When we made our rounds talking to local health experts, dietitians and nutritionists, we asked “Which vitamins are we missing if we subsist solely on skunked beer and Chicago-style pizza?” We were met with expressions of disappointment unlike anything we’ve seen since we threw high school parties while our parents were out of town, as well as some tips to help us get our acts together and our diets closer to balanced.
VITAMIN A
For night owls who spend stressful evenings in the library, vitamin A can improve night vision and prevent wrinkles. That’s right, we said night vision. Monique Ryan, a nutritionist based in Evanston, says to “think orange, red, deep green vegetables like red grapefruit and leafy green vegetables” when trying to incorporate vitamin A in your diet.
VITAMIN D
Chicago-area dietitian Bindi Desai Lessing says college students’ diets tend to lack vitamin D, especially because Evanston is depressingly sun-deprived. She recommends taking vitamin D supplements, since there aren’t many food sources that contain it naturally. Luckily, your body produces it in response to sunlight, so catching rays for 10 minutes a few times a week from April-September should be sufficient, Ryan said.
VITAMIN E
Brian Erickson, a team member in the Whole Body department at Whole Foods, says the college diet tends to consist of foods cooked with inexpensive, “lousy oils” that lack vitamins. He encourages cooking at home and using coconut or palm oils instead. Both are good sources of vitamin E, which is said to promote healthy hair, skin and nails (and who doesn’t want that?).
OMEGA-3
James Klaer Twist, manager of Chaz Nutrition and Health on Davis Street, says not to shy away from the good fats, like Omega-3 fatty acids. They calm inflammation and can be found in oily fish like salmon and trout, as well as seeds like hemp and flax. If oily fish isn’t your thing, Erickson recommends buying whole flaxseeds and pulverizing them in a coffee grinder, while Lessing suggests Whole Foods’ whole grain flaxseed pancake mix ($3.99 for 36 oz.) and gluten-free flaxseed muffin mix ($3.39 for 12 oz.) to save you the trouble.
CALCIUM
Ryan says it’s a good measure to take a daily multivitamin if your diet isn’t exactly balanced, but as Twist cautions, supplements like One-A-Day and Centrum are actually low on important nutrients like calcium. Twist recommends up to 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day for women under 40, while Ryan adds that “lattes are good ways (to get enough calcium) and yogurt, skim milk in the dining halls,” she says. If that’s not enough, Ryan suggests students head over to CVS and buy inexpensive calcium supplements with calcium carbonate.
VEGETABLES
For those of us not getting anywhere near three to five servings of vegetables a day, Twist and Erickson recommend powdered greens such as Barlean’s Greens. These mixes contain just about every green plant you’ve ever heard of and pack a true nutritional punch, but their lawn-like chlorophyll taste may take some getting used to. Twist suggests mixing a scoop of powder with pineapple juice instead of water to help with the whole “I’m drinking grass” thing.
PROBIOTICS
Erickson describes probiotics as “critters” that live in your small and large intestine, but don’t let that gross you out. These bacteria help your digestive system function smoothly. The live organisms in products like Culturelle and Jarrodophilus EPS (available at Whole Foods) can help reintroduce good balance into your intestinal tract. OK, fine, we’re grossed out.
