Physical Effects of Fundyism

[Just Curious]

(02-07-2011 07:18 PM)Smith Wrote:  Hazel Eyes,
You know, diet has much to do with that too. At my Fundy U, it was a high carb/processed food diet with will raise the BP and cause a host of other issues.

And lo and behold, they will tell us in classrooms and--wait for it, wait for it--the pulpit in chapel about how important it is to have a balanced diet, eat protein in the morning so you don't crash and burn late morning/early afternoon, eat more veggies, etc.
I do wonder if the "nutrition" teachers (one of which would do well to lay off the food...there's no way she practices what she preaches and looks like that. Sorry.) and chapel speakers even set foot in the Dining Common...y'know what we get for breakfast? Carbs (mostly sugar laden pastries...and they actually call those lumps of floor and lard biscuits. Honey, you ain't lived until you've had my momma's BISCUITS. Fluffy as an angel's wing.) and grease. Lunch? Carbs and grease. Supper? Wait, is that protein I see??!! ...Nevermind. It's swimming in gravy. Right beside the steamed-to-death veggies.

Don't even get me started on the salad bar. Unh-uh. Nope.

[JordanMaria]

(02-07-2011 08:46 PM)Natalie Wrote:  After I graduated, I had nightmares for a year that I was still there and couldn't get out.

I have these once in a while.


One of my first year roomies went to Barge with dizzy spells as well. One of us walked her there one night because it was getting so bad she felt like she was going to pass out.

When she was there, she went to the bathroom, passed out, and got a severe brain injury that changed her whole personality. She was at a hospital for most of the semester and when she came back to get her stuff, she was a totally different. She had been a very very quiet, sweet, non-confrontational person but she had become crabby and argumentative.

What I want to know is, WHY WHY WHY on earth, if the nurses knew she might pass out, did they let her go to the bathroom alone???? I work in the hospital and anyone who might possibly fall, is not allowed to the toilet by themselves.

[HazelEyed]

(02-07-2011 07:18 PM)Smith Wrote:  

(02-07-2011 07:10 PM)HazelEyed Wrote:  I know exactly what you're talking about ... I've told my story on the BJU Edition thread, but basically I was at BJU for 2 years and during that time I went to doctor after doctor and they never did find out what was wrong. I had dizziness, blinding headaches, eye problems, UTIs, and persistent anxiety attacks, and I spent way too much time sleeping. I was tested for mono, hyperthyroidism, and lots of other things. After I left BJU the summer after my 2nd year I was much much better. I think, personally, it was unbelievable stress I was under due to the conflict of the atmosphere, oppressive rules, and my escalating problems with depression and OCD.

Hazel Eyes,
You know, diet has much to do with that too. At my Fundy U, it was a high carb/processed food diet with will raise the BP and cause a host of other issues. Add to this the high content of emotional stress (in your case, you were in a dorm with a whole bunch of girls with the same issues who lash out because they don't know how to handle themselves.) and plainly forced to live such an unnatural life...nothing tears you down more than unrealistic expectations butressed by someone elses (Dean of Women?) interpretation of what a vague scripture says. It makes me so angry to see and hear of this sort of thing. A Counselor so inclined could make a luctrative practice out of deprograming Fundamentalist students and families as well as Counseling for Religious Addictions. Now I've got heartburn.

Yeah, the food there was horrible. I was appalled by it. I used to get a whole bowl full of raw cauliflower from the salad bar and eat it to try to get more veggies in my diet.

[Historian]

(02-07-2011 08:30 PM)Just Curious Wrote:  

(02-07-2011 07:18 PM)Smith Wrote:  Hazel Eyes,
You know, diet has much to do with that too. At my Fundy U, it was a high carb/processed food diet with will raise the BP and cause a host of other issues.

