Eat Healthy and Be Healthy!
There are many benefits to adapting a healthy eating lifestyle while you’re in University ...
- The most notable reason is that good food is good for the brain. Studies have shown that those who regularly eat good, nutrient rich food, and avoid fatty and sugary foods, are able to process new information faster and retain information better.
- Eating balanced, nutritious meals that contain lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants nourishes the brain and protects it from free radicals, which can damage cells. Research has shown that students are able to learn better when they are well nourished, and eating healthy meals. Healthier, nutritious meals has been linked to higher grades, better memory and alertness, and faster information processing.
- Eating a healthy diet is good for your physical health too. Maintaining a healthy diet keeps the immune system balanced and ready to fight against infection and viruses.
- University students today however are having trouble eating healthy due to a lack of time and funds. You will be often pressed for time, under stress and will be eating on the go most often. Together with missing meals, you may also be unable to afford meals sold in campus cafeterias and therefore might decide to choose a more affordable but less nutritious option. Meals offered on Campus, if affordable, can also sometimes not be the most balanced, healthy or nutritious food that is available. All this, may result in you eating unhealthy foods. Unhealthy eating however can lead to lower grades, illness, fatigue, and other adverse side effects.
The Worst Foods for your Brain which you need to avoid:
- Sugary Drinks E.g. Coke, Sprite, Fruit Juice, Cordials.
- Refined Carbs. Refined carbohydrates include sugars and highly processed grains, such as white flour and snacks and savories made from white flour egg, gulagula, donuts, pancakes, breads and buns.
- Fast Foods. Fried foods are filled with trans fats which raise bad cholesterol levels. Fast foods are also filled with empty carbohydrates which can lead to increased blood sugar e.g. French fries or chips.
- Highly Processed Foods. Pastries, cookies, biscuits, cakes, snacks, noodles, potato chips etc.
Tips on Healthier Eating:
Tip 1 - If you get hungry for breakfast do not skip breakfast.
- If you have morning classes, breakfast can be a most important meal, because your brain needs fuel before you walk into that first class. Choosing a healthy breakfast will also set you up to make healthy choices all day and because you have fed yourself at the start of the day you are less likely to be hungry and reach for those unhealthy food choices during the day. You are also more likely to burn off calories during the day if your breakfast contains mainly carbs such as bread.
Tip 2 - Avoid sugary drinks and drink water instead.
- Most students do not drink enough water each day. We need water for so many reasons, but when it comes to eating healthy it is one of the easiest ways to make a big difference quickly. Soft drinks are loaded with sugar and calories. When you choose water instead, you eliminate a lot of sugar quickly. Drinking water with meals will also help you feel full faster so you are much less likely to overeat or to reach for that unhealthy snack. Have your water bottle and drink at least 3L of water each day. That is about 2 bottles of the large Aquasafe bottle every day.
Tip 3 - Include vegetables and fruit in your meals.
- One of the easiest ways to make sure you are getting all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs is to have at least one vegetable on your plate at most meals. Fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins that you don’t get in other foods. Green leafy vegetables are high in calcium and iron; minerals you won’t get much of in a slice of cake or bag of chips.
Tip 4 - Have healthy snacks.
- If you really are hungry and need to buy snacks from the campus bean carts reach for that bean, those peanuts, dhal, bajia, bara and snacks which have at least some nutritional value rather than gulagula, lakari and mitai which is loaded with only carbs and sugars. Even better, pack slices of a cucumber, carrot, or a local fruit into a small lunch pack and have that as a snack during the day.
"The food you eat can be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison" -Ann Wigmore
Uniclinic,
Office of the Registrar.