SORORITY LIVING WHILE PLANT-BASED.
My sophomore year of college I was living in a sorority house with a structured menu, little to no appliances, and was at the beginning stages of my health ~ journey ~ . Yet, I was still able to stick to a healthy plant-based diet despite being in those circumstances. And so can you :)
I think the biggest thing about my experience was realizing the fact that eating a plant-based diet was non-negotiatiable for me. There are certain things in your life that you yourself (nobody else) can make non-negotiable if you truly want it, are passionate, and have the discipline. Meaning no matter what, it’s just simply not up for debate. And that’s the mindset I went in with.
People ask me, “How the hell were you able to stick to that while living with 70+ girls and not tempted to eat fried food all the time??” My answer was always, “It’s just not how I choose to eat. It’s not that I don’t think fried food tastes amazing and that I’m restricting myself (I enjoy a good ole Freddys veggie burger and fries time to time) - it’s a conscious decision that I personally have decided for myself, no one else.”
respect your health and your body, don’t restrict it.
I wasn’t sticking to my goals for any reason other than for myself and my own choices. It’s hard to put this into words, honestly, because I think most of you who live a healthy lifestyle can relate to the fact that it’s just something that becomes a part of your lifestyle and it’s not even a question at this point.
I really hate how I don’t have one specific answer for you but there truly isn’t one thing I can say that’ll explain how I did it. It wasn’t easy in any way, it was hard. I put in a lot of extra work in order to actually be able to eat dinner most of my nights, a lot of my meals were prepped dinners or steamed rice and veggies I made in the microwave. I’ll get into my tips and tricks later on in this post.
Now this is the point where I talk about feeling peer pressure and judgement around food and the way you choose to eat. I think that was my biggest fear before living in my sorority house. I had absolutely no doubt in myself that I wasn’t going to be able to stick with my lifestyle, rather, fear that other people were going to judge me for it. Which I think says a LOT about myself.
The fact that I had complete faith in myself in my own decision to keep a healthy lifestyle going, but rather had doubt and fear in what other people were going to think is bullshit. Like I’m sorry it’s such bullshit. It wasn’t that I thought my friends were judgmental in ANY way (probably the most supportive people ever) but I constructed this idea in my mind that people actually cared about how I choose to eat and were going to think I was weird… news flash. No one gives a shit. I know it may seem like people are always judging you but they really aren’t. And even if they are, who cares. Because you shouldn’t. Your food / lifestyle choices have literally no affect on anyone else but yourself, so why are you even thinking twice about how other people perceive you???
This took me a long time to realize unfortunately.
MY TIPS
1.) PLAN PLAN PLAN - make a grocery or meal list for the week, meal prep, choose / schedule your workouts in advance, this holds yourself accountable.
2.) SPEAK UP - If your are living somewhere where they aren't being accommodating, speak up and give them recommendations. They will listen to your feedback! This can pertain to eating out at restaurants as well.
3.) FIND YOUR "WHY" - And write It down daily.
Your “why” is your reason behind continuing your healthy lifestyle. Sometimes it’s easy to forget, especially when you’re surrounded by so many people who live or eat differently than you.
My “why” is because I respect my body, health, and wellbeing. And because I want to continue to be the best version of myself, for the environment, the animals, my future, and my self confidence.
4.) GET FRIENDS INVOLVED - friends who are supportive and encourage you to be the best version of yourself are friends worth keeping :)
5.) UTILIZE MICROWAVABLE STEAM BAGS (such as veggies and rice) AND STOCK UP ON LEFTOVERS.
I don’t know how many times I went down to our “leftovers fridge” and boxed up all the leftovers in Tupperware that our chef would leave out. I did this quite often. Most of the time, the leftovers were things that I loved to eat like quinoa, cooked veggies, sweet potatoes, rice and beans and veggie burgers! I literally would take as many take-home containers I had with me, and stock up for days when I couldn’t eat what was on the menu, or had no time to meal prep. I kept all of this in our communal fridge and to keep things organized, I had a little cooler bag so no one would get confused who’s food it was!
6.) Get a small blender for your room to make smoothies !!!
This needs no explanation, smoothies for daysssss. I heard the nutribullet is a great option! We had a blender provided for us in our sorority.
7.) Purchase an air-fryer. Periodt. It will change your life, elevate your meals, and make cooking faster!
Here’s a link to the one I use - it’s $50, also available on Amazon
8.) UTILIZE YOUR SALAD BAR TO MAKE WRAPS!
Don’t let all those fresh veggies go to waste :) I would make wraps for lunch allll the time.
brown rice tortilla
hummus or vegan pesto
all the fresh veggies
avocado
kraut
some vegan ranch
*chefs kiss*
Here are photos of some of my favorite products I kept handy !
Not pictured:
sweet potatoes, avocados, vegan salad dressings, Bitchin’ Sauce, everything but the bagel seasoning, garlic powder, a 24 herb seasoning, red pepper flakes, hot sauce, oat milk, vegan yogurt, tea, almond butter, rice cakes, Mary’s gone crackers, miyokos cream cheese, chickpeas, carrots and hummus, fresh fruit, and frozen fruit.
