dining halls=evil.

I hate the dining hall!!! Is anyone else out there a college student?? Does anyone else agree with me on this??  The unlimited, all you can eat supply of french fries and pizza and COOKIES and everything else that I do NOT want to be eating right now... it's just awful =[

I could be having a really good healthy day, then go to the dining hall for dinner and see all that food and it's like I have no self control at all!  I just wish they would actually offer some healthy alternatives... yeah there is the salad bar, which I visit frequently, but one cannot survive on salad alone.

Just needed to rant...

I'm in a boarding school (a high school student) and I TOTALLY understand the feeling. My school food is kinda gross but they have a lot of fruits which I tended to eat A LOT of those. Someday, they have very nice cookies and bronies but they come in an enormous size which I have to avoid. And they have these danish every weekend and donuts for breakfast which again...I'm trying to ignore. It's not that hard for me though, because I didn't binge in those and if I would eat fries...I would go to McDonald and order a small fries there because they taste much better than my schools'.

But the biggie part was peanut butter and cream cheese!! I'm not a big fan of both but if I see it...I MIGHT start eating them and I would lose control of myself. And they cream cheese are original one.....and since I don't have refrigerator...that's kinda sucks.

Well....I still agree...I would rather have my own small kitchen or something that I can know what I cook and what I put. (I don't eat beef due to religiuos reason so....I can;t eat some of the school food anyway...) Good luck in ur dinning hall!!

I definitely know what you're going through now!!! I've gained some weight b/c of the dining hall!! I can't wait to go home and eat normal for once!!!

I have a dining hall and I go there a lot. basically what I do is decide what I am going to have for lunch/dinner before I walk in the door. If I see something is relatively "healthy", then I allow myself to have some of that and have salad on the side. But if I see any oil/grease/cheesy sauce... I generally just steer clear of that area entirely. It's easy to make this "quick" decision because I already have the back up meal planned.

Sometimes I will get a slice of pizza or a veggie burger with ketchup, but again only when I plan it.

The biggest thing that has helped me is to find combinations that I actually enjoy but are also healthy. A few things I like to do are:

-bagel or bread for a sandwich filled with all the veggies from the salad bar, plus hummus
-bread or bagel with 1-2 tbs cream cheese and alfalfa sprouts
-bread or bagel with deli meat and again a million veggies
-salad with red beans, cucumbers, tomatoes etc, and balsamic vinegar
-veggie burger (no bun) with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, veggies
-toast with 1/2 cup scrambled eggs

And always take lots of fruit!

I completely agree.  And the worst part is that most of the "healthy" stuff isn't all that healthy.  Sugar/salts in the fruit and veggies syrup, etc.  Also, our caf closes at 7:00p and after that only the late-night food palce is open, which is 90% sugary or fried food.  It drove me crazy last semester.
Do you live anywhere near a grocery store?  I found buying my own food (and having my meal plan reimbursed at the end of the year) was the best option for me.  Then I can always have something healthy, and there's usually nothing bad or too much of it, which keeps me from binging.
My rant is my job.  I have to bake cookies fresh everyday, which is terrible.  I probably could eat all of them... They smell so good. 
Also, if you're going to be there next year, maybe you could seek out a group of like-minded individuals and petition/ talk to food directors for more healthy options.  I have a friend who is working on that at her university.

It's definitely inevitable to struggle when eating at a college dining hall..I'm getting to the point where I don't even want to go anymore-i completely dread it.  There is only so many more meals where I can have sandwiches, soup, and salad.  I can't wait to get home and eat normal food again!  

I've definitely found that going to the grocery store and buying foods such as cereal, granola bars, and little snacks makes it a whole lot easier.  I find that I prefer eating small meals in the cafeteria but then eating more often makes going to the cafeteria easier.  When I go with the mentality it's all i'm eating until my next meal i just load up on the food when I know if i don't i can snack i my room it's easier! 

All i wish is those cookies, brownies, and ice cream weren't so tempting!