 "Photo: Karl Henkel / The South End")
 "Photo: Karl Henkel / The South End")
Though it may be hard to believe, the simple decision of what to eat is one of the most important of the day. This can be a difficult decision, especially with limited time.
Wayne State students can find more meal options there are more meals options than meet the eye and most are within a one-mile radius.
When deciding what to eat, there are several options can be considered: residential dining halls, also known as Towers Café and Warrior Dining.
There are also several fast-food outlets in the Student Center such as Taco Bell, McDonald’s and Subway. Starbucks, Einstein Brother’s Bagels, Salad 101 and Jimmy John’s line the base of the freshmen dorms, and Pizzeria Venti, along with the newest addition, Freshens, are close by for Towers residents.
For many the question is not where to find food, but rather what food to eat to prevent stereotypes such as the “Freshman 15,” which is when a first-year student gains 15 pounds in his or her first year.
The Wayne State student body has a variety of different food preferences, from vegan to Halal. Many students have special dietary restrictions such as food allergies or intolerance to dairy products. But one major trend in campus dining preference is the search for healthier options.
Many students think the food they are consuming lacks nutrients and is high in calories. Some students would like to see the addition of different types of food in campus dining halls.
“I definitely get way too many carbs and would like more cut fruit because they always run out,” Atchison Hall resident Betty Huang said.
Other students are quite content with the variety of the dining halls.
“They do a good job of providing alternatives, but something I’d like to see would be calorie count and grams of fat for certain entrees,” third-year WSU student Lara Stephenson said.
For those students who utilize campus dining, the staff is always receptive to feedback from students.
Daniel Kahn, director of resident dining, said WSU dining serves 1,756 students, with rarely any complaints in the comment boxes stationed in each of the dining halls, but dining services considers all complaints.
“Our concept is fresh food — real vegetables, with no preservatives,” he said.
He said healthy options, such as the salad bar that includes 40 different toppings, all house-made dressings, and soup choices, are always available.
Food preparation uses olive oil or margarine, unless otherwise noted with “butter.” Most important, everything served in the dining halls, apart from the pastries, has zero trans fat.
Kahn feels much of the healthy decision making is up to the students.
He says the dining halls, are “all you choose to eat,” rather than all you can eat
Dr. Lisa Ventrella–Lucente, instructional assistant in the food science and nutrition program at Wayne State, instructed that students should get between 50 percent to 60 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 35 grams of fiber, 20 percent or fewer of their calories from protein and 30 percent from fats.
She said trans fats and saturated fats are things to avoid as much as possible. She told students to “try to adapt the food guide pyramid in your everyday meals.”
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