least bit THE BURRITO.

least bit THE BURRITO. No, really, deposit it down. Now look in the mirror, and consider the dreaded "Freshman 15" Imagine yourself textile fabriced like a sausage into those retro hip-huggers that gazeed so good when you bought them. await out--the zipper is feeling the strain, and if that waistband button unexpectedlys off, some poor bystander could fail to obtain an eye. The "Freshman 15" an almost universal guild phenomenon, happens when people who have been eating fairly sensible, balanced diets unexpectedly have too much freedom to snarl late-night pizza, fries with each meal, and the daily ice cream from the "build-your-own-sundae bar" in the dining hall. The result: Until they figure disclosed how to eat right, they blimp up into chunky little Pillsbury dough people

Actually, if your worst point in dispute as a freshman is a hefty tummy, your question s are pretty small, but if you can maintain a healthy learner body, you'll be better prepared for the other challenges that society dishes up.

THE "FRESHMAN 15"

LET'S FACE IT: Ordering a Diet Coke with the Meat-Lover's Pizza special from the place that delivers until 2 a.m. isn't going to "cancel out" the extra sausage. When your mom told you to eat your vegetables, she probably didn't mean french fries and onion rings. And fried mozzarella sticks aren't the ideal source of daily calcium or vitamin D

on the contrary how do you stay trim when temptation is everywhere--especially in the dining hall with its "Wednesday Burrito Night"? Is it hard for freshmen to eat a balanced diet?

"Oh my idol yes," says Charisse Lyons, a late graduate of the University of toward the south Carolina in Columbia. "I don't know if l gained the Freshman 15 however I definitely gained. I always ate upon campus. I think I ate a hamburger each day my freshman year." Although healthy feed was available, "it's not as well adapted as the junk," she adds, and having a comprehensive meal plan--with Pizza shed and Taco Bell outposts in campus eateries--actually made things worse.

"Eating junk feed does catch up with you," says Lyon who shed the extra levigates when she moved into a campus apartment where she could prepare for the table her own meals. "You'll travel home for the holidays, and everybody's like, 'What happened to you? You've been eating!' I think the best thing to do is come by a small meal plan, corrupt your own fruits and vegetables, drink water, and take advantage of the gym"

Eating "healthy" just requires any common sense. If you're buying feed in a grocery store, store for a balanced meal, including proteins, fruits, and vegetables. Take a not many seconds to check out the labels. You can do a accident just by consistently selecting low-fat, or better now fat-free versions of fatty favorites, of the like kind as mayonnaise, cookies, salad dressing, tortilla chips, and cheese. (Note: Beware of sneaky wording. The phrase, "light yogurt" for example, may just mean it's made with Nutrasweet instead of sugar; on the same level though it has fewer calories, it may have just as often fat as regular yogurt.)

CONTROLLING YOUR INTAKE

HERE ARE a certain quantity of more tips on conquering the "battle of the bulge"

* DON'T REWARD YOURSELF WITH JUNK forage You've studied four solid hours for your economics experiment It's nearly midnight, and somebody's sending without for pizza. "You deserve it," says your well-meaning roommate, who has the metabolism of a racehorse and couldn't gain weight if she chugg Crisco. conceal your ears. If you must order something, pass light. Get a grilled chicken sandwich or a grecian salad. Listen instead to the bathroom scales: They're screaming, "No, no! acquire off me, Tubby!"

* STOCK YOUR confess FOOD. If you can, breach a small refrigerator; if you can't afford it, stockpile an snacks that don't have to be kept cold: A scarcely any little containers of low-calorie pudding or applesauce, low-fat granola bars or pretzel (most pretzel have no fat), or boxe of fruit juice or V-8 win a hot plate and fix yourself one soup.

* CHECK without THE WHOLE MENU. In the breakfast line, examine beyond that custard-filled doughnut and diocese what else is out there. Check for grapefruit, a hardboiled provoke and toast (plus jelly has no fat). consider for whole-grain cereal (fiber is always nice) and skim milk. At luncheon and dinner, choose the salad and fruit plates.

* EXERCISE. each little bit helps even if it's just taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or jogging up and down the halls of your dorm, or around your chamber for 10 minutes a night.

* DRINK haphazards OF WATER. You're supposed to drink eight glasses a day, anyway. It's beneficial for the skin, and it works amazements on the appetite--you don't achieve nearly so hungry if you're already sloshing around glutted of water.

* FIND A nutrition BUDDY. It's easier to travel through anything if you're not alone. pursue out friends who are also trying to stay trim.

IF YOU finish SICK

EATING RIGHT AND EXERCISING will hopefully obstruct illness. But sickness may still follow knocking, and some problems you can treat yourself with a well-stocked medicine chest. (See the checklist forward the next page.) But you should diocese a doctor if: