Become the Honey Badger

Posted on April 16, 2012 by
Honey Badger With Snake

If you’re just starting a Primal/Paleo journey, you might be dealing with some resistance. Not from the dining hall’s less-than-enticing food offerings, not from the plates and bars at the gym, not even from all the studying you have to do, but from your friends. If you’re trying to get to sleep at a decent hour, they rib you for acting like an old (wo)man. If you don’t eat pizza and donuts and chips and soda, you’re being lame or “not living.” They may even try and push Frankenfood on you. If you keep your alcohol consumption in check (or eschew drinking altogether), they razz you during parties. It can get pretty annoying after a while, can’t it? Now, one of your options is simply to smite every person that makes a joke at your expense. (I don’t advocate this position.) You might just try to laugh it off, but … Keep Reading…

Posted in Social Issues, Stress | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sleep: An Infographic

Posted on April 6, 2012 by
Student Sleeping

Today’s post comes back to a familiar friend/foe for the college student: sleep. It’s the best of things, and the worst of things. It provides sweet relief after a long week of class, but is an irksome fly buzzing around your head when you have two finals to study for, a 20-page paper to write that’s due at 8 AM, and a few dozen physics problems to finish. In short, a college student’s life is spent mastering how to be a sleep ninja. Sleep an hour between classes in the library, half an hour during one class, and maybe after all your homework and organizational events are done, four hours of true sleep in your bed at night. Seems fairly typical, doesn’t it? Perhaps I recited back to you your daily routine… and that would be unfortunate. Yes, you may function well enough during the week on four hours of sleep … Keep Reading…

Posted in Sleep | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Cast Iron Skillet: You Need One (Or More)

Posted on April 2, 2012 by
cast-iron-skillet

In a similar vein to the recent cheap exercise equipment posts, it crossed my mind to introduce some posts highlighting some kitchen essentials for those students whose living arrangements dictate that your meals are your responsibility. Now, obviously, you have the obligatory pots, pans, eating utensils, and similar items that make up the Basic Kitchen Starter Set (i.e., without them, you can’t really do anything). But once you have the absolute bare essentials, what’s next for a Primal college student to put into the kitchen? And, more importantly, what gives you the best value for your money? What allows you to expand beyond stove-top chicken breast (or, heaven forbid, boiling it), cooking eggs and bacon (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), or a ground beef scramble? Well, you already know one piece of equipment I consider indispensable: the crock pot. It’s so valuable to you, I devoted an entire … Keep Reading…

Posted in Kitchen Necessities, Off-Campus Life | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Five Slightly Less Cheap Gym Items to Buy

Posted on March 12, 2012 by
Gymnastics Rings

In the last two posts of this series, I’ve shown you exercise equipment that you either already have on hand, or can buy for $30 or less. All these ideas are meant to foster a creative, resourceful way to train that encompasses the “Primal” exercise ideal of lifting heavy, having fun doing it, and using unusual implements to increase the challenge to your body. I know that you know the importance of staying within your budgetary limits. After all, if you don’t have money, how’re you going to pay for tuition, books, food, clothing, and whatever other oddities occur in your life? But let’s say that your budget isn’t quite as limited as the “I can only spend $30″ Frugal Fran, or the “I can’t spend anything” Broke Brad. Let’s say you have $60 to spend on building your home gym. In addition to buying things from the $30 post, … Keep Reading…

Posted in Equipment, Exercise | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Five Cheap Gym Items to Buy

Posted on March 8, 2012 by
doorway-pull-up-bar

Last time I talked about exercise equipment, I gave you five pieces of equipment you already should have in your possession that can be used to aid your training. In keeping with the theme of cheap but effective ways for you collegians to exercise Primally (lift heavy things, sprint occasionally, be creative, PLAY), I’m giving you another list of five: five items you can get for $30 or less. Now, before you blanch at $30, keep in mind that a pair of jeans averages about that much. It’s less than a night at many clubs (cover charge + drinks) will cost. It’s a third, or less, of the cost of that full-price textbook you bought at the bookstore when you could’ve easily gotten it for half price, used, online. So don’t start with me. You can afford it, especially for things that have longevity and versatility. After all, the longer … Keep Reading…

Posted in Equipment, Exercise | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Five Pieces of Exercise Equipment You Already Have

