Throughout the length of schooling, students go through various changes. In their first year of school, children are required to make the transition from being at home for the entire day to being in school for a number of hours a day. These transition periods happen many times through the schooling years, but the most drastic changes occur during the transition from high school to college, where students weather numerous lifestyle changes. While each individual student goes on their own journey, certain themes remain common between different students. Studies are done to look at these themes identifying the numerous differences and similarities. One common theme for students transitioning to college is the concept of the freshman 15. The freshman 15 is the idea that a freshman college student will gain 15 pounds throughout the duration of their first year of college. It is something nearly every incoming college student hears about (Delinsky & Wilson, 2008). The freshman 15 can be accounted to numerous factors, such as the student’s living environment, the food available to them, the level of their physical activity, their level of stress, and their eating habits. One factor of the freshman 15 is the student’s living environment. Students living on campus in residence halls are more prone to weight gain than students living at home with their parents or off campus (Provencher et al., 2009). This is due to the availability of food on campus at various universities that studies were held. While students living at home with their parents often have home cooked meals, often dining halls in college campuses serve food with an all-you-can eat buffet style, where students are free to eat as much as they like. Students living away from ... ... middle of paper ... ...o loses weight? psychosocial factors among first-year university students. Physiology & Behavior, 96(1), 135-141. Racette, S.B., Deusinger, S.S., Strube, M.J., Highstein, G.R., & Deusinger, R.H. (2005). Weight changes, exercise, and dietary patterns during freshman and sophomore years of college. Journal of American College Health, 53(8), 245-251. Vella-Zarb, R., & Elgar, F. J. (2009). The 'freshman 5': A meta-analysis of weight gain in the freshman year of college. Journal of American College Health, 58(2), 161-166. Wengreen, H. J., & Moncur, C. (2009). Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight among young-adults during the transition from high school to college. Nutrition Journal, 8, 32-32. Yakusheva, O., Kapinos, K., & Weiss, M. (2011). Peer effects and the freshman 15: Evidence from a natural experiment. Economics & Human Biology, 9(2), 119-132.
The girl who you have just read about is not fictitious; she is the very real victim of the dreaded “Freshmen Fifteen” epidemic. Why do so many freshmen gain this excessive amount of weight? The odds of staying the same weight are strongly against us.
It depends on what specific situation the student is stuck in to determine which foods they 're living off. My assumption of their daily meals is first, breakfast is one piece of fruit and a breakfast sandwich from a fast-food joint. Then, lunch or dinner is one entree of pizza, fried chicken, or a burger. Occasionally the student may snack off a bag of chips or a candy bar, but other than that, I can’t say that most students are eating healthy; I’ve seen at my college snacking mostly on chips while taking a break from class. Luckily, there some solutions to help to change the eating habits of the students. I discovered in Victoria Li’s article “Easy Diets for College Students” some helpful tips for the struggling students. She suggests “While opting for burgers fresh off the grill seems tempting, adhere to the habit of filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables, then filling the remainder with whole grains and lean protein” (2). In other words, it’s okay to have a greasy burger, but just as long you have something healthy to go with it, leading to a good balance of protein and energy Li says. As for the students going hungry because of their tight budget, some colleges or nearby locations may have meal donors. Li mentions in her article about the importance of not skipping meals as she says “Feeling famished due
Desai, William C. Miller, Betty Staples and Terrill Bravender. I believed that this was a credible source because all of the authors have a medical degree. This article provided similar data saying that the percentage of people ages 12 to 19 who were overweight or obese rapidly increased from 5% to 17% between 1976 and 2002 (Desai 109). From this document I learned that college years are known to influence the forms of our adult behaviors including diet, physical activity, and other habits. Being a college student, I knew that college was going to change my work ethic and ability to do achieve new responsibilities but I did not know that it could actually greatly affect our weight. In the source it states that results from “both the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey" show that the transition to adulthood, a high number of people become obese and remain obese (Desai 109). One way I thought of this transformation was the freshman fifteen. The source was able to identify patterns of obesity but they still have not fully discovered examples of obese behaviors. However, the authors of this paper were able to perform a study to at least suggest some examples of behaviors related to obesity. They examined data collected from an electronic survey
In college not only do students have the heavy burden of sustaining their academic endeavors they also face social standards. During college, students assemble into many social circles such as: sports, organizations, and sororities and fraternities. For some students this is the norm but for others it could create an eating disorder by increasing the importance of physical looks. Because they are not used to the rigorous amount of judging and acts of superficialness. A study examining the effects of peer pressure on identification with weight researchers noted that “concerns about their own weight, about how they appear to others and their perceptions that their peers want them to be thin are significantly related to weight-control behavior”. (Squires)
Lloyd-Richardson, E. E., Lucero, M. L., DiBello, J. R., Jacobson, A. E., & Wing, R. R. (2008). The relationship between alcohol use, eating habits and weight change in college freshmen. Eating Behaviors, 9(4), 504-508.doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2008.06.005
Relevance: Weight problems are something a lot of people struggle with in college. I.E.; Freshman 15. And being healthy in college can really help people deal with other stuff better. Because when you don’t have to worry about your health you can focus on exams and homework more.
