At my most delusional point, I tried to be a vegetarian but failed miserably. With the North Campus eating option, Sprouts, being such a journey from my dorm, I started to wonder why eating correctly is so difficult on the campus. Hectic schedules, snacking while studying and those unnecessary calories gained from Route 1 dining certainly weren’t helping my quest to tone up and lose a few pounds.
I thought visiting the Campus Recreation Center for almost two hours every day would get me back into my varsity days of high school. But then I discovered the culprit: late-night dining.
OK, maybe it’s not totally to blame, but it has a lot to do with it. An avid meat-eater, I tried to alter my eating habits. I figured because salads were rumored to be healthy, why not check them out? And so I did.
But I was stunned when my ID card took the swipe of death.
Nearly $7 for a salad? My usual bacon cheeseburger was less than half that price, about $3.19. What happened? The salad bar is $4.29 per pound of salad, and chicken or tuna salad is 20 cents more.
Now, I’m sure if I offered the option of spaghetti with marinara sauce (also $4.29) or a salad bar concoction to most students, many would choose the hearty and warm spaghetti over the less-filling salad.
Trying to eat healthy on this campus is practically impossible when it’s cheaper to eat a burger than it is to eat a salad. And so I’ve come to the conclusion that being in college is not conducive to healthy eating.
Most late-night options generally qualify as “junk food.” I took a seat at The Diner the other day and was pushing around the mound of paltry salad in my black bowl when my mind reverted back to the infamous Super Size Me documentary.
Director Morgan Spurlock’s film kept me from eating McDonald’s … for about three weeks.
For many Americans, fast food is easier, cheaper and more comforting than healthier options. In a land where more than half the adult population is considered overweight and farmers are told to “under-produce,” America might be unaware of the many countries that mock our portion size and the few notches we use on our belts.
But of course, to our defense, many of us say, “Hey, America does everything big, why not our food?,” “Fast food is just more convenient” or “Fast food is everywhere you turn.”
This may be true. In my hometown, Reisterstown, there are three McDonald’s restaurants on the same street.
My own African family lives by the motto “rather die fat and happy than skinny and sad.” But many people seem to have taken it to the extreme.
In March 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, commonly known as the “Cheesburger Bill.” This plan, which was never voted on in the U.S. Senate, was pushed to stop the influx of frivolous lawsuits from obese Americans suing fast-food companies for their gluttony. I’ll drink to that. Water, of course.
But how absurd must this sound to the citizens of the world? I can only imagine.
When we start taking responsibility for our actions, I believe our eating habits will follow. Yes, fast food is cheaper. Yes, it’s convenient. But at what cost to our health?
Several school districts across the country have stopped offering caffeinated beverages in schools, knowing that unleashing an unhealthy generation onto our already-struggling healthcare system just wouldn’t be right. We shouldn’t promote our “sue-happy” attitude.
A friend of mine said healthy food is more expensive than fatty options simply because “no one wants to eat it.” Really? Looking around The Diner, I see people honestly trying to eat healthier, which is difficult because we depend on our prepaid meal plans, many pick fast-food options because they are less draining to the student budget.
Something has to give: Either we get more healthy menu options in dining halls for busy people like myself or more options for the many vegetarians on the campus. Until then, we eat in bliss. And I’ll go back to finishing my salad and soup and work on the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies in front of me.
Like you all, I’ve tried. And I’m losing the epic battle of the bulge quite literally.
Athina Tesfa-Yohannes is a sophomore government and politics major. She can be reached at atesfayo@umd.edu.
