1:
True. Give us our free catch up package. What's the difference at this point? But yes, mini fridges and microwaves are, I would say, kind of the two essentials to having a good dorm room, because also, I know that I'm personally an individual that I will honestly eat more fruits and vegetables during my snacking times than sometimes my normal meals. That just kind of happens how that works out. But you're not going to go to the dining court for like a couple of grapes.
Participant #1:
Right. And sometimes you have limited swipes so you can't go in for whatever you want. So that's why it's really convenient that whatever things you know that you like to eat kind of a little bit set of time, have those on hand in your room, so you don't have to use a swipe on that. And also it's super easy access. Yeah, exactly. And then our last point with doorm room cooking. I know this is titled Cooking, and there's kind of limited cooking, but it's like dorm room eating, but the kind of dry goods this does not need to go in the fridge. At this point. You're all good to go there. You don't have to worry about that. But some really great things to have on hand for, especially snacks. And if you're staying up late and need an energy source, you could have, like different types of nuts. Granola bars are really popular. Trail mix dried fruit is really awesome. Preferred seasonings, because sometimes I know if I'm eating something and I want to make it a bit more fun, like having some red pepper flakes or like everything. But the bagel seasoning would be nice just to have on hand to make your meal a bit more fun. In addition, bread is always great. You can make sandwiches. And whatnot with that? I don't think you'd have a toaster so you can have I don't think so. Bread toppings.
Participant #1:
And then they call that a sandwich where I'm from. Oh, yes, an open face. This goes back to our
Participant #1:
sandwich. Oh, it's sandwiches world, and we're just living in it. Yes. I don't remember what the topic. That was gluten episode, wasn't it? Yes, but I'm having flashbacks, but also English muffins are really great option if you just want to put some butter on that or jam and boom, there you go. If you don't have time to run to dining court, you can eat that on the go. And Additionally, microwavable popcorn. This is something that I feel like it's very popular with. That was a staple for me because I would get excited when I went to your place and I'd get popcorn even like it wasn't something wild that I couldn't have, but it felt special going like treat ourselves some popcorn, even though it wasn't really treating herself. It was like almost every time I went to your place, I'd have popcorn or some type of snack, but having something easy like that is really
Participant #1:
beneficial. So I hope we provided you with some good ideas that you can keep in your door room. If you need some extra food on the side and aren't able to go to your dining court and have limited entries.
Participant #1:
Yes. I love that. I think, like my staples, I would do like the egg at a microwave thing. Sometimes there's a lot of thoughts on that. It was pretty good if you do it right. You can add some cheese, some, like Bell peppers. Maybe that was one of my staples I would do on a busy morning because I didn't have the unlimited swipe, so I could only do, like, I forget how many. It was like a certain number per week. So I usually 13. Yes, I only know this because we had the same one freshman year. So you'd have to plan it out. I think it made it, like, what, two meals a day then? So you'd like fend for yourself for at least one meal a day. So I think for me that was usually either lunch or dinner because I love getting breakfast food at a face style thing. Why would I say no to cinnamon rolls and eggs and that kind of stuff. It was so good. Exactly. All right. So our next little section here that we want to go over is healthy eating out a budget, because like we said, if you're in College, you're probably on a strict budget because you're in College. You're in your early 20s and paying out the butt for your tuition, and then you pay until you're in your 50s. Awesome not going to go into that. Is it worth it? I don't know. Another conversation for another podcast. Show my bias a little bit. Okay. How to eat Healthy on a budget. I feel like I have gotten pretty good at this. I am very frugal. I would say that I'm very frugal. I'm very cheap. So I feel like I kind of excel in this area. If your mini fridge has a freezer or like once you get into an apartment and you have a full fridge and freezer, frozen fruits and veggies are a great option. They last for a long time. Super convenient. You don't talk about them going bad or anything, and people often. I know we said it before, and I forget which episode, but I have, like, patients asking all the time if they have to get fresh, and if you get canned and frozen, that's cool. Like you're still getting in your fruits and veggies that way. So go for it. I think in our episode that will be out by now, we talk a lot more about, like eating on a budget, like, more specifically, but do try to look for items that are on sale using either the app for that store or their website or catalogs. If you can clip coupons, go for that Disclaimer there, though. Don't use coupons on things that you don't need to use coupons for. We definitely touch on that a lot more in our meal planning and grocery shopping episode that we released a few weeks ago. Probably when this comes out.
