Why College Students Should Adopt Healthy Meal Plans
The average college diet consists of sugary cereal for breakfast, fried food for lunch, and pizza topped with all manner of horrors for dinner. Add energy drinks to the mix and you have a recipe for bodily disaster.
Sure, students are young and most can cope with such things. However, if you're going down this route, you’re not doing the right things for your health, and you could be setting yourself up for trouble.
This post takes a look at why college students should adopt healthy meal plans and why.
But first, what is a healthy meal plan? Well, ultimately, it’s a meal plan based on real foods as they come out of the ground. They tend to be nutrient-rich, low in sugar and refined fat, and high in phytonutrients that boost the immune system.
Here’s how being healthy can be a great bonus for college students.
Nutrient-Rich Foods Support Good Mental Health
Students’ mental health on college campuses can be quite poor. There is a lot of pressure to perform, and many people drop out before completing their courses.
Fortunately, research shows that nutrient-rich foods help to fight depression. Students who reduce their intake of sugar and fat, and increase the number of whole foods they eat, tend to feel better about their lives.
Interestingly, men are at the highest risk of depression on college campuses. So make sure you eat your greens.
Eating Good Food Makes It Easier To Sleep At Night
College students don’t always get a lot of sleep. And even when they do, they often find themselves waking up in the night to go to the bathroom.
Fortunately, eating good foods increases the likelihood of sleeping well at night. Studies show that students who sleep the best eat the most unprocessed meals, meaning they cook from scratch instead of ordering take-outs or throwing stuff in the microwave.
Proper Nutrition Boosts Academic Performance
Eating a nourishing, balanced diet, may also dramatically improve academic performance. For example, students who consume a high-quality breakfast tend to pass exams more often than those who don’t. Simply going on a vegan diet and eating more fruits and vegetables can increase your grade point average by around 0.15.
It all comes down to how these nutrients impact brain processing power. The more you consume them, the better your cognitive functioning becomes.
High-Quality Meals Improve Your Mood
Nobody wants to walk around campus looking and feeling miserable. At university, you should be having the time of your life, not wallowing in despair.
That’s where high-quality meals can help. Research shows that these mood-improving superfoods can beat college stress and increase dopamine levels, lowering the risk of depression.
You should try to eat fermented foods, too, such as yogurt and sauerkraut. These contain probiotics that help to populate your gut, increasing serotonin levels. You’ll also want to consume plenty of oats since these contain lots of fiber which can also improve gut health. Lastly, eat plants high in phytonutrients, like walnuts, cocoa, and berries, since all of these can have a positive effect on mood.