I am a full-time student and theatre major at the U. This means that I have class from 9:45 to 5:30 depending on the day, and rehearsal until 10:30 or 11:00pm, and Saturdays from noon until 5:30pm. This means that I have no free time and no money. I have a meal plan which allows me 5 meals a week at UDS (University Dining services). ALL of my food comes from there. It is an all you can eat affair, so I illegally bring tupper wear to fill so that I can eat more than 5 times a week. This means that I do not know brand names or specific ingredients.

Friday

-8:00am; 12oz folgers coffee (french pressed)

- 12:30pm; UDS: salad (mixed greens, black olives, mushrooms, shredded cheddar cheese, Italian dressing), chicken casserole (chicken bits[who knows if it's real chicken, tasted like rubber] white rice, gravy) french fries dipped in ranch dressing) 12oz sprite

- 1:15pm; 1 cigarette (camel filter) outside of Rarig Center before my 1:30 costume fitting for Oil! And the Jungle

-5:45pm; 2 bananas from UDS, eaten on the lower level of Rarig Center

-7:00pm; 1 24oz bottle of water, consumed on our 10 minute rehearsal break on the lower level of Rarig Center

10:45pm; 1 cigarette (camel filter) as I walked to my home in Seward from rehearsal

Saturday

- 11:30am; UDS: 1 cup of Java City black coffee, 4 sausage links, a big ol' scoop of scrambled eggs with hot sauce, 1 glass of orange juice

- 11:55am; 1 cigarette outside of Middlebrook Hall

- 5:30pm; scrambled eggs stolen from UDS (probably about three eggs) in my kitchen at home

- 6:00pm; 12oz folgers coffee before leaving for performance at Rarig Center

- 6:30pm; a glass of water in the marketting office of Rarig Center

- 7:30pm; 1 cigarette before the performance outside of Rarig Center

- 9:30pm; 1 cigarette on the way to the bus stop going towards my boyfriend's house downtown

-10:00pm; 1 class of water at my boyfriend's house

Sunday

- 12:00pm; 12oz folgers coffee in my boyfriend's kitchen

- 1:00pm; 8oz orange juice in my boyfriend's kitchen

- 5:00pm; french fries (taken from UDS) with catsup in my kitchen

- 5:30pm; 1 cigarette on my porch

- 6:30pm; 1 cigarette on my porch

- 7:30pm; 1 bowl of buttered noodles (taken from UDS) eaten in my living room

So, as you can see, I have no idea what is in any of the food I eat. It should bother me, but it doesn't. I have always wanted to want to be healthy, but I don't want to be healthy. Folgers coffee is 100% pure coffee. That's a plus I guess. All UDS meals are eaten at Middlebrook Hall on the West bank, directly being Rarig Center where I have all of my rehearsals.

The Party Diet

Thurs.

Breakfast:
Bananna & Orange with Milk

Coffee (shot of 2% milk + 2 packs of sugar added) + Sugar and Cinnamon Bagel courtesy of Einstein Brothers in Coffman.

Lunch:
Orange chicken & fried rice from panda express.
20 oz Coke
1 bag of jalepeno kettle chips

Old Chicago
4 12 oz beers
plate of italian nachos

Friday.

Lunch:
Jimmy John's Pepe Sub
20 oz coke

Dinner:
8" pizza
pink lemonade

St Cloud:
6 jello shots
3 16 oz beers

Sat.

Breakfast:

gratutitous amounts of water via IHOP serving staff
2 pancakes
2 eggs, over easy
2 pieces of bacon

Lunch:
Turkey & cheese Sandwich
glass of water

Dinner:

8" pizza
glass of water

Jersey Shore Theme party:
6 16oz beers
2 polls of vodka
1 glass pinot grigio

Looking back at this diet I'd have to say that most of what I eat is on the go. I'm usually either working, doing school work, on my way to class, or at party and I think my diet is a pretty accurate depiction of eating on the go minus the beer (lots of fast food, pop, portable edibles, etc.)

Mangiare

I wasn’t sure exactly how detailed to be (I figured the more detailed the better, but I also didn’t want to drive myself insane by writing down every little detail) so for the sake of my sanity, I didn’t note when I was drinking water (as I usually have a water bottle with me throughout the day and that would be seriously irritating to see every other line “drank some water”).

Also, I was off-campus this weekend, back home in Lakeville because of a speech tournament my roommates and I were judging at. So my food options for Saturday work around basically what was available at the tournament – and my friend Sarah’s deep love for walking tacos.

