Lights on Laurentians: How Relevant is the Freshman 15? Adjusting to the College Diet by Ali Kostick

Parents, friends, and extended family all do their best to make the college transition for freshmen as smooth possible. Dropped off on the first day with all the essentials, parents warn kids of the exposure to alcohol and drugs, lecture them on resisting peer pressure, and tell them to be cautious of the stereotypical freshman 15 weight gain. “I had heard about it,” Ryan, a freshman at St Lawrence, recalls. “I feel like everyone has heard of it.”

Scrambling to finish last minute assignments, first-year students downplay the importance of physical exercise and eating regularly. Quickly thrown into the mix of first semester scheduling, their impulsive choices regarding food contribute to the freshman 15 stereotype.

While most high schools do their best to educate students on time management, college demands high expectations. Extracurricular activities such as clubs and sports teams all claim hours of the day. It is easy to get carried away juggling multiple activities and forget that there is health and self-care to consider.

In the comfort of Ryan’s home, his parents took responsibility of caring for him. He had designated meal times that correlated with his parent’s schedule, and the cabinets and refrigerator were always stocked with healthy foods.

While self-control is always present no matter the phase of life or location, the pressure is significantly more intense when transitioning to college, where one can attain a large variety of food without limitation.

With two main dining options at St. Lawrence with a wide variety of food, the healthy choices are always available, but then again, so are the unhealthy choices. The freshman 15 is a term widely known as the rapid weight gain that freshman are susceptible to while adjusting to their first year of college. While 15 pounds is a bit excessive, this trend of gaining some weight has been pertinent for generations.

Entering the Pub, Ryan takes a deep breath, sniffing the air in attempt to guess the special of the day. A meatball sub. “Yes,” he whispers softly as he eyes other people’s food passing by him. He sees a hamburger bedded with cheese, sticking to the lettuce and tomatoes piled high under a toasted bun, a pizza with cheese dripping off the edges gleaming brightly under the orange light, an occasional salad, wraps in every shade of grain… it is here that Ryan is confident in what he orders.

The options are generic and so appeal to a wide audience. “You get smaller portions because you aren’t serving yourself,” says Ryan comparing the situation at the Pub to Dana Dining Hall, the other popular dining option on campus. “But, on the other hand, if you go to the Pub, you are probably going to get something fried; it is a really close call. It is a personal preference.”

This is a persistent image across the North American campuses. As a way to increase applicants, schools brag about offering multiple food options. 

Dana Dining Hall and the North Star Café, commonly referred to as “the Pub” are the most frequently used dining options at St. Lawrence. The difference between the two is that Dana serves buffet style while North Star Café is a menu based dining venue. “Dana is healthier,” Ryan argues. “Although, there always is temptation to continuously go up and get more food and there are always a lot of carbs available.”

At home, parents are able to provide guidance for their kids by structuring their diets as well as exercise habits. Students take this for granted when trying to adapt to a new system at college. The college life enables students to take full responsibility of themselves. It is up to the them to incorporate healthy mental and physical standards into their daily lives. “College offers many temptations. You’re on your own and free to eat what you want, when you want it,” according to kidshealth.org.

In high school, the academic week extended through Friday. But in college students begin the weekend on Thursday. “Although the majority of students come to college already having some experience with alcohol,” the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports, “certain aspects of college life, such as unstructured time, the widespread availability of alcohol, inconsistent enforcement of underage drinking laws, and limited interactions with parents and other adults, can intensify the problem.”

It is the weekend, and once midnight rolls around a great migration of college students begin its trek to town, leaving responsibilities and healthy decisions behind on campus. Ryan checks his pocket for extra cash. The club everyone goes to is called the Ticker. It costs ten dollars and he wants to make sure he has enough to get in, as well as a little extra to pitch in for the impulsive decision of picking up a Bob’s Special on the way back to campus.

The pizza is made with homemade dough, topped with butter garlic sauce, mozzarella cheese, seasoned chicken and finished off with Frankie’s famous barbeque sauce is what Ryan’s late night craving entails. “I’m more likely to get pizza when I’m with friends,” says Ryan “It’s group mentality and happens almost every time I go out.”

Excessive drinking, erratic sleeping patterns, late night meals, laziness, skipping meals, anxiety– the blame can be spread in several different ways. At the end of the day, however,  weight gain “depends entirely on the person,” says Erin Casey, Clinical Director of Health Services at St. Lawrence. “Maybe they put on 10 pounds’ freshman year only to have it fall off their junior or senior year. Some people are stress eaters. A coping mechanism could be eating ice cream or junk food– there’s diffidently a correlation there.”

No matter the school, no matter the town, the freshman 15 stereotype has been a repetitive trend throughout generations. Freshman year is a transitional phase of life for every adolescent, and he or she are given a lot to balance. Social life, healthy eating, physical activity, and school work can be a lot to handle. As school meal plans continue to change, and food options are constantly expanding, the possibility grows for an optimistic future without the freshman 15.