College students are in a bit of a bind: they need healthy and nutritious food to function, but healthy food is often not as available or it is too expensive. Moreover, unhealthy food is everywhere, so it is much easier to acquire. For all these reasons, college students tend to make poor dietary choices. These poor choices can lead to decreased productivity and more crashes. If you are a college student reading this, you can probably agree that several factors are contributing to these choices.
Here are some reasons why college students make unhealthy food choices.
Healthy Food is Hard to Find
One of the reasons why college students make poor choices is because healthy food can be difficult to find. If you go to a college out all the way out in the middle of a country-like setting or in a state where organic food is scarce, you may be forced to make long journeys just to find healthy food. If this is the case, there is a good chance that all the restaurants serve low-quality food too.
Organic and Nutritional Meals can be Expensive
Because good food is rare, it is also expensive. This is the basic law of supply and demand. You may be forced to pay a premium for meats and other core food groups. A pack of organic bacon could cost four times more than non-organic bacon. The same goes for produce and other food groups. Most organic foods are made and produced by organic farmers, which usually means that it takes more time and there is more manpower to yield crops. A lot of factory farms produce cheap foods that can be procured and packaged using automated systems.
There is More Junk Food Available than Good Food
When you live in a dorm, either at College or University, you are going to be within proximity to vending machines. Why would you spend the time to make an organic meal when you can simply score some food from the vending machine? Indeed, when junk outweighs healthy food, most college students will go towards junk food. This is because of convenience and cost.
Bad Food Tastes Good
Most factory-farmed foods go through rigorous tests to make sure that meat is plump, that dairy is sweeter and that vegetables have more juice. This is usually a result of hormones, chemicals, and genetically modified food genes. Of course, the food is going to taste amazing – it is made using science. However, genetically modified foods are very bad for you.
Temptations are Everywhere
On top of everything, many college students make unhealthy food choices because the temptations are everywhere. In the dorm room, in the social area, in vending machines, and even in the cafeteria. If you want to stay healthy, you want to stay away from these temptations. The best place to start is in your dorm room. In the end, you can work from there, and slowly your cravings for highly fattening and sugary foods will subside – it is all about careful conditioning.