Friday

9:06 am

1 bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal with skim milk while reading White Noise in my apartment… Yum, nothing like health nut cereal and a book about death first thing in the morning.

11:57 am

1 piece of Sargento string cheese, some Tostitos multi-grain tortilla chips with Muir Glen garlic cilantro salsa (some being enough to polish off the last portion of the bag of chips and the salsa remaining at the bottom of the jar), again eaten in my apartment.

12:50 pm

1 Altoid mint before catching the bus home to hang out with my parents for the weekend… I love garlic cilantro salsa, just not the aftertaste…

2:30 pm

1 slice of Amish friendship bread, a sweet spiced bread, homemade by my mother, eaten in the kitchen of my parents’ house.

5:16 pm

Vegetable lo mein and orange chicken with white rice, carryout from Chan’s, a Chinese restaurant in Lakeville, eaten in the kitchen at home. Why? Because Chinese carry-out is fabulous.

Followed by a few handful of grapes, because I was craving something sweet.

8:47 pm

1 disappointing fortune cookie (with an equally disappointing fortune) followed up by a much more flavorful Kemp’s ice cream sandwich.

Saturday

7:30 am

3 pancakes, syrup and 3 pieces of turkey bacon, all lovingly cooked by my mom before I had to run off to judge a speech tournament at Lakeville North High School. I have a great fondness for pancakes on Saturday mornings.

8:04 am

Part of a banana, eaten upon joyously finding the judge’s lounge at the speech tournament.

9:29 am

Rest of banana, enjoyed after surviving the first round of the tournament.

11:05 am

A walking taco, purchased by my friend Sarah and eaten in the cafeteria of the high school. A walking taco consists of 1 small back of Doritos (the lunch box sized ones), some ground beef with taco seasonings, tomato, lettuce and cheese, all mixed together in the Doritos bag and eaten with a fork. Strange, but delicious.

12:16 pm

A small apple in the judge’s lounge, to get the taste of taco out of my mouth that had been lingering through judging the last round. And I just really enjoy eating apples.

12:45 pm

1 piece of homemade shortbread, 1 piece of homemade banana bread and a Pearson’s mint patty, eaten in the hallway outside of the judge’s lounge. Used time waiting to see who would be judging semi-finals as a chance to sample to desserts catered by the Lakeville North Speech team.

4:45 pm

Home from speech and snacked on some Triscuits and smoked Swiss cheese in the kitchen. Smoked Swiss cheese might be one of the greatest things known to mankind…

5:30 pm

Ate dinner with my parents at the dining room table… ah, just like the old days of being home! A salad of Romaine lettuce, sunflower seeds, raisins and creamy poppy seed dressing; chicken fricassee (a new recipe my mom tried, involving chicken, spices and sautéed onions, carrots and celery. Very tasty) and mashed potatoes.

Sunday

9 am

Breakfast with my parents at the Longbranch, a diner-saloon style place in Farmington. 2 cups of orange pekoe black tea (meh, was hoping for Earl Grey) and half of the restaurant’s plate of potato pancakes (there were three of them, each the size of a small bread plate). Offered the rest to my parents while we discussed the meaning of life.

2:30 pm

1 can of Canada Dry ginger ale and munching on Annie’s Organic Snack Mix (a mix of cheddar crackers and pretzels. I’m not sure if I bought it because it’s organic, because it’s delicious or both). Eaten while hanging out in the basement and wondering why in the heck my parents find NASCAR entertaining.

4:15 pm

1 honeycrisp apple, eaten upon arrival back at my apartment while teasing Bean the cat.

6:30 pm

Had Barilla Fiori pasta with green and black olive tomato sauce. Frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots and green beans) as a side.

7:30 pm

Five Thin Mint cookies while watching The Baader Meinhoff Complex with my roommate. Not exactly a movie that stimulates the appetite, so glad we had those early on in the film.

Vegetarian diet.

3/3/2011
Breakfast
2 cups of coffee
Strawberries
Eaten at home around 8am. Ran late so I couldn't make more.

Lunch
6 in subway
Pepper jack cheese
Lettuce
Spinach
Tomatoes
Green pepper
Onion
Jalapeños
Parmesan cheese
Ranch dressing
Medium Barqs
Ate around 12 i was running errands after class and wanted some food, subway is really the only fast food I'll eat so I stopped there.

