Obesity is a nationwide problem, and campus dietitians are aware of it – but when it comes to planning meals, having a variety of food choices trumps having only low-calorie choices.

Judy Trumpy, program coordinator for ISU Dining and registered dietitian at Thielen Student Health Center, said she doesn’t think the agenda of ISU Dining administrators is to go out and change people’s habits.

She said there has always been an effort to make “the most palatable, appealing food, but not really an effort to make it low-calorie.”

At the same time, however, Trumpy pointed out that there are always items such as salads and low-fat or fat-free salad dressings available along with the rest of the menu.

Trumpy said having a variety of food, including options such as hamburgers, fries and pizza, is partly a marketing decision.

“If we stopped offering those things, there would be an uproar,” Trumpy said, citing student surveys that show such greasy foods have continually been favorites. “We’re not going to make the decision for [students] to lay off the fries.”

ISU Dining added NetNutrition, which allows students to select what they are going to eat in the dining halls and find its nutrition information – right up to “all the extras” such as cereals, desserts or beverages – on its Web site last semester.

She said, if students no longer want high-calorie options in their menu, “they need to indicate that by not eating the stuff that they don’t want.”

Trumpy said a lot of students have told her they don’t know about this, but she has made herself available for nutrition counseling if students are concerned about their diet and weight. Her fee for the services provided to students is included in the health fee paid upon entering the university.

“We’re more than willing and able to help students out with nutrition and planning,” Trumpy said.

She said she is willing to help provide accountability to students struggling with their weight, if they so desire, by meeting more than once. First meetings generally run for about an hour, she said.

In those meetings, Trumpy said she suggests planning meals in advance in order to have some control over the matter.

Mary Ellen Metzger, manager of the Maple-Willow-Larch dining center, said “the big thing we think about is we can provide choices [so students aren’t] locked into just one thing.”

She also said providing nutrition information is important.

“Controlling obesity is very much an individualized, personal thing,” Metzger said.