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Guiding Stars® Program

Guiding Stars: Nutritious choices made simple. We all want a healthy lifestyle, but don't always have the time. Or the patience. Or the knowledge. The Guiding Stars program can help. This unique, easy-to-use navigation system helps you find foods through the dining hall that gives you the most nutrition for the calories.
 UNH Dining Services is pleased to become one of the first schools in the nation to partner with the Guiding Stars® Licensing Corporation to supplement our nutritional labeling to encourage healthier eating throughout our operations. Combining the Guiding Stars® rating system with product signage that identifies key information like calories, grams of fat and grams of carbohydrates provides for one of the most complete simple to use nutritional guidance programs available today.

UNH Dining introduced the Guiding Stars® program into campus for the 2009/2010 academic year in an effort to provide students, faculty and staff with the most nutritious food choices. Guiding Stars® features a proprietary algorithm that rates the nutrient density of foods per 100 calories based on USDA, FDA, WHO, NAS, and other guidelines.

The ratings provide a measurement of best nutrient value for caloric intake pointing to the more nutritious food choices on campus as signified by the number of stars recipes receive. (One star is good, two stars are better, and three stars are best. No Guiding Stars means the nutritional value of the food does not meet Guiding Stars' rigorous criteria).

Since the introduction of the Guiding Stars® program, UNH Dining has been challenged to rethink ingredients and incorporate more whole grains, fruits and vegetables and fiber while reducing added salt and sugar. Early feedback has been positive and the Guiding Star® ratings are now being implemented at our retail locations all around campus. Learn more about the Guiding Stars by playing the Guiding Stars 101 movie below:
Ralph Coughenour, Jon Plodzik, David May and David Hill pose with Guiding Stars poster at Holloway Commons
Dining's ability to work with Aurora Information Systems, developer of the food management software we use, along with the Guiding Stars® Licensing Company has resulted in an improved college food service that sets UNH apart from other Universities. For more information regarding the Guiding Stars® program please see links on the right.. Guiding Star picHow the Guiding Stars Rating System Works (pdf)
Guiding Star picGuiding Stars Web site
Guiding Star picCampus Dining Makes The Grade
Guiding Star picPress Release: Guiding Stars Partners with UNH
Guiding Star picGuiding Stars Comes to UNH