Going to College is Hazardous for My Weight

As I finish my classes, I am famished. Having lost over 20 pounds this last year, I want to keep the weight off. But nearly every place to eat on campus or within a mile of the campus is a fast-food restaurant that the young people love. I understand that fellow students from ages 18 to 22 do not want a Morrison’s Cafeteria or some other place with lots of vegetable choices, but I sure could use one! The closest I come is a salad at Chick-Fil-A, and that doesn’t satisfy when you want some collard greens or macaroni and cheese (pushing it, I know!) or three-bean salad. The sandwiches I tried tasted older than me, and without mayonnaise!

Nothing available nearby would be endorsed by Weight Watchers. Indeed, just one hamburger from Steak and Shake or one chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A are a whole day’s points, especially as I just don’t seem to be able to pass up the waffle fries. I don’t even think about breakfast! Chick-Fil-A doesn’t even have the healthier elements of their menu on campus, and I am guessing that’s because the young folks won’t buy them,

Yes, I hear you asking me why don’t I take my breakfast and lunch with me on the days I am at the college? First, I do take my breakfast nearly every day, as it’s easy to put together a sandwich of almond butter and jelly before I leave at 6:40 in the morning. But, after you have been on campus for over four hours, in class and in the library reading for class, you need some serious food, such as hot food, not last night’s dinner that has turned to mush in your little lunch bag from slinging an already heavy bookbag around the campus.

I need food for helping my brain work more than the teens or twenty-somethings in my classes. At age 69, I find myself asking after each paper and exam just what in the world was I thinking in returning to college at a time when I have to send myself emails to remember what I came to the store for or which doctor I need to go to see tomorrow!

I am thinking of asking the other sixty- and seventy-somethings in my classes to create a petition for more adult food, something healthier for us than greasy foods. Our cholesterol counts are already too high, and I don’t plan to take Lipitor until I die, if I can avoid it!

All kidding aside, I have decided to cook healthy dinners and take the leftovers, purchasing storage bowls conducive to this enterprise. But, I hope I can be forgiven for sneaking to Steak and Shake once in awhile, just to give my arteries a fix of pure grease. All of the stairs around Georgia State University for going from one building to the next building helps work off the extra calories, I hope.