Chew Off the Freshman 15

By Christina W. Murphy
Cwmurphy@smu.edu

Burger, fries, milkshake, and a few packets of ketchup: the gang’s all here — the ‘trans fat and refined carbohydrate’ gang, that is.

It only takes about 10 minutes to pound it all away even though you spend the entire day thinking about it. SMU nutritionist Morris Brossette stressed the importance of proper nutrition during his Wednesday night lecture, “Avoiding the Freshman 15.”

Bad habits lead to an improper diet

Brossette, who prefers to be called ‘Mo’, said he relates to young students because of his personal college freshman weight-gain.

“It wasn’t until I couldn’t recognize myself in a fraternity formal picture that I realized how much weight I had actually gained,” he said.

Brossette has been a personal trainer for the last 15 years and was an active high school student athlete. It wasn’t long until the young 160-pound freshman weighed in at 195 pounds during his first-year Christmas break.

“I was eating and drinking and NOT sleeping,” said Brossette.

Brossette addresses athletes

In the one-hour lecture, Brossette, who has his degree in exercise science and kinesiology with an emphasis on sports nutrition and performance, encouraged the importance of maintaining a healthy nutrition in order to perform to the best of your ability.

“If you can’t perform, what good are you?” he said.

Performance meant everything to the audience made up of mostly athletes. Swimmers and volleyball players were among those seeking better nutritional value to help in their busy athletic lifestyles.

“It is good to know what is good for you and what is bad for you,” said Sascha Van Den Branden, an SMU junior, freestyle-swimmer from Belgium.

Van Den Branden enjoys American traditions such a burgers and fries and admits getting used to the fast-food culture it offers.

“Its much greasier over here,” said Van Den Branden, “Belgium is much more tasteful.”

Brossette talked in a “one-on-one” tone with the athletic audience, helping them focus on the good fats, protein, and energy needed to perform everyday. Such foods include raisins, almonds, and peanut butter. Lean protein like chicken is excellent, too.

“I want to find a balance in my diet,” said Pia Lara, SMU junior swimmer from Xalapa, Mexico.

Proper nutrition: a cumulative effect

Brossette emphasized simple rules like knowing what is healthy vs. what is not healthy, when to fill up and when to eat less, getting enough rest, and forming habits now to carry out through the rest of your life.

“Students should eat their biggest meal at lunch because they are burning most of their calories between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.,” said Brossette.

College students and young adults often think the best drinks to buy are those vitamin waters or fruit smoothies but they are not considering the sugar intake in these liquid fillers.

“It is the sodium that is stored as fat in your body that students should be aware of,” Brossette said.

He used ‘Vitamin Water’ as an example of a liquid sugar. He told the students and student-athletes that the “healthy” energy drink contains approximately 36 grams of sugar. This fact was not only startling to the athletes but is the reason many of them complain of fatigue just hours after consumption.

“Your body only needs water,” said Brossette. “Sports drinks, fruit smoothies and energy drinks give a huge spike of insulin and then you crash.”

Water and sleep is the recipe for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Sleep is vital and the designated time your body has to recover. If you don’t get enough sleep, your body can become stressed more easily, thus limiting the body’s ability to burn fat.

“What you don’t need for immediate energy gets stored as fat,” said Brossette.

Frequent exercise and food intake decrease stress and curb cravings

Brossette used final exams as a relatable liaison into his stress theory. Because of high stress and little sleep, your body doesn’t know what to do. Cravings like sugar and salt found in pizza and crackers, are common because of the simple sugars that empower your short-term system. He pointed out that cravings will go away if you force yourself to replace the bad food with a salad or something good for yourself.

“ You won’t want that bad craving 20 minutes after replacing it with something healthy, like salad,” he said. “Try that.”

Vegetables-only is not Brossette’s game plan, however. He advises students to limit their fast food intake to once per week and eat your “cheat meal” in the morning so you have all day to burn it off. He does recommend students replace soda with water and most importantly, eat smaller meals more frequently.

“Eating smaller meals every few hours will keep your blood sugar level sustained and your metabolic system steady,” he said. “Set short-term attainable goals and try to move as much as you can.”

Although he thinks the gym is a Petri dish for disease, Brossette said that everyone should find an hour per day to exercise. This will increase the immune system and help sustain healthy lifestyle habits.

“It is your body’s job to survive.”