It is one thing to recommend what
college students should eat, but it is another thing to actually see their
diet. Does the dining hall provide a good variety for a student’s diet? Do
college students pay attention to what they eat on a daily basis, or is
nutrition at the back of their mind as they concentrate on schoolwork? These
are questions that people often don’t know the answers to. My roommate’s name
is Maria, a freshman at Endicott College, who allowed me to follow her for the
day and record her eating habits. By taking pictures of the foods she consumed
throughout the day, I can review her diet to what is recommended for a college
student to eat.
Although
she snacks and eats a cookie or two throughout the day, Maria proves to have a
healthy diet. She is aware of the necessary food groups on the
food pyramid, and chooses food that
would be beneficial to her. Not everything she eats during the day is
recommended, however, for a student living on campus, some of the eating habits
seem to be comparable to other students’ diets. Throughout the day she eats
foods that are from her dorm room as well as foods from the dining hall.
Maria’s day started out with Minute
Maid cranberry apple raspberry juice from our very own dorm refrigerator. The
juice contains sugars, but also nutrients to get the body going in the morning,
just what she needed through math class. When she gets back from class at
almost eleven in the morning, she picks up a box of apple cinnamon Cheerios
from under her bed, and eats a couple of handfuls as she gets ready to walk out
the door again. Maria looks down as she opens a Kellogg’s Nutri Grain apple
cinnamon bar and laughs, “wow, I never realized how many apple flavored foods
we keep in here!” Already there is a pattern of apple-flavored products, but it
does not mean Maria is getting the necessary nutrients that an apple would
provide for her.
According
to “My Plate,” released in 2011, college students are recommended to consume
one and half cups of fruit every day. An apple would be the healthiest form of
an apple product. The flavor in the cereal is artificial; therefore, actual
apple nutrients do not exist in the Cheerios. Some apple juice brands produce
their juices with nutrients from apples, and others have artificial flavoring.
Still, Maria received some of her daily fruit recommendation from drinking
apple juice. The reason a raw apple would be more beneficial is because the
skin, like most other fruit skins, contains flavonoids that help keep human
skin strong and protected against ultraviolet light. Also, there are whole
grains in the cereal that Maria consumed. Whole wheat and whole grains are
sometimes difficult for college student to consume because of the limited choices
they face in the dining hall, but they can usually be found in cereal products,
such as Cheerios.
Sitting down for
breakfast before class is something that rarely happens. Skipping breakfast is
common for college students because they tend to wake up and head to class, not
having time to go to the dining hall, so they grab something quick from their
dorm room. We are always being told
that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but why? Breakfast should be the first thing students do in the morning; it gives us energy for the day ahead, like a natural boost. According to
WebMD, for students who are concerned about their weight,
it is proven that people who don’t eat breakfast actually have a harder time
losing weight. This is because after skipping breakfast, people are more likely
to eat more at their next meal, or worse, snack on unhealthy foods until then. Personally,
I cannot remember the last time I sat down and ate breakfast before class. I
can say with confidence that I have never made a trip to the dining hall before
my eight a.m. class. College students tend to reach for the easy foods to eat
on the go, such as Pop Tarts, that they can eat on their walk to class or
during class. Maria’s eating patterns in the morning proves to be typical
compared to other students’ on campus, however, her morning diet is not
recommended because of the artificial flavors and skipped breakfast.
For lunch, Maria went
to the dining hall. After circulating and taking a look at all of her options,
she chooses the grilled cheese sandwich, French fries on the side, and a glass
of skim milk. Of course, the meal wouldn’t be complete without a chocolate chip
cookie for dessert. This is not a bad option because there are whole grains in
the bread, as well as dairy, which is a necessary food group. As we sit down,
Maria laughs and tells me, “I’m also going to get a salad because I feel like
I’m being super unhealthy.” Maria has been watching what she eats for the past
few weeks because she believes that she has fallen into the myth about the
freshman fifteen. She wants to get back on track and eat healthy. “Ever since I
was a freshman in high school, I’ve been on this yo-yo diet, where I lose
weight, and then a few months later, I gain it back. I have noticed a change
since I started living on campus, I have gained weight, and it’s now my goal to
work it off.” Maria tells me that she is a picky eater, and the food that the
dining hall provides is not as bad as other campuses she has seen, however,
there are not many options that suit her tastes.
During the time
frame between lunch and dinner, Maria snacks on a banana and peanut butter, and
later she eats a Pop Tart. Both of these snacks she keeps in her dorm room for
when she and her roommates are hungry during the day and aren’t able to go to
the dining hall. By eating the banana and peanut butter, Maria was provided
with a good source of protein from the peanut butter, as well as a good source
of fruit from the banana. Snacks throughout the day aren’t a terrible thing.
Snacks such as cookies or Pop Tarts contain empty calories, and our diets allow
us to have 260 of these discretionary calories. As a college student, it is
almost impossible to stay under the recommended limit. Even on a diet, Maria
goes over her daily allowance. She says, “ it’s an adjustment going from living
under my parents’ roof and being exposed to food that my mom brings home from
the grocery store, to being exposed to vending machines and endless supplies of
cookies at the dining hall, or smoothies in the café as I walk to class.” Maria
is not the only one who faces these temptations. It seems to be a pattern
amongst students living on Endicott’s campus. My other roommate, Kayla, says,
“it’s just convenient to grab snacks as I leave the dorm, sometimes they aren’t
always healthy or nutritious. The dining hall isn’t open at the most convenient
times, so I can’t sit down and eat an actual meal three times a day, every day.
I’ll be lucky if I can sit down and eat a meal once a day.”
Maria experiences
similar difficulties sitting down to eat for meals due to her schedule. When
she goes back to the dining hall for dinner, Maria choses the main event, which
includes two slices of pork, rice, green beans, and cooked carrots. This meal
is definitely a healthy meal because she is consuming many sections of the food
pyramid. Throughout the day, Maria was missing an essential part of her diet,
which were vegetables. Although she received a good portion of fruit, fruits
and vegetables are two different food groups. “My Plate” recommends us to consume
one and a half cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables per day.
Maria does a good job of making sure she gets her necessary amount of vegetables
at dinner. In addition, nutrition is not just about what we eat, but what we
drink is also very important. Maria drinks water throughout the day, and at
dinner she drinks a glass of skim milk. Dairy has its own food group, and it
important to pay attention to the recommended value of three cups per day.
Although Maria
might not have reached all of the recommended values for every food group, she
does a good job of balancing her diet. As I recorded her eating patterns, it
became evident that what college students have in their dorm room matters. It
is common for students to grab a handful of cereal before heading off to their
next class, or eat snacks throughout the day. The dining hall cannot always
provide the necessary food groups that our bodies needs to be healthy, so it
becomes the student’s responsibility to shop and make choices to give their
bodies nutrients to stay energized during the day, and stay awake during class.
Maria’s diet includes foods from each part of the food pyramid, which is a
positive attribute to a her healthy diet as a college student.
