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Q. I’m leaving home for the first time to go to college. What can I do to avoid getting Freshman 15?
Expert's Response
A: Gaining the infamous 15 pounds (or more!) in your first year of school doesn’t have to be a foregone conclusion. Keep healthy and trim on campus with these simple adjustments.
Make the right food choices.
Soft drinks, pizzas, chocolate bars and cookies are all easy foods to eat on the run, but you can do better. Stock up on low-fat yogurt. Fresh and dried fruits are yummy treats. Switch the Mars bar with a granola bar or a Weetabix biscuit. Zap a cup of oatmeal in the microwave. Replace cola with water.
Watch your portion sizes.
Faced with the buffet-style eating and a gaggle of food options in the average campus canteen, you might be tempted to have breakfasts of chocolate mint ice cream and dinners of mashed potatoes drenched in gravy and butter. Resist the urge. Check out www.mypyramid.gov to learn more about the right portion sizes for you.
It’s not just what you eat, but when.
Those meal times set up by mom and dad weren’t random outlines pulled out of thin air. While higher education can mean a random schedule, make it a priority to eat regularly. In her book The Dorm Room Diet (Newmarket Press, 2006), Daphne Oz gives these suggestions for meal planning:
• Always eat breakfast
• Keep hydrated throughout the day and have one glass of water before every meal
• Eat at least every three hours (three meals and two snacks of fruit or veggies
• Count to your age before you give in to cravings like candy bars or potatoes chips
• Avoid eating within two hours of sleep
• If you have to pull an all-nighter, take scheduled breaks where you fuel yourself with planned snacks.
Move your body.
Join a team. Take up a new activity. Make use of the facilities. This will probably be the one time in your life where you have the option to try anything from fencing, aqua-aerobics and hip hop dancing to field hockey, yoga and weight training. If you’ve never been fit before, cultivate a love of fitness here. It doesn’t have to be a class. Start with making a commitment to take a 30-minute walk after dinner. Ask a dorm mate or two to join you.
Don’t be pressured into a chug-a-lug fest, ladies!
There are mega-calories in all alcoholic beverages. A small glass of white wine has 120 calories. A pint of beer is 191 calories. A cooler? A whopping 225! If you’re throwing back two, three or even four of these a night from Thursday to Saturday, those pounds will pile up. Other effects of binge drinking include hangovers of satanic proportions, possible embarrassing scenes, intimate toilet bowl encounters and general gut rot. Experiment wisely with your newfound freedom. If you decide to drink, do so in moderation and consider having a few alcohol-free nights.
