We’ve all heard tales of people who went off to college one day and came back 15 pounds heavier. It even might have happened to you. We call it the “Freshman 15” because it typically happens to those who are in a new environment away from home, tempted by all the readily available junk food in 24-hour vending machines and the “all you can eat” school cafeteria, not to mention the temptation of parties and alcohol.
And because college is a time to let loose, people forget the side of veggies with their pizza. But the dreaded 15 pounds is insidious and can strike at any time. We all know we should be physically active and take advantage of those gym fees you pay every semester, but perhaps we need a refresher on some quick and easy tips for healthy eating.
The first thing to remember if trying to lose weight or avoid gaining it is that cutting certain foods out entirely — the tasty stuff like cake and chips — will just lead to temptation. Remember that no food is “good” or “bad” on its own — it depends on what else you’re eating to balance out those tasty treats. The key is moderation; it’s acceptable to have a piece of cake once in awhile, but it’s never OK to eat the whole cake. It’s OK to indulge in a beer/wine/beverage on occasion, but don’t binge-drink a 12-pack — and this applies for other reasons as well, such as because getting black-out drunk is never a good idea.
But before you start changing all your supposedly bad habits, it might be helpful to find out exactly what they are. Doctors and nutritionists often recommend that people start by keeping a food journal and writing down everything they eat for a week. Then, at the end of the week, go through your journal and see what’s truly detrimental about your diet and pick one or two things to change as a starting point. When you’re trying to change your habits, it’s important to remember that change happens slowly and in baby steps. Waking up tomorrow with a new drive to eat healthily and deciding that you’re only eating vegetables, salad and salmon and drinking only water will burn you out, not to mention that it won’t stick. The ultimate goal is to incorporate healthy eating habits into your life that you can maintain well into your hundreds. So try taking one step at a time.
Now for the quick and easy tips you’ve been waiting for, with the caveat that you only try one or two at a time:
1. Switch from full calorie soda to the diet version. Don’t like the taste of diet? You can try mixing the two, slowly adding more and more of the diet stuff as you cut back on the regular stuff until you become used to the taste.
2. The above also applies to milk, with the exception that you don’t have to mix it yourself because the grocery store provides half-percent steps between skim and 2 percent. The goal is to get down to skim milk, but don’t jump down from 2 percent. Gradually wean yourself off, one half-percent at a time.
3. Drink more water. Whatever else you’re drinking during the day, add a glass of water with every meal. This isn’t such a problem in today’s society with all the bottled water we buy, but the vitamin waters and the enriched waters are a huge pitfall for people trying to watch their calories. Those things call themselves water, but they are sneakily chock-full of calories you don’t need. Obviously they aren’t as calorie dense as soda or juice but they contain more calories than plain water. If you can’t stand the taste of plain water, add Crystal Light, which adds flavor and no more than 5 calories to your water. Plus, those little packets are a heck of a lot cheaper than vitamin waters, which don’t do anything for you other than provide you with flavored, calorie-full, overpriced water.
4. Add more veggies and fruits. We’ve all heard this a million times, but veggies don’t always taste good (especially the cafeteria variety — what ARE they cooking them in, dirt?). Fruits are tasty, but have a lot of sugar, so really we should eat more veggies. The trick here is to start small. For example, add a salad before every dinner — with fat-free dressing — and add veggies to the salad. The outcome here is two-fold. You’re not forcing yourself to eat vegetables you don’t like and sacrificing foods you do like because you’re still eating your regular dinner, and eating a salad has been shown to make you feel full faster because the salad is occupying space in your stomach before the rest of the food hits. In the end, you eat less of the other food and increase the amount of vegetables in your diet. In the process, you’ve upped the amount and variety of nutrients you’re getting. And eating more fruit is good, too. If you can’t be convinced to eat more vegetables, you can be happy and healthy with eating more fruit, and you can add them to a salad instead.
5. Toss out the white stuff, bring in the whole grains. Not only does this apply to bread, it applies to all flour products, especially pasta. With bread, they’ve come up with the white-wheat stuff for people who can’t tolerate whole grain bread, and it’s definitely a good starting point to ease your way into eating wheat bread. For pasta, they now have the whole grain varieties that taste wonderful. Many people complain that they’re too stiff and don’t taste right, but I’ve found that cooking them slightly longer helps cut down on that aspect, and like many of the tips I’ve provided, it’s about gradually getting to that point. So start by making a meal with half whole grain and half regular pasta — trust me, you won’t notice a difference!
These are five fairly easy tips to slowly incorporate into your diet, without making any drastic changes to what you’re eating. But remember the important principles: All things in moderation and “start low, go slow” when you make changes to your habits. Oh, and try to hit the gym or walk outside for 20 minutes a day and work up from there — it will do wonders!
Katie is a University Medical student. She can be reached at k.mcbeth@cavalierdaily.com.
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