Story by Christian Garay
Staff Writer
Does this sound familiar? After hitting the snooze button about a million times, you rush out of your home. Forget about making a healthy lunch, arriving to school on time is more important.
After two 80-minute classes, your stomach starts grumbling. Fortunately, you’re not alone.
By the time lunch rolls around the lines for a quick bowl of grease from The Lancer Cafe stretch beyond the covered lunch area. When school ends, your hunger sets in, again, so you head to the refrigerator and get a cold slice of pizza or prepare a bowl of cereal.
If this is you, you aren’t alone. A typical school day is making it harder for students to make healthy food choices.
With the hurried schedule, fast-food and junk seem like the fastest solutions to hunger. Unfortunately, these foods are also the fastest way to obesity and Type II diabetes. There is a healthy way to eat enough to satisfy your hunger.
The first step is to visit a grocery store and buy fresh food. According to an article on Teambeachbody.com, it is important to start on the store’s edges–the produce and fresh meat section–before moving in to the highly processed food in the center aisles.
“When I go to the market I always get food that I can make for the whole week. It’s so much better than getting cheap foods full of saturated and trans fat, it makes a big difference in the way I feel and function. And the the best part is that its quick” said Bishop Amat sophomore, John Duque.
The second step is as easy as making your own lunch.
A great tip for eating a healthy lunch without wasting any time to do your homework for your next class is to just bring your own. Instead of waiting in those extremely long lines with people who push and shove as if their lives depended on it, bring your own lunch. And no, its not as hard as it sounds.
“I couldn’t’ stand the food at school, it always left me with a stomachache. That’s why I bring my own lunch now, usually a sandwich or pasta salad” said Amat senior Anissa Vega.
The night before a busy school day measure out foods and prepare a nice salad or deli meat sandwich with some fruit on the side. It can even be something as simple as a fruit salad mixed with some yogurt which only takes about five minutes to prepare. When you look at the greasy foods sold at schools what sounds like a better choice?
The third step is conquering the fast-food restaurants. It’s all about making the right choices when it comes to fast-food. Don’t go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac with extra dressing, instead maybe order a salad and a hamburger.
By doing simple things like that will reduce any eater’s fat and calorie intake while getting them full. After that it is all uphill, health will improve as well as energy.
“I must admit, I love fast food. But making the healthy choices helps me get through the day a lot better than junk does” said Junior Ruben Meza.
