Heathly Eating on Campus for a Picky Eater/Terrible Cook

Everytime I talk to my dad on the phone, he asks “How are you staying healthy?”

And I respond that besides going out dancing and cheering energetically for football (which counts as exercise), it’s been a while since I’ve been to the gym. BUT I’m trying to eat healthier to make up for that.

SO as a picky eater, who can’t cook, is really cheap about food, has a sweet tooth, and is a former vegetarian, making self-righteous meal choices can be difficult. Maybe you thought being a vegetarian was healthy? Here’s a secret. It’s not. Unless you are a wizard and know how to make vegetables sound delicious when you’re starving after 5 hours of class, you pretty much end up eating cheese pizza alot.

I am now a reformed vegetarian, so maybe it makes it easier for me to resist the meatball sub at RTH or BLT at the campus center. I’m going to walk you through a bit of my food choices and tricks to getting the good stuff.

This blog is inspired by my current meal, Butternut Squash Ravioli. I was recently converted to shopping at Trader Joe’s instead of Ralphs, where I usually get my groceries. Ralphs is quite close to campus, and they carry my peanut butter brand (Jiff Reduced-Fat and Strawberry Jelly on Honey Wheat Bread PB&J) which I’m well and truly addicted to. However, Trader Joe’s has reasonably priced organic foods with lots of ready-made choices. The ravioli I’m eating took less than a minute of my time. Heat a pot of water, dump in ravioli, come back in 5 minutes and EAT!

Now, I’m usually too lazy to actually make lunch with the food I have at home, and I don’t have a long enough break to come home to make it, so I end up eating about 1 meal a day on campus. Depending where I am and how hungry I am, I go for the Beets Salad at Seeds (the Campus Center), Sweet Potato Salad, Arugala and Pear, and Seared Tuna from Lemonade (with the blueberry mint lemonade of course), or one of the soups from RTH cafe. The sandwiches there are great, but the Tomato Basil or Farmer’s Market Vegetable soups are great for feeling healthy.

Check out previous VSA Kristen’s blog about RTH cafe, Viterbi Headquarters

What really gets you, though, is those late night study cravings, You’re frustrated because your problem set won’t work and you can either 1) give up and go to sleep or 2) snack your troubles away and keep on working.

While I don’t quite have a solution, my mom sent me a couple of boxes of these 100 calorie Cocoa Roast Almonds which provide protein and chocolate and are pretty satisfying even when I’m really craving the Emily Shake (expresso, Trix, Hazelnut, chocolate) from Ground Zero.