The Women's Center

Classes have just started to kick up, and the stress of going to college and balancing my social  life and work life has started to kick in. Despite the inevitable growth of stress and shrinkage of free time, this year I started my fall semester with a personal goal:  to not only eat a reasonably healthy and balanced diet, but to stay active as well.

As a Peer Facilitator and a former Orientation Leader I have heard many concerns from incoming students about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle while balancing the responsibilities of being a college student. (The feared and fabled “Freshman Fifteen” often comes up.) Although the urban myth of the Freshman Fifteen is often a buzz topic, their concerns are not without merit. The reoccurring and most popular food choices in our dining halls are pizza, cheeseburgers, and fries. There is nothing wrong with eating these things sometimes, or all of time. An individual’s diet and maintenance of their body is completely up to the individual! However I have always had a strong interest in my own personal fitness and diet because of how diabetes and other related diseases have caused many issues for my relatives.  Because of watching so many of my family members  battle with these complicated health issues, I've decided to become more proactive about my own personal fitness.

Learning about living a healthy lifestyle has really been a journey. Not everyone is going to be a runner, or a yogi, or a complete health nut that shops only at organic co-ops and Whole Foods all the time. Despite this, over the past year or so I have collected 3 universal tips.

Tip #1 Moderate, Don’t Eliminate

A lot of the time people go on crazy fad diets where they eliminate entire sections of the food pyramid. Depriving yourself of the things you enjoy completely will never be healthy. If you wants some pizza, you eat that slice of pizza! If you want a brownie, you enjoy that chocolaty goodness. Just do not go over your own idea of overboard. There is no magical limit for these things, but in the end if you're no longer enjoying eating then, what's the point?

Tip #2 Create a Motivational Wall

Put some things up on your wall that remind you of your own personal goals! (And always make sure that those goals are realistic and healthy!) Your motivational wall should be unique to you, and should motivate you not only for your fitness journey, but other aspects of your life as well!

Tip #3 The person that never tries, never succeeds

Like I said before, not everyone is going to be a runner who weight lifts and has already reached nirvana through yoga. Some people are going to love doing some of those things. Some people are going to hate doing all of them. You have to find the exercises that are right for you, as well as the foods. If you know anything about health crazes, you know chia seeds are an "in" food right now. I hate chia seeds. I hate them a lot. They look like little black bugs that you add to different foods you are eating.  However, I tried them, and that in itself is an accomplishment. As with every part of life, be an open-minded person who is willing to try new things. It will be easier to find whatever is right for you. And if you don't like something, don't do it! That's the beauty of life, you get to make your own choices. The only choice in life that should really never be made is the choice to never try. Once you choose to never try to do something, you also choose to never succeed.

These three tips have helped me the most in the past year or so. Throughout all the crazy food and exercise trends, by staying true to these three 3 things, I found things that work best for me. I hope that all of you  after reading this will find things that work for you as well!