If you're the parent of a child in University or have attended a post-secondary school yourself, you've most likely considered the “
freshman fifteen”, a notorious fear that plagues students. While it is a common belief that
students gain the most weight in their first year, this is surprisingly untrue – most students end up gaining the weight gradually throughout their University years as opposed to packing it all on in the beginning. Not getting the right amount of sleep or keeping stress levels at bay contribute to weight gain in University, as do poor diet and lack of exercise. Thankfully, post-secondary institutions nearby like Ryerson, University of Toronto, and York all offer opportunities to maintain a healthy lifestyle during your time there, including nutritious eating options to extracurricular activities that can help keep you in shape.
All of these schools promote healthy living through adequate exercise. For example,
UofT offers free fitness drop-in programs that have a variety of options to choose from including swimming, yoga, and basketball.
Ryerson offers 10% off personal training for the month of January, and York offers a free gym membership. These schools also give students healthy eating options.
York has partnered with Eat Smart! and Toronto Public Health to provide healthier meals, and students can simply look for the Eat Smart! logo on foods around campus to know they're making a healthy choice. Many of Ryerson's meal options include fresh and local ingredients, and U of T's restaurant “Sammy's Student Exchange” focuses specifically on healthy alternatives.
Despite the efforts made by these
Toronto Universities, there are clearly more unhealthy options available for students than there are healthy options. The convenience of fast, unhealthy choices like pizza or take-out are more ideal to students with time constraints, more specifically during exams or other especially busy times. Prioritizing healthy eating options and making small changes like cooking instead of ordering out could make a huge difference in students' health. For this reason, many post-secondary schools have grocery stores on or near the campus. Click
here to view a list of grocery stores near the University of Toronto.
Not only does the typical busy schedule of a University student make cooking their own meals a challenge, it also makes finding the time to exercise extremely difficult. Internationally, 50% of post-secondary students report insufficient levels of physical activity. Personally, in my first few months as a University student I quickly went form having a rigid schedule of working out everyday to going to the gym maybe twice a week or less. The trend I used to follow is a common one; there is an overall decrease of 24% in physical activity levels among Canadian adolescents transitioning into early adulthood (the usual age of transition from high school to University or college).
In my experience, there are two main things you can do to stay motivated to maintain a
healthy lifestyle. The first is surround yourself with people who prioritize their health: you'd be surprised how much easier it is to cook a meal or walk all the way across campus to the gym when your friends are doing it with you. The second is to realize that having a healthy diet and exercising may take time out of your busy schedule, but it is
helping you, not hurting you! Students are better able to retain the information they are studying and get higher grades when they fuel their body with nutrients and stay active.
Eating right and getting adequate exercise are usually viewed as difficult and burdensome challenges that students have the option to complete, but they should be seen as essential pick-me-ups and a priority that they look forward to rather than a task.
