Personal Narrative: My College Diet

Perhaps the biggest factor that causes students to gain weight is the adjustment from eating at home to eating at college. A student from Chicago State University wrote in the school paper that, “Students in their first year away from home are sometimes not experienced in choosing foods or balanced meals” (French). The free-for-all campus style eating allows for unlimited choices of food and no parents to tell students what they can or cannot eat. Dietitian Ann Litt is also quoted in a Washington Post article in stating that, “the all you can eat concept in most college food services is an invitation overeat” (Linder). College dining halls are set up like fast food restaurants, and some even contain a McDonalds or a Pizza Hut. Fast food style eating really has no nutritional value, other than lots of fat and calories. In an article which examined the ways which students eat nutritional professor Christina Economos stated that more than fifty percent of students are eating too much fat, and seventy to eighty percent are getting too much saturated fat. She states that lack of fruit and vegetable consumption and the eating of mostly processed food is the main cause of weight gain among students (Linder). When students enter the dining hall they need to remind themselves that eating healthy is important.

The University of a Florida offers meal plans for students who wish to have a meal ready for them rather than worrying about what they are going to eat, or perhaps cook, throughout the day. The problem with this idea however, is that students oftentimes do not take full advantage of this system. Whether it is cooking, eating out, or even going home on the weekends, there are several factors that can get in the way of taking full advantage of the meal plan. This dilemma often leaves families asking the same question: is buying the meal plan that is provided by colleges actually worth the money? While buying a meal plan for college appears to make sense for many incoming freshmen, it does not always translate into the most efficient use of

they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please

Why do colleges make their meal plans for students very costly? Are they too expensive? Are meal plans or college food healthy? Throughout the 21st century college has become more essential to attend and get a job after graduating. As compared to back then when with just a high school degree an individual could live off a decent job. However, as college became more important, the price of college also increased including, the cost of dorms, tuition, fees, books, and most importantly meal plans. Within all of the college expenses, the price of meal plans has also increased. Food is one of the most important necessity a human being needs to survive. Furthermore, the price is not the only factor, the health and regulations of a student’s meal plan also comes into play. Colleges provide a huge variety of food, most of it being fast food. The main research question

1. What experience do you like talking about the most? What has been the most interesting, intriguing, and exciting part of your life- why, and what did you learn from it?

The thought of new adventures I will encounter and the freedom I will gain in college makes me ecstatic. Your First Year of College: 25 Strategies and Tips to Help You Survive and Thrive Your Freshman Year and Beyond written by Randall S. Hansen, who is an entrepreneur who is focused on helping people with college success and health and wellness. “Get enough sleep, take your vitamins and eat right.” Getting enough sleep can improve your focus and agility. The author suggest that if you stay healthy, get enough sleep, and take your vitamins you should have a better chance of avoiding the “Freshman 15.” Without having your parents around to serve you a good balanced meal, one may be tempted to go for the cookies

Eating as a college student can have it shares of eating problems, healthy, deep fired, homemade and fast food. When in college, there is a moment when we are free of problems when suddenly one problem shows up with another one showing up few moments with a third one not far apart equaling not one, not two but three problems that need to be fixed. From one of those three problems is hunger because it’s common for people to be hungry anytime of the day. Eduardo Martinez’s interesting argument article “A college argument”, has an interested argument that its target audience is college students because for starters, it has the subject college within the title making it easy to whom it talks about.

The myth indicates that first-year college students either gain fifteen pound from eating unhealthy or lose fifteen pounds due to not eating during their first years in college. We are all encouraged to take health class in college and learn about nutrients, but we can barely apply our knowledge to campus food. Cal Poly Pomona provides various options for food around campus, but not every dining space is healthy. As diligent students around campus, I believe the campus should improve its dining options. The common phrase: “You are what you eat” is highly emphasized in health class. I suggest the replacement of Round Table Pizza with healthier local restaurants that will serve students. Our campus does not serve fish to its students, but fish is high in Omega-3 fatty acids which boost body and brain functions. As students visually see the implementation of healthy food alternatives on campus, they will apply the knowledge from health class upon their diets. In health class, we were instructed to track our diets with the MyPlate. Through my food tracking on the website, I learned what food groups I was overeating and others that I was under eating. This website mapped out my goals for dairy, fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates, calories and sugars intakes which enabled me to visualize my diet. I would suggest that Cal Poly Pomona offers the MyPlate as an option for students to do over a quarter of 0.5 units so students

Hey Everyone! Happy Friday! I hope you all had a great week. Mine went by pretty fast. I have been sick this week, and I am finally almost over it. Yay. So today for my fitness friday I wanted to talk a little bit on my progress. I have not weighed in yet, but I am going to do that soon. I have to say overall my clothes are fitting looser. Which in my book is a plus. I have been eating pretty clean staying away from a lot of breads until today I did have some bread for lunch. I totally failed at taking pictures today! I will insert a picture of a smoothie I had a few days ago because it was the exact same kind, and looked the same. Today I got my butt out there and did some excersise. I am one of those people who find it tough to really workout in the winter, due to me loving to workout outside, but where I live we have been getting rain.

Julianne Tarullo, a journalist from the Huffington Post and press coordination of NBCUniversal Media, explains the nutritional challenges of a college student in her article “Nutrition in College: Answers From the Experts.” Weight gain, eating habits, fad diets, drinking, and weight management are some of the nutritional challenges that a college student may face. Tarullo’s article relates to a topic of why college years are a nutritional challenge, which is a topic discussed in chapter 7 of “Get Fit Stay Well.”

Having bad eating habits can cause vastly eating disorders and illnesses. Students attending college that do not eat right are most likely to conceive an illness or become overweight. “An unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for becoming overweight and obese,” (McNight). Freshman 15 is most likely to get to the students that have This is something to think about when it comes to meal plans. The majority of the meal plans offered at any college are high in fats and calories. By consuming all of these foods you are more likely to having this problem.

Thousands of college students eat more than one meal in the dining hall each day. In most colleges, such as UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, the dining halls are buffet

The Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest translates well to the college world. While living on my own, many of my long-dormant, carnivorous instincts kicked in. A trip to the local superstore meant that my pantry was well stocked, but replenishing it was another matter. I soon found myself planted firmly in a regimen of boxed noodles, frozen pizza, and TV dinners. While not the healthiest of diets, they did allow me enough carbohydrates to make it through twelve hours of classes.

Food -- it is a necessity. There is not one person who does not think about it on a daily basis. For a college student, the quality of food available is not always to the highest of standards. Many students can not afford to buy expensive food or eat out on a regular basis. Many times their only option left is to eat from their school’s dining halls.

College age students face different problems than the teens in high school. When students live in dormitories at a university or college, they eat on a meal plan. They usually do not have money of their own to spend on food at restaurants so the cafeteria regulates what food they eat. The cafeterias serve a lot of foods such as hamburgers or other meats with sauces and a lot of potatoes. These foods are very high in starch and cause of weight gain.