Q: I'm determined to avoid the "Freshman 15." What can I do to keep from gaining those 15 pounds that everyone says are inevitable?
A: Weight gain doesn't have to be an inevitable part of the college experience, but it might require some determination on your part. Late-night pizza, all you can eat buffets in the dining hall, and a steady supply of chips, candy and cookies while studying can quickly lead to an extra ten or 15 pounds. The key is to be aware of what you are eating. Try these helpful hints:
- If you order pizza, skip the heavy toppings like pepperoni or sausage and order a veggie pizza or a plain cheese. Or try ordering thin crust to save a few more calories. Also, just one slice will often satisfy your "pizza pang." A pizza splurge doesn't have to spell two, three or four pieces of pie!
- Eating a salad topped with a variety of veggies with dinner may help to curb that "all you can eat" appetite in the dining hall. Just remember to go easy on the dressing!
- Stock up on basic staples like fruit, pretzels, nuts, and low-fat string cheese. Eating healthy snacks during a marathon study session saves calories and provides extra energy. (For additional snack tips, check out "Fast, Cheap and Healthy" by Willow Jarosh in this month's edition of Balance).
- Exercise is essential to maintaining your weight. Carve out some time for daily physical activity. You'll not only feel better physically, but mentally as well. Exercise is also key to keeping those "Freshman 15" at bay.
Q: I've recently been experimenting with substituting soy milk for regular milk in my coffee drinks, and am thinking about using it on a more regular basis-in cereal, smoothies, or just to drink. But I'm not sure if I'm getting all the same nutrition as I get from regular milk. Is soy milk just as "good for you" as regular milk? Are there any benefits to drinking soy milk instead of regular milk?
A: Soy milk is a great alternative, especially for people with lactose intolerance or allergies to regular milk. But even if you don't have allergies, soy milk can be a healthy addition to, or substitute for, traditional dairy in your diet. Look for fortified soymilk, which contains calcium and vitamin D, along with several other nutrients. (Not all soymilks are fortified; be sure to check the label. Most fortified soymilks have roughly as much calcium and vitamin Dm - cup for cup - as cow's milk.) One cup of plain, unsweetened soymilk provides approximately 100 to 150 calories (depending upon the brand), four grams of fat and seven grams of protein. Because soymilk contains no animal protein, it is naturally saturated fat and cholesterol free. To save on total fat and calories, try light or reduced-fat soymilk: one cup provides just 70 to 90 calories and two grams of total fat. Compare this to one cup of 1 % cow's milk, which has 102 calories, three grams fat (1.5 of them saturated) and eight grams of protein.
While the health benefits of soy are still being debated, research has suggested it may play a role in protecting the heart and, in men, the prostate gland. A note of caution for women: although data is still inconclusive about soy's effects on breast cancer, if you have a family history of the disease, be sure to talk to your doctor before making soy a main staple in your diet.
Q: What exactly is a "healthy weight"? How do I know what my healthy weight is?
A: "Healthy weight" is a somewhat of an ambiguous and debatable term. Strictly speaking, a "healthy weight" is determined as a measure of your weight based on your height. It is traditionally estimated in one of two ways: Body Mass Index (BMI), or the Hamwi formula (often the basis for weight-for-height charts). BMI is calculated as weight (in kilograms) divided by height (in meters squared). A "healthy" BMI ranges from 20 to 25. The Hamwi formula allots a certain number of pounds for each inch of body height to gauge a "desirable" weight: for women, 100 pounds for the first five feet, plus five pounds per inch thereafter; for men, calculate 106 pounds for the first five feet, plus six pounds per inch thereafter.
For example, if a woman is five feet, five inches, her desirable weight would be 125 pounds [100 pounds + (five pounds/inch multiplied by five inches) = 125]. The Hamwi formula also allows plus or minus ten percent of that desirable weight to account for differences in frame size. Frame size can be roughly estimated with a simple test: put your thumb and forefinger around your dominant wrist just above the boniest part. If your fingers touch, you have a medium frame; if your fingers overlap, you have a small frame, and if your fingers do not meet, you have a large frame. The Hamwi formula calculates ideal weight based on a medium frame. If you have a small frame, subtract ten percent from your calculated ideal weight; for a large frame add ten percent.
With this in mind, neither BMI nor the Hamwi formula is a foolproof method for determining a healthy weight for everyone. For example, neither formula accounts for muscle mass, which weighs more than fat. Muscular people may weigh more than what the formula tells them is an "ideal" weight, but that doesn't mean they are unhealthy. A healthy weight means something different for everybody, and may depend on factors other than height alone, such as activity type and intensity. Therefore, while using these formulas can give you a good estimation of your "ideal" weight range, remember: they must be used with care. Recognize that they may fail to tell you what you really want to know-the weight at which you feel fittest, happiest, and healthiest.
If you have a nutrition-related question that you would like Sara to answer in next month's Balance, please send her an e-mail at: balance@tufts.edu.
Wilson is a Registered Dietitian and a graduate student in Nutrition Communications at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She has a BS in Nutrition from Syracuse University, and worked as a clinical dietitian at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Ore. prior to coming to Tufts. Wilson is also co-editor of Balance this semester.
