Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

Cafeteria nutrition for athletes

9 Apr 2025 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:36

In this instructional video, the speaker addresses the challenges faced by college athletes who must rely on cafeteria meals and lack a personal kitchen. She introduces a “performance plate” framework—half the plate filled with healthy carbohydrates (e.g., brown rice, quinoa, whole‑wheat pasta), one‑quarter with protein (chicken, beef, turkey, fish), the remaining portion with a variety of fruits and vegetables (at least two colors), and a modest amount of fat (e.g., peanut butter). The speaker emphasizes the importance of controlling snack intake by keeping high‑carbohydrate, portable options such as GoGo Squeezes, granola bars, and fruit leathers in dorm rooms or lockers. She also notes that athletes at Division I schools often have access to athlete‑center snack supplies, whereas those at Division II or junior‑college programs may need to rely more on self‑stocked snacks. The overall message is to proactively manage nutrition despite limited cooking facilities, using structured plate guidelines and strategic snack stocking.

Chapters

I am working with a runner at Notre Dame who eats in the cafeteria and can't cook for herself. She doesn't have a kitchen in her dorm. It's really hard to figure out how to navigate your nutrition when you are in a cafeteria, especially when you're in college. Your training demands are high. You want your nutrition to be locked in. It's tricky. So here's some steps. Number 1, you want to follow a performance plate guide. Okay, performance plate: fats, carbs, protein, fruit, vegetable. You want about half of your plate to be a healthy source of carbs. Brown rice is a great option. Quinoa is another great option. Some whole wheat pasta, great option. 1/4 of your plate will be the protein— chicken, beef, turkey, fish, anything like that is great. The other part of your plate, you want to be loaded with fruits and vegetables, at least 2 colors. It could be steamed broccoli with some apple slices on the side. And then you want a smaller amount of fat. I'm sure that they're going to be cooking in some fat sources, so you don't need a ton of this, but a great option would just be getting some peanut butter to dip your apples in. Performance plate. Fats, carbs, protein, two colors. Okay, the second piece of advice I would give you is take control of your snacks. You have a dorm room, you have space, you have space under your bed. Figure out some great snacks that you can always be taking on the go. A lot of you are at higher Division I schools, should have access to snacks and kind of an athlete center where they'll have those snacks and bars and stuff for you guys. If you're at a Division II school or maybe a juco, you might not have that luxury. And so keeping higher carb snacks— GoGo Squeezes, granola bars, fruit leathers— in your dorm room or in your locker can be really beneficial to really dialing it in because you can't have complete control of having a kitchen.