You've finished classes for the day and are just settling down to tackle your homework when your stomach starts rumbling. Now you have to drop everything you're doing to run to a dining hall or figure out what to throw together for dinner.
Wouldn't it be so much easier if humans didn't have to eat?
Unfortunately, humans have specific nutritional needs. And the delicious greasiness of hamburgers and french fries complicates matters even further in striving for that perfect, nutritious diet.
Fortunately, there are people working toward making a nutritious diet easily accessible for the 8,400 University students with meal plans.
Dining services nutritionist Dr. Paula Caravati discusses the dining hall menus with the production managers and the chefs to ensure students have enough healthy choices and alternatives.
"They use me to guide them toward smarter choices," Caravati said.
In looking over menus, Caravati said she considers a recipe relatively healthy if it has no more than 30 percent calories from fat and no more than 700 milligrams of sodium.
First-year College student Jaimie Eissler, a self-proclaimed "nutrition freak," said she is satisfied with what the dining hall offers.
"I think [the dining halls] have lots of good options that you can combine to make better," Eissler said. "If you go to a restaurant, what you get is what you get, but at the dining hall you can mix and match."
Some healthy options Caravati and Eissler mentioned were Egg Beaters, a fat- and cholesterol-free alternative to eggs, light soy sauce and the use of trans-fat free oil for deep fried foods.
Eissler said she especially liked O-Hill's salad bar.
"I really like vegetables, but at home you have to cut them up and wash them," Eissler said. "At the dining hall, they're all there and you can add them to everything."
Although Eissler said she aims to eat healthily every day, Caravati noted a population of students who do not share Eissler's enthusiasm for nutrition.
"Sometimes the silent majority wants to eat fries, to eat pizza," Caravati said. "They are customers, so we have to pay attention to their preferences, too. How to deal with that is to give options."
Starting Friday, Sept. 29, Caravati said the dining halls will start a No Fried Fridays program, where they will provide alternatives like baked french fries instead of traditional french fries.
For students who do pay attention to nutrition, information for some dining hall recipes is available online and also at kiosks in the dining halls themselves.
"We're trying to make it as accessible as possible," Caravati said.
Eissler said when she visited the University a few years ago, the nutrition information was posted in front of the food item in the dining hall.
Now, "they post some of it online, but if you don't really care about nutrition, you're not going to look at it," Eissler said. "Having it right in front of you could make a huge difference."
For students who are concerned whether their dining hall diets are providing them with enough nutrition, Caravati said she had some advice.
"Precede your meal with a piece of fruit or a salad," Caravati said. "Those will contribute to calories, provide fiber, which makes you feel full and contribute to a balanced diet."
Although burgers, fries and pizza are generally thought of as unhealthy, Caravati said students do not need to completely knock those items out of their diets.
"Everything in moderation," Caravati said. "Pizza and french fries once a week is okay."
But what about the students living on their own without a meal plan? Second-year Engineering student Ricky Yezzi is living in an apartment this year and said he has had to make some adjustments without O-Hill to fall back on.
"I usually just eat the same things," Yezzi said. "I'm too lazy to cook a meal. Last year I'd have different meals every day with the dining hall menu."
Grocery shopping is another new and sometimes expensive experience for Yezzi.
"I don't eat as much fruits and vegetables this year, basically because I don't want to take the time to buy them," Yezzi said. "They're expensive, and I have to make a whole dinner to eat vegetables with."
Melanie Brede, nutrition educator at the Office of Health Promotion, said Yezzi's fruit and vegetable deficiency is a concern not only for students but the United States as well.
The recommended serving of fruits and vegetables is to "eat five a day," Brede said. "I would say less than 30 percent of Americans tend to get that much per day."
Despite the inconveniences of cooking, Yezzi said he eats lunch and dinner every day. Brede, however, said breakfast is a meal students should not skip.
"Eating breakfast is important," Brede said. "It doesn't have to be at any particular time of day or any particular food, but eating within an hour of waking up helps set you up for a more balanced intake."
Yezzi said he does not snack as much this year because he generally has less food around his apartment, but Brede said not all snacking is unhealthy.
"It's completely normal to feel hungry every three to five hours," Brede said. "If you're up one day until late hours, your stomach doesn't have a clock. It's appropriate to eat when you're hungry, whatever time it is."
Brede followed that advice by cautioning students when they become hungry at night, their bodies are looking for energy, and sometimes the best thing to do is to just go to sleep.
Though some nights are busier than others, Yezzi said he still makes a point to eat.
"I'll either order delivery or make something real quick around the house if I have a lot of work," Yezzi said.
Brede suggested tortillas or soup as quick and healthy meals.
"If you're at home, you can make a tortilla with cheese and salsa and refried beans," Brede said. "You're getting protein, fiber and calcium. Soup is [also] a quick, convenient thing. You can also take canned or frozen vegetables and add them into the already-made soup."
Many students will also heat up a frozen dinner if they are crunched for time. Brede said she encourage adding a salad or some whole-grain bread to an entrée-style frozen dinner to get a more balanced meal.
"One of the things I'd encourage students to do is to compare sodium" of frozen dinners, Brede said. "Processed foods are high in sodium, and overall Americans get two to three times the sodium they need."
Despite the worry about the "freshman 15," Brede said the students she has worked with have overall been in a good nutritional state.
"The students that seek nutrition services tend to be motivated, hard working and striving for things to help take care of them."
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