By Julia Heck
Christine Brechbill, a health conscious freshman at McDaniel, swipes her card at Glar, chats with Lucille and heads for the salad bar. Although she misses her mom’s healthy cooking, she makes the best of her choices while she’s away from home.
At home, Christine tries to have three balanced meals. She has eggs for breakfast, sandwiches, grilled meats, plenty of fruits and vegetables and organic dairy. How does she emulate this diet while at school? She avoids the entire section of fried foods and limits her carb intake. She fills up on veggies but has found that she does not eat as much meat while at school.
“I used to eat the stir fry every day?now it’s gone,” Brechbill said about the “Body and Soul line”, recently taken away because of health department regulations. She also thinks that simple additions such as better quality meat and a larger variety of fresh fruits and vegetables would make a significant difference.
Deb Shaffer, who runs Glar, has other ideas about improving McDaniel’s options.
“We would love to see the dining hall renovated with more of a ‘food court’ feel and more ‘cooking to order,'” she said. However, Shaffer has pride in the kitchen’s promise to use trans fat free oils as well as their “specialty salad” line.
Glar may not serve gourmet cuisine, but it is about making choices. Shaffer and her co-worker Glenda Troyer began to “change their lifestyle” as of January 1.
Shaffer said, “We are here 10-12 hours per day and knew that we were just making the wrong choices. The options are here, we just weren’t picking them.”
It’s never too late to start making smarter choices. Troyer has al?ready lost more than 25 pounds.
“Proper portion sizes are important. Unfortunately, Americans feel they have to super-size everything. You need to know your body too,” Troyer said. “I know that I love carbs but carbs don’t love me, and if I do eat them I better watch my fat intake.”
Brechbill and many other McDaniel students and faculty eat healthy by selecting smart options; they forget about what’s missing and deal with their given selection.