Food’s Impact on University of Kentucky Students and College Students Across America

Food’s Impact on University of Kentucky Students and College Students Across America

By Arun Nadar

College is an important time in the life of a young person. It is when he or she finally begins life without being around his or her parents for a long period of time and begins to make decisions that impact their lives and habits. One of the major decisions a college student makes on a daily basis is what he or she will eat. On and around the University of Kentucky campus, there are different styles of food that students have to choose from that along with other factors that ultimately impact students’ food choices. The choices of the students and the provisions of the University of Kentucky and the surrounding area reflect trends of college student lifestyles around the United States.

One of the first choices students make even before stepping on campus is their meal plan. This is when a student decides how much food he or she plans to consume over the school year. To make sure students get the right amount of meals, the University of Kentucky offers a wide range of meal plans.  The meal plans range from 5 to10 meals a week all the way up to 21 meals a week. Meal plans also come with a set amount of Flex Dollars of either 300 or 700 dollars, which can be used, similar to prepaid cash at restaurants across campus. The University of Kentucky is not the only school that provides a similar style of meal plan options. The University of Louisville offers meal plans of different meal and Flex Dollar amounts based upon where the a student decides to live.  Students that live in residence halls without their own personal kitchens pick from meal plans that are meal swipe-based, while students who live in residence halls with personal kitchens or are commuters choose from meal plans that are more Flex Dollar-based. Although students ultimately decide how much they consume, the meal plan a student selects will dictate how much they will eat. Due to meal plans having different number of meals this means that there are different amounts of food students will eat. Typically, those with the higher number of meals will be the ones who will consume the most calories or have left over swipes. The desire to not waste meal swipes becomes a factor at the end of the week or at the end of the semester when students go on food binges to prevent their swipes from running out. Both aspects could lead to students gaining weight.

Upon arriving on the University of Kentucky’s campus, students have a wide variety of restaurant options, where student can spend their meal swipes and Flex Dollars. At the student center, there is Starbucks, Sbarro, Subway, Chick-fil-a, and Panda Express. On North campus, there is Blazer, which is an all-you-can-eat buffet; along with Blazer, there is Intermezzo, a café that offers sandwiches, and Commons Market, which is similar to Blazer. There is also Starbucks, Bluegrass Café, and Ovid’s Café. All of these restaurants are located on South Campus. On Central campus, there is K Lair, which is a grill, a Starbucks, and an Apothecary Café. The cafés usually sell bakery-style foods. For students, who live in their respective fraternity or sorority houses, a chef prepares daily meals. Throughout the nation, colleges have many restaurants on their campus. The University of Louisville has fast-food restaurants such as Subway and Chick-fil-a, as well as Papa John’s Pizza and Wendy’s. It also has more deli and restaurant options that include McAlister’s Deli and Damon’s Grill.

On-campus food can become pretty boring after eating it some many times a week. Luckily, there are a number of restaurants close to campus that helps students break away from the routine. There are fast-food places such as Fazoli’s, Papa John’s Pizza, Qdoba, and Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. American-style diners, such as Tolly Ho and Ramsay’s are relatively close to campus. For students looking for food that is not native to Kentucky, let alone the United States, Sav’s Grill & West African Cuisine and Bombay Bar and Grill are great options. The restaurants close to the campus of the University of Louisville are similar in style to those of the University of Kentucky and those of restaurants near college campuses around the country. The surrounding area of the University of Louisville campus has fast food restaurants like Qdoba, Papalino’s Pizza, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and The Comfy Cow. There are also international restaurants such as Safir’s Mediterranean Deli and Shah’s Mongolian Grill.

Just like restaurants only serve certain kinds of food, different cultures and religious groups only allow their members to eat food that is prepared in certain ways. For example, Jews eat kosher foods and Muslims eat halal foods. At the University of Kentucky, foods that are prepared in the halal style are not provided to students. In an interview with Asad Jawaid, a University of Kentucky student and devote Muslim, Asad said, “the University does not offer halal foods, but there are restaurants that do serve them that are in close proximity to campus such as Campus Café. It does become a hassle, however to have to go off campus when I want to eat something else.”  Not having halal food is not uncommon at schools in Kentucky. Other notable state university’s that do not serve halal foods are the University of Louisville and Eastern Kentucky University. Outside of Kentucky, universities such as the University of Pennsylvania and Washington University in St. Louis do offer halal food options.

Money is an important aspect in the food decisions of college students.  College students typically do not have a lot of money. Many students work jobs during the summer and school year to pay for school necessities such as books and transportation.  These necessities along with the rising cost of tuition puts an even greater strain on the purse strings of college students. Brian Kim, a freshman at the University of Louisville who works at a deli shop, described the importance of having his job. Brian said that he “was really lucky to have [his] job because a lot of [his] college-age friends try to find one since a lot of them too are paying for school and gas.” In an interview with Ali Ahmed, a freshman at Xavier University, Ali said that price was a major factor in his food making decision and that he eats fast food fairly often because it “ is cheap and tastes good.” Brian agreed with Ali about the decision to eat fast food. He based his decision on it tasting “good and being cheap.” In a survey of college students reported in The Flor-Ala “Students Rely More on Convenience, Price When Considering Food Options,” it was found that college students eat six to eight fast food meals a week. This illustrates the overwhelming importance of low price over nutrition. The need for college students to maintain a balanced budget coupled with 35% of college students being overweight or obese is worrisome for the college student health.

