in this issue...
Page 1...
Got the Dieting Blues?
Find out how you get stop
the dieting cycle and still
stay fit and healthy.
Alcohol: A stress
Reliever?
Think drinking alcohol
will help reduce stress?
Guess again. Find out
about more effective ways
of managing stress.
Page 2...
Hey There, Sleepy Head!
Need some help getting a
good night sleep? We’ve got
some tips that will help
you snooze.
Fuel up
Before you hit the gym for
a workout, be sure to give
your body the fuel it
needs. Learn more about
how carbohydrates can
give your the energy you
need to maximize your
workouts.
Page 3...
Boost Your Performance
Thinking about using diet
supplements to enhance
performance? Before you
start, you should learn
about the risks.
The Lowdown on
Cettin' High
Are more people smoking
pot at the U of O? Or, are
more people just getting
caught? And, is pot smok
ing as harmless as most
people think? You decide.
Health Education Program
Avoid Those Dieting Blues
oij neicli Kricr
Now that spring break has ended, many of
us are coming back to school with a tan and a
tired body. Why so tired after a week of relax
ation? The cause could be some “post-party
blues” or the lingering effects of a pre-spring
break diet. Your friends tell you how great you
look, especially with the radiating glow from
your new tan. The problem is you don’t feel
beautiful despite all your efforts to look great.
These days, we get a lot of mixed messages
about health and beauty. The media portrays
women as healthy if they are thin and have a
“healthy glow” to them, yet we all know the
damage sun can have on our skin. But did you
know that it is healthier to be overweight than
underweight? Research indicates that is actu
ally healthier to be 30% overweight than 30%
underweight.
Many of today’s popular dieting tech
niques, such as chronic diets, yo-yo diets and
crash diets are very dan
gerous to the body and
can lead to a number of
physiological and psy
chological effects. For
example, dieting can lead
to increased risk of heart
disease, restriction of
brainpower, thinning hair
and loss of coordination.
The dieting industry
claims these diets give
you the healthy body you
have always dreamed.
Their tactic seems to be
working because an esti
mated $33 billion dollars each
year is spent in the U.S. on
r
gimmicks that just don’t work.
Dieting Myths Versus Dieting Facts
Dieting actually does the opposite of what
you want your body to do. Going on a calorie
restricted diet slows down your metabolism
and sets the body into a starvation mode.
When this happens, the body tends to store
incoming calories as fat and may even use
your muscle as an energy source. Further
more, people can not sustain the low restric
tion of calories for long periods of time and
either gain the weight back or are in danger of
developing an eating disorder. According to
E.D.A.P. (eating disorders awareness and pre
vention), 95 % of people on these types of
diets gain the weight back, most within one to
five years. Diets can also rob us of energy and
restrict our brain power — two things that are
essential in being a successful college student!
Diets that restrict eating of whole food groups
(i.e. the protein diet) can also harm the body.
These diets lack the
nutrients and carbohy
drates that are the ain
ingredients needed for
our body to produce
energy.
How can YOU stay
healthy?
Many of you may be
asking whether there is
any way to lose unwant
ed pounds or to keep the
weight off in a healthy
way. Well, there are a num
ber of ways to keep your
body at healthy weight for
you, which may be above
the standard you or the
media has set. There are some healthy alterna
tives to the ill-fated world of diet fads, and
they could be helpful in achieving your goals.
It is important to remember we are all des
tined to be different sizes, however. Just
because you are larger than someone else does
not mean you are less healthy than they are.
Healthy tips for weight loss and
maintenance
• Learn to love your body and set reasonable
goals.
• Choose food from all food groups (if vegetar
ian follow vegetarian food guide pyramid) that
provides adequate calcium, iron and protein.
• Diets that balance calories in with energy
expended are easier to stick with and main
tain long term.
• Moderation is the key to any healthy
lifestyle. Any food is okay as long as it is eaten
in moderation. Exercise should also be in
moderation as well; overdoing it can cause
burnout or injury.
• Don’t skip meals. Your body needs a steady
supply of energy and skipping meals can cause
you to overeat later.
• Exercise regularly-let your body be your
guide. Start out slow and ease into a workout
regimen. You should feel good after you have
worked out and you should feel the benefits in
more than just weight loss.
• Try not to lose more than one to two pounds
a week.
• For information on what is a healthy weight
for you, talk with a nutritionist to help you
stay on track. The University of Oregon’s
nutritionist, Kristen Olmos, can help you cre
ate a regimen that is good for you. Contact her
at 346-2794.
Stressing Out Over Alcohol
By Jennifer Youngblood
You have an 8-page paper due
next week that you haven’t even
started. Your roommate is driving
you absolutely crazy. Your par
ents are perpetually bugging you
about last quarter’s grades and
how you should study more. And
to top it all off, your boyfriend
(or girlfriend, whichever the case
may be) said you’re too moody
lately and decided to give you
some space to work things out on
your own.
So many things are piling up
on top of you and you’re begin
ning to feel like you’ve lost your
sanity. So, what do you decide to
do? Well, that’s simple. You do
what you think everybody else
does — go to your favorite bar or
stay home with your drink of
choice and make all your prob
lems go away.
It may not be a new solution
to your problems, but it seems to
work for all your friends, so why
not? Of course you’re going to
forget about your stress-filled life
for awhile, but as soon as you get
over that hangover from your
“solution,” you’ll remember all
your problems because, surprise!,
they’re still there!
In reality, alcohol isn’t a very
good stress reliever because it acts
as a depressant and elevates the
stress levels in your body. This
means that it
depresses the
central ner
vous system,
giving you the
sense ofbeing
more relaxed
(which is why
you went out
in the first
place, right?).
But, after it’s
done making
you feel semi
relaxed, it will
then make you
feel more
depressed (which
is something you
didn’t want!).
This nervous sys
tem depression causes a stress
response and adds one more
thing to your already long list of
stressors. Unless these stressors
are taken care of appropriately,
they can have serious effects on
your health and lead to even
more stress!
Interestingly,
seeing college stu
dents using alco
hol as a stress
reliever may not
seem too unfamil
iar at the Univer
sity of Oregon.
According to the
1998 University
Health Center
Survey, 14.2%
of our student
population
report that they
drink 3-4 days
per week. But
the same sur
vey also shows
that 71.1 % of
students han
dle stress “excellently” or
“well.” The point is that even
though it may seem like a popular
stress management technique for
a lot of students, not everybody
drinks it up when things get too
stressful. There are other ways!
Instead of using alcohol to
manage the stress in your life, try
some new approaches. Go for a
quick walk, ride your bike, talk
with a friend, go to the mall,
rollerblade through the park,
work out at the rec center, read a
good book, do breathing exercis
es, join a yoga class — The list
goes on and on, and you can add
numerous personal touches to it.
Be original! Be creative! Do
something that is going to make
you feel better, rather than tip
ping back the bottle and causing
yourself some more unwanted
stress.
But if you feel like nothing
can possibly help you, go to the
Counseling Center located at the
University Health Center (or you
can call 346-3227 or 346-4488
after hours) and talk with a coun
selor, free of charge.
university Health Center
Spring 2
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