As many students scramble to shed a couple of pounds to get ready for a spring break, one UA club is working to remind students to choose a healthy lifestyle in honor of National Nutrition Month.

The UA Nutritional Sciences Club will have a booth set up on the UA Mall today to provide students with tips on how to work healthy eating habits into their schedules.

“”The booths are offering information that can go beyond what (students) can do during spring break,”” said Soraida Gavino, UA Nutritional Sciences Club president. “”A lot of what having good health involves is making those lifestyle changes and just really knowing (that) what you’re putting in your body really is going to affect you.””

One of those changes involves not letting popular myths, such as ‘carbohydrates are evil,’ shape your eating habits, said Gale Welter, a nutrition counselor at UA Campus Health Services.

“”Carbohydrate is the primary fuel for your brain and muscles,”” Welter said. “”‘Carbs are bad’ is not true.””

She said it boils down to choosing between valuable verses valueless carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, chips and sugary cereals.

Another common misconception among college students is in order to build lean muscle you must eat only protein, Welter said.

“”You only need so much (protein), and then what you need are those carbohydrates to do the work of putting it in place to become muscle.”” Welter said. “”If you’re just going to go all-protein, you’re going to burn it down for fuel, which (protein) is not meant to be for fuel, but if that’s all (the body) has got, it’s going to use it as fuel.””

Adiv Johnson, a molecular and cellular biology junior, said he began living a healthier lifestyle about a year ago and pointed out that there are more benefits to eating right, in addition to being in shape.

“”I enjoy having energy each day, when I wake up. I noticed that when I started drinking tea, eating fruits and vegetables, working out, that when I wake up I have a lot more energy,”” Johnson said. “”It’s much easier to get through the entire day.””

Patricia Martin, an architecture exchange student, said preparing meals is the key to maintaining a balanced diet.

“”If you buy (fast food) every day, like three times a day, you find you spend like an average of $5 each meal.”” Martin said. “”You don’t need that much money if you cook for yourself.””

Even if time doesn’t allow you to make your own meals, simply getting into the habit of reading and understanding nutrition labels will go a long way to ensure a healthy lifestyle that goes beyond spring break, Gavino said.

“”(Students) can still eat healthy and not have to sacrifice (their) own flavor in life,”” Gavino said.