It’s the end of Week 8. We’re all stressed, low on energy and ready for a break. Making a healthy meal at the end of the day is often the last thing on our minds as we attempt to get through the last few weeks of the semester.

We run from class to class hoping to stop at the Hub for a quick bite to eat or rely on the granola bar we’ve had in our book bag since Week 1 to get us through the day. But unlike the package on the outside of the granola bar, nutritional information isn’t always readily available for those who frequent the dining halls for their meals.

Without nutritional information, students are likely to make poor food choices, leading them down the path of the dreaded Freshman 15. We don’t know how many calories we’re consuming. We don’t know how much sodium is added to this stir-fry. We’re just hoping we aren’t eating a day’s worth of calories in one meal.

College is the time when many students have to begin preparing their own meals. Mom and Dad aren’t around to make sure we get our daily dose of fruits and vegetables, and quite frankly, those fruits and vegetables are much more expensive than the bag of chips in the checkout line.

Nonetheless, it’s important we realize how choices we make regarding our meals affect our bodies and how well they can perform. Living on a diet consisting of pizza and beer, while delicious, is not an adequate way to supplement our bodies. We need vitamins and nutrients.

Suggesting the entire campus goes vegan or fully raw is not just ridiculous. It’s impossible. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be proactive in creating a healthy diet for ourselves. It starts by informing ourselves about what is in the food we’re eating, which starts with making the dining halls responsible for providing that information.

What you eat matters, and it shouldn’t be so difficult to make educated choices.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.