Count Us Out

After a summer without popcorn chicken, ranger cookies and Harvard fruit salad, students may have returned to those same dishes, yet something is amiss in the dining halls. The small cards that used to detail each food’s caloric content no longer accompany every dish. This act of removal has omitted an ineffective way of keeping healthy. This removal is a relief to those who worry that the excessive attention to the number of calories in a dish exacerbates unhealthy eating habits. Furthermore, the cards were an ineffective way of maintaining healthy eating habits, given that caloric content is not a comprehensive metric for healthfulness.

Providing information about the food we consume is a service that Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) provides—and one that we should take advantage of. Maintaining a balanced diet is a necessity for college students, who already push their bodies by staying up late and following grueling schedules of classes, club meetings, and athletics.

Merely counting the numbers of calories in certain dishes, however, is not the most efficient means of leading a healthy lifestyle. The calorific content is just one of many indicators that determine how healthy the baked ziti is. The cards did not assist in intelligent eating choices. Instead, their presence exacerbated the very prevalent problems of people suffering from eating disorders and other eating issues.

HUDS would do well to provide more comprehensive information about the food offered in dining halls. Details about dishes should include information like the ingredients and nutritional breakdown. A qualitative approach is more conducive to a healthful navigation through dining choices than a quantitative one.

The removal of the cards at the request of students and their parents marks a responsible move from HUDS. Eating concerns are rampant at Harvard among all sexes, and too often it is an issue that goes ignored. The removal of the cards indicates that higher-up figures at Harvard are responsive to students’ mental health concerns. Now, the eating experience at Harvard can be further improved by adopting a holistic approach to healthy eating.