No new food, but thoughts by Caitlin

So, recently I have started really keeping track of what I eat - just as an experiment to see what all I put in my body. I have been diligently documenting the things that I eat and looking at the breakdown of all the foods. Why? - you ask? Well, for one it is one of my new years resolutions to be more aware of what I am eating. Two - I wanted to see what my caloric in take would be as a college student who doesn't eat many of her meals off campus.

On our campus, we have a Blue Coast Burrito, a Chick-fil-a, a Pizza Hut, some sort of off-brand Sub Shop, and our Cafeteria. Oh, and of course, a Starbucks. On any given day, students here will consume Starbucks and AT LEAST one of those other restaurants. While that doesn't seem so bad in theory, imagine when you lived at home and only had something like those places once a week. Doesn't seem unreasonable. However, living in a college campus means that pretty much all we eat is in the form fast food.

Now, you could say, why not just buy all your food at the store and prepare it in your dorm room? Well, problem #1: We have to buy a meal plan if we live on campus. This means we shell out upwards of $1000 of already bought food each semester. So, it would be ridiculous for us not to spend that when our parents have already paid for it. Problem #2: As a college student, I don't have a ton of extra money to spend on full groceries every week in addition to having a meal plan. Problem #3: We have no way to prepare meals in the dorms other than the small, under-equipped, and usually occupied dorm kitchen. We can't have anything other than a microwave, coffee pot, and blender in our room.

So, this all leads to eating many meals on campus. We can make a concerted effort to attempt healthy choices in these venues, but even then there is still a level of unhealthiness present in the best meals.

Going back to the food tracker idea, I kept track of what I would eat in a normal day on campus. Based on a normal 2000 calorie diet - any normal college student would blow through those in a heartbeat. So to prempt that, I have started working out 3 times a week at a gym and doing yoga on the others. With the added exercise and healthy choices - it is still very difficult to maintain a healthy level of caloric intake in a day. It is no wonder so many college student gain weight when they head to school, it feels like we are set up to live unhealthier life styles.

I didn't mean for this to be a rant on college food, but rather a look into what I have been eating. This is my Junior year, so I can only imagine HOW much of this stuff I have eaten regularly. I know I have gained weight since I have been at college. Now it is time to get rid of it. I am increasing my awareness, choosing healthier options and hoping my exercising pays off. I'll let you know how it goes.

Grace and Peace,
Caitlin

PS. Keep your eye out on Sunday for a new cupcake recipe from me. I have one brewing...