Healthy Eating For Kenyan Campus Students

Comrades must say no to chipo mwitu! It’s also time to kiss that pizza goodbye. But I don’t mean like a forever kinda goodbye. No, I mean it’s time to start taking less of these junk food. Campus sets us up for food-failure. Honestly. You can have the best collection of tv series and movies (to ‘watch’ with bae, hehee), those very affordable but classy clothes but when it comes to food, anything high in calorie and sugary is all you ever think of eating. Let’s be candid for a second here, you can’t be having bhajia every lunch and then jog in the mornings and expect to see results. Here’s a small guide to healthy eating while on campo. Good diet also adds a boost in your sex life.

Eat fruits, a lot

When you get a craving for something tasty, how about you skip that kebab and replace it with an apple. A  kebab usually goes for Ksh.40 and an apple will go for Ksh.30. If you still don’t feel ‘quenched’, add a watermelon on top. Fruits have important vitamins that will help the body. They’re also available and they don’t make you feel tired after eating them. You can even go for the option of a pudding. By eating fruits you not only get vitamins, but you help your body in developing a healthy skin. The best way is to replace junk food cravings with fruits. You’ll soon realize that it’s actually better than what you’ve been having.

Stock up on healthy snacks

If you live in the hostels or have an apartment, you probably buy food in bulk. This is the food that will last you for a month or so. When going to the supermarket to buy things such as rice, unga and such, it’s easy to be tempted to buy soda or juice. Or even cookies, cakes and a packet of biscuits. The best option would be to buy nuts (such as groundnuts), canned fruits if you can, popcorns (they are super-healthy if you didn’t know), bio yogurt. Forget about sweet drinks that don’t add that much value to your body.

Pay attention to your body

If you’re hungry, you’re hungry. Wishing it away won’t make you less hungry. So if before lunch hour your stomach is screaming for attention, forget about that sausage. Rethink how you take your food. Get yourself a mix-fruit smoothie instead. That one goes for Ksh.100 or Ksh.150. Also, healthy yogurt will do here. The same goes for when you’re studying late into the night, or watching that movie but it happens that the food you ate for supper has already been digested.  Stock up with something healthy. If you can, Weetabix is better. It’s full of fibres and that’s good for your body. If you’re thirsty for a good drink, water or a healthy juice will do.

Don’t forget to take lots of water

Drink up, who knows, you might be taken to the desert the following day. I cannot even list the full benefits of always staying hydrated.

Prepare a food routine

Breakfast- throw in some eggs especially if you have an exam, they give you energy to push you through a few hours. You can also have something high in fibre and still good for your body such as sweet potatoes or cassava.

Lunch- try not to skip lunch and make sure you eat to be filled up. That will give you energy to go a few more hours in the day.

Supper- have a meal with vegetables if possible and for meat, go for white meat but red meat will still do. Take red meat with caution though, not too much in a week.