Friday, December 4, 2009

WSU's Dining Services Offers Nutrition Education and Healthier Meal Options

In an effort to demonstrate their committment to health and well-being, WSU Dining Services offered opportunities throughought the semester for students to meet with registered dietician Annie Roe. Diet-related discussion topics at the dinner ranged from the importance of fruits, veggies, and whole grains, to eating to prevent disease, and the prevalence of malnutrition in an obese society.

While no dinners are scheduled yet for Spring 2010, there is still one you can make before fall semester is over, called "Healthy Snacking: Gearing Up For Finals", which takes place from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 8. It is open to all students, faculty and staff and no meal purchase is required. This just might give you the extra snacking-knowledge you need to optimally energize your brain for finals.

WSU's Dining Services has also introduced 500 calorie meals around campus, beginning with Carlita's Mexican Grille and Espresso in the CUB and at Northside Café in 2008, followed by the Southside Café and Hillside Café soon after. Their focus is not just on calorie counting, however, since it is not an accurate evaluation of the nutritional value of a food item or meal.

According to the Dining Services web site, the 500 calorie meals must all meet must meet the following nutritional qualifications and contain:

■less than 500 calories
■less than 30 percent calories from fat,
■less than10 percent calories from saturated fat,
■and less than 1000mg of sodium.

Additionally,

Every 500 Calorie meal at the Dining Centers and Carlita's features:

■a protein-rich entrée,
■a low-fat grain or starch,
■and a nutrient-dense vegetable.

WSU's Dining Services has come a long way since my freshman year, when I chose to forgoe vegetarianism because I got sick of white rice and salad every day. Let's hope they continue their committment to well-being and remember that, while students may be on a tight budget, they want healthy, great-tasting food and a variety of options. It almost makes me wish I still had an RDA (Resident Dining Account).

For more information on Dining Services locations, hours, menus and more visit the Dining Services web site.

1 comment:

  1. Washington State Schools & Universities Can Save Money By Contracting Out Food Services

    A new report says that Washington State public schools & universities can save significant amounts of funding by partnering with professional services firms to handle or manage food or dining services

    Seattle, Wash. – A new report from the Washington State Education Funding Coalition indicates that Washington State public schools and universities can save anywhere from 20%-40% by having professional on-site services companies handle or manage their dining or food services.

    With the State of Washington projecting a $2.6 billion budget deficit in 2010 (following a $8 billion budget deficit in 2009), the funding that the State of Washington provides to its public schools and public universities will continue to decrease. The rapidly declining state financial support for schools and universities is putting an increasing amount of pressure on Washington State public schools and higher education institutions to find ways to reduce costs to make up for the declining direct state support. Consequently, many school districts and colleges have announced layoffs of teachers and/or instructional staff to help impact actual or anticipated budget deficits.

    While these challenges are real, there are also some promising opportunities to create new business solutions to help address them.

    As a result, the report from the Washington State Education Funding Coalition recommends that public schools and universities in Washington State strongly consider utilizing professional on-site services firms to handle or manage non-instructional services (such as dining and food services) because it will allow schools “to focus both their funding and their expertise on their most important task: providing their students with a strong education, while leaving their supporting services to professional companies to handle.”

    The Washington State Education Funding Coalition’s report cites several examples of how public school districts and universities in the U.S. have already benefitted from working with professional on-site services firms. For example, a public university partnered with a professional on‐site services company to provide purchasing and culinary standards support to their dining program and, with just 20% of their current purchasing analyzed, they were able to save more than 14% in purchasing cost in year one. In another situation, a public school district partnered with a professional on‐site services company to provide school lunches and through active marketing and parent engagement, they were able to generate a 15% increase in school lunch revenue.

    For a synopsis of the report, please go to the following link (http://www.mediafire.com/?23jzdjz1im3).

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