With small budgets and no home cooking, students’ diets are often a complete failure when it comes to nutrition
WHEN AIDAN Keane moved out of home for college he gained a large amount of weight. The reason was both exhaustion and laziness, he says. “I passed an Indian, a Chinese, a chipper and another Chinese on the way home from college and more often than not, I gave in,” he says.
“When we were working really hard until eight or nine, it was horrible.
“It was so much easier to get a sweet and sour chicken meal than having to go home and whip something up,” he adds.
The 22 year old cut back on the take- aways near the end of his time in the Conservatory of Music and Drama in DIT and lost the extra weight and the unhealthy attitude he had towards food.
Although there is only anecdotal evidence on hand, Keane’s unhealthy diet is commonplace among students leaving home for the first time. “We had a thing called filthy Fridays and would get the most disgusting food we could find. There was a kebab shop near us, so that was great!’,” he says.
He says he was lucky as his parents helped him out financially, but that other students were not in such a good situation. “A lot of people would live on bread and pretty disgusting stuff,” he says.
Dr Eileen Gibney, head of the Human Nutrition Programme at UCD, says the transition to independent cooking is a common problem.
“Students don’t realise how easy it is to eat relatively healthy,” she says.
“Although we don’t have any specific studies in Ireland on weight gain and unhealthy eating in college, anecdotal evidence would suggest a change from mammy’s cooking to independent living causes problems,” she says.
The Kylemore company has been catering in universities since 2008 and says it is trying to provide healthier diets to students. “We provide euro-saver meals on numerous campuses all over the country that are validated by nutritionists,” says group business developer Simon Povall.
This year it has introduced a selection of different soups onto its menus in universities such as University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork and RCSI.
“Each soup has the fat and calorie content listed so that students know what they are eating,” Povall says.
The daily options for students cost €3-€5 and produce is locally sourced.
“We are very aware that students are well up on the green message and want fresh food,” he says.
The company will have quarterly themes in its restaurants with October's being Vitality for Life.
“It’s particularly important so that students know what vitamins and nutrition is in their food for winter,” Povall adds.
Gibney says it’s important for students to know what they are consuming. “I tell students to try to understand what they are eating. If it is a take-out, it will be high fat and little to no nutrients,” she says.
She stresses that it’s important not to forget about fibre and dairy, and to remember that you can cook in bulk and freeze food, but that facilities can also be a problem.
“There are elements out of students’ control such as access to facilities – some students don’t have a car to do a bulk shop or access to ovens.”
Ultimately, healthy eating in college comes down to choice. “At the end of the day you can’t make them do it, but you can let them know what’s available.”
One of the biggest problems is lack of exercise in college as it is no longer mandatory unlike in secondary school. “Sometimes people are afraid they won’t know how to do something, or don’t have enough experience,” she says.
“I’d advise them to join as many clubs as possible because people of all ability are welcome and exercise really makes a difference,” she says.
Another student, Sophie Cadogan, runs to keep fit, but finds food in college expensive and difficult to stomach. “Lunch on offer is sausages or rolls full of gross stuff that’s heavy on carbs and usually greasy,” she says.
She doesn’t always have time for breakfast and sometimes grabs an apple while running for the bus.
Nutritionist Lynda McFarland advises strongly against students skipping breakfast. “At a cookery class I held for young people over the summer they were saying that even in school there were kids fainting regularly because of lack of food intake,” she says.
While skipping breakfast is common in students, she adds that this leads to a decrease in blood sugar level (BSL), which leads to poor concentration and snacking.
“People wanting to lose weight skip breakfast and end up gorging at the end of the day which isn’t conducive to a learning environment,” she says.
While the idea of eating healthily can be perceived as bland and boring by some people, McFarland says this doesn’t have to be the case. “We need to get young people excited about food again and [to know] that certain fats are good,” she says.
While most students have a small budget averaging €40-€60, McFarland says a balance is important. “I heard of a student a couple of years ago getting scurvy because he was ‘living’ on a diet of porridge and noodles – no vitamin C,” she says.
There had been an influx of young adults in their mid-20s to McFarland’s nutritional clinic in the past while with various digestive issues.
“In their late teens the mothers will bring them in, or sometimes people in their mid-20s will come in with acid reflux,” McFarland says.
The golden rule to avoiding the pitfalls of post-student health issues is to be prepared and to cook in bulk and freeze food.
“If students plan their week and what they are going to eat, they can avoid the pitfalls of eating the processed diet,” she says.
One of the biggest problems she feels is the conflicting information out there that nutritional value equals flavourless meals. “I’m conscious that people hear the word ‘nutritious’ and think ‘bland’, but this doesn’t have to be the case,” she adds.
Isabelle O’Connor, equality officer for the Union of Students Ireland, says that the problem of students slipping into bad eating habits is at the expense of both body and finance. She says the increase on a national level of obesity by 1-2 per cent per year is significant for students. “Individual student unions across the country run ‘healthy eating weeks’ to encourage students to eat a better diet,” she says.
