Once students sit down at their tables, they may find that they eat everything on their overloaded plates even if they're not hungry. "You're sitting with your friends," Anding says, "and you eat the food because it's there."
Anding says students don't have to diet to avoid such dining hall pitfalls. Instead, she suggests "designing" a healthy plate. The healthy plate starts with putting all of your food on one plate, as opposed to using a separate salad and dessert plate, and filling half that plate with fruits and vegetables before choose your other foods. "It's calorie-controlled, but you don't have to count calories or not have the baked manicotti."
Scheduling Conflicts and Stress
Another complicating factor in maintaining a healthy weight is students' often-irregular schedules. In high school, many students follow strict schedules with set meal times, as well as a set time for physical activity in the form of after-school sports. Once kids go to college, they might not have class until noon on Monday and then have a 9 am class on Tuesday with a lab that runs right through lunch.
While students should strive for consistent mealtimes, they can make adjustments when their schedule doesn't allow for it. If you have class at noon and get up at 10 am, Anding suggests making either breakfast or lunch light. And if you have to miss a mealtime, rather than become so starved that you don't have the discipline to eat healthfully, you can grab an apple or granola bar from the dining hall to eat later. While they can be expensive, energy bars purchased at a campus store also provide a healthy snack.
