CDS Should Hone in on Food

To the Editors:

I found the little folded stand-up “Eating in Balance: Holiday Style” cards placed throughout Stevenson a couple of weeks ago to be ridiculous and unhealthy.
These cards, which I assume were produced by CDS, claim to give health tips regarding eating during the holidays, but their advice seems to me to be just the opposite. The first thing I read was “Plan ahead. Save calories the week before... to give yourself more calories to eat during the holidays.” Does that sound right? Don’t eat much for a week, then binge at the big dinner. On the opposite side of the card it says “avoid binging.” What exactly was advised, then, on the previous side? As I read on I felt as though it was a small list of commandments aimed at overweight people “at risk” of getting fatter: “Never go to a party hungry... it is easy to consume excessive calories if you are standing by the buffet line... party foods may be fun, but you will have to live with the consequences... eat slowly... take one or two [gift cookies] and give the rest away... a forkful of cheesecake will do a lot less damage than a whole piece.” All this and more fit onto one small card. We will have to “live with the consequences?” We will, the writer of these helpful hints is saying, have to live with being fat and unattractive. Nobody will like you if you eat too much pie. The whole thing seems to be a drawn-out scolding of overweight students, exclamation points and all. I and several of my friends were greatly offended by the implications of these tips, and I’d much prefer CDS to focus on improving the food service and quality on this campus than to spend time advising its patrons to give away their food.

–Brad Walsh
College sophomore