I have compiled my best nutrition tips for college students. I remember those hectic days of having to balance all the elements of my to-do list, which only seemed to be getting longer! Nutrition was a top priority for me so I HAD to figure out a way to make it work.
Real talk: I remember struggling SO MUCH in college when it come to the foods I ate. Every beginning of a new semester and New Year, I sent out to eat healthy (don’t we all?) and impose some kind of crazy objectives for the way I ate, only to fail a week later. Between the stress of studies and going out… things derailed rather often.
HOWEVER, thanks to having banged my head against the wall enough times, I have come out on the other side with some actual wisdom for you. These nutrition tips for college students are specific enough to be actually useful for all you college students, but vague enough that they are adaptable to whatever lifestyle you might have… oh, and they let you actually enjoy college!
Without further ado, here are my best nutrition tips for college students!
TOP NUTRITION TIPS FOR
COLLEGE STUDENTS
1. Keep the recipes easy.
OKAY, this is a tip that I wished I had processed sooner. You know how you see a TON of healthy recipe inspiration online, but they require a list of like 71 products, some of which can only be found in this one specific boutique shop which is located on the top of Mount Everest? Yeah, do yourself a favour and don’t use these recipes all the time.
Keep. It. Easy. Eating healthy isn’t about the complexity of the meal: oftentimes, it’s actually about its simplicity.
Just keep in mind the following: try to put together some protein, some carbs and some fats. That’s it: do not make it more complicated than that. As cliche as it might sound, my go-to was chicken, broccoli and rice.
Do you have some tomatoes, some chickpeas, some carrots sticks and any sort of spread? Voila, there’s your meal. Have some ground beef, some left-over of that can of chickpeas and some peppers? Boom. For once, the bare minimum is all you should be giving.
And trust me, you’ll be SO GLAD you’ve mastered this when you’ll be studying for finals. Bare minimum baby.
2. Keep the science easy.
Ahaaa yes. This is probably one of the most important nutrition tips for college students I have.
The science of nutrition can be complicated if you’re pursuing a career in it. However, to the extent that is relevant to you, you really only need to understand the tip of the iceberg (again, say it with me: the bare minimum).
Are you trying to lose weight? Be in a calorie deficit. Doesn’t have to be a 500-calorie deficit, even just a 50-calorie deficit will do. This means that you have to be just A TIIIINY LITTLE BIT hungry (can you tell where the emphasis is?)
Trying to put on muscle? You gotta be in a calorie surplus. This means that you have to eat a little over your hunger level, focusing on protein.
You don’t care about your weight? Then just eat until you’re satisfied.
3. ...Or forget about the science altogether.
There are just some times when paying attention to how much you eat is just not a priority. Stress levels are too high due to exams, it’s frosh week so you don’t even have a say in what you eat, or it’s Thanksgiving weekend and your grandma is stuffing you just as much as she did the turkey.
So basically, it’s just not the time for you to focus on how much you eat. That’s FINE. Even the best bodybuilders or greatest athletes have seasons where they really just… don’t care.
You literally have more important things to do… like, uhhh, getting a degree???? Sis/bro, forgetttt about it. Get that degree and eat the turkey.
4. The rule that will put things into perspective.
This nutrition tip for college students is also a life tip for anyone.
THE PARETO RULE. Or also commonly known as the 80/20 rule. Basically, the 80/20 rule dictates that 80% of the results of any endeavour come from just 20% of the effort that you put into that effort.
So for example, if there were 100 people working on a project, 80% of that project would be accomplished by 20 people (20% of 100)… been there, done that, right?
SO WHEN IT COMES TO NUTRITION, this basically means that you do not have to be perfect all the time in order to reap the benefits of proper nutrition. Let me give you another little nugget of wisdom: consistency is greater than perfection.
What’s great about this rule is that it isn’t restricted by a time frame. I find it easier to apply it on a daily basis… in the sense that the 80/20 proportion is “renewed” each day. But say that I eat “badly for 2 whole days, then I apply the rule for the whole week. Or if I go on holiday for a week, then I apply it to a month.
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5. Find your stress snack
This is one for all the stress eaters, like what I used to be like in college.
At least for me, I’ve noticed that I don’t really care what food I eat, I’m just looking for something to chew to release nerves. And more than that, I’m looking for something satisfying to chew. Like I’m really just looking for that crunch.
Do you know what’s satisfying to chew? Nuts, popcorn, any sort of candy, any kind of fried food… notice a pattern? Basically any type of super high-calorie thing.
HOWEVER, I have found the one low-calorie food that I can chew and really is just as satisfying… celery.
I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING. “Oh my god Loreana, shut up.” I KNOW. Had I read this when I was in college, I would have said the same thing. But it actually worked for me. Let me tell you that the celery industry made some real money off of me alone. It has amazing crunch, and basically no calories.
Now I’m not saying to eat celery all day as I did (I really really did). But try to find a snack that is low in calories and satisfies the crunch (or whatever sensation you’re going after).
Here is a list of foods that you could try out:
- Peppers, carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes
- Raspberries, blueberries, watermelon
6. Meal prep if you can
I know this is a tough one for certain people, which is why I said if you can. I know that some weeks I was able to, but mostly, I wasn’t. It can be rather time-consuming.
But again, let’s go for the bare minimum.
If you only have time to meal prep 2 lunches, then that’s good! You’ll be thanking yourself in due time. Do you only have time to make overnight oats for the week (by basically just making one big batch)? Well, then good morning to you for the rest of the week!
Another thing that I find useful is to just take 1 hour out of my day and just chop stuff. If you think about it, peeling and cutting is the most time-consuming thing when making food. So this is bound to help down the line.