Posted on March 6, 2012 by
Doing tree pull-ups

Since you’re trying to eat Primal, exercise Primal, and still have money in your bank account, it’s important to use what you have on hand creatively. So, if you’re someone who exercises outside of a gym (at home or outdoors, say), and don’t have a lot of money to invest in a home gym setup, you may be at a loss for ideas. I mean, sure, you can do pushup, squat, and lunge variations anywhere, sprints and parkour elements outside, and core work without needing anything except your body, but you’re going to need more than that to build a balanced physique. So, here are a few items that either you (should) already have in your house, or have readily available for free, that can help you build a well-rounded training regimen. 1) Your backpack: It can double as a “sandbag,” though I wouldn’t advise filling it with sand! Pile … Keep Reading…

Posted in Equipment, Exercise | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“I Need Cheap Exercise Ideas!”

Posted on March 1, 2012 by
No Gym Membership

As I seek to build this site, one thing I’ve started doing is seeking out posting ideas on Twitter. I want to get an idea of what difficulties college students have with trying to maintain a Primal lifestyle. I want to find out areas where you need strategies on how to thrive on a shoestring budget, or to navigate social minefields. The first response I have received to this question comes from a Twitter follower who wants ideas for exercise regimens that don’t necessitate paying gym membership fees. Now, there are many ways of going about this. There are bodyweight-only routines out there, there are sandbag or kettlebell or dumbbell programs, the video programs (Insanity, P90X)… it’s a laundry list. That’s the good thing: you have a ton of options. The bad thing? You have to pick from all those options, and you may not know where to start. This … Keep Reading…

Posted in Budgeting, Exercise, Off-Campus Life, On-Campus Life | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Crock Pot: You Need One if You’re Living Off-Campus

Posted on February 28, 2012 by
Crock pot, aka Slow Cooker

If you’re living off campus, whether at home or with roommates, your schedule can be decidedly more hectic than someone who lives on campus. You have traffic to and from classes to battle, the chore of finding a parking space, a job (more often than not, especially if you have rent to pay)… and in the midst of all that extra time outside of your classes, you still have to eat. Obviously there are the easy ways out: food court fare (little more than fast food, most of the time), vending machines replete with candy bars and “healthy options” like granola bars, and let’s not forget the tables of student organizations offering free food — pizza, donuts, soda, chips, and other decidedly un-Primal offerings. Every day that passes stiffens your resolve to pack a lunch, or perhaps even fast through the day, since you’re already familiar with intermittent/structured fasting and … Keep Reading…

Posted in Kitchen Necessities, Off-Campus Life | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Why Your Parking Permit is Hurting Your Primal Food Budget

Posted on February 13, 2012 by
permit_parking_sign

It’s pretty common for me to hear Paleo / Primal college students talk about saving money, and trying to have cheap and healthy meals while avoiding starvation. Equally as common is hearing about the compartmentalization of their spending. Textbook purchases are one category, parking permits and car/insurance payments can be another, food is a third, social activities (including university clubs) are yet another, and we can’t forget university fees — tuition, loan payments, activity/athletic fees, registration… This is a faulty perspective. Much like how government works, in which many seemingly mutually exclusive departments are actually connected (though perhaps not in a clearly defined manner), your monetary situation is also more interconnected than you think. What you spend on books and social activities inevitably comes out of your food budget, and vice versa. What you spend on parking permits and vehicles has a marked effect on your food budget. See where I’m … Keep Reading…

Posted in Budgeting, Money | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Don’t Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good

Posted on January 26, 2012 by
Salad Greens

Well, that was an over-long and entirely unnecessary break, wasn’t it. No, not your winter break, but my negligence of this site over the past month and a half. Please don’t hurt me! It’s time to get back into the game, to help stoke my creative fires and such. A recurring thorn in the side of a Paleo/Primal college student trying to keep a healthy eating lifestyle is the dining hall. It can be pretty hard eat well. You’ve seen in a student story how it’s possible to make plenty of healthy choices at your specific dining hall, but in that particular story our friend had several eateries from which to choose. I’ve also discussed how to take your suggestions for change to dining hall administrators. Some of you, especially at smaller schools, don’t have that luxury and may indeed be very limited in your selections due to budget issues within the … Keep Reading…

Posted in Dining Hall | Tagged , | 3 Comments