Article contributed by guest writer and treasurer Dale Li ’18.
Welcome back to campus! 14F was great, but many of us have had a pretty rude awakening when we stepped back on the scale at home. Dealing with the frozen tundra that will be campus is going to be rough, especially when all I want to do is sit in bed and eat macaroni and cheese while sipping a heaping cup of hot chocolate, but don’t forget to keep your health in mind. Luckily for you, Spoon is here with some tips to navigating FoCo to help you with that!
1. Walk into FoCo and go window shopping. Don’t pick up a plate yet, just check out the selection of foods there are for today (aka walk right past the dessert counter, don’t make eye contact with the cookies. They will pull you in.)
Photo by Sally Kim
2. Pick up a plate and fill ¾ of it up with an assortment of vegetables (raw, steamed or boiled)
Photo by Sally Kim
Tips:
Pizza is not a vegetable.
You can never go wrong with the baked sweet potatoes from the vegetarian bar.
Check out the ingredients offered at the stir fry counter during dinner. I always go for the sugar snap peas dipped in guacamole or hummus.
3. Now fill the rest of your plate with a protein
Tips:
Always check out the grilled/baked protein. The grilled chicken breast, cod and salmon are great choices and seasoning is always your friend (but lay off the salt!).
The fried section is always tempting but try to go for something that isn’t there everyday—add some variety to your meal.
Stir fry some shrimp or tofu yourself during dinner time.
Greek yogurt and quinoa are also good sources of protein for vegetarians.
Photo by Sally Kim
4. Fill up a glass with water (staying hydrated is a key part to being healthy!) and enjoy.
5. Now I know some of us don’t get full on one plate, but sit down and finish your first plate before you decide whether or not you want to fill up another. This way you will eat slower and you can figure out how much you really want on your second go.
6. Grab a dessert plate and eat only one serving of dessert—one cookie, one scoop of ice cream, one slice of pie, etc. To keep your portion sizes in check, use the mini plates that are next to the dessert counter, not the regular sized ones.
Photo by Sally Kim
I wish you the best of luck in figuring FoCo out. It could be the maker or breaker of a healthy lifestyle. Hopefully the first of the two.