Obesity has risen over the years. The United States now has one of the highest obesity rates. Bad eating habits are usually the cause of this pandemic. For the past few decades, college dorm foods have led to these habits. The more unhealthy food choices are, the harder it is for people to resist these foods. Colleges serve a variety of unhealthy food in their dining halls that contributes to students’ lower GPA. By eating healthier, students can maintain a healthy weight, focus better in school, and increase their school performance to a higher grade point average (GPA).
Freshman year of college is a turning point in most young adult’s lives. They are moving away from home and living on their own or with peers. Tammy Smith, an incoming freshman is concerned about what her diet will be like while living in a dorm. She has heard that a lot of females in college will develop eating disorders because of their poor diet and possible weight gain from lack of exercise. Tammy started to do research on the internet and stumbled across “Healthy Eating: A Practical Guide” published by Concordia University. In the guide, it has guidelines and tips for college students to eat healthy while on a budget, and a chart for the amount of each food group that a female needs to eat to have a healthy diet. While doing
The nutrients that they get from food are what contribute to help all the systems in their body function properly. In their first year, students are in a transition phase between the kind and amount of nutrients they used to get at home and the ones they are getting in college. Instead of helping students make a smooth transition, the food that is offered in the meal plan makes it rough for them. This rough transition occurs mainly occurs because the meal plan 's food does not have high nutritional value. Consequently, the results of the rough transition reflects on the student 's health, academic performance, and athletic performance. For instance, Kelly Harris, a first-year student-athlete, said, "It would be easier to eat healthier without meal plans, that’s for sure.” When you have meal plans and you can eat at the school’s buffet. People do not tend to eat the healthiest of foods prepared when so many delicious, rather than nutritious, options are served. A correlation between fifteen pounds of weight gain and the college freshman year has been made because of meal plans. Many of the meals provided to students with meal plans are not quality meals, just innutritious food. They are prepared ahead of time and have been sitting out. That does not sound healthy or appetizing to me. I think that eating unhealthy food, such as the food provided by the meal plan, is not benefiting my energy level. It could
One of the first thing a freshman hears or thinks about when going to college is the legendary “freshman fifteen.” The freshman fifteen is defined as a fifteen pound average weight gain that happens during a student’s first year in college. This problem has affected many freshmen because it causes them to fear that they are going to gain weight when they go off to college, but the undetected truth of this case is that a lot of freshmen lose or gain under fifteen pounds. To solve this ongoing problem, colleges and universities should incorporate more healthy food items on campus, provide student cooking, and create fitness and wellness housing.
When you get to college, you have so much freedom, it can be overwhelming. This is probably why so many college freshmen gain weight during their first year of undergraduate school. There are no rules! At least, that 's how it seems.
For some people college is where they are at their unhealthiest due to the lack of time and other
College; it can be a scary, yet exciting journey. While intimating, it can provide a chance to get out of one’s comfort zone, and through the experiences one can be slowly pulled out of their hometown bubble. For example, living with a new roommate, navigating through campus, or dealing with time management all contribute to a challenging adjustment. However, one of the biggest concerns college students experience is the struggle of maintaining one’s health. While staying fit throughout college is an arduous and demanding task, it is vital for students to be conscious of the dangers of inadequate fitness and personal wellbeing. The problem of poor health in college students can be overcome by the general
All or most of us have gone through it. The countless hours we spent filling out college applications, scholarship applications, visiting colleges, and taking the dreaded tests. Whether it was the PSAT, SAT, ACT, or other college entrance exams, it was a big hassle. After visiting such a great number of colleges, the advantages and disadvantages of the schools seemed to run together in my mind. The endless paper work and deadlines seemed as though they would never end. When I thought about college, it seemed like it was not real, like it was a figment of my imagination. I imagined what it would be like, wondering where I would go. The questions of "What did I want to major in?" and after I decided that, "What schools had my major?" circled around in my head. When filling out questionnaires for college searches I was asked about what size college I preferred, whether I wanted to be in a rural or suburban area. Did I really know how to answer these questions that would so greatly affect the next four years of my life?
Twenty-five percent of students will gain weight in their first year of college from stress eating because they do not have good sleep schedules and do not take breaks (Stress). "School work, college applications, extracurricular activities, and parental expectations all contribute to teenagers’ stress”; “Youth, schools, and experts identified substance use as a common strategy for coping with stress" (Leonard). Student stress in school is very common, especially in the senior year of high school; unfortunately, some students resort to drugs and alcohol to cope with their stress. By giving students a break from homework on Wednesdays, schools can help prevent some substance abuse. Teens routinely say that their school-year stress levels are far higher than they think is healthy and their average reported stress exceeds that of adults, according to an annual survey published by the American Psychological