In the (good) mood for food

I am very interested in lifestyle blogging and mental health, so I wanted to incorporate my interests with my blog posts. Many media marketers tend to talk about their relationship with every day things, such as food and diet. By being honest and open, yet factual and helpful, I believe a marketer is trustworthy when they speak about their own experiences. So, I decided to make one about university, and how keeping to eating healthy can not only benefit you health-wise, but also encourages you to become confident, sociable and even helps your mental health.

When you first start university, things can become very confusing and more often than not, stressful. There is a lot of pressure because you are neither a child nor adult; still being in education and unable to financially support yourself, whilst still being expected to act like you know what you're doing in life. Despite wanting to fly the nest, the change from home life to student life can be a terrifying thing. Living and socialising with brand new people, having the pressure of living the 'crazy' student life and going out partying all the time, whilst still being pressured to do well in your studies. One thing that can also make or break your university experience is how and what you eat.

Many people talk about the obvious problems students have; finances, the balance between socialising and studying, the pressure of making friends for life, and truly finding your feet. But what people tend to gloss over are the small things can really hinder your time growing up and becoming an independent adult. Aspects of uni life that can be daunting and frightening can be made a little easier by doing productive things that will help you physically, mentally and emotionally. I found that food was a crucial part of university life, and how cooking helps lift your mood, makes you productive and keeps you healthy in more ways than one. Feed your body and brain the right things, and they will respond positively to you.

Lets backtrack a little first, though. From a young age I've always struggled when it came to eating. I've had mental and physical health implications that has caused my relationship with food to be a rocky one. I've suffered from countless stomach problems and dealt with anxiety from when I was a young teen, causing me to be off my food. I basically just ate to survive:I didn't enjoy it. I even had to keep a food diary for years to make sure i ate the right things, narrowing down the cause of my stomach problems. It basically made eating a chore to me. But as I got older I got a job in a cafe and I began learning, cooking and experimenting with food. I started to fall in love with making and eating new meals at home and I felt a sense of joy in cooking.

But when I first started University it became a chore again. I became very introvert and homesick, which is the last thing I expected from myself. I had always been a confident and talkative person, but I felt so out of my depth at uni that I shut myself off from people. As much as I wanted to be independent it suddenly made me feel isolated, depressed and quite frankly lonely. My skin went bad, my stomach problems returned and I felt helpless. As I felt mentally insecure, it started to physically affect me. After a long day at university, probably followed by hours of dance classes, I felt too lethargic and lazy to be cooking a meal for myself and so I starting buying ready meals, or just didn't eat at all (Or, luckily because home wasn't far from my halls of residence I ended up always getting the train to go home, thanks for all the emergency scrans mum).

'You are what you eat' sounds like such a cliche- you know that if you eat terribly you will face obesity or health problems, or if you eat well you'll be healthy but it means so much more than that. In order to look after yourself physically and mentally the right food and nutrition is crucial. Studies show that if your body is deprived of good nutrition it can lead to physical health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems. But it can affect you mentally, too. If you don't have a good diet you can start to feel strained, exhausted and completely unable to concentrate on uni work (not to mention the embarrassingly low tolerance from alcohol, my punishment for not eating enough/well was one too many hangovers for my liking).

Cooking experiences can be tailored to your own individual way of life, making you feel at ease with yourself and your surroundings. Maybe you need to find people you are comfortable eating with, or you eat alone. Maybe you are a vegan or love a big fat juicy steak. Or maybe your student loan may have just dropped and you're ordering from Deliveroo like there's no tomorrow, or you're so skint you're debating whether you need bread or loo roll more. It doesn't matter, because if you make it your own YOU are in control, and you automatically become more powerful and happy. If you try a little harder and put some time, care and effort into choosing the right foods you can always find tasty yet healthy foods that will improve your health, mood and lifestyle. Food is fluid, and can make a huge difference to people not just for physical and mental health reasons, but for people to express themselves culturally, openly and freely.

Whilst being at uni I've found even the smallest efforts and decisions can make you feel marginally better, like cooking a meal you've never tried before, or cleaning your room from top to bottom, or throwing things out you don't need anymore. These tiny things lead you closer to routines and patterns in your everyday life that start to make you feel at ease and like you have a sense of control or belonging.

Now, anyone who knows me will vouch for the fact that I could quite easily live off Domino's Pizza. I will cave in to a Chinese takeaway almost every time its offered, but you're allowed to have moments when you can treat yourself to the goodness of takeaways or fast food every now and then. This is about balancing your diet so you can excuse the takeaways because you know you've eaten healthily all week. Friday night is takeaway night for me, and that is a routine I've fallen in to through a combination of giving myself an incentive at the end of the week and trying out new and health foods leading up to it.

So if you're struggling to find your feet at uni, here are some helpful ways you can distract yourself regarding eating well and making good food, trust me your body will thank you for it. Online recipes or videos from Instagram or YouTube are ways to get healthy literally at the tips of your fingers, showing that the internet can be a positive place to feel better about yourself. Steering clear from accounts and websites that induce a lack of self-confidence are worth avoiding, and instead surround yourself with like-minded people who want to help rather than make you feel bad about yourself. I know that by starting uni in the right way, by doing little things such as routine meals, can really give you a sense of gratification and belonging. Don't let the trip to IKEA buying all your pots and pans go to waste because you only use your measuring jug to cook noodles in. Not that I would know anything about that...

Helpful Sources:

1. "The Hungry, Healthy Student Cookbook" This is budget friendly foods and quick and easy to make, not to mention healthy.

2. "Tasty" recipes - online videos are found all over Facebook, Instagram or YouTube that are so quick and easy to follow! they also have an app on the app store that lets you customise what you like and lets you save recipes for a later day. I struggle to know what to have for lunch so i always use their alternatives to sandwiches.

3. Literally anything Gordon Ramsey. I love him. Period.

4. Studentrecipes.com website that will find you any quick meal that's student friendly.

5. WebMD not only does this website give you a full overview about any sort of health information, including diet plans and food recipes, it also has a symptom checker and gives you any information you need if you require any health/medical conditions and can steer you in the right direction to a safe and healthy eating lifestyle.