Eating Well During Final Exams

In most schools throughout the province, junior high and high school students have finished their courses for the year and have either started final exams or will be starting in the coming days.  With final exams, comes the long nights of studying, worry and stressing about the exams….and let’s face it for most of our teens, their normal diets and healthy routines have been put on the back burner.  With so much on their minds, students often don’t take the time to eat regular meals, or in some cases, eat at all when studying for final exams.  To keep the mind fueled and the body energized we want to stress the importance of eating well every day, but most importantly in the next few weeks, during exam time.

Students, especially our older students, are more inclined to eat quick ready to go breakfast choices during exam time – they do not want to take extra time sitting down to a meal when they could be preparing for an exam.  Offer some healthy quick choices each day to our students to ensure they are getting the nutrition their bodies require during exam time.  Here are some examples you can serve up:

• Cold sandwiches – add a protein (chicken, roast beef, tuna, egg) and some other nutritious toppings such as lettuce, tomato, avocado and cheese.
• Warm wraps or pitas – add some eggs and top with peppers, tomato and cheese.
• Fruit and yogurt parfait cups – for some extra nutrition use a Greek yogurt and sprinkle on some granola and almonds. 
• Fruit Smoothies – Frozen or fresh fruit, greek yogurt and add some milk or water and honey
• Mix veggies – pack up some fresh raw veggies with a side of ranch dip for a quick snack at the library
• Fruit bowl with a variety of whole fruit
• Always have some quick snacks on hand such as granola bars, crackers and cheese, whole grain muffins with berries, yogurt cups, trail mix, bottle water and other nutritious quick snacks.

We are wishing all students good luck with their exams! Remember…….

Good Eating = Good Thinking!

Janel Genge is a registered dietitian with Kids Eat Smart Foundation Newfoundland and Labrador