Campus eats: How healthy is it?

Portland State students, faced with varied nutritional choices all around campus, say they eat high-calorie, sodium-packed, over-portioned meals when it is their only option.

And with some of the most popular eateries around the university using high-calorie content, sodium content and large meal portions, students can often be stuck without nutritious options.

The Vanguard visited Subway, Chipotle, McDonald’s and the Sodexho cafeteria in Smith Memorial Student Union, and stopped people in the middle of their lunches to question them about the foods they were eating. After seeing the facts, how do students feel about the their food?

The results were almost unanimous: students say they don’t eat unhealthy often or they don’t know that the food they’re consuming isn’t good for them. How healthy are those meals?

Sodexho-What’s Cookin’

Half rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables

Calories: 767Protein: 76 gramsCarbohydrates: 25 gramsFat: 39.1 gramsTrans fat: 0 gramsSodium: 1100 milligrams

Christian Carlson, 23, senior:

“It’s fine with me. I play football and so I’m burning it all up. All I ate today was a banana for breakfast, so overall I feel pretty good about it. I don’t think I’d want to eat three meals a day here, but generally I think it’s healthy enough.”

Numbers here are for a double portion of meat and vegetables. Choose a quarter chicken and plain veggies, and this ends up being pretty healthy. Sodium content here is high-about the same as a 6-inch Subway sandwich.

Sodexho-Sushi bar

Sesame chicken over rice

Calories: 459Protein: 34 gramsCarbohydrates: 49 gramsFat: 13 gramsTrans fat: 0 gramsSodium: 786 milligrams

Willow Myrick, 29, senior:

“It’s kind of convenient and hot and they take (credit) cards. I’m a little hung over and I could use a little grease.”

Probably the healthiest option but held in a warmer for so long that one has to wonder how it could taste good. Too bad there aren’t any vegetables.

Subway

6-inch southwest steak and cheese

Calories: 500Protein: 29 gramsCarbohydrates: 49 grams Fat: 22 gramsTrans fat: .5 gramsSodium: 1340 milligrams

Joshua Griggs, 19, freshman:

“Usually when I eat lunch it’s the only meal of the day for me. I always decline the offer of extra salt, so I guess it could be worse. Where could I eat that would be more healthy?”

Sodium is the silent killer here. With all the advertising Subway does to promote health and weight loss, you’d think their meats might not be quite as salt laden. Meats are chock full of artificial ingredients and ominous sounding components like “chicken type flavor,” “mechanically separated turkey meat,” and MSG, cleverly disguised as the chemicals disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate. With all these additives, one can’t help but wonder-how long does this stuff last?

Chipotle

Burrito bowl

Calories: 1100Protein: 29 gramsCarbohydrates: 75 gramsFat: 48 gramsTrans fat: N/ASodium: 1300 milligrams

Kenji Lee, 21, senior:

“I like eating here because I burn a lot of calories anyways. Everyone’s body is different. You get to choose what you want here. This is essentially a fast food place and so I know what kind of things come along with that. I like Cha! Cha! Cha! better, but in this case it’s closer for me to come here.”

Portion sizes are huge here. No ordinary person needs to consume this much volume in one sitting.

McDonald’s

Quarter pounder with cheese

Calories: 410Protein: 24 gramsCarbohydrates: 37 gramsFat: 19 gramsTrans fat: 1 gramSodium: 730 milligrams

Scott Lemons, 20, junior:

“I don’t come here all the time, so it’s not going to kill me. I don’t regret my lunch. I come here every couple of weeks when I don’t feel like making my lunch.”

Can anyone really eat a burger without eating fries too? Add a large fry to the lunch and you’ve just tacked on another 570 calories and 30 grams of fat. Want a soda? That will be 310 calories more.