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College Students and Fast Food: How Bad is The Problem?: "
When you send your older children off to college, you hope they’ll make good grades and have healthy eating habits. Unfortunately, this may not be the case - at least as far as the eating habits go. According to a new study carried out at the University of Leicester, college student college student food choices may leave much to be desired from a health perspective - and it could set them up for future health problems later.
College Student Eating Habits: What the Study Showed
After doing an extensive survey of college student eating habits, researchers found that what’s for dinner on most college campuses is fast food. This is particularly true among male college students who usually chose a quick meal at a fast food restaurant over preparing something in their apartment or dorm room. Although female college students were also found to be frequent fast food consumers, their fast food visits were less frequent than the guys because of concerns about weight.
College Students and Fast Food: What’s the Attraction?
Why are college students so partial to fast food? The researchers believe fast food appeals to teens for a variety of reasons. Lack of time and the unwillingness to prepare their own food along with a limited budget are the main reasons college age kids head to McDonald’s for their nightly meal. The other is peer pressure. When their friends are headed out to a fast food joint, they feel compelled to follow suit and often make the wrong food choices once they get there. It’s not surprising that most college students gain weight once they enter the college scene. Their favorite fast foods? Pizza, past, and French fries top the list of college student favorites.
College Students Eating Fast Food: Why Is It a Problem?
Eating fast foods may have little impact on a teen or young adult’s health in the short term; but more studies are showing that a poor diet during the teen and childhood years can set a teen up for health problems later - including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Fast food may taste good now, but could be more costly later on.
College Student Eating Habits: What’s the Solution?
Help teens adopt healthy eating habits before leaving home so it’s less likely they’ll eat their meals at Hardee’s or Pizza Hut. Kids and teens who grow up eating healthy acquire a taste for healthy food and will be less likely to find the college French fry diet to be satisfying. Signing up for the university eating plan is another option. While college cafeteria food may still be heavy on starches and fats, most colleges offer a salad bar and is likely to have healthier offerings than what you find at a fast food place. Parents can help by sending kids at college healthy gift baskets with fruit, nuts, and healthy snack bars. Most off all - parents needs to educate their teens about healthy eating and set a good example themselves so when a teen leaves home those good habits go with them.
(Via HealthMad.)
Warning! Avoid These Unhealthy Salad Ingredients: "
A salad can be a tasty and healthy addition to a meal, especially when it’s loaded with antioxidant rich greens and colorful vegetables of all shapes and sizes. A salad can also be deceptively decadent when too many unhealthy toppings and a high calorie dressing is placed on top. If you’re eating a salad for health reasons, here are five unhealthy salad ingredients you’ll want to avoid.
Unhealthy salad ingredients: Croutons
Most croutons are too high in calories, salt, carbohydrates, and fat to be a healthy addition to a salad. Plus, most people put on way too many of them. On the other hand, it’s not hard to make a healthy crouton at home using whole grain bread, garlic, spices, and olive oil. If you have to have these crunchy little nuggets, make them yourself and take them along when you dine at a restaurant.
Unhealthy salad ingredients: Bacon bits
An ounce of bacon bits adds about 133 calories to your salad bowl - along with lots of sodium. Those flavorful little crunchers also contain sodium nitrite - a preservative that increases the risk of cancer - and some even contain hydrogenated oils. A healthier alternative is a preservative free substitute called Organic Bac’uns sold by Frontier Foods. They’re organic, low sodium, meatless, and cholesterol-free. They can be found at many natural food markets and some mainstream grocery stores.
Unhealthy salad ingredients: Cheddar cheese
A little cheddar cheese is okay, but most people sprinkle on far too much. Cheddar cheese is relatively high in calories in fat. A good substitute that’s just as satisfying is feta cheese. Because of its more pronounced flavor, you’ll use less of it to get great flavor.
Unhealthy salad ingredients: The wrong kinds of meat
Adding a little fresh turkey, salmon, or baked or grilled chicken to a salad is a good source of protein and makes a salad more filling. Adding breaded chicken to a salad isn’t such a good thing since it adds too much fat. If you want to keep a salad meat-free, but still want protein, add black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, chopped egg whites, or nuts to your salad instead. '
Unhealthy salad ingredients: The wrong dressing
This is where most people destroy a healthy salad. Not only do they choose the wrong dressing, but they put on too much of it. Most creamed based dressings such as blue cheese, ranch, and Caesar are too high in fat. Stick to the lighter, olive oil and vinegar based dressings - but be careful. Read the label since some low fat, ‘healthy’ dressings are high in sugar and salt. Some salad dressings still contain hydrogenated oils, so it pays to do a little research. Even better - make your own vinegar based dressing at home. Also, resist the temptation to drown your salad in dressing. Try dipping your fork in the dressing before taking a bite instead.
