When I was in college, nearly every trip to the library was preceded by a trip to the Benson Candy Bins. The Benson Candy Bins were, as the name would lead to assume, candy bins that were in our student center. For the swipe of a student ID card magically linked to the parent funded food account you could walk out with a bag of candy as big as you pleased.
And believe me, I pleased.
Freshmen year, I had two favorites: candy corn and puppy chow. (Or, as us apparently less politically correct Northerners call it, “White Trash.” This is a combination of chex mix, pretzels, peanuts and raisins with melted white chocolate and confectioner’s sugar holding it all together. YEA.) Somewhere in the midst of studying for my Health and Exercise Science major in my second year, I realized that this was probably not a very good habit to have.
So, I switched to trail mix.
Much healthier right? Right. IF I was hiking on a trail. As it turns out, I was not hiking on a trail, I was sitting. For hours on end. Without moving.
And I wondered why I kept gaining weight.
Trail mix is not a bad food, but it’s certainly not a food that one should be consuming one mindless handful after another on a completely sedentary day, especially under the wrongful assumption that it was good for us. But this is true of so many foods – there are so many foods that masquerade as health foods, either by their reputations or their deceptively catchy food label claims. To be good stewards of our own health, it is extremely crucial that we each become aware of what our energy needs are and what type of energy we are supplying ourselves with. Here’s a hint: if you’re not losing weight, it’s because the supply is outweighing the needs!
No one is going to do this for you – at least not yet. Slowly the trend is shifting towards more honest food labeling (restaurants with calories on menus: KUDOS TO YOU!), and even more slowly food labeling becomes more truthful (trans fats on labels, at last.) It is an individual responsibility (or in some cases, a parental responsibility) to educate yourself on what you’re putting into your body.
The other day, someone asked me to help them figure out the calories of the restaurant meal they had had. I started with the basics: “what was in it?”
“Well, I don’t know,” they replied. “I was hoping you could tell me.”
I found this to be a difficult task, given that I was not present when they consumed this food! Moreover, I found this a disturbing (but all too common) comment: I did not know what I just put in my body.
Learn what your body needs and fuel yourself appropriately. While trail mix or granola might be perfect for those days when you decide to pack up the bags and hike the Appalachian, a bag of popcorn or cup of grapes might be more suited for those long library sessions.
Know what you’re putting into your body. Read labels. Start looking up some of those words you don’t recognize.
It’s YOUR body. If you’re not going to figure out what’s going into it, who will?
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