Food & Life at University

In September of 2021, I started my 3 years at Cardiff University, having had merely 2 months of freedom from the dreaded Covid-19. Needless to say my year group was ready for a change. In doing so, I had a hectic first year, party-filled second year and a third year getting back on track. I met life long friends and my partner, Lewis, during my time at Cardiff and I will always look back on those years very fondly. I was equally fortunate to become close friends and housemates with a group of girls that had a shared love for food and we often had themed food nights, great roasts and bakes, and always had a vested interest in what each of us were cooking for tea.

However, when I returned home for the first time my mum asked what the most difficult part of being away from the luxuries of home and I vividly remember saying 'Thinking about what I'm having breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day.' Needless to say this is beyond a first world problem. I am very aware of this fact now, but I did find it tricky to navigate. Particularly, when I went through a spell of inconsistent sleeping, and subsequently losing my appetite and general excitement around food. This soon dissipated thankfully and I picked up my normal habits again. 

In second year, I finally managed to bring home a boyfriend and following this exciting revelation I definitely consolidated my love of food. Mainly through the shared experiences that come hand in hand with dinner dates, cooking for one another, saving restaurants and recipes to relish in together etc. It truly collaborates key love languages, acts of service and quality time. I am very fortunate to have a partner that also loves food, maybe not quite as much as me but if a restaurant has a beef burger on its menu he will be sure to order that and will often attest that it is 'the best burger he has ever had'. I frequently hear him say this and it never fails to make me laugh. From 16th May 2023, my relationship with food sky-rocketed thanks to him.

In my final year at university, I started working 3 nights a week as Front of House for a new bar in Cardiff that provided a free meal every shift. With my days slowly being taken up by dissertation work, the hardest uni assignments yet, looking for work experience, navigating this confusing new site called 'LinkedIn' that everyone was talking about all of a sudden (which I now love) a free meal made for me at my work place was very much appreciated. However, what was on offer was not the healthiest, pizzas and loaded fries galore. Suddenly, it felt as if I had no time to factor in exercise and I was consuming more calories than ever.

Due to these aforementioned factors, once I graduated I realised I had become significantly more 'cuddly' (a nicer way of saying softer round the middle) than I was a year ago. This kickstarted my motivation to start moving after reading 'Glutton' by Ed Gamble who stated that there is no need to take on an extreme diet and workout plan. Simply eat a little bit less and start moving. Not even more, just start moving. So I did just that. ​Throughout the course of the next couple of weeks I hope to divulge some of the minor changes in my day to day routine that have truly impacted my mental and physical health positively whilst also maintaining a healthy and balanced relationship with food.