ShareThisBy LISA O'DONNELL
Monday, October 23, 2006
College freshmen have a lot on their plate, including too much food.
The Freshman 15 is a nifty phrase to describe the weight gain that many students experience during their first year in school.
Freshmen are dealing with a set of issues that most veteran students have sorted through, such things as living away from home, adjusting to course work and finding new friends.
Those stresses can lead to weight gain, said Daphne Oz, who wrote "The Dorm Room Diet," a book about living healthy in college. Oz is a junior at Princeton University.
"It's all about the huge change in your environment," Oz said. "You're living away from home and you don't have a parent buying your food, preparing it and telling you what to eat."
Often, the result is Pop-Tarts for breakfast, French fries for lunch, a fat-laden entree for supper washed down with buckets of soda. A bag of Doritos and a can or two of Red Bull fuel late-night study sessions.
Throw in social functions that revolve around pizza and beer, and it's no wonder that freshmen are at a high risk of gaining weight.
However, very few actually gain 15 pounds.
A study by Tufts University reported that on average, men gain 6 pounds and women 4.5 pounds in their first year of college.
Gary Miller, a professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Wake Forest University, said that freshmen often make bad decisions when faced with so many tempting food choices.
At Wake Forest, students buy a meal card that allows them to buy meals at the campus dining hall. "Basically, it's like free money where they can go and eat what they want and have all the things that were forbidden in their household," Miller said. "Instead of one soft drink, it's unlimited, every meal."
Each 8-ounce glass of Coke or Pepsi is about 100 calories.
How do other college junk-food favorites fare on the calorie counter?
One slice of hand-tossed pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut is 250 calories.
A can of Red Bull has 100 calories.
Two ounces of cool-ranch Doritos pack 280 calories.
A 16-ounce caffe latte with 2 percent milk from Starbucks has 220 calories.
Freshmen who are drinking _ illegally, we might add _ are putting away 145 calories for every can of Budweiser they chug, and 110 calories if they drink Bud Light.
Oz, who was overweight in high school, said that some of her favorite snack foods are Soy Crisps, nuts and carrot sticks.
"University stores are always going to have chips, candy and soda," she said. "If you're faced with a group of terrible things, you pick the best."
Yasmine Knatt, a sophomore at Winston-Salem State University, said she didn't gain any weight her freshmen year. She had heard about the freshmen 15 and made an effort to keep the weight off.
"I went to the gym a lot and ate cafeteria food," Knatt said.
She steered cleared of the pizza and French fries offered at the cafeteria and ate mostly salads and sandwiches.
Finding time to exercise is also important. Students do walk a lot on campus, but that might be all the exercise they get.
Many freshmen played sports in high school and aren't active as college freshmen.
"Before they realize they're gaining weight, they're taking advantage of their freedom and thinking, 'OK, I don't have to do anything,' and they hang out all day," Miller said.
Exercise is often a low priority for students, but Oz discovered that squeezing in a few workouts a week helps her concentration, not to mention burn a few calories.
"It helps me be more productive if I know I have to be at the gym," she said.
Lisa O'Donnell can be reached at lo'donnell(at)wsjournal.com.
