If the old adage, “You are what you eat,” holds true, many U students are slices of pizza, greasy french fries and artery-clogging hamburgers.
Most college students don’t eat as well as they should, according to research being compiled at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
The study says 66 percent of freshmen don’t consume the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and 60 percent eat too much saturated fat.
Nutrition experts at the U blame college students’ poor eating habits on the lack of education about nutritional eating and the media’s strong influences.
Michael Paulus, resident district manager of the U’s food service, Chartwells, believes bad eating habits are not just typical of college students, but are a learned behavior for almost everyone in society.
The reason nutritional balance gets so out of control during the college years, Paulus says, is because of the lack of time college students have to actually worry about proper nutrition.
“When I was cramming for my finals, I swear I went through pounds of M&M’s…and coffee,” says Sanela Sameric, a U freshman.
Staci Nix, the director of the U’s nutrition clinic, agrees. The problem in college is “not bad eating habits, but not planning ahead, and eating on the run. It is a big transitional period-[students] don’t have someone there orienting their meals.”
When ‘Eat, Drink and be Healthy’ is replaced by ‘Study, study, and study some more,’ it becomes difficult to take notice of caloric intake and nutritious eating.
Paulus also says because of “so many demands for time, [students tend to] go for comfort food” in order to make themselves feel better.
Although there are many options for healthy eating at the U, college students still make unhealthy choices.
“People cannot change their eating habits overnight,” Paulus said.
Paulus says Chartwells will aim to continue to offer nutritionally balanced meals and provide education about proper nutrition.
The Union Terrace Food Court offers restaurants such as Chick-Fil-A, Fresh Grille and Menutainment exhibition cooking. According to the Dining Plan for 2002-2003, The Heritage Commons dining center has five food areas that let students choose from a variety of meals throughout the day.
“There are easy ways to make healthy [eating] choices,” says Beverly Webber, adjunct assistant professor in the division of foods and nutrition.
“I eat lunch in the Union and can make healthy choices,” she said.
The Dining Plan says “good food helps sustain you in your pursuit of a University education.”
The plan’s “Nurture Your World” program helps students make sensible dietary choices. It features nutritional tips and basics to promote students’ health and well-being.
Still, Paulus says the most often ordered foods are “french fries, pizza and other fatty items.”
U organizations are doing their part in the promotion of dietary education. Students for Nutrition Action in the Community’s purpose is “to promote good nutrition habits, increase education and awareness and render nutrition-related services to students and community.”
The Student Health Advisory Committee promotes many types of healthy ways of living through its annual Wellness Week in October.
The Counseling Center and the Women’s Resource Center, meanwhile, offer counseling for more serious eating problems.
Lisa Mountain, the co-facilitator of an eating disorder group and a U counseling psychologist, has seen unhealthy eating choices at their worst.
Instead of moderate dieting and exercise, young people tend to turn to extreme dieting measures in order to regain control of their bodies, Mountain said.
The so-called ‘freshman 15’ is an exaggeration, according to Christina Economos, assistant professor of nutrition at Tufts and principal investigator for their research project. Men gained an average of five and a half pounds and women four and a half pounds during freshman year, according to the project.
An alarming amount-40 percent-of average-weight college women perceive themselves to be overweight and 32 percent of all students report a decline in their body image during freshman year.
Starvation and binging and purging are the most common ways young people attempt to lose weight.
“The most common disorder…that we see at the Counseling Center is bulimia,” Mountain said.
Although she sees some symptoms of anorexia, full-out starvation is harder to handle, she said.
Like Paulus, Mountain agrees the problem is not only at the U, but rather a “matter of changing the culture in general.”
“The culture [in Utah] makes it very likely that people, women in particular, will develop disordered eating,” she said.
Mountain also blames the “socio-political issue of subjugation of women in general, [where] women are supposed to be smaller and automatically less powerful.”
Mountain says knowledge alone about nutrition and healthy eating will not solve the problems of disordered eating. Most college students have an “incredible amount of knowledge, but the struggles they face are deeper than that…[and usually come down to] abuse, perfectionism and feelings of lack of control,” she said.
Students with eating concerns can get help and learn to make healthy choices at the U’s Nutrition Clinic. Administered by the Division of Foods and Nutrition in the College of Health, the clinic has a staff of master’s-level dietitians, registered with the American Dietetic Association.