Snack
Strawberries/grapes
1 lt. Water
At home ate around at around 3. I was just relaxing watching some tv and wanted something easy to make.

Dinner
1 bowl Mexican dip
Onions
Black beans
Tomatoes
Green chilies
Corn
Tortilla chips
Sour cream
1 lt. Water
Ate around 7:30. I had this because my boyfriend made it.

3/4/2011
Breakfast
Strawberry and banana yogurt
1 cup of coffee
1 lt. Water
Ate at about 9am. I had a small breakfast and only had one cup of coffee
because I biked to class.

Lunch
1/2 bowl Left over Mexican dip
Chips
1 lt. Water
Ate at about 11:30. Just wanted to heat up leftovers because I was doing house work.

Snack
24oz water
Small snack bag of popcorn
I was watching my favorite TV show around 4pm and thought a bag of popcorn would be good.

Dinner
Veggie burger
Fries with Jalapeños and cheese dip
2 Newcastle's
Ate at around 9:30. My friends and I always go to the same restaurant on Friday nights. I usually order the same thing since its one of the only vegetarian meals.

3/5/2011
Breakfast
Raspberry yogurt
2 cups of coffee
Same breakfast as I usually eat. I ate at around 9:30

Lunch
Cheese quesadilla with onions and garlic
Sour cream
Hot salsa
2lt. of water
I made a quesadilla at 1pm because it was easy to make and I had what I needed at the apartment.

Snack
A few strawberries
Again strawberries, I can't get enough of them right now. I went grocery shopping and decided to pick up more.

Dinner
Vegetarian stir fry
Broccoli
Green peppers
Carrots
Pineapple
1/2 cup of rice
1 lt. Water
I wanted to make a nice dinner for my boyfriend. He wanted to go to Mongo's the other day but it's usually too expensive so I made him stir fry myself. We ate at 7pm while watching our favorite tv show.

Edit:
I didn't really include specific brands because that always changes.  I usually go with what is cheapest or on sale.  The only two things that stays consistent is Yoplait yogurt and Coffee-mate Caramel Macchiato.

Too Much Free Pizza!

I work at a place called Mesa Pizza, which is a pizza place that serves slices of pizza and is open quite late, most often to accommodate the rush of people coming back from the bars once they have closed. This weekend, I worked a 9 – close on Friday, which generally runs until 4:30-5 am, and then the next day on Saturday I worked 5 – close, which also ended around 5 am. This food log is based on an atypical weekend, but the results for the times of day I ate and the types of food I ate are very typical for a weekend for me.

Friday

Woke up right around 1 pm, and since I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat: breakfast or lunch, made both.

1:30 pm:
2 Chocolate Chip Pancakes

A bowl (around 2 cups) of Pasta with cheese

And a big glass of Hawaiian Fruit Punch

During the afternoon drank four glasses of water with ice (as I consider any water that is not so cold it nearly physically hurts to drink disgusting).

8:25 pm:
Before work I ate 27 Triscuit crackers (it definitely felt weird to count the amount of crackers).

Between 10 pm and 1 am:

2 cans of Diet Dr. Pepper (in my excitement over my work switching from Diet 7-Up to Diet Dr. Pepper as a beverage option).

5:15 am:

After work with a couple co-workers, had 5 Milwaukee Special Reserve beers (and for my own sake I will note that this particular brand of beer was not by choice).

Saturday

As I had fallen asleep late, and slightly intoxicated, I woke up pretty late as well.

2:35 pm:

1 bowl (about 2 cups) of Banana Nut Cheerios

A standard cup of black coffee

6:30 pm:

A slice of Chicken Penne Alfredo pizza (breaded chicken, penne noodles, alfredo sauce, pizza crust).

A can of Sunkist

1:15 am:

A slice of Chili Cheese Fry pizza (Beef chili, cheddar cheese, seasoned French fries, pizza crust).

5:30 am:

Upon coming home to finding that my roommates were still awake and dealing with the stragglers of a party that had taken place there, we decided that McDonalds is probably open for breakfast, and went to get some food.

1 Bacon, Egg and Cheese McGriddle

1 Hashbrown (with ketchup)

1 Medium Coffee with one pack of sugar

It took until seeing it written out that I realized just how much pizza I consume in a week due to my job. Not only are we given the opportunity to constantly be eating pizza while working, but at the end of a shift / end of the night, we take home all the leftover pizza. It is completely free and filling, so naturally I take advantage of the food. As screamingly unhealthy as all of this sounds, a basic weekend for me plays out like this. During the week I do try to eat healthier, and thinking about it now, I eat a lot less during the week than a healthy 3 meal a day.

