How Do I: Stay healthy on the Hill with smart dining choices
By Bobbie Nickel
March 30, 2009 11:58 p.m.
Getting back into shape for upcoming afternoons in your bathing suit at Sunset Rec doesn’t mean you have to go on a diet ““ just begin making healthy decisions about what you’re eating the next 10 weeks you’re on the Hill.
College students are busy and stressed, two traits that nutritionists like Alona Zerlin, a research dietician at the Center for Human Nutrition, link to unhealthy eating.
“It’s very common to eat and make wrong food choices because of stress,” Zerlin said.
A concern for many students even after their first year is the freshman 15, commonly experienced by undergraduate students when they choose what they eat each meal.
Dorey Poder, a second-year communications student, said he got rid of his freshman 15 last spring by running and eliminating certain foods at the dining halls.
“It’s all about willpower and avoiding the stuff you know is bad for you,” he said.
Zoe Rose Buonaiuto, a first-year history and French student, makes smart choices at the dining halls at breakfast, where she likes to start the day healthy, she said.
She often chooses the 13-calorie egg white omelet instead of the 216-calorie plain omelet.
UCLA Dining Services’ Web site lists the nutritional information of food items offered on the Hill and is full of surprising discoveries, like the difference between the 475-calorie cheese pizza at Puzzles and the 821-calorie oven roasted turkey sandwich at Bruin Café.
“We’re told that pizza’s bad for you and sandwiches are healthier,” said Alexis Ayers, a first-year civil engineering student. “I’m shocked.”
There are more factors to consider when weighing nutritional values than calorie intake, however.
“Every nutritionist might have something different to say, based on the person’s health and genetics,” Zerlin said, though she added that the American Heart Association encourages most people to consume less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol a day.
She also said students should aim to get their fat from foods high in Omega-3, like fish and walnuts, instead of Omega-6.
It’s also important to pay attention to what you’re snacking on. If you’re hungry between meals, stick to unprocessed food and stay away from vending machines.
Poder recommends Hilltop for healthy snacks like cottage cheese and yogurt.
Zerlin encourages students to snack on items in their natural form, like whole fruits and nuts.
Whole Foods on Gayley Avenue is heading into soft-fruit season and has plenty of raw foods UCLA students might want to snack on, said Bruce Gietzen, associate store team leader.
“Nothing we sell has any artificial color, flavor, sweetener, preservatives or trans-fats,” he said.
It’s the season to make healthy decisions. The hard part: It’s up to you to balance your exercise ““ which may or may not be sufficiently covered by a daily walk up to Hedrick ““ with the amount and quality of food you’re eating.
“The fact that UCLA Dining Services provides healthy options encourages you to eat healthy,” Buonaiuto said.
“It’s just up to the individual to make the right choices.”
E-mail Nickel at [email protected].
