Third Draft

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

Ever since coming to Florida State it has become apparent to me that the workout culture is huge at this school. People are constantly rushing to one of the two gyms, headphones on not focusing on anything except their workout. Since coming here I personally have become an active member of the gym and started to adopt a somewhat healthier lifestyle. What I mean by a healthier lifestyle is to eat cleaner and more consciously, think more positively about myself and my surroundings, and work out enough to make my body feel good. Usually everyone just focuses on the gym and how helpful it can be to help make people healthier. However, there are other components to living a healthier life style, such as how you eat, how you think about yourself and your environment. This community has taught me how to be the best me and makes me want to come to the gym to better my body and brain which is why I chose to research this community. This leads to my research question: What at Florida State helps students between the ages of 18-21 create a healthier lifestyle? I will be researching this by interviewing a trainer from the Leach Gym named Jacob Fishback along with researching the correlations between different aspects of a heathy lifestyle in different age groups. All of these factors and others are how one can achieve a healthier lifestyle because health is about how you feel not how you look to others or the number on a scale. He was able to give me another perspective on what his opinions on a healthy lifestyle is how to make them work at Florida State.

Eating Clean

Eating clean and in moderation is one of the main components that leads to a healthy lifestyle. At Florida State, students have been lucky enough to be exposed to a wide range of food options. However, it isn’t always easy to pick what you should be eating rather than what you want to eat.

Many different types of research and studies have been conducted involving how difficult it really is to eat healthy. In one article by the Oxford Academy, the main author J. Shepherd explains the barriers that students between the ages 11-16 face while trying to eat healthy. The barriers that were examined in this study were “poor school meal provision and ease of access to, relative cheapness of and personal taste preferences for fast food.” Shepherd tested 7 different school settings on how they were each going to implement different heathier eating options. In one specific example, in Norway, Connecticut a secondary school “increase the consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole-wheat bread and low-fat dairy products, and decrease the consumption of high-sugar and high-fat snack foods.” Due to this, these students started to prepare their own food and snacks at homes and started to analyze nutritional facts. The overall outcome of all the studies was “Increasing the provision and range of healthy, affordable snacks and meals in schools and social spaces will enable them to exercise their choice of healthier, tasty options” (J. Shepherd). I have learned that healthy eating contributes to healthy grown and an overall feeling of well being.

At Florida State it has become increasingly easier to eat healthy. At the Leach gym they have a smoothie kiosk called “Natural.” They use fresh ingredients and protein powders to make healthy smoothies. We also have healthy options at the dining hall such as a hummus bar, different types of quinoa and gilled vegetables. They are currently remodeling Suwannee Dining hall so that there is more room for a wide range of healthy and moderately healthy food.

Exercising

Exercising is another key factor in living a healthy lifestyle. Exercising does not only make you feel good, it also releases endorphins within your brain that make you feel happier and positive. This effects how your body feels on a physical and mental level. At Florida State there are two amazing gym facilities: The Leach and The Health and Wellness Center. Both of these gyms provide adequate machines and equipment that help students with a wide range of workouts. There are also multiple other physical outlets that students can use, such as the IM fields and clubs, the Rez, and just being outside.

In an article written by the National Center for chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CDC), they explain the importance between healthy eating and physical activity and how to portray this to different audiences. It is stated that “Students who are physically active tend to have better grades… improved cognitive performance…higher GPA’s, and standardized test scores.” The article continues to state that to accomplish this there should be physical classroom breaks and extracurricular activities that are incorporated within the student’s days and implemented in schools, such as through physical education classes. The article continues to explain on how to take action and promote these activities in schools. “Provide physical education programs, recess for elementary students, classroom-based physical activity, and extracurricular physical activities (e.g., sports programs, physical activity club)” (CDC, Health and Academic Achievement). It is proven that healthier students are better learners and this is due to physical activities. Through my research, I also believe that this is true for college students.

I personally take advantage of both of the gyms at FSU. While at the gym myself and other students use both the cardio and strength machines. There are also workout classes that are free for students. I have done a few of the classes and they really do make you work up a sweat. Having both gyms constantly available to students is really beneficial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Body Image

America is known as being the most overweight country in the world. This is due to the numerous amount of fast food restaurants and the large portion sizes that are always served. Most people are not conscious of how they look and just continue to not take care of their body by overeating and not exercising. However, I don’t believe that this is how most college students do. Especially at Florida State and other large state universities, college students tend to really pay attention to their body image. How others look at them, how others think about them, and how others act towards them really effect the way that one feels about themselves. These thoughts are related to self –esteem, it is about “how much you feel you are worth and how much other people value you” (Kidshealth.org).

