MEMO

 MEMO

:

Subject: The variety and availability of healthy food choices in the University of South Florida (USF) dining halls

Background information

Healthy food choices are critical for any given population. The University of South Florida understands this and, in its policies, aims at ensuring that they provide healthy food choices for the students in the university. The presence of the dietician Sierra Ditto is proof enough that the university tries its best to ensure that its dining provides the best dining services while ensuring that the students check on their diet. Some of the services that are offered by the dietitian include private nutritional counseling, food allergy, and plan solutions, health, and wellness tabling events, among many others.

However, the existence of the unhealthy food in the dinner makes it hard to implement the policies on healthy eating as students generally opt to take cheap foods, which in most of the cases are unhealthy. The aim thus of this research is to ensure that at least the students at the university are encouraged more on healthy food choices. The awareness of healthy options at the dinner may, to a more significant extent, aid in ensuring that they understand the existence of the varieties and the availability of the healthy food choices available at the dinner.

Explanation of the problem

Unhealthy eating in most of the universities is a tendency that continues to grow over time. Students generally prefer taking junk foods compared to healthy foods. Budget constraints, however, to a greater extent, are among the reasons that students usually opt for the cheaper foods which are not ideal (Deliens et al., 2014). Awareness, to a greater extent, may aid in ensuring that the problem is at least curbed and prevent possible health disasters such as obesity (Brunny, 2011). Most of the students generally assume that healthy eating is expensive. Students made aware over time may lead to a shift in the unhealthy food choices that are being made. Healthy food choices are based on personal decisions (Hoelscher et al., 2016). Thus, students being made aware of the existing food options and their availability remains the biggest challenge in the institution. The aim of the study is, therefore, to ensure that the university of southern Florida devices strategies and means that will ensure that in the long run, students at the university are made aware of the existing food options and at least changing their eating habits..

Causes of the problem:

We have two significant factors that are making the problem prevalent. The two factors include the high cost of foods and the scarcity of healthy foods at dinner. The high difference in margins in both healthy and unhealthy foods is the major reason as to why most of the students are opting for unhealthy options (Hill et al., 2016). The university policies should thus aim at ensuring that the food prices are highly manageable to ensure that people with less budget at least get an even chance of getting healthy foods in their diet.

The healthy food scarcity at the dinner is also a challenge in ensuring that people opt for the option. It becomes hard for students to adapt to healthy meals due to their unavailability. This thus leaves the students with no other option but to stick to the unhealthy food options at the dinner (El Ansari , Stock & Mikolajczyk, 2012). The university of south Florida has thus to come up with options that will ensure that the two problems are effectively handled to ensure that the healthy food options are readily available to the students at the university.

Impacted Population:

The impacted population in this case are the students at the university. The lack of options put them under risk of diseases related to nutrition. The university will thus have to ensure that it sets up measures to ensure that the student’s health is well mitigated. The dietitians in the institution also have risks as most of their proposals will go unattended due to the scarcity of healthy foods. The university has thus to ensure that in the long run, they try mitigating the problem by either adding private sectors to the university or working on the dinner to ensure that it is in a position to provide more healthy foods.

Thank you

References

Brunny, B. M. (2011). Lead the Way Florida! Raising Nutrition Awareness to Lower Obesity. Florida Public Health Review, 8(1), 10.

Deliens, T., Clarys, P., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., & Deforche, B. (2014). Determinants of eating behaviour in university students: a qualitative study using focus group discussions. BMC public health, 14(1), 1-12.

El Ansari, W., Stock, C., & Mikolajczyk, R. T. (2012). Relationships between food consumption and living arrangements among university students in four European countries-a cross-sectional study. Nutrition journal, 11(1), 28.

Hill, S. E., Baskett, K., Bradshaw, H. K., Prokosch, M. L., DelPriore, D. J., & Rodeheffer, C. D. (2016). Tempting foods and the affordability axiom: Food cues change beliefs about the costs of healthy eating. Appetite, 107, 274-279.

Hoelscher, D. M., Moag-Stahlberg, A., Ellis, K., Vandewater, E. A., & Malkani, R. (2016). Evaluation of a student participatory, low-intensity program to improve school wellness environment and students’ eating and activity behaviors. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 13(1), 59.