Dining halls judged mmm, mmm good

By TERESA BEARDSLEY
Collegian Staff Writer

Every day hundreds of students trek to their dining hall to take part in the rituals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. But few of them know about the award-winning program there that serves them.

In December, the University's Dining Hall Outreach Program was declared the winning entry in the National On-Campus Report's "Best Ideas in Student Services Contest."

The Outreach Program, developed by the Office of Health Promotion, evolved through a series of stages beginning about two years ago, said Melissa Martilotta, University Health Services dietician and clinical nutrition instructor.

The first stage was the program "Sports Nutrition for Athletes," which provided student-athletes with a low-fat diet, Martilotta said. This program was very successful and soon expanded as more students became concerned about nutrition.

Mike Berzansky (freshman-chemistry) said he is worried about the amount of fatty and fried foods offered in the dining halls.

"It's non-stop fries," he said. "We need more variety."

The dining halls label foods with either a green, yellow or red light to signify the fat content of the foods. The program was aimed to help students make healthy food choices regarding their fat intake.

This program was successful and, like "Sports Nutrition for Athletes," it too, has expanded. The result has been the Dining Hall Outreach Program.

"The purpose of the Outreach Program is to educate students about how they can easily incorporate healthy food selections into their diet using the dining hall's menu," said Rebecca Hrzic, student director of the HealthWorks nutrition-educators.

The Outreach Program relies on the work of peer educators, all HealthWorks members, who are trained to provide information to their peers about a variety of health topics, including nutrition, said Hrzic (senior-nutrition).

Often times students are more comfortable talking to peer educators about their health concerns than they are talking to professionals.

In their office in 19 and 20 Ritenour, peer educators try to create a comfortable atmosphere for students, with resources such as a small library, posted articles and information, Hrzic said. In addition, peer educators offer one-on-one counseling and workshops such as "Getting More from Dining Hall Meals," "Dangerous Dieting" and "Dieting and Exercise."

The Outreach Program is also involved in "National Nutrition Time," an event sponsored by the American Dietetic Association. This year the event will take place March 13 through 16, Hrzic said.

Each night during the event, peer educators will develop what they call the healthy choice meal. They will look at the dinner menu and a dietary analysis of all the items, and from this information, they will decide what foods they could combine to make a meal that would average out to have less than 30 percent of its calories from fat, Hrzic said. This meal will be displayed in the dining halls showing the food and the proper serving size.

In addition to the healthy-choice meal, peer educators will be on hand in the McElwain and Simmons dining halls to answer students' questions. There will also be cooking demonstrations in McElwain and Simmons showing low-fat cooking techniques.

The Outreach Program has been wonderfully successful, Martilotta said, thanks to the 100 percent cooperation of the dining-hall management, staff, directors, cooks and everyone else involved.

"If you don't have a concerned staff with the students at heart, the program won't work," Martilotta said.

A new computer that analyzes the ingredients of every item in the dining hall, whether it be an entree or salad dressing, has made individual counseling much easier, Martilotta said. With a printed analysis of the dining hall menu, she and the peer educators can take time to sit with students, help them select healthy food choices and explain what makes the food a good choice.

Students who use the McElwain and Redifer dining halls have the advantage of having a computer in the hall. By using these computers, students can look up the nutritional content of the foods and decide what items would make a meal to meet their nutritional needs, Martilotta said.

Jaleh Farrokh (sophomore-communication disorders) said she normally eats in Redifer.

"The food is not that bad or that great," Farrokh said, adding that much of the food is greasy, high in fat and does not taste all that good.