Learning how to buy and prepare meals is one of many challenges that students face after moving away from home.
‘I usually make mac-and-cheese or ramen noodles, unless I bring something from home,’ psychology sophomore Brenda Lazorwitz said.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), people should eat certain amounts of different kinds of foods to maintain their health. The institution recommends following the food pyramid when buying and eating food.
‘Students should follow the food pyramid and choose six to eight servings from the bread, cereal and pasta group each day with at least three servings being high fiber,’ hotel and restaurant management professor Nancy Graves said.
‘Fresh vegetables are a great choice for students yet a mixture of two to four servings of cooked and fresh each day along with three to four servings from the fruit category would be excellent choices.
Round out the day with three servings from the milk and dairy category, two to three servings from the meat and bean category and limit the amount of fat, oil and sugar each day.’
Graves also said that snacks do not have to have the same nutritional values as a multivitamin, but should come from the lower half of the food pyramid.
Many students are not drinking enough water, according to the NIH. Most students get about four to eight ounces of water a day.
The recommended amount is half your body weight in water. For instance, a woman who weighs 130 pounds will need to drink 65 ounces of water a day to stay hydrated.
Dehydration is the number one cause of mental fatigue, according to the NIH. Drinking coffee or soda is not counted as a part of daily liquid intake because caffeine takes water from the body in order to be processed.
There are many reasons why cooking and nutrition do not enter students’ minds. One reason for not cooking is time constraints. Students have to write papers, study and tend to social lives, and this can create a time crunch when preparing meals.
‘If we get home late, then (dinner) will be fast, but if we have more time then we will prepare more,’ political science senior Meagan Scott said.
Graves suggested that students in a time crunch should prepare frozen meals, supplementing the dinner with one serving from the grains category and adding fresh fruit and a glass of skim milk.
Some students do try to prepare their meals. Fatima Khan, a psychology sophomore, prepares baked chicken when she has the time to cook.
‘I will usually cook at night and prepare things that I can put in the microwave or oven,’ Khan said.
Graves recommended that students who are learning to prepare food on their own seek out a cookbook specifically geared towards burgeoning chefs.
‘Some of the cookbooks are categorized by limiting the number of ingredients (while) others specify short cooking times,’ Graves said.