Participant #1:
Emily made a note to reference the girl showing episode. Okay, good call, Emily. So yeah, to hear more about healthy eating on a budget, we really dive into it a lot more in that episode. But biggest takeaway is do try to use, like, frozen stuff. If that helps, you definitely do leftovers. I mean, truthfully, eating healthy can be fairly cheap if you're doing in general, just like your lean meats, your fruits and your veggies, your whole grains. Those foods don't have to be insanely expensive. You don't have to get organic. You don't have to get the non GMO, whatever. Just like eating very general healthful foods. Really isn't that expensive in general. Retweet retweet. I don't have much. Okay, well, I'll handle the next one, too, because I feel like I've gotten pretty good at this, too. So the next one is how to grocery shop for one. I did that through sophomore, through after I graduated. I got pretty good at that. Now I only Cook for two, so not much different there. Our first little tip here is to have a test trial, spend a week on a trial and to see how much you eat. So that really goes to that first week when you're on your own no longer at home and you're trying to gauge what that week of eating is going to look like. And that can be even more beneficial. Like when you're out of the dining course kind of on your own. You might kind of fudge it up a little bit when you start grocery shopping for the first time on your own because you don't really know what you need to get. It's hard to kind of like, start to gauge that. So give yourself Grace. Takes time to really learn those skills. I feel like it took me a long time to learn how to shop for myself. It's kind of a science. Like I mentioned a second ago. Fruits and veggies can go bad kind of quickly if you buy them at their peak ripeness, especially. So that also kind of takes time learning, like how many to buy for yourself so you don't overdo it and then just throw it all away. What I will do if I get too much of bananas. We don't always eat those every day, so they tend to get Brown pretty fast. I like to freeze my fruits and veggies and peppers, too. I always get a lot of Bell peppers, and if I don't get to them all in the week, I'll slice them up and freeze them and then I'll use them for fajitas. I'll add them to, like scrambled eggs. So if you do feel like you're having a hard time again like he was never gauging. But gauging, how much of those to buy and you do overdo it? You don't have to throw them away. You can definitely reuse them in some other way. And usually for me, it's like freezing them is really beneficial. Our next little tip is to buy in bulk of your favorite meals. If you're able to that way, you always have one hand. So that goes back to those link cuisines, for example, always having to be like one or two of those in the freezer for those days where you just don't quite know what to eat. And that can prevent you from going out to eat. And like spending money that you don't want to spend. So always having that on hand. Or I always try to have those frozen chicken, like the not breaded, frozen chicken strips or something like that. And I'll add those to, like some veggies and some quinoa or rice or something and boom right there and kind of along with the recipe idea thing there is if you ever get on Pinterest. I know we've bashed on it before. We also love it, though, so it's kind of like a pros and cons thing with Pinterest, but they have all kinds of really great recipe ideas for cooking for one or two. They definitely have people are very into that. So there's a whole bunch of different things on there that could help you out. Yes. So then kind of giving some of our top rated or, I guess, good potential ideas that we thought were best for College students that were easy enough that you can Cook them in a decent amount of time and also not crazy expensive. We wanted to actually provide you guys with some examples of meals and snacks. So just to kind of go through some meal ideas we had jotted down. We were thinking like any type of stir Fry with noodles. This can be really adding in any type of meat you want or protein source that's like tofu or tempeh while adding in any like this can be great for leftovers. It's like your vegetables are getting a bit older. You can throw that into a server and then add some noodles. Either create your own sauce that you really like or buy a pre bought sauce that you really prefer throwing that all in a sauce pan and cooking that is really easy option. Additionally, like pasta with broccoli or any other type of vegetable pasta is really cheap and very easy to make. So that's a very easy and realistic meal option for College students. But by adding in those vegetables, you're kind of getting in your vegetable and taking a secret little way, especially if you add some type of sauce on it, then it kind of disguises it if you don't want to think about your broccoli or whatnot. Additionally, burrito bowls, I feel like are such a good idea for College students, because all you really have to do is meal prep some rice ahead of time, the protein source, vegetables and whatever else you kind of want ever in a burrito, and you can kind of just take those ingredients, put them in a Tupperware. Also, Hannah and I are avid Tupperware. So also Tupperware. If you want to support the sponsor us, let us know Tupperware. But that's the great thing about burrito bowls is you can kind of just throw whatever you want altogether and you have it all meal prepped and you can stick in the microwave. So I like to carry like, glass Tupperware, although that's a bit more risky if you potentially drop it. But check your plastic containers. Just microwaveable before you stick it in the microwave. I'll link my favorite glass ones from Amazon and our links in the description. Perfect. Yes. Be sure to check out those links for good Tupperware recommendations. Additionally, like pesto chicken with vegetables. Anything with eggs, because eggs are so cheap and very easy to kind of add anything. Whether you want to make some type of breakfast sandwich, you can make it in fried rice. You can just put it on top of toast and whatnot. Additionally, roasting vegetables. Kind of prepping those all for the week. You can just kind of throw whatever you want into a big pan, spray it with some olive oil, put whatever seasonings you want on top. If you don't want to get too wild, you can just do salt and pepper and keep it tame for now and you just put in the oven for a bit and then you'll actually have your vegetables for the entire week. Additionally, quesadillas