Content Sections

By Molly Bull, graduate student at the London Interdisciplinary School, and ANH intern

Article Contents:

  • Why Students? Exploring why studenthood is a great intervention point to establish better eating patterns and behaviours.
  • Eat Like a Student. Why do students eat the way they do? A deep dive into the multifaceted factors that influence eating.
  • Guidelines on a Budget. Looking at how the Food4Health 10 key guidelines can be adapted to the student context.

Why students?

University is possibly one of the most important intervention points to build nutritious, healthy eating patterns and behaviours in young people. For many, it’s the first-time leaving home, and leaving behind the food traditions of ones’ childhood household, and trying to transition to unfamiliar university lifestyles, accommodation, budgeting….and trying to nourish body and mind. It is where independent living is trialled and tested, cementing previously conditioned, or learning new, culinary skills, shopping and eating habits. That’s whether or not they’re beneficial to the overall health of the individual—most often the latter!



Molly Bull — on a mission to transform student diets and eating habits

The young graduate student is a complex specimen, freshly hatched as an adult, often trying to adapt to a new life while juggling complex schedules and multiple demands from academic staff. Anxiety, stress, a tight budget, and having a kitchen storage space that fits approximately six beers and a bag of pasta add to the complications of a student’s life.

And yet, very little guidance is given to students on how they can develop their individual health, eat fewer ultra-processed foods and more wholesome, even organic foods and ingredients, how to cook from scratch and meal-prep, and keep within a budget and time limit.

Looking for a solution to this seemingly impossible task gave me a mission: how can healthier eating be made more accessible to more students among the chaos of studenthood?

This article will open up the conversation surrounding what and how university students eat and their health, by diving into how the Alliance for Natural Health International’s (ANH-Intl) 10 key guidelines, derived from their new book ‘Reset Eating: Reset your health resilience by turning what and you eat into powerful medicine’ (2022), and its associated campaign, Food4Health, can be applied to the student experience. The guidelines are connected by considering how, what and when to eat, in order to stimulate greater emphasis on balancing and detoxifying the food we consume, minimising ultra-processed foods, and building metabolic flexibility, the natural metabolic state of humans that is infrequently attained in the modern world.

How I studied student behaviours and patterns around food

To further investigate this topic, I gathered first-hand opinions from students on how the guidelines could be more applicable to them. Both considering their individual health needs and their student context. This was done using cultural probes, which is a research tool to inquire about an individual’s, or a group’s, way of life. These probes are composed of creative activities, such as writing, taking photographs, drawing and mapping, that encourage the participant to track and give perspective on different factors of their lives over a given period of time, which may vary from a short snapshot to considerably longer durations.

In my own study as an intern at ANH, under the guidance of Melissa Smith and Rob Verkerk, I gave student participants three probes: firstly, to outline their average meal by dividing a plate into percentages of different food groups; secondly, I inquired about their thoughts concerning what health means to them, what are the barriers to eating healthily as a student and what can be done to overcome these barriers. Lastly, I asked participants to pick two of the 10 key guidelines and say how they would make them more accessible to their student context.

>>> Click on the image to download a PDF version of the infographic

What dictates the student food web

The student diet, like any modern human diet, is complex and has a string of interlinking factors that influence eating patterns and behaviours. Eating patterns being the “quantities, proportions, variety or combination of different foods, drinks and nutrients in diets, and the frequency with which they are habitually consumed”, and eating behaviours are considered “a complex interplay or physiology, psychology, social and genetic factors that influence meal timing, quantity of food intake, food preferences, and food selection”. The factors include:

Financial income

In 2021, The National Student Money Survey found that the living costs for UK students rose by 14%, in comparison to a 2.3% and 4.5% increase in the maximum maintenance loan in England and Scotland. This means that the average student’s maintenance loan falls short by £439 per month. In 2022, it was estimated that 10% of students across the UK used a food bank, and a staggering 82% were worried about making ends meet. In turn, 47% of these students reported that their diet suffered due to financial worries. 

Parental preferences in childhood

Parents establish roughly 70% of their children’s dietary behaviours, with children potentially considering parents’ norms and perceptions as an appropriate reference of what foods to consume. Whether having collective or separated family meals can affect parent and child interactions, what kind of food is served, how much is eaten during meals, and the frequency and length of each meal. This also includes whether children learn adequate culinary skills and build confidence to cook balanced meals. In a study conducted by Lavelle et al, they found that those who reported learning cooking skills as a child or teen had more confidence in their cooking practices and better diet quality. 

Stress

Interestingly, academic stress can be associated with poor diet quality and changes in eating patterns over the course of a term. This can be shown through increased snacking in the evenings during exam periods, having less time to cook more balanced meals from scratch and skipping meals.

