Every month, the University’s dining halls choose a superfood and a theme. February’s superfood is citrus, and the theme is “proud to look good.”
Balanced U is the program behind each month’s superfoods and themes. The program’s goal is to make students aware that certain foods can cater to their health. Nutritionists visit the dining halls to hand out papers and educate students on the benefits of that month’s superfood.
The superfood is chosen to benefits students’ physical and mental health. Citrus helps prevent wrinkles and skin damage, it improves the brain’s memory and helps digestion, according to the Balanced U brochure.
Citrus may sound like an odd superfood for winter, but Charlie Casrill, director of resident dining, said citrus is grown year-round in places like southern California and Florida. Casrill said if the fruit is protected properly, a temporary drop in temperatures can make the fruit sweeter.
Casrill said nuts are the superfood for March.
Every day of the month, at least one meal has the superfood in it, and the day of the nutritionists’ visit, every meal will include the superfood, Casrill said.
Casrill said some of the superfoods will repeat, depending on the health value, but the themes always change. The superfood is chosen by a group of nutritionists and marketers based on foods that provide health benefits like energy and mental awareness, Casrill said.
Balanced U provides superfoods and themes for multiple schools, from kindergarten through college, though the superfood is different at each one, Casrill said. Despite advertising and guest speakers’ visits to the dining halls, some students said they are unaware of the superfoods and themes each month.
“I didn’t know that the dining halls had monthly themes, but I will keep my eyes out for that now,” said Katie Gaffney, mass communication freshman.
Students said the program needs to improve its advertising.
Casrill said the only way to track student awareness of the superfood is through the number of brochures taken during the nutritionists’ visit and the number of likes on the Facebook page.