Collegian staff report

Students having trouble managing their diets or tired of ramen can get equipped with the information they need to change their eating habits with the upcoming Healthy Meal Planning and Healthy You on South Campus.

Laura Dehoyos of the JPS Network will provide a series of healthy-living workshops covering carb counting, portion control, instructions for reading food labels and more.

The Wednesday meetings are scheduled 12:30-1:30 p.m. Sept. 10-Oct. 1 in the SSTU Forum Room.
With obesity and poor nutrition practices rising on university campuses, a guide to healthy eating habits and lifestyle can prove valuable to TCC students.

In particular, students trying to balance employment with education seem interested in learning more about nutrition.

Brooke Sugden, a part-time student holding a full-time job, said she was searching for easier ways to maintain a healthy eating regimen with her busy schedule.

“I’d like to know how I could continue to stay motivated — how I could stick with a healthy meal plan,” she said.

Kara Blanco, a full-time student, part-time worker and mother, seemed interested in the presentation, saying it was hard to juggle her life’s various demands.

“I would like to know how to manage cooking healthy and working out,” she said.

Overall, students on NE Campus said they want better information about nutrition.

“It’s confusing,” Anne Bullard-Reyes said, referring to the rapid evolution of nutritional guidelines and many conflicting sources of information.
A program “focusing on batch-cooking healthy meals that could be frozen and served throughout the week would be beneficial,” the mother of two said.

Brandon Murrell and Wyatt Langford of NE said they were hungry Thursday morning. Like many college students on any given evening, they can be found at a drive-through window picking up dinner from under a heat lamp or reheating canned ravioli with a smiling chef on the label.

“I have groceries at home that I could cook for dinner tonight, but I won’t,” Langford shrugged.

Added Murrell, “I have two jobs, very little money, and it’d be nice to have a social life.”

Even Grant Colby, a power-lifter student with a six-pack abdomen, saw value in the South Campus presentation.

“There was a quote that stuck with me when I started out (power-lifting),” the NE student said. “We eat to live. Some people live to eat, and that’s a sad existence.”

Sam Ramirez, a first-year NE student, was eating an apple in the Student Center. Even so, he said a meal plan did not interest him.
“I consider myself pretty healthy, even though I don’t eat fruit every day,” he said.

Jessica Ramos sounded enthusiastic about the meal-planning forum.

“I’m interested in creating a new healthy lifestyle and hopefully extending my lifespan,” the NE Campus student said. “I’m up for anything that can help.”

One freshman summed up the bottom line about participating in the healthy meal-planning series.

“Those students who aren’t willing to make a change and don’t find it important are wasting their time,” said Denise Esqueda. “The students who actually care are the students who will learn and change from it.”

And then there was the student not so enthusiastic about the healthy food presentation. Cody Henderson, a NE student, pointed to his belly (which did not have a six-pack) and asked, “Does it look like I care?”

For additional information, contact South health services coordinator Tina Ingram at 817-515-4531 or tina.ingram@tccd.edu.