Students blog

It’s hard to talk about diets and nutritional tracking without mentioning the social and psychological implications surrounding these topics. It is crucial to remember that while changing your lifestyle can be conducive to your health, it can become destructive if taken to the point of obsession. Societal expectations unfortunately do not help with this issue. For years, the media has shaped what the ideal of “happy, healthy, and beautiful” should look like, especially for young adults. With each generation, a new physique is idolized along with a new fad diet to help the “average” person reach these ideals. While the effects of these diets often end up being short-term, the negative effects on body image and relationship with food are often long-term. My own battles with body image and unhealthy eating habits have attracted me to the field of dietetics and nutritional health. Even though I still struggle from time to time, one of the most helpful tools in overcoming these issues is changing the way I create my definition of health. In this blog, I want to address some of the movements and affirmations that helped me redefine what my best self looks and feels like.

Movements

Healthy at Every Size (HAES)

One of the hardest obstacles I had to overcome with my body image is that no matter how much I changed my lifestyle habits, I would never look like the physique I was chasing after. Something would always be a little off — in the scale, the mirror, in pictures. The Healthy At Every Size (HAES) movement pivots away from many of the focuses within traditional dieting methods. Rather than focusing on losing weight, restricting diets, and intense exercise routines, HAES encourages participants to focus on accepting their size and trusting their bodies. When it comes to vital ratings, it is shown that participants who adopt this approach to health often have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol than strict dieting groups. Instead of calculating what a healthy physique looks like for a person based on algorithms, HAES recognizes that healthy body weight may vary just like our shoe sizes and heights. There’s no set perfect weight for every individual.

Mindful eating and eating in moderation

Mindful eating and eating in moderation fall under the HAES dogma. In these practices, following natural hunger cues is encouraged over restricting foods and caloric intake. Since no food is declared as being “bad” or “good” for your health, a varied diet of all types of foods is highly recommended. This is not to say that eating sugary, salty, and highly processed foods are a free-for-all or that supersized portions are encouraged. Rather, these practices seek to remove the anxiety and obsessive tendencies that following a strict diet may create. To this day, I catch myself feeling guilty for eating out multiple times a day or eating a second serving of dessert since my previous diet plans would not allow for it. By adopting mindful eating and eating in moderation, I am slowly relearning that it is OK to have a second slice of cake if I’m hungry, as long as my overall diet is still varied with fruits and vegetables.

Affirmations

Your clothes should fit you

Another source of insecurity with body image for me, and many college-aged students, is clothing size. There have been many times when I have bought clothing and promised myself I would wear it when I reached my weight loss goals. Conversely, there have been times when I have broken down since clothing I bought a couple of years ago is now too tight. While it may seem silly, it is important to keep in mind that your clothes should fit you; you shouldn’t fit your clothes. Many clothing stores do not follow the same sizing guidelines. Furthermore, it is natural for your body to go through changes over the course of the year and even throughout the day. If something doesn’t fit, don’t get discouraged.

Your body is capable of amazing things — appreciate it

The underlying message of this post is to love yourself the way that you are. Follow your health goals to feel your best, not to look like what other people think is your best. Fuel it to be happy, train it to be healthy, and appreciate what it is and is not capable of at the moment. No matter how you look, your body is capable of amazing things.

I hope you were able to learn a little bit more about nutrition and health. From looking at what nutrients college-aged students are deficient in, to new recipes to include within your daily diet, and finally, to concerns about body image, we have analyzed nutrition on biological, practical, and societal levels.

For more practice with nutrition tracking and health resources, check out MyDietAnaylsis.  

Starting college is exciting -- and frightening. Between planning my move to school, worrying if I’ll become friends with my roommates, and researching what classes I should take, I never considered what my daily, mundane life as a college student might look like. Once I settled in and all the excitement and nervousness died down, a new feeling quickly replaced them- hunger. I suddenly realized I was truly on my own for everything now, including meals.

