Surviving in the Dorms

Hello everyone. I apologize for the slow posting over the past few days; I was busy with the start of winter quarter here at OSU. If I hadn't mentioned it before, I live in a residence hall and eat on the University meal plan. Without access to a kitchen I am pretty limited to what I can eat here. As one would expect from a college campus, it can be rather difficult to eat according to a primal or paleo diet, what with all the pizza and beer. I'll briefly explore how I manage.

the dining hall options here at OSU are split into three distinct categories: D-I-Y, vegetarian/vegan, and "I don't give a shit about what I'm putting in my body." This last category is by far the most widely available; you've got your cheeseburgers, nachos, pizza, burritos, fried things, etc. I would throw into that category everything that gets covered in a sauce or between bread: the "ethnic" food (usually processed meats dipped in HFCS sauce, thrown on top of white rice), paninis, sandwiches, etc. I avoid this stuff, unless I'm getting a salmon patty or chicken breast, no bun, with lots of veggie toppings.

The second option is for the "health conscious", which means "vegetarian" at college. Weak salads, tofu, lots of soy products. Again, there isn't really an inherent healthiness to these options beyond more veggies (to replace the meat.) Many veggie and vegan dishes can pack just as much sugar, trans fat, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, MSG, and other nasty ingredients as "regular" dishes. I shit you not, there are a few dining halls that cater SPECIFICALLY to bread-based dishes. The 12th Avenue Bread Company serves, you guessed it, bread. Courtside Cafe/Juice 2 has lots of sugary smoothies ("made with real fruit!") to refuel after a workout, and there is no shortage of places to get your caffeine fix, as we have been tricked to believe we need (subject of another rant,..er, post.

And then we come to my safe haven, my love and joy, my salvation: the D-I-Y stations. The one that I most frequent is Across the Field, the salad bar at the Ohio Union. I eat here twice a day, and usually get the same thing. I thing that this option gives me the most nutritional bang for my severely ripped off buck. As you'll see below, my favorite salad consists of mixed greens (I think its spinach, purple cabbage, and dark lettuce), red onions, green peppers, green onions, carrots, chicken, eggs, tuna, avocado, mushroom, broccoli, cucumber, peperoncini, radish sprouts, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, and EVOO. Fortunately, they also offer a side of my favorite starch: baked sweet potato. This meal is, bar none, the most nutrition gathering of foods that I can procure on campus. Its delicious, and I know I'll get bored with it after a while, but it gets me a good amount of protein (I'd prefer some red meat or fatty fish, but chicken will do), healthy fats (monounsaturated fats in avocado and EVOO, plus Omega-3s in the walnuts), plenty of nutrients, and hardly any carbs, which I get from the potato.

The second best option on campus is Kennedy Commons, which features a number of "all you can eat" stations. I can usually snag some chicken, bacon (highly processed stuff, so not too much), plenty of eggs (liquid eggs, though), and a salad bar with about half of the options as Across the Field. I used to love going to Kennedy, but I found that I underestimated my intake

by loading up with lots of salad (low calorie, low carb), which justified plate after plate of "a little" bacon, eggs, or chicken. It became too easy to overeat. So I tend to stick with the Ohio Union, which is closer anyway, and I'm lazy after all.

Oh, and sometimes I enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. Good for the heart, don't ya know? [hiccup]