And lo and behold, they will tell us in classrooms and--wait for it, wait for it--the pulpit in chapel about how important it is to have a balanced diet, eat protein in the morning so you don't crash and burn late morning/early afternoon, eat more veggies, etc.
I do wonder if the "nutrition" teachers (one of which would do well to lay off the food...there's no way she practices what she preaches and looks like that. Sorry.) and chapel speakers even set foot in the Dining Common...y'know what we get for breakfast? Carbs (mostly sugar laden pastries...and they actually call those lumps of floor and lard biscuits. Honey, you ain't lived until you've had my momma's BISCUITS. Fluffy as an angel's wing.) and grease. Lunch? Carbs and grease. Supper? Wait, is that protein I see??!! ...Nevermind. It's swimming in gravy. Right beside the steamed-to-death veggies.

Don't even get me started on the salad bar. Unh-uh. Nope.

This is a very good point. I'm sure that diet had a lot to do with it. I've been told that the diet has improved since I was there (early 90's), but when I was there it was just awful. I worked Veg Prep in the dining common for a while, and preparing a lot of the food was the best way to find it completely inedible. Half the time I couldn't stomach anything but rolls and salad. And when you're doing the max number of classes and working the max number of hours (not to mention all the extra-curricular garbage you had to do) it took a LOT of rolls and salad to fill you up and give you enough energy to live. A few canned peaches don't fix it, either. A couple memories:

Working veg prep on Sundays, back when they still had family style meals on Sunday afternoon. We'd clock in early, missing church of course, work like dogs and then at 11:30 got a few minutes off to eat. One week it was one of those awful ground beef-mashed-together-burned-and-called-steak concoctions that was only edible when buried under a sea of bbq sauce. So, we were all planning on eating mainly rolls. They brought out pans and pans of completely BURNED rolls that they wouldn't serve to the real people and expected us to eat it. That was the only real rebellion I ever saw there: a bunch of the guys got up, picked up the trays of rolls and threw them all over the floor. I think the staff were thinking about saying something when most of the rest of us stood up, too, to support the guys. The staff backed down and brought us edible rolls.

Our family used to be friends with a family that helped to run the BJU farm during the 80's, 90's. Just about the time I got there that family quit. The father said he quit because he got tired of the practices he saw there. The one he mentioned that stood out in my mind was the way they'd kill the cows, cut off every decent piece of meat and sell it, and then take the leftover that no one would buy, grind it up with gristle and fat and feed it to the students.

Finally, the "peanut butter." I love good peanut butter; always have. But I never ate a bit of while I was at that place. I had to make it, you see. We'd take perfect, wonderful ground peanuts that smelled and tasted real and then mix is with gallons of peanut oil. That in itself wasn't so bad, since the oil make it more spreadable. But then we'd add gallons more of marshmallow paste. It made the whole thing about has healthful as the peanut butter inside a Reese' cup, and worthlessly sweet. I'm sure it stretched the peanut butter, but it was a disgusting way to ruin a perfectly healthy product.

[Lizzy F.]

^^^That's atrocious!!! My Secular-U didn't have the best dining hall, but they had a dietitian on the staff and it was possible to (if maybe a little boring) to eat healthy.

[elfdream]

I had unexplained pain the whole time I was there. Went to Barge and they took x-rays and could find nothing. I remember one time not wanting to go to Sunday night church because I felt bad...back hurt. Roommate out and out said she didn't believe me.

I went through a bout of what I now believe to have been an early flair of chronic fatigue/fibroymalgia. Couldn't get out of bed let along go to class. Wound up having to go home to see my own doctor. The good news is I never went back...so I suppose suffering can have a purpose.

Had another severe bout in the mid 90s and finally got a definite diagnosis of fibro. I can't really blame the school for that but they honestly don't know what 'triggers' chronic fatigue and fibro.

[wannabe exfundy]

I agree with the comments on lack of diet in Fundy U. As a line cook, I avoided the freshman 15 since I knew how everything was prepared. As a result I did the salad and rolls too. They use so much frozen and processed crap, it makes fast food eateries look good.

[Jenni]

On a related note, I just got some BJU propoganda in the mail - they want my money so they can remake the dining common. Unfortunately for them, they remade the dining common back when I was a student, and I am not planning on sinking any more of my money into that black hole.