Virginia Tech Nutrition
eRunning Head: VIRGINIA TECH NUTRITION
Promoting Healthy Hokies with a Side of French Fries
Chelsea Gunter
Virginia Tech University
Dr. Marlene Preston
Communication Skills 1016
March 22, 2010
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
Promoting Healthy Hokies with a Side of French Fries
M- Virginia Tech’s dining halls lack a variety of healthy food options
A- Virginia Tech freshmen students
P- to inform
Tentative Thesis: While the award-winning Virginia Tech Dining Hall Services
promotes the mission of “healthy hokies,” the current nutrition options across campus fail
to coincide with this declared goal.
I. After conducting an online survey among fifty Virginia Tech freshmen, I found
that students are completely unaware of the calories offered at West End.
A. How often students eat at West End
B. Results of calorie questions
C. Whether students would change or not
II. The Virginia Tech Dining Hall Services program has proclaimed to “do its
part” in keeping “you [students] and the planet healthy.
A. Dining Hall Awards
B. Facts about Virginia Tech Dining Hall Services’ mission
C. Information of future plans and changes within the dining halls
III. Although the program continues to receive various awards and appears to
enforce a healthy service for students through it Y.E.S. to Go program, the reality
shows otherwise.
A. Explanation of Y.E.S. program
1. Jenny Lindsey interview (creator)
2. Facts about programs success
B. Goals of Y.E.S. program
1. What’s next/ T2 Flour
2. How it is beneficial
C. Becomes evidence of the wide array of unhealthy food across campus
(West End)
IV. While healthy grab-n-go options have begun to increase within the Au Bon
Pain and DXpress kiosks, the traditional dining halls continue to lack healthy
meals or sides.
A. Explanation of the healthy grab-n-go options provided
B. Calorie descriptions of traditional meals and sides
C. Dining Services Explanation of West End
Conclusion: While incorporating healthier flour and grab-n-go options across campus is
a step in the right direction, Virginia Tech’s mission of “promoting healthy hokies” will
remain inaccurate until healthier options are provided within traditional dining halls.
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
Promoting Healthy Hokies with a Side of French Fries
Although you are aware of the term “freshman fifteen,” you may be unaware of
the specific challenges you face as a Virginia Tech student. According to a 10-year study
on weight change, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA)
found that weight gain increases rapidly for young adults attending college; compared to
the average weight gain of around eleven pounds for young adults over ten years, college
students gained an unhealthy average of 3.7 to 9.2 pounds in just their first year at college
(Jacobs, D., Lewis, C., McCreath, H., 2000). As college dining halls continue to produce
unhealthy products across the nation, college students, and freshmen continue to lose in
the battle against the “freshman fifteen.” According to another study by the Associate
Professor and Head, Division of Health Promotion, and Graduate School of Public Health
at the San Diego State University, college students, and specifically women, lose the
“freshman fifteen” once junior year approaches, and on-campus housing is no longer
required (Hovell, M.F., Mewborn, C.R., Randle, Y., Folwer-Johnson, S., 2002). While
the award-winning Virginia Tech Dining Hall Services promotes the mission of “healthy
hokies,” the current nutrition options across campus fail to coincide with this declared
goal.
Misconceptions
Many college students don’t realize how unhealthy the meals are across campus;
their misconceptions are part of the problem. After conducting an online survey among
fifty random Virginia Tech freshmen, I found that most of you are completely unaware of
the calories offered at West End. According to my results, 40 percent of the students
surveyed eat at west end “most of the time,” which proves its popularity among the group
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
surveyed. When asked about the number of calories within the steak quesadillas, the
chicken salad croissants, and the calzones offered at West End, the majority of those
students guessed 300-500 calories less than the accurate amount. My last question was
whether students would continue to eat their traditional meal at West End if they found
out it had more than 1000 calories. According to my results 52 percent of the students
said that they would not eat the meal anymore, while 32 percent replied “maybe.”
Although you may have answered the questions differently, my survey shows that a
majority of freshmen surveyed lack knowledge on Tech’s dining hall services, and
specifically West End. Based on the lack of knowledge, it is evident that students are
unaware of the challenges they face at making healthy choices.