I realize as well that my erratic work schedule and having classes only 3 days a week greatly dictates the times it is possible for me to eat, the food I eat as I don’t always have time to make food or remember that buying groceries is an important errand to run.

My eating "schedule"

When I read that we were doing a food journal, I was a bit miffed as to how I was going to record it. See, I have eaten literally the same meals every day for the last several years. I'm what you call one of those picky eaters; I like what I like, and I never deviate from it, and I don't have the sort of social life that results in different things being eaten from day to day.

Morning: 9:00 AM - 11: 00 AM

2 bowls of total with a tablespoon of granulated white sugar on each bowl, with skim milk.

Aftenoon: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM.

2 ham and (cheddar) cheese sandwiches, on wheat bread with liberal amounts of mayonnaise. A bottle of coke to wash it down.

Nighttime: 8:00 - 11:00 PM. A bowl of ramen, chicken flavored and another ham/cheese sandwich. And another bottle of coke.

I sip on soda throughout the day pretty much constantly. I'll down maybe 2 full 20 oz bottles of soda per day, but it'll take me the whole day to drink them. My dentist takes some level of glee in reminding me that this is incredibly bad for my teeth, but has somehow not yet resulted in any significant level of tooth decay.

I was reading other people's food journals and was amazed at the varied types of food that most people eat. I'm not a very schedule oriented person, but I've eaten the same foods at the same times for as long as I can remember, and have no desire to change that. Even when dining with friends I would never actually eat with them, something which got me jokingly labeled as "the fat anorexic".

Perhaps I enjoy the same foods all the time because it provides a sense of consistency in a chaotic and otherwise unpredictable world. Or maybe not, I really can't say.

And that's my food "journal".

Nom nom nom....

Besides being meat free my diet is pretty cliché for a college kid!

Friday: I happily rolled out of bed on my classless Friday at 12:00pm and enjoyed 2 Kellog's Pop-Tarts and a large cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. This is easy and pretty routine for me. Then at 3:00pm I needed some motivation and energy to start homework, so naturally I threw back a can of Monster. Healthy. Since it was cold, at 6:00pm for dinner I stayed in my dorm and microwaved a pack of Ramen. Then at around 8:00pm I enjoyed a bag of ACT II popcorn while watching The King’s Speech. Also I drank water periodically all day long from my water bottle which I filled from my sink.

Saturday: This day started off very similar to the one before it, with 2 Kellog's Pop-Tarts and a large cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. However, this time it was on the go and at about 5:45am because I was headed off to work. Before I left my dorm I stashed a Monster in my backpack which I enjoyed as soon as I started to feel worn out, at noon. At 1:00pm I helped myself to a small plate of spaghetti, once slice of pizza (I think Pizza Hut?), and Dixie cup of Simply Orange orange juice courtesy of a buffet at my workplace. I chose to eat these because they were essentially the only meatless options available. For dinner I ordered Papa John's pizza in my dorm. It had made a pretty satisfactory lunch and I was feeling lazy so ordering seemed like a fairly easy option. Plus I had Flex Dine to spend. I ate four slices and drank water because I’m too broke to afford anything else.

Sunday: At 9:00am, once again I started of my day with, you guessed it, coffee and Pop-Tarts! I can’t help it. This breakfast wakes me up and is what I am used too. For lunch, at 12:30pm, I actually ventured out with my friends to the dining hall. This food log had been making my feel pretty self conscious and gross in regards to my eating habits, so I went for a healthier option. Salad. One plate of spinach leaves, a few tomatoes, 4 or 5 olives, just a few croutons, and no dressing. With it I had a very large glass of 2% milk and one apple. Then I forgot to eat dinner because I was too busy doing homework. Oops. But I did have a bag of ACT II popcorn at 7:00pm while watching Inception.

Wow. Honestly, before this food log I was well aware that I was not a healthy eater, but I had no idea just how awful I really was. Almost everything I ate I chose because it was easy. Pop-Tarts I could grab and then go and Ramen let me stay in my dorm and shielded me from the cold. Now that I see how lazy and unhealthy I’ve been though, maybe I’ll start making at least a little effort in seeking out some better options. This exercise has really given me some food for thought (HA!).