Avoiding College Weight Gain

To ensure that you don’t gain extra weight, take control of your eating habits by eating nutritional, well-balanced meals and exercise regularly. 

You Are Not Alone. 

Millions of freshmen across the nation struggle with weight gain each year as they adjust to college life, and quite often this weight gain comes as an unpleasant surprise as they return home and step on the scale at Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

So in this time when college weight gain has become almost as inevitable as term end finals how do you, the college student, know if you are gaining the freshman fifteen? 

1. Have the contents of your diet changed since entering college? 

Calorie laden cafeteria food, greasy fast food, and cheesy pizzas often become staples in the diet of a college student. When you lived at home chances are that your parents served well-balanced, nutritious meals. 

Once arriving at college, however, your diet can skyrocket in extra fat and calories resulting in weight gain. 

2. Have you been eating more since entering college? 

Buffet style cafeterias and late night snacks increase the total calories that you eat each day. When you consider the fact that one pound equals 3,500 calories, and extra 500 calories each day will be an extra pound gained each week. 

3. Has your activity level decreased since entering college? 

Hectic class schedules, part time jobs, and social activities often dominate your days, leaving no time for the gym. 

You may have played on a sports team in High School or participated in some other organized activity that now has no place in your schedule. This decrease in activity will end up showing around your waistline. 

Did you answer yes to one or more of the above questions? If so, then chances are that you are on your way to gaining the Freshman Fifteen.

But wait! You don’t have to follow in the footsteps of the millions of college freshmen who gain this unwanted weight each year. By making yourself aware of the causes of this traditional weight gain you have already won half of the battle.

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How Can Hoodia Help You Lose Weight?

Hoodia is a cactus-like succulent. I have seen it described as an ugly cactus, but as cacti go, I would say it is about average in the looks department. 

Not that its looks really matter; you will not be going up to it and giving it a loving hug. You might, however, want to give it a little bite, whether out of curiosity, or because you have heard it can help you lose weight. 

The hoodia plant that has recently been associated with weight loss potential is hoodia gordonii, one of a large group of succulent plants called Asclepiadaceae. 

How Can Hoodia Help You Lose Weight? 

Hoodia Gordonii grows in the Kalahari desert in Africa, and has done for thousands of years. It clearly thrives in very high temperatures, but it also takes many years to mature. 

Also living in the same region are the San Tribesmen, or Bushmen. The San are amongst the world’s  oldest and most primitive tribes. 

The San have been eating hoodia plants for thousands of years. Now, I am sure your vision of an African desert tribe would not be anything like obese Americans or Europeans, for whom hoodia has been mooted as a possible weight loss aid. 

In fact, you probably imagine quite the opposite, a lithe and slender people struggling to survive on desert morsels. You would be right. How, then, can the San's inclusion of hoodia in their diet have anything to do with weight loss aids? 

The answer is in the reason they have, for all those generations, been eating the hoodia cactus. Their quest for food in the shifting sands of the Kalahari Desert has always meant going on long hunting expeditions. 

Instant gratification for hunger pangs was not usually on the menu, so with their hunting trips lasting for days, they ate hoodia gordonii because it suppressed those hunger pangs for long periods. 

No hunger pangs meant no overwhelming desire to eat. That made the whole hunting process that much more bearable. 

You are probably now beginning to see how hoodia might come to the aid of the obese and overweight. Those who have trouble controlling their eating urges may have a close ally in Hoodia Gordonii. 

If a dose of the plant can suppress their desire to eat, to stop them feeling hungry at meal times, then surely they will find it easier to cut back on calorie intake? 

That was the theory that sparked scientific studies of Hoodia Gordonii. 

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I think we all know where the answer lie for why the Children of the 21st century don't laugh any more

The good old days as I remember them were just that, the good old days. Children of the 21st century 

Playing hopscotch hide and seek even a game of rounders was all in a day's fun for a thirteen year old in the good old days. Of course all good things come to an end when called in against your will and ordered up the stairs to wash behind your ears before bed, while the children of the 21st century slap on war paint to disguise their identities for approval into many disco night clubs. . 

Succeeding in their mission to gain those added years they would then dance and party till dawn, while I remember back to my navy blue knickers and white vest hanging up to dry in front of an open coal fire for school the next morning. 

The nature and attitude of the Children of the 21st century is so different from the days long gone. Children today have a lifestyle not a childhood, whose fault is that I ask. Where do the answers lie? 

Remembering back to the words of Mother in the good old days, "There is your dinner"! Now it is "what you would like for dinner"? Another household saying of Mum's was "I can not afford that". Twenty first century mums can by doing an extra shift at work. 

