Photo illustration by Dan Leitao/The Mirror
“Hi, could I get a large cheese pizza, an order of cheesy bread, and an order of cinnasticks please?”
Don’t lie; we’ve all make this call to Domino’s Pizza at 2 a.m. or at least something like it.
College eating habits are weird. Some may seem extremely unhealthy; some may seem disgusting.
The famous phrase that haunts all freshmen girls is “the Freshman 15.” Leaving high school’s nutritious home cooked meals, and entering the world of Barone, the Stag, and late night delivery options, it’s hard to maintain one’s weight.
And let’s be serious; no one wants to be that girl that goes home for Thanksgiving break twice the size she was when she left in September. Not to mention that nowadays with Facebook around everyone will notice. Surviving freshman year I’ve found out that it’s really not as bad as the college guides and the magazines make it seem.
Leslie Signor ’12 said, “Drunchies is what got me freshmen year. Ordering food after a long night out. It’s bad news.”
Drunk munchies. Everyone gets them, and when Dominos is only a click or a call away it’s hard to resist the temptation.
A study came out in Newsweek recently, titled “Rethinking the Freshman 15,” by Johannah Cornblatt, which discussed how this common saying known as “the Freshman 15” has also been leading to eating disorders. Several colleges are placing a huge amount of stress on calorie counting by posting calorie facts in resident halls. Yet Cornblatt also discovered that more than 30 percent of students are overweight, or even obese!
So the question is, how in the world can colleges guide students to healthy eating habits? Cornblatt found that Harvard got rid of the calorie information that they use to display in its dining halls, hoping that it would reduce the eating disorder rate. Penn State took an even more interesting approach by making its dining hall a nutrition factory. Penn State disposed of all unhealthy foods like french fries, deep fried chicken wings, white bread and all that junk.
But I’m wondering, how did Penn State students reacted to this drastic change? Doesn’t this make them mad? Going to Barone with any one of my male friends, I watch them fill their plates with grilled cheese on white bread (cooked in massive amounts of butter), and a heaping pile of french fries.
As of now it seems that what to do about healthy eating in colleges across the country will remain a mystery. Maybe the best thing to do is just accept that fact that yes, we are going to order late night Domino’s, and yes, the freshman 15 may arrive. But as long as we all hit the gym once in a while things won’t turn out that bad. We’re only in college for four short years so we as well enjoy the cheesy bread.
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