Obesity on College Campuses

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Recommended: Healthy eating habits for college students

Obesity has risen over the years. The United States now has one of the highest obesity rates. Bad eating habits are usually the cause of this pandemic. For the past few decades, college dorm foods have led to these habits. The more unhealthy food choices are, the harder it is for people to resist these foods. Colleges serve a variety of unhealthy food in their dining halls that contributes to students’ lower GPA. By eating healthier, students can maintain a healthy weight, focus better in school, and increase their school performance to a higher grade point average (GPA).

Thousands of college students eat more than one meal in the dining hall each day. In most colleges, such as UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, the dining halls are buffet style. Students are able to choose their own food and get as many plates they want. Dorm food is often unhealthy because the cafeteria serves various fried and processed foods. They also offer a dessert bar with unlimited cookies and ice cream. These desserts are often high in sugar and calories. Eating one cookie and a bowl (or a cone) of ice cream can contain over twenty-five grams of fat and sugar (Calorie King). Although many people think that eating one cookie or a little ice cream won’t hurt, it can become harmful in the long run. With students taking in all the sugar, the wrong kind of energy is being stored. It will only give students a sudden burst of energy—a sugar rush—and then make them “crash” or be even more tired than before. All these unhealthy options and easy availability of greasy and sugary foods for students can affect how well students do in school.

Eating unhealthily can affect a person’s memory or how alert a person is. Dorm food has also caused students to gain the inevitab...

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Parker-Pope, Tara. “A High Price for Healthy Food”. The New York Times. 05, December. 2007. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/

Scottt, Elizabeth. “Stress and Emotional Eating: What Causes Emotional Eating?”. Web. 07. June. 2010. http://stress.about.com/od/unhealthybehaviors/a/eating.htm

Voiland, Adam.” Does Eating a Good School Lunch Make you Smater?”. US News. 07.October.2008. http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/articles/2008/10/07/does-eating-a-good-school-lunch-make-you-smarter

Yang, Michael L. “Dorms Use Various Methods to Reduce Waste”. Daily Cal. Thurs. 11. November. 1999. http://www.dailycal.org/article/914/dorms_use_various_methods_to_reduce_food_waste

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