Spring Break
Culture versus college
Derrick L. Johnson II/Staff Reporter and Rick Kambic/Editor in Chief
Issue date: 7/8/08 Section: News
In many ways Adam Polensky is an average college student. He attends class. He studies for exams. He enjoys being with his friends in his spare time.
Polensky, who is a junior kinesiology and sports studies major, has other things in common with his fellow students besides academics and socializing. Like many other young adults in Illinois Polensky does not get enough physical activity.
"It depends on school," Polensky said. "I play volleyball two times a week and I think that's enough."
Dawn Wilcox, the nutrition education coordinator at Eastern's Health Education Resource Center, said that students should participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day. This averages out to three and a half hours a week.
Studies conducted by the Center for Disease Control in 2005 show that only 56.3 percent of 18 to 24 year olds living in the state of Illinois were receiving the recommended amount of physical activity, while 35.8 percent were getting an insufficient amount and 20.1 percent were not participating in any physical activity.
"Physical activity does not have to be working-out," he said. "Students may engage in activities such as walking, taking the stairs or aerobics in small increments during the day. Any activity is better than none."
While physical activity is a major part of maintaining health, it is not the only part. What students eat is just as important as how much activity they get each day, Wilcox said.
"Students should strive to follow the MyPyramid recommendations which include two to four cups of fruit, three to five cups of vegetables, six cups grains with three cups whole grain, three ounces of meat/beans, and three servings of dairy," Wilcox said.
Mypyramid is an online program that was developed by the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The Web site allows people to measure their food intake and physical activity. Mypyramid also allows people to measure how much they should receive from each of the food groups.
"In Brazil, fruits and vegetables tend to be very cheap compared to industrialized products like pop," Fabio Fontana said. "Because of that, people tend to eat more fruits and vegetables than people do here."
Fontana, an assistant professor of Kinesiology and Sports Studies, said fast food restaurants are also different in Brazil and do not cater to consumers as much as in America.
"Fast food restaurants are really expensive in Brazil," he said. "It's a lot of times more expensive to go to McDonalds in Brazil than it is to go to a fancy Brazilian restaurant that serves beans, meats and salads- things that are a lot healthier."
Fontana earned his bachelor's degree in Brazil and after moving to America he earned his master's and his doctorial degrees.
"In Brazil, you have a two hour break for lunch, so unless you live in a really large city you tend to eat with your family for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Fontana said.
Along with poor diet, poor portion control is also a large factor in the weight gain among college students as well.
This is another problem for Polensky, who said that he only eats two meals a day. This is largely because of his schedule that rarely allows him to eat breakfast.
"I'll have a granola bar probably two days out of the week because I have early morning classes," Polensky said.
"It's extremely important to have three big meals and two snacks," Fontana said. "A lot of times when you only have one big meal you tend to increase the amount of unhealthy snacks to make up for missed calories during the day."
Along with eating portions that are too large or not eating enough, students also eat when it is not necessary. Fontana said families usually helped prevent some of the bad habits that students learn while in college.
"There are many advantages to eating with a family," Fontana said. "One is food choice; a family will tend to see (dinner) as important and will prepare a better meal and secondly, it will keep you away from the television. If you're paying attention to the television then you're not paying attention to how full you are and you tend to eat more."
Calories gained from juice, soda and alcoholic beverages are also major factors in the weight gain among college students, according to Wilcox.
"There is the benefit that you have better nutrients in the juice than in the pop," Fontana said. "A common confusion is that people think drinking the juice is the same as eating the fruit, but it is not the same because of a lack of fiber, which is very important.
"The biggest problem is that many of the juices sold in the United States have a lot of sugar, not as much as pop but still in large amounts," Fontana said. "Because people consider that to be healthy, they drink more of it."
Gatorade tends to be problematic as well, Fontana said. Because Gatorade bottles are so large, the amount of sugar tends to be the same amount as in a 20-ounce bottle of pop.
Fontana said that drinking one 20-ounce bottle of pop, which has 70 grams of sugar, every day for a week is the equivalent of eating a pound of sugar. He said those calories, when combined with sugar from other daily foods, can really provide weight gain problems and diabetic concerns.
One way to avoid unhealthy weight gain, students should drink more water. Students should drink 64 ounces to 72 ounces of water each day or more depending on their level of physical activity, Wilcox said.
Sleep is also important to a body's health. Fontana said people actually gain more weight by staying up and depriving themselves of sleep because a chemical called Leptin is not released. Leptin allows the body to control appetite and it's mostly released during periods of evening sleep.
Sleep deprivations have safety concerns as well.
"Consistent sleep deprivation for several days may have the same effect on your reaction time as being drunk," Fontana said. "If you don't sleep well for three or four days and you have to drive, especially during the night, you may be putting yourself and society as a whole in a lot of danger."
Derrick L. Johnson II and Rick Kambic can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENeic@gmail.com.
