Meal Prepping In College Essay

One of the most stressed out individuals in the U.S are college students. With their busy lives and stress

many forget to eat. Meal prepping can help college student’s access healthy foods to remain active,

healthy and stress free. One of the biggest transition struggles of being a college student is time

management. Food insecurity Food Insecurity refers to USDA's measure of lack of access, at times, to

enough food for an active, healthy life

More often than not students find themselves grabbing “on the go” foods that are processed

filled with fats, salts, and sugars because they simply do not have time. Thus we are left with one

question where can we find food that's less detrimental to a college student’s health.

Many people are aware that healthy eating

should become a priority and many are learning that

local food might be the best way to achieve this. So what steps can you take to achieve less-stress meals

for better organization and time management? Very simple, you would usually meal prep on your off

day, to organize and prepare for the week or the next few days.

For an example, on Saturday when you go grocery shopping for the week you know

ahead of time you need 3 meals to last you 7 days. You create a grocery list and calculate exactly how

much you need of each food. ( for the end of the statistics)

According to the American College Health Association, the

percentage of overweight college students has risen from 27.4 percent during the Fall of 2006 to 29.2

percent during the Fall of 2011. This increase was caused by unhealthy eating habits, sedentary

lifestyles, and food insecurities. A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and

Behavior found over half of college students had high levels of "food insecurity," meaning they had

limited or uncertain availability to healthy foods due to high costs, leading to a greater risk of

malnutrition Food insecurities may lead to a series of problems related to academics, physical health,

and emotions. In the past this was not a big issue since no one really went to college but today society

realize that a college degree is essential if you want to get anywhere in your career.

Nature and Science Food professor Nassima Alberti of City University of New

York Lehman College said, “Ive looked at the Central of Disease of control data and saw no dramatic

change on obesity , it's still the leading epidemic in the United States.” “ recommend meal prepping

since you have more control what you put in your food, especially if your sensitivity to certain

substances like gluten or if you're hypertensive.”

Always aim to eat balanced and wholesome.

Some good choices are

choosing skim dairy products over 2% dairy or whole, brown rice over white rice, whole grain bread over

white bread, brown rice pasta or whole wheat pasta over white pasta, sweet potato over baked potato,

water over soda, and having raw nuts for a snack . However, some students don’t necessarily agree with

meal prepping .Hofstra University student Alexi Velasquez age 21 said “I think it depends on the

situation. It's more difficult for students who live on a college campus like me, where we have a meal

plan that already has money on it to pay for food on campus.”

Even with meal plans at college campuses, or food choices there is that concern that you don’t

know exactly what is in the food you are ordering. “I don’t believe that cafeteria workers are educated

in proper nutrition, where many of them believe that instead of baking instead of frying French fries

would offer a healthier alternative to students,”Alberti said. Different foods can be cooked

different

ways to make them healthier or non-healthy. The way fries are cooked if you fry them sodium levels

and fats go up as oppose to baking.”

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