What in the World is “Freshman 15”?
Article by LEGACY's summer intern and Chapman University undergraduate: Yuri Choi
It is our pleasure to include articles written from young people in the midst of the issues themselves. Valuable perspectives for us adults.

Imagine being a young freshman college student your first week of school. You walk into the cafeteria and there is a buffet-style breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day long. You grab the beef ravioli covered in Alfredo sauce and fried chicken that you rarely have back at home when your mom was cooking. After spraying Parmesan cheese on your ravioli, you head for the pizza and fries bar where you also pick up some ranch for dipping both. Then you grab some cola at the drink bar, and you definitely can’t forget the dessert bar where there is unlimited frozen yogurt and carrot cakes. Amazing, she thought, my mom would never make this at home, and I can have this everyday now!

Then the night comes, and you are lured into a couple of fraternity parties where kegs are being untapped faster than you can finish your beer, and bottles of liquor everywhere. Once you’ve had your fair amount of drinks at about 4 am, you are looking for a sober ride to take care of the drunk munchies at Taco Bell.

This may be a typical weekend day and night for an average freshman in college. This is also the perfect formula for the excessive weight gain that some college students inevitably have to face in their first semester of college. And this rather devastating phenomenon also has a special term – the dreadful “Freshman 15.”

You ask any recent college student or graduates these days and they should be familiar with this term. It derives from the idea that due to the unhealthy eating, sleeping, and drinking habits, a typical freshman is to gain about 15 pounds on average. Free of adult/parental supervision for the first time for many freshmen, these habits develop and snowball into a very harmful cycle.

So should the college-bound really fear the “Freshman 15”? According to a recent research article, "The ‘freshman fifteen' (the ‘freshman five’ actually): Predictors and Possible Explanations" by Holm-Denoma, J.M., Vohs, K.D., & Heatherton, T.F. in Health Psychology, 27, while students were gaining weight during their early freshman year of college, the average weight gain was only 3.5 lbs for men and 4 lbs for women. The 'freshman fifteen' is more realistically the 'freshman five.' While this is still a disconcerting weight gain for many, it is not as extreme as the myth of the 'freshman fifteen.'

However, it is still true that students are predisposed to unhealthy eating and lifestyle changes in their first year of college. So what can you do as a parent to make sure that your son or daughter does not suffer from detrimental weight gain as a freshman?

Holm-Denoma & Heatherton's "freshman 15" study notes that one of the most remarkable predictors of weight gain is the relationship a child has with his or her parents prior to going to college. The impact differed between men and women.

Men were more likely to gain weight if they had critical parents between the times they were seniors in high school to college, whereas women gained more weight if they had uncritical parents who encouraged them to be more independent. The research suggests that these results may be due to the different ways men and women cope with stress caused by their parents.

When men have critical parents who create conflicts in their lives, they are more likely to go out in a social setting and increase their alcohol and food consumption to relieve the tension. When women are put into stressful situations, they are more likely to restrict their food intake, leading to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. This explains why 90 to 95% of the eating disorder patients are women, and they usually come from have very critical, perfectionist families.

Good parenting may seem tricky at this point. Whether critical towards your child or not, it seems that he or she may end up eating and choosing less healthy behaviors in their first year of college.

But don't panic! Instead,
* Educate them about healthy eating. This does not mean that your kids should start a calorie-counting log immediately, but do remind them the importance of a balanced meal, even in the tempting all-you-can-eat cafeteria.
* Suggest to (don't TELL) them to turn down the pizza bar for a salad bar at least once a day to eat their vegetables.
* Encourage your son or daughter to set realistic goals to help them from consuming unnecessary sweets and junk food, such as only allowing themselves to eat dessert once every 2 days.
* Ask your college kids if they would be able to follow an exercise plan. Exercising not only helps them keep a healthy weight, but it is can help stabilize their moods. Many freshmen in college have a later class start time than they did in high school. What about a 20-30 minute jog two to three times a week before classes start?
* Encourage a quick breakfast to jump-start their metabolism. This routine will allow them to be alert for their classes and feel good for the rest of the day.
* Exploring their new school’s gym might also be a great way to make new friends their first year!

Another important factor is alcohol consumption. Telling them directly “Don’t drink because you are not 21 yet and that is illegal,” will not stop them from taking their free beers at fraternity parties they are invited to.

Give them some facts and room to think about them:
“Did you know that a regular beer is 150 to 200 calories?
Drink 3 beers, and it is more than the calories of a regular meal!” (http://www.beer100.com/beercalories.htm).

And if your kids thought taking shots of hard liquor is less fattening for them, let them know that a regular shot is still about 100 calories. Alcohol over all has the second highest calorie density of all food types! (http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Alcohol-Makes-You-Fat&id=601915) In addition, alcohol slows down the body’s ability to burn fat in general.

Even with regular work-outs, alcohol can create a special layer of fat on the stomach to hide the wonderfully toned muscles one might have underneath the layer.
In addition to these caloric facts, many college students binge drink, and this is of course potentially lethal and for their liver functions.

Now you can tell your young adult children when entering college that Freshman 15 is a myth, but Freshman 5 is still quite true. It is important that they pay attention to what they consume, whether it is food or alcohol, because they are not living with their parents any more and this sudden freedom can lead to very unhealthy eating habits.

The most important thing to remind them is that they are not completely free of your supervision just yet. Let them know that you are still a big part of their lives by sending them caring e-mails or making short phone calls to check in on them.

Although getting excessive with these is not a good idea, most freshmen in college will secretly appreciate your small gestures to show them that you care when they are away from you for the first time in their lives. Such guidance and care will go long ways in helping your first year college kids to stay healthy and happy.


References:
Holm-Denoma, J.M., Vohs, K.D., & Heatherton, T.F. (2008. January). The 'freshman fifteen' (the freshman five' actually): Predictors and possible explanations. Health Psychology, 27(1), S3-S9. from PsychINFO.

Hoffman, D.J., Policastro, P., Quick, V., & Lee, S.K. (2006, Jul-Aug). Changes in Body Weight and Fat Mass of Men and Women in the First Year of College: A Study of the 'Freshman 15'. Journal of American College Health, 55(1), 41-45. from PsychINFO.


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