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Heading off to college brings a myriad of change. Some of the larger adjustments include being away from home, having responsibility, a full course load, and perhaps even balancing it all with a job.

As a result of all this change many students have to cope with fighting off the tendency to fall into poor dietary habits. When you're busy a tendency is to grab something easy or quick, if you remember to eat at all, both of which lead to poor eating routines. After you go away to school, it is not uncommon to find you've suddenly gained ten to fifteen pounds in the first few months after your arrival on campus; if so, you aren't alone, this happens to many students.

It is no wonder students fall into easy and quick foods on the go, with all the time crunches, late night study sessions, limited choices of food in the dorms, busy social life and empty pockets; all of these factors contribute to a student's tendency to develop poor eating habits.

The good news is that eating nutritious food doesn't have to be expensive and if you purchase a meal plan, this will increase your options and ability to be able to select nourishing choices. There are several ways to successfully combat the urge to eat unhealthy and processed foods. If you give these basic guidelines a try, you'll find yourself maintaining a fit and healthy lifestyle.

*Snacks

A good idea is to keep a variety of nutritious snacks in your room to munch on when the hunger pangs strike. Fruit, vegetable sticks, granola bars, and grain crackers are all good choices. If you have a refrigerator, some low-fat cheese and yogurt will give you a little more variety in snacking. Try stocking up on some wholesome, but tasty goodies. This will help ward off those midnight pizza or potato chip cravings.

*Don't skip meals

It is tempting to sleep in a few extra minutes before the mad dash to get to your morning class. This is a bad habit to fall into, not only does your metabolism slow down, but you'll feel tired too.

Schedule time in for breakfast (and your other meals too) because skipping meals will increase your desire to find something quick to eat later on when you're famished. Chances are that something fast will be an unhealthy meal or a bag of some deep fried snack. If you make time for meals you'll effectively avoid this pitfall.

*Healthy choices

Make a concentrated effort to select healthy choices at the cafeteria. For instance, opt for the grilled chicken and salad instead of the burgers and fries.

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