In a systematic review of the association between diet quality and mental health in university students, it was reported that students who ate fresh and less processed foods (such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and fish) reported fewer mental health symptoms, compared to students eating pro-inflammatory and highly-processed foods (e.g. processed meats and sweetened beverages) who reported more mental health issues. This highlights a correlation between unhealthy foods acting as a stressor on bodily functions, by creating oxidative stress and damage to beneficial gut microbes, with mental health problems.

Time

Time encompasses being able to plan, organise, prepare meals and clean up afterward. Yet, with the fluctuations of academic demands and pressures, time to do these things is considered a significant barrier. Thus, easy fillers such as ready-made meals and highly-processed snacks become an incredibly convenient and flexible way to fit with studying periods.

Space

Having a suitable cooking and storage space that is convenient to use is not always the norm for university students. I remember during my first year sharing a kitchen with 13 other students, with a drawer of freezer space if you were lucky, and a mini-fridge in each room which could not keep fruits and vegetables fresh nor hold a decent food shop. This made meal-prepping super difficult, and meant a lot of my meals were unbalanced, highly- or even ultra-processed or contained few vegetables. It’s incredibly important for young people to prepare food and cook in a space that is comfortable, clean and convenient. This is to grow a better relationship and attitude towards food, food preparation and cooking, and create space for experimentation and enjoyment of the process.

Macrosystem

The macrosystem consists of influences from the media, social norms, food production and distribution systems, along with food accessibility and availability. A good example of this is the staggering statistic found by Cancer Research, revealing that 86% of UK 11 to 19 year olds are exposed to junk food advertisements on social media. This can be partnered with the finding that ultra-processed foods make up more than half of the total dietary energy consumption in the UK. Furthermore, this can be correlated with the development of food into products meeting the ‘bliss point’, which is used to create the greatest amount of craveability, in ultra- and highly-processed foods to encourage consumers to eat and buy more.    

Guidelines on a budget

It is important to note that ANH’s Food4Health guidelines are not to be taken as separate recommendations, but as a synthesis of ways to build an holistic approach to your health. All 10 can be brought together through the concepts of mindful eating and food agency. Mindful eating, put simply, is “paying attention with an open, non-judgemental mind to what and how you eat”, this includes listening to what your body needs, consuming in the present moment and taking time to feel the full sensory experience of eating. Food agency can be defined as “one’s ability to adapt their cooking practice and overcome challenges such as limited time and money, and imperfect physical environment”.  

Using the findings from the cultural probes, I have altered the guidelines to adapt them specifically to student life.

Guideline 1: Meal balance

Eating a balanced diet is essentially accounting for all your bodily needs. After consulting with a fellow student, she spoke of how it’s unrealistic to consider everyday meals in numbers as it doesn’t represent the way we eat nor the differing molecular structure of foods. For this to be accessible to students, it would be helpful to view this guideline as gathering the basic essentials in a meal, to build variety and make sure one food group doesn’t dominate the other. Each meal doesn’t have to be a measurement.  

Guideline 2: Avoid highly- and ultra-processed foods

Avoiding highly- and ultra-processed foods does not have to be as restrictive and unpleasurable as it sounds. The first step is to know what and where they are. The Nutrition Foundation has a list of the most common ones—and yes, supermarket bread is among them! Take this guideline as a stepping stone, can you avoid eating these ultra-processed foods, meals and snacks ‘x’ times a week? Or even, can you recreate those food types without using ultra-processed ingredients—from scratch? Most foods are a mixture of unprocessed and processed, yet can still be a lot healthier (and often cheaper) if home-made. It is mainly the industrial process of adding colours, flavours, emulsifiers and other additives that makes foods ultra-processed, which can eliminate nutrients and have dire effects on the body if they become the primary form of sustenance.

Sometimes it’s just about experimenting with making things from scratch to build confidence and efficiency. Social media platforms, like Instagram and Tik Tok, have endless, easy student-friendly recipes that can be used to help with meal-prep and practice cooking. Lastly, you don’t have to try this alone, if you have flat-mates you’re comfortable with, maybe make a meal together that you can all share and enjoy.

Guideline 3: Consume a rainbow every day

Decorate your plate with a variety of coloured foods, using the balanced meal guideline. This does not necessarily have to look like just like the Buddha Bowls you see circling on social media, but could even be a wholegrain pasta dish accompanied with a combination of colourful tasty herbs, home-made sauces, vegetables and good quality protein sources. Secondly, be creative with your food shop, mix-up what you buy each week and check your shopping basket for colour and vibrancy. There are six colours you should look for in plant foods, these making up what’s called the ‘phytonutrient spectrum’: green, red, yellow, orange, blue/black/purple and white/tan.

