By For students slacking on their New Year’s resolution to lose a few pounds, a soon-to-come free nutrition-counseling program on campus just may help with that goal.
The Health Resource Center and the Beach Balance office in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center will each begin to offer free nutrition counseling starting Feb. 25. The program will be available to all Cal State Long Beach students.
Senior and graduate level students majoring in nutrition and dietetics will provide counseling to students in the program, according to Sean Del Rossi, associate director for the SRWC. Del Rossi said these students are required to provide nutrition counseling as part of their major.
Each counselor must volunteer two hours of nutrition counseling per week, according to Del Rossi.
Heidi Burkey, coordinator for the Health Resource Center, said that the program is tailored to the individual need of each student who participates. Whether it’s weight loss, weight gain, a vegetarian diet, an allergy diet or an athletic diet, the peer nutrition counselors will provide a one-hour session based on the student’s needs, according Burkey.
“Counselors stay within their practice, so they don’t prescribe a diet … they do an intake [and] suggest better foods for them to eat,” Del Rossi said. “It provides a balance between diet and exercise.”
Peer nutrition counselors can work students to help with obstacles to healthy eating, according to Burkey. They can also teach students how to read food labels and to be more aware of the ingredients in the items they buy.
“They do follow-up appointments as well, and it’s all free,” Burkey said.
Paul Leaf, a sports management student working at the Beach Balance office, said the program can benefit not only students but also the nutrition counselors.
“It also gives the [peer nutrition counselors] hands-on practice with the nutrition counseling program,” Leaf said.
Del Rossi said that for students to participate in the program, they must first complete a confidential form on their “intake choices” before scheduling an appointment.
“The form is a questionnaire on the student’s intake,” Del Rossi said. “It’s a general health history form to get an idea of the person we’re meeting with.”
According to Del Rossi, the program has been started at a minimal cost, being “mostly free” aside from marketing and supplies.
Ak Dewan, a freshman business major, said the nutrition program was a good idea and that students should know about it.
“[Students] usually have unhealthy lifestyles because there’s Carl’s Jr., Panda Express, and all these fast food restaurants here,” Dewan said. “I think it’s good because if they learn a healthier lifestyle it’ll be better for them.”
Tennyson Tran, a senior psychology major, said she thinks the concept is good but that students don’t have time to go.
“There has to be some incentive to get students to go, like extra credit, or maybe if it was a requirement,” Tran said. “Maybe if it was within my work and school schedule, I would go, but flexibility would be an issue.”
