Joshua McDaniel is always watching what he eats. The exercise science student is constantly making sure that he is eating healthy and choosing the appropriate meals when he goes out for dinner, a task that takes self-control and research that many college students do not invest their time into.

“I always try to eat healthy on campus,” McDaniel said. “You can’t just get a salad, it has to be the right one, and a lot of people don’t know about the healthy choices at Burger King or other places on campus.”

Elizabeth Lyon, a social work major, looks at it a little differently. She watches what she eats while she is at her apartment and buys healthy food at the grocery store but when she is on campus she eats whatever she wants.

“The fruit cups are disgusting,” Lyon said. “I know I should make the healthy choices but they never look good enough to spend money on.”

On an average day, a college student should take in anywhere from 2,100 to 3,100 calories depending on their body weight and height. A hard goal to keep if one Whopper value meal from Burger King gives you 1,200 calories. Among the other value meals BK has to offer the lowest is the double stacker, with only 910 calories and 39 grams of fat. Health facts for anything on the menu at BK can be found under the nutritional tab on their website www.bk.com.

“Meals can also be tweaked to fit nutritional needs,” said Rebecca Robb, operations manager of SODEXO. “Substituting mayo for other condiments or leaving off cheese can save fat and calories on anything.”

Sub Connection, BK’s neighboring restaurant , is not much better with controlling the calories or fat. The lowest 12 inch sub is the Turkey on wheat 710 calories and 13 grams of fat without toppings or sauce. The most is the Diablo Turkey with 1,290 calories and 72 grams of fat. If you added a soft drink and chips, another 650 calories and 28 grams of fat extra is added to your meal.

“Sub Connection offers a bowl of fruit or yogurt as additional sides to substitute for chips,” Robb said.

Sub Connection introduced a new way for students to keep their calorie count down this year. For sandwiches less than 500 calories there will be a small logo beside the sandwich on the menu.

The same can be said about Salsa Rico. The only items on the menu less than 500 calories are the single tacos, and adding chips and salsa to the meal add an extra 710 calories. The average meal at Salsa Rico is will contain 900 calories and 51 grams of fat.

The easiest way to know exactly how many calories and fat you are putting into your body each meal is to eat at the loft, Robb said.

The loft’s menu changes every four weeks introducing new meals and food to choose from. Every menu for breakfast, lunch or dinner will be posted on the website usifood.com with their nutritional facts. It will also list what is in the food for those that have allergies and indicate if it is vegetarian or vegan.

The site will allow students to check what they plan on eating and add up all the nutritional facts to for them to know an approximate number of calories and grams of fat they are taking into their body.