Finding time to work, make every class and have a social life is demanding enough for most students, and eating right usually takes the back seat.
But Judy Myhand, Foods and Nutrition instructor, said neglecting a healthy diet leads to present and future health problems.
“Most students don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables or whole grain foods like brown rice and whole wheat,” Myhand said. “They eat a lot of starches and their diets are usually imbalanced.”
She said most college students can sustain an unhealthy lifestyle while they are young and will not experience effects right away, but the long term consequences can have more bearing on the body as students age.
“Setting bad patterns is one way eating bad can have an impact on someone’s life,” Myhand said. “Students develop certain tastes for high salts, sweet and bland foods like McDonald’s or Pizza Hut, so when they experiment with [more healthy] foods, they’re more likely to fall back into what they’re used to eating.”
Another consequence which affects young college students is insufficient calcium intake, she said. Myhand said she noticed many students do not drink enough milk, a major source of calcium, because sodas are more popular.
“When you’re 18 to 21 or so, you’re still adding bone and increasing bone mass,” she said. “Students won’t see a difference right now, but we stop making bone after 40. When they’re 50 there won’t be enough bone to lose and they may get osteoporosis.”
Women in particular should concentrate on getting enough iron, Myhand said, because iron is lost in blood loss. Female students also lack the vitamin folate, found in fruits and vegetables with dark green foliage, which is important for those who become pregnant.
Myhand said most students complain that there is not enough time to prepare nutritious meals, but she said she tells her students to prioritize their alternative activities to make time.
“If they have time for a party or to go to the bars or the movies, I tell them to compare that time with the time it would take to go to the grocery store and to learn how to cook,” she said. “The grocery store has simple, no or little preparation time foods like frozen vegetables or raw vegetables.”
According to a study by Susan E. McKim at Missouri Western State College, students look for easy ways of eating by picking up packaged foods.
“New technologies have revamped the food supply by extending ‘shelf-life,’ developing hundreds of new processed food products and using flavor enhancers, colorings, preservatives and other laboratory-derived additives,” McKim said in the study. “The eating habits of many students appear to include frequent consumption of fried foods as well as snacks that are high in sugar and salt.”
Caroline Burke, a nutrition graduate, said staying healthy has been easy for her because her classes give her daily reminders, but she understands how eating right could be a challenge to other students who do not have that luxury.
“[Students] can make a change,” Burke said. “Underclassmen, like freshmen and sophomores, are still trying to learn what lifestyles work for them, so by junior and senior year they can find more structure.”
She said students still can lead a healthy life, even with little time, by making conscious efforts to change bad eating habits.
“Choose filler foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, to be the focus of your meal before heading for the desserts,” Burke said. “That way you can still have that dessert, but the portion won’t be as big.”
Myhand said binge drinking also contributes to bad health because taking in too many harmful products and lacking in important nutrients increases cell damage to the body, increasing risks to heart disease and cancer.
“I ask my students to make a plan to change at least one thing in their diets,” she said. “They usually stick with it after the semester is over and they tell me they feel better.”