The bottom line? Keep your salad healthy, so you can enjoy occasionally splurging on other foods - without guilt.
(Via HealthMad.)
Top Weight Loss Foods for 2010: "Add these 9 foods for weight loss and watch as the pounds melt away."
(Via Eat This, Not That.)
100 Diet, Safety, and Exercise Tips for a Healthy Life: "
- Wash your hands after using the toilet and before eating. Cover the mouth when coughing, and teach your children how to keep from spreading germs while coughing.
- When a cold is coming on, go to bed and get a good night’s sleep, take echinacea and Vitamin C.
- Steam away sniffles.
- If you have a cold, drink hot fluids (chicken soup, lentil soup, hot tea)'to sooth the throat.
- If possible, spend at least 10 minutes outside every day soaking up the sun’s rays.
- Wear a SPF sunscreen or makeup with an SPF sunscreen daily.' Avoid tanning booths or sunbathing to obtain a tan.
- Cleanse the face twice daily.' Use a moisturizer or a foundation with moisturizer built into it.'
- Don’t squeeze pimples.' Possible alternatives to this include using benzoyl peroxide medications, applying zinc oxide over night,'or even very'gently dabbing the pimple with a hydrogen peroxide soaked cotton ball.
- 'Use stool softeners instead of straining.' Even better, include natural laxatives like prunes and prune juice in your diet.
- Take an age and gender appropriate multiple vitamin supplement.''If over age 50,'take additional calcium and fish or krill oil supplements after consulting your doctor.
- Drink plenty of water before, during, and after exercise. Drink whenever thirsty.
- To ensure that your body is getting enough calcium, daily consume dark green and leafy vegetables, skim or low fat milk and calcium-enriched fruit juices.'
- Both older women and men should take calcium supplements.' Take a calcium tablet at lunch or supper not breakfast since calcium is best absorbed in does of 500 milligrams or less.
- Women should take a bone density test immediately after menopause to establish a baseline by which to later measure bone density.
- Women aged 40 and over should have a mammogram yearly.' At 21, all women should receive a physician-performed inspection of their breasts along with instructions on how to examine their breasts themselves, so they will know exactly how breasts should feel.'
- During their reproductive years, women should examine their breasts themselves at the same time every month following their menses.' Men over 50 should receive yearly prostate exams.
- All women should have a yearly gynecological checkup whatever their age since the chances of developing ovarian cancer increase with age while cervical cancer is more prevalent among younger women. [Note: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has recently changed its recommendations about how often women should have a Pap smear: Women should get their first pap smear at age 21 regardless' of sexual activity. Women in their 20s should be screened every two years while women in thier 30s'after obtaining normal results need to screened only only every three years.]
- Refrain from unprotected vaginal, anal, and oral sex when engaging in sexual relations with a non-monogamous partner-a measure that not only guards aganinst HIV and STDs, but also against cervical cancer.'' Make friendship the basis for all relationships.' In other words, get to know any potential sexual partners over a period of time before accepting their overtures.
- Every year check for carcinogenic moles both on uncovered body parts as well as on parts of the body that clothing ordinarily covers.
- Drink six to eight glasses of bottled or filtered water daily.
- Daily perform at least thirty minutes of weight-bearing exercise (jogging, walking, treadmill, stair stepper, climbing stairs, elliptical trainer) to keep their cardiovascular system fit and to maintain body weight.' To loss weight, perform 45 to 60 minutes of weight-bearing exercise daily.' Individuals may split exercise time into several different sessions if time is a problem.
- Park at some distance from where you work and shop or at the end of a row of parked cars and then walk; take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
- Cut down on consuming animal fat-schedule a meatless day each week, reducing animal fat to 20 percent of your caloric intake. Meanwhile consume three servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables daily, including dark green and leafy vegetables,'such as'spinach and kale,'and cruciferous vegetables; for example, broccoli and cabbage.
- Eat at least three serving of Omega 3 fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring) weekly.'
- Get enough sleep each night, turning off the lights at a reasonable time and waking regularly at the same time (dog owners have the second part of this rule taken care of for them.)
- Don’t exercise or cram for a test immediately before going to bed. Don’t fall asleep with the television on. Don’t drink coffee, tea, or sodas at night.
