Work Hard, Play Hard: Healthy College Lifestyle Practices that Promote Balance
Every University of Michigan student understands how hectic the fall can get. After spending four luxurious months on summer break, re-acclimating to the college lifestyle, desperately trying to memorize your schedule, football Saturdays, club applications, social and pre-professional Greek Life recruitment and job hunting for the lucky upperclassmen comes swooping in like one big storm forming a looming cloud of anxiety.
In my opinion, balance is the most challenging but most
important achievements in college life. Most U of M students will try hard to
maintain balance between our dedication to our academics and our days/nights
off at bars or tailgate parties dancing on elevated surfaces. We all have our
days of running from class to class feeling over-exhausted and stressed, but I
have adopted some habits in an to try to avoid these days.
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| University of Michigan Tailgate 2015: Michigan vs. MSU |
In my opinion, balance is the most
challenging but most important achievements in college life. I’m not saying
that we shouldn’t have our days feeling completely overwhelmed and exhausted as
we run around campus like a crazy person trying to get things done on time,
because we wouldn’t be normal college students if we didn’t. However, there are
certain practices I have adopted in an attempt to avoid these days as much as
possible.
One way I attempt to feel more organized in my
busiest times is by managing my health. Whether it is maintaining a nutritious
diet, working out or taking personal “me” time to de-stress, a healthy lifestyle
makes an immense difference on my overall mentality, ability to focus, and overall
happiness. It allows me to control daily stresses, have more energy and stay
more positive and optimistic than I would be if I didn’t pay any attention to
my diet and overall fitness. After noticing how eating a healthy diet can
positively impact my life in more ways than one, I have developed a high
product and shopping involvement in the overall category of health food brands,
which moderates my purchase decisions and likelihood to buy food items from
brands that I know to be trustworthy in terms of their nutritional content
(Babin, 2016, p. 95).
Taking the time to Meal-prep has become my favorite hobby.
Even if I’m really procrastinating my homework, having prepared healthy food
options ready to make quick meals during the week gives me the satisfaction
that I have accomplished something productive. In this way, I place substantial
hedonic value on healthy produce and food products, as I feel content and happy
just by having them in my fridge or pantry (Babin, 2016, p. 29). On a particularly great meal-prep day, I feel like I
am as cool and confident as Beyoné with her sauté pan.
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My typical meal prep includes cooking sources of protein such as chicken, roasting veggies and cooking some quinoa, brown rice or cauliflower rice to have on hand |
Grocery shopping and cooking is a part of my weekly college
routine because it provides me with not only hedonic but also utilitarian
value, fulfilling my goal of saving time making meals that make me feel good
(Babin, 2016, p. 29). I am the first to admit that I am a slower eater than
most, and hate feeling pressured to consume meals in ten minutes. I am also an
indecisive person, even when it comes to what I want to eat for a meal. With my
hectic schedule in the fall having food ready in my fridge to make quick,
healthy yet fulfilling meals immediately relieves stress in my life in a way
that also fits my lifestyle.
The actual action of going to
the grocery store has become a weekly routine I look forward to. I shamelessly
call grocery shopping my “me” time as I am able to clear my head away from
campus while still feeling productive. With my interest in nutrition, I get
emotional gratification from leaving the grocery store with healthy and yummy
ingredients to fuel me for the week(s) ahead. Obviously, everyone leads
different lifestyles and is drawn to a different variety of products while
grocery shopping. This is why different marketing mixes including product,
price promotion and distribution strategies to position a product or brand are
able to target different consumers. However, value consciousness is a
personal trait of mine that is especially prominent when I grocery shop, as I
value buying products that are organic and made with wholesome, nutritious
ingredients as opposed to products that are made up of processed foods with
long food labels of preservatives (Babin, 2016, p.34). Since these tend to
be more expensive products, I actively devote a bigger portion of my financial
budget towards groceries.
Everyone has different food
items that are comforting for them and constantly stocked in their house.
However, next time you are looking for products that are equally delicious and
nutritious, consider buying some snacks with higher nutritional content like
some of my staple food items, including Purely
Elizabeth Granola, Kite Hill almond milk cream cheese and
almond milk yogurt, Siete Foods tortilla chips and tortillas
and eating
evolved dark chocolate.
Babin.
B.J, & Harris, E.G (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
(n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2017, from https://purelyelizabeth.com/
Great-Tasting, Dairy-Free Foods For All.
(n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2017, from http://www.kite-hill.com/
Amazing Grain-Free Tortillas and Tortilla
Chips. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2017, from https://sietefoods.com/
Home. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2017,
from https://eatingevolved.com/
I wish I had the cooking skills and time-management to make those meals in your pictures. They look delicious! Your post immediately made me think of the pleasure principle because the time it takes you to cook and be prepared for the week give you pleasure which is why you perform these behaviors (Babin/Harris, pg.112). This is interesting to me because I get the pleasure principle when I buy myself a good meal, not cook myself meals. Your recommendations for delicious and nutritious food I will definitely take into consideration. I have been looking for some new snacks!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnnabelle,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your blog about the importance of balance, highlighting a heathy diet as a key aspect. described (Babin & Harris (2016), Chapter 5) customer emotions and motivation helps drive consumer behavior. It seems like you figured out how to reduce stress and bring ease to your hectic work week, and much of this was hedonic motivation. I think this blog post is an amazing way to show people how eating healthy can be a easy and stress free practice. Most people are intimidated by the work it takes to eat healthy, but this blog does a really good job at showing just how simple it is to prepare meals and snacks that can last for a busy week! The one thing that I would recommend is eliminating repetition by changing one of the sentences that reads: "In my opinion, balance is the most challenging but most important achievements in college life." Two paragraphs begin with the same sentence.
Babin. B.J, & Harris, E.G (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
(n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2017, from https://purelyelizabeth.com/
Hey Annabelle,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this blog post because we have totally different viewpoints on hitting the grocery store and cooking. I definitely view cooking and grocery shopping as providing utilitarian value- as I do have to eat every week. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner and when I can find the time to make it always adds stress to my day so your method sounds pretty simple and stress-reducing. Usually cooking is the last thing I want to do, but the way you go about meal prepping and taking the time out of your schedule to make sure you’re doing something for yourself by eating right and eating what you want really inspired me to give the meal prepping a try, who knows maybe I’ll find some hedonic value in it as well(Babin, 2016, p. 29)!
I also have high value consciousness when I grocery shop because I value health oriented grocery stores and products (like those at Whole Foods and Plum market) which tend to be more expensive (Babin, 2016, p.34). I think this comes from my personality as a consumer, and the fact that I have always had a pretty healthy lifestyle and grew up in a house where there was always organic products (Babin, 2016,p.26). However, now that I am on a student budget I am looking for a way to balance my price sensitivity with my high value consciousness, maybe you could give some tips on eating healthy on a budget in your future posts (Babin, 2016, p. 29)!