Yesterday, I took part in a “food forum” for my university, which basically meant that me and a couple other people sat down with the people in charge of the dining services and tell them what I thought. And it really got me thinking about my personal food choices.
I brought up yesterday that the only vegetarian options in the dining area were bread and salad, and that there was no real protein supplement for us. No almonds or other nuts, no clearly marked fake meat, no beans. And that’s really frustrating to me.
I really do try to eat well. I’m not the kind of person to take the freedom of college and eat cake for dinner. I force myself to make better choices than that, but it’s hard. My school has a pasta bar, a grill (for grilled cheese and hamburgers and chicken fingers), a salad bar, a Mongolian stir fry station, a sandwich station, and a “from home” station, where kids and bring home recipes and have them cooked as a meal option. Sometimes there’s a wrap station, or a smoothie station.
But at none of those stations really have protein options for vegetarians, unless you count the tofu at the stir fry station. But even that protein is smothered in teriyaki sauce. The pasta bar is just bread and tomato sauce (or alfredo, I suppose, but that much fat makes me nervous), the grill options for vegetarians are bread and cheese, the sandwich station has cheese and veggies, but no protein, and the wrap station rarely has veggie options, and when they do, they’re kind of nasty.
I’d be lying if I said I was making the most of my health while I’m away from home. I’m always too sleep deprived or busy to work out, but that’s not an excuse. I get desert with almost every meal. I don’t get salads as often I should.
Don’t I get points for wanting to do well, though? I don’t want to be stuck in this body for the rest of my life. It’s not a fun body to live in. Being constantly conscious of the way I look when I’m sitting is depressing.
I want to change, but my options, or at least the options I can afford, are slim. Hopefully the forum last night will be helpful. I asked for lettuce options at the salad bar (instead of bread), meat substitutes at more stations, and a bean option. Let’s just hope that once I start feeling better about my diet, I can start getting off my butt and into the gym.
