Healthy Habits: Easy Nutrition and Exercise Tips for College Students

Did you know that tak­ing advan­tage of bach­e­lor’s stu­dent nutri­tion tips and exer­cise hacks may actu­al­ly be the best way to suc­ceed in school. For many, the tran­si­tion from the com­fort of home in high school to the inde­pen­dence of col­lege can be a daunt­ing jour­ney. Col­lege life is com­posed of busy sched­ules, tight dead­lines, and many new respon­si­bil­i­ties. It’s no longer just about attend­ing class­es and tak­ing exams; sud­den­ly, there’s rent to pay, gro­ceries to buy, laun­dry to do, and bills to manage.

This new­found inde­pen­dence can often lead to the devel­op­ment of unhealthy eat­ing habits. It’s easy to over­look the prac­tice of eat­ing well in col­lege. How­ev­er, those who make the effort to main­tain a healthy eat­ing rou­tine are reward­ed with more than just phys­i­cal health. 

Stu­dents with healthy rou­tines have improved ener­gy lev­els, enhanced mem­o­ry, and bet­ter focus, reduc­ing their risk of falling ill. These ben­e­fits can help you suc­ceed in col­lege with­out falling into depression. 

This post about bach­e­lor’s stu­dent nutri­tion tips and exer­cise hacks is for those who are more con­scious of their health and don’t want to stray far from their healthy rou­tines back home. We’ll briefly dis­cuss easy, healthy habits for bach­e­lor’s degrees. 

Relat­ed Resource: Mind­ful Learn­ing: Tips for Pri­or­i­tiz­ing Men­tal Health in Bachelor’s Programs

Balancing A Healthy Lifestyle with Academic Demands

Bach­e­lor’s stu­dent nutri­tion tips include main­tain­ing a bal­anced diet and phys­i­cal exer­cise through­out the busy week.

Today’s col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties are help­ing their stu­dents make health­ful food choic­es. This is main­ly because of the ris­ing inci­dents of dis­ease due to health risk behav­iors among col­lege students.

Col­lege life is hec­tic, but it does­n’t have to eat up all your time. Here are some prac­ti­cal fit­ness tips for stu­dents to strike a balance: 

#1 Follow a healthy diet.

Did you know that about 84% of col­lege stu­dents do not eat enough of the rec­om­mend­ed fruits and veg­eta­bles? We know that prepar­ing these can be time-con­sum­ing. Here are some tips for a quick meal prep:

• Stock up on fruits, nuts, and dry fruits. These are the best non-fuss foods. Fruits pro­vide ener­gy, vit­a­mins, min­er­als, and fiber, while dry fruits offer essen­tial nutri­ents with­out excess calo­ries. Nuts are rich in essen­tial fats and pro­teins, ben­e­fi­cial for brain func­tion and cho­les­terol levels.
• For a quick, nutri­tious meal, con­sid­er boil­ing pota­toes or corn. Boil­ing pota­toes is sim­ple: add them to a pot of boil­ing water and let them cook until they’re soft. Once they’re done, mash them up and add some veg­gies for extra nutri­tion. Corn is eas­i­ly avail­able in shop­ping malls or can be made at home by boil­ing gold­en corn and adding salt, pep­per, red chili pow­der, and lemon to taste.
• Choose the right pre-pre­pared meals. Oats are among the most nutri­tious ready-to-eat meals. They’re high in fiber, which aids diges­tion and helps main­tain a healthy weight. Oats can be added to fruits for extra nutri­tion, mak­ing it a bal­anced and fill­ing meal option.

#2 Balance your commitments.

Hav­ing excel­lent time man­age­ment skills is impor­tant to avoid unhealthy habits like late-night study­ing and skip­ping meals. This is espe­cial­ly true for bach­e­lor’s degree stu­dents with oth­er com­mit­ments, like a part-time or casu­al job. 

