I am not one of those people who vows to change their eating habits because of the new year. I love oily potato chips and big ice-cream sundaes loaded with calories. Fries and onion rings are a must for me, as are icing-laden cupcakes. I cannot live without cookies, especially those giant ones that only bakeries sell. Like many other Americans I am addicted to any bad food. The worse it is, the more I like it. Not a good philosophy to have, especially when you find out that I’m a professor who teaches nutrition.
In just a few weeks I will be back teaching another class on the biology of nutrition for my university’s spring semester. The class should really go to a more health conscious professor who is living proof that eating your greens and taking some exercise really do work. It should be taught by someone who passes out fresh fruit as an example of healthy living. Students, both young and old, should have this great role model as a template for cutting out all that is overprocessed, and laden with fats and sugar. They need someone to break the old habits of their childhood and give them a dietary template for their college years and beyond.
Recent studies have shown that a whopping 70% of American students gain anywhere from 12 to 37lb during that four-year period. Their dietary habits are even worse than mine. They binge-eat as they binge-watch their favourite shows. All three of their main meals are eaten in a rush, without any thought given as to what they’re scoffing down, or the ruinous aftereffects. College cafeterias, including mine, fatten the students up with cheese-topped pizzas dripping with pepperoni or worse, chicken wings that are more greasy batter than they are meat. These foods are washed down with power drinks or fizzy drinks. An afternoon snack is not an apple or an orange and an herbal tea, but a supersized chocolate croissant and a caramel macchiato that’s more liquid cake than beverage. Forget the vending machines. The only healthy choices at my school are sourdough pretzels and energy bars that have more chocolate than a regular candy bar.
College kids are more likely to order takeout than any other age group, thanks to non-stop schedules. Many have relied on parents to cook for them. Now they just have their roommates or a boyfriend or girlfriend to supply them with food, often from a can or microwave tray. Some of these kids enter college with a weight problem and bad eating habits. They not only need a good nutrition class, but a professor who can motivate them to eschew all those M&Ms and Big Macs. They need someone who can take them on a grocery store field trip and point out what is good and what is bad. Or one who will bring in kale chips and green tea for them to try as they decipher the nutritional needs of the human body.
Despite my own dietary failings I am doing my best to be that teacher. I have brought in homemade kale chips along with seaweed crisps. I have taken them on field trips to markets, pointing out the evils of processed foods. As they learn for the first time, I relearn all the important facts and apply them to my shopping and eating habits. When we parse out the wild alphabet soup of water and fat-soluble vitamins, I too am absorbing all the info. I will make sure my next meal will be loaded with Vitamins K and C to prevent another cold and strengthen my immune system. As I tell them to nix the doughnuts and sandwiches for breakfast, I’ll be doing some sharp culinary editing of my own. I’ll reintroduce myself to pears for breakfast or a good dish of flaxseed-laced oatmeal instead of an almond croissant.
Together, my students and I will pore over both the American and Canadian food pyramid charts. These will help in creating a better healthier diet – not just for the students but for their prof as well. Thanks to these guides, I will be making many of dishes with veggies and lean meats. I can tell my students what is the best olive oil to use as opposed to the best butter. When some of them sneak in a bag of sweets, I’ll ask them to get rid of it, instead of asking for a piece as I would have done in the past.
I may not be the best person to teach nutrition but I am the best to learn from it. That is something I can pass on to my students. We’ll change our bad eating habits together – not as a professor and her students, but as a group of people wanting to improve our lives.
