I know that as a busy Duke student it can be hard at times to make the time to work out. Hell, it can be hard to even put the effort into thinking about eating healthily! I know that sometimes I get so busy and stressed that I grab the closest food item just to satisfy my hunger. Here is my list of general health tips and things that I’ve personally learned while trying to lead a healthy lifestyle here at Duke. Take a look and try some out! Your body will thank you.
1. Make your workout fun by attending a fitness class! Fitness classes are offered for free on Duke’s campus at Wilson and Brodie gyms. Cycling class at Wilson is my personal favorite—it’s an incredible workout and the instructors always make it super fun! I love the loud pop music that you can pedal to. There are other super fun workout classes like the famous Cardio Dance or Zumba. Visit this link to check out the Fall 2012 fitness class schedules!
2. Avoid bad diet foods, such as anything with a “low-fat” label. Diet products often contain more sugar, salt, and other unhealthy fillers to make them taste the same as the original product. Artificial sweeteners are also a bad choice. These are fine in moderation, but can actually reset your taste buds to crave more sugary foods. In the end, you’ll wind up eating more junk food because of this.
3. Fro-yo is not the fabulous late-night snack that you think it is. Frozen yogurt is loaded with sugar. The calories in the frozen yogurt can add up, also! If there are typically 30-35 calories per ounce of frozen yogurt, then that means that a 16-ounce cup would contain a minimum of 480 calories. Add the toppings to that, and you have a full-blown dessert. Beware of over-indulging in this misleading treat.
4. Take advantage of the free gym access while you can! And grab a workout buddy while you’re at it. You can hold each other accountable when you each are lacking motivation. A workout buddy can also be a great resource in that they may know how to work those tricky machines that you don’t. You can motivate and teach each other—it’s really the perfect system.
5. Go to see an on-campus nutritionist—for free! They’re located in Wilson and the Oasis on East Campus and are very available to students. I personally have taken advantage of this resource, and it was extremely helpful. This could be an especially good idea if you have special dietary needs/preferences, such as vegetarianism. The nutritionist will help you create a “food plan” by supplying you with nutritional information based on your height, weight, how often you exercise, etc.
6. Take a gym class for credit! Duke offers a variety of cool P.E. classes that can give you a half-credit towards graduation. I definitely plan on taking “Self-Defense for Women” or “Massage Therapy” sometime during my Duke career. Another great one is “Intro to Golf”—who wouldn’t want to spend the day at the WaDuke golf course?
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