The Flavors of Finals: Cravings during the home stretch

It’s 7 a.m. My vision blurs as I hold my drawing pen, determined to make just a little more progress before my body forces me to call this all-nighter quits. I’m simultaneously hot and freezing. I’m sweating, I have goosebumps, I feel gross, and I want a shower. Everything is due. 

Finals week draws nigh.

As stress swells, I find myself craving an unholy amount of chocolate. Unfortunately, I can’t survive on semi-sweet baking chips. I’m sure there are other options, but with a brain so fried, all that remains is the Ctrl+Z command to “Undo.” I need outside snacking expertise.

How do my peers snack their way through finals? 

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) senior Jen Scott, a self-described chocolate fiend after my own heart, said that proper nutrition takes a backseat during the high-stress times of school terms. 

“I usually just forget to actually eat meals,” Scott said. 

For college students, stress commonly causes the appetite to go haywire, according to a number of studies. Since Scott mentioned that the food she eats during finals differs from her normal eating habits, I asked what she craves during finals.  

“Snacks,” she told me. “I usually just lean towards candy and baked goods.” 

But what she looks forward to once the term concludes is the complete opposite. She wants home-cooked meals. 

“Literally the best,” Scott declared. “My mom makes incredible homemade ramen [with] noodles from scratch and everything.”

Now, I want ramen. But I need more opinions.

Aarti Damania, another SCAD senior, admits that stress also forces her to skip meals, but as the term progresses, she often finds herself seeking comfort foods.

“Instant noodles [are] actually my biggest comfort food,” Damania said. 

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As the conversation continued, and my craving for noodles increased, Damania — delightfully — revealed she is a chocolate lover, too. But after the quarter ends, Damania looks forward to breaking away from the sweets. 

“The moment finals finish, I go back home and I eat home-cooked food,” Damania explained, already anticipating the meals she will have. I have to admit, I feel similarly. 

But now I find myself wondering about the reason for these cravings. Registered dietitian Alissa Palladino has my answers.

“It can be multi-pronged,” Palladino said. She describes how there are emotional and physical components that come into play. For emotional aspects, Palladino explains pleasure-seeking combats uncomfortable feelings like stress.

“There’s often a link there [of] turning to food as a coping mechanism, to feel more comfortable and to help self-soothe.” Palladino said. 

In times of high stress, cortisol levels in the body rise, leading to cravings for foods high in sugar and salt. 

“Evolutionarily, we are actually hardwired to crave sugar when we’re stressed,” Palladino explained. 

Afterwards, when the hormone spike levels out, we return to finding comfort in normal, often more balanced meals like home cooking. It’s a pattern a lot of students know all too well, especially when finals hit and eating habits go out the window. Armed with my new knowledge, I returned to seeking out my peers for their snacking expertise.

SCAD junior Simone Ferguson explained to me the dichotomy of his cravings during finals.

“I really crave a lot of food from home when I know I’m going home,” Ferguson said, and proceeded to describe a mouthwatering Texas barbecue that has been on my mind ever since. Despite this, Ferguson said during the quarter, they eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, because they’re easy to make. 

“I noticed myself cooking a lot of pastries around finals week,” he admitted. “They make me feel happy and fulfilled… Love is stored in the food.” 

SCAD junior Marie Alexander’s go-to is apples and cheese in those mini snack packs. Something about the simple snacks from childhood makes everything seem okay, especially during times of high stress.

“My family [says these foods are] kind of for babies … I associated those foods with a happy point in my life … So I’m like ‘If I eat this, for a brief moment in time, everything’s chill and everything’s nostalgic,’” Alexander said. I have never felt more seen. 

Nostalgia can tide us over for a while, but in the end, college students like Alexander look forward to the home stretch. 

The post The Flavors of Finals: Cravings during the home stretch appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.