HEALTH: DONT BE DECEIVED, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

By Kolade Olakiitan.

Do you know you are a reflection of what you eat, and whatever you take into your body has the capacity to either improve your health or be detrimental to your health? Eating habits refer to the patterns and behaviors that people have around food and eating. This includes the types of food people eat, how much they eat, when they eat, and how they feel about food. Eating habits can be healthy or unhealthy, and they can have a big impact on overall health and well-being. It is whatever you eat that your body breaks down and makes use of, which in turn reflects your health status. A lot of medical conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, and heart problems, are traceable to patterns of food consumption.

Healthy eating goes beyond a conscious awareness of your calorie intake. You can be eating the right kind of food and still not eat healthy because you can either overeat by eating more than the amount of food needed or undereat by not eating well enough or not having a balanced diet.

It is common among students to eat whatever is available or inexpensive. While forgetting to pay attention to what they consume. Statements like “I’m too lazy to cook and “I don’t like vegetables or fruits” are rampant among students. Some even go as far as saying, “Anything goes,” while others prefer to snack on junk food, sweets, and carbonated drinks.

Due to the activities we engage in as students, it is important that we are deliberate about the kind of food we eat. It should not just be about eating good and nutritious meals once a week but also about forming the habit of eating food that replenishes the used-up nutrients in the course of carrying out our activities. Having an unhealthy eating habit as a college student has a way of shaping your eating patterns after graduation. Here are some examples of unhealthy eating habits:

1. Skipping meals: This is one of the most common bad eating habits among students. As a student, it is very easy to skip meals, especially breakfast, due to early morning lectures or day-long practicals or classes. It goes without saying that skipping meals, especially the first meal of the day, lowers your energy level and concentration throughout the day. You’ll then notice constant fatigue and tiredness while reading and during the course of the day. The reason is not farfetched; it is because the brain does not have enough glucose to function as it should.
2. Excessive consumption of junk food and trans-fats: Trans-fats are basically oils that are convertible into solids, which can be found in snacks like biscuits, cakes, cookies, pizza, pies, and fried foods such as doughnuts, fried chicken, and pastries, all classified under junk food. Excessive consumption of trans fat can cause the buildup of fat in the bloodstream, which can later affect the heart. It is believed that overconsumption of trans fat is linked to heart problems.
3. Overeating: This can stem from emotional eating, excessive cravings, eating disorders, overindulgence of sugar, chocolate, and sweets, and even overeating nutritious food. Some individuals can eat until their stomachs cannot receive any more food.
4. Not drinking enough water: thirst contributes to headaches, low concentration, low energy, dizziness, bad mood, and even mouth odor when the mouth is dry. It is recommended that at least 8 cups of water be consumed daily.
5. Poor food choices: Regularly eating processed and fried foods, sugary foods, and snacks is harmful to your health. Processed foods lose nutrients in the process of making them, which is why eating too much of them cannot cover the nutrients your body needs.
6. Same food cycle: When your diet consists of the same kind of food—rice, spaghetti, yam, and other carbohydrates—and there are no veggies in your diet, you are not eating healthy meals. As students, there is a tendency to go through the cycle of rice to bread to noodles to yam to spaghetti and back to rice for weeks without even realizing it.

Other examples of unhealthy eating habits are mindless eating (watching TV and pressing the phone while eating), eating too much salt, not eating at all, and other forms of eating disorders. Unhealthy eating habits can contribute to various medical conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, and kidney problems.

Having discussed what unhealthy eating habits are, it is important to know what healthy eating habits are and how to be intentional about them. Forming healthy eating habits is not a walk in the park but one that requires intentionality. You must have heard that habits are formed after twenty-one days of doing a particular thing; however, studies have shown that on average, it takes 66 days or even more to form a habit. Having a healthy eating habit basically means eating a balanced diet consistently.

Your diet should contain the nutrients your body needs for it to properly function. An advantage of this is that you don’t have to spend too much to eat well as a student. It is not until you shop for all the available fruit at the supermarket that you can eat well; instead, one fruit per day is enough to keep your body healthy. You can start to eat a balanced diet by rationing the amount of carbohydrates you take in and incorporating vegetables and fruits into your daily diet. As much as possible, reduce the intake of trans fat. The amount of “puff-puff,” doughnuts, fries, chicken, pizza, etc. that you eat should be reduced. You can make a mental plan of how much of it you want to consume weekly and stick to it.

1. Do not procrastinate. Forming a healthy eating habit is not about saying, “I’ll start next week” and pushing it until you end up not doing it. Start immediately.
2. Do not skip meals. If you must due to one reason or another, ensure you cover for them. Breakfast should not be skipped. You can have wholesome grains like cereal as breakfast because breakfast should not be a heavy meal.
3. Avoid overeating: Discipline yourself through portion rationing when you notice that you are overeating.
4. Soda cut-down: Cut back on the amount of soda you take. Sometimes you might feel tired during the day, and the next thing that may come to mind is to get a bottle of Coke, which can be replaced with a bottle of water.
5. Plan your meals: If you are the type that just snacks on the go, you should plan your meals ahead of time so you don’t have to eat whatever is available.
6. Stay hydrated: Drink water, not only when you’re thirsty or done with a meal.

There are a thousand and one quotes on the importance of health and the value of eating well. However, they have no meaning until you choose to embrace the wisdom embedded in them and make healthier choices. Make that decision right now, and watch how your body will thank you for it.