As obesity rates increase, the U.S solidifies an example of culturally influenced weight problems and is regarded as one of the fattest nations in the world. College campuses in the U.S. are the perfect example of cultural weight gain. The large number of freshmen gaining the stereotypical “freshman 15” can be explained through poor diet and exercising practices developed in college and the university’s dining options. It is a common concern for approaching college students to gain fifteen pounds while adjusting to school life. A great approach to help illuminate such an issue is to tell students about this health issue that is continuing to thrive. Colleges need to take more actions and include a health and wellness segment to our Univ. 1000 classes in which students will learn what they should eat and what habits to avoid.
Today, innovative college freshmen orientation is a semester long class, for college credit, often mandatory, and thought by faculty and administrators. The course often contains information on academic policies, time management, and academic success. By adding a health and wellness segment to the course, it will help increase students’ knowledge on nutrition and fitness, and deal with the common experience of weight gain during the first year of college. The aim is to have nutrition communication students present a nutrition topic in Univ. 1000 classes during the teaching of the health and wellness component.
The transition from high school to university environment presents many changes in the lives of university freshman students. Unfortunately, students are not leaving home prepared enough for the world of late night pizza and consumption of alcohol that characterizes most students’ college years. Many h...
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...e school because everything will already be included in the curriculum.
On the whole, staying healthy and active while juggling between school work and social life can be tough, but the benefits usually gained from it is never-ending. As such, it is extremely important to maintain a healthy diet and make time to engage in exercise to stay fit and healthy. The segment will fill students with information to stay healthy and active to fight off the dreaded “freshman 15.”
Works Cited
International Business, Times. "'Freshman 15': Weight Gain a Myth Researchers Say." International Business Times 10: Regional Business News. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Zagorsky, Jay L., and Patricia K. Smith. "The Freshman 15: A Critical Time for Obesity Intervention or Media Myth?” Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) 92.5 (2011): 1389-1407. Business Source Complete. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
The debate has been going on for years. Is it normal or should you be concerned about the freshman 15. The freshman 15 is a term known for the around fifteen or plus pounds a typical college student gains during their first year of college. The usual argument is that college students are unprepared for life on their own and that once they have control they make eating healthy their last priority. However, an article from the Huffington Post suggests otherwise; that in fact it is not the students fault but the schools and their overwhelming smorgasbord of unhealthy food choices.
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 ...
Did you know that 35% of the United States population is considered obese? Also, 66% of the population is considered overweight or more? (Saint Onge 2014) Even more frightening, in 2012 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than one third of children and adolescents in America were overweight or obese (CDC 2014). The media sources used investigates the political, scientific, historical, and cultural reasons behind the childhood obesity epidemic in America. Obesity is a rapid growing epidemic in America and these sources present the facts causing this epidemic. As well as how the children of the American society are being wrongly influenced by the media, especially advertisments. (Greenstreet 2008).
“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college environment, will damage themselves mentally, physically, and socially later in life, because alcohol adversely affects the brain, the liver, and the drinkers behavior.
Students entering college for the first time become concerned with their college life. The students are on their own once they enter college. There are no parents or guardians telling them when to do homework, when to go to bed, or how to eat healthy. These students are now responsible for how they are going to succeed in school and meet their own needs. From the beginning, these students wonder what their experience is going to be like and are they going to handle the demands of college?
College student drunkenness is far from new and neither are college and university efforts to control it. What is new, however, is the potential to make real progress on this age-old problem based on scientific research results. New research-based information about the consequences of high-risk college drinking and how to reduce it can empower colleges and universities, communities, and other interested organizations to take effective action. Hazardous drinking among college students is a widespread problem that occurs on campuses of all sizes and geographic locations. A recent survey of college students conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health reported that 44 percent of respondents had drunk more than five drinks (four for women) consecutively in the previous two weeks. About 23 percent had had three or more such episodes during that time. The causes of this problem are the fact that students are living by themselves no longer with parents or guardians; they earn their own money; students need to be a part of a group, be accepted; and they have the wrong idea that to feel drunk is “cool.”
One of the problems that cause weight gain is the lack of parental supervision over what the student consumes. In college, a student can easily stock themselves in fatty snacks such as Twinkies, cookies, chocolate, and chips. Also, the all-you-can-eat buffet seems to most likely run out of the pizza, french fries, and ice cream before the salad. A students schedule sometimes plays a factor in the consuming of too many snacks. If a student is in a hurry, he or she will grab a pop tart and be out of the door with a 200 calorie breakfast. A student should keep away from the high-fat snacks and concentrate on salubrious foods. At the cafeteria, a student should try to eat salads and attempt to eat new kinds of foods since the buffet has so much to offer. And for food on-the-go, one should try to buy healthy snacks or try to wake up earlier ...
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)
Obesity is an epidemic in America, greatly impacting youth, the health care system, and economically vulnerable populations. Among all of the high-income countries in the world, obesity rates remain the highest in the US. According to Harvard, US obesity rates have more than doubled since 1980, although they have remained the same since 2003. (Harvard School of Public Health) Approximately 31.9% of children and adolescents from the ages of 2 to 19 are obese or overweight (NPLAN), while roughly 69% of adults fall into the category of overweight or obese. (Harvard School of Public Health) With obesity rates this high, America is facing a huge crisis that could become greater in the future. In order to understand the issue of Obesity in America it is important to evaluate the extent to which the problem effects large populations of children and adults and how the fast food industry has served as one of the major causes of this epidemic.
"Overweight High School Students." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.
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
Binge or excessive drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health, and education on college campuses today. Binge or excessive drinking by college students has become a social phenomena in which college students do not acknowledge the health risks that are involved with their excessive drinking habits. Furthermore college students do not know enough about alcohol in general and what exactly it does to the body or they do not pay attention to the information given to them. There needs to be a complete saturation on the campus and surrounding areas, including businesses and the media, expressing how excessive drinking is not attractive and not socially accepted.
Through life we have many different stages to where we are either settling down for a nice home cooked meal or we are constantly on the go, running around our hectic lives, eating very unhealthy foods. Especially in our college years, students are always on the go running to and from class grabbing a burger and fries from a campus restaurant or eating the microwaveable foods like ramen. Many people try to eat healthy, but always succumb to the stereotype that eating healthy is expensive and takes too much time. This is a common misconception because there are ways in which anyone can eat healthy and on a budget as long as they eat proper portions, eat the right kind of foods, and excessive.
Following a healthy lifestyle has now become an emerging trend. Research and many studies have proven that merely exercise will not entitle an individual as healthy. A good nutrition
Educational institutions have the potential to, first and foremost, educate and assist the young people of today with making the positive, healthful choices necessary to maintain good health. Over 4,500 students have been followed in recent research studies and these “thousands of sixth graders who participated in a school-based health program were less obese by eighth grade than a group of similar children who did not, according to a new study done for the National Institutes of Health” (Rabin). Schools need to create health programs focused on assisting all children suffering from being overweight or obese. Policies such as fitness programs, nutrition classes, and healthful meals can even impact every student by creating a strong foundation and awareness of the negative, long term effects associated with practicing unhealthy habits. Although the financial expenses would be necessary, the adaption of scho...