To get more tips on healthy eating and learn about the best eateries around campus, visit our food blog and Eat Me or Not.

Food. We can’t live without it, and it is certainly available to us everywhere in every way, shape and form. Since we can’t live without it, it is very important to make the right food choices in order to have a long and happy life.

As college students, this isn’t always the most easy thing to do. Wendy Cunningham, a nutrition professor at Sacramento State, said being independent for the first time is one reason why some college students gain that dreaded freshman 15.

She said that up until the point of going to college, someone else made food choices for students, and so some may not have learned how to make healthy food choices for themselves.

In college, parents are not around to tell us to finish our vegetables, or putting the kibosh on pizza for dinner four nights in a row.

“Most people prefer the unhealthy choices, as sugar and fat enhance the flavor and since we think we shouldn’t have them and want them even more,” Cunningham said. “The huge availability of them once in college makes them very tempting and we often indulge.”

This is true, because a lot of the food choices on campus are fast food, which doesn’t always make it easy to eat healthfully at school. Louella Ilog, a health science major here at Sac State, said that Round Table would be her favorite place to eat on campus. But to stay healthy she prefers Subway, which just opened next to the Hornet Bookstore last week.

“Subway would be my choice, just because it’s not as greasy as all of the stuff that is out here,” she said.

For those looking for ways to avoid putting on extra weight while away at school, Cunningham offered up some helpful tips for eating healthy on the go at Sac State.

With our crazy schedules and mounting piles of homework, caffeine can be a necessity for some students. This makes sense, since the campus dining guide on the Sac State website lists six Java City locations on our campus.

Some of the drinks, like lattes and mochas, contain a lot of sugar and fat, but there are ways to avoid sabotaging your diet and still get that all-important caffeine fix. Cunningham suggested asking for nonfat milk and leaving the whipped cream off of your beverage.

Despite all of the unhealthy food that is available to us on campus, Cunningham also had some other suggestions for how to make more health-conscious decisions when purchasing lunch on campus. She said that instead of having mayonnaise or special sauce on sandwiches and hamburgers, mustard is the way to go.

She also said that some other options for food are teriyaki chicken rice bowls, soft tacos or burritos.

Of course, there is always the option of packing a lunch for school, or even cooking dinner at home. Ilog enjoys cooking pasta at home. She said that this is because she has always loved Italian food, and pasta is relatively easy to cook.

Veeramrit Randhawa, a biology major, has a favorite meal to cook that is commonly known as a breakfast item, but will suffice for any time of day: omelets.

“It’s frigging delicious,” Randhawa said. “You put sausage, eggs, ham, spices; it tastes so bomb!”

Having an omelet is a great way to start the day, regardless of the cleanup factor, because eggs are a good source of protein. Proteins are important because they help build important parts of our bodies, such as muscles, skin and blood, according to Mypyramid.gov

Eggs are pretty high in cholesterol with 215 milligrams of cholesterol in one egg, which is 71 percent of your daily recommended value of cholesterol. Mypyramid.gov said that it is the yolk of the egg that contains cholesterol, and that egg whites have no cholesterol. If concerned about cholesterol, make your omelets or scrambled eggs using the egg whites only.

One quick, on-the-go breakfast idea involves eggs, a pita, some cooked breakfast sausage and should only take about 10 minutes to make. Basically, just scramble some eggs, crumble some breakfast sausage in with the eggs until both are cooked. Fill a pita or two with the egg and sausage mixture, and you have a quick breakfast for your walk or drive to school.

Snacks are also important for pick-me-ups during the day. Cunningham said healthy alternatives to candy and chips are air popped popcorn, baby carrots and low fat cheese sticks.

When it comes to lunch and dinner, there are some small changes and things that can be added into meals to make them healthier, while still tasting delicious.

Instead of using regular pasta with your spaghetti and meatballs, try using whole grain pasta. Mypyramid.gov says that whole grains in general provide dietary fiber, and that whole grains reduce cholesterol, lower the risk of heart disease and help keep you regular, to put it politely. The website also says that whole grains make you feel fuller without extra calories.

Other ways to get whole grain in your diet is to eat whole grain bread and whole grain rice. One helpful tip to keep your whole grain rice and pastas from being chewy is to cook them longer than you would cook normal pasta or rice, by about five minutes.

Sneaking vegetables into already tasty meals is also a great way to eat the foods you like while getting all of the nutrients that vegetables offer.

Ramen noodles are often joked about as being a staple of the average college student’s diet, but there are things that can be done to make these noodles a little more nutritious. While cooking the noodles either on the stove or in the microwave, throw in some chopped up bell peppers and snap peas, or whatever veggies you prefer.

Mypyramid.gov also had some suggestions for ways to get in the two and a half cups of vegetables you need every day. It said to have a salad with dinner every night, planning meals around vegetables, and also to try ordering a pizza with vegetables only, instead of pepperoni and sausage.

It also suggests keeping cut up pieces of fruits and vegetables in the fridge for easy grab-and-go snacking.

Stephanie Dumm can be reached at [email protected]