Hello everyone:

A friend of mine was telling me this afternoon that he avoided going to the all-you-can-eat-in-one-plateful restaurant on campus because he didn’t want to participate in the Freshman 30. I replied, “I thought it was the Freshman Fifteen.” He said that, after a few months of eating at that place, he blew right through the 15 to 30 pounds. Thanks, my friend. I had just bought my dinner from that place. Poor timing on his part.

It was his habit to load up his plate as if it was his last meal. Had to get his money’s worth, you see. While it fed his body, it added greatly to his waistband. Inches, actually. Quite a few, apparently.

What are you to do? Eat sensibly, for one thing. Your parents bought a meal plan but it doesn’t mean that you have to load up your plate just because children are starving in….fill in the blank. (Yes, this is a test!)

Next, if you do have to eat at a restaurant like the afore-mentioned, fill up your plate with low-calorie salad fixings and then take a small portion of that wonderful beef stroganoff. (It was too heavily seasoned- I’ve been drinking water all evening.)

Do watch out for salads. It’s very easy to create a beautiful but heavily-calorie-laden meal, even at the salad bar. A few high-calorie options can make your salad into a 2,000 calorie meal faster than Richard Simmons can do jumping jacks. (This is a cultural reference- ask your grandmother about him.) Note: He is 71, so I don’t know how many jumping jacks Richard Simmons is still doing, but you never know.

Pick fruit. Our salad bar offers bananas, apples, and oranges. They are a better choice than the chocolate chips cookies, even though it might not seem like it. Chose them and avoid the excess pounds!

Best,

Dr. Sheri