Unhealthy eating habits plague Cal Poly

Originally written March 31, 2006 for The Poly Post.

College students often have difficulty finding time or motivation to eat healthy. This idea is typified by the infamous "freshman 15", that extra weight typically put on by students getting accustomed to the stress of studying, midterms and research papers.

Cal Poly students have an especially hard time in the search for healthy foods, said Wellness Center Peer Health Educator Katrina Lee.

"None of the restaurants here are good for you," she said. "Kikka [Sushi] is ok, it's one of the healthier choices but the sauces they have are still bad for you."

Lee said Strips and Chips is the least healthy restaurant on campus, due to their habit of deep-frying nearly every item on the menu.

"We don't want to concentrate on just on restaurant being healthy for you," said Annette Pettit, senior associate food director at Foundation Dining Services. "We're focusing on having choices."

Pettit said this means making an effort to provide healthy options at all campus restaurants, for example a salad at Carl's Jr. or a bean burrito at Taco Bell, but Foundation doesn't want to take away student's freedom to order a burger and fries if they choose.

The prevalence of high fat items on campus menus is one of the biggest problems with campus food, Lee said. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends limiting intake of fats to less than 30 percent of daily caloric intake.

"People are afraid of carbs but really it's fat that's the worst for you," said Lee.

Additionally, the vast majority of campus restaurants serve processed food, such as meat that has had preservatives added to prevent spoiling. While these help keep the food edible for longer, the substances added to processed food could be harmful to your health.

"It we were supported in providing a totally organic, health food, kind of choiceÑand if the customers were thereÑthen we would," said Pettit.

There are somewhat healthy places to eat on campus though, said the Wellness Center. Besides the aforementioned Kikka, Subway has many healthy options, And of course there's the Fresh Escape salad bar, a perennial money loser.

Business junior Jason Paniagua said he thought Panda Express was probably the healthiest location on campus, however Lee said they're more akin to other fast food restaurants then authentic healthy Chinese food.

The problem is not only with the content of food but also with portion size, said Carol Smith, a physician with Student Health Services.

"We have super-sized everything these days," she said.

Paniagua thinks the school should do more to encourage good eating for its students.

"[Cal Poly] should stop selling the healthy stuff for so much money," he said. "They charge too much."

Christina Davis, second-year business student, believes the school's role should be more limited.

"We are college students, if we want to have a healthier selection then we should either bring our choice of food with us, or leave campus," she said.

Pettit also believes in a more limited role for the school, one focused on providing choice for customers. She also said better communication was needed to make customers aware of these choices.

Smith said hectic schedules lead students to not make the time to choose the foods they eat wisely.

"The last thing on my mind is the amount of calories or carbs that I am consuming while trying to study or hanging out with friends," Davis said.

Weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even a rise in the instances of Type II diabetes can all be traced back to poor eating habits.

"Young people are heavier now than five, 10 or 20 years ago," Smith said. "This has the potential to be a serious problem."

Both the Health and Wellness Centers recommend making lifestyle changes like getting more sleep and eating breakfast in the morning, both of which affect the rate at which the body metabolizes food.

For now, the best option for the health conscious student seems to be packing your own lunch, Lee said.