Exercise and diet ‘can’t go one without the other’
It’s no secret that college can be a stressful time for students. Between studying and long weekends filled with partying, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy diet.
A GPA is not the only thing many students accumulate during the year. Beer bellies and the “freshman 15” are things students can gain throughout the course of the school year.
But there are a lot of things students can do to maintain a healthy diet and get in better shape.
One of the easiest ways to combat that bulge around the waist is to eat healthy foods throughout the day instead of eating a lot before bedtime.
“If you’re getting most of your calories at night when you are hungry, you will have a tendency to eat things that are sweet, salty, fried, fatty – that kind of thing,” said Allison Maurer, an assistant strength coach and sports dietitian at CU. “If you are not eating a lot during the day, chances are you grab something fattening and carbohydrate-ridden at night.”
Maurer also said getting most of your calories at night may have a negative effect on body composition and fat, but it also can make someone more tired than usual.
“I think it’s very important to take a multi-vitamin during the day because you’re not always sure if you’re going to get everything you need in your diet,” Maurer said.
For women, it’s important to get enough calcium on a daily basis in order to have a healthy body.
“Women especially are not getting enough calcium. Things again, super-easy snacks, string cheese, yogurt – that kind of thing – are really easy to grab during the day,” Maurer said.
Eric Fry, an athletic trainer at CU, said a good diet is important, but doing aerobic exercises on a daily basis is also important.
“Probably the ideal to start out is maybe you’re doing 30 minutes a day (of aerobic exercises). Then, from there, you can incrementally increase to up 45 minutes, up to an hour,” Fry said.
A great way to burn more calories is to work out leg muscles frequently, Fry said.
“You actually burn more calories by exercising your legs because they are a bigger muscle group than your upper body,” Fry said.
A lot of recent diet trends suggest losing weight by avoiding carbohydrates. Fry said a diet should depend on what kind of results someone wants. Getting enough carbohydrates can help a person’s endurance and help the process of building muscle in the body.
If you do not do enough aerobic exercise, avoid taking too many foods loaded with carbohydrates.
“If you take in a lot of carbohydrates, and you’re not really burning them by exercise and activity, what that does is that they turn into sugar and then eventually it will add more weight to a person,” Fry said.
Another great way to lose weight is to avoid eating at restaurants because platters offered can be high in calories. Fast food can be bad for you, but other sit-down restaurants can be just as bad for you.
“Your restaurants are also putting out these 1,200 calorie meals, and that’s not including your drink, which you refill a couple of times. So eating out in general, you got to be very aware of what you are getting,” said Jason Mlinek, a nutrition store manager.
The bottom line: The right diet and enough exercise is the best way to get into better shape. It takes both elements to get the results that most college students are looking for.
“Nutrition is incredibly important. I don’t think exercise and nutrition can go one without the other,” Maurer said.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Kyle McDaniel at kyle.medaniel@thecampuspress.com.
