As a newcomer to the world of blogging, one thing I’ve learned is that writing for an audience is not as easy as it looks. It’s stressful, even when you know exactly what you’re supposed to be writing about. If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent hours and hours poring over words that other people have written, wishing you could speak with such seemingly effortless eloquence and purpose. And sometimes I feel like I write all the time, but since my pages and pages of writing have been mostly within diaries and journals, with the cliché “For My Eyes Only,” I realize that I’ve never actually written anything formal without knowing exactly who else is going to read it. I would never succeed as an English major.
Despite my lack of organization in writing, however, I’m pretty quick to pick up on the subtle hints that I’ve been leaving myself; I’ve realized that the reason that I stress over how to convey exactly what I want to say is because I care so deeply about showing others that the health and safety of fellow students is something that I’m sincerely passionate about. Thankfully, the dedicated Safety & Wellness committee members are a little more language-savvy than I am and have left me with countless prompts for upcoming blog posts, so, hopefully, I will have more frequent updates and more regular communication with students on how to improve how we as students take care of ourselves, both physically and mentally, on a daily basis. Additionally, if anyone has ideas on how to creatively spice-up my writing (especially my puns – hopefully no one read my last blog post), please don’t hesitate to comment below!
To kick-off this (hopefully) informative series of all things safety and wellness related, I’ll start with a topic that is relevant to pretty much everyone – food – and I’ve narrowed it down to three C’s that students consider when it comes to deciding what to eat: convenience, cost, and calories. As a college student without a kitchen (#RAproblems), I find that a lot of the time, for convenience and cost, I sacrifice healthier meals and fewer fat calories, and eventually, unhealthy habits such as this are what commonly result in a lot of students gaining “The Freshman 15.” However, by following a few simple rules, students can have quick and easy, healthy meals on a budget:
*Always keep fresh fruit around. Apples and bananas make for excellent snacks between classes, and there are a variety of other fruits available at Newcomb and O’Hill daily.*
*Try to avoid frozen dinners and packaged foods such as Ramen noodles. Although incredibly convenient and cheap, these tend to be incredibly high in sodium and fat.*
*If you’re able to get out to Barracks every once in a while, stock up on food from Harris Teeter. Although mini-fridges and shelves don’t have the greatest storage capacity, talk with your roommate about keeping your room stocked, not only with necessities, such as milk, yogurt, and carrots, but also with low-sodium instant soup, granola bars, juice boxes, and even ingredients for quick salads, including low-fat dressing.*
*Don’t skip breakfast! I completely understand the rush to get to class in the morning, but getting ten fewer minutes of sleep in the morning to pour yourself cereal or heat up some oatmeal can result in a significantly more productive day. For those of you who are more ambitious with your morning meals, try this delicious Scrambled Egg Burrito recipe, which only requires a microwave!*
If you realize that you aren’t following some of these guidelines, don’t try to completely change your lifestyle in one day. Healthy habits aren’t formed overnight, but instead can take up to a few weeks to really implement. Hopefully, though, these will help get you on the right track to keep that Freshman 15 at bay. After all, here at UVa, you’re not freshmen; you’re first-years!