Guideline 4: Avoid high temperature cooking

Allowing your food to cook slowly can be a challenge in a student’s busy life. “A luxury”, as one student put it. It’s undoubtedly easier and more efficient to fry your food in a highly processed and refined seed oil, than letting it simmer slowly or putting it in a slow cooker. But it’s the cheap veg oils and high temperatures that does so much damage to our gut and health, creating nasty compounds like polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCs) that have been linked to an increased risk of cancer. So think about steaming your veg, simmering your food on the hob by being a bit more organised with your time, or even doing a slow roast over a longer period (which means you also don’t decimate your oven with spattering food!)

Guideline 5: Eating the right fats

Connected with the guideline above, it’s important to cook with fats that don’t release toxins when heated. However, healthy fats like organic virgin or cold-pressed olive oil can be expensive, so I recommend the cheaper options of organic unscented coconut oil, avocado oil and butter or ghee for cooking. Like any foods, try to avoid sources of fats that are highly-processed, and explore eating foods containing healthy fats like avocados and eggs.

Guideline 6: Consume as much organic produce as your budget allows

I always thought that buying organic fruits and vegetables was financially inaccessible for a food shopping budget of £25 per week. But let me tell you how wrong I was. In all of the small independent organic shops, in London, for example, I can easily obtain all the fruits and vegetables I need for the week for £10-15. This is because the majority of produce isn’t pre-packaged, so you can take exactly what you need. Another affordable way to buy organic produce is using online services like ODDBOX, Well Easy, Riverford and Too Good To Go. The first three deliver right to your door, so you can spend less time going to the supermarket or independent shop. ODDBOX is great for splitting a fruit and vegetable box between 2-5 person households, of which you can pay around £6 each per week. This will allow you to have balanced and rainbow meals that are affordable and fresh.

Guideline 7: Giving your body time to rest and digest after eating

ANH-Intl recommends giving your body 5 hours between meals to allow your body to fully digest what you’ve eaten and allow the immune-based, inflammatory reaction that occurs every time we expose our gut to food to dissipate. Ways to explore this as a student can include the following:

  • Mindful eating allows you to lose the rigid rules of dieting and eating to notice fullness and the changing of needs in your unique body.
    • Stay hydrated, dehydration can lead to fatigue in which it's easy to gravitate towards food to get a quick burst of energy, when what you might really need is water.
    • Taste, Smell, Feel your meal! Allow yourself to be sensually engaged with your food and take your time to eat it, noticing when you feel full.
    • Sleep. Similar to water, if you haven’t slept well or enough you may have low energy and want to substitute that with food. So be mindful of whether your body needs food or rest.
  • Intuitive eating can be partnered with mindful eating, in terms of embodying what you eat, noticing when your body is ready to eat and how much to consume. This does not have to be obsessive or disciplined, but a gentle and kind inquiry into what your body needs. This may naturally allow you to notice whether your body still needs to rest and digest from the previous meal or not.
  • Healthier snack options. Sometimes as a student it will be inevitable to snack, so try to make your own less processed versions of the highly processed ones you would get at the supermarket.

Guideline 8: Consume 1.5 Litres of water per day

Take a bottle of water with you to lectures and exams and try to drink throughout. Water can have such a big impact on attention, short-term memory, concentration and overall academic performance, so keep It filled throughout the day. If you can afford a simple carbon filter, or better, filter your water to take out some of the toxins that are now ubiquitous in the municipal water supply, especially in large urban areas.

Guideline 9: Avoid foods that trigger sensitivity

This links again to intuitive eating and being in touch with what foods potentially make you feel fatigued, unwell or are linked with breakouts and inflammation in the skin. Of course, this is more obvious if you have known allergies or intolerances. But if not, explore and really notice what foods boost your energy, focus and mood. Also note which ones make you feel like they sap you of energy or cause you to feel bloated after eating. You can try exclusion diets to see how you feel when you omit foods you think you might be intolerant or sensitive to. But be careful – because eating a balanced diet is really important! You want to get to a place where you really learn what makes your body and mind feel good after eating. Be aware, that we’re all individuals, so some of your flat-mates might react differently to different foods. Having said this, I’m not a nutritionist or doctor, so please seek advice from a professional if you’re noticing you have ongoing negative physical reactions from particular foods and you could do with help and guidance on what you should be eating.

Guideline 10: Take high quality supplements to fill any nutritional gaps

For this guideline, please seek advice from a suitably qualified and experienced nutritional practitioner on the types of nutrient supplements you should take. It’s important to buy from a reputable company, and I’ve personally found that the following companies have a good range of supplements, but there are many others too:

These can be found online or any whole food shop near you.

Concluding

Lest we forget, improving one’s diet is not solely up to the student. Young adults need guidance and accessible options to healthier foods, convenient cooking spaces and culinary skills from universities, accommodation staff, parents and each other. It’s okay to reach out and ask for help. And remember! Be kind to your body. A big ask I know, yet developing a mindset of compassion and acceptance of your unique bodily needs can allow a full embrace of the guidelines and path to healthier eating.  

Additional Resources

 

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