By Janessia Slaughter, Graduate Nutrition and Dietetics Student Nutrition sometimes takes a backseat when you have priorities and commitments with practices, training, competition, classes, homework, and other team obligations. For athletes, nutrition plays a key role in helping you reach peak performance goals. But, for student athletes, finding time and ways to cook healthy food in the dorm can be challenging. With a little creativity, flexibility, and planning, you can prepare quick and healthy meals in your dorm without missing out on nutrition. Read on to learn how to you can enjoy dorm life and still eat well to fuel your body! Tip 1: Skip the Ramen! For college students, particularly athletes, processed and packaged ramen lacks nutritional value, and is much too high in sodium. If you have to rely on ramen, use less of the seasoning packet, add high quality protein foods, such as cooked chicken or tofu, and add veggies- canned, frozen, or fresh- to turn your boring ramen into a well-balanced meal. For athletes, plain ramen won’t help you meet your calorie needs either, but by adding protein and vegetables, you’re better able to add calories and key nutrients to help support your training and recovery. Better yet, skip the packaged ramen completely, and find a quick microwavable pasta that you can add sauce, protein, and vegetables to and make a meal bursting with nutrition. Of course, if you have access to a stove, cooking dry pasta in boiling water is more affordable; and you can find whole grain, plant based, and/or protein added varieties of dry pasta that are great sources of complex carbohydrates that athletes need. Tip 2: Add color to your dorm room! Keep fruit and vegetables on hand. If you have access to refrigeration and freezers, keeping fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables available helps you eat a diet filled with color, vitamins and minerals. The colorful foods are nutrient dense. That means these foods provide needed calories and are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals, all of which help you meet your nutritional needs for peak training and optimal recovery. At a minimum, athletes need to eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day. For example, a single serving of vegetable is ½ cup carrots, broccoli, and/or cauliflower, and a serving of fruit is a medium apple, pear, orange, half grapefruit, or ½ C fruit juice. Try your vegetables with salsa, guacamole, hummus, ranch, dill, baba ganoush, bean, Greek yogurt, other vegetable dips to make a hearty snack. Frozen vegetables, packaged for steaming in the microwave, are a quick, simple, and easy way to add color, vitamins, minerals, and fiber to your meals or have on hand for a snack. Not all fresh produce needs to be refrigerated. You can stock up on fresh apples, pears, oranges/tangerines/grapefruit, bananas, tomatoes, and avocados that can stay at room temperature for a few days until ready to eat. Tip 3: Start Smart. Sleeping those few extra minutes in the mornings and then trying to get to practice or class might mean you skip breakfast. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, and the key to your success in the field, on the court, and in the classroom! Breakfast provides the necessary carbohydrates needed to get your day started, and fuels your body to complete daily activities such as studying and sports practices. Breakfast also “jump starts” your metabolism after an overnight “fast”, fueling your body for the day’s activities. Planning ahead or having healthy, ready to grab and go options can help you eat breakfast even if you’re on the move. For example, overnight oats are a simple, dorm- friendly breakfast, loaded with essential nutrients and needed calories to fuel your morning. You can even build in more nutrition by dressing up your oats with some fresh fruit, dried cranberries, raisins, apples, banana, or chopped pecans/nuts. If you have a little more time and don’t need to eat in transit, yogurt parfaits are another simple, dorm- friendly breakfast packed with high quality protein, calcium, and needed calories to start your day. A protein bar, fruit smoothie, and nutrient dense cereal with milk are other examples of quick and easy breakfasts to start your day. Tip 4: Snack Attack. Athletes need sufficient calories and nutrients throughout the day to train, recover, and perform at peak. Your schedules are demanding, your class times may conflict with mealtimes, and/or you just may not be hungry when you do have time for meals, so snacks are an extra important part of your diet. Even when you do eat well balanced and nutritious meals regularly, snacks can still help you meet all your nutrition needs throughout the day. A few examples of portable snacks that you can take with you between classes and won’t require refrigeration include sliced fresh fruit and veggies, trail mix, granola, nutrition bars, packaged cheese and crackers, roasted peas/chickpeas and pumpkin seeds, popcorn, edamame, and dry cereal. And, REMEMBER, the Student-Athlete Nutrition Center in the Lukas Annex of the VC provides healthy snacks weekdays from 7:15-10 a.m. and again 2:30 to 4:15 p.m. Bottom Line: Dorm food doesn’t have to be tasteless or unhealthy, and cooking on campus doesn’t have to be complicated. Use these tips and recipes to build new skills and help you meet all your nutrition needs so you can eat like a pro! Go Cougars! Looking for more helpful nutrition tips and recipe ideas, check out these links:
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Contributing AuthorsSIUE Nutrition and Dietetics Graduate Students See More Helpful Nutrition Tips Here
April 2023
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