What We Eat Is What We Are

Photo by Miranda Duarte

Changing diets is the first step

As students who commit to a life of responsibilities for 4 years or more, we all have the right to have a healthy life and good nutrition. Unfortunately, at Pacific, we do not have enough varied options of food if you are trying to eat something on campus. I will say that the menu is quite repetitive. So, the solution for this problem will be to bring more healthier food and be more nutritious, and in addition to this, yes, completely change the whole menu or at least the majority of it.

I am not just trying to criticize, on the contrary, I am trying to add some advice since sometimes food is something that we all look forward to eating after a long day of classes. And as students, sadly, we are not 100% conscious of the contents of our food since we expect that what is given to us is healthy.

It is not like we need something unique or something you could only eat in a 5-star restaurant, but at least something that feels more like home and can benefit our bodies. Since the food at the dining hall is sometimes too oily it can create indigestion or other stomach issues to those who are not used to this type of food.

For example, in the pasta section at the dining hall, the pasta contains more oil and butter than the sauce itself, which could cause cholesterol issues that can increase in the students during their years at college. Additionally, the amount of ingredients or type of condiments that we are consuming from the pasta section is not written anywhere and the preparation of it is in front of our eyes, and as normal students will not realize that the amount of salt, butter and oil can slowly cause blocks in our blood system. Eating this unhealthy food for at least four years can affect our heart, possibly creating diseases that may be too late to cure. 

Another example is the salads. They might seem like a healthy option, but the amount of protein is minimal and the taste is not appetizing. It is a good thing that one of the menu options is salad but the diversity of protein is not fulfilling since sometimes there is just chicken and no salmon. As students, at least once a week, we need to be eating different types of protein and if you are following a different type of diet, the protein options are not even near to the amount of food that any body of any teenager or young adult could need.

During breakfast, which is the most important meal of the day, the options are pretty small and the big meals are full of greasy and unhealthy food. There are some other stations that do have fruits and fruit juices but these are inside a plastic bottle so they are not even freshly made.

For this reason, as students, we need to be more conscious and ask more questions about what we are ingesting. Yes, we do not have the time to think about what is in our food, and because of that, the department that oversees our food should take more precautions and be aware that for now nothing may happen, but in the future something could. The menu should expand and fulfill all the nutrients that our body and diet deserves, and that is something that can be done.