Penn State students will have the opportunity to kick bad eating habits and adopt a healthier eating pattern during National Nutrition Month.

The American Dietetic Association, which sponsors National Nutrition Month, will observe the celebration's 30th anniversary this March. Food Services plans to introduce special food features in the dining commons in order to raise awareness of nutrition and eating healthily.

"Nutrition is definitely a priority at Housing and Food Services," said Michele Newhard, special project manager for food services.

The dining commons will feature a "rice bar" on March 20 in honor of Great American Meatout Day, Newhard said. The bar will feature different varieties of rice for nutrition month, she said.

"Many students have difficulty following a healthy diet because they make food choices according to their likes," Newhard said.

Part of the problem with following a healthy diet comes from using food for comfort because students like to eat what tastes good, she said.

Food services attempts to make healthy and vegetarian choices tasty and appealing, Newhard said.

"A reason students don't eat the healthy and vegetarian selections so much is because they are not informed about them," she said.

Nutrition could be improved and eating habits could be enhanced if information about healthy eating was more available, said Barbara Rolls, professor of nutrition.

The next step in making the student body more aware of nutrition involves instructing the students in how to use this information, she said. In order to eat healthy, students need to take time and should also consider the most nutritious choices, she said. "It's hard to find the time and effort," Rolls said.

HealthWorks in University Health Services is planning to have information tables set up in East Halls sometime in March, said Elena Blanco, leader of nutrition educators at Health Works. The tables will have "portion-guessing games," where students can test their knowledge of healthy eating portions, Blanco said.

"Problems that students have with eating healthy include over-consumption and lack of fruit and vegetables from their diets," she said.