Your body is a complex machine that requires the right combination of fuels to keep it running at peak efficiency. You need sustained energy and stamina to meet the varied demands of college life. Good nutrition is essential to doing your best and getting the most out of your course work, studying, extracurricular activities, part-time job, and social life.
You are much more independent now than when you were in high school and living at home. But that independence brings with it new responsibilities in caring for yourself. With no one to tell you what and when to eat, it's important for you to know what your body needs for nourishment and to avoid the nutritional problems many students encounter.
Suzanne, for example, found it hard to resist the potato chips and nachos her roommate kept in constant supply. She started nibbling between meals and late at night. To keep up with her studies, she cut back on her swimming schedule and got much less exercise than when she lived at home. Whenever there was a paper to write or a test to study for, she would prepare herself with a snack-something she thought was healthy, like a granola bar or a frozen yogurt.
Because she was too busy to have lunch, she started eating bigger breakfasts-orange juice, bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, toast with butter and jam, and black coffee instead of the fruit juice, cereal, and skim milk she always ate at home. By dinnertime she was starved, and the cafeteria food looked good. She loved the fried chicken, and a helping or two from the salad bar seemed like a prudent alternative to the french fries.
Her friend Eric found himself in a similar pattern-putting a lot of time into keeping up with his course work, spending less time than before on sports and bike riding, eating at fast-food restaurants, skipping meals from time to time, and binging on candy bars as a substitute for lunch several times a week.
Before the semester was over, Eric's friends started teasing him about the spare tire around his waist, and Suzanne was having trouble zipping up clothes that fit her perfectly a couple of months earlier.
These problems are familiar and can be resolved. Here are the basic questions and answers about nutrition that can help you develop the good eating habits that will give you the nourishment you need and the energy you want while you maintain the right weight for your height and build.