Freshman 15 – a rumour or reality? According to University of Guelph’s study, the freshman 15 is a myth. They say, by average, female students gain 5 pounds and male students gain 6.5 pounds by the end of the first year in university. Well, that’s still evidently some gaining in my opinion.
The freshman 15 was a reality for me. Believe it or not, I had gained more than 15 pounds by the end of 1A and yes, that much weight causes some major transformed look.
Why does weight gain happen? Reasons include decrease in physical activity, increase in sedentary activities, celebrating legal drinking age and of course, eating fatty food.
However, study has shown that the first year university students eat about the same number of calories as they did in high school, but by different intakes such as less fruits and dairy products. Then, of all the possible reasons, we can quickly conclude that it is mainly the imbalance of nutrition that causes first year students’ weight gain.
So I took a look at this week’s dinner menu in V1: Pork Chops, Chicken Wings, Ginger Beef, Indian Butter Chicken… and we can find similar menus in the university plaza: Burger King, Phat Cat, Pita Factory, Curry In A Hurry…
If students rely on this kind of menu on daily basis, I am sure that intake of the three primary macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) would be very easily fulfilled but that of macrominerals and micronutrients will be of question.
We can buy lecture-friendly, to-go snacks such as apple, banana, milk and salad boxes at different locations on campus. And on campus, these healthy snacks are provided very overpriced compared to the grocery stores. For example, today I bought 5 bananas for $1.30 at a local market but C&D sells one banana for $1.00. Therefore, for fruit lovers like me, regular grocery shopping is necessary to keep me healthy and not bankrupted.
The truth is that for all students, not just first years, balanced nutrition and fresh fruits and vegetables are a must. If fresh ingredients are available nearby at affordable prices, eating healthy would not be too challenging for students.
There are a few grocery stores in Waterloo on bus route. But doing grocery shopping by bus can be hectic at times depending on the weather, delayed bus schedule and buying heavy things like water. I am sure everyone has experienced it once. During exam times when we get busy, grocery shopping is definitely something to skip.
So what if we get a grocery store on UW campus?
Some quick research into how many people are needed to support a full service grocery store comes as around 5000 people. Even if this measure isn’t rooted in the correct assumptions and statistical computations, we have more than 20,000 undergraduate students in UW, not to mention the population of postgraduates and staffs. This means that UW campus population is enough to maintain the flow of fresh groceries in the shop.
There is also a added benefit of having a campus grocery store for the school. The left-over non-expired ingredients can be used in the cafeteria kitchens in residence.
It will provide students some part-time job opportunities. The size of a grocery store is not comparable to C&Ds and it is not too necessary to keep the store run by volunteers only. Making enough revenue to hire paid employees will be easy.
Average weight gain among university students is highly undesirable and unhealthy. Simply, coming to university should not introduce an imbalance of nutrition in anyone’s life and we spend a great portion of our life here. This can be changed by providing fresh groceries available to students in walking distance from the campus – preferably on the campus. Everyone will benefit from it.
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