Eat Right, Stay Fit

With the go, go go, lifestyle that college inevitably brings you’ll need to stay energized, and with that comes eating right. The Mizzou Campus Dining is set up to be all-you-can-eat. This means you pay one flat fee, figured into your student bill, and get X amount of meals per week.

You can get 7, 10, 14, 17, or 21 meals per week. Let me just tell you right now: DO NOT GET THE 21 MEAL PLAN. Unless you’re a 300 lb line backer or a wrestler trying to boost your weight up to the next weight class, there is NO way you will eat 21 meals in the dining hall. Not only will you just not have time to get breakfast every day, but there are so many opportunities for free food around campus, you don’t need to eat in the dining hall 21 times a week.

When it comes to the food on campus, there are no mystery-meat Mondays. All the menu’s are published online, which is great. This way you can look ahead and pick where you want to eat based on what is being served. There will always be an open grill for lunch and dinner, so hamburgers and grilled chicken are always an option. It’s the same with the salad bar. Besides those staples though, various main entrees are served, which vary daily. The great thing about Mizzou is you’re never eating the same thing over and over again unless you want to!

If you don’t make it to the dining hall during the normal hours, there are other alternatives. Rollins Pizza To-Go is open 8:00p.m. – 11:00p.m. You can get any toppings you’d like, in various sizes. Recently they just added chicken wings and stuffed nachos to their menu. There is also Eva’s To-Go which offers food fresh from the Grill.

So what do you do with meals you don’t eat? If you have extra meals  you can redeem them for points at what is called the Emporium. Basically there are all sorts of snacky-snack foods that are worth X number of points. You get 7 points per meal. Pop-tarts are 2 points, cookies are 1 point, a bag of chips are 2, cinnamon rolls are 3 points, etc. You get the picture. While the emporium is nice if you have a couple meals left over or are leaving early for the weekend, try to pick a meal plan that minimizes the number of meals you’ll have left over each week.

With all this eating though you’re bound to gain a little weight. You’ve probably heard of the freshmen fifteen, right? Well we don’t have that at Mizzou. We have the Mizzou Twenty-Two. Because the dining hall food is so good and all-you-can-eat it’s inevitable that you’re going to put on some poundage. I’ll admit it – I did!

     Luckily, there is a solution: the Mizzou Rec. Center! The Rec. Center was ranked the best in the nation by Sports Illustrated magazine in 2005, and for good reason. Here are just some of the best points to highlight about the Rec. Center:

•  All of the treadmills have T.V.s built into them with cable television. Some even have DVD players!
• There is a Juice Bar where you can get energy shakes, Gatorade, and other work out necessities!
  

• There are three weightlifting rooms for various levels. There is a quiet room, which is the unofficial beginner’s room. The normal weightlifting room, which has circuit training. And then the Pump Room. The Pump Room is on the lower level and is designated for the heavy lifters (there are over 14,000 lbs of free-weights). This is where the most macho men on campus go
•  There is an indoor track that overlooks the basketball and volleyball courts below.
  

• Scroggs Peak is our 42’ climbing wall. A year-long pass is only $30. If you like rock climbing, this is for you!
• There are numerous racquetball courts that you can use.
  

• The Tiger Grotto is the indoor pool center, which features a hot tub which fits 20+ people, a lazy river, a whirlpool, a waterfall, a sauna, and a steam room! This is one of my favorite places to go on a Sunday night. One weekend I saw Quarterback Chase Daniel there!
  
• During the beginning and end of the school year you can head out to Truman’s Pond, which is the outdoor pool complete with the big screen television and fireplace.
  
• If you’re into lap swimming Mizzou’s competitive pool area is enormous! The floor depth is adjustable, as is the length. There is also a 16’ diving well with various diving boards and platforms.
  

And that is just an overview of all the great things the Rec. Center has. If you like taking workout class you can get an all-access pass for $49/semester which allows you to take all the Tiger X classes you want. This includes things like Ab-solution, Tiger Tease, and a multitude of others. If you’re going to take a lot of classes it’s a great deal, otherwise classes are just $7/each.

If you’re into competitive sports I’d suggest looking into Rec. Sports, which are intramurals. They offer fun competition but not cut-throat. Sign up with your floor or with friends. Some examples include soccer, volleyball, and basketball. There are also club teams that you can join like fencing and swimming.

Now if being inside isn’t your style, Mizzou has great outdoor facilities too. Stankowski Field, known as Stank, has a track surrounding inside playing fields. It’s lit up at all times, so if you feel like a midnight game of soccer, you’re able to play there. There are also sand volleyball pits, which always have something going on.

So while you might indulge in the great campus dining food, you definitely have plenty of opportunities to work it off around campus. I highly suggest checking out the Rec. Center website at www.mizzourec.com