Convergence Text Story

College Students Need Healthy Options

by Ryan Agnew, Lisa Jones, Blakely Richmond and Zoe Cooper

We've all heard the term, "Freshman Fifteen," the declared title regarding college students and weight gain. Studies have shown that 3/4 of college students gain weight their freshman year, learning unhealthy habits that remain with them the rest of their life. These unhealthy habits will impact their weight for years to come.

Being that we ourselves are college students, we know the influences that fast food has on our busy lives. A lot of college students work while they are going to school, making our lives full of deadlines and a rush-rush attitude. For instance after working an eight or nine hour shift at work, it's late in the evening, the typical college student still has to head home and do homework or study. It was a long day and most college students are starving constantly, so given the option of going home and preparing a meal that will take time and effort or just stopping by a convenient drive thru on the way home, the majority of students would probably take option two.  Most students know that fast food is not good for them but with our lives in constant motion, we often suppress our nagging conscious and give in to the evils of fast food.

"Whether students like to admit it or not, many college students find themselves gorging on quick, convenient fast food on a regular or semi regular basis throughout their college years. Male students in particular choose to frequent fast food restaurants, due to its easy accessibility and relatively cheap price. Female students also were guilty of eating at fast food joints but they did not go as much because most female students were conscious about their weight and how many calories they were willing to ingest. Aside from being convenient and relatively inexpensive, research studies revealed that peer pressure also led many students to find their way to fast food. The study showed that when students friends wanted to go get some late night fast food, they felt compelled that they needed to follow the pack and often indulge themselves while there, even if they didn’t necessarily want any fast food to begin with."

With more than 30 percent of college students falling into the American College Health Association's obese or overweight categories, it's easy to see our concern. Too many students just may not have the healthy options available or accessible. At the Heritage Center here at the University of Utah, nutritional facts are not provided in the dining hall. There could be a difference for many students, in what they choose to eat, if they know what's in their food. 

While weight gain is the main concern on most of our minds, let's not forget that many students suffer from other eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. According to the Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association, 40 percent of female college students have eating disorders and 91 percent of female college students have attempted to control their weight through dieting. These statistics focus on women, which does not mean that eating disorders are not common for men and women alike. Eating disorders are more common than we realize and the hard part about being away from home is that for college students the eating disorder goes unnoticed. 

This happens to work both ways. Our bad habits that we gain during our college experience whether gaining or losing weight, will almost always go unnoticed at school and our friends may be in denial from their own disorders. Some may not even know the signs of an eating disorder. 

What can we do about this? It seems that too many students are at the extreme when it comes to eating. Yale University has set the example by providing healthy options to their students along with the information on what's best to be eating. They have even taken out white bread from their cafeteria.  Some schools such as Lincoln University are even making all obese students take a fit for life class. Experts say that the thing to do would be to make everyone take the fit for life class in the future to start making a difference. 

Statistically, 66 percent of college students don't consume the recommended amount of daily fruits and vegetables, 50 percent of all students get enough fiber intake, and 60 percent eat too much saturated fat. 

Starting bad eating habits now will almost guarantee bad habits for the future. Do you want the future of college students to be the next Biggest Loser contestant? It's time to bring the word healthy into college.