Weight-loss efforts, a perennially popular New Year's resolution, are often in full swing at this time of year. But as with many other personal resolutions, what begins as a wholesome dieting goal can quickly become a dangerous gateway to emotional, academic and health issues.
According to Professor of Psychology Robin Kanarek, the main reason for short-lived dieting resolutions is students are surrounded by food and social activities involving food every day. From going out to dinner to grabbing coffee between classes, it is likely that students will frequently encounter others eating, Kanarek said.
"Certainly people make lots of resolutions, and dieting is one of the hardest," she said. "Part of the problem is just that food is readily available and that opportunities to eat, particularly under social circumstances, are also readily available. It is hard to keep [a resolution] no matter where you are, but a college campus has the added effect of social eating."
Kanarek further explained that on a campus like Tufts, where there are few overweight or obese students, there might be increased social pressure to maintain a trim physique, which in turn leads to unrealistic dieting resolutions destined to end in failure.
"Although obesity is a major problem in this country, if you would walk around the Tufts campus you would not believe it," Kanarek said. "Almost everybody here, particularly the students, are in an environment where people are thin." As a result, some students become concerned by even the slightest increase in pounds.
Weight-loss resolutions can have significant negative consequences, according to Tufts Medical Director Margaret Higham, and people who diet tend to eventually develop disordered eating habits.
"What we call disordered eating means you have abnormal eating habits. This might involve restricting at times, which is then frequently followed by overeating," she said.
Ninety one percent of female college students have dieted in an attempt to control their weight, and 40 percent have an eating disorder, according to the Massachusetts Eating Disorder Association.
Many students do not understand what constitutes healthy eating, Higham said.
"They stop eating, or they stop eating any fat, or they develop certain food fetishes," she said. "Healthy eating is being able to eat a wide variety of foods in normal and appropriate amounts and being able to get all the different nutrients, including fat, which you need some of, to stay healthy."
Higham added that students often try to control their weight by way of restriction, which can paradoxically counteract efforts to curb appetite.
"The more you restrict, the more you will overeat and the more you will change your body's internal control of its appetite," she said.
Senior Director of Health and Wellness Services Michelle Bowdler explained that her department does not promote the concept of dieting for these reasons.
"We are more focused on helping students [in] healthy eating," she said. "Anybody that worries about their weight can focus on a number or on calories, and then they can get into trouble without even noticing."
Although not every woman who diets will face extreme health consequences, many do end up developing an eating disorder, Higham said.
"An eating disorder itself means that you have lost a certain amount of weight or that you do a certain amount of purging eating — you vomit or [do] extra exercise," Higham said.
According to Higham, it is difficult to obtain information about the number of students with eating disorders at Tufts, since Health Service only treats students who seek help. Higham added that Health Service has a commitment to confidentiality when it comes to information about students' health, particularly about their dieting habits and weight.
"The only time we would violate confidentiality or intervene is if we would think someone was about to die," Higham said.
Higham stressed that one reason Health Service takes confidentiality so seriously is to foster an environment in which students feel comfortable seeking help or just asking questions.
Still, Higham said, Health Service only helps students who want to be helped and will not try to convince anyone to seek their medical assistance.
"We are not going to force treatment on students," she said. "If someone has an eating disorder, they are not going to get over it unless they want to."
Although college comes with many concerns about weight gain, gaining a few pounds during college is usually a normal thing; in fact, all women gain weight as a part of the normal development of their hormones, Higham said.
"As you get out of your teenage years your body puts on weight as normal preparation for childbearing," she said. "The weight you had at 16 is not going to be the same as at age 25."
According to Kanarek, dieting can also affect a person's cognitive behavior. Based on her research, people on low-carbohydrate diets tend to be tired, have difficulty maintaining their intellectual ability in the classroom and have more of a tendency to doze off rather than pay attention.
"The brain needs carbohydrates for fuel — the primary fuel of the brain is sugar. If you decrease carbohydrates in some of these diets such as the Atkins or the South Beach diets, what you are doing is you are reducing the amount of energy for the brain," Kanarek said. "The body has to start to compensate for that, but this requires more energy and the fuels you are using are not as good as glucose."
In order to promote health-conscious dieting habits among students, the Department of Health Education at Tufts, in collaboration with the Friedman School of Nutrition, launched the Balance Your Life campaign last fall. The initiative, headed by Director of Health Education Ian Wong and graduate student Kathryn Patrick Sweeney of the Friedman School, is designed to encourage students to embrace healthy lifestyles during their college years.
According to Sweeney, the goal of the program is to increase Tufts students' vegetable consumption and physical activity and provide a resource for students who may have health-related questions.
The Balance Your Life campaign is focused on healthy living, Bowdler said, which means sleeping sufficiently and getting good nutrients to nourish the body — not restricting food intake.
"The word ‘diet' in terms of watching your weight is not a part of the campaign," she said.
Balance Your Life is working alongside Tufts Dining Services to help inform students of the nutrients in their food and better understand the dining halls' options.
"The program aims to communicate nutrition messages in clear, easy ways," Sweeney said. "We don't want to focus so much on calories, but talk about eating whole foods and giving students information on where to find things for your diet at Tufts."
Sophomore Cristina Alvarez said that she finds it easy to maintain a healthy lifestyle without dieting.
"I go to the gym most days of the week, and I have made it a part of my daily schedule," she said.
Alvarez also joined Tufts Student Resources Fitness as a substitute instructor to complement her fitness routine.
"It is a great way for any student to make exercising a part of their daily life and to learn nutrition tips that encourage a healthier lifestyle and help you remain fit," she said.
Bowdler emphasized that there are many better options than dieting when it comes to health and weight concerns.
"Talking about dieting as a concept is very tricky, but I really don't encourage students to diet and restrict," she said. "If they have concerns, I would recommend them to talk to a primary health provider before deciding to diet."
