Healthy Habits to Start the Year off Right

Most of you have already headed back to school and are gearing up for a new year at college.  With the rush of busy schedules and new classes, it can be easy to forget the importance of maintaining healthy eating and exercise routines.  There are plenty of steps you can take now to keep your mind and body healthy throughout the school year.

#1.  Don’t be lazy.  Every small bit of exercise you do throughout the day helps.  You’ve heard it a million times by now, but taking the stairs does help, along with walking to class, rather than taking the bus.  If you don’t keep your body in motion, your mind tends to follow, leaving your entire being lethargic.

#2.  Don’t skip meals.  Eat at normal times with normal portions.  Just because your friend is downing that extra large slice of pepperoni doesn’t mean you can do the same.  It’s important to keep food intake as normal as possible, so your body doesn’t get overloaded and weigh you down.

#3.  When you eat better, you feel better.  The types of foods you eat make all the difference in how your body feels.  Ever notice how when you eat a salad, you feel light and full of energy. When you eat greasy foods, such as cheeseburgers and pizza, you tend to feel tired and sluggish, which does not make for good study sessions.  Keep in mind that your entire body functions better with proper nutrients, so fruit and veggies are definitely a plus when it comes to keeping yourself operating at full capacity.

#4.  Plan your meals ahead of time.  Don’t wait until you are starving before you eat.  Plan out the type of food you want to eat ahead of time, so you are less likely to make poor eating choices.  Say you come back to your dorm starving.  You see the container of easy mac, and dive in without a care in the world.  Then you see some cookies, and munch away.  While packaged food is easy to get and easy to store, it is not healthy at all.  No matter how healthy you think it may be, packaged foods are loaded with chemicals and excess calories.  Plan a healthy meal and keep plenty of fruits, yogurts, veggie soups, and whole grain cereals/crackers stocked up.

#5.  Keep snacking to a minimum.  It’s easy to get carried away with snacking while you are busy, so if you must snack, don’t do it while you are studying.  Create a snack time and focus only on what you are eating.  That way you won’t look up and notice half the Oreos missing from the package.  Try keeping mostly healthy snacks such as, yogurt, dried fruit, nuts, granola bars, 100 cal bags of popcorn, etc. around to avoid extra temptation.

Jennifer Williams is an intern for Collegelifestyles (TM).  She is a sophomore at Ball State University studying dietetics and pre-med.  She loves bookstores and sipping hazelnut lattes.

You Can Eat Well and Be Fabulous – no dieting required!

“I never worry about diets.  The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.”

–Mae West

As college women, many of us become more aware of the importance of eating healthy (I know I did!). The transition from high school to college brings about a very different lifestyle, and sometimes it is hard to adjust. For many of us, college is the first time we are on our own to figure things out—and that includes cooking and eating. This can really be a challenge! However, after reading Shelly A. Marie’s book Eat Well and Be Fabulous, I have learned some wonderful tips to eating right and staying healthy (on a college budget!).

Eat Well and Be Fabulous follows four women through their hectic days as college students. I bet you can relate to one (or more) of them! After describing their challenges in eating right, Shelly Marie, a registered dietitian, gives recipes, shopping lists and food choices to make eating right as easy as 3×3! (Grab your own copy of the book here to see what I mean!)

One of my favorite parts of the book is the Fast Food and Restaurant selections. Often times I feel like I cannot eat out if I want to eat healthy, but that’s not the case. Shelly Marie gives healthy options from some of my favorite places—Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Quiznos and Olive Garden—to name a few. She proves that we do not need to count calories or avoid all carbs to look and feel fabulous. By carefully choosing the healthiest options available YOU can Eat Well and Be Fabulous!

Buy your copy of Shelly A. Marie’s book here, then let me know what

you think—leave a comment below!

“Diets Do Not Work”

Imagine this:  You walk into a cute little bookstore and pick up a diet book.  The first three chapters are entitled Count Calories, Measure Everything you Eat, and Never eat Carbs, Fat, or Meat.

Would you really want to keep reading?

I know I wouldn’t.

 

Fortunately, the book I picked up, Eat Well and Be Fabulous: A Guide for the Modern-Day Woman by Shelly A. Marie, MS, RD, LDN, avoids all of these and focuses on healthy eating.

That sounds much better.

With the help four women, Whitney, Anna, Alicia, and Cassie, Shelly Marie explains her simple 3×3 rule for eating and names her favorites from each food group.  Wondering how to put those individual foods together?  Never fear – recipes are also included!

Too busy to prepare meals during the day?  Check out the 1-minute, 5-minute, and 10-minute meal ideas that incorporate a variety of foods – and Shelly Marie will help guide you through making the shopping list too!

Click here to check out Eat Well and Be Fabulous: A Guide for the Modern-Day Woman by Shelly A. Marie.

And, by the way, breakfast foods work for lunch and dinner.

Lora Werkmeister is an intern at College Lifestyles (TM) and a Food and Nutrition major at Youngstown State University.  She likes bargain hunting and is slightly addicted to peanut butter.

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