Meatless Meals

Spicy Black Bean Panini

This week in the dining halls, we will be focusing on going meatless.  Leaving out the meat not only reduces saturated fat intake but can make more room on your plate for more fibrous and filling choices like vegetables and fruits.  Going meatless doesn’t have to be a lifetime commitment – just give it a shot a couple times a week!

The picture above shows a great meatless meal example – it consists of spinach, corn, tomatoes, black beans, hot sauce, swiss cheese, whole wheat bread, and apple slices on the side!  It’s both delicious & filling!

Portion Sizes

WebMD

Last week, we had some success in the dining hall in educating about portion sizes.  We had some great visuals and also had a quick game that students could play that involved estimating portion sizes – most students did really well and had fun Remember to be conscious of how much food you are actually putting on your plate – it all adds up fast!

Power-Up with Breakfast!

Egg Sandwich with Apple Slices

Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day.  It kick-starts your metabolism, makes you feel energized, gives you brain power, and keeps you from overeating at lunchtime.  Many students skip breakfast, so educating on this topic was important.  When we were in the dining halls, we provided visuals with creative breakfast ideas and informational handouts and brochures to motivate the non-breakfast eaters!

Eat with Color

Colorful Stir-Fry

Did you know that the average American diet is beige?

Making sure your plate has a variety of colors ensures that you are eating a well-balanced, nutrient-dense meal.  Each color contributes its own unique benefits to your body.  When in the dining halls, we provided some great examples of colorful and creative meals that can be made every day.  Our goal is to help reduce the beige and increase color variety.  Try getting stir-fry for a quick and easy way to include color!

New Project!

Delicious Veggie & Cream Cheese Sandwich

I have recently taken on a new educational task at UNH – similar to that of my Creative Eating project – to get students to recognize healthy and delicious choices in the dining halls.

Each week, we will be focusing on a new nutrition topic.  For example, during “Eat with Color Week,” we intend to emphasize the benefits of incorporating a variety of colors into meal combinations.  We will also be focusing in on portion, eating vegetarian, healthy snacking, mindful eating, stress management and eating, and the importance of powerful breakfasts.

To get started, I teamed up with the UNH Dining dietitian Rochelle L’Italien, and a fellow nutrition student and we brainstormed heaps of tasty meal ideas.  Last week, Rochelle and I spent some time in the dining hall actually putting together a few of the masterpieces to photograph.  We utilized all of the different food stations to create a variety of mouth-watering dishes – I even took the liberty of gobbling up one of the sandwiches we made.

As we progress with our education in the dining halls, I will post pictures of our involvement, weekly meal ideas, and fun insights.