Eating Well on a Student Budget

Eating well on a student budget in Reading – it doesn’t have to mean eating fast.

If budgets are tight, and especially if time is even tighter, it’s easy to short-cut on what you eat.  It can seem a lot easier to visit the kebab or fried chicken shop on the way home, or get a Big Mac in place of the steamed vegetables you suspect you should be eating. 

And eating healthily – isn’t that something to worry about a few years down the road?

Sadly – or perhaps, predictably – the answer is an inconvenient “no”.  But, why not?

A diet high in saturated fat and refined carbohydrates can begin to take its life-limiting effect from childhood onwards.  One study*, for example, found atherosclerosis in the arteries of one in six teenagers – real lesions beginning to stiffen and narrow blood vessels.  

Gram for gram, fat also contains more calories than protein or carbohydrates – that’s why the body stores most of its energy in that form.   If you put on kilos as a student, the figures show that you’ll have a fight on your hands in losing it as your body defends its new “set point” weight.   

The non-fat part of the Big Mac – the fluffy white bun – is an example of the highly refined carbohydrates, which, along with sugary drinks, are quickly converted to glucose in the bloodstream, forcing your body to produce a sudden burst of insulin to transfer it into your cells.  The result of these insulin “spikes” is that more of what you eat is stored as fat, and the surplus of the hormone will lower your blood sugar to the point where you’re soon hungry again.

So what’s the answer? 

Whole books have been written about that, but this is the short-hand.  Discover the art and joy of cooking and eating a diet containing plenty of vegetables, using olive oil, and limiting white (refined) carbohydrates and especially sugar.  Even simple, unambitious, dishes that are easy to cook, can quickly prove to be tastier than fast-food, and if you’re sensitive to what your body’s feedback, you’ll feel less sluggish, less hungry and probably have more energy.  And your weight will virtually manage itself.  

We’re lucky in Reading that, far from being a “food desert” where fresh vegetables and fruit are miles from home, there are plenty of supermarkets selling affordable green groceries.  

All House4Student houses have fully equipped kitchens where these simple dishes are easy to prepare and clear away.  

I’m not picking on MacDonald’s.  The chain offers a number of healthier dishes, including garden salads with some of its meal packages.   But the cost-calorie-nutrition return just doesn’t add up when you have a supermarket within walking or cycling distance and a kitchen at home.

A Big Mac medium value meal could include a Big Mac (around 500 calories), and a medium-sized pack of chips (“fries”) and regular Coca Cola (also around 500 calories).  For an average student, that’s half your calorie requirement for the day, and far more than half of the amount of saturated fat you should be eating.  But it contains a much lower proportion of the nutrition, fibre and phytochemicals (the secret anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant ingredient of fruit and veggies) that you should be having.  

Also, it will cost you around £4.69 at the last count, money that would buy an equally filling but far more healthy alternative that’s easy to prepare.  More details on recipes another time, but here’s just a quick example – a baked potato, filled with a tuna, mayonnaise and onion topping and accompanied by steamed (or boiled) broccoli and frozen peas.  Delicious, cheap and full of natural goodness!

Robert Pigott is Adjunct Professor in the College of Communications at DePaul University in Chicago, USA

E. Murat Tuzcu, Samir R. Kapadia, Eralp Tutar, Khaled M. Ziada, Robert E. Hobbs, Patrick M. McCarthy, James B. Young, and Steven E. Nissen (2001).  High Prevalence of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Asymptomatic Teenagers and Young Adults Evidence From Intravascular Ultrasound. Circulation.   Volume 103, Issue 22, 5 June 2001, Pages 2705-2710.