Living away from home is, at first, entirely exciting. Do you want to eat ice cream for dinner every single night for three weeks? You can do that. Would you like to replace your water intake with beer or boxed wine? You can do that. Do you want to see how long it would actually take someone in the First World to get scurvy if they stop eating fruit? You can do that.
Once the pure exhilaration of newfound freedom wears off, however, and you start to feel lethargic and weighed down (physically and emotionally) you may want to consider a few ways to keep yourself in better health during your time away from home. Myths of the “freshman 15” aside, it is very difficult to sustain human life on alcohol, sugar, and fried food alone.
Keep track of what you’re eating
This doesn’t mean that you have to count your calories or limit yourself. By all means, you are young. However, it will suck for your health significantly more when you’re 50 if you eat poutine everyday. Understanding what is going into your body is a great way to figure out what’s dragging you down when you do eventually find yourself more inclined to hibernate than make your way to class. You can use a food tracking app, like My Fitness Pal, or even just write down your meals on a piece of paper or your phone. No matter what you use, the simple act of logging the foods with which you fuel your body is a great start.
Go out and do something active
I’m not saying you should do anything crazy, like sign up for a 40-dollar-per month gym membership or buy an expensive bike you’ll end up using twice. There are a ton of great ways to get active on campus, many of which are heavily subsidized for U of G students. You can join an intramural sports league, take a fitness class at the Athletic Centre, or join a running club and take a jog through the Arboretum. If organized activities aren’t so much your thing, you can walk to campus instead of taking the bus, or just take a casual stroll around your neighbourhood. There are lots of beautiful trails and paths throughout the city, which perhaps, wouldn’t be exciting to the most seasoned of hikers, but are certainly amusing enough to keep the interest of those of us who are a few mere minutes from going insane inside the library. Doing something active is both a great study break and a great way to keep your heart healthy.
Consider eating green things
I know, green things are gross. But one of the best things about vegetables is that they pack a crazy punch of nutrients into a very small amount of calories. No one says you can’t still eat ice cream for dinner every night if you also happen to throw a salad into the mix of your daily food intake. No one is asserting that the entire bag of Lays you’re eyeing is mutually exclusive to some cucumbers and carrot sticks. No one is suggesting that you give up gluten or sugar or grease or deep fried things or cheese or whatever the newest elimination diet fad is telling you to avoid, so long as these things do not cause you physical pain when you eat them, because food allergies are real and they suck. Adding in a few green things, however, to your diet of carbohydrates and cheesy goodness, is certainly not going to hurt.
“Everything in moderation”
This should be your mantra, and it should work both ways. It’s not just that you should enjoy your favourite foods in moderation, but you should enjoy exercise in moderation. You should enjoy alcohol in moderation, and you should enjoy green juicing in moderation. Approach everything in life—health related or not—through this lens of moderation. There is such a thing as too much greasy, fatty food, but there is also such a thing as too much kale.