Nutritionist shares healthy tips

You jolt awake at 10:35 a.m., late for your morning class. You were up until five the night before, finishing up a paper, and you run out the door with your teeth half-brushed. You grab a left-over cookie from the Insomnia box you ordered last night. Luckily you'll have time to grab some coffee later. Sound familiar?

Lisa Hark, director of the Nutrition Education and Prevention Program at the School of Medicine, would find several problems with this typical college-student scenario.

Hark gave a talk yesterday evening on nutrition and healthy lifestyles to a group of 30 residents of Harrison College House. The event was sponsored by Harrison's Health and Fitness Residential Program and dinner was provided. Hark also brought copies of her most recent book, The Whole Grain Diet Miracle, to give to attendees.

Hark received her masters degree from the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia College and her doctoral degree in education from Penn. She was the host for season one of TLC's "Honey We're Killing the Kids" TV series and has edited and authored several books on nutrition.

"I'm totally into prevention, I think you need to understand how to keep yourself healthy," said Hark. "Students are very interested [in this topic] and I think it's a really good thing," she added.

A few common themes of the discussion revolved around the fact that students are not getting enough sleep - she recommends seven to nine hours per night - and are eating the wrong foods at the wrong times - eating pizza right before you go to bed is one of the worst things you could do to your body.

She also stressed the importance of exercise, recommending students engage in at least one hour a day of some sort of activity, noting that "walking to class absolutely counts!"

Hark sees the large intake of caffeine on college campuses as one of the biggest problems.

"If you drink more than one or two cups a day, you do get addicted," said Hark. "There are other ways that you can increase your energy," she added. "The best thing is exercise."

College sophomore Sara Kalkstein, really enjoyed the event. "I thought it was great that it was so question-based because so many of us came in with specific [issues]. I always thought I was eating healthy but now I know more," she said.

Bo Finneman, a Wharton junior and an organizer of the event, agreed. He said, "She's a pretty remarkable woman and we [were] really lucky to have her here in Harrison."

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