We've all heard the warnings upon entering college, the frightening tales of the Freshman-15. We've all been cautioned of the fifteen pounds that sneak onto the body of every student during their first year of college. Most of us said in the face of these warnings, “it won't happen to me” or “I'm smarter than that,” but there are aspects about college life that freshmen don't often consider when it comes to nutrition and weight.
There are a variety of factors involved in living at home that contribute to healthy weight and nutrition. Some of these are obvious and some are rather subtle. For starters, students living at home usually have their parents choose and prepare their meals for them, ensuring a balanced and healthy diet (diets composed of more than beer and instant macaroni and cheese). Moreover, students with a set evening mealtime are often encouraged not to snack and over indulge on sweets so as not to “spoil their dinner”. These luxuries are usually taken for granted while students are living at home and then missed dearly when the student is away for a few months.
Another form of support parents tend to provide to their students during the grade school years is encouraging them to participate in sports, active clubs, and fitness activities. In grade school, the average student spends 5-10 hours per week engaged in sports, dance, skating, gym clubs, and other high-energy activities; however, the average college student spends less than one hour per week using more energy than it takes to brush their teeth. Between studying, working, going to football games and partying, college students don't have much time for sports and exercise like they used to, thus causing them to burn significantly less calories than they did in high school.
As a result of the transition into college life, we have an increase in the amount of calories consumed due to snacking between meals and the types of food students include in their daily fare, as well as a decrease in the amount of calories burned due to the lack of physical activity on a regular basis. There is hope in this seemingly dismal situation. There are many ways for college students to live the life they chose and keep the dreaded fifteen pounds from sneaking on.
They call it a “Struggle”, a “Battle”, even a “War” when diet experts talk about food and dieting, but it doesn't have to be an epic battle whenever you go to the grocery store, or the local Italian restaurant, or even your refrigerator. Food is not your enemy. On the contrary, food contains the nutrients you need to stay healthy, defy aging, and fight deadly diseases.
However, food is also not a hobby. Once you begin to regard food as nourishment rather than recreation, food becomes your best friend instead of your worst enemy. It is no secret that dining out is a major contributor to weight gain, but it is not because the restaurants fill all of their foods with a pound of lard. It is because people tend to overindulge at restaurants in the spirit of fun, or “because it is Friday”, or for other reasons where the food they order becomes an activity rather than sustenance. Students often go out to pizza restaurants on study breaks or go out for hot wings and beer before the football game on Saturday, and while this promises to be fun, it can also be a dangerous venture. I am not saying you can't enjoy the dining out experience, in fact you should. However, there are ways to enjoy eating at your favorite restaurant without regretting the choices you made the next time you step on the scale. Here are a few simple rules to dining out that can keep away the pounds and still satisfy the cravings for both food and fun:
- Rule #1- Forget the fried.
- Just because you go out to eat dinner does not mean that you have to eat fried and greasy foods
- Fried foods leave you feeling weighed down and stuffed, and that's usually just the appetizer
- Rule #2- Not all salads are created equal.
- We hear the word “salad” and immediately think healthy…but in some cases it is just the opposite
- Many restaurants use fried chicken, fatty beef, loads of cheese and high calorie dressing on their salads
- Make sure you look at all the ingredients of a salad before ordering one
- Rule #3- Avoid the “liquid lunch”.
- Alcoholic beverages contribute a large percentage of calories consumed while dining out
- Rule #4- Save dessert for later.
- More so than main course items, desserts prepared at home contain far less fat and calories than those ordered at restaurants
- Save room for dessert, but instead of ordering the 900 calorie brownie sundae, make yourself some 150 calorie strawberry topped angel food cake at home
Once the mastery of food versus fun is achieved, college students can enter their dining halls, their favorite restaurants, and their cubby-hole pantries with little or no fear of spontaneous enlargement. The next step is finding ways to be active and still have time to study, work, and more importantly, spend that Saturday afternoon at the big game. The first suggestion I have is a favorite among my exercise clients: go clubbing! Yes, that's right, I am encouraging the late night dancing at the clubs, especially since 30 minutes of fast-paced bouncing to your favorite local band or DJ can burn up to 300 calories on the spot. The danger of my suggestion is the temptation to do away with all the hard work achieved on the dance floor by ordering high calorie cocktails and beer pitchers. Avoid the liquid desserts on the dance floor and your night on the town just turned into the best workout you can get in a dress or a collared shirt! Another suggestion is for students to enlist in intramural sports and clubs. This is a great way for students to make friends with similar interests as well as keep active throughout the week in a fun, competitive way. After all, it's very easy to skip out on the gym, but when beating the Psi Chi Alpha's will send you to the quarterfinals, there's nothing that can keep the team away from the fields.
The Freshman-15 is not a horrible scary ghost-monster that will haunt all students throughout their undergraduate career; however it is also not a myth. Students can choose to remain healthy and fit and still stay within their means, they just have to think about the choices they make and be proactive about their lives. After all, fitness can be easy and fun; save rocket science for the spring semester.
