During a time when many ditch their diets for Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing, Dining Services has introduced a nutritional initiative geared toward encouraging students to make healthy choices when eating in the dining halls.
Dining Services launched the Eat Smart campaign at lunchtime yesterday. The campaign will add a nutrition analysis tool to Dining Services' website, introduce additional healthy food options and highlight the nutritional meal choices on dining hall menus.
"We're starting an Eat Smart campaign to remind students that they're kind of in charge of their own diets, and that they should make intelligent choices when they're eating," said Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple.
Dining Services has been working on the campaign since late August, and has been working on the website for more than a year. The online nutrition guide, though "still under construction," according to Hipple, allows students to select a location and their meal to determine its nutritional value. The website lists each meal, sides and desserts. Students can check off what they eat and type in how many servings they had.
Hipple said students will have to estimate portions for food that is self-serve - such as options at the salad bar and the South Campus Dining Hall's Seasons 12 - but the meal portion listed on the website is generally what students are served.
"[The servers] are trained to give out that portion," Hipple said. "It's not always exactly accurate, but we're doing the best we can to get them trained at the same time, so that these things happen accurately."
Once students have selected their meal on the website, the analysis shows the food's nutritional value, including calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat. It also shows what allergens and ingredients are in the food.
Students said they know the dining halls offer healthy options, but their meals don't always reflect that knowledge.
"I think [the dining halls are] relatively nutritional if you choose healthy foods, but I think sometimes people don't choose it," sophomore economics major Zach Halper said.
Freshman government and politics major Morgan Rich said she thinks having nutritional information online would be helpful.
"Although I'm not really sure I'd want to see it," Rich said.
Some students may be in for a surprise when it comes to the total nutrition facts for their meal. According to the new nutritional analysis tool, a dinner at The Diner consisting of two slices of pepperoni pizza, an order of fries and a piece of chocolate cake for dessert weighs in at 1,851 calories.
"I know a lot of people who count their calories," sophomore Spanish major Roxy King said.
King said that though a cheesy slice of pizza is appealing for every meal, she thinks the dining halls do offer a variety of healthy choices, such as cooked vegetables and fruits.
Sophomore hearing and speech sciences major Alli Copeland said she tries to be conscious of the carbohydrates in the food she eats and opts for whole wheat bread when available. She also said that besides the salad bar, she feels the dining halls don't offer many healthy options, but added she was in favor of the knowledge the new initiative offers.
The week after Thanksgiving, wheat waffles and yolk-free eggs will be introduced to the dining halls' menus, offering students more healthy alternatives. Also, apple symbols will be put on the menu to mark healthier options, Hipple said.
In the future, the Eat Smart campaign would involve installing electronic terminals in the dining halls that would allow students to calculate the nutritional value of their meal right away, Hipple said. He added that Dining Services hopes to have the stations installed by fall 2009, depending on availability and pricing of the equipment.
Hipple said the university's dietitian will be available next week in the dining halls to meet with students to talk about the Eat Smart campaign and answer nutrition questions.
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