As a dietetics student, I felt like I had an advantage. I knew I needed to eat fruits and vegetables often, fiber and protein would help keep me full for long periods of time, and I should limit fast food. But when classes picked up steam and new responsibilities piled up, these sensible doctrines were replaced by: what foods will take the quickest route from the plate to my stomach for the cheapest amount?

Last fall was the first time I realized that my diet may not be ideal for my health. My human nutrition professor assigned a diet and nutrition analysis. Using a nutrition tracker, we were expected to analyze our diet for one day and describe any nutritional deficiencies we had. After completing this assignment, I realized my daily diet had deficiencies in B12, Zinc, Vitamin D, and Calcium.

It turns out that many college-aged students are also deficient in these micronutrients without realizing it. We tend to focus on macronutrients - carbohydrates, proteins, and fats - along with calories, sugar, and salt intake. So it’s easy to overlook micronutrient deficiencies. However, continuing imbalances in micronutrients can also adversely affect your health.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 binds naturally to animal proteins. Some foods, such as plant milks and cereals, can also be artificially fortified to include B12. Through the digestive process, B12 is released from the food’s proteins and repackaged to be absorbed by the small intestine. Once absorbed, B12 is used by the body to help form red blood cells, DNA, brain cells, and nerve cells. It is recommended that college-aged adults consume at least 2.4 micrograms of Vitamin B12 daily. This is equivalent to a small portion of salmon or two cups of yogurt.

People with a B12 deficiency often show signs of fatigue, weakness, or confusion. Deficiencies are most common for people who avoid animal products, such as vegetarians and vegans, and for those who eat a limited diet – but fortification can help prevent them.

Zinc

Another micronutrient commonly found in meat, fish, and poultry is zinc. It can also be obtained from non-animal sources, such as beans, nuts, and whole grains. However, zinc from these sources is not as easily absorbed by the body. Nutrition professionals say these sources have a lower bioavailability of zinc.

Once absorbed, zinc is used to help create DNA, new cells, build proteins, heal wounds, and support immunity as well as many other bodily processes. The recommended daily intake for college-aged adults is between 8 – 11 milligrams. (This is equivalent to four servings of breakfast cereal.)

People with a zinc deficiency often show signs of decreased sense of taste or smell, loss of appetite, lowered immunity, and slower wound healing. Vegetarians, vegans, and alcoholics are most at risk for zinc deficiencies.

Vitamin D and Calcium

Vitamin D and calcium work together to promote bone and tooth health. People with vitamin D and calcium deficiencies are likely to experience bone weakening, muscle cramps, and poor appetite, among other challenges. In addition to assisting with the absorption of calcium, vitamin D also helps immune responses. Calcium also assists in bodily processes such as blood clotting, muscle contracts, heart rate regulation, and nerve functions.

The sun is the most abundant source of vitamin D. However, for students who live in a less sunny state, or spend their days locked away in a campus library, vitamin D can also be derived from fatty fish, fortified orange juice, mushrooms, and egg yolks. People with darker skin tones are also susceptible to vitamin D deficiencies. Higher concentrations of melanin, the substance that promotes skin pigmentation, absorbs some solar UV radiation that would otherwise be used to produce vitamin D. The recommended daily intake for college-aged adults is 15 micrograms per day. This is equivalent to 1 cup of white mushrooms.

Calcium can be found in a variety of sources such as dairy products (and many of their vegan alternatives), leafy greens, beans, and nuts. It is recommended that college-aged adults consume 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day. This is equivalent to 4 cups of fortified soy milk.

Explore more deeply

Not every college-aged student is deficient in these nutrients. Some may have different deficiencies, while others may have none. Only a doctor or certified medical professional can reliably diagnosis a nutritional deficiency. Nonetheless, hopefully this list will give you a better understanding of nutrients that might be missing from your diet, and how diet tracking can help make these discoveries.

Want to learn more about diet tracking? Check out MyDietAnalysis, a powerful tool that helps students log their diet and activity choices and provides detailed nutrition and activity reports to help you practice nutrition analysis.