Cut your broccoli into florets. Chop some onions. Wash your fruit. Scoop out the watermelon. Just make it easy for your future self to grab and work with.
7. The ultimate lazy-student hack: frozen food
Do you know how the fridge part is always bigger than the freezer part? Yeah, I would have needed that to be the other way around. I would absolutely STUFF my freezer. Now of course I’d have your typical frozen pizza and hot pockets, but we’re talking nutrition here.
Frozen veggies were ALWAYS in there: pre-cut and you just gotta boil them? Say no more, I bought 5 bags.
Frozen stuffed chicken breast? I think you mean proteins and veggies wrapped into one. Give me 12 boxes.
Frozen salmon? And the only thing I gotta do is boil rice and those frozen broccolis (which I could totally make in the same saucepan) and I’m done? Sold.
8. Find your go-to takeout place
How about when meal prep and frozen foods fail? That’s right. Takeout.
For the more practical, late-night-cramming, finals-season, football-game-after-party advice… find your go-to takeout restaurant.
In the spirit of healthy nutrition, I’d strive away from the typical Mcdonald’s and Burger King-type takeout. Instead, I’d go for a place where you can modify the menu easily to choose what best serves you.
So a place like Chipotle where you can easily swap things in and out is a great choice.
Also, it couldn’t hurt to have even healthier takeout restaurants in mind. I’m not saying to just go to the salad places, but any place that has meals along the lines of chicken breasts or salmon filets or lean beef with any steamed veggies or whatever.
POINT IS to identify the takeouts that are more nutrition friendly than your run-of-the-mill Mcdonald’s. You’ll be glad you know these during your late nights.
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8. Another tip that will put things into perspective for those who are scared of gaining weight
Real talk part 3: I’ve always struggled with the intense fear of gaining weight. I don’t mean to sound sappy or anything, but it was something that I woke up thinking about and went to bed thinking about.
This nutrition tip for college students is something that I ironically learnt after graduating from college. However, knowing this while I was still studying would have helped me so much for my mental calmness.
Read closely: People don’t lose weight overnight. It takes many weeks of eating in a consistent calorie deficit to see a drop in weight. The same applies to weight gain: you will not gain weight overnight because you ate more than you normally do.
I cannot stress enough how this helped me put things into perspective. Please be kind to yourself <3
9. Be aware of your habits
This is another nutrition tip for college students that I love because it requires the bare minimum again.
The tip is to just be aware of certain parameters (which I’ll cover in a second). That’s it. Don’t take action, don’t change your habits. It’s just being aware will be enough.
Here are the things that you should just be aware of:
- How often do you eat out?
- How many late-night snacks do you eat?
- What your emotional state is while eating?
- How much alcohol do you drink?
- How many steps do you take a day?
- How many hours a day are you sitting down?
Again, I’m not saying to keep a diary with a record of this. I’m just saying to sometimes take the time – even if it’s walking between two classes – to think about these and be generally aware of what the answers are.
I’m not saying to control these or change your habits either. Just be aware. (Actually, for those who know me and my blog, you know that I stand by one phrase above all: knowledge is power.)
The reason for this is two-fold.
- When the time comes that you’ll have more time to dedicate to your nutrition, you’ll already be aware of what you can change or what you ought to change.
- You might naturally improve your habits by being aware of these parameters. Say that you track your steps and you see that on an average day, you take 7,000 steps. However, on a random day, you notice that you’ve only taken 5,000. You might decide to go on a 15-minute walk to get yourself to the 7,000- just as a personal challenge. Or, if you’re aware of how many drinks you’ve had in the past week, you might naturally decide to not drink another night. See? It isn’t about putting tough restrictions, it’s just about awareness.
We’ve all heard of the “Freshman 15”, right? (In case you hadn’t, it’s the term used to describe the phenomenon where most Freshman students gain 15 pounds (about 7kg). Being aware of these parameters might make it a little easier for you.
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10. The advice that you don't want to hear: eat the rainbow.
Your mom has told you this. Your teachers have told you this. Your school textbooks have told you this. Now let me be the millionth person who tells you this.
Eat a balanced meal as much as you can.
You know you should do it. The person sitting across from you know they should do it. Your roommate knows they should do it. So just do it.
I know that it’s easier said than done, yada yada yada. But hopefully, the previous nutrition tips for college students explained might make this a little easier.
11. Lazy-student hack #2: Air Fryer
For those who are able to purchase an air fryer: get one.
I’m not saying this because of the hype seen on Tik Tok: I see right through that. Let’s be honest: an air fryer is just an oven but in a different shape.
But that’s the whole point: it’s an oven. HOWEVER, it cooks and reheats food up SO MUCH quicker than a regular oven. Its size makes it temperature-ready in minutes.
The other night, I was making chicken cordon-bleu: it was done in the air-fryer in like 14 minutes… and it would normally take me 35-40 minutes in the oven.
So for the nights where you just want to get food ready ASAP with minimal effort: air fryer.
Also, hint hint, you can pop in frozen foods in there.
Now I know that it can be pretty hectic to clean. So I’ve been using these reusable air fryer liners. So instead of having to clear the whole thing out, you can just clean those little baskets. Minimal cooking time AND minimal cleaning effort. Bingo.
And if you want… there are also these disposable air fryer liners. Best of all worlds.
There you’ve got them: my top 11 nutrition tips for college students.
But let me end on this note: though I do encourage you to adopt healthy nutrition practices, please make sure to ENJOY YOUR COLLEGE EXPERIENCE. Don’t let your worries about eating right keep you from just having fun. I know I did at the beginning and let me tell you, it ain’t worth it.
This post was all about the top nutrition tips for college students.
I hope this helps! Give me a shout for any further questions.
xx LS
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