Snack Attack: Best Munchies for Busy, Bored and Stressed Out College Students

College students get a bad rap for gaining weight because of too much pizza and beer, but those aren’t the only culprits that can contribute to your Freshman 15. Even sober, normally health-minded students can quickly gain weight once they arrive on campus, and it has nothing to do with being lazy, at least not all of the time. College students are constantly battling stress and anxiety, from class work, scheduling conflicts, part-time jobs, romantic relationships, lack of sleep, financial issues, and adjusting to life away from home. With stress often comes the munchies, and high-calorie comfort foods like cookies, chips, burgers, and even pizza, are the most instantly appetizing. Munchies attacks also result from crazy schedules, skipped meals, and plain boredom or procrastination, but they don’t always have to result in weight gain and an unhealthy diet.

Your ultimate defense against ravenous snack attacks is to keep fueling up throughout the day. Eat a regular breakfast, lunch and dinner if at all possible, since skipped meals will make you ravenous later, and more likely to grab whatever’s closest to you, even if that means a fatty coffee-shop pastry or fast food. Beyond regular meals, keep snacks with you at all times. Healthier snacks will probably seem more appetizing to you if you’re not desperately hungry, and you’ll eat less if you stick to a schedule and eat only enough to keep you satisfied between meals.

Healthy snacks that transport well in backpacks and purses include fruit like apples and oranges, as well as harder granola bars (soft ones usually get smashed), baby carrots and sliced veggies, string cheese, and even rolled up lean lunch meat. If you want to eat in class or in the library, don’t pick anything stinky or messy (like Cheeto’s), or excessively loud, like corn chips. If you crave crunch, go for a bag of pretzels, Triscuits or nuts, and if you want something sweet, try one of the 100-calorie snack bags of cookies, chopped up watermelon, or a handful of blueberries.

Portion control can be a big problem when you’re stress-eating or when you’re snacking while studying. Before you leave your dorm or apartment, measure out sensible portion sizes into plastic bags or reusable containers so that you don’t overeat or fill up on snacks instead of real meals.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.