Low-Priority Food: 4 Years None The Wiser

Many ‘starving students’ across the country find themselves without the necessary options, availability, funds and time needed to invest in and maintain a proper eating routine. Living with Mom and Dad may have meant good eats and stocked shelves all month, but these days it might take a care package or special event for a busy student to be able to indulge in the luxury of good food. Why do so many intelligent people neglect their bodies?

Health Canada recommends that the average twenty-year-old consume a daily minimum of five servings of vegetables and fruits, two servings of milk, two servings of meat or protein alternatives, and five servings of grain. This fictitious meal schedule comes nowhere close to providing a growing human body with the necessary elements needed to attain a healthy lifestyle. Yet the fact remains that students today rely on Egg McLauriers, Pizza Pizza, Coke, and Budweiser for their sustenance.

Senior students don’t have the same excuses as first-years. Technically they could go out and purchase the healthiest food on the planet. If they can get to the grocery store, if they can afford to, if they have the time to prepare real meals. For most this is simply too much hassle. Instead of picking up fresh foods often, they eat out of cans and boxes to minimize the frequency of trips back from the grocery store pushing a cart through the snow. Rather than pay top dollar for fresh meat, they seek out the 99-cent Mr. Noodles. An hour labouring over a hot stove can be avoided with a simple phone call to the pizza joint down the street. Convenience is the name of the game. Pre-packaged foods, fast food restaurants and soft drinks are more easily accessible. Whether the priority is an exam or Playstation, meals are an area where students can save some time and take the easy way out.