Healthy Dorm Living

When I first went to college up in Idaho, I lived in a 6 single-bedroom apartment which came with 2 full sized fridges to share between the 6 girls. Having so much food space, eating healthy was not too hard. 

Now at my new university in Utah, I decided to live in the dorm, and I'm realizing just how difficult it is to maintain healthy eating habits. If you want a fridge to hold your fruits, veggies, and juices, you have to purchase one separately. If you think you'll need a snack during the day, you need to make sure your bag is big enough to hold it and make sure you pack it early that morning. Oh, and good thing the gym hours are so limited! Loving life!

I've only been in the dorms a few days now, but here is a small list of things I'm doing to keep my healthy lifestyle:

-Naked Juices

I don't drink a lot of juice (I'd rather eat my calories), but I have a few on hand in my mini fridge for those morning when I'm in a rush. 

-WATER. 

Drink it. You'll feel amazing. Have a reusable bottle or a pack of water bottles in your room so they're easy to grab. And if you have the option of a mini fridge, keep some lemons or cucumbers in there to put in your water.

-Organic/Filling snacks

Keeping snacks in your room is, in my opinion, a great idea. If you don't, you're going to be starving by the time you get to the school cafeteria and fill yourself with pasta and pizza. The snacks I have in my room are almonds, organic fruit snacks/ fruits rolls, reduced fat Triscuits, and Boom Chicka Pop sea salt popcorn. I keep these on the opposite side of my room from my desk, so hopefully I won't feel inclined to constantly snack when doing homework.

-TAKE THE STAIRS

I know there an elevator in your dorm. I know the stairs are all the way down the hall. I know you're tired.

I don't care.

-Sleep

Don't get me wrong, having a social life is a very important part of college. You're going to meet people who might possibly help shape your future into something great! But you also need to keep your health in mind. You're grades, body, mental health, and relationships will all suffer if you don't get the recommended hours of sleep per night. 

  *On that note, make sure you don't do other things in/on your bed other than sleeping. When we read, eat, do homework, go on our phones, etc. in our bed, we build many associations in our brain with our bed. So when we lay down at night and can't sleep, thats because of all those other associations. Our brain is thinking of all the other things we could be doing. So get a comfortable rug and a floor pillow or chair for your dorm for doing things other than sleeping.

-Be clean

Keep tissues, disinfecting wipes, hand soap/sanitizer, etc on hand. Also… please shower.

  *If you feel like you're starting to get sick or you know you get colds often, grab some Vitamin C pills and Airborne from your local grocery store and make sure you're resting well.

I'll probably be posting another, more in-depth list farther into my semester, but here is what I have now! Remember that it all comes back to nutrition. You could exercise for hours a day, but unless your nutrition is well, you're not going to feel or look your best.

Make good choices & let's have a great fall semester! 

Good luck!!