Sajila Nudrat | Health Editor
Featured Image: Unhealthy options are often cheaper, and more readily available. | Courtesy of Pixabay
The Freshman 15 is an expression given to the weight-gain experienced by post-secondary students, prominently those that are away from home for the first time.
It is not a scientifically proven phenomena, but used as a warning to students about the dangers of unhealthy eating habits. It is as real as someone makes it.
Particularly for those students who are experiencing a new form of independence, it is very easy to make poor health decisions when there’s no one around to stop you.
The weight gained during this time is primarily attributed to the abundance of unhealthy options available combined with the higher prices of healthier options.
Andrea Meghie, the manager in clinical resources services in the school of nursing, says: “In teaching we inform others, but tend to forget about ourselves. Everything should be done in moderation”. She believes that the university does provide healthy options, however, the cost associated with those options may be a factor in why students turn towards the cheap, unhealthy ones.
Another reason students may experience increased weight gain is due to emotional stress eating. When a student begins their post-secondary life, they are faced with numerous changes and new challenges all at once. They are suddenly thrown into a world where they are the sole proprietor of the decisions made in their life, which can be overwhelming. To combat the stress and emotional changes they are experiencing, people tend to turn towards comfort food.
Comfort food isn’t any specific kind of food—it varies from person to person—but it’s always something that makes the consumer feel better, which more often than not tends to be junk food.
It might be easy to get locked in the Freshman 15 phenomena, but there are also ways to avoid it.
Some strategies include: avoid eating when stressed, or bored; eating slower; and eating constantly—eating smaller meals more frequently helps speed up the metabolism, while skipping meals slows it down.
However, snacking between meals and at night should be avoided, as the lack of inactivity leads to unused calories.
Emilia Khalil, a second-year criminology studen, discussed that last year, due to external stress pertaining to the strike and school work, she turned to comfort food and gained weight. But, she also provided a solution to her stress. “When under pressure it’s hard to think of eating healthy but I do workout when I can and usually I do kickboxing which really helps release all that tension in me physically and mentally.”
Healthy options require time to prepare. However, with the opening of the new grocery store in York Lanes, the university has provided an option to help students take better care of their bodies.
