Health at PSU

What do you think of when someone says ‘healthy eating’? I have definitely seen more than one person order a salad and say they are trying to ‘eat healthier’, but is that all there is to it? I have worked to improve my diet for years, and I still come across bad habits or things I should be doing better as I research. So, let’s get into it: what is ‘eating healthy’ after all? Today, we’re going to discuss the foundation of a healthy diet: healthy caloric intake.

While healthy eating is more about what you’re eating, it is important to approach that with an understanding of how much you should be eating. Many people think that because the nutrition facts of their packaged food says, ‘based on a 2000 calorie diet’, they should be eating 2000 calories a day. This is definitely not true. However, it is very difficult to determine what exactly is your ideal caloric intake, but online calculators are the place to start. Free online calculators can give you an estimate of how many calories you should be eating depending on your age, sex, height, weight, and average daily activity, but the results do sometimes vary. Two reliable calculators, https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html and https://www.freedieting.com/calorie-calculator , told me that as an 18 year old, 5’4″, 130 pound female who exercises moderately, I should be eating around 1800 calories per day to maintain my weight.

Now you know about how much to eat: what next? To determine how many calories you eat in a day, don’t estimate! It is very easy to under or overestimate how much you are eating, and many ‘healthy’ foods are surprisingly calorie-dense. I recommend downloading an app such as MyFitnessPal by UnderArmour or MyPlate. These apps have the calories of food programmed and all you have to do is search them up and input how much you ate. I found that on days I thought I was eating the same amount, I was eating as much as 3000 or as low as 400 calories. While these apps can really help to get an understanding of your daily caloric intake, they should only be used for a few weeks at the most. Once you have an understanding of the calories in your food, only look up foods if you are unsure: tracking calories can lead to obsessiveness and eating disorder. Remember that your goal should never be to eat as few calories as possible, only to stay in a healthy range.

But is the caloric goal on the calculator your real healthy range? The answer is, unfortunately, no. I have found that 1900 calories is far too much for me. I have a slower metabolism and my healthy range is from 1000-1500 calories, but I could only find this out by experimenting and observing. No calculator can tell you better than your own body. When I eat more than 1500 calories per day I feel overly full, sluggish, and after some time I gain weight. I have listened to my body and it has told me what the healthy caloric intake is for me. Start with the estimate given to you by the calculator and try to maintain that estimate for one to two weeks; observe how your body responds and adjust. Keep in mind that caloric intake is only the foundation: where those calories come from will determine how you feel even more, so check out the next post before you dramatically change your diet.

Motto for the day: listen to your body and you body will tell you what it needs.

Wishing health and happiness

Davina

Hello and welcome to PSU Health – the blog that will lay out everything you need to know about the state of health in America and what you can do to improve your health and help others. I am Davina, a biomedical engineer who has been obsessed with the health lifestyle for 5 years and has tried everything out there, here to decipher the facts from the clickbait for you.

Let’s jump into it. America is in a completely preventable health crisis with obesity. The Center for Disease Control stated that 39.8%, or 93.3 million, American adults were diagnosed with obesity, and that figure is predicted to grow to over 50% by 2030. With overweight Americans already making up over two thirds of the population in 2014, according to the National Institute of Diabetes, being a healthy weight in America puts you in the minority: no wonder seeing an overweight person doesn’t raise any eyebrows anymore. Everyone, whether a healthy weight or morbidly obese, will suffer to some extent due to the obesity crisis. I am hoping to start a conversation here at Penn State about what we can do.

Lifestyle health will be the main focus of this blog, so diet, exercize, and obesity will be highlighted ideas. However, there are other lifestyle problems facing health: cerebrovascular diseases that lead to strokes make up 33% of preventable deaths in America, externally caused diseases of the heart make of 34%, preventable cancers 21%, and chronic lower respiratory diseases 39% (remaining preventable deaths are not health-related). These preventable deaths can be traced back to diet, exercise, and smoking. Along wth these preventable diseases, we will take a look a neurodegenerative diseases and maintaining neural health, identifying methods to avoid preventable cancers, and the fallacies and truths in practices to increase longevity.

We’ve laid out the problems that affect America, but what about here at Penn State? Since most Penn State students are from Pennsylvania, we’ll use that for our base statistics while keeping in mind that college students may represent a unique demographic concerning health and lifestyle. Pennsylvania is the 35th most obese state in America with an obesity rate of 30.9%. This ranking dropped from 19th in 2011, but obesity rates rose from 28.5%. This shows that while obesity rates are very high in Pennsylvania, they are increasing at a slower rate than other states: a relative positive. Here at Penn State, we can expect a much lower obesity and overweight rate as the population is younger and generally more active, but is a future of obesity and obesity-related health issues what we want for current Penn State students? Not for me.

In this post, I laid out the state of health in America and Penn State. Over the next year, I will delve into how these problems are developing across America and globally and how they are threatening Penn State students. I will also be talking about whatever is important in my own health journey, whether my journey through mental health, new studies I come across, or a health boost I am going on. Welcome to my journey for a healthier future for Penn State!

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