College Students' Eating Lifestyle ~ Podcast

Hope You Enjoy.

Top Favorite Stores when shopping for Healthy Snacks

There are many great grocery stores in Topeka when looking for a variety of healthy snacks.
Listed below are my top two favorites.

Lisa Lorles' Tips on Eating Healthy

Lisa Lorles is a college students who creates video on Youtube that base around healthy options for kids, teens, and adults. 
Ive been watching her for a while now and enjoy every video shes created and a couple of the videos, I've even taken a few snack ideas from.

This video includes a variety of healthy snacks and tips that are beneficial for college students.

Guilt Free Banana Chips

Benefits of bananas

• Bananas are packed with many nutrients that are important for your health.
• They are very high in potassium which is very important in helping to prevent high blood pressure.
• One banana contains 450 milligrams potassium.
• Soothes the stomach

Banana Chips require:

• Bananas
• Oven 130-160F

~Slice two to three bananas into thin slivers
~Place on cookie sheet 1 to 2 inches apart
~Bake at 130 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit in oven for 6 hours
~Let cool for 1 hour
~Enjoy



Baked Banana Chips are easy and simple to make. They are delicious and i can eat them all day without worries of calorie intake or any other unhealthy ingredients.

How To Exit A Slump

                        

Guilty Pleasures

Everyone has or had a guilty pleasure.
Whether its sneaking into the candy jar late at night, not following your diet or taking too many selfies. No matter the topic, its something that you enjoy highly but also feel a little guilty by it.

My guilty pleasure was Dots. I couldn't get enough of them. I would buy a box and have them gone within seconds. That is how ridiculous i was with the gummy candies. 

Candy is never good for you, so over time i developed a substitute for candy. My substitution for Dots Candies are Pine berries.

Pine berries are a type of strawberry, but with a kick. They are similar to strawberries, except they are white, sweet and more flavorful. 

If you are a candy lover, these berries are a great substitution for candy. They are very sweet and i never feel guilty eating a handful at a time knowing they come from natural flavors and do not contain, like many other sweetened products, fructose syrup. 

I obtain pine-berries by plucking them from my Aunts garden on her farm. I'm not sure if they are sold in Topeka, but my best bet would be checking out Natural Grocers, they have a range of all types of fruit products.

I'm not saying that I've completely gotten rid of snacking on Dots every once in a while, but I can say for sure that Pine Berries have eased the urge to buy the $1 box of chewy candies.

Vending Snacks

For the few instances I forget to bring snacks at home I end up purchasing stuff from the vending machines located around Washburn Campus

When buying snacks from vending machines, $3 is usually spent on three snacks when otherwise I spend $3 for six snacks from groceries and home goods. It always bugs me to pay $1 for a granola bar.

Just for forgetful purposes I always grab a "Fiber 1" bar for $1.
 







Fiber is an important nutrient for college students. It slows digestion and absorption, which keeps blood sugar levels at a normal even level. Fiber also makes contents of the stomach bulkier so they stay there longer, causing you to feel full which in turn can prevent obesity or overeating.

Homemade Chex

Chex Mix would have to be my favorite as far as flavors go.  I would literally snack on Chex Mix for a living if I could. There's something compelling about the sweet and salty mixture that I cant get enough of.

Growing up, my parents would always call me, "Lil Chex" because of my obsession with the chex, nuts, pretzel and m&m combo. Eventually my mother began to supply me with other options for snacks when she realized my obsession with Chex Mix was growing out of hand. Or at least, she tried.

Up until this day I still have at least one-half cup of chex a day, if not a cup.

I have to stay, it's not as much of a addiction from when I was a kiddo. Mainly because of the modifications I've made to supply more health benefits to the chex.

My homemade recipe consists of:

~Pretzels@ Walmart - $3/bag
~Granola @ Walmart - $2.50/bag
~Cashews @ Natural Grocers - $2/box
~Raisins @ Aldis - $2/box

The grocery stores listed above aren't the only ones in Topeka that sell the items included in my homemade chex, but the places I shop to buy the most affordable ingredients.

