Online dining program promotes healthy eating

With countless temptations in the dining halls, it is sometimes easier for students to grab something quick and (usually) unhealthy to get them through the day.

To help students avoid giving in to such temptations, Residential Programs and Services features the online program Net Nutrition.

Net Nutrition allows students to put together a virtual meal from the campus dining services and to calculate the nutritional information.

“It’s really eye-opening for students to see what they are really consuming in a typical day,” said registered dietitian Rachel Noirot. “For instance, it allows students to check if they are having too much sodium or carbs.”

In addition to regular nutritional information, Net Nutrition features a section where students can check the portion sizes of their food and filter out allergens, such as wheat.

“The food courts are different than a grocery store because there are no labels on the food,” Noirot said. “One of RPS’s goals is to allow students to be more conscious of nutrition, and this is a source they can use to help them become more aware.”

Net Nutrition was created three years ago but is still a work in progress. For example, currently there is no nutritional information for the food from El Bistro in Read Center.

“We have a diet technician who always updates the website with the information from new recipes that the dining services chefs are testing out,” Noirot said.

Noirot also said there might be an iPhone application created in the future with all the nutrition information from IU dining services to make it easier for students to check on the go.

Net Nutrition is a complement to other dining service programs, including the Eat Right stations in the dining halls and the nutritional information posted next to some of the food stations.

It is important that students take the initiative to monitor their diet and learn good habits now, dietetic technician Susan Jacobs said.

“The main reason Net Nutrition is important is because students are no longer living with their parents anymore so they need to monitor their own intake,” Jacobs said.

“We have to teach them habits now for them to use for their whole life.”

Some students agree that Net Nutrition makes them conscious of what they eat.

“It’s helpful to know which places are healthier within the food courts to make good decisions,” sophomore Kelsea Lucas said.