Students report that due to tight schedules, maintaining a healthy eating habit becomes strenuous during the school year.

Breakfast is often skipped for an extra few minutes of sleep, or fast food is picked over homemade meals because of convenience. This has affected students poorly.

According to Consumer Report’s 2015 article, “Why Eating the Right Breakfast is So Important,” “If you don’t bother with breakfast, though, prolonged fasting might lead to a bigger than normal boost in ‘hunger hormones’ such as ghrelin, encouraging you to overeat at your next meal and leading to spikes and dips in glucose.”

A great deal of students have trouble eating breakfast in the morning, which can affect their school work and testing during the day.

“[I eat breakfast] two or three times a week,” sophomore Eddie Newbould said. “Maybe even less. I try to but it’s hard.”

Whether it’s because of time conflicts or physical inability to eat so early, not eating breakfast can lead to problems down the road.

“School starts kinda early, so to actually get a good breakfast in, I have to get up really early,” sophomore Lucy Huddart said. “But I make good breakfasts like whole wheat toast, avocado, poached eggs and stuff.”

Although getting in a good breakfast during the school week may be complicated, there are ways to start eating healthy in the morning.

“I think that making things into liquid form, like making a smoothie or a protein shake or something like that is one way to get a little something in your body before you go to school,”  nutrition and culinary arts teacher Susan Muise said. “It’s all part of the fast paced world that we’re living in, but there are ways to get a little something in, like eating a granola bar or something small helps.”

Lack of time doesn’t only affect breakfast, but also unhealthy snacking and meal habits.

According to the 2011 article “Why is it Important?” from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, & Nutrition, “Even for people at a healthy weight, a poor diet is associated with major health risks that can cause illness and even death.”

Time and convenience draws people to make choices, such as fast food restaurants or unhealthy snacks, which are less healthy than homemade options.

“I usually eat junk foods for snacks, and healthy foods for meals,” freshman Nick Briggs said.

Newbould expresses how homework often pushes back eating dinner. “Or sometimes it just doesn’t even happen, [because] I have so much [work],” he said.

Even when schedules come into conflict, there are ways to try and make better meal decisions.

“If you have experience and if you know how to prepare foods, it’s really not that much faster to go to a fast food restaurant,” Muise said. “Plan ahead at night, the day before, buy your own groceries, and use your own food, but have it ready for you to grab and go.”