Living in a dormitory means you are responsible for yourself since your parents will be far away from you. That also means that you can do whatever your heart desires. You can eat anything you want, when you want it. Most people who don’t watch what they’re eating at the dormitory will probably gain weight in the next few months or develop coronary heart disease in the next few years. If you plan on eating healthy at a dormitory cafeteria your options may seem slim, but there are ways for you to survive cafeteria food by creating those healthy food options.
1. What to Avoid. It will be hard to resist all those mouth-watering dishes in the dormitory cafeteria. You probably can’t imagine not being able to binge on pizza, hamburgers, and donuts throughout your dorm life, but these are the types of food that are unhealthy for you.
If it’s greasy, then avoid it. You’ll probably see a lot of meat dishes swimming in oil at the cafeteria. The oil actually helps these dishes to last for hours at the buffet counter. The oil found in these meat dishes is high in saturated fat, which is not very healthy. The fat from beef, chicken or pork combined with the butter they use for cooking are high in cholesterol. The risk of heart of disease increases if you continue to eat these types of food.
Dairy products like butter, cream and cheese also contain high levels of saturated fat that could raise your cholesterol level. Food dishes in the cafeteria that contain these types of dairy products should be avoided.
Soft drinks are an all time favorite beverage especially at dormitories where people consume cans and bottles of soda everyday. The energy they get from the beverage comes from the sugar and to most can be addicting. Soft drinks contain high levels of sugar and calories with almost no nutrients at all. Regular consumption of soft drinks can affect your health and weight.
2. What to Eat. Now you know some of the type of food to avoid at the dormitory cafeteria, we can move on to the types of food you should eat. The dormitory cafeteria will have a salad bar; you can create your own combination of leafy greens and other vegetables. The only way you can go wrong with a salad is if you pile on bacon bits, croutons and cheese. Use salad dressing in moderation or you can just use a sprinkle of vinegar and lemon juice on your salad.
At breakfast choose cereals, oatmeal and low fat milk. These will provide you with enough fiber and protein for the rest of the morning. At lunch and dinner you can select lean meat like chicken breast and lean beef.
The dormitory cafeteria will have healthy options for you to eat. But if
you can’t find ready to eat meals, then you might have to create your
own with what’s available.
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