How to Ball on a Budget
Dhalia Brelsford
With 18 credit hours, not enough money, and too much stress, a healthy diet is the last thing on most students' minds. College students get a bad rap for eating unhealthily with toxic stereotypes like "the freshman fifteen" or "college kids only eat cup ramen." These beliefs can make eating unhealthy in college feel inevitable, but by applying the principles of intuitive eating and using the resources OSU has for its students, anybody can start to eat a healthier diet without breaking their budget or wasting their time.
Intuitive eating is a healthy eating habit mentality that focuses on ten principles all centered around eating to fuel your body. I will use those principles to guide my advice in this article. If you are interested in exploring more about intuitive eating, check out the Student Wellness Center's intuitive eating workshop, which is free for OSU students and hosted during the fall and spring semesters!
I'm Too Busy to Eat During the Day:
One of the principles of intuitive eating is "Honor your hunger." Oftentimes students are rewarded academically when they work through lunch or skip a meal because they have too many classes that day and end up putting their hunger on the back burner. An easy solution to being too busy for traditional sit-down meals is bringing a snack! By always keeping an easy-to-grab snack in your bag, you can limit the number of meals skipped in a day. Plus, you can eat on the go!
The Monda Student Resource Center (MSRC) food pantry is a free resource for any OSU student. The MSRC has a weekly rotating menu, but some snack staples include chips, granola bars, and applesauce. Any OSU student can place one order a day, so if you ever run out of snacks mid-week, don't worry! You can always order more.
If you have any OSU meal plan that allows you to access the dining halls, you can order a reusable to-go box to grab food quickly and take it with you. This way you can get fresh produce and a hot meal between your classes.
The Dining Halls/Grocery Stores Are Closed:
The OSU traditions dining halls close around 9 pm (hours vary depending on location), which means students are often left out to dry if they are hungry at later hours. Having a pantry, even a mini-dorm pantry, can help fight off the late-night munchies.
The MSRC has lots of dorm-friendly meals, such as various types of ramen, microwaveable mac and cheese, and microwaveable rice. If you live off campus, the MSRC has lots of kitchen-friendly meal options too! The menu changes every week, but the MSRC always has fresh produce and often has fresh spices, pasta, eggs, milk, and various meats.
Students can supplement their weekly groceries by getting free food from the MSRC. Any OSU student, regardless of need, can use the MSRC. The best way to "ball on a budget" is by knowing how to use your resources!
There's No Healthy Food On Campus:
"Honor your health with gentle nutrition" is another tenet of intuitive eating. The human body is a very complex machine and needs fuel to run; by eating healthy, you are allowing your body to operate to the best of its ability. Especially as students—who are always learning, moving, and changing—we need to fuel our bodies the best we can.
Although it can be easy to think you are saving money by buying cheap, unhealthy food, as OSU students, healthy food is free! The MSRC has varying fresh produce, dairy, and breads weekly that is free for any OSU student.
If you have a meal plan, the dining halls also offer fresh fruit and veggies! My personal favorite dining hall is Kennedy because they have watermelon at their salad bar year-round. Also, Scotts dining hall and Kennedy dining hall both have a "grains and greens" station where students can get vegetables grilled with their choice of veggies, rice, cheese, add-ons, and sauce.
As students, it can be easy for our biggest priority to be school, but to do well, you need to take care of yourself too. By prioritizing yourself and your health, you will feel better, get rid of brain fog, and perform better. Have a snack, use your free resources, and take care of yourself!
Helpful Resources:
The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating