Keto for college student on meal plan in university cafeteria?

(Donna ) #1

I don’t know if I’m putting this in the right category. Amins, please move if there’s a better place to post this.

My son just started living in a residence hall at a university and is required to have a meal plan (there isn’t a kitchen in his room, so it’s necessary anyway.) My son has been keto for years. He is a believer and doesn’t cheat. He doesn’t want to cheat.

Well, after a week of his living and eating at the university, I’m sending the following email to the dining services. I don’t have high hopes of a favorable response. I’ll let you know how/if they respond:

Hello,

My son moved into XXXXX Hall last Sunday and, as required of all resident students, has a meal plan. Our family has enjoyed the many health benefits of keto style eating for years. In the past week, he has only found hamburgers with the buns removed, cold deli meat, pickles, and hot dogs without the buns as appropriate keto food. We are accustomed to eating a lot of ‘real’ meat for our nutrition and roasted low carb vegetables.

He says everything else offered is carby. Will there be more ‘real meat’ options? (Deli meat and hot dogs are not anywhere near optimal for keto nutrition.) We eat whole, real foods, no grains or starches or even fruits (which are too sugary and 100% fructose sugar.) Will he be able to have real meat and low carb vegetables?

Our regular food items are low sugar bacon, real eggs (no fillers), real ground meat (no soy or other fillers), real chicken (dark meat with skin), real cheese (no American), and low carb vegetables like roasted broccoli and brussels sprouts. Can we hope for anything like this for him at XXXXXX?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

(Carl Keller) #2

I can imagine the reaction of the person who reads your letter and turns to their colleague and says:

“Some people have a lot of nerve! This lady wants us to provide real food for her son!”

Even with the insanely high cost of higher education, I doubt you will have much luck getting them to have real food available for your son. If his dorm is close to where you live, consider making him plates that he can microwave in his dorm or cafeteria. Hopefully, he’s allowed a mini refrigerator that he can stock up with a week’s worth of ready made meals.

I do know there’s some keto at college articles on the web in which you might find some advice that would help you son survive college.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #3

I have a feeling they will say that if your son has a “specialized diet” he needs to provide his own food. This coming from folks who have probably seen their share of fad diets over the years and you might just be one in a long line of many TO THEM. Now if a bunch of moms wrote letters and you guys started a whole thing, then maybe!

If they don’t respond in positively, do you have a plan B? I like Carl’s idea of bulk meal prepping on the weekend and eating that for the bulk of his meals. Then he can maybe supplement with what’s available at the cafeteria when they are serving a healthier low carb option.

(Donna ) #4

Unfortunately, the college is 4 hours away from home. I don’t expect him to drive home regularly.

If you live on campus, you must purchase a food plan. This is maddening, because a low-fat person could manage there as well as a vegetarian, but not this WOE. :frowning: There are on-campus apartment/suite style living quarters, but he didn’t get into those. The residential services said they were full.

He has nuts and canned sardines in his dorm room. (I told him to go somewhere else to eat the sardines as his roommate probably wouldn’t appreciate the smell. Haha.)

We plan to find an off-campus apartment for our son this summer.

(Jennibc) #5

This is my big worry for when my son leaves for college the year after next. He has to follow a special diet or his OCD and ADD (and eczema) come back. He can’t do grain, seed oils or sugar. I am thinking of getting a note from his pediatrician. I am not sure how else to handle it.

(Donna ) #6

@Jennibc, I would definitely pursue the letter from your doctor. See if there are living accomodations for freshmen. At my other son’s college, all freshmen must live in one of two dorms and neither have kitchens. Upperclassmen have suite style options with kitchens in the suite.

(Sam) #7

I don't know if you will get a favorable answer from the university. I'm sorry for your son. Unfortunately, this problem persists in the canteen of many universities. And such students as your son are not taken into account. When my daughter went to ASA College to study English as a second language, my daughter also had some problems with the canteen. She is a vegetarian and did not have a wide variety of food in the canteen and not even enough time and space to cook independently. But fortunately, our problem was heard and fixed as soon as possible. But I know a lot of students with such problems that are not taken into account. Insist and write more emails to fix your son's problem. I hope everything will be ok.