Even with a variety of on-campus eateries like Putnam's Hubie's, Harriman Hall and the numerous restaurants in the Commons, eating a balanced diet with healthy food choices proves to be a difficult undertaking for some students.
"Eating healthy on campus is about as easy as finding a parking spot on North campus," said Justin Fuld, a senior double major in communication and geography.
While some students are dissatisfied by the selection of health food on campus, the Faculty Student Association said there have been recent improvements regarding the selection of health food at UB.
"Each food establishment has healthy alternatives," said Cindy Youngers, assistant director of FSA. Youngers added that some students do not know that healthy food is available on campus.
"The biggest thing is to get the word out," said Anita Hathaway, the corporate health official of FSA. "Many students do not know about (healthy food selections)."
Hathaway said she believes that UB has enough healthy options for student to choose from and argued that finding healthy food on campus is more about choosing the right meal, rather than a lack of available health food.
"For example, if you go to Taco Bull, you don't have to get a chicken or beef taco. You can get a bean taco salad," said Hathaway. "There are alternatives."
Andrea Rocchio, a senior communication major, agreed.
"Healthy and unhealthy food is available on campus, but students are tempted to eat the bad over the good," said Rocchio.
Youngers believes some of FSA's most significant improvements can be seen in the North and South campus dining halls- especially for students who are vegetarian or vegan.
"I think we have made tremendous changes that are beneficial," said Youngers. "The dining halls had salad and rice (in the past). Now there is a variety."
In the dining halls, this variety now includes soy cheeses, soy meat, stir-fry vegetables, organic peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, granola bars, rice cakes and other foods that cater to a vegan or vegetarian. In addition, sushi has been recently made available at the Elli and Putnam's, and every Sunday it is available at a different dining hall. Fruit smoothies are also available at different dining halls weekly.
"It was much harder to eat healthy when I was a freshman," said Jordana Stauber, a senior communication major. "There is now Greens and Beans and all that other stuff."
While some students are pleased with the variety of health foods available on campus, others said there is room for improvement.
"(Greens and Beans) is only open until 7 p.m. and on the weekends it is not even open," said Kelsie Tully, a sophomore biology major. "Wrap-It-Up closes at 2 p.m., which makes it hard for us to eat healthy."
"It's hard to eat healthy in the dining halls. There is always cake, cookies and ice cream available," said Joshua Klemm, a freshman psychology major.
Other students believe that availability of healthy varieties of food depends on where the student chooses to eat.
"I think it is easier to eat healthy on South campus than it was on North," said Jason Fairbrother, a senior business major. "The dining hall (on South campus) seemed to have a lot more to offer than North campus, and there was always one station that was purely health food type stuff."
According to Hathaway, FSA is always looking for new trends in the food industry that could enhance the University's dining facilities.
"Each year we try to bring as much as we can to the university," said Hathaway. "We are constantly evaluating the menus."
Raymond Marzella, a junior communication major said if a student wants to eat healthy foods, their best bet is in the dorms.
"You can definitely eat healthy at UB but it takes an effort," said Marzella. "It is easier to eat well in the dorms than (other places) on campus."
Dining hall schedules and nutrition facts are available at http://myubcard.com.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
