In a culture that is conscious of healthy living, college students are looking for ways to ensure that they eat healthy. Many students at Ouachita Baptist University strive to live healthily but feel that their food services do not meet their needs.
However, there are in fact healthy foods available to the students on Ouachita’s campus, according to Sodexo food services’ general manager Jon Fitzgerald.
“We provide a lot of healthy options,” he said. “I think the challenging part for students is that they have to choose healthy.”
Just a few of these options include a fresh salad bar, lean cold cut deli meats such as turkey breast and ham and in the Caf, there is a hummus bar that also includes yogurt and granola.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, the grill will serve grilled chicken breast along with its usual hamburger patties. And that is just in the Caf alone. At Evans Student Center, there are also healthy options at Chic-fil-a and Sandella’s.
“Over across the way at Chic-fil-a, we offer grilled nuggets upon request,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s not on the menu boards, but students know it’s available. The char grilled sandwich, although there’s a lot of sodium, is only about 330 calories. And at Sandella’s you can see the calorie count on the menu board. There’s a lot of good stuff over there.”
For Fitzgerald, healthy living is something that is personal to him. At one point he lost 120 pounds when going through what describes as a “lifestyle change.” He quit smoking after 25 years and began exercising and eating healthy.
In his position as general manager, he changed a lot about Ouachita food services so that students would have healthy options.
“It’s the culture nowadays,” he said. “People want to eat healthy. Everybody watches food network – they’re educated on what good food is and on what healthy food is. We try to do things the right way.”
In addition to offering students the chance to eat healthy, Sodexo also caters to students who have special dietary needs, such as those who are gluten free, lactose intolerant or who have other food allergies.
Luke Hillman, a sophomore Christian studies and Christian theology major at Ouachita, has an extensive nut allergy.
He says that on a scale of one to ten, he’s at the top, and as far as nut allergies go, it doesn’t get worse than what he has.
“A lot of what I do is dancing with the devil,” he said. “As far as eating out in restaurant’s goes, I have to talk to the managers and find out who handles the food and how they’re handling it and what they’re handling it with.”
If worse comes to worst, however, Hillman will carry with him an EpiPen that he can administer if he begins to go into anaphylactic shock, the result of his allergy if he consumes anything that is made of or has been contaminated with nuts.
As far as his college dining experience goes, he says Sodexo is “really helpful” and “super nice.”
“They’re usually pretty good as far as listening goes,” he said. “I know there’s a huge staff so it’s kind of hard to get the message across. But basically you just tell them ‘Hey I have allergies.’ And they prepare a separate dish for you.”
Hillman says that because of his allergies, his diet is actually healthy. Eating too much dessert or fast food, which often contain nut based ingredients or are cooked with peanut oil, are things he does not have to worry about.
Nut allergies are not the only thing Sodexo helps cater to, though. For senior dietetics and nutrition major Emily Hastings, avoiding dairy products and gluten filled foods comes very easy because of Sodexo’s efforts.
“I avoid foods that clearly have wheat in them or have dairy,” she said. “In the Caf that’s easy to do because I can look at something and say, ‘Well, that’s a piece of bread, and avoid it.’”
Hastings also has to avoid certain soups, which are thickened with flour. And even if certain foods are gluten free, she may not be able to consume them because they might have dairy products in them.
“[Sodexo] has been awesome,” she said. “They have this room set aside that I can go in and they have milk alternatives – rice milk and soy milk – and they also have gluten free cereals and desserts. And sometimes they’ll even make gluten free pasta or brownies for us.”
Hastings said she was able to set it up where she can use the gluten free room because she met with Fitzgerald when she visited campus before she came to Ouachita and asked what he might be able to do for people with food allergies.
Others who use the back room also speak with Fitzgerald, who says Sodexo can cater to students with special needs after confirming their allergies, usually through a doctor’s note.
