Being a student at Auburn University frequently requires a lot of walking across campus in the heat of the sun, exercising your brain in seemingly endless Tuesday and Thursday classes or spend long hours studying in the library.
These kinds of activities are much easier to accomplish if you have the kind of energy that comes from a balanced and well-rounded diet.
Eating healthy is less difficult of a task to accomplish when you have the option of cooking at home, but whether you live in a dorm with no personal kitchen or you’ve simply gotten tired of cooking every night this week, there are options for you to eat around Auburn, while still being health-conscious or observing your own dietary restrictions.
If you’re trying to eat on campus, Glenn Loughridge, the director of Tiger Dining, says that there are more options than ever for students trying to stay healthy or stick to a vegetarian or vegan diet.
Restaurants like Fresh from the Plains, Wicked Eats, Panera Bread Company and the upcoming Salad Works in the Student Center have options for those looking for lighter fare.
Dining halls, such as those in the Village and Foy, offer a wide variety of options, and their daily menus can be accessed on the revamped Tiger Dining website.
For those students working with a more strict set of dietary guidelines, such as those needing halal dishes, AU India in Terrell dining hall frequently offers meals to meet those guidelines.
Loughridge says that Tiger Dining prioritizes students’ health and wellness, as evidenced by their plans to start a Nutrition Ambassadors program and the hiring of a campus dietitian. However, he said that while eating healthy is important, students should never starve themselves or diet too heavily.
“I do understand that there’s a lot of pressure for students to look and feel good and we want that for them, but not to the detriment of their health," Loughridge says.
If you are living off campus or looking to walk downtown to eat, there are multiple off campus restaurants that offer lighter meals.
Close to campus chain restaurants, like Zoe’s Kitchen, Pita Pit, Taziki’s and Chipotle, have all their nutrition information online for your perusal and offer more fresh ingredients and are all located in downtown Auburn.
On Moores Mill Road, I Love Juice Bar can be found and is perfect for anyone with a plant-based diet.
Frutta Bowls opened on June 9 and is located downtown on Glenn Avenue. Frutta Bowls provides choices for those who are vegan or vegetarian, but also for people avoiding gluten, soy and dairy.
“I actually am vegan, so there’s not a lot of options whenever you have a limited diet that way,” Frutta Bowls manager Madison Dobbs says. “I think it’s a kind of place that might not have a fast food pricing, but it is an affordable option for people that are looking for something.”
For those looking to eat out in Auburn with dietary restrictions, there is definitely hope.
It requires doing the legwork of searching for nutritional information occasionally, but Auburn has on and off-campus options for those looking to be healthy without breaking the bank or having a bland diet as long as you are willing to look.
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