Polensky, who is a junior kinesiology and sports studies major, has other things in common with his fellow students besides academics and socializing. Like many other young adults in Illinois Polensky does not get enough physical activity.
"It depends on school," Polensky said. "I play volleyball two times a week and I think that's enough."
Dawn Wilcox, the nutrition education coordinator at Eastern's Health Education Resource Center, said that students should participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day. This averages out to three and a half hours a week.
Studies conducted by the Center for Disease Control in 2005 show that only 56.3 percent of 18 to 24 year olds living in the state of Illinois were receiving the recommended amount of physical activity, while 35.8 percent were getting an insufficient amount and 20.1 percent were not participating in any physical activity.
"Physical activity does not have to be working-out," he said. "Students may engage in activities such as walking, taking the stairs or aerobics in small increments during the day. Any activity is better than none."
While physical activity is a major part of maintaining health, it is not the only part. What students eat is just as important as how much activity they get each day, Wilcox said.
"Students should strive to follow the MyPyramid recommendations which include two to four cups of fruit, three to five cups of vegetables, six cups grains with three cups whole grain, three ounces of meat/beans, and three servings of dairy," Wilcox said.
Mypyramid is an online program that was developed by the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The Web site allows people to measure their food intake and physical activity. Mypyramid also allows people to measure how much they should receive from each of the food groups.
"In Brazil, fruits and vegetables tend to be very cheap compared to industrialized products like pop," Fabio Fontana said. "Because of that, people tend to eat more fruits and vegetables than people do here."
Fontana, an assistant professor of Kinesiology and Sports Studies, said fast food restaurants are also different in Brazil and do not cater to consumers as much as in America.
"Fast food restaurants are really expensive in Brazil," he said. "It's a lot of times more expensive to go to McDonalds in Brazil than it is to go to a fancy Brazilian restaurant that serves beans, meats and salads- things that are a lot healthier."
Fontana earned his bachelor's degree in Brazil and after moving to America he earned his master's and his doctorial degrees.
"In Brazil, you have a two hour break for lunch, so unless you live in a really large city you tend to eat with your family for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Fontana said.
Along with poor diet, poor portion control is also a large factor in the weight gain among college students as well.
This is another problem for Polensky, who said that he only eats two meals a day. This is largely because of his schedule that rarely allows him to eat breakfast.
"I'll have a granola bar probably two days out of the week because I have early morning classes," Polensky said.
"It's extremely important to have three big meals and two snacks," Fontana said. "A lot of times when you only have one big meal you tend to increase the amount of unhealthy snacks to make up for missed calories during the day."
Along with eating portions that are too large or not eating enough, students also eat when it is not necessary. Fontana said families usually helped prevent some of the bad habits that students learn while in college.
"There are many advantages to eating with a family," Fontana said. "One is food choice; a family will tend to see (dinner) as important and will prepare a better meal and secondly, it will keep you away from the television. If you're paying attention to the television then you're not paying attention to how full you are and you tend to eat more."
Calories gained from juice, soda and alcoholic beverages are also major factors in the weight gain among college students, according to Wilcox.
"There is the benefit that you have better nutrients in the juice than in the pop," Fontana said. "A common confusion is that people think drinking the juice is the same as eating the fruit, but it is not the same because of a lack of fiber, which is very important.
"The biggest problem is that many of the juices sold in the United States have a lot of sugar, not as much as pop but still in large amounts," Fontana said. "Because people consider that to be healthy, they drink more of it."
Gatorade tends to be problematic as well, Fontana said. Because Gatorade bottles are so large, the amount of sugar tends to be the same amount as in a 20-ounce bottle of pop.
Fontana said that drinking one 20-ounce bottle of pop, which has 70 grams of sugar, every day for a week is the equivalent of eating a pound of sugar. He said those calories, when combined with sugar from other daily foods, can really provide weight gain problems and diabetic concerns.
One way to avoid unhealthy weight gain, students should drink more water. Students should drink 64 ounces to 72 ounces of water each day or more depending on their level of physical activity, Wilcox said.
Sleep is also important to a body's health. Fontana said people actually gain more weight by staying up and depriving themselves of sleep because a chemical called Leptin is not released. Leptin allows the body to control appetite and it's mostly released during periods of evening sleep.
Sleep deprivations have safety concerns as well.
"Consistent sleep deprivation for several days may have the same effect on your reaction time as being drunk," Fontana said. "If you don't sleep well for three or four days and you have to drive, especially during the night, you may be putting yourself and society as a whole in a lot of danger."
Derrick L. Johnson II and Rick Kambic can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENeic@gmail.com.
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Dr. T
Dr. T
posted 7/10/08 @ 12:51 AM CST
Wilcox was either misquoted or wrong that MyPyramid recommendations include "two to four cups of fruit, three to five cups of vegetables, six cups grains. (Continued…)
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