Beat the Freshman Fifteen: tips for staying healthy and fit at school

Alana Pona, The Projector (Red River College)

WINNIPEG (CUP)—Christopher Shane eats his fruits
and vegetables. Every morning, the first-year business
administration student at the University of Winnipeg
packs a healthy lunch of apples, bananas, dried fruit, and

trail mix.

The 18-year-old focuses on maintaining a healthy
lifestyle, working out regularly at the gym, and conscious-
ly eating fruits and vegetables between classes, rather
than snacking on pizza from the cafeteria.

“IT don’t have money for it, and I stay away from
processed food because I like to work out. It goes hanin

hand,” says Shane.

Shane admits that his diet has changed slightly since
the school year began, but he makes a constant effort to
pack enough healthy food to last him for the day.

Mark Surzyshyn, a nutritionist at Advantage Nutrition
Counselling, says he believes that Shane is not the typical
university student. “When a lot of people go to universi-
ty they see it as a time to buckle down and study. The diet
says Surzyshyn. Students don’t want
to bring lunches, or don’t make time to bring food to

quality is degraded,”

school, he says.

Recent studies done in the US found that students in
their first year of university are more likely
weight. A study done at Cornell University in New York
found that students gained an average of four pounds
during the first 12 weeks of their freshman year—a gain
that is 11 times higher than the typical weight gain for 17-

and 18-year-olds.

Surzyshyn attributes the shift to the sedentary, emo-
tionally charged new lifestyle to the gain of the dreaded

“freshman 15.”

The freshman 15 usually refers to the extra 15 pounds
that some students pack on during their first year of uni-

versity.

food,”

patterns,”

strategy.

lifestyle,” he says.

your body works,”

is power.”

Craig Bonnett, a personal trainer at Shapes

to gain ting active.

utes.

laughing.”

“We're dealing with the stress factor. For many,
it may be their first trip away from home. A lot of
people are emotional eaters and find comfort in
says Surzyshyn. But he said that the over-
consumption of processed foods might affect
students’ performance in class.

“When people eat poorly, or their meals are too
big or infrequent, it bogs them down, in a physio-
logical sense, in their thought and cognitive
says Surzyshyn. He recommends using
exercise and proper eating as a crucial counter

“Understand the basics of eating and what is
considered more beneficial for a sedentary

He suggests adopting a new diet to the ever-
changing new environment. “Understand how
says Surzyshyn
prepare a lunch in advance if you don’t have the
basic info on the proper food and diet. Knowledge

Fitness Centre in Winnipeg, suggests simply get-
He recommends making physical
activity part of your daily routine, specifically
working out three to four times a week for 30 min-

“Do something,” said Bonnett. “There are so
many mediums of physical activity like running,
biking, resistance training, Pilates, even sports.”
Bonnett admits that it’s difficult to stick to a rou-
tine on a busy schedule, but says the results are
worth it. “The hardest thing is making this a part of
your routine,” he said. “Once you do that, you’re

. “It’s useless to

 

 

 

arching for
oxwoymelh

Tom Mellish, Special to the OP

 

 
  
    
 
 
 
  
  

ae

come to'’Hadzic Rock;
wn in Halkomelem as Xa:ytem (pro-
nounced, “HAY-tum”). There, is the
XA:ytem Longhouse Intetpretive Centre, a
reat tourist attraction, and education

won, you

tre. These transformers are positioned
and down the Stéd? (of Fraser River),
tes where it is said, Xails, the son of
he sun—a prominent figure in St6:1? cos-
_mology—transformed creaturés into
“stone. These stones supposedly ‘contain

of these

  

  
   
 

orce”

 

XS

‘Sxwoyinelh, the brane Romed of, New
tminster, is what the Piiidzig Rotk i is

    
 
 

:

 

 

BCnoner = ab/aooe

ou go East.to the Eastern border of

to Mission, It is.a said that Xa:ls. trans-
formed a-Warrior into ‘stone

 

a warrior
who still resides there.

Sxwoymelh contains the-spirit of your
Qaygayt ancestor, Culturally, it is»a living
site, not in statis, but alive through its peo-

ple.

It was an innocuous July 31, 2004,

when the.good doctor, archaeologist Jenn
Wallace, her.companion Jeremy, and this
find
Westminster

writer-cum-journalist, set

New

out to
Sxwoymelh—the
‘Transformer.
The question on my mind was, “Will
the guardian forces at work allow us to
find ‘this lost treasutez? It had been my
tion to further explore: two weeks
before, I had introduced The Doctor sto
the. Skaiametl seitlement at Glenbrooke
Creek (Colustibia and Richards) and we
had plannéd the n
finding the stone

 

 

  
  

outing in hopes of
wn as Sxwoymelh.

What got me going x was reading of thes.
stone in The ie Coast Salish’ Historical” ~ Skwekwte’

 

 

 

Alas. Therein, was a map of the New
Westminster area, and a huddle of First
Nation sites. One of these was a trans-
former. I knew about Xa:ytem. It was very
public and educational. After living in
New Westminster for over 30 years, I fig-
ured I knew all there was to’ know—which

 

wasn’t much. This was news to me, and

hidden side of New Westminstet
excited me. But still, I had no idea where
its €xactlocation was.

The Brunette River gets its name from
the leaching of peat into the river, which
colouts it brown. William Holmes, the
first settler in Burnaby, dubbed it around
: tiver, which was used as a

    
  
 
   
  
   
   

salmon. But_. thanks -
h and Gane Club eS
ome back to_life.

and ‘nother settlement,

ypen Sewer ii.the 1960s, was _

‘Tsitslhes;:(ts_icul’us), which means “dry-
ing” probably in reference to the tradition
of wind-drying fish, and finally
Schechi:les, another settlement, meaning
“strong lungs.” I had been down near the
mouth of the Brunette, but only fora cur-
sory glance.

Supposedly, the Transformer site was
just upriver from. Sapperton Landing
Park. Dr. Wallace drove down Brunette
Avenue and took a right down Braid to
where it crossed the Brunette. This is
where I’thought it might be: deep dark
water moving: softly for the Pacific, This
was Panel and Fibre at 430 Canfor
Avenue.

Where we had ended up was on
Canfor property. There was a huge pile of
woodchips, and a loud engine sounding
somewhere nearby.

The Doctor and I jumped out to take
a ldek around, while Jeremy guarded the
car. I avérted my eyes from.a “Do Not
Trespass” signyand.made a:beeline for the

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