The dining hall or gym could be your next stop in achieving your New Year resolutions you made this year.

Today marks the last day of Uni versity Dining and University Rec reation’s program “One Change,” which challenges students to make one healthy choice and turn it into a lifelong habit, according to Dining and Catering Operations Dietician Lisa Eberhart.

“You’re not going to make a mil lion changes, just one change,” Eb erhart said. “This allows students to take their resolutions one step at a time without feeling overwhelmed.”

Examples of changes in some of the program’s themes included drinking more water and meditat ing.

“Sometimes resolutions get lost, so we are trying to encourage ev eryday habits that are measurable,” said Michelle Borges, University Dining nutrition department as sistant.

Today, for example, University Dining will urge students to eat well by choosing to visit the salad bar every day or eating whole-wheat bread instead of white bread, Borges said. Students who make note of their new dietary choices through applications such as “My Fitness Pal,” which lists all of the dining hall’s foods, and “Lose It” will re ceive prizes for their behavior.

“Logging it is a really good way to keep track of any behavior change,” Eberhart said.

The program began, though, with an emphasis on physical ac tivity Monday.

“I think food is very important, but I want people to know there is a balance between exercise and food,” Eberhart said.

Monday:

As part of Monday’s theme of “get walking,” Univer sity Dining distrubuted prizes that evening to those in Fountain Dining Hall who downloaded a pe dometer application to track the number of steps they took, according to Borges. To maintain a healthy lifestyle, stu dents should aim to take 10,000 steps a day, wh i ch is about f ive miles, Eber hart said.

Tuesday:

Students who hydrated with wa ter instead of more sugary alterna tives, such as soft drinks, received prizes at Fountain Dining Hall Tuesday afternoon.

Any beverage with added sugar contributes to weight gain because people who drink them do not feel as full as they would have if they had consumed the same number of calories in food, Borges said.

According to Nutrition Source at Harvard University, even drinks such as orange juice contain 10 tea spoons of sugar on average — the same amount as a glass of cola, but with even more calories.

Wednesday:

Wednesday’s change highlighted “get moving” and rewarded students who signed up for free group fitness classes offered through University Recreation, and provided informa tion about how to navigate through Carmichael gym, Borges said.

Thursday:

Thursday’s theme was communi cated the importance of relaxation to reduce stress with prizes for stu dents who attended yoga classes at the gym, according to Borges. Ad ditionally, University Recreation gave free massages to students who ate at Fountain Dining Hall that evening.

Other encouraged forms of re laxation include meditation, an ac tivity recently endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, according to Eberhart.

Future Changes:

Another opportunity to make a change will occur on Feb. 24 with “Taste the Difference,” which is part of the University’s sustain ability program, “Change Your State.”

Representatives from University Dining will ask people throughout dining locations at the University to try healthier food options of fered at those venues, according to Eberhart.

“I want them to expand their nutritional horizons and become more adventurous eaters,” Eber hart said.

Eberhart said she hopes if stu dents just tried new foods without being told the items are healthy, the students will continue to eat that particular item in the future.