All in a day's work: Cameron the University Chemistry Student

Cameron, the University Chemistry Student

Busy studying chemistry, Cameron (21) spends most of the day at Canterbury University and tends to buy food there. He sees his diet as typical of other students. "Everyone tends to take the easy option and buy food. You don’t see people with packed lunches very often."

8am Can of baked beans on two pieces of toast. Before I walk to uni (about 3km). Classes from 9-10 and 10-11.
11am Six pack of salmon and avocado sushi.
1pm Hot chips for lunch, I play a round of basketball then walk home.
3pm Can of Mother energy drink (500ml). I don't feel like I need the energy drink, more just that I like the taste.
7pm Chicken and lamb kebab with mayo. I usually get takeout, like a kebab or Thai, unless I'm cooking with my flatmates.

Nadia Lim’s nutrition quick fix

For most university students, flatting and busy schedules mean goodbye to home-cooked meals and hello to low-nutrition convenience foods. This always results in a high sodium intake. Though it’s good you have a substantial breakfast, tinned baked beans are very high in salt — one can contains 2000mg sodium (the recommended upper limit is 2300mg). Have scrambled eggs, avocado, peanut butter or hummus instead sometimes. Salmon and avocado sushi is a superb convenient choice, giving you a good dose of the healthy fats and omega-3 required for your brain. Limit the hot chips to a once-a-week thing. As for the energy drink, in an ideal world these would be banned — you’re drinking more than 10 teaspoons of sugar every time you have one! To avoid overly-frequent takeout (and be budget-friendly), eggs are great when it comes to cooking a nutritious, fast meal for one — how about amushroom, spinach and cheese omelette?