It wasn’t until this past summer that I realized just how much weight I’ve gained since the start of my freshman year last fall. Fifteen pounds, to be exact. The slender, athletic high school wrestler that I once was became a slightly pudgy, tired college student during what seemed to be an overnight period.
When I was closing in on the end of my senior year of high school, my physician told me to be wary of the “Freshman 15” upon entering college. I wish now that I would have taken his words seriously about the matter rather than neglecting the fact that many entering college students do in fact undergo significant weight gain during their first year of higher learning. My gut, which makes a nice little wave now if patted properly, serves as a daily reminder of just how unhealthy I’ve become. Though I found out the hard way that the “Freshman 15” does indeed exist, I still feel a sense of skepticism over why it does. I decided to seek some professional input from a few willing graduate students in the fields of nutrition and fitness to decipher what exactly the infamous “15” is and why it affects so many students. They also helped me set up a diet plan, as well as an exercise program that any able-bodied student can use to destroy the blubbering beast and keep it at bay. Some of the information I obtained about nutrition and fitness was intriguing, and some of the details I uncovered about the foods commonly stockpiled by students are downright horrific. I’ll be fighting the good fight for a few weeks to give a first-hand perspective of the effects of eating and exercise overhaul, but everyone who needs to shed a few pounds is welcome to join the battle, if they’re up to it.
The first endeavor I took was to the Longest Student Health Center to speak to nutrition education graduate assistant Andrea Komm and health educator graduate assistant Janice Giddens about proper diet, or what they like to call modification eating.
The issue I presented to the two experts in training was that I regularly consume relatively unhealthy foods given the ease of stopping by The Union for a quick bite and the quickness of those tasty frozen dinners. The know-it-all that I have a tendency to be came in thinking it was just the nutritional value of the food hurting me. I now stand corrected.
“A big problem is portion control,” Giddens said. “It’s an issue not only on college campuses, but all over America. Portions are getting bigger and so are people.”
Ouch. What’s worse is that Mississippi is the fattest state in the nation, and according to Men’s Fitness magazine, Mississippi State University is the third fattest campus in the country.
Giddens went on to say that not all unhealthy foods are harmful, but they can become habit-forming.
“Everything is fine in moderation, and if your exercising, that plays into it, too,” she said. “There are foods that are easier to over-consume, such as pizza and french fries; the more portable foods.”
“Convenience foods tend to be the unhealthiest,” Komm said. “Vending machines especially. Even when you go to the grocery store to get those frozen dinners, they’re going to have a lot of sodium to preserve them. They’re not going to give you all your necessary nutrients.”
The two stressed the importance of moderation and said the freedom of choice can be the determining factor in whether or not people can stay healthy or become overweight.
“You can certainly make smart choices wherever you go,” Giddens said. “You can go to a fast food restaurant and get a salad, or you can get a triple cheeseburger. It goes back to the freedom of choice. People need to be more informed about their decisions and need to exercise their right to choose rather than try to blame it on everyone else.”
Komm said people tend to play the blame game when it comes to their health, which will make them feel less inclined to healthier eating.
“People start to feel stress, they start to get upset and their lives are changing, so they turn to things that make them feel good, and for a lot of people that thing is food,” she said.
For my new daily regiment, Giddens and Komm suggest foods high in necessary nutrients: fruits, granola or yogurt for breakfast lean meats, vegetables, eggs and dairy products during other meals. For all meals, they strongly suggested the consumption of whole grain, high-fiber foods such as whole grain wheat bread, nuts and some pastas.
They said drinking lots of water is very beneficial, so I’ll be substituting all carbonated drinks with water and 100 percent juices.
Giddens told me to be wary of ingredients in packaged foods, particularly a substance known as partially hydrogenated oil, the threshold of dangerous trans fats.
“What happens is, when consumed, your body reads [trans fat] as saturated fat, which is the more unhealthy of the two types [saturated and unsaturated],” Giddens said. “There are bonds that are not completely filled in trans fat, so they go into your body and displace the natural double bonds in your body. A buildup of these bonds over time starts to lead to free radicals, and when free radicals build up they can lead to cancer in certain parts of your body.”
After hearing this, “Oh Crap!” was the first thing that ran through my mind. I checked the foods in my pantry at home. Sure enough, almost everything I had contained partially hydrogenated soybean oil.
However, Giddens said that there is a way to remove trans fats from the body.
“Diets that are higher in fiber will remove free radicals from your body, so will drinking water,” Giddens said. “It all goes back to eating properly. Most people don’t have enough fiber in their diet, which is also another huge problem we are seeing here in America. Toxins are not being flushed from bodies because people are not consuming enough high fiber foods.”
That’s all I needed to hear. Eating moderately, consuming a good amount of fiber and avoiding cancer-causing chemicals was the direction to go. But why didn’t I think about that already? I left the health center a smarter person, but I wasn’t done quite yet.
I went to the Sanderson Center to talk to fitness graduate assistant Brad Holt. By the looks of the guy, or should I say rock, I trusted he knew what he was talking about when it comes to muscle.
Holt said that 70 percent of the results of a healthy lifestyle comes from proper diet, and the other 30 percent comes from regular exercise. Unfortunately, not everyone gets excited about working out. My muscles were aching from just looking at those dreadful weight machines. Holt said not working out is common when you have no set daily routine.
“Students aren’t tied down to a schedule like they were in high school,” Holt said. “Sports and other activities that took up a lot of their time and energy, they don’t do any more for the most part. Less calories burned means more weight gained.”
“There’s no such thing as spot reduction,” he said. “Fat comes off the body how it wants to come off.”
Darn it! I did not want to hear that.
Holt said the only way to properly get back into shape is to slowly progress through regular diet and exercise. Holt and I then came up with a specific workout plan to help me shed the pounds and gain back some muscle.
The plan Holt made for me consists of upper body and lower body resistance, cardio and abdominal conditioning. However, Holt said that my program is designed for me specifically. He said everyone differs, and those interested in their own workout plan should see a certified trainer.
Check back in a few weeks for part two of “Battling the Bulge.”