Food Allergies, Dining Halls, and a Listicle (oh my) - Violet

If there's one universal truth about college it's this: eating on campus can be Stressful. Dining halls can be crowded and have unpredictable menus, while fast food restaurants (etc.) can have long wait times and a more condensed menu than other franchises. Throw in a food allergy or several on top and it can be a recipe for disaster.

Trust me, I know because I've been there. The summer before my freshman year of university I was diagnosed with allergies to peanuts and soy. Then, during spring break, I was told I have an autoimmune disease and that I couldn't continue to eat gluten without getting Celiac disease. I was living on campus at the time, which meant I was almost exclusively eating at dining halls. Figuring out what I could eat and how to keep a healthy diet with those restrictions was really difficult, but through trial and error I figured it out and I want to share some of the best tips I found with you.

Find your resources

Look around, ask around, do some googling and figure out what resources are available to you. For example, my university had a menu for each of its dining halls that was updated daily and had allergy filters you could customize. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it helped give an idea of what I might be able to eat that day. Another option is seeing if there are any staff you can meet with, like a nutritionist or a dining hall director, or even your office of disabilities since you may be entitled to some ADA protections. There's also sites like FARE and Food Insight that offer general advice on the more medical side of allergies and potential reactions.

Use the internet

This goes along with the last one, but online resources specifically can be super helpful since they can be accessed from a smartphone or laptop anywhere. I've used mine to google restaurants on (or off) campus to see if there's anything I can eat on their menu before bothering to walk over. I've also found Reddit threads and tweets from people at my school with the same allergies giving advice or voicing frustration. I also used to use my notes app to keep a list of safe foods and places to eat for if I was ever feeling overwhelmed, needed someone to pick up food for me, or was trying to decide where to go out with friends.

Establish safe foods

It can be hard keeping a mental list of which specific foods prepared in which specific way I can or can't eat. Keeping a running list of a handful of foods I know won't give me a reaction was invaluable for days when I didn't have time to check a menu beforehand or was feeling overwhelmed. For me, my list looked something like this:

• most of the 'plain' proteins (grilled chicken, scrambled eggs, etc)

• rice

• french fries

• fresh fruits and vegetables

• some cooked vegetables like green beans or corn

• yogurt

and I would mix and match those, with something new occasionally thrown in, as the majority of my diet.

Be vigilant

Sometimes foods you think are safe aren't, and that's just how it be sometime. Take it from the girl who once (before going gluten-free) grabbed what she thought was a sugar cookie, realized it tasted funny in a vague way, and then had an allergic reaction because apparently she forgot what peanut butter tastes like. I was fine, just had some stomach cramps, but you can bet your girl never went near the cookies in the dining hall unless I was positive they didn't have nuts. The flip-side of that, though, is to be gentle with yourself. Mistakes can happen, and beating yourself up over it isn't going to help. So have some grace, take some medicine, and start fresh with your next meal.

If there's one thing I'd like to leave you with, it's this: be careful, but don't stress too much. Having food allergies while living on campus can be frustrating, but with a little time and effort it's totally manageable.

Do you have any tips for living with food allergies? Hit us up in the comments or on our socials, we'd love to hear them!

- Violet