What I Eat In A Day As A Nutrition And Dietetics Student

Spoiler Alert: It’s Not Salad

Believe me, I know what you’re thinking, “She’s a nutrition and dietetics major, of course she’s gonna have an amazing, healthy diet consisting of nothing but a single lettuce leaf and a glass of water.” Obviously I am only eating 1/2 of a lettuce leaf because of the carbs.

I’m kidding if you can’t tell. Although I am passionate about being healthy and maintaining a balanced diet to make the food pyramid happy, I’m also just human. I could do a whole other blog post about my epic cheat days consisting of pastas and pastries galore.

So this is an average day for me on the health-o-meter if there is such a thing. It’s not my best day of eating but it’s not my worst (again I wasn’t kidding about the epic cheat-day).

Breakfast

Whoever said breakfast was the most important meal of the day wasn’t lying. It’s the best way to kick-start digestion and give you the energy you need to pass that exam with flying colors!

I’ve eaten the same breakfast almost everyday for 4 semesters of college: instant oatmeal with almond milk, all natural crunchy peanut butter (ingredients: peanuts), with a banana. I’m still not sick of it because of how amazing this tastes. On mornings I’ve had a good workout and broken a sweat, I will mix in a table spoon of Powered Peanut Butter for extra protein.

Warning: this breakfast will keep you full for so long. Which is a great thing for those of us who have back to back classes until 12:30.

Lunch

Okay so lately I have been very bad about not eating a full meal for lunch and bingeing at dinner, but that stops now! If I’m on the go and don’t have time to sit and eat a full lunch, I have been keeping Lara Bars in my backpack. They come in so many different flavors and keep you full for a long time. Most of them have only all natural ingredients like apples and dates.

Luckily though, today I got to sit down and enjoy one of my favorite on-campus meals, a veggie delight from Subway. I get a 6 inch on whole grain bread with Parmesan cheese, lettuce, tomato, spinach, onion, and banana peppers. As a little bit of a cheat, I had a bag of baked lays, but I picked those over the Doritos I was eyeing sooooo balance?

Snacks

I am going to be honest. I don’t eat the healthiest foods at every meal and I am definitely not immune to the munchies. I normally find myself elbow deep into my family sized bag of Pita chips before noon. Which I should probably stop buying in such large quantities, but I digress.

Currently, my snacking has been in liquid form. That’s right everyone: c o f f e e . I have been drinking way too much coffee and spending way too much on it as of late.

I’ve not kicked my self-titled “self-care coffee” routine but I have switched from getting an iced caramel macchiato to getting an iced coffee with caramel. You may be asking, “What’s the difference?” It’s much cheaper and has way less sugar.

Dinner

Dinner is a time where a lot of college students can either make or break their eating patterns for that day. Most of the time, I am too tired from classes or club meetings to make an effort to be healthy. This is where good habits and preparation are a big help. I like to “meal prep” certain healthy dishes so they can be heated up in the microwave for a few minutes and ready to be enjoyed without the hassle of cooking.

One of my weekly go-to’s is whole wheat/whole grain pasta. Which is a great switch for regular pasta because of the added fiber, and it’s a whole lot better than ramen. I will usually make a whole box and divvy out portions into Tupperware for a quick dinner.

Try out different sauces and toppings to make it feel like your having a brand new dish every night!

Thank you so much for checking out the blog! Feel free to comment below and come back soon to find out how to make the most of your mini-fridge!

-Allison