Being a university student can be difficult; life is changing fast. On Thursday, King’s students can learn how to make easy meals that promote good physical and mental health.
Students and members of the King’s community are invited to register for the online workshop “Healthy Eating Made Easy” on Thursday, November 19. King’s Athletics department will welcome Registered Dietitian Edie Shaw-Ewald, who will share tips for making three healthy meals a day. For young students, this can be crucial.
“It’s a really important time to lay the groundwork for healthy eating patterns for the rest of their lives,” said Shaw-Ewald, whose son Lauchlin Ewald, BA’18, played men’s soccer with the King’s Blue Devils.
During the workshop, Shaw-Ewald will offer simple strategies to balance meals and snacks with more fruits and vegetables. At the end, she will demonstrate how to make a quick, easy, and healthy lunch.
Most importantly, Shaw-Ewald wants students to enjoy food. She believes that if people eat more healthy food, they’ll start to crave more healthy food. “That becomes the joy. You realize that you feel better, you feel healthier, and more energetic. That feeds into the whole cycle of ‘food brings me joy.’”
Post-secondary school is a time when most students are going through a tremendous amount of change. Some have left have home. Many are taking care of themselves for the first time in their lives. The workload and many unknowns about the future can be burdens. A lot of students are vulnerable to stress and anxiety.
Diet affects both our body and our minds, Shaw-Ewald said. What we are eating can, “either stimulate our anxiety, or it can help calm it.” Students who start the day with a coffee and a bagel are not going to get the nutrition they need to not only feel good but to also focus on school, she said. “That can really lead to some physical and mental issues.”
Cost is a factor Shaw-Ewald took into consideration while planning this seminar. If students on a limited budget cannot afford these meals, they obviously won’t eat them. As well, she understands young people are less likely to eat food they don’t like.
“We don’t want to turn this into ‘You must eat this way’,” she said. According to Shaw-Ewald there’s an extreme to eating healthy that can become obsessive and harmful, and she wants to avoid that. “It has to be enjoyable too.”
“Healthy Eating Made Easy” runs from 4-5 p.m. AST on Thursday, November 19. Participants are asked to register ahead of time.
Edie Shaw-Ewald’s next online nutrition workshop for King’s will discuss “Food, Mood, and Energy”.
