A Nutrition Capstone Paper

The time spent in college or university is crucial for the development of new eating habits. Numerous students don't consume healthful foods. Numerous college students do not consume even one serving of fruit or vegetables each day, according to prior studies. These students' new favorite thing to eat is fast food. The experience is one you're familiar with if you eat in the school cafeteria. You simply enter the dining area with the intention of eating a well-balanced diet. You instantly alter your mind when you see the chicken and pizza plate dangling from the display (Massa, 2012). You opt for the slice of pizza or the plate of fries and chicken to satisfy the sudden craving. Dietary behaviors have a great bearing on the overall health of the student population. Irresponsible dietary behaviors would mean reduced immunity, and even development of lifestyle diseases like diabetes and cancer (Massa, 2012). Studies have linked the negative impact of large consumptions of fats and salt. Processed and fast foods usually contain high percentages of fat. Eating copious amounts of these is a sure way of developing the lifestyle diseases in the long run. Scientific research link the large fat amounts in our body with high blood pressure (Deliens, 2014). The fat ingested get deposited around the walls of the blood vessels thereby reducing the cross-sectional area for blood flow. Also, this deposition reduces the flexibility of the blood vessels. With the heart pumping at normal systolic and diastolic frequency, the blood vessels are liable to high pressure. Such activity continuously wears out the heart muscles, necessitating its control. Avoidance of large intakes of fat and salt is the first step in averting such situations.

After transition to colleges, students have been found to be challenged with making healthy choices. Some students justify their craving for the processed foods to individual factors such as their taste preferences, time, and convenience, and notably the dining environment. Others allude this craving to their social networks (friends and families), and even lack of parental control. All these factors contribute to the dietary standards amongst the college students. However, our focus will be on the element of the environment and its bearing on the dietary standards. The main objective of this capstone is to study the influence of the dining environment and the students’ dietary standards.

Research Question 1: The existing dietary behaviors amongst students

Before transition to colleges, students had a controlled life. The parents and even the secondary schools had a well-balanced meal plans for the students. Notably, the students had a higher serving for fruits and vegetables in accordance to American standards. American standards recommend 4 to 5 servings of fruits and/or vegetables per day. Graduation to college life brings more independence to the student culture. The students do not have to adhere to the initial meal plans. They select the meal they want and how much fruits they will consume at a given serving. The increased independence has made them crave for the fast foods. It is quite common to find the dining hall to have run out if fries while the vegetable servings are still intact. Many cherish the idea of having these fast foods for actual meals. This craving slowly develops into a habit. Fast foods are considered convenient and also cheap. Which student would turn down such a meal, while enjoying the thrill of fast food? Almost none. In fact, about 91% of the students would prefer no vegetable serving at all in these fries.

Socio-cognitive models of health and behavior change can be applied to remedy the current scenario amongst student population. These models regard the dietary practices amongst human beings to be influenced by beliefs and practices (Deliens, 2014). As such, addressing these beliefs and practices is a sure way to instill health consciousness amongst the student population. These beliefs and practices are built on our experiences with the food environment. In this case, the dining hall is considered as the food environment. The food environment determines the accessibility and availability to a given type of food (Deliens, 2014). In most universities, the fast food is a usual entity in the food menu. This makes them available to the student population. A common factor in food accessibility is the economic value attached to the food choices. Usually, in the outside world, fast food appear costlier than home-prepared foods and are perceived as classy by the general population. College students always want to be associated with the top class material and lifestyle. The school dining halls offer these fast foods at reduced rates in a bid to be student-friendly. In a bid to show off their association with the high class lifestyle, many students would gladly purchase the packet of fast food in front of their peers. They would do this on a regular basis to depict their financial strength. Such continued practice makes the dining hall an arena to show off their food choices. Even so, the dining halls have not done enough to promote healthy food choices. They would even increase their stock for the fast food to earn the maximum returns from the students’ bad lifestyle choices.

Research Question 2: The link between the existing dietary behaviors and the students’ perception of the school dining environment

There is a link between the existing dietary behaviors and their perception of the school dining environment. In colleges, students have the freedom with regards to food choice. Just like any other decision, the choice of food is affected by environment. In this case, the dining hall, and their peers is the environment. The dining hall offers great items on its menu list. Some of the items are considered high class. As such, a student would feel much prestige in front of his/her peers by taking a particular serving. This is done over several meals as the students struggle to maintain their desired image. Thus, the students would perceive the dining hall environment as the avenue to satisfy their egoistic tendencies.

