Category | Arts & Living

Program meetings encourage healthy eating

Published on February 23, 2010 by Sarah Hitt

Whether with diet pills, excessive exercising or the newest diet craze, Americans have become obsessed with finding the newest way to shed their extra pounds. KSU’s Wellness Center is taking a stand by offering students a healthy alternative to aid in weight loss.

The Owl Watchers program is an eight-week program for students who want to learn more about healthy eating.

Participants sign up online each week and meet in room 130 of the Wellness Center for lunch and discussion. The class is free for KSU students and the first 30 students who register online get a free lunch.

Each meeting centers on a different focus, but all involve learning new weight-management skills. The program encourages students to adopt a new lifestyle, rather than temporary habits for short-term weight loss.

Brittany Slotten, KSU Wellness Center’s dietician leads the class. During the program, she not only takes the time to focus on enjoying healthy eating, but also on how to stretch a dollar when buying food.

“Although weight loss is a primary focus (within the class), sustaining long term weight loss is not about counting calories-it’s about learning how to eat on a daily basis,” Slotten said.

The Owl Watchers met with the topic of Supermarket Smarts & Menu Makeovers Feb. 18. Students learned many healthy tips for grocery shopping and cooking at home.

One valuable piece of advice that Slotten offered was to add vegetables to anything, in order to fill up and cut calories.

Students who attend the class vary in age and lifestyle. Many participants are non-traditional students who had questions on cooking for their families and children. Slotten was quick to encourage them in healthy habits for their kids, while applying it to everyone in the class.

Some students attend to gain a better understanding of healthy living. Yanmin Sun, a junior, aims to learn how to gain weight by taking the class.

“I have gained an awareness about what I eat and buy that I never had before,” Sun said.

Students are encouraged to set goals within the eight-week class. Many students weigh in at the beginning or end of the class to track their progress.

“After I set my goals the lectures helped me attain those goals. I wasn’t working alone,” Sun said.

The next session is “Dining Out Delightfully: A special occasion survival guide. This will mark week five for the eight-week session. The meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 25 in the Wellness Center.
Students can register for the class online at https://computertrain.kennesaw.edu/ or visit the Wellness Center for more details. Slotten also offers one-on-one nutrition counseling at no cost to students.