Freshmen 15...From Beer?

<p>weed is the answer i am telling you. It is safer for you, especially if eatin because of the reduction of smoke. It is known to stimulate brown cell growth after a few months and it is no legal in Denver to carry 1oz or less for adults to legaly smoke</p>

<p>ok. first of all, no one can make an objective claim about drinking in college until, hello, you are in college. my best friend was totally against drinking when she started college...within a few months she was out partying every night.</p>

<p>-on that note, i drank excessively in college, and lost 10 pounds. how is that possible you ask? the odds increase greatly that if you drink, you will be dancing, or at least walking around to different parties. as opposed to someone who doesnt drink, who is likely to be socializing sitting at a movie or eating or something stagnant.
-you would be very surprised how rampant drinking is on the most elite campuses- one of my good friends drinks every night...and she is at harvard med school. when i go out on a saturday night in new haven, the people who drink the most are the yale med students- they're up there dancing on the bar. do you think less of them?
-if you're worried about calories from alcohol, dont drink beer- 1 drink of diet soda/liquor has 60 calories. or, just forgo your dessert on a saturday night.
-for the people who do gain extra weight as a freshman, it balances out in the next couple of years as you figure out how your body reacts to different caloric/activity levels. its amazing how much walking you'll do on a college campus!</p>

<p>i work on an alcohol cessation research study, so i've seen what alcohol can do to people. yes, it can have some very adverse consequences, but for most people, it is a harmless social thing.
just DONT DRINK AND DRIVE.</p>

<p>
[quote]

yes, it can have some very adverse consequences, but for most people, it is a harmless social thing.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Hate to digress from the original topic, but I see other people doing it a bit so figured I would add my two cents.</p>

<p>Not trying to bash alcohol in any way (in fact I drink maybe once or twice a month, not completely against alcohol), but I beg to differ. I think you're forgetting about the fact that unfortunately there are always a lot of deaths, violence, health issues, and other issues that are traced to alcohol use. You're absolutely right, it will be a case-by-case deal for each person, but it is an inaccurate claim that is 'a harmless thing' for most people (unfortunately death happens to people who aren't even drinking alcohol but get killed by a drunk driver). In terms of health, I can agree with your claim as long as it is done in moderation.</p>

<p>Now I could look up a bunch of sources and do some thorough research on this, but I only had to do a simple Google search to come up with this:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/factsheets/general_information.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/factsheets/general_information.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Read up on the statistics regarding heath issues, binge drinking, drunk driving, pregnancy, violence, and simply drinking and driving (or other deaths/injuries associated with alcohol). It's not surprising to me what some of the statistics are. There are too many people who don't do it in moderation.</p>

<p>Again not trying to bash alcohol. I would hope that the source I used is a credible source seeing as it is a .gov website (although statistics have a tendency to be manipulated in a biased way, I don't think a statistics page on a government website will tend to be too biased at all).</p>

<p>adconard: the cdc (center for disease control and prevention) is certainly a credible source. additionally, the world health organization (who) has information here:
<a href="http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/alcohol/en/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/alcohol/en/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>another thing to add on to the harmless thing..if you're a girl, you are increasing your own likelihood of being put in a potentially unfavorable situation (ie, raped/sexually abused) because you're too drunk to realize what's happening. I don't want to say that these people DESERVE it (because that's not fair, everyone makes mistakes)...but you definitely make yourself that much more vulnerable.</p>

<p>As for the Freshman 15...I'm pretty sure I'm about there by now and it has nothing to do with whether or not you drink. I don't drink and have found that it is probably from my really not very healthy living style (staying up too late, eating bad food late at night, and then napping for too long during the day). I think it is pretty common for freshmen to have to learn to adjust...I lived alone for the two years prior to college, so I prided myself on being able to make decisions regarding food and exercise without mommy dearest to help me out..however, I have also had to learn how to study smart, because I get assigned in day here what I had in a week or two at high school. (yes, <3 california public schools).</p>

<p>I think that if you do gain it, things will normalize after the first semester or first year once some norms are established. (I hope so at least...because I feel gross!)</p>

<p>
[quote]
Ok, so, my question is this. In most colleges, do underage people still participate in the drinking parties and bar goings? Is it difficult that you gotta be tricky to do or do people usually not care about your age? Do you need fake id's or anything like that? I have a brother who buys anything i want now so i dunno how this works.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Fake ID's are illegal</p>

<p>just know your limits, and watch out for yourself</p>

<p>u wont really need an id, there will be other people who will willingly supply you with alcohol. as for clubs and bars, just wait until you're old enough. its not worth the risk of getting arrested just for a night of illegal partying.</p>

<p>party till you puke... then party some more</p>

<p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/01/11/teen_wants_others_to_learn_from_her_mistake/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/01/11/teen_wants_others_to_learn_from_her_mistake/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>or the dead student:
<a href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=26327&pid=1415%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=26327&pid=1415&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Man, poor guy, had a promising future and all.</p>

<p>why didn't his friends call the trolley instead of sitting with him for 15 minutes??? That was dumb and stupid.</p>