Avoiding the Freshman 15

Gaining weight your first year in college is so commonplace in American society, we have a nickname for it: The Freshman Fifteen.

Long study hours leave less time for exercise. Bowls of buttery popcorn and other meals that simply require a microwave don’t help either.

It should not come as a great surprise that a new study shows college students aren’t even eating one serving of fruits and vegetables a day, let alone the recommended daily five servings.

The study, conducted by Oregon State University researchers also found that male freshman ate slightly better than their female counterparts. The males ate about five servings over the course of a week; female freshman ate four servings.

Researchers surveyed the eating habits of 582 college students, most of whom were first-year students, according to an Oregon State University news release. The study was published online in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

“We found that students skipped meals fairly frequently, which could account for some of the lack of fruits and veggies,” said Brad Cardinal, one of the study’s authors, in the news release. Cardinal is a professor of exercise and sport science at Oregon State University.

“Still, even accounting for fewer meals consumed, the students were on average not always eating even one serving of fruits or vegetables per day, far below the USDA guidelines.”

Making matters worse, both groups of students were exceeding the American Dietetic Association’s recommendation that fewer than 30 percent of calories come from fat.

Cardinal said it’s imperative that students learn healthy eating habits in school before they head off to college.

“We are not teaching youth how to be self-sustaining,” he said. “Home economics and nutrition classes have all but disappeared from our schools in the K-12 system. There is a fundamental lack of understanding on how to eat well in a very broad sense.”

But should is really be up to the schools to teach our children the basic nutritional difference between eating a baked sweet potato or a large order of french fries?

Chances are if you practice eating healthy foods at home, your children won’t have to learn about proper nutrition when they’re trying to lose The Freshman Fifteen.

Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.

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