Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 3/10/04 Section: Campus News

At the National Nutrition Month fair on Thursday, a life-sized Barbie doll will be on hand to show that she is not a realistic image of what women look like.

"Her waist is 8 to 10 inches smaller than the average woman," said Amber Watson, a senior nutrition major. "Women will starve themselves and even have surgery to make themselves look more like Barbie."

Jennifer Styles, nutritionist at the Student Health Center, said the event is being organized by the Nutrition Education Action Team, a contingent of health-minded students. The team is part of the nutrition program at the health and wellness promotion department at the Student Health Center.

"It's a good opportunity for students to go out there and see what real nutrition is all about," said Long Phan, a senior nutrition and dietetics major. "It's an alternative to all of the stuff in the media like low-carbohydrate diets and the Atkins diet."

Tables on many different subjects, including fad diets, body image, sports nutrition, alcohol, general nutrition, diabetes, eating vegetarian, and folic acid, calcium and iron, will be arranged around the main floor of the Student Union, according to Styles.

Watson said students should be attracted by the free services that will be available, like body fat, blood pressure and diabetes testing.

"This year is going to be really exciting to come and see three new tables," Watson said.

The folic acid, calcium and iron table is new, the body image table has new displays, and the food science table is new, she said.

Folic acid, calcium and iron are important for women of child-bearing age, Watson said.

"The spinal cord in the fetus is formed in the first couple weeks of pregnancy when most women don't know they are pregnant," Watson said. "We're advocating that women of child-bearing age eat food high in folic acid to prevent ... defects."

Watson said the fad-diet table will include information addressing Atkins, the Zone and other diets that emphasize high protein and low carbohydrates.

The new sports nutrition table will have infrared body fat testing, and the Nutrition Club, a student club on campus, will have a table about general nutrition, including food groups, food guides and a plastic 3-D model of a food pyramid, Watson said.

She said the food science table will have soda tastings to show the relationship between tastes and expectations formed by colors.

Different types of vegetarian diets will be explained at another table, like vegans (no dairy), lacto-ovo vegetarians (dairy included) and vegetarians who eat fish, Phan said.

Styles is the coordinator of the event, but all the work is being done by students, Phan said.

Each table was put together by one of the seven student members of the nutrition action team.

Other participating organizations include Meals on Wheels, the Second Harvest Food Bank, the American Cancer Society, the Student Nursing Association, which will be testing blood pressure, and the Diabetes Society, which will be checking blood-glucose levels in those wishing to know if they have diabetes.

The Prevention Education Program will have a table about safe sex, and the student group Peer Health will be doing a table on alcohol.

This is the first year Meals on Wheels and the Student Nursing Association have been part of the event, Watson said.

"This is pointed toward college students," Phan said. "We are going to be there to give them the facts and the truth and put the focus toward eating better."

Watson said snacks will be available at the event, as well as a raffle to win prizes such as a food basket, a restaurant gift certificate or T-shirts.

To enter the raffle, contestants must get every question right on a questionnaire of about 10 questions. The answers are easily available at each table, Watson said.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools