Today, college students across the United States are beginning classes and making independent choices. I haven’t felt this excited since I was a freshman. This year college life is coming clearly back into focus. It’s significant for our family, not because our own children are college ready just yet, but because we watched my sister and brother-in-law bring our nephew off to college.
We knew the day was coming and we’ve loved celebrating all the steps along the way, yet my heart was conflicted feeling both excitement for my nephew in all he was about to experience paired with a bit of heartache for my sister who was bringing her first born baby to college and leaving him there. LEAVING HIM THERE. Wasn’t he just in diapers? Insert flood flash of memories over the past 18 years and Auntie tears right here. Tears because we will miss him, but mostly tears for my sister whom like other parents, is demonstrating the unselfish love of giving the baby boy she made and protected for the last eighteen years – wings to fly.
All that being said, as a feeding specialist, I couldn’t help but think about what and how he would be eating. Most college students elect the food plan option, but the food choices are completely up to them now. Will they make good choices? Is gaining the “freshman 15” a real thing? Here’s what the research has to say?
Are they making healthy choices?
The honest answer to this is…maybe, but sometimes no. Early education models are providing students with an understanding of the importance of healthy eating and college students are able to communicate that they understand risks associated with over-consumption of fast food choices (Abraham et al., 2018) such as increased risk for chronic diseases, specifically, hypertension, premature heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. (Arsiwalla, D. et al., 2018) However, this knowledge does not prevent them from making unhealthy choices when socializing with friends or when experiencing increased stress.
Freshman 15
Is it true? Here’s the good news! Gropper et al (2009), states that the “freshman 15” appears to be a myth for most college freshmen. Yahoo! That being said, weight gain is a problem for most college students duing their freshman year, more specifically during their first semester. The average student gains less than 3 lbs. Why? Dinner time provided by parents at home and during set times is a thing of the past. It’s up to them to manage meal planning against class schedules, extracurricular schedules, office hours, residential hall meetings among others with the available on-campus, dining hours. In simplest terms, it’s a learning curve.
What can parents do?
You can relax knowing that you provided a good foundation for healthy eating, including food security and self-regulation. Encourge continued healthy eating by sending gift cards to local grocery stores or healthy restaurant options. Send healthy snack options or easy, on-the-go supplemental whole food options via care packages. Gently ask about what healthy choices are on the meal plan. And if all that fails, you can load them up with healthy foods when they come home!
My sister and brother-in-law have done an incredible job of raising our sweet nephew to be an excellent student, athlete and most importantly, a kind-hearted human. I have not a single doubt in my mind that nephew will have a blast at college and will continue to grow, evolve, make great choices and give back. We could not be more proud of him. And while our nephew is having the time of his life, we all take comfort in knowing that he already has a plane ticket back for Thanksgiving!
