Food plays a large role in everyday life, but plays an even bigger role in development of young adults. Developing a healthy diet at a young age is vital to obtain necessary vitamins and minerals, promote healthy development, and maintain a healthy weight. Most college campuses require meal plans, but they frequently do not offer the most balanced meal choices. Elisabeth Townsend, Jennifer E. Pelletier and Melissa N. Laska, and Mary Cluskey and Deana Grobe support that college campuses need to provide healthier options for students, while also educating students of the healthy options available. 

Weight gain is a common topic for most freshman in college, but most students are not concerned as to why it is so common. I am interested in college dining facilities to see how the University of South Carolina's dining facilities differ from others, and whether their foods promote or discourage a healthy diet for students. Food also interests me because I feel that it is not addressed or taught a lot about in schools, causing people across age ranges to not know what a healthy choice is. My research will strengthen my previous values and make me more passionate on food education in the school systems. Researching healthy options for students will also further educate me on what I could be eating on campus to make healthier choices. College campuses providing and promoting healthy options could reduce the amount of weight gain in college students, while also developing better eating habits in young adults. I am qualified to write about this topic because I am a college freshman aware of the choices the school has for dining and also aware of the choices students eat. I have the background knowledge on what a well-balanced diet is and what young adults need to keep their bodies healthy and energized. 

Elisabeth Townsend's 2009 interview "The Cooking Ape" addresses how the invention of cooking food changed how humans eat today. Townsend evaluates how the invention of fire and cooking food made food more digestible, created more immediate energy, and easily edible food that does not require fermentation or other preservation measures. Townsend expresses how evolution developed eating habits on humans presently, energy given from food, how food relates to gender roles, and how humans care for their children. The main interest the author presents is how evolution changed humans today. The author appears credible because she obtained information through an interview with Richard Wrangham, an anthropology professor at Harvard University. Wrangham is also a Primatologist that has been researching for twenty-five years and has worked in Kafue National Park studying African habitats and species. Townsend uses Wrangham's research and credibility in the field to build credibility for her work and attract readers. 

Jennifer E Pelletier and Melissa N. Laska's 2013 journal entry, "Campus Food and Beverage Purchases Are Associated with Indicators of Diet Quality in College Students Living Off Campus", discusses the diets of college students, specifically those commuting to campus. The study evaluates how students obtain their food while on campus and whether it was fast food, brought from home, or bought on campus. The study concludes that 45% of students ate some form on campus food more than three times a day, and had higher fat and sugar consumption compared to students that brought meals from home. The author's in this study focus on two college campuses' commuting students and what dinning choices they use while on campus. The two groups of commuting students of interest were those that eat on campus and those that bring their meals from home. Pelletier and Laska are credible authors because they both took part in a scientific observational study published in a credible source, American Journal of Health. The authors also attain high levels of education in the field, with Pelltetier having a MPH and Laska having a PhD. Performing this study on two separate campuses also creates a sense of credibility because it demonstrates that the study is not subjective to one campus. 

In the 2009 journal entry, "College Weight Gain and Behavior Transitions: Male and Female Differences", Mary Cluskey and Deana Grobe evaluates the weight gain in first year college students. This study indicates that college students failed to meet requirements of fruits, vegetables, dietary fats, as well as exercise. Cluskey and Grobe also indicated that "all you can eat" style dining contributes to freshman weight gain. In addition to eating, academic workload was directed to female weight gain, where alcohol was contributed to male weight gain. The major points of interest in this study are whether or not dietary choices are the only contributor to freshman year weight gain.  This study was also interested in college student's perspective of the severity of weight gain during college years. Cluskey and Grobe attain credibility through publication in a credible medium, Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The authors also attain credibility through have high levels of education, PhD, and performance of study. However, the authors lose credibility in their study because only students that responded to the survey were considered, creating bias. 

College dining is an arguable topic throughout age ranges because students are eating the food provided, but parents are also spending copious amounts of money with the intent that the food will be sustainable and healthy for their children. This is an arguable question because the opposition is that dining choices do not affect students because students will choose what they want to eat regardless of healthy choices being present. Throughout the three sources all arguments acknowledge that diet does have an impact on college students. The first source, "The Cooking Ape" focuses on how food is consumed and calorie intake. This source is potentially valuable because it explains how raw foods and cooked foods differ in calorie intake and nutritional value. However, "Campus Food and Beverage Purchases Are Associated with Indicators of Diet Quality in College Students Living Off Campus" and "College Weight Gain and Behavior Transitions: Male and Female Differences" both focus on college campus eating habits, but differ because "College Weight Gain and Behavior Transitions: Male and Female Differences" states that the cause of weight gain can also be directed to hormones and amount of stress put on students. These sources strengthen my opinion because I believe that weight gain has to do more with eating, exercise, and alcohol consumption more so than hormone changes. These sources also affect my views because I believe that dining halls have a large impact on student's diets. After researching my new thesis is how college dining services affect freshman year students instead of students as a whole.

Dining services play a large role in college diets because they are the closest option for students, and also required in many schools. Supported through Elisabeth Townsend, Jennifer E. Pelletier and Melissa N. Laska, and Mary Cluskey and Deana Grobe college campuses need to implement and encourage healthy options for their students. Most college campuses require costly meal plans, that parents and students pay with the intent that the school serves sustainable food. My research is a valuable source and supports that dining services do have an impact on college students diet and weight. To ensure that college freshmen succeed in academic's college dining services need to serve and reinforce healthy options for students to promote a healthy dieting habit that will last them forever. 