Snacking on Fruits

A lot of you might look at the title of this blog post and immediately think, "wow, fruits aren't really a snack food", but rather a necessity to be eaten with a meal.

   Well, you're right!


Photo Credits: Rebecca Lewis

At first, I found it odd when my mother suggested to snack on light fruits before my evening classes, but eventually it became routine to me.

I always find the evening classes hard to stay awake for, especially on days when the lecture extends past class time. So here are a few snack-like fruits that I sometimes bring with me to my evening classes to help me function.

• Apples ~ 1.08/bag
• Bananas ~ .49/lb.
• Grapes ~ 1.39/bag
• Oranges ~ 1.34/bag

Photo Credits: Rebecca Lewis

   When it comes to fruits, there are a lot stores that house a variety of fresh-looking fruits but not many where they are sold at a cheap and affordable price.

   Dillon's and Aldis is where I shop to buy most of the fruits listed above. These stores always have sales on many of these fruits as well.

Peanut Butter Crisps!

There are certain foods that everybody has lying around in the kitchen that only takes three minutes tops to turn into something snack- worthy. One snack, of the few homemade ones I've created myself, is called Peanut Butter Crisps.  

Peanut butter has many health benefits that are important for hard-working college students. Some of these benefits include high protein and sustained energy.

What you'll need                    
~Peanut butter (1 cup)                
~Oats (1 cup)
~Brown Sugar (1/3 cup)
~Granola (1 1/3cup)
~Foil
~Oven

~Oven Mitts 

~Any sized bowl (microwave safe)
~Microwave (preferred: 350–375°F)

Photo credits: Rebecca Lewis

Directions:

           ~Using a microwave-safe bowl, heat one cup of peanut butter in the microwave for one-minute.

           ~In another bowl mix the oats, brown sugar, and granola together.

           ~If peanut butter isn't in liquid form, microwave for 30 more seconds.

           ~When PB is finished, pour into dry mixture

           ~Mix until thickened. 

           ~Apply spoonful's of the mixture onto pieces of foil and wrap the foil securely around each ball of mixture

           ~Do this until all of the mixture has been used

           ~Put the balls on a non-stick pan 2 inches apart from each other.

           ~Set in the oven for 10 minutes

           ~Let food chill in a cool temperature for 20 minutes

           ~Enjoy!

Snacking for Breakfast

Aldis is the A1 for finding nutritious snacks at an affordable price. In fact, Aldis is where I go most of the time to find my daily snacks. 

If you're one of those students who skip out on breakfast, primarily because of the little time you have for it,

try one of these Chewy Dipped Chocolate Bar snacks for only $1.09. 

Photo Credits: Rebecca Lewis

They're light on the stomach, delicious, and come in six bars a box.
I snack on these bars twice a day during early morning and afternoon times, and they hold me over for at least 3 hours.


You can also try a Basil, White Bean & Olive Oil bar for $6 to a box.


Photo Credits: Rebecca Lewis

Don't worry, these Basil, White Bean & Olive Oil bars are better than they sound.

They are delicious, with a high source of protein, and filled with a variety of nutrients and vitamins such like D, C& E

I mainly eat these bars every other day in the mornings.

They tend to leave me with a better functioning mind for the start of my day until the late-afternoons.

Although these bars come in $3/box, they are a guaranteed choice if you're looking to substitute for a more healthy choice in the mornings.

These breakfast snacks are perfect for the mornings! With these bars, I never feel hungry, drowsy, or starved. Don't miss out!

Welcome to Snacking on a Budget!

Thanks for stopping by!

As a college student, snacks have become the go-to on filling our stomachs. 

Between meeting deadlines, working, and getting involved, its hard finding time to squeeze in a full meal.


Im Rebecca Lewis, a Freshman at Washburn University.

My parents are vegans and introduced me to the more healthy options in foods. I've adopted their methods and used them in every day life.

Eventually, snacking on $2chia bars and $1 bag low-calories rice cakes has become my new go-to.

Throughout this blog, I hope to provide useful insight for college students on the whereabouts of healthy snacks at an affordable price.