Typically you wake up, go to class and come home, only to hear your growling stomach. As college students, we acknowledge the importance of eating healthy, but we don’t effectively act on this knowledge despite its importance in our lives.
As students, it’s crucial that we develop good eating habits today to be healthier in the future. In the long run, buying fast or frozen food, or skipping eating altogether, saves you the time, but in the long run, it’s just slowly setting your body up for deterioration. Skipping meals also causes you to overeat at the next meal.
Taking the time daily to prepare meals, improving your nutrition, is an investment in your future self. It’s a more gradual adjustment rather than a one-day change. Rumor has it that eating healthier is too expensive. Buying groceries to cook will be cheaper in the long run since you can control your portion sizes. In addition to improving your future health, having a better diet will benefit your mental and emotional state.
Eating fast food often leads to a slow state of mind, decreasing our productivity level and energy for daily tasks. We often forget that exercise and eating well must co-exist to prevent the freshman 15. If you exercise but have bad eating habits, the results will be hindered.
On top of balancing school with a social life, eating properly can easily slip to the least of your concerns. But it’s the small things that will make the difference. If not now, when?
Michelle Wu
Toronto
