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By Yale Loiacono
Article Contributed to by Andy Bahwell

Exercise and eating program: Going away to college can present a variety of new anxieties and lead to bad eating habits and weight gain. Combined with lack of exercise, gaining the “freshman 20” is an all too common occurrence that needs to stop! I have three good ideas and tips that will help you stop and avoid this.

# 1 Eat Breakfast!
Eating early, gets the bodies metabolism up and running!! If you are someone who thinks skipping breakfast will help you lose weight, think again! Studies show that eating breakfast is associated with better weight control. An ongoing study of people who have maintained weight loss of at least 30 pounds for more than a year shows that eating breakfast keeps people slimmer (National Weight Control Registry). So Breakfast is still the most important meal of the day!!

Breakfast eaters tend to eat fewer calories, less saturated fat and cholesterol and have better overall nutritional status than breakfast skippers. When you skip breakfast, your metabolic rate slows down and your blood sugar drops. Think about it- your last meal was probably 8-12 hours ago, and your body is looking for energy and food and is literally starving itself. 4 hours later, at work or at home, you begin to get hungry and have less energy. This sets you up to impulsively snack in the morning - often on high-fat sweets - or to eat extra servings or bigger portions at lunch or dinner

When you eat breakfast, your body feels nourished and satisfied, making you less likely to over eat the rest of the day or grab that instant sugar energy food. Again you have to feed the furnace and supply your body with constant energy so your body never thinks it is starving and starts storing foods as fat tissue.

Because natural fruits, vegetables and whole grains are high in complex carbohydrates and fiber, they are absorbed slowly and satisfy our feelings of hunger. Heavily processed foods, on the other hand, are not only low in nutritional value, but they don't make us feel satisfied so we eat more of them. They are made from refined ingredients that are so tasteless they require large amounts of salt, sugar, fat, and high-priced advertising to make them attractive.

# 2 Eat more frequent and smaller healthy meals during the day!
People that grab fast convenient high sugar foods to snack on for instant energy, quickly raises your insulin levels and you to throw your body into fat storage mode. If you eat bigger portions at lunch and dinner because you have not had any food for 8-15 or more hours your body will be in starvation mode and it will store ANY of that food as fat!

People who eat healthy, mostly unprocessed foods, including fruit, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, legumes (lentils, dry beans and peas), and limited amounts of lean animal protein (reduced-fat dairy, fish, chicken, and lean cuts of other meats), often find that they can eat as much as they want without gaining weight. If they are switching from a diet containing lots of processed foods, they find that they can eat more yet consume fewer calories -- and they lose weight.

Perhaps our biggest nutritional mistake has been turning away from foods in their natural state. We have replaced them with processed foods that have been modified to last longer, be easier to manufacture and distribute, and be more convenient to store and use.

# 3 Start and maintain an exercise program.
This can be as simple as going to the courts after class to have a pick up game of hoops. Setting aside some “fun” time to exercise is very important in helping the body regulate HUNGER PANGS LATER IN THE EVENING and helps you fall asleep early enough to get the rest your body needs to get up refreshed and ready to go!