Behind its shiny and welcoming façade, the Market Place can be a daunting frontier, shrouded in mystery and difficult to navigate. Anyone who has ever attempted to grab a quick lunch at 12:30 p.m. on a weekday can attest to the overwhelming anxiety produced by mobs of caffeine-fueled co-eds, accelerated by the haze of the panini grill.

In this environment, making healthy and informed decisions about what to eat can be a difficult task. Fortunately for anyone struggling with these issues, Campus Nutritionist George Elliott is here to help.

Elliott is a certified dietician who works on campus two days a week. She received an undergraduate degree in home economics with an emphasis in food and nutrition from Western Illinois University and performed her fellowship in dietetics at St. Francis Medical in Peoria, Ill. She later went back to school to obtain a master’s degree in guidance counseling from Bowling Green University in Ohio.

Splitting her time at Gustavus between the Dining and Health Service departments, Elliott flies largely under the radar, working hard to demystify the Market Place and serve as a resource for many different nutritional needs on campus. Now starting her twelfth year at Gustavus, Elliott is just as passionate about promoting health and wellness as she was when she first began work on campus in 2000.

Elliott worked primarily with Health Services in her early years at Gustavus, serving as a resource for students who were struggling with eating disorders and unable to make it to Mankato to receive treatment. Working on campus one day a week, Elliott was also available to answer any questions students or faculty had about dietary conditions or healthy eating on campus.

As time has passed, interest in her services has grown. Last year Elliott was hired through Dining Services to work an additional day a week, broadening the scope of her responsibilities. While she still works with students with eating disorders, the balance of her workload has shifted over time.

“Now I see more students with questions about how to eat healthy, vegetarian diets, low iron, high fiber and sports nutrition,” Elliott said.

Aside from meeting with students on an individual basis, Elliott also speaks publicly about issues pertaining to nutrition and wellness. She has delivered speeches on the myth of the freshman fifteen and spoken to sports teams about nutrition issues related to athletics.

In recent years, a focus of Elliott’s has been addressing the increasing problems with food allergies at Gustavus. She estimates that in the last five years the number of students on campus with food allergies or intolerances has tripled.

Elliott has worked alongside Dining Services to make the Market Place more accessible to those with dietary restrictions, but she credits much of the changes to the commitment and involvement of dedicated students.
“Much of change was student driven,” Elliot Said. “The students are proactive, they want to make changes, it’s just a really good environment to be in as a health care professional.”

Her latest project is a large undertaking in conjunction with Dining Services to perform a nutritional analysis of the menu items available in the Market Place. Because so many of the meals prepared are homemade, calculating nutritional values such as the amounts of protein and sodium in different dishes can be a complex task. The project is expected to take around two years to complete, but as information is compiled it will be made available to the public online.

While this project is underway, Elliott will still continue offering her usual services on campus. Anyone interested in taking advantage of the services she offers can set up an appointment with her through Health Services. Also, the Gustavian Weekly will be collaborating with Elliott throughout the year, so look for more articles related to nutrition and wellness in future issues.