- Get a dog-walk it twice a day. Stroking a pet can relieve high blood pressure.
- Consume unrefined, complex carbohydrates (oatmeal, raisin bran, beans, peas, whole wheat and rye bread), eschewing white bread and pastries.
- Upon rising each morning, pray and/or meditate for fifteen minutes.
- Learn to relax-practice rhythmic deep breathing.'Try some yoga techniques.
- Take a short break after reading or studying for 30 minutes.'
- Program your day to compensate for the after lunch slump.' Take a ten minute walk after lunch; avoid sugary snacks.
- Listen to classical music. Learn to play a musical instrument.
- If suffering from osteoarthritis, take at least 1,500 milligrams of glucosamine chondrotin daily. Also, consider taking fish or krill oil supplements to literally oil your joints.'
- Arthritis sufferers and everyone else for that matter) should stay within ten percent of their recommended body weight for their age, height, and frame.
- Drink a glass of red wine or red grape juice daily.
- If you smoke, stop.' Non-smokers should request that smokers refrain from smoking particularly around children and in enclosed spaces.
- Brush with an ultrasound tooth brush; review how to floss correctly.' Visit the dentist twice yearly.
- Have a cardio-friendly breakfast; for example, oatmeal or bran cereal,'calcium fortified grapefruit or orange juice, skim milk, coffee.' Eating fiber early in the day prevents spikes in blood sugar.
- Wear sunglasses year round to help block ultra-violet rays.
- Regularly enjoy tomatoes or tomato paste since tomatoes lower the risk of lung, stomach, pancreas, colon, rectum, esophagus, mouth, and breast cancer since'consuming tomatoes'protects cells from oxidants linked to cancer.
- Include flavonoid-rich foods'(green tea, broccoli, and strawberries) in your diet since they inhibit the growth of free radicals.
- Always wear seat belts when riding in the car; wear helmets when biking, motorcycling, or snow skiing.' Steer your children away from sports where head injuries are common, for example, football and boxing.
- Take a safe driving course.' As an incentive, most auto insurance companies will lower their rates if clients furnish proof of a recently attended course in safe driving.
- Know how to drive on snow and ice (don’t pump your brakes if starting to skid; shift into neutral and squeeze brake).' During the winter, store a blanket and extra water in the car.
- Don’t use a cell phone when driving.' Put'the dog in the back seat.
- When taking a car trip, don’t drive for more than an hour without taking a short break-pull off where it is safe to do so and walk around.
- When using a cell phone, don’t hold it differently to your ear.' Children and young teens shouldn’t use a cell phone since their skull, which protects the brain, has fully developed yet.
- Don’t eat on the run.' Limit eating out especially in fast-food restaurants.' Pack a sack lunch for work.' Walk or relax during the rest of the lunch hour.
- Gradually decrease portion sizes of meat.' Use salad rather than dinner plates.
- Occasionally, use white vinegar oil in green salads since it helps the stomach feel full.'
- When cooking, use canola or olive oil.'' A Mediterrean Diet along with exercise adds active years to your life.
- Challenge your brain regularly-take course on line, learn foreign languages, after finishing your formal education, continue to write; expand your vocabulary.
- Know your stress limit-watch for sighs of stress; then, if necessary, pull back.
- Take mini-vacations (facials, massages, or a few hours spent with an absorbing novel).
- Sing in the shower and/or in a choir-breath through the diaphragm; practice playing a musical instrument daily.
- Perfect your ballroom, square or folk, or ballet, tap, or jazz dancing skills.' Improving your balance will cut down on falls.
- Plan something to look forward to on your break or lunch hour-a brisk walk, a soothing cup of tea, or a really tasty sandwich or piece of fruit.' Everyone needs some simple but really enjoyable'pleasure to look forward to during the middle of the day.
- Simplify your life-don’t sweat the small stuff.' Forgive both yourself and others.
- Schedule an eye exam once a year.
- Mold, dust, and fungus cause allergies and weaken the immune system.' Get rid of bath or shower mold, choose hardware floors over carpeting.' House plants get rid of formaldehyde,benzene, and carbon monoxide, but they shouldn’t be in your bedroom.
- Take these anti-allergy vitamins and herbs if bothered by allergies: Vitamin C (2,000 milligrams daily during hay fever season, probiotics. Have regular servings of apples, red grapes, berries, broccoli, and cold-water fish.
- Take off your shoes at the door; close windows in the morning; exercise in the afternoon if you suffer from allergies rather than in the morning.'
