Colleges make it easier to avoid the ‘freshman 15’

Freshman year at college is a time to expand your mind and your horizons.

For many students, it's also a time to unwittingly expand the waistline.

Extra pounds dubbed the "freshman 15" are as much a part of college life as new-found freedom.

Suddenly faced with an all-you-can-eat buffet almost around the clock -- and no parents to tell them what to eat -- some students lack the discipline to know when enough is enough. A month or so into the school year, it can start to show.

"[Students] are excited when they first get here," said Katie Thomas, a part-time registered dietitian for the University of Richmond, where students have access to more than 200 foods daily. But "when you have all-you-can-eat stations, maybe you shouldn't eat all you can eat."

Today's college students have more access to healthy foods than ever before, said Dee Hardy, director of food and auxiliary services for the University of Richmond.

"The freshman 15 doesn't have to exist anymore," she said. "The right choices are there."

Those choices aren't what they once were. They're much better.

The days of students filing through a single line for a tray full of the day's starch-heavy offering are gone at many schools. On-campus dining is now a pleasure, not a chore.

Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Union University and UR have revamped the dining experience on their campuses.

Though there are some obvious physical improvements -- VCU's two-story Shafer Court Dining Center opened in 2004 and UR's Heilman Dining Center underwent a $4 million renovation in 2005 -- what has changed the most are the menus.

Today's students on all three campuses choose from made-to-order dishes that are prepared in front of them with fresh ingredients. Paninis, Mongolian stir-fry dishes, deli sandwiches with whole-grain breads, whole-wheat pastas and pizzas, ethnic specialties and traditional favorites such as burgers and fries are just a few of the items available every day.

Salad bars feature vegetarian and vegan foods -- and even sushi.

"I guess what has amazed me most is the students' palette," said Matthew Smythe, the director of Shafer Court. His previous stop with Aramark, which runs VCU's on-campus dining, was at a health-care facility in North Carolina. "They're as sophisticated as any adults," he said of the students.

It boils down to what students want, Hardy said. She has been in the collegiate-dining industry for 30 years and said today's students have traveled more than their predecessors and come to college with higher expectations about what they'll eat.

"Thirty years ago . . . breakfast didn't mean bagels because you didn't offer bagels," Hardy said.

Diane L. Reynolds, director of business services at VCU, agreed, saying today's students have spent a lot of time in restaurants and "not so much mom cooking three meals a day at home," which is why VCU designed its dining center to have a restaurant atmosphere.

"A cafeteria just was not a restaurant experience," Reynolds said.

Walter Johnson, Virginia Union's food service director, said the university started a program this year called Balanced Choices.

The menu includes healthier options for foods, like meat loaf made with ground turkey instead of ground beef, veggie burgers and specialty salads.

With "some items, [the students] don't even know they are healthier," Johnson said, adding that the newer items allow them to see and taste that "you can eat healthy and still have a lot of flavor."

There are other subtle things -- such as VCU's no-tray approach -- that could help students watch what they eat.

If students there want more than one plate of food, they'll have to go back for seconds or juggle them without a tray.

"It kind of forces them to get one plate, eat that, and if they're still hungry, they can go back," Reynolds said.

VCU freshman Christina Lack of Stafford County said she's not worried about gaining weight this year. She's a vegetarian and said VCU has a good selection of foods she likes.

It's "the same stuff my mom cooks," she said, adding that she lives on the fourth floor of her dorm and often takes the stairs when elevators are busy.

Fellow freshman David Min, carrying a bowl piled high with a salad of black olives, jalapeño peppers, eggs and lettuce with a cream dressing, said he was "definitely eating more than at home." But he wasn't worried about the freshman 15, he said, because he was working out more, too.

Hardy said the key to keeping off the weight is "balance and exercise."

Chocolate cake is OK in moderation, "but don't eat three pieces [with] every meal every day," she said.

Nick Austin isn't worried about the freshman 15. In fact, he's curbed his eating habits since high school.

The UR freshman from Chesterfield County said he has reduced his daily calories this year from 6,700 to 5,000.

"I'm a workout-oholic," he said.

Charlottesville resident Daniel Walker, like Austin, a member of the school's golf team, said he doesn't think too much about what he eats.

"Once I get full, I stop eating," he said.

"The first week you kind of go all out," said Mike Leventure, 18, a UR freshman from New York. He said the best thing in the dining center is the "fro-yo," or frozen yogurt.

Daniel Fairley II of Fredericksburg said the food is "better than I expected."

"I could see myself eating here every day," he said, adding that he probably eats better now than he did at home.

Leventure agreed, saying that at home, you're not always eating whole-wheat pasta and low-fat foods.

"You eat what your parents give you," he said.

Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or .

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .

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