A College Cram Session to Avoid

Written by Fiona Soltes

This article is courtesy of Living with Teenagers.

Remember when it was considered the “Freshman 5?” Just like so much in our supersized society, the ubiquitous weight gain that often occurs during a student’s first year in college has expanded to become the “Freshman 15.”

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It’s no wonder, really, considering that college is such a high-stress environment, where meals are often taken on the go. Choices abound, including vast cafeterias full of the stuff students “want;” vending machines that offer high-calorie, nutritionally vacant snacks; and social opportunities galore. Plus, for the first time, students find themselves making decisions without the guidance of Mom and Dad.

And then, of course, there’s the pizza.

Janet Farrar Worthington remembers it well. “It seemed like every night somebody was sending out for pizza,” said Worthington, who attended both the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University. “I could always kick in a dollar and get a slice.”

Worthington admits to gaining only “a little” weight her freshman year. Even so, it was enough of an issue for those around her that it led to a section on “Freshman Lard” in The Ultimate College Survival Guide, which she wrote with her professor father after graduation. 

“When you get to college, if you want to go out and get food in the middle of the night, nobody is going to stop you,” Worthington said. “It’s unparalleled freedom for the first time in your life… But that first year, if you gain 15 pounds, you might spend the next three years trying to lose it.”

Knowing Versus Doing
Cassie Findley teaches a course called “The Examined Life” at Baylor University. During the class, she asks students to keep a food journal for a week, documenting all the calories they consume. The results inevitably fall into two camps: Those who are not eating enough because they’re just too busy, and those who are overeating, but have no idea they are.   

“I’m thinking particularly of one young man who played football in high school,” she said. “He was very active. When he came to college, he was still eating a hamburger and french fries every day. I asked him about it, and he told me he always had, that it was the only thing he liked. But without football practice every day, his energy expenditure had dropped dramatically. He was continuing to gain weight, and couldn’t understand why.”

In most cases, Findley said, students know the right thing to do, but their behavior doesn’t match it. “We could make a lot of positive changes if we knew how to convert knowledge into behavior.”

Some colleges and universities are trying to bridge that gap. At Baylor, for example, there’s a new student life center with “all kinds of opportunities for active engagement,” Findley said, including a fitness facility, intramural activities, personal trainers, nutritionists, and a nurse practitioner well versed in how lifestyle choices can impact a student’s life.

Over at Kansas State University, dietitians are available through the various dining facilities. The school’s health center offers individual nutrition counseling. There’s also a peer educator group on campus called Sensible Nutrition and Body Image Choices (SNAC). An online course on diet, exercise, and overall health for incoming freshman is in the works.

“College is the time you begin laying down the framework for the lifestyle you will adopt in later adulthood,” said Dianna Schalles, a registered dietitian/health educator at Kansas State. “Even when students have a good nutrition sense, they’re still dealing with many food challenges due to the transition to college life: irregular schedules, juggling work, classes and extracurricular activities, and experimenting with newfound independence.”

The Bigger Picture
One of the toughest parts of college is that it seems like it will last forever.

But it doesn’t.

It’s easy enough for students to think that what they do today won’t really have an impact on what happens years down the line, or that what they consistently eat for lunch might even add up to obesity or other health problems later.

But it can.

The key, Worthington reminds us, is “moderation.” Avoiding middle-of-the- night snack gorging is not only wise for your waistline; it’s also part of honoring the body God’s given you. 

“It’s really about living a godly life,” she said. “A godly life is balanced, not excessive in anything.”

God’s unconditional love can help students learn to appreciate their bodies and balance their nutrition because they’ve discovered their own worth.

“We want students to be the best they can be, and that includes their health and the choices they make. As opposed to being egotistical about having to fit into a size 8, this is, ‘I’ve got to be in the best shape I can be for the demands on my life,’ whether those demands mean going into ministry, teaching, going into law or premed, or anything else. When you start with yourself, that’s where you have the greatest impact.”