USF director of nutrition Lauri Wright said students should focus on building healthier eating habits. ORACLE GRAPHIC/KEATON DUKE
While personal goals vary among individuals, some USF students said their goals for this year focus on eating healthier.
But for students beginning their journey to a healthier diet, navigating between resources, food plans or paths can be hard.
Still, USF provides students with food and wellness services that can help them achieve their goals.
The university offers students free meetings with registered dieticians for dietary needs, planning or general advice and information, according to USF Wellness Education.
USF’s Feed-A-Bull pantry provides food to students in need and offers a list of affordable recipes, according to its USF webpage.
Lauri Wright, the director of nutrition programs at USF, said there are a few ways students can strive toward a healthier lifestyle — starting with food.
Wright said students should start by building better habits and practicing patience, as it takes time for bodies to adjust to new foods or exercise levels.
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She said too many people view diet change as a complete restriction and an immediate transition — when it should be a lasting, more impactful approach.
“So what that might look like is perhaps adding a glass of water every day, or maybe it’s adding protein to your breakfast or perhaps it’s adding a piece of fruit as a snack,” Wright said.
Wright said she has three main pieces of advice for healthier living — finding an accountability partner, making small changes and avoiding an all-or-nothing mindset of success.
Wright said today’s dietary trends go “in and out” of style as they circulate online, and said most advertise abrupt dietary restrictions for quick results.
She explained that these diets often lead people to believe they need to eat less, which can be “detrimental” to the metabolic rate of a person’s body.
The metabolic rate is the rate a person’s body converts food into energy, according to Cleveland Health.
Additionally, Wright said there is no “magic weight” when it comes to individual health and diets.
Therefore, Wright said dietary changes should not be extreme.
Instead, students should make mindful choices to replace or substitute unhealthy foods with healthier whole foods — such as replacing fast food with meats, fruits and vegetables.
“I can’t tell you how many iterations of the keto or carnivore diet I’ve seen,” said Wright. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
The keto diet is designed to eliminate carbohydrates while maintaining varying protein levels, according to UC Davis Health.
A carnivore diet is a diet based solely on animal products and excludes most or all plants, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Wright said cutting carbohydrates through these diets is ineffective because it fails to maintain proper nutrients for bodily functions.
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Raul Garcia, a senior biology major, said he is working to build muscle through new routines, including improved diet habits and a more protein- and carb-dense diet.
Garcia said he is motivated to stay healthy because it keeps him in mental and physical shape.
To do so, Garcia said he uses the on-campus gyms at the Tampa and St. Pete campuses, which are free for students.
“I feel like I don’t perform best when I’m not healthy [and] it also gets my mind off of school and work,” Garcia said.
Anna Catalina Kettlewell, a senior business analytics major, said she has had a successful journey finding a nutritional balance.
Still, the process has required her to be a more mindful eater.
Kettlewell said she grew up eating whole foods with her meals — including lean protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
She said she believes these minimally processed, nutrient-dense foods are an important part of staying healthy and maintaining an active lifestyle.’
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Kettlewell also said she has developed a habit of following the 80/20 rule when eating.
“Eighty percent of the week I’m trying to eat as healthy as possible and hit my protein goal, and the other twenty percent I can eat whatever,” she said.
This guideline allows her to maintain a healthy eating balance without worrying about enjoying the “occasional treat,” she said.
Kettlewell said she believes USF provides strong support for student well-being and nutrition.
“[USF has] the REC open for good hours with personal trainers [and] compared to other schools, we have good health services and a medical center,” she said.
