Hints for healthy eating on campus

By adding variety to their diet, monitoring portion sizes and keeping high caloric meals to a minimum, students easily can make the right nutritional choices. But some students’ diet choices, though healthy, still are nutritional pitfalls.

"The biggest mistake is getting in the rut of eating the same thing day to day," said Michele Cavoto, nutritionist for the University Health Center. "Mixing it up and getting a variety of foods is essential for students to meet their nutritional needs."

"Eating a turkey sandwich every day for lunch may seem healthy, but more is needed in a student’s diet to ensure all nutritional requirements are met," Cavoto said.

Students often lack in iron and calcium, especially those who choose vegan or vegetarian lifestyles. Students eating little to no carbohydrates, popular with those on high-protein diets such as Atkins and South Beach, also lead to nutrition problems.

"Make sure you get fruits, vegetables and dairy everyday," Cavoto said.

JMU Dining Services Web site, www.jmu.edu/dining/nutrition.shtml, provides the nutritional information of many dishes to help keep students aware of what they’re eating. The site lists the calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, calcium, iron and vitamins A and C per serving.

Students also can access weekly menus to some dining facilities, such as D-hall and Mrs. Green’s.

New items are continually added to retail operations by Dining Services that include fresh salads, more variety of fresh fruits, and more whole grain breads.

Among them were last year’s additions of Festival’s Miso, a lowfat noodle bar, and smoothies to Market One’s Java City. This year, Festival added an entrée salad bar called "Tossed & Topped."

Renovations were made three years ago to D-hall with the introduction of the Fresh Food Company. "This allows us to use fresh ingredients, to adapt recipes and menus on a regular basis and it lets our customers see what is going in to the finished product," Angela Ritchie, Marketing Program Manager for JMU Dining Services, said. "We offer fresh steamed vegetables every day, fresh fruit and of course our amazing salad bar. The whole layout to D-hall is quite a change to the old cafeteria style service.".