- Wash bedding in hot water, enclosing mattress and pillowcases in dust proof covers. Use a dehumidifier. Don’t sleep with your dog or cat.
- Keep emotions moderated and balanced.' Manage your anger.' Don’t loose control by using alcohol or drugs.
- Work at having a support group, both giving and receiving strokes.' Set'aside time to be with family.
- Don’t be afraid to share health problems with both formal and informal support groups.' It’s easier to loose weight, cut a bad habit, or fight cancer with friends.
- Buy long-term care insurance in your 50s or early 60s;' buy a medicare supplement policy during the open enrollment period.' Purchasing an insurance policy is an excellent incentive to both loose weight and quit smoking.
- Slowly cut back on drinking carbonated sodas.' Don’t go cold turkey and suffer from caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
- Have your cholesterol tested during your early 50s; a desirable cholesterol level at this time for men is lower than 200.' Women from age 45 to 59 should have a cholesterol level lower than 191.' Ask for a complete lipid profile.
- Keep your blood pressure under control.' Check it frequently at your local pharmacy.' High blood pressure is 140/90 or above.
- If you snore, check with your physician.' Heavy snorers have a greater risk of heart disease.
- Set reasonable goals for diet and exercise, loosing no more than two pounds weekly.' Strive to be neither under or over weight.
- Bake, broil, boil' rather than fry.' Trim fat, don’t eat poultry skin, hold the gravy.
- Eat light at night.' Whenever possible, make lunch the main meal of the day. Leave a little food leftover on your plate when dining out.' Ask for sauces and dressings on the side.
- Chill! Type A behavior increases the chance of death from heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
- Use sprays rather than aerosols.
- Use less salt, using herbs instead.
- Don’t habitual take antihistamines or pain killers.
- Cook poultry, pork, beef, and fish thoroughly, ordering red meat medium rather than either rare or well done.
- When preparing a meal, use one knife for heat and another knife for vegetables.
- Frequently clean out your refrigerator.
- Wear comfortable shoes. Have your shoe size measured every so often since if you are on your feet during the day, eventually you’ll need a larger size.
- Smile at other people and laugh at yourself.' Learn the art of small talk.
- When someone really upsets you, write down your dissatisfaction and then sit on it for a day or so before responding emotionally.
- Learn to argue effectively and fairly, avoiding name calling.' Ignore name calling on the part of others.
- Work at relieving depression and grief before turning to tranquilizers-get out and be with others, exercise.
- If you jog, don’t jog at twilight or when the ozone is at its highest level. Ordinarily, morning is the healthiest time to jog in the summer.' During the winter stick to an indoor running track or a treadmill or elliptical trainer.' Elliptical trainers are easier on the joints than a treadmill.
- Know the warning signs of a stroke, a heart attack, various cancers, and diabetes.' If in doubt, see a physician.' Time counts.
- Adopt an anti-Alzheimer’s diet: three to four servings of cold-water fish weekly, five servings of cruciferious vegetables and dark leafy vegetables daily,'low-fat dairy products, dried beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and whole grains, soy, and curry.
- Adopt an anti-cancer diet: whole grain cereal for breakfast, cruciferous vegetables, low-fat or skim milk, a glass of red wine daily.' Avoid processed and smoked meats.
- As much as possible, avoid stress over finances. Adhere to a written budget. Automatically transfer a portion of your pay check to a savings account, avoid using credit cards; pay down the credit cards you already have.
- Gardening lowers blood pressure, loosens muscles, and slows the heart rate, increasing resistance to stress.
- Strength train three days a week for 15 minutes.' While performing reps, try for a slow burn, lowering weights very slowly (count to ten).
- Take up a craft:'knit, embroidery, crochet, needlepoint, decorate cakes, build model airplanes, whittle.
- Caretakers should take off time for themselves particularly when caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia. Young mothers also need occasionally to take a day away from their children.' Everyone needs to relax when coming home from work or school before eating dinner.
- Eat meals whenever possible with family and friends.' Turn off the television and talk to each other.
- Keep up with health trends in the news.' Before you go to a doctor, do some research, so you can ask intelligent questions.' Read up on first aid.' Have a first aid kit handy both at home and in the car.' When in doubt, head for the emergency room.
- Sand steps when it snows in winter.' Make sure outdoor steps are well lighted at night.' The elderly, in particular, need to guard against falls.
- Be your own doctor.' A healthy life style trumps surgical and pharmaceutical intervention.
(Via HealthMad.)
