Students' project hopes to raise nutritional awareness on campus

By: Wade Parsons, Staff Writer

Posted: 3/31/05

The decision to commit to a healthy diet is difficult to make and to maintain - and many college students don't do either. Today's fast-paced world is thick with drive-thru windows makes it hard for the stressed-out college student to make the right choices when it comes to eating on a time and financial budget.

Students are constantly barraged with a slew of advertisements selling tasty treats in a fast and convenient package, from "Sonic-Sized" value meals to Little Debbie snack cakes - never mind what they may do to waistlines.

And besides, even to those aware of the (non)nutritional value of the double-cheese, pepperoni pizza and Doritos, they look so good!

Even when students decide to eat in, rather than gorging on a bucket of the Colonel's finest and a gallon of soda, the simple substitute is often high-calorie macaroni and cheese, or some other similar microwaveable dish.

Amy Mastler and Holley Edwards are two students in the College of Agriculture trying to help other students make healthy eating decisions. The two dietetics majors were assigned to do a community outreach project as part of Professor Jerald Foote's community nutrition class.

"The purpose of the class is to make us aware of the various functions a dietitian may serve within the community, and show us a dietitian may not be working for a health club or hospital," Mastler said.

For their project, Mastler and Edwards decided to reach out to their own UA student community by coming up with some recipes for healthy alternatives to the more traditional college-student recipes, which students can prepare and will enjoy eating.

"We have three recipes that we have done some research on and have found the nutrition facts, one is a chicken pot pie that instead of having a more traditional pie crust type crust and high fat fillings it has a lower fat biscuit type crust with a lower fat filling," Mastler said. "We also have a recipe for picante salsa and a lower fat granola."

Each of the alternative recipes offers a significant nutritional improvement over many foods a college student might commonly eat instead. The chicken pot pie is lower in both calories and fat than a normal chicken pot pie, the picante salsa is a large improvement over traditional cheese dip, and the granola, while it has the same amount of calories as regular granola, has much less fat.

"I like the granola the best myself," Mastler said.

Mastler said the biggest problem college students face when it comes to eating right is simply the choices they make.

"Students often simply choose to eat low-density and low-nutrition foods like chips instead of high-density and more nutritious foods," she said.

Each of Mastler and Edwards's recipes is easy and affordable to make.

Picante Salsa

1 C. coarsely chopped onions

1 C. cilantro sprigs

1 jalapeño pepper, coarsely chopped

1 (14.5-oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped

3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp. salt

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

Place 1st five ingredients in a food processor, and process until minced. Combine onion mixture, lime juice, salt, and drained tomatoes in a medium bowl; stir until well blended

Yield: 4 cups (serving size 2/3 cup)

Nutrition information per serving: Calories: 43 (2% from fat); fat 0.1 g (sat 0 g, mono 0 g, poly 0 g); Protein 1.5g; Carb 10.3g, Fiber 2.7g, Cholesterol 0mg, Iron 0.5mg, Sodium 275mg, Calcium 31mg.

Maple-Almond Granola

4 c. regular oats

1/4 c. almonds

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 c. water

1/3 c. honey

1/3 c. maple syrup

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. canola oil

Cooking spray

1 c. minced, dried apricots

1 c. raisins

Nutrition Information (from nutrition.gov): Calories 129 (20% from fat); Fat 2.8g (sat 0.3g, mono 1.4g, poly 0.7g); Protein 2.7g; Carbohydrate 25.7g; Fiber 1.9g; Cholesterol 0mg; Iron 1.2mg; Sodium 28mg; Calcium 20mg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine first four ingredients in large bowl.

Combine water, honey, syrup, sugar and oil in small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour over oat mixture. Toss to coat. Spread oat mixture on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden, stirring every 10 minutes. Place in large bowl. Stir in apricots and raisins. Cool completely. Yield: 6 cups (Serving size: 1/4 c)