The Cafeteria:
One-Stop Shopping

The cafeteria, you’ll find, is truly a lifesaver. You have a huge variety of food from which to choose, so there is no excuse to eat poorly. You won’t have to worry about missing out on your favorite entrée, since the cafeteria will usually repeat its menu several times throughout the year. Therefore, you know that if you choose to be good and refuse the mac-and-cheese today because you already had something less than nutritious earlier, you will have the chance to eat that dish later on in the month—maybe even that week. With such an array of food options available to you, you can be confident that you’ll never go hungry, so there’s no reason to stock up on extra calories. Also, there are often healthy eating initiatives on college campuses, usually student-headed, and the response has been tremendous. For instance, cafeterias across the country are now required to have vegetarian options available at every meal.

And here’s the best part: you don’t have to do any dishes, help prepare anything, or deal with any of the leftovers. (Many schools, however, do offer positions in cafeteria services, if you’re looking to be paid.) For around five bucks you get to choose from salad, a hot meal bar, maybe even a grill. And because of the consistency of certain items (like the salad bar) and the variety of other sections (the hot meal bar will change its entrées for every meal), you can really get yourself into a good, healthful eating pattern without getting bored too quickly.

Of course, you’ll probably be surrounded by an abundance of highly processed, highly fattening food, as well. The urge to eat these items becomes more pronounced when you see them every day and everyone around you seems to be enjoying them. Learning to pace yourself is the key to avoiding any serious weight gain, whether you’re a freshman or a senior. The best way to do this without feeling deprived is to remember that everything is about balance and nothing is off limits. If you overindulge today, eat healthfully tomorrow and the next day. Experts agree that the important thing is calorie intake over several days, not just one meal. So don’t be too hard on yourself if today was especially trying on your waistband; just get back on track tomorrow. A word of caution, though: if you eat poorly one day and healthfully the next, day after day, you’ll be thwarting your efforts to get healthy and lose weight. If you are trying to drop pounds, don’t eat the wrong stuff every other day and expect to be successful.

Here’s what you need to know about cafeteria eating.

Your friends:

➤ Fresh fruits

➤ Fresh veggies

➤ Whole grain cereals (Total, All-Bran, Raisin Bran,
Cheerios) and breads

➤ Low-fat cheese and milk

➤ Eggs (not fried)

➤ Grilled, baked, broiled, stir-fried, pan-seared
anything

➤ Low-sugar, low-calorie items

Watch out, by the way, for the “low fat” head fake. Foods that you would normally assume to be high in fat, sugar, and calories but that for some reason aren’t (for example, nonfat ice cream) are probably not very good for you. The manufacturers have to put something in there to replace the fat, so either you get lots of extra sugar or salt, or you get an artificial creation that your body can’t digest and may cause certain types of cancers and diseases. For added incentive, see our discussion of artificial sweeteners in Step 3 if you’re wondering why you really don’t want them in your body. As a rule of thumb, go for naturally sweet items, like fruit, or find ways to get your sugar fix without overloading—a piece of chocolate rather than the whole bar, for instance. When you want to sweeten a drink, use sugar but dissolve it in warm water first. Dissolving it beforehand will cut down on the amount of sugar you need to achieve the desired sweetness. (You can also try a plant-derived cane sugar substitute, such as agave nectar, a cactus juice that tastes just like sugar and comes in liquid form, so you don’t have to do the mixing.) The most common fat substitute, as you’ll see when you look at the nutrition facts label of any diet/low-fat cookie carton, is sodium, or salt. While most teenagers don’t really need to worry about having too much salt, it does make you retain water, which leads to bloating.

Your foes:

➤ Stewed or jellied fruits (which have tons of sugar)

➤ Sugary cereals

➤ High-sugar fruit and soda drinks

➤ Full-fat cheese, milk

➤ Fried anything

➤ Cheesy, creamy sauces

➤ Full-fat, high-sugar items (ice cream, cookies, brownies, cakes)

➤ Simple carbohydrates (rice, crackers, bagels—except for the
whole grain varieties)

Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of balance. I am not talking about a total ban on these “foes,” but I’m not talking about an equal distribution between the unhealthful options and the healthful ones, either—at least not if you are trying to lose weight. Especially for those of you who are trying to get healthy, not just skinny, avoid the unhealthful options whenever you can.