By Kiara Paul |Staff Writer|

Every student knows the struggle of balancing work, school and a social life, as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle. There is more involved than just eating healthy foods. You also need to enjoy food and learn to balance eating out with eating healthy and exercising.

With a busy schedule, from time to time many students do not have the time or simply forget to focus on eating healthy and exercising.

Fast food and microwavable meals may seem like the most convenient choice when you have 15 minutes to eat, but the effect it has on your health can be really harmful in the long run.

For maintaining a healthy diet and weight, Women’s and Children’s Health Network provides a short list of tips:

• Eat three main meals per day of smaller portions and don’t skip breakfast!
• Choose water over sugary drinks
• Choose high fiber, low glycemic carbohydrates
• Wait 20 minutes after eating to decide if you want a second serving
• Enjoy meals with the TV switched off
• Include 60 minutes of physical activity each day

Now as students, living in dorms, running from class to class, finishing homework, and working late into the night, this list may seem very difficult to actually follow. But slowly working toward your goal to eat better and exercise will show improvement.

Zach Holbert is a CSUSB student living here on campus, and he explained how his eating habits have changed since school has started. “It’s hard to eat healthy, I have eaten a lot of mac’n cheese because it’s fast and easy.”

If you are wondering, what can I eat to improve my diet? Here is a short food list provided by Best Colleges, for quick and easy dorm room eating:

• Bagged salad greens
• Fruit of choice
• Single-serve greek yogurt
• Milk
• Whole-grain cereal
• Diced celery, carrots, onions or zucchini (fresh or bagged and pre-cut)
• Oatmeal
• Honey
• Dried fruit
• Single-serve minute brown rice
• Granola bars
• Trail mix
• Popcorn

Now constantly on the run, we are bound to eat out a lot. So here are some ideas for better food choices from Women’s and Children’s Health Network:

Instead of…                                                                             Go for…

-Large burger, fries and soft drink meal                                        -Grilled chicken burger or wrap with extra                                                                                                    salad and juice or water

-Supreme deep pan pizza and soft drink                                      -Vegetarian thin crust pizza and mineral                                                                                                      water

-Large latte or hot chocolate                                                        -Small skim latte

With some new ideas for better eating, what can you do for quick exercises throughout a busy day? Here are a few ideas to get in a mini workout between classes.

On campus, the Recreation and Welness Center offers multiple classes and a fitness center, all free with student ID.

The Rec Center also has personal trainers you can hire to help you reach your fitness goals.

If you are on a time crunch, simply walking briskly to classes or taking the stairs are both little ways to burn any excess calories.

Even fitness videos on YouTube that you can do in your room between homework assignments, like Blogilates or Fitness Blender, burn calories and are super fun.

Even with a crazy busy student life, there are little ways everyone can have a healthier lifestyle. Eating an apple instead of a bag of chips or taking stairs instead of the elevator gets you one step closer.

Tips for eating well and more on young adult health can be found on campus at the Health Center or online.