Marshall 1 Nicholas Marshall English 1102-051 Prof.

Ingram 2 April 2013 The Truth about Dining Hall Food: Healthy or Unhealthy As I am going through my first year of college at the University of Charlotte, I was pretty much forced to purchase some sort of meal plan to live in the campus dormitories. I have always taken interest in eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle through exercising. A major part of living a healthy lifestyle is eating healthy and through my years experience with the on campus dining hall food I have taken notice to the rarity of healthy food choices. There is an overwhelming amount of fried and greasy foods to pick for a meal but alternative choices are difficult to find a lot of the time. For instance, after working out for a few hours I definitely do not want to waste all the burned calories by eating pizza and fried chicken patties. Many college students have taken an interest in the nutritional value of dining hall food because this is what they are consuming on a daily basis. Students everywhere are taking a stand to make dining halls have a larger quantity of healthy foods. With more healthy choice in on campus dining halls, there where would be a fewer amount of students who gain the ominous freshmen fifteen. Through personal experience, statistics, and college students stand on dining hall food, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of dining hall food is unhealthy and needs to change as soon as possible.

Marshall 2 Looking into the healthy amount of nutrients a person can consume; food choices at dining halls seem to be contradicting to these widely accepted values. When referring to an average 2000 calorie diet, the daily amount of fat is 65 grams and saturated fatty acids are 20 grams (Recommended Daily Intake). Along with a healthy intake of fats it is important to limit the amount of sodium one consumes. Excess amounts of sodium are often in frozen and processed foods, which is what the majority of dining hall food consists of. The intake of sodium is recommended to only be consumed up to 2400 milligrams (Recommended Daily Intake). High amounts of sodium can lead to a greater risk for high blood pressure. High blood pressure often leads to heart disease and stroke (Wheres the Sodium). A student on college campuses across the nation are limited to eating dining hall food, especially freshmen, and with such a small amount of foods that are not frozen and processed it is extremely difficult to regulate ones diet. Additionally, without being able to view the nutritional facts of the food you are consuming there is no possible way anyone can know exactly if the food is healthy or not. Something I have learned over my year in school eating at dining halls are foods that seem and look healthy most of the time have unhealthy aspects. While things such as grilled chicken that is served on a daily basis at the Crown Commons dining seems harmless and low in calories has an unnecessary excess of sodium. From a student and fitness junkies website that is dedicated to having a healthy lifestyle in college goes into more detail on seemingly harmless meals. She uses the example of an average dining hall turkey sandwich stating:

Marshall 3 Its literally just turkey, a slice of Swiss cheese, lettuce, and multi-grain bread. Sounds decently healthy, right? Not quite. While this sandwich is only 500 calories, its jam packed with unnecessary fat and sodium, 17 grams and 1131 grams respectively. (Dussault) This shocking amount of fat and sodium in food as harmless as a turkey sandwich makes you wonder about the nutritional value of other foods that you would choose when attempting to create a healthy meal the dining hall. Particularly, taking into account that the recommended daily intake of sodium is only 2400 grams this single sandwich that dining halls are offering nearly half of that amount. With the growing number of health conscious students, they are more involved in the food they are consuming; with limited healthy choices at dining halls this makes it challenging to eat healthy. Students are a lot more apt to grab something quick to eat a dining hall rather than going off campus or cooking themselves because of the busy schedules they have. Gaining weight due to unhealthy eating habits is very true for many students at college. This dramatically affects freshman students because of the usual requirement for students to obtain a meal plan. According to statistics that were discovered through research at numerous universities freshman college students should expect to gain weight. It more than likely not be as intense as the freshmen fifteen (affecting only 5 percent of students) but referencing a Rutgers University study it found that 75% of study subjects gained weight -- an average of 7 pounds, from eating approximately 112 extra calories per day (Column and Zelman). And even more outrageous is that according to a study completed by Cornell University, freshmen gained an average of 4.2 pounds during the first 12 weeks of school (Column and Zelman).This once again

Marshall 4 leads back to the hidden calories in dining hall foods that students are not aware of. This problem could be decreased if there were a combination of healthier choice and a nutritional facts list for the foods that are being served. Weight gain is an evident problem in todays society as obesity is becoming a problem for more people than ever before. Obesity is defined as being over thirty pounds of ones ideal body weight (Thomas). Obesity is affecting college students between the ages of 18-29, which actually have the highest growth of obesity, which increased from 7.1 to 12.1 percent of the demographics population. This major upsurge of obesity of college aged students cannot be accounted by just partying and late night snacks. There is most certainly an underlying factor that is in the food that students are consuming on a daily basis at dining halls. Therefore, college students around the nation are being affected by the lack of healthy choices that on-campus dining halls are offering. This has been made evident by the reality of weight gain according to freshmen research studies and also my personal experience with seeing high school friends during winter break that have quickly gained weight. Also the shocking increase of college aged students that are becoming obese. Weight gain and unhealthy eating habits will always be a problem for college students and especially freshman because of the multiple unhealthy aspects of the food served at dining halls. The best way for eating healthy in college is to choose grilled options rather than fried, choosing non-greasy foods, and staying away from processed foods. This is much harder than it sounds because the majority of what dining halls are serving is the exact opposite of what healthy meals should comprise of.

Marshall 5 Annotated Bibliography Column, Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LDWebMD Expert. "Diet Myth or Truth: The Freshman 15." WebMD. WebMD, 13 Mar. 0001. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. This article goes into detail about the truth of the freshmen 15. It shows statistics of college students' weight gain and how likely one is to gain weight while at college. It also informs steps on how to avoid gaining the freshmen 15.

Dussault, Sarah. "The Truth about Dining Hall Meals." Sarah Fit RSS. N.p., 11 Nov. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. Dussault's ariticle gives a college students perspective on every day food at dining halls. It seeks into the truth of the nutrition value that the food actually has. Also it even discusses the nutrition value that the seemingly healthy choices have at dining halls.

"Recommended Daily Intake." Recommended Daily Intake. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. This website has a chart that displays the recommended nutrient intake of on a 2000 calorie diet. It displays the healthy amount of fat, sodium, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, and vitamins for an average person.

Thomas, Veena. "An Unhealthy Feeding Frenzy Freshman 15 Only the Start of Downhill Trend." - The Tech. The Tech, 9 May 2000. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.

Marshall 6 This article from The Massachussets Institute of Technology's newsaper shows shocking details of the major increase in obesity of college aged students. It also discusses the truth to the ominous "freshman fifteen". The increase of obesity in college aged students has statistics to prove the truth to the "freshmen fifteen".

"Where's the Sodium?" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 07 Feb. 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. This article covers the risks of an excess amount of sodium in a person's diet. Also it discusses which types of food have the highest amount of sodium. Additionally, it gives healthy ways to limit the intake of sodium and which groups are most at risk for health related problems.