With textbooks strewn all over her desk and laptop open in preparation for what most certainly will be a strenuous biology study session, Carly Jones took a few seconds’ pause to quickly scan the nutritional facts of her jumbo bag of Doritos and make sure that mindlessly consuming all servings in a single sitting wouldn’t cause her major health problems. After several seconds of number crunching, Carly proceeded to open the bag, willing to take the risk that upon accidentally consuming every chip contained within, her body could have to deal with serious health consequences at some future date.

“You owe it to yourself to know what would happen if something goes terribly wrong and you end up eating every single animal cracker in the family pack.” Carly explained, “Taking certain snacks to the study table just isn’t worth it in the long run.”

But, contrary to the general consensus, Carly isn’t being a sissy in her cautious approach to consuming things like an entire 24 pack of chocolate puddings in a single sitting. Recent studies have shown that what we eat is actually closely related to certain major health problems. Things like diabetes, obesity, heart failure, rabies and anorexia can all be caused by one of the college student’s best friends: food. So, when you’re pulling an all-nighter, is it really a good idea to set an entire holiday can of assorted popcorns in front of you?

“Watch out for the saturated fats. There is also something called trans fats. A third fat is called unsaturated.” Carly expounded, flexing her knowledge of the nutritional facts table, “If what you’re thinking about eating has any of these, or sugar, or calories, you should think twice before getting it out because what if you eat the entire thing? I think accidentally eating all 80 pouches in the jumbo fruit snack box could maybe do something to you. But it’s a choice all of us have to make for ourselves.”

Carly’s compulsive reflex to look over the contents of everything she eats before opening it evolved early Freshman year, after a series of study sessions for economics got her feeling sick to her stomach. At first she suspected it was the 4 hours of sleep that were getting her down, or maybe the subject of economics itself. It was only later that Ms. Jones realized that eating an entire package of chips ahoy chocolate chip cookies was something only a group of people working together could do safety.

“Scientists recommend we eat no more than 2,000 calories each day.” Carly continued, pulling out a calculator, “So when you grab a snack, multiply the calories per serving number by how many servings there are and if it equals more than 1900, you should be careful about opening it. I give myself the 100 calorie buffer just in case the manufacturer did his math wrong. You can never be too cautious when it comes to your health!”

You’d be surprised by just how many everyday foods become disqualified under Carly’s scrutiny. Whole packages of pre-cooked bacon, bags of croutons, 10 pack Twinkie boxes, and toll house cookie dough tubs all find their way onto her list of foods unacceptable to be consumed in a single sitting.

“Before everyone gets up in arms about my list, just look at the facts!” Ms. Jones defends, “Look down a little further on the table… there isn’t a hint of vitamin C or D in any one of them! If you don’t want to go blind in your 50s, you better find something else to eat because (even if its unintentional) putting all of that stuff in your body won’t benefit your eyes in any way.”

Despite her superior knowledge of nutrition, Carly continues herself to struggle with eating healthily and studying at the same time. But, scanning the nutritional facts for signs of dehabilitating ingredients has, if nothing else, allowed her to make informed, if not correct, choices about what snacks she will bring to the study table. More than anything, the practice has benefitted her in giving her the opportunity to reflect on what devastating health problems she is willing to deal with some day at the cost of accidentally eating the whole box of hostess donut holes. Currently, life in a wheel chair at 60 is as much as Carly is willing to trade for.