are super easy. All you really need is the two tortillas or one tortilla cheese and whatever you want to put inside it or dip it in. Additionally, kind of like Jacobi board lunch boxes. I like to call these like fancy Lunchables as a lot of us grew up. At least I don't know if I'd say even regularly, but we all know what a Lunchable is. And this is like the adult version where you can kind of like I don't want to say get away with it, but it's a bit more fancy and you can kind of just add in like your cheese and crackers nuts, meats and fruit. And Additionally, overnight oats is kind of another staple we recommend for College students because all you really have to do is pour your ingredients the night before, let it sit, and then you can be on your way and go off to class or work or whatnot and have your breakfast already for you and moving on to our snack section. These are very easy snacks that you can add. Additionally, something I'm thinking of now that you could have in your dorm room is peanut butter. I feel like that's a huge staple you could have and you can add it to anything. And it's great for College. Initially, also like real life after, but also College. Some great snack ideas include apples and bananas with peanut butter, just like dipping your apples or putting peanut butter on your bananas. Additionally, dried fruits are really great option. Popcorn, as we mentioned before, is a really easy option. I recommend trying to stay away. Try to lean more towards the lower sodium options just because there can be a lot of sodium in popcorn. Additionally, like dates and peanut butter is a really interesting snack idea. I feel like dates don't get as much love as they deserve. That's my thing right now. It tastes like candy. If you like, you cut open, take out the seed and put peanut butter in the middle. Some people have also frozen them. I've seen and also frozen grapes. I didn't write that down, but if you freeze grapes, they're so good because I don't get that crunchy. I don't like them. I don't know why. I think that's frozen cold for me. I love grape. I love grapes. I think they're just too cold when they're frozen. But I get the hype. I get why people like them, right? If you're a bit sensitive to coldness, you might not like it, but you could try it. Additionally, pretzels are super easy. You can dip these in hummus, peanut butter, whatever you'd like. And then lastly, vegetables and hummus is super easy. And there's so many good hummuses out there that you can try. Yeah. They even have dessert hummuses now, too. Like those? Yes. I feel like the chocolate ones. Yeah. All they always have, like, really fun ones would make it with veggies. That'd be like, more like a pretzel or fruit thing you want to have with it. Yeah. I think all I'd add to that is like string cheese. That's like a staple for me. It's like string cheese and fruit pretty cheap for what it is, too. Yeah. Super easy. I'd say I have all of these things. You just list it off on such a regular basis, even like, as a post College person, just with such easy, like, cheap stuff, people think the healthy eating has to be, like some ridiculous crazy thing. It doesn't have to be. These are like dietitian approved, like, super easy, healthy meals. You can have, like, literally every week if you want to. Cool. I hope you guys took something away from this episode whether it was a new meal or snack idea that you're interested in if you're going into College. Oh, my gosh. This will be coming out right at the start of the academic school year. But if this is your first year, Congratulations and have fun. And we hope that we provided you with some advice on how to navigate whether that's dorm room staples or dining halls, or just really, if you guys got a better understanding of why nutrition is important, especially around academic performance. Yeah, exactly. I agree. Cool. So our bonus question this week is kind of going along the lines of a cheap food item to stick with our College theme. The question for this week is, what's your favorite style of egg? And I'm pretty confident Hannah and I won't agree on this. I don't think so either. And as always, my answer it depends. I never have a solid answer. It depends on what I'm like eating it with, like, if I'm doing it on their own or like, I'm scrambled. If I'm doing it, like, on an avocado toast, I like it to be over medium. If I'm doing, like, an eggs Benedict, I like it poached. It really depends on me on what I'm eating it with. But if I give one answer, I would say, like, an over medium, over easy style. Probably my favorite. Okay. Cool. Yeah. My answer is Sunnyside up because I cannot Cook that myself because I always undercook it. And I hate runny lights. It freaks me out swinging gooey. So gross. I can't stand it either. I'm fine with the yolk, but it's still white. They get all, like, mucusy. It's so gross. Yeah. And I'm like, so normally whenever I go to a restaurant, I order somebody set up because I know they'll Cook it, right. Yeah, but that is my favorite. Okay. Do you ever do, like, scrambled or anything? I always overcook scrambled. I managed to overcook it every time, and then it's, like, gross and dry, so I've not gotten that down. I haven't mastered it. Mine are fine. I mean, I wouldn't definitely serve them to others and be excited about it, but they're fine. But I agree it's hard to get those right. I haven't mastered those yet. Yeah. I've never made poached eggs myself, but I want to try that's something. I feel like that's my second favorite type of egg only. I also can't Cook that. Me neither. I've seen so many videos, but somebody like TikTok Hacks, I have to try some of them. Yeah, sure. I also like hard boiled eggs, which are, like another easy snack that you could go to. I use those all the time for an easy snack or put it on a salad or whatever.
Participant #1:
Okay. That was easier than our usual debate. I kind of agreed, kind of, but also not really that's okay. Well, I hope you guys liked this episode. We really are trying to give more practical tips and advice. We want to keep talking about diets and diet culture and that kind of thing. But we do want to mix in more episodes like this where we kind of just give advice you can actually take and run with instead of just talking about the science behind things. So hopefully this was something you did like, and if you did let us know. So we know to make more of these kind of things. So hope you guys liked it. Yeah. And let us know what your favorite style of egg is. Yes. As always. All right. We'll see you guys next week. Bye, everyone. Bye.
