To eat poorly or skip meals?

**Eliada** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 12:24am

I'm a college student. Between that statement and the title, I'm sure you know where this is going. I'm kinda broke (partially because I spend my money on training and gym membership), and as everyone knows, it's hard to eat healthy when you're low on dough. Besides that, I'm very picky about food, so most low-budget health recipes the internet turns up turn out to be unacceptable to my very bland palate. I try to take advantage of my school's wonderful cafeteria, but classes and training sometimes take priority and the cafeteria hours run out. I'm often left with a difficult choice: to skip a meal or partake in cheap A) fast food (good God, what a punishment!) or B) instant food (hardly better). I feel like eating poorly wastes the training which I take such pride in, and I don't really feel hunger until I've missed two or more meals, but common sense dictates that the body needs food, especially when you work out between two and five hours a day. Obviously, I need to work on timing my meals better, but since accidents will sometimes happen, I'd really appreciate it if you'd tell me which crime is worse!

Oh, and by the way, should I drink milk or OJ in the morning? I'd assume I need dairy to build strong bones, but I heard recently that it messes up your digestive system.

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 12:44am

Originally Posted by Eliada

I'm a college student. Between that statement and the title, I'm sure you know where this is going. I'm kinda broke (partially because I spend my money on training and gym membership), and as everyone knows, it's hard to eat healthy when you're low on dough. Besides that, I'm very picky about food, so most low-budget health recipes the internet turns up turn out to be unacceptable to my very bland palate. I try to take advantage of my school's wonderful cafeteria, but classes and training sometimes take priority and the cafeteria hours run out. I'm often left with a difficult choice: to skip a meal or partake in cheap A) fast food (good God, what a punishment!) or B) instant food (hardly better). I feel like eating poorly wastes the training which I take such pride in, and I don't really feel hunger until I've missed two or more meals, but common sense dictates that the body needs food, especially when you work out between two and five hours a day. Obviously, I need to work on timing my meals better, but since accidents will sometimes happen, I'd really appreciate it if you'd tell me which crime is worse!

Oh, and by the way, should I drink milk or OJ in the morning? I'd assume I need dairy to build strong bones, but I heard recently that it messes up your digestive system.

Some people have trouble with dairy, but I don't think the blanket ban is appropriate, especially for someone in your shoes (whole milk by the gallon is cheap and widely available). Easiest way to find out if milk will give you problems is to try it out and see.

Will the folks at the cafeteria look the other way if you take some food with you for later?

**Eliada** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 1:20am

Originally Posted by TheRuss

Some people have trouble with dairy, but I don't think the blanket ban is appropriate, especially for someone in your shoes (whole milk by the gallon is cheap and widely available). Easiest way to find out if milk will give you problems is to try it out and see.

I'll do that. Thanks.

Originally Posted by TheRuss

Will the folks at the cafeteria look the other way if you take some food with you for later?

Unfortunately not. These bastards are stingy, yo. They cut me off from any decent food (ovens, even toaster ovens, aren't allowed in the dormitories), twisted my arm into buying a cafeteria meal plan (it's mandatory) and will only let you take three items away in a to-go box (and you aren't allowed to use that box after eating at the buffet, either). They make you buy a minimum of 100 meals from them and "encourage" you to buy more by making it completely impossible to cook your own healthy food. As fantastic as the cafeteria food is, they really make college life a b*tch for serious athletes with schedules incongruent with the cafeteria's own.

**Ignorami** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 2:06am

I don't have much to contribute here, but...

Couscous needs nothing more than hot water. (I don't know if americans call couscous something different?). It's a great base for meals, and can be made different with very little prep or equipment.

Get in some peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, and loads of tinned fish. Cheap, fresh, healthy meals, no cooking required.

**WoodyCorpus** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 7:02am

Originally Posted by Ignorami

I don't have much to contribute here, but...

Couscous needs nothing more than hot water. (I don't know if americans call couscous something different?). It's a great base for meals, and can be made different with very little prep or equipment.

Get in some peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, and loads of tinned fish. Cheap, fresh, healthy meals, no cooking required.

Might want to get some ras el hanout in there too, to flavor the couscous, ad some soaked raisins in there for energy. It's heaven.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_el_hanout
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couscous

Cheap, powerfull, just great food in general.

**PointyShinyBurn** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 7:17am

'Bad' food isn't going to somehow poison you, eat the burger or the microwave meal if that's what there is. You're going to hurt your training (and your body) if you run a calorie deficit.

**elipson** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 8:38am

Get a magic bullet and some whey protein to mix with milk. If you find that you are lactose intolerant, then just mix with water instead of milk. Protein is not really that expensive, especially at costco.

Also, mixed nuts by the bag. I get the Olympic mix. They have smarties :)

**WoodyCorpus** · Posted On: 9/05/2012 9:30am

That's a very one sided diet :-/

**scipio** · Posted On: 9/06/2012 3:28am

Try making your own wraps – loads of veg (tomatoes, cucumber, onions etc) and canned tuna for your protein fix. Spice them up with some chili sauce or some kind of spices (I like Old Bay seasoning). They can be as cheap or as expensive as you want to make them and are pretty good for you.

Hummus and pitta bread is another favourite snack of mine – again pretty cheap and tastes great.

Also – buy fruit (both fresh and dried).

**Mr. Machette** · Posted On: 9/06/2012 4:13am

How bland is your bland pallete?

Beans and rice are cheap as heck. If you can't cook you can find them "ready to serve".

Here's a recipe for "POWER MEAL"

1 can of your favorite baked beans

1 lbs of cooked rice (ready made bag or dehydrated in your case)

1 can of your favorite chilli

1 lbs your choice of protein. I like most of the barnyard animals for this recipe, JMO.

You can add whatever vegetables you want if you need to add fiber.

This stuff is RIB STICKIN'. Super high protein, decent carbs, hella cheap. About a fist sized pile will fill you up and keep your clock ticking for hours. Helped me through some lean times!