As the old saying goes, time is money, but in college time is grades. College students are some of the busiest people. No matter the time of night, someone is likely to be working on paper or studying for a major test. Grades are such a main focus that students look for ways to cut down on the time they spend doing activities that they deem trivial. One way students cut down on time spent is in their time eating. Students do not have the time to sit down and have a healthy home-cooked meal, so they rely a lot on fast food. When I need to finish a paper or project and do not have the time to stand in the long lines at Ovid’s or sit down at Commons, I will get my food at either Chick-fil-a or Panda Express and rush back to my dorm to work. Along with the price of the food, the quickness of fast food is one of the reasons why college students eat six to eight fast food meals a week.

Another way students cut down on activities not related to school is by staying awake with the help of caffeinated drinks to maximize their productivity. Jack Grundy, a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis, admitted he stays awake late at night because “in the long run my grades are more important.” Ali said that, “I consistently put off sleeping because I have lots of work and can not afford to not get it done.” I as well will put off sleeping to finish my work all the way up to class the next day. In a study of Marshall University freshmen, it was found that 83% of freshman reported having at least one sign/symptom of caffeine intoxication and 51% reported having at least one sign/symptom of caffeine withdrawal. Students who were involved in an organized activity consumed 60.7% more caffeine than those students who were not involved in an organized activity. More than 76% of freshman admitted to using caffeine to help keep them awake.  The use of caffeinated drinks by Marshall University Freshman is similar to students at other schools. Ali admitted that, “I use them [caffeinated drinks] a lot to stay awake when I have a lot of school work.” Jack said that caffeinated drinks help “when I get tired and lose focus, but need to finish more work.” He also said that he was “not happy about drinking caffeinated drinks, but it is sometimes necessary.” Asad admitted that he uses caffeinated drinks to “remain alert and awake to get work done late at night.” From my personal experience, at around 11 o’clock the line at the Starbucks next to the library starts to get long as students prepare for the long night of studying ahead.

Caffeinated drinks have been shown to have impact on the physical health of students, but nutrition is another contributing factor to the physical health of college students. Colleges and universities all offer their students healthy options, whether it is salad and fruit bars or sandwich lines. Schools provide these options to students, but students do not always make the wisest food choices. A study of 1,800 college students by Tufts University found that 66% of students do not eat the recommended 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day and half of surveyed students do not get the recommended amount of 25 grams of fiber a day. It was also found that 60% of students eat more of high fat foods than is recommended. A major finding was that in 30% of women do not get enough calcium. The sad thing about the health issue of college students is that a fair amount of students know they are not eating right. Fifty-nine percent of college students in the study conducted by Tufts University admitted that since coming to college their diets had diminished.

This leads students to gain unwanted weight, not as the dreaded “freshman fifteen,” but a few pounds here and there each year until it was close to the “freshman fifteen.” It has been reported that during college, that men significantly gain more unwanted weight than women. This issue has many people worried because the eating habits college students develop can affect them the rest of their lives. It has been found that the eating habits college students form follow them into their twenties and thirties. Different health organizations realize the health issues of college students and have tried to give advice to college kids on how to live healthfully. One such organization is the CDC that has provided a list of tips for students to live a healthful life. Colleges and universities have also made attempts to stop the weight-gaining problem and improve the health of their students. Many schools, including the University of Kentucky, have put a lot of effort into improving their student health centers as well as offering personal trainers.

Just like having an affect on physical health, food also plays a role in the mental health of college students. Eating properly can help students in areas that are most important to students like their memory and ability to focus. According to Dr. Christina Economos, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, it is best for students to eat in the morning no matter what. This prevents their blood glucose levels from falling to low later on in the day. When blood glucose levels become too low, it is hard for students to concentrate. When asked about if eating helps him focus, Asad said that eating healthy foods “ help me to regain focus during the day after having a long day of classes and prepare me for the night.” In the Daily Mail, it has been reported that the best way to focus is by eating three times a day along with healthy snacks. In the Daily Mail article “The Brain Diet: Eating the Right Foods Can Improve Your Memory, Lift Your Mood and Help You Concentrate for Longer,” it was reported that eating healthy foods such as cabbage, broccoli, and eggs could help boost a person’s memory.  Another way students are able to improve their mental health is by drinking water. The body is predominately made up of water and becomes dehydrated with a lack of it. According to the Mayo Clinic, when your body becomes dehydrated it can “drain your body of energy and make you tired.” A study in the “Journal of the American College of Nutrition” [qtd. in “Why Students Should Drink Water”], reported that dehydration has the ability to affect cognitive performance and negatively impact short-term memory and attention spans.

Besides the way food affects the way students think and concentrate, food also impacts the view students have of themselves. In the Tufts University study, the way students viewed themselves was also influenced by the way they ate. Thirty-two percent of all students in the study reported having a lower body image upon entering college and 41% reported having a lower level of happiness during their freshman year. Again women’s health was a major finding of the study. It was found 40% of normal weight college women perceived they were overweight. Mental health problems can lead students to become depressed or anxious and act in ways detrimental to their well-being. In a study reported in the ScienceDaily article “Report On Health And Habits Of College Students Released” of 10,000 college students conducted by the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 18.5% of students reported being diagnosed with depression and 13.3% reported being diagnosed with anxiety. To counter the mental health problems students face, many colleges offer students counseling to give students an outlet to help them get them through the stressful times in life.

Food and nutrition is one of the most important parts of a student’s life in college, yet many factors come into play. Factors include the choices of where to eat based upon what surrounds students depending upon their school‘s options and restaurants’ choice locations. Money as well is a factor in student decisions because students tend to not have a lot of money and choose foods that are not the healthiest.  The need to do well in school drives students to choose less healthy food options that have a negative impact on both a student’s physical and mental health. These factors are a concern especially for students at the University of Kentucky because Kentucky is one of the most obese states. Hopefully, by taking advantage of the healthy food and lifestyle options provided by the University of Kentucky students can live healthy lives for years to come, succeed, and not be a part of the poor health trends of college students in the United States.

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