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
Virginia Tech’s Declared Mission
Although the Virginia Tech Dining Hall Services program has promised to “do its
part” in keeping “you [students] and the planet health,” the reality of our campus
nutrition shows otherwise (You’re eating (and living) smarter (2009). With eleven dining
halls including both all-you-care-to-eat and a la carte dining facilities, the Virginia Tech
dining services has continued to receive various awards. Virginia Tech has been recently
honored with the prestigious Ivy Award through the Restaurants and Institutions
magazine (Gehrt, K., 2009). Honoring the “best restaurants and foodservice operations,”
the Ivy Award winners come from “a pool of 140,000 trade professionals” in both
“commercial and non-commercial foodservice organizations” (Gehrt, K., 2009). In 2009,
Virginia Tech was voted number one in the Princeton Reviews’ “Best 371 Colleges:2010
Edition” for Best Campus Food (Student Programs 2007.) Not only did Virginia Tech
earn best campus food across the nation once, but twice since 2007. Receiving the
number-one ranking for campus food in the well-known Princeton Review makes the
Virginia Tech Dining program noticeable. In 2008, Food Management Magazine
awarded the dining program with the Best Concept Award (Student Programs, 2007).
While the overall campus dining services have continued to receive awards, so have
individual dining halls and special programs. For example, Deets has received the Golden
Cup Award from the Specialty Coffee Association of America in 2007 and 2008 (Student
Programs 2007). Clearly the Virginia Tech Dining Program has been honored for their
program based on the great food and services on campus. But what does “great food”
consist of? Are we talking about just what tastes good or the nutritional value as well?
The Tech dining program has declared that they are making changes in the dining halls in
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
order to benefit you and the environment. These changes include more organic choices at
Deets, more whole grains, locally grown foods, and fewer trans fats (You’re eating (and
living) smarter, 2009). Also, in 2007, the program developed the Y.E.S. to Go program,
which provides nutritional information and opportunities to speak with the on campus
dietician (You’re eating (and living) smarter, 2009). But are awards and providing
nutrition labels enough?
Reality of the Y.E.S. Program
Although the program continues to receive various awards and appears to enforce
a healthy service for students through it Y.E.S. to Go program, the reality shows
otherwise. Promoting change and actually enforcing it are two different processes.
Recently the Dining Services have made a transition to whole-grain flour in order to
increase the amount of fiber in your diets; starting spring 2010 Tech’s dining program
began to incorporate T2 flour within breads and other baked goods (Gehrt, K. 2010).
Eventually, Dining Services hopes to incorporate the flour into more foods such as the
dough for pizzas, but the flour remains used for just bread bowls, baguettes at Hokie
Grill, cookies at the Vet Med Café, and baked goods from DXpress, Hokie Grill, and
Shultz express (Gehrt, K. 2010). While the incorporation of healthier flour has made its
way into the dining halls, it only appears within the grab-n-go style dining halls across
campus. The Virginia Tech Dining Program has also taken a step in the right direction by
creating the Y.E.S. program. The program was designed to help you make healthy food
choices; Y.E.S. involves table cards with nutritional information, information sessions,
and even an online food analysis database, so students can learn about the food available
on campus (You’re eating (and living) smarter, 2009). Jenny Lindsey, the creator of the
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
Y.E.S. program and Student Programs administrative dietician, is available for individual
appointments or questions through e-mail. In an interview after the creation of the
program in 2007, Lindsey explained that “students were asking about nutrition content
totals for meals in the dining centers, and they wanted to be able to see the information
from their rooms, before they decided where to eat,” (Student Programs, 2007). Having
the information available to you is a key element for students to be able to make healthy
choices. However, according to my survey, 36 percent of the freshmen claimed to be
unaware of a nutritional analysis program, while 32 percent knew it existed and refrain
from using it. Knowing the nutrition information is not the only requirement that needs to
be implemented in order to save you from the “freshman fifteen.” Without healthy
options provided, students will struggle to make healthy choices whether the nutrition
values are available or not. Using the online nutritional database provided to Virginia
Tech students only reinforces the idea that there is a serious lack of healthy options.
While healthy grab-n-go options have begun to increase within the Au Bon Pain,
DXpress, and other kiosks, the traditional dining halls continue to lack healthy meals or
sides. This year, Virginia Tech’s You’re Eating (and Living) Smarter program developed
a Y.E.S. to Go program in order to meet the demands of student requests for quick and
healthy options (You’re eating (and living) smarter, 2009). The creation of a grab-n-go
program provides you with twenty-one new options, all of which use “heart healthy fats”
and obtain less than 600 calories (You’re eating (and living) smarter, 2009). The products
include 100 calorie yogurts, small fruit cups such as cantelope, pineapple, or strawberries,
200 calorie grape, crackers, and cheese packets, or even a veggie bowl (Nutrition
information for menu items, 2008).
