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Unhealthy Eating Habits of Student Athletes

By Amanda Johnston

College is a scary place for incoming freshmen athletes for many reasons, a new place, new home, new people, new lifestyle, and especially the new overwhelming freedoms that lead to bad health habits. Plymouth State University, like many colleges, struggles wit athlete abusing the new freedoms of college resulting in bad health habits such as binge drinking and poor food consumption.

Plymouth State has a meal plan system that most schools in America have. It is a swipe-based meal plan meaning that you swipe to go into the dining hall and are faced with a never-ending buffet of foods. This dining option faces many issues with student athletes fighting their urge to get another plate of food, stock up while they can or to have another few slices of pizza to give them all the calories they need to perform at the top level. However these foods have little to no nutritional value for their bodies.

Partying in college is nearly inevitable. Almost everyone, especially athletes being presured by their teammates, will do it at some point, but the goal is to not make a habit out of it. Alcohol has absolutely no nutritional value for our bodies. Addiction Center states that “2 out of every 5 college students of all ages reported binge drinking” (Binge Drinking). This meaning that about forty percent of college athletes admit to binge drinking. This can cause many health issues including “1,825 deaths from alcohol-related unintentional injuries” and “more than 150,000 develop an alcohol related health problem” (Binge Drinking).

“Binge Drinking in College - The Impact of Alcohol in Higher Education.” AddictionCenter,

NHIAAA, 2017, www.addictioncenter.com/alcohol/binge-drinking/.

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