Good for U, Gannon University’s initiative to promote wellness throughout the campus community, invites students, faculty and staff to challenge themselves, to look for the healthy options here on our campus and take care of their own physical wellness.
All members of the Gannon community can find healthy alternatives on campus to enjoy a nutritious breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and to start your day off right you can visit the Fresh Café, located on the first floor of the Recreation and Wellness Center. The Fresh Café, which opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays, offers many healthy options, such as paninis, wraps, fresh juices and smoothies.
Doc’s Landing, located on the first floor of the Waldron Campus Center, offers yogurts, fruit cups and even breakfast sandwiches. The Beyer Hall Cafeteria, also located on the first floor of Waldron, boasts a breakfast bar in the area where salads can be found for lunch and dinner.
Doc’s also features fresh fruit, yogurt and granola to make your own parfait, which is a great option to start off the morning in a healthy way. A tip for those who love their omelets in the morning: substitute the eggs for egg whites to make a more hearty choice.
Have you seen something on the menu with the Live Well logo on it? That is a Metz Culinary program to add more nutritious options by cutting back on fats, sodium and sugar and adding a 100 percent whole-grain preference.
The Recreation and Wellness Center events coordinator Ashley Kolniak praised Gannon’s effort in promoting wellness on campus.
“It’s great to see the university and its culinary partners embrace a culture of wellness and help students improve their physical wellness by offering healthy choices,” Kolniak said.
Many of the ingredients going into these items are meeting organic criteria and include all-natural ingredients. This year, Live Well started a Culinary Club that meets once a month in the Morosky Academic Center, and members discuss healthy eating and cooking.
Looking for a quick snack on the go? Many of the places already mentioned have grab-and-go options available.
Two great places to visit between classes for a quick snack or to meet a friend are Café 900 and Intermetzo Café.
Café 900, located on the lower level of the Center for Business Ingenuity, has a coffee bar that specializes in more than just coffee. Smoothies and tea options serve as alternatives to soda.
The Intermetzo Café, located on the second floor of the A.J. Palumbo Academic Center, is another eatery that also includes bagels from Lakeside Bagels in Edinboro.
As for lunch and dinner, the aforementioned salad bar is a great preference and a way to stay green. Love the wrap and sandwiches at the Market Street Deli? Try having a whole-grain or spinach wrap, and hold the dressing or try a different one.
If you love pizza and can’t resist a slice, the whole-grain crust makes for a different choice. If you can’t make it to Waldron and you spend a lot of time in Morosky, the Courtyard Café — located on the first floor — features all your favorites from the Market Street Deli. These are all made fresh every day.
A variety of options on campus can help you eat much healthier. Even the little tips and tricks on campus can help grow anyone into a more conscientious eater.

AMY BENKOVICH
[email protected]