Are your cabinets filled with cup-o-noodles and ramen? Do you find yourself ordering Jimmy John’s more than twice a week? You’re not alone. In general, college students have some of the worst nutritional habits around.
According to a study conducted by the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, college students have unhealthy eating habits that include skipping meals, excessive snacking and consuming foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol.
Despite this assertion there is still a considerable amount of young adults who make healthy dietary choices. Quite a few UW students that were questioned said they cut down their time ordering in or going out by shopping in bulk and preparing their own meals.
Laramie certainly has no shortage of grocery stores to facilitate this. With Wal-Mart and Albertsons on Grand Avenue and Safeway downtown, there are a variety of options for the community despite it being such a small area.
Rafer Cooley, a UW junior, sticks to a diet based on meat, veggies and other whole foods. Cooley said that limiting the amount he eats out helps him eat healthy while on a budget.
“I try to cook for myself as much as possible and eat out as little as possible and I feel like I can really control how healthy I eat that way,” Cooley says.
Cooley, who moved from Chicago to Laramie, insists that the transfer had no impact on his dietary options.
“I don’t feel that limited in Laramie. I think there are a few clean places to eat out like McAlister’s and plenty of grocery stores,” he says.
Cole Janzen, a junior marketing major, disagrees with Cooley. Janzen, a vegan, feels Wyoming has a very limited selection of restaurants. Janzen says vegan friendly places include most sub and burrito joints like Jimmy Johns or Qdoba. Taco Bell also has quite a few vegan options and, of course, Sweet Melissa’s, a vegetarian restaurant downtown.
“Wyoming is one of the harder places to be vegan, with only one real vegetarian restaurant and not a whole lot of establishments specializing in vegan things. Other parts of the country are stacked with all vegan restaurants or at least vegan options at normal restaurants,” Janzen says.
Although diverse food options may be hard to find in Wyoming restaurants, Laramie does have an alternative grocery option.
The Big Hollow Food Co-Op prides itself on offering natural, local and fresh grocery options. According to their website, their mission is to support local agriculture, provide healthy food options and empower our community.
Despite this store being filled with organic produce and vegetarian and vegan options, many students are unaware that Laramie has a co-op. Others feel the prices are too high to shop there exclusively.
“Even at grocery chains like Wal-Mart and Albertsons I stay away from organic produce because it is so expensive compared to inorganic options,” Cooley says.
As a vegan, Janzen finds the co-op to be one of his favorite places in Laramie to get food and produce from.
“I go there every time I’m out grocery shopping. They carry some of the more hard to find vegan items, such as dairy-free ice cream, Earth Balance mac’ and cheese and other kinds of substitutes you can’t really find at the other grocery stores around Laramie,” Janzen says.
