 | Joseph P. Galichia, MD is the founder and Medical Director of the Galichia Medical Group, PA. He is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of interventional cardiology. In the 70's, Dr. Galichia studied in Zurich, Switzerland with the inventors of the balloon angioplasty technique for treating heart disease. As a result of his experience, he was able to bring this historic technique back to the United States where he was one of the first physicians to perform coronary angioplasty here. A noted medical spokesman, he appears on a weekly Newstalk segment on KWCH Channel 12 and has a weekly syndicated radio talk show on KNSS 1330 AM every Saturday live from 11:00 am to noon. Dr. Galichia may be contacted by sending an e-mail to service@galichia.com |
Health & Medicine
2006-11-01 08:56:00
How to avoid the ‘freshman 15 pound gain’
I am a college freshman who eats all my meals in the dining hall. I love all the choices, but what can I do when there are so many great foods to try and I don’t want to gain weight? How do I know if my calorie intake is appropriate for my level of exercise as I walk the entire campus but don’t have time for special workouts?
ANSWER: Certainly, it is a well known fact that when students enter college, they tend to gain weight in their freshman year. Not only are they eating “dorm food” which often has a high carbohydrate content, they often start drinking beer and staying up later than usual. Indeed, there are a lot of adjustments to make in the first year of college and they can be very challenging. Furthermore, in many dorm situations, there’s free access to whatever food is on the table and there is a tendency to prolong meals and socialize and perhaps eat more than usual.
I’m also concerned that exercise routines often get destroyed by college activities. When one has to decide between studying for a test or doing a one hour workout, studying for the test often prevails. There are many deadlines to meet so the priorities often shift away from taking care of one’s physical being.
I recommend to college students that they simply are aware of these potential problems and that they keep track of their weight on a weekly basis. If you gain five pounds then certainly it is time to back off somewhere and make changes. The “freshman fifteen” is a real phenomenon for many people and that weight is hard to get rid of later. Often parents will even say they have a hard time recognizing their child during the semester break because they looked to have gained a lot of weight in a short period of time! That may be an exaggeration but still is something that all parents are concerned about. I also recommend that students be very cautious of consuming alcohol at all. The drinking age in most states is 21 and somehow students tend to learn how to drink beer and other beverages all of which tends to add to the problem. Avoiding alcohol completely, doing daily workouts and eating a healthy diet, including one multi-vitamin a day, will not only provide a healthier body but will usually enable one to do better in the classroom
