Fighting the Freshman 15

Freshman—simply reading the word is frightening. For some of us, it conjures up images of insecurity and sky-high stress levels, despite the sense of adventure that often goes with this new phase in life. Rarely do students’ lives change as much as they do during the first year of college. Their class work becomes more demanding, and even their extracurricular and social activities rise to dizzying levels. Couple those factors with the life-altering experience of moving away from home, family and friends, and the adjustment period can be overwhelming.

Students’ bodies often take the greatest toll. Their metabolism, after all, is beginning to change: For many students, especially females, it is slowing down. Mix in the unhealthy eating habits so many new college students adopt as a result of late-night study sessions and the absence of nutritional guidance from parents, and it’s a recipe for the dreaded “freshman 15.”

This physical alteration can be especially distressing—and detrimental—to dancers. Fortunately, you can stop it before it begins. By educating students early in their college careers about how to make a healthy transition from the proverbial nest to their first independent living environment, you can prepare them to handle the challenges of dancing through the college years with confidence.

“You have to give students the tools to make informed choices,” says Jo Rowan, chairman of the dance department at Oklahoma City University’s School of American Dance and Arts Management. At OCU, freshman dance students are required to take Dancer’s Health, a semester-long class dedicated to teaching students good nutrition, time management and how to make the right decisions about food, drugs, smoking and stress. “We can’t live their lives for them,” Rowan says. “But we can teach them how to live healthy lives.”

The first lesson, says New York City–based dietitian Jennifer Vimbor, is to become knowledgeable about healthy foods. Vimbor works with dancers and athletes who are struggling to maintain high-intensity, healthy lifestyles and begins by instilling in them what she believes is an important mantra: Be prepared. She suggests teaching students how to shop for healthy food items including staples like peanut butter, multigrain bread, fruits and vegetables, and protein-rich foods like beans, chicken and fish. Many students have never bought their own groceries, so they become overwhelmed on that first trip down the aisles and buy the quickest and cheapest food—which is rarely the healthiest.

Vimbor suggests teaching them to make lists before they leave their dorm room, and to shop once a week, preferably on the weekend, for enough food to last that entire week. These are especially helpful tips for vegetarians, who seldom know what foods effectively replace the meats they are missing in their diets. “So many dancers are vegetarians and get their protein from cheese or fatty sources,” Vimbor says. “It’s important to teach them to replace those fatty proteins with green leafy vegetables, beans and nuts.”

Snack substitutions are another must: Teach students to choose pretzels over chips, unsalted nuts over candy bars and fruit instead of cakes or pies. “They should prepare for each day,” explains Vimbor. “If they know they will be dancing for two hours, they should eat a meal two hours before, pack plenty of water and take healthy snacks. They don’t want to get caught running to the snack machine or stopping for fast food simply because they weren’t prepared.”

Vimbor also recommends a lesson on healthy ordering at restaurants and making wise selections in the cafeteria or dining hall. “They’re going to enjoy nights out with friends and lunches at school, but they can find a healthy way to do it,” she says.

In her dealings with dancers, the most common misstep Vimbor finds is students not eating enough. “A lot of dancers think they have to starve themselves to keep their trim figures,” she says. “They are not eating an adequate amount of calories, and they aren’t getting the right percentage of those calories from carbs, protein and fat.”

Vimbor acknowledges that dancers are held to a much higher physical standard than the average student, but she notes that there is a right way to cut calories. For example, students should eat several small meals throughout the day, watch their intake of high-fat foods and eat larger meals at breakfast and lunch than at dinner. “This way, they will feel full throughout the day and won’t want to binge in the evening,” she says. “They will have more control over their desire to snack.”

Unfortunately, there will still be those students who slip through the cracks. It is these dancers who will most need your attention and an open line of communication. And the best time to open those lines is day one, at freshman orientation. “Freshmen are less inclined to come and speak to you,” says Katie Langan, chair of the dance department at Marymount Manhattan College. “There is a fear factor. They’re afraid to ask for help and appear like they aren’t self-sufficient. Reach out to them. In many cases, that will [determine] whether or not the freshman is going to be successful.”

When speaking to students, Langan says it is important to allow them to talk, while you simply ask questions and listen. “I never speak to a dancer about her weight unless she speaks to me first,” she says. “It’s such a touchy subject, and I don’t want to spark unnecessary behavior. If you delve deep enough, the problem is usually something other than what they originally came to you with.”  

Once you begin a dialogue with a student, keep in mind that every dancer is different, and every solution equally so. Most importantly: Don’t overstep your expertise. Be there for the dancer, but know when to direct him or her to a professional, be it a nutritionist, a dietitian or a psychologist.
“At the beginning of the year, I bring in a nutritionist to talk to the dancers,” says Susan Whipp, professor of dance and coordinator of the dance program at San Francisco State University. During their first month of school, she has her students track their diets for a week and plugs the results into an online analysis. “I don’t tell them, ‘You need to drop 10 pounds.’ I show them what they are doing right now, and what they can do better. We don’t have weigh-ins or command students to lose weight. We just want them to be healthy.” With the right tools and support, that’s exactly what they will be. DT

New York City–based freelance writer Alyssa Roenigk also writes for ESPN the Magazine.