By David Owen
Ryerson Student Nutrition Action Committee held a healthy eating tour at Loblaws to help students identify the do’s and don’ts of healthy cost-effective dieting.
Néma McGlynn, the in-store dietician at the College and Church Streets location, led the tour and broke down proper serving sizes, preparation tips, and money saving-strategies into simple, student-friendly terms.
“The program is a great idea for students who find themselves in a time and price crunch,” McGlynn said. “It’s knowing what to buy, how to prepare it, and how to meal plan. There are always sales on a few brands in every section so look for those and plan your meals around that.”
Those who took the tour were asked to select their favourite type of bread, and then to analyze the nutritional information listed on the back.
McGlynn said that bread with whole grains as its first ingredient is the best choice, because unprocessed grains have no added salt. She also said to look out for bread with high fibre, and low sugar.
“Label reading is a really important tool in a grocery store. It’s the only way to tell what’s in your food because the label doesn’t lie.”
The Ryerson Student Nutrition Action Committee is a student-run organization that works with student services and food services to provide the Ryerson community with food-related resources. The committee will hold the tour at Loblaws once a month.
Lisa Snider-Nevin, one of the four members of RSNAC, accompanied the group on the tour. She believes that healthy living is possible at Ryerson, even for students who are living on their own for the first time.
“We’re trying to help students manage when they move out so they can still make nutritious meals even when they are busy,” Snider-Nevin said “Students do a lot of stress eating so above all it is important they take care of themselves.”
Snider-Nevin said Loblaws and all of the programs it offers are valuable additions to the Ryerson community. “Having a dietician available to help plan meals is huge,” she says. “It’s an amazing resource for the students at Ryerson.”
In addition to healthy store tours with McGlynn, Loblaws offers a variety of other programs and services to its customers. Among them are healthy educational demos, nutrition consultations, and cooking classes such as Cooking 101 – a class that teaches college and university students everything they need to know to survive their time away from home.
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