A study written in the Eurasian Journal of Education Research researched if self-esteem and body size had any correlations. After testing 160 university students they found out that there is a correlation. “A prevalence of body dissatisfaction was reported, with 79% of girls reporting being unpleased with their physical appearance. Self-esteem and body dissatisfaction were in a significant negative correlation.” (Eurasian Journal, Self-Esteem and Body Image Perception in a Sample of University Students) I believe that how you feel about yourself is much more important than how others view you. However, this isn’t always the easiest concept to grasp because they are so many stereotypical looking girls around all universities.

Most girls at Florida State fit the perfect stereotype of looking very skinny and having a good body. Since the workout culture is very large, one can assume that body image is a very prevalent issue here. It seems almost as if certain people compete to have the best bodies. During football season having a good body is almost as important as having one during the summer. This is because people try to wear the least amount of clothes possible on game days. These social events and the pressure of one’s peers make it very easy for boys and girls to both feel that body image and self esteem is very important.

Interview

He walked into the gym one day only to see a flyer that said “Apply for a fitness consulting position.” Jacob Fishback, a junior at the time knew that he wanted to become a certified trainer down the road so he thought that this would be the perfect opportunity and a step in the right direction. Jacob is a senior originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida but has a lot of family that lives in Tallahassee. Ever since he was young and use to come here to visit his grandfather and he knew that he was going to be a Seminole.

Jacob is now a full time trainer at the Leach and Health and Wellness Center Gyms. To obtain this job he explained that you have to pass an exam and find your own clients. Now that he is a full time certified trainer he does more one on one training and is really involved with his clients. He believes that working out is only half the battle to living a healthy lifestyle and that eating plays a very large component in being healthy. Ever since Jacob was a freshman he has been food journaling. He says that it is apart of his healthy lifestyle and he really tries to maintain it, only giving himself a couple cheat meals a week. He believes that a healthy lifestyle is “When you can become disciplined enough to you know go to the gym or workout in whatever way you can a few times a week or however many times you want to, eat healthy, and learn to practice moderation. It is not about never indulging or doing anything that is unhealthy. Its about being smart about making these choices. If you can be healthy most of the time that is the biggest aspect in living a healthy lifestyle and staying sane.”

Prior to coming to FSU Jacob said that he wasn’t that interested in working out and gaining muscle. However, the summer going into junior year he worked at a gym and started to gain interesting in this community. Jacob expressed to me that the workout culture at FSU is very large. “I don’t really know why but I think people around our age, kids in college have really been getting into working out…. I also think that younger people just want to look good that’s another really big thing too especially college kids, especially girls.” Jacob continued to explain to me that the Leach is more geared towards weight lifting where as the health and wellness center is better for cardio based workouts.

After discussing different type of exercises, Jacob brought up body image and how he thinks it is really important. “Social media is really popular. And I think that with social media people care more about how they look. They seek other people approval and stuff like that and they compare themselves to others a lot and constantly go onto social media.” I believe that this is very true and especially at schools where Greek life is very prominent, this becomes an even larger issue.

There are many different workout options and facilities that are available to FSU students. I asked Jacob what he personally thinks is the most effective workout style. He said, “I mean its definitely individual, it changes person to person. But the most generally effective thing would be a few 30 min sessions of cardio, some resistance training twice a week like weight training.” He continued to explain that it is more what you eat than how your workout. Jacob explained to me that what you eat is based off what is the appropriate amount of calories for your body. “calculate how many calories your body naturally burns a day without exercise then find out how much with exercise your body burns and that is how many calories you should main to eat a day if you want to maintain your current weight. And if you eat about that many calories and if you try to break down the carbs, fats and proteins into a good distribution where you are not overdoing any of the categories then that’ll be the healthiest way and to lose weight you just have to eat less than that number.”

After talking to Jacob about body image, eating healthy, and exercising I was wondering about the community that he worked in. I proceeded to ask him about this community and how he would describe it. He describes the gym community as passionate. This is because, “Everyone there is really into working out. They really like there job and really like teaching people about exercise.” And he continues to explain about how many resources their community has to offer and how students don’t know about all of them.

While talking to Jacob it really proved to me how resourceful FSU is and the dedication that the trainers at the gym put in to try to make their clients as healthy and happy with their body as possible. It seems like Jacob’s and the other trainer’s goals are the same as mine, to maintain a positive and healthy lifestyle!

Conclusion

As a teenager and now a young adult I have always struggled with keeping weight off. I am a true believer in the fact that feeling good about your body makes you feel good about yourself and it brings out a positive mood overall. Coming to FSU has made it much more difficult to maintain a healthier lifestyle due to all the tempting food around me. However, I have been using the resources such as the gyms and workout classes to help me keep the weight off. I have even started to food journal just like Jacob. Writing and researching this topic has really opened my eyes to the differing opinions of how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, to me, the most important of these is eating clean. You can control what you put in your body and eating clean benefits your mental state, physical appearance, and how you feel on the inside, and that is what is most important.