And in the in the good old days the threats cast upon us from Mother, threats like, are you looking for a good hiding, No I was not looking for a good hiding, but you never dared to answer back unless of course you were looking for another clout. Nowadays it is the other way round, where a great many Mothers live under threat from their own flesh and blood. 

"Where do the answers lie" I ask myself once again. 

Drinking was strictly for the adults in the good old days not for teens on the street corner who are not long out of nappies. Drugs in the good old days were prescribed by a Doctor not a dealer, the only dealer we knew of in those days were the ones who dealt the cards in a game of snap. 

Will the Children of the 21st Century ever learn? Yes given the right teacher, that being Mummy and Daddy, then as your star pupil begins to grow up he learns to respect his/her elders, that now being Mum or Dad. 

Giving into your children's needs and wants is not helping them for the big bad world out there, teach them to stand on their own two feet and if that means going back to the good old days then so be it. Which isn't so bad just to hear the laughter of children growing up in their own time. 

I think we all know where the answer lie for why the Children of the 21st century don't laugh any more.

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Until then, there are some things that you can do to lessen diet pill risks

 

I wish I had a nickel for every weight loss aid and pill on the market. You and I could both retire. Many of these have been associated with serious medical risks, including heart attack, heart abnormalities, tachycardia, stroke, seizures and death. That's pretty scary! 

Most diet pills are appetite suppressants of one kind or another, generally stimulants with effects similar to those of amphetamine. They're okayed for treatment of obesity, where it's considered that the health risks associated with obesity outweigh the risks of the medication. 

But is you have less than 30 pounds to lose, the risks are far less cut-and-dried. Over the counter medications and their risks are not as well-documented as the effects of prescription diet pills. Herbal preparation effects are documented even less, especially those whose makers don't officially make weight loss claims. 

Here's part of the problem. As long as they don't contain a 'new' ingredient, or one that has never been marketed for weight loss purposes, weight-loss aids are not subject to FDA review. Instead, the manufacturer is held responsible for the safety and effectiveness of their products. So a lot of times that means unregulated dosages, unhealthy additives and ineffective ingredients. 

Hopefully, one day all over the counter medications and herbal preparations marketed as weight loss supplements will be labeled and tested by impartial researchers. Until then, there are some things that you can do to lessen diet pill risks. 

Research thoroughly. There's a lot of information out there about drugs and herbs like ephedra, ephinedrine, phentermine and sibutramine. Know what you're taking and what the risks are so that you can watch for side effects. 

Always talk to your doctor before you start taking any drug or herbal supplement. Yes, I know you've heard this a thousand times, but there are good reasons for the advice! Some products interact poorly with other medications, or have an adverse effect on chronic conditions. 

Follow dosage instructions. Overdoses of stimulant medications, which are a component of most weight loss preparations, can be serious and severe. 

Don't take any weight loss pill or supplement for more than a few weeks unless a doctor has prescribed it. 

Ask your pharmacist when purchasing over the counter weight loss preparations to be sure that the ingredients don't interact with other medications you may be taking. Include both prescription and nonprescription medications in your questions. 

There are much more healthy and effective ways to lose weight than taking pills. The potential of serious health problems remains. It's an awful lot of risk for a little weight loss.

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By losing weight and starting a healthier way of life you can really save a lot of money

If you are overweight, you may be more at risk of developing disease. That should be reason enough to lose weight. Weight related conditions include:

• Premature death
• Cardiovascular disease
• High blood pressure
• High Cholesterol
• Stroke
• Gallbladder Disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Sleep apnea and breathing problems
• Some cancers
• Diabetes

Obesity can also cause irregular periods, complication with pregnancy, hirsutism (excessive body and facial hair), incontinence, depression, surgery complications and more.

If your health doesn't concern you, maybe your pocketbook does. By staying overweight, you may increase the amount of time spent visiting various healthcare professionals. Most of them don't work for free. Medications to treat these diseases can run into hundreds of dollars a month. Not to mention, you may have to take more time off work to care for your ailments. This means less income for you. And, you may notice that your health insurance premiums keep going up. It's because the amount being spent on healthcare keeps going up. A majority of which is related to treating problems that could be prevented by exercise and staying at a healthy weight. What a vicious cycle it is.

The annual cost associated with obesity and being overweight is staggering. The national cost of healthcare related to this is well over $100 Billion dollars. Diabetes and heart disease are among the fastest growing diseases that could easily be prevented in most people by staying at a healthy weight and exercising. 

By losing weight and starting a healthier way of life you can really save a lot of money. Eating healthier usually also means eating less. You may be able to save on the amount you spend on groceries and eating out each week too. Think of all the other things you could do with that money you'll be saving. It may require an initial investment to get the weight off but the rewards are well worth it. 

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