Why is Healthy Eating Important? If I conducted a survey asking hundreds of people their opinion on what constitutes healthy eating, I would get many different answers. Some people think that just because they do not eat out at fast food restaurants, they are on the right track. Others feel that…
Healthy Green Smoothie Recipes to Fuel Your Body: Green smoothies are a fresh, fast and easy way to make sure you are packing your day full of nutritious fruits and vegetables. However, if not done correctly you can have a smoothie that is lacking important nutrients or tastes just…
The Life of the Fit: Whether your goal is to become insanely fit, where complete strangers stop and take notice or just fit enough for your clothes to feel better, you may be wondering where to start. Fit people live a certain way and they’ll gladly share those tips with you if you ask. It all starts with the moto: “fitness is a…
Nutritious Brain Foods Healthy foods not only make your body healthier, they make your brain healthier and help it to work smarter too. If you put garbage in your body, you will reap the repercussions both physically, with poor muscle mass and weight gain, but also mentally, often with a depressed mood and a…
In prehistoric times when I went to college, the weight gain characterized by freshman year was called the freshmen ton; meaning that if you added up all the weight the freshman gained by throughout the school year, it would equal a ton. The Freshman 15 is close enough and is defined as the amount of weight an average freshman will gain by the end of freshman year. Some folks are spared but unfortunately many freshmen end up with the extra pounds. This type of weight gain is likely to follow us throughout life, as we encounter similar life stresses. The gain is blamed on a variety of issues, including:
How can young, vibrant 18 year olds be gaining that much weight? Is it a myth or urban legend? Aren’t they walking to class, meeting with friends, dancing, and partying? They’re too busy to gain weight right? Unfortunately, researchers followed 131 students over four years of college and found that a whopping 70% of them packed on pounds by graduation (average of 12 pounds). The overall percentage of students found to be overweight increased from 18% to 31%. The researchers noted gains in body fat composition and waist circumference as well.
A new study, published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, flies in the face of previous studies, which found that the average student gains merely 2.5 to 3.5 pounds and accused the media of fomenting the Freshman 15 myth.
But the researchers in the Auburn study observed that the “growth” they found in the college students consisted primarily of fat mass (meaning natural growth patterns could not account for it). And all the above factors were significant contributors to the gain.
Carol Holland, D.Ph., an associate professor and a psychologist in the counseling center at Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania, says that the stress of adapting to a new situation and academic and social challenges can be a problem. Students may miss the support system of friends, family, and activities that they had in high school, so they use what’s available. Food becomes a pacifier, and this coping skill can follow after college leading to adulthood obesity, if it’s not recognized early.
Top 5 Snacks for Your Post-Workout Routine We’ve all heard the adage, “you are what you eat.” That said, who really wants to be the “purified bovine colostrum extract” found in popular post-workout protein shakes? I don’t know what that is – and I’m not looking it up – but…