Nutrition Matters

College students are faced with many challenges when it comes to eating and exercising. It is often easier to skip the gym and head for the nearest Dunkin' Donuts instead. There may be no better role model to exemplify how to defeat donut cravings and achieve a healthy, balanced lifestyle than University President Larry Bacow.

When praised for his healthful diet, Bacow modestly said, "I try." Worried about his hereditary risk of heart disease, he became a fish-eating vegetarian after the death of his mother eight years ago. "She had the world's healthiest diet, but still she had high cholesterol," Bacow said. Bacow's mother died at age 66 after her fifth heart attack.

At the time, Bacow was Chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) faculty and partook in many breakfast, lunch, and dinner meetings. He felt that becoming a vegetarian would help him to control his weight. His first step was giving up red meat. He then became sick of chicken and gave that up as well. Bacow continues to eat fish. Since he maintains a Kosher diet, however, the University President avoids shellfish such as shrimp and crab.

Bacow has been an avid runner even longer than he's been a fish-eating vegetarian. Those few students who make it out of bed by 6 a.m. on a weekday might see Bacow and his wife, Adele, circling the campus in their typical four-mile loop. Bacow welcomes Tufts students to run with him.

Whether they can keep up, though, is another question, as Bacow is training for the April 21, 2003 Boston Marathon. Having completed the Bay State Marathon in 1997, he is up for another challenge. Bacow's weekend runs will get progressively longer as his training progresses. "The nice thing about running is that I can eat much more and maintain my weight," Bacow said. After all, I'm approaching 26 miles... that's a lot of extra calories."

What does Bacow like to eat most? Everything that's grilled: fish, vegetables, mushrooms, and more. He enjoys Middle Eastern food: Sabor, in Teele Square, currently tops his list of favorite Middle Eastern restaurants. Bacow also confesses to having a sweet tooth. He loves chocolate and ice cream but mostly eats lower fat frozen yogurt. When he does have the real thing, he practices moderation, taking "a bite or two of dessert and then pushing it away."

As one might expect of a university president, Bacow often eats power lunches and celebratory dinners. "Cocktail receptions are the best because I spend more time talking and less time eating," he said. Dinners present more of a challenge.

Last Thursday, for example, Bacow dined at the Four Seasons, on Friday it was the Ritz, and Saturday he ate at the Fairmont Copley. At restaurants, Bacow chooses the fish or vegetarian options, which are generally more healthful entr?©es, but often the food choices are out of his control. In order to balance that lack of control, Bacow often limits the amount of food he eats. While traveling, he grabs low fat frozen yogurt as a quick meal rather than a Big Mac.

While it's not necessary to be a fish-eating vegetarian to look and feel your best, it is important to incorporate healthful behavior into your lifestyle.

"What we eat is a personal thing. I've just been forced to be very careful," Bacow said. "I think it's very important to make time for yourself to exercise... making time for exercise also allows contemplation and reflection to clear your head."