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
Kiosks Versus Traditional Dining Halls
Having healthy products within the dining kiosks across campus is clearly a step
in the right direction, but why are the traditional dining halls being neglected while the
kiosks are incorporating nutritious choices? After utilizing the recently implemented
interactive nutrition analysis program, my research indicates that healthy meals are
difficult to find within the traditional dining halls. If you were to enter the popular West
End dining hall, you would have a variety of options, yet few of them healthy; you could
choose from 617 calorie breadsticks, a 1078 calorie calzone, a 773 calorie smoked
barbeque wrap, a 917 calorie Cuban pork sandwich, a steak quesadilla for an incredible
1539 calories, or even just a plain burger for 655 calories (Nutrition information for menu
items, 2008). While the intake of calories from the options mentioned are clearly a
problem, you must also realize that students are constantly adding another side to that
option such as fries, chips, a salad, or even dessert. The smaller 10 oz option of steak
fries is 409 calories, chips range from 150 to 300 calories, and a side Caesar salad
consists of 251 calories (Nutrition information for menu items, 2008). After finishing
your meal, you have the opportunity to buy smoothies, ice cream, cookies, or even a 990
calorie slice of carrot cake (Nutrition information for menu items, 2008). While some
healthy options are available within West End, such as the side of fruit, salads, and soups,
there are opportunities to ruin the few nutritious choices. You can add cottage cheese to
the fruit, fattening dressings and toppings to salads, and a 608 calorie bread bowl to the
soup, all of which cancels out the healthy options provided (Nutrition information for
menu items, 2008). According to the Student Programs Y.E.S. web guide, West End’s
portion sizes are so large because it was designed to mirror a restaurant; “Since the trend
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
today is for restaurants to serve large portions, West End Market is following the trend.
Unfortunately, some of the portions are larger than some people should be eating,”
(You’re eating (and living) smarter, 2009). While the web guide admits that portion sizes
are a problem in West End, it is unacceptable to declare that some of the portions and
calorie in take from the options listed above are more than “some people” should be
eating. Are you one of “those people” who can incorporate a 1500 plus calorie meal in
one serving? Regardless, one must question a dining program that promotes “healthy
hokies,” while serving 1539 calorie quesadillas.
Conclusion
While the “freshman fifteen” is a well-known and studied topic, programs such as
the Virginia Tech Dining Services are struggling to adjust in order to truly support you.
Claiming to provide nutritious options and releasing the information of nutritional values
across campus is not enough to result in a healthy diet. Knowledge is great, but without a
variety of nutritious choices, specifically in the traditional care-to-eat dining halls, you
will inevitably lose the battle of weight gain. Actions speak louder than words. While
incorporating healthier flour and grab-n-go options across campus is a step in the right
direction, Virginia Tech’s mission of “promoting healthy hokies” will remain inaccurate
until healthier options are provided within traditional dining halls.
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
References
Ghert K. (March 2010). Dining services transitions to healthier options with whole-grain
flour. Retrieved from Virginia Tech news articles and publications March 14,
2010, from http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear= 2010&itemno=142.
Hovell, M.F., Mewborn, C.R., Randle, Y., Folwer-Johnson, S. (2002). Risk of excess
weight gain in university women: a three-year community controlled analysis.
Retrieved from the online U.S.national library of medicine national institute of
health March 20, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4003134
?dopt=Abstract&holding=f1000,f1000m,isrctn.
Nutrition information for menu items (2010). Y.E.S.: You’re eating smarter Virginia
Tech dining hall interactive nutrition analysis program. Retrieved from Vriginia
Tech student programs March 1, 2010. http://foodpro.student
programs.vt.edu/foodpro3/location.asp
Lewis C., Jacobs D. Jr., McCreath H. Weight gain continues in the 1990s: 10-year trends
in weight and overweight from the CARDIA study. Coronary artery risk
development in young adults. Am J Epidemiol 2000; 151:1172-81.
Student Programs (2009). Awards and honors. Retrieved March 2, 2010 from
http://www.studentprograms.vt.edu/dining/awards.php.
Student Programs (December 12, 2009). Nutrition/Y.E.S. frequently asked questions.
Retrieved from Virginia Tech Dining Services March 1, 2010, from
http://www.studentprograms.vt.edu/yes/faq.php
Student Programs (2007). Virginia Tech nutrition program promotes a healthy student
body [Electronic version]. Student programs publication and policies news
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Virginia Tech Nutrition
releases. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://www.studentprograms
.vt.edu/publications/yes.php
You’re eating (and living) smarter (2009). Student programs dining and nutrition
Web guide. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://www.studentprograms
.vt.edu/yes/index.php
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