Also, the dining hall offer the food items at much reduced costs compared to the general market price. Students have easy access to unhealthy food choices at reduced cost. Any person would relish taking a cheap meal while savoring the tasty fast food advertised on our billboards market adverts for popular brands. Therefore, the dining hall would be perceived as a cheap shop to get whatever you wanted at a cheaper costs-so long as it is on the menu list. Some would even go to the extent of arriving early for the meals to get the food item before it was scrapped off the menu for that meal. Additionally, students are more likely to partake of their meals in the dining halls the period preceding and during exam period (Danckers, 2015). The trend is attributed to the convenience offered with the ready prepared food and the inclusive menu.

Considering the above reasons, there is a direct link between the existing dietary behaviors and the students’ perception of the school dining environment.

Research Question 3: The current evidence linking the existing dietary behaviors and their perception of the school dining environment

A study by International Food Information Council revealed that most students are struggling with the recommended daily servings of 4 fruits and vegetables (Massa, 2012). In extreme cases, a fraction of the student population is not even consuming fruit and vegetables serving a day. This spell doom to their long term health status considering the nutritional value of these elements. However, this trend is overtly normal in most campuses. Considering the school dining menu and/or desire for convenience, students encounter loads of challenges in a bid to eat healthily. It is quite clear our food choices and intake are influenced by other people. For example, if we eat food with a person who is taking a particular item, we are likely to model our choice around the other person’s meal. Also, people are more likely to take more food when they eat in a group setting (Massa, 2012). As such the students’ dietary standards are likely to be influenced by other students. As a student, making regular unhealthy food choices could develop into an irreparable habit during the program period. The results would be more deplorable if the students took purely unhealthy food items in large amounts.

In the USA, the prevalence of obesity and lifestyle diseases such as diabetes have increased. About 71% of the adult population is considered as obese (Massa, 2012). These conditions (obesity and other lifestyle diseases) are attributed to past dietary standards. Before transitioning to adulthood, students made certain food choices which they carried them on into adulthood. Food choices, such as taking fast foods on a regular basis without any fruit or vegetable serving is a perpetrators of the increased health concerns today. Dining halls in major colleges reported limited healthful choices in their current menu. This limits the students to the unhealthy food choices considering affordability of the food items. Reportedly, a major percentage of students acknowledge taking a meal in the dining hall on daily basis. Thus, one out of the three meals are served in the dining halls for most students. If the current trend continues, the next generation of adults face a difficult hurdle with regard to the health concerns.

Exposure to marketing of the unhealthy food items and drinks is linked to dietary behavior amongst students. In any food outlet, including the dining hall, food adverts are placed all over. They work effectively as a marketing tools because most people are swayed by the allure of a tasty unhealthy food item presented forth. In the advent of the semester, students would have more cash to spend around. They would buy the ranges of the fast food, including those advertised in the hall (may be advertised by posters or even wall paintings). Out of curiosity and desire to taste the different food items, students would spend their cash on the ranges of food items. The administrators know this, and are out to cash in on this opportunity. Administrators of some institutions even reported stocking the pricier food items during this period for higher economic gains (Massa, 2012). The dining hall is quietly turning into a business tool rather than a guidance avenue for the students. Such trends reveal the manipulation of the students’ perception for economic gains while building bad dietary behaviors.

Conclusion

Dietary behaviors among students are related to their perception of the school dining environment. With unlimited freedom on the menu choice in college, students may tend to go for fast foods with minimum fruit and vegetable servings. The bad dietary standard can be blamed on the perception of the dining hall as a cheap source for the unhealthy food choices.

Poor food variety on the menu lists, and the high cost of fresh food stand in the way for a healthier future adult generation. The management may be reaping well considering the high turnover for the unhealthy food items, but lifestyle quality for students as they progress to adulthood diminishes. Unhealthy foodstuff promote the generation and survival of toxins within the body. A case example is the fast food. They are considered as yummy, but consuming them on a regular basis would likely lead to high blood pressure and diabetes in later years. The high fat content gets deposited on the walls of the blood vessels thereby inhibiting the flow of blood. This creates the high blood pressure condition (Deliens, 2014). A person identified with such condition has to be placed on drugs to control it. Otherwise, the condition can culminate to fatal consequences like death. Such diseases in adult life can be avoided when the students choose healthy dietary standards. They should increase the vegetables and fruit servings while reducing the amount of fast food consumed through the college life.

References

Danckers, E. (2015). Students' dietary Behavior Related to Their Perception of College Dining. Syracuse University Honors Program.

Deliens, T. C. (2014). Determinants of Eating Behavior in University Students: A Qualitative Study Using Focus Group Discussions. BMC Public Health, 14, 53. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-245814-53

Massa, A. (2012). Food for Thought: The Challenge of Healthy Eating on Campus. USA Today College. Retrieved from http://college.usatoday.com/2012/07/13/food-for-thought-the-challemge-of-healthy-eating-on-campus