The secret to bal­anc­ing your com­mit­ments is avoid­ing pro­cras­ti­na­tion. Accord­ing to Psy­chol­o­gy Today, pro­cras­ti­nat­ing stu­dents often have low­er per­for­mance and reduced well-being. Here are a few tips to avoid procrastination: 

• Choose a good study loca­tion. Ensure a well-lit, clear, and con­sis­tent study spot with clear sur­faces and des­ig­nat­ed study loca­tions, away from oth­er activ­i­ties, to max­i­mize brain focus and productivity.
• Elim­i­nate dis­trac­tions. Stu­dents with­out account­abil­i­ty will have dif­fi­cul­ty elim­i­nat­ing dis­cre­tions like social media and oth­er enter­tain­ment sources. Use apps or web­site block­ers if nec­es­sary, and estab­lish bound­aries with friends and fam­i­ly about study time.
• Work on your tasks ASAP. Don’t wait for a firm due date to start. Set­ting a dead­line for your­self, even if your assign­ment does­n’t have one, can give you a sense of accom­plish­ment and help you pri­or­i­tize your tasks effec­tive­ly. Be proac­tive and effi­cient in your approach.
• Reward your­self. It’s impor­tant to reward your­self for task com­ple­tion ahead of sched­ule. This helps you avoid burnout and have a fresh mind for your next work. 

#3 Stay fit.

A good work­out not only keeps your body fit but also your mind moti­vat­ed. Exer­cise releas­es your brain’s ‘feel-good’ chem­i­cals, or endor­phins, which not only ele­vate your mood but also pro­mote relaxation. 

Stay­ing fit can be a chal­lenge if you’re already jug­gling aca­d­e­mics and a part-time job. How­ev­er, you don’t need to exer­cise every day. A brisk walk at lunch or a quick home work­out can con­tribute sig­nif­i­cant­ly to your over­all fitness. 

The real game-chang­er is find­ing an activ­i­ty you tru­ly enjoy, whether it’s danc­ing, hik­ing, or yoga. This can trans­form stay­ing fit from a chore into a reward­ing part of your day, spark­ing excite­ment and encour­ag­ing you to keep going.

Quick And Nutritious Recipes for Busy Students

Col­lege stu­dents are often reluc­tant to main­tain a nutri­tious diet because of two things: time and mon­ey. Healthy meals take time to pre­pare and are often made of expen­sive ingre­di­ents. How­ev­er, with some cre­ativ­i­ty, it’s pos­si­ble to whip up quick and nutri­tious meals on a stu­den­t’s bud­get. Easy and afford­able are an essen­tial on the list when it comes to bach­e­lor’s stu­dent nutri­tion tips.

#1 Tomato & Avocado Sandwiches

This quick and easy recipe is a great bal­ance of healthy fats, fiber, pro­tein, vit­a­min C, vit­a­min K, potas­si­um, folate, and antioxidants. 

What You’ll Need

• 1/2 medi­um ripe avo­ca­do, peeled and mashed
• 4 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
• 1 medi­um toma­to, sliced
• 2 table­spoons fine­ly chopped shallot
• 1/4 cup hummus

Instruc­tions: 

Spread avo­ca­do over 2 slices of toast. Lay­er the sliced toma­to on top of the avo­ca­do spread. Spread the hum­mus on the remain­ing two slices of toast­ed whole wheat bread and press down gen­tly on the sand­wich­es to ensure all the lay­ers stick together.

#2 Overnight Maple Oatmeal

This diet is rich in fiber (par­tic­u­lar­ly beta-glu­can), cal­ci­um, pro­bi­otics, omega‑3 fat­ty acids, antiox­i­dants, and protein. 

What You’ll Need:

• 2 cups old-fash­ioned oats
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tea­spoons vanil­la extract
• 1 cup vanil­la yogurt
• 1/2 cup chopped wal­nuts, toasted
• Assort­ed fresh fruit

Instruc­tions: 

Com­bine the old-fash­ioned oats, fat-free milk, maple syrup, and vanil­la extract. Stir well until all the ingre­di­ents are mixed even­ly. Trans­fer into an air­tight con­tain­er there­after. Refrig­er­ate overnight.

#3 Fast Fruit Salsa

This recipe is the go-to for stu­dents who want to eat healthy but also crave junk food. This recipe is low in calo­ries and rich in vit­a­min C, fiber, and car­bo­hy­drates for energy. 