Twenty-year-old Trinity student Thomas Walsh says that even though he runs and does karate, a BMI calculator he used recently on the internet said he is obese, “although I have the body fat percentage of an athlete”, he says. He reckons his diet is pretty good but he could probably do with eating more fruit.
“I shop once a week and try to find the good deals,” says the human health and disease studies student. While he doesn’t usually have breakfast he chows down on whatever is the cheapest student special for lunch. “A curry, stew or lamb thing most of the time,” he says.
Dinner might be a “Marks and Spencer meal a few times a week, I might cook two or three times”. He usually stays within his €60 budget and puts this down to planning his meals for the week.
Alcohol factors an extra €15 or €20 into his budget. “I’m not a massive drinker, so I buy a crate for cheap from the wholesalers or a bottle of whiskey and spread it out.”
McFarland says the choices students make now will affect them in later life. “The great thing is that they have a choice, and small changes now can make a big difference,” she says. “Eat well to feel well is good to remember,” she adds.
WHAT'S ON THE MENU?
BREAKFAST:Make your own fruit yoghurt by blending/mixing together a banana, a kiwi/berries, some natural yoghurt and a half-tsp honey. To make a nourishing smoothie, just add in some orange juice or milk.
OR
A boiled egg and some German rye bread from Lidl/Aldi. Use a little real butter.
OR
Porridge: soak oats overnight (in milk/water) for quicker cooking and easier digestion and cook the next morning in a little extra milk/water. Grate/chop in some apple, a few walnuts, a sprinkling of cinnamon and half-tsp of honey.
SNACK:A small handful of dried fruit and raw nuts – mixes can be bought cheaply in most supermarkets.
LUNCH:Usually from the canteen or could be brought in a lunch-box to save money – a wholemeal pitta bread with a small tin of sardines/tuna and salad from the canteen.
OR
Baked potato with chilli or beans and salad. OR
Vegetable soup with salad and chicken/cheese or wholemeal bread and a small piece of cheese.
SNACK:Fruit, a couple of oatcakes and peanut butter.
DINNER:Try to take turns cooking in the house so you save money by buying in bulk and you have to cook only once or twice per week. A few alternatives to pasta:
Fish pie - made easily with frozen or fresh fish (eg haddock, salmon,) cooked in a pan with 1 tsp of olive oil and butter, some chopped onions, garlic and mushrooms, a little milk or cream, sea salt and black pepper.
Transfer to an ovenproof dish and and top with mashed potato (4-5 medium potatoes cooked in boiling water, mashed with a little milk and seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and nutmeg). Sprinkle with a little grated cheese and brown in the oven.
Vegetable Chickpea Curry- this takes about 15 minutes to make and is always sure to impress fellow housemates! Sauté a chopped onion and 2 chopped cloves of garlic (you can also add a small piece of chopped ginger and 1 red chilli if you want to really impress) in 1 tbsp of olive oil until softened.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and pop in some chopped mixed veg (eg courgette, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots) to partly cook for 4-5 minutes. Then plunge them into a bowl of cold water until you need them.
Next add in 1 tbsp of medium/hot (whichever you prefer) curry powder to the onion mix, then throw in 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, half tin coconut milk, the veggies and 1 tin of chickpeas and some frozen peas – bring to a boil, simmer for a few minutes and serve with some basmati rice. You can use chicken/beef strips instead of chickpeas by browning them with the onions and garlic.
Super-quick dinners:Smoked mackerel (in vacuum packs from all supermarkets) heated under the grill with some salad and rice/potato. Make a dressing by mixing together 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp lemon juice.
Sugar-free baked beans(that student staple!) heated with half tsp curry powder and served with some wholemeal bread, salad and above dressing.
Wholemeal pitta breadwith shop-bought falafels, hummus and salad.
€50 SHOPPING LIST FOR STUDENTS
Good Complex Carbs & Fibre Wholemeal Bread:
Rye bread (from Lidl/Aldi): €1
Whole meal pitta breads: about €2
Bag of basmati brown rice: about €2
Small bag of potatoes: about €2
Porridge oats: about €2
Fruit & Veg
Bag of apples: about €2
Bag of bananas: about €2
Bag of frozen raspberries: €2
Head of lettuce: about €1
Head of broccoli: about €2
Bag of carrots: about €2
Bag of onions: about €1
Garlic: about €1
Good Protein Foods
Tin of sardines: about €1
Tin of tuna: about €1
Tin of sugar-free baked beans: about €1
Bag of frozen unbattered fish, eg haddock or two free-range chicken fillets = same price as whole free-range chicken: €6
Lean beef mince 1lb: €4
Natural probiotic yoghurt: €1.50
Block of cheese, ie feta/cheddar: about €3
Milk/rice milk: about €2
Good Fats
Fish – as above
Olive oil: €4
Mixed bag nuts, seeds and dried fruit: about €3
Real butter: about €1.50
