Fifty to 60 percent of Americans are currently overweight or obese, and college students are no exception.

“Statistics are amazing at how fast Americans are gaining weight,” said Jim Painter, chair of family and consumer sciences.

Diets high in fat, sodium and carbohydrates and low in fruits and vegetables are not uncommon among college students, said Jen Taber, nutrition education coordinator for the Health Education Resource Center.

According to a 2005 article in the Seattle Times, college weight fluctuations, including the infamous “freshman 15,” are usual due to lifestyle changes after moving away from home. A 2003 study by Cornell University in New York reported that the “15” is an average of 5 pounds, 8 ounces gained during a student’s first year.

The article listed staying up late, stress, snacking while studying, alcohol consumption and an irregular eating schedule as some of the changes that affect students’ eating habits.

Food availability, perceived and actual budgets, advertisements, habits, friends, coworkers and culture are other factors that affect food choices, said Teresa Drake, family and consumer sciences instructor.

Some students balance a full load of classes, work and extracurricular activities each day.

Time management can also be an issue, causing students to repeatedly eat late at night and consume more fast food, as it is for sophomore Lydia Attalla.

“I never ate late at night, (then) I started college, and I always do, and I hate it,” she said. “Taco Bell’s always open, so we always go there.”

Fast food is an industry fueled by consumer demand that is not going anywhere, Painter said.

In Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” he portrayed fast food companies as the root of the problem, Painter said. Spurlock did this by eating fast food every day for every meal for 30 days and highlighting his weight gain and the negative changes in his overall health at the end.

Painter set out to make “Portion Size Me,” to show that it is possible to eat fast food daily as long as students exercise and make the right food choices. Restaurants like McDonald’s now offer salads, grilled chicken sandwiches and milk or juice as well as the traditional hamburger, soft drink and fries.

Painter’s documentary took two healthy, active graduate students from Eastern who ate fast food every day for every meal for 30 days as well, only they were encouraged to eat the right amount of calories for their respective body sizes.

The problems with fast food, Painter said, are the choices students make and the portions they consume.

A combo, instead of just a sandwich, adds about 600 calories to a meal.

“Most people don’t need it,” Painter said.

Also, students eat these large meals and continue to eat large or regular-sized meals throughout the day. This leads to extra calories their bodies don’t burn, and in turn, tacks on extra pounds, he said.

Attalla said she tries to space out her unhealthier meals.

“During the day, I try not to eat two fattening meals,” she said, mentioning the salad from Wendy’s she had for lunch.

Attalla said she noticed that fast food restaurants offer healthy food, but said the unhealthy choices outweigh the good.

Although the healthy options are available at many fast food restaurants, people are not choosing them, Painter said.

“Choose the right portion, make the right choices and the industry will change,” he said.

Students who choose to eat at the dining centers on campus or in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union can use the same thought process when making food choices.

One problem with the dining centers is that students tend to eat as much as they can, due to the buffet atmosphere, Taber said.

“We’re (Americans are) all about getting the most for our money,” she said.

But on campus food choices are well balanced, Taber added.

Dining centers offer an array of vegetables and fruits, and salads are among the healthier choices one can make at the Union.

Those who eat at home can take measures to improve their diets as well, by seeking balance and limiting unnecessary calories. MyPyramid.gov provides food intake patterns that say women between the ages of 19 and 30 should consume between 2,000 and 2,400 calories per day. Men in that age group should consume 2,400 to 3,000, depending on their level of activity.

My Pyramid emphasized fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat free or low-fat milk products, lean meats, fish, eggs, nuts, and limited cholesterol, sodium and added sugars for a healthy diet.

To find out what sized portions students should eat, students can access the Web site, type in their age, gender and the amount of physical activity they normally get for a personalized list of what they need from each food group.

My Pyramid Tracker enables students to track the food they eat and analyze their diets and exercise habits. Drake said this is helpful for students to pin point problems and what they need to change.

Evaluating the legitimacy of health claims on food labels, is another practice students can develop to help improve their diets.

When buying healthy food, students should pay attention to the food labels and know how to evaluate health claims, Drake told her Nutrition Dilemmas and Decisions EIU 4051 class.

Health claims, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, link specific foods with specific diseases. Structure function claims, on the other hand, are not regulated and say things like “defends your health” and “lifts your spirits,” and should not be trusted, Drake said.