What You’ll Need:

• 1 can unsweet­ened crushed pineap­ple, drained
• 1 can man­darin oranges, drained and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 table­spoon minced fresh cilantro
• Tor­tilla chips

Instruc­tions:

Com­bine the drained crushed pineap­ple, chopped man­darin oranges, chopped red onion, and minced fresh cilantro. Cov­er and refrig­er­ate until serv­ing. Serve with tor­tilla chips.

#4 Honey-Lemon Chicken Enchiladas

This diet is rich in calo­ries, healthy fat, sodi­um, car­bo­hy­drate, and protein. 

What You’ll Need:

• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 table­spoons lemon or lime juice
• 1 table­spoon canola oil
• 2 tea­spoons chili powder
• 1/4 tea­spoon gar­lic powder
• 3 cups shred­ded cooked chick­en breast
• 2 cans of green enchi­la­da sauce (10 ounces each)
• 12 corn tor­tillas (6 inch­es), warmed
• 3/4 cup shred­ded reduced-fat ched­dar cheese
• Sliced green onions and chopped toma­toes, optional

Instruc­tions: 

Roll shred­ded chick­en breasts in corn tor­tillas, place in a bak­ing dish, and mix hon­ey, lemon juice, canola oil, chili pow­der, and gar­lic pow­der. Pour enchi­la­da sauce, top with cheese, bake, and gar­nish with toma­toes and green onions.

#5 Crunchy Tuna Salad with Tomatoes

Canned tuna is an afford­able, ver­sa­tile, and easy-to-pre­pare sta­ple. This meal con­tains healthy calo­ries, fat and carbohydrates. 

What You’ll Need:

• Alba­core white tuna in water
• Cel­ery rib
• Fresh pars­ley or dried pars­ley flakes
• Ground pep­per
• Medi­um tomatoes
• Reduced-fat may­on­naise
• Sweet onion

Instruc­tions:

Com­bine may­on­naise, cel­ery, pars­ley, onion, and pep­per. Stir in tuna. Serve with toma­to wedges.

Incorporating Exercise into A College Routine

While bach­e­lor’s stu­dent nutri­tion tips are extreme­ly impor­tant, so is exer­cise! Col­lege stu­dents spend most of their time lis­ten­ing to lec­tures and stay­ing indoors to study. While men­tal exhaus­tion burns ener­gy, you must find a way to put in phys­i­cal exer­cise. Phys­i­cal activ­i­ty is nec­es­sary for both your body and mind to per­form at their best.

You have sev­er­al chances to stay fit in col­lege. Some col­leges offer facil­i­ties for phys­i­cal activ­i­ties, like gym mem­ber­ships, fit­ness class­es, and sports teams. Here are some exer­cise tips for col­lege students: 

• Work out at the gym. Work­ing out at the gym is a lot more fun for many stu­dents than doing home work­outs. Find fun activ­i­ties like swim­ming or yoga class­es at your col­lege gym. Exer­cise should be enjoy­able to increase reg­u­lar­i­ty and make it a part of your routine.
• Hit the road. For this work­out, you’ll only need your com­fort­able ath­let­ic shoes. Go out­side and head to track and jog. Avoid run­ning alone at night or in remote areas. 
• Join a club. Join a club to par­tic­i­pate in var­i­ous intra­mur­al and club sports, includ­ing soc­cer, bas­ket­ball, lacrosse, and ulti­mate Fris­bee, even if not in NCAA competition.
• Go one with nature. Col­leges often have out­door recre­ation clubs that pro­vide equip­ment, lessons, and oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to par­tic­i­pate in out­door activ­i­ties, includ­ing vol­un­teer­ing for group hikes.

Impor­tant tips:

1. Estab­lish goals and a sched­ule to main­tain fit­ness with­out sac­ri­fic­ing work and study time.
2. Start by plan­ning your week using a week­ly plan­ner and set time for study ses­sions and work­ing out.
3. Do not stray from your schedules!

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources:

• Nation­al Insti­tute of Health
• World Health Organization
• Psy­chol­o­gy Today
• Taste of Home