The 2011 obesity rate in New York State is 24.5 percent and is expected to reach 50.9 percent by 2030, a recent report by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found.
Being obese and being overweight are not the same thing. A person who is obese has too much body fat while a person who is overweight weighs too much. The causes of obesity usually are no exercise or not enough exercise, eating more food than necessary and drinking too much alcohol.
As obesity continues to rise, students who go away to college have to start watching what they eat. Students have heard of the ‘freshman 15,’ a phrase used to describe the weight that freshmen students going away to college put on.
Causes of weight gain are also the same causes as obesity: too much alcohol, not enough sleep, lack of portion control, grabbing whatever is around and the like.
The food served at college usually is not very healthy. Stony Brook University lists calories, fat, sodium and carbohydrates at its dining facilities, but the nutritional information for these foods often leave students unhappy.
“I wish they had more of a variety of food that is less fattening,” said Na Lee, a sophomore biochemistry major at SBU.
The Student Activities Center offers a variety of foods such as soups, pizzas and burgers, but most of it is high in fat and carbs.
Students are always rushing, staying up late to get assignments done, drinking and grabbing whatever is in front of them all because of the rush. Lack of sleep has also been found to cause weight gain and lead to obesity.
Obesity not only causes extra body fat; it can also lead to many health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart problems and more.
The adjustment to college can be hard on everyone. Students need to find a healthy balance to get their work done, sleep and eat meals that are healthy.
At the same time the choices the school offers aren’t the healthiest and it makes it harder on students.
“I have gained a few pounds since college, mostly because I’m not eating healthy stuff,” said Destinee Salomon, a freshman studying psychology and political science. She also said she used to go the gym a few times a week but stopped due to a lack of free time.
Students such as Lee are also frustrated by the high prices of the food sold at dining halls.
“The foods are unhealthy and expensive. It’s too much,” Lee said.
Lee, who eats at least twice a day on campus, said she was aware of the obesity rates’ rising and tries to make healthy substitutes.
Lee eats brown rice instead of white rice, holds off on salt as much as possible, skips dairy and keeps portion control in mind when eating.
Right now 12 states have obesity rates more than 30 percen. Four years ago, only one state had an obesity rate that high.
Most of the states with high obesity rates are down south. On the list of obese states, New York ranked 42.
