Natalie Ismert Journal Entry 3

Natalie Ismert

English 1000

12 October, 2016

Journal Entry 3

The importance in living in a healthy environment and surrounding yourself with nutrition is to be able to be a healthy person in general so that you can live a long life. Many young people (specifically college students) don’t stay healthy and active for that reason. It’s all about body image and wanting to feel confident with the person you are. Confidence is a wonderful reason to do this, but relying on only body image in order to be a confident person isn’t. I would say the majority of college students who actually care about their health are living that lifestyle to see results in their bodies and so that others see it too.

I know that for me I’m surrounded by people who care a lot about their looks. This was something I had to really adjust to coming from an all girls high school where I couldn’t care less about the way I presented myself, the things I ate, or ever putting the thought of exercising (outside of playing a sport) in my head. People are judgmental and people share criticism very openly and blunlty. For me the struggle was real and the delicious, yet fattening buffet style meals had to go. I set a goal last year and surprisingly it worked. The goal was to workout everyday and eat healthier portions while limiting the amount of snacks I consumed. Unfortunately I would say that Mizzou didn’t have much to do with the healthy food problem, however the Recreational Center really kept me on track.

I found an article called “Mizzou gets Serious about Nutrition”. This article was written about 6 years ago and mainly focuses around the nutrition of the football players here at Mizzou. It focuses on relying on your teammates or peers to boost your motivations and set higher goals. These players had to stay healthy for the team, but we need to stay healthy for ourselves. The article mentions the constant struggle of wanting or needing that late night snack. Although eating foods late at night is looked down upon. The body is more likely to store foods that you eat late at night as fats. This being said, Mizzou has a dining hall open specifically for those late night cravings and serves any unhealthy food you can imagine. The article also discusses the importance of eating breakfast. This could be an issue knowing that the dining halls close breakfast at 9 before many are even awake. This question can relate back to the importance of health, but also adds to the difficulties and reasonings of doing so.

A question that many can’t wrap their head around is “why is it more difficult to maintain your body weight in college than it was when you were in high school?”. I would say food options and portions are the main reasons. You’re stressed figuring out your classes and new friends and the last thing you want to at the end of the day is a few pieces of lettuce. Most choose to indulge in any food that is available to them instead. And on top of all that the thought of working out is not something anyone wants to think about. Once again, bringing us back to my original question, can Mizzou do anything to help?