MyPyramid: Increasing nutritional awareness

Abstract

A major challenge that new college students face is the establishment of healthy habits that will affect their long-term health. Focusing on this difficult task is myPyramid: a dining hall service to support the development of healthy eating habits for busy and impressionable students. It offers an integrated student environment that builds basic nutrition and cooking skills in a fun and social manner while addressing unique student needs. In the myPyramid dining hall, students customize and cook meals that are tailored with the advice and recommendations of an "intelligent shopping basket". This intelligent basket offers personalized advice based on the USDA Dietary Guidelines to ensure proper nutrition based on students' eating history. By teaching students basic cooking skills and educating them about how foods affect their dietary balance, myPyramid empowers students with knowledge and skills to establish longterm healthy nutritional habits [10].