NE health instructors host seminar on better food choices

By Ashley Bradley/ne news editor

From gas station burritos to McDonald’s double cheeseburgers, college students are notorious for eating food that is both fast and cheap. Because of their small pockets and shortness of time, students find themselves eating food that is easy instead of food that is good for them.

To help students make better choices, NE health physical education instructors Eli Koenn and Lynn Fieser will present Choosing Foods Facts and Fiction 12:30-1:30 Oct. 21 in NSTU 1506A on NE Campus. They will discuss their personal experiences with health and share their knowledge of good eating habits.

Koenn first started having weight issues in 2001 when she was pregnant with her first child. Though she thought she was still healthy during the pregnancy, she gained 40 pounds and lost it a year later.

When she became pregnant again, she gained 72 pounds. Up to a year after the birth of her second child, she was still being asked when she was due.

“I always believed that I was able to eat anything that I wanted as long as I exercised,” she said. “My inability to shed the excessive weight of my second pregnancy baffled me.”

After three years, Koenn figured out what foods are good and bad because of nutrition talks she attended and teaching Concepts of Physical Education courses at TCC.

Fieser’s story is completely different. 

Earlier in her life, Fieser was running triathlons and eating as a vegetarian before she became ill. Before realizing that the food choices she was making caused her illness, she thought she had cancer.

She thought she was eating healthy, but she wasn’t eating proper nutrients to fuel her body and was tremendously underweight.

At the seminar, Fieser and Koenn will discuss how to be healthy by knowing what foods are good for the body.

“People that are trying to lose weight think low fat is good, but it might be high in sugar,” Fieser said.

Reservations are required by Oct. 19. The first 30 people to RSVP will receive a free lunch. For more information or to reserve a spot, call 817-515-6056.