Episode 27: Freshman 15 Transcript
[00:00:01.270] - Alli
Welcome, Megan. We're super excited to chat with you today. To kick things off, can you tell our students who you are and what it is you do professionally?
[00:00:11.390] - Megan Kniskern
Hello, Alli. I'm so excited to be here today. So, my name is Megan Kniskern, and I have been a Registered Dietitian since 2009, but really working in the field of nutrition and healthcare for longer than that. I teach at Arizona State University. My specialty is- I'm not really a "go devil's", can I just throw that in there really quickly? I grew up in Tucson, so I am genuinely a Wildcat at heart. I don't own any ASU gear, but I have my master's degree from there. My husband went there. My kids want to go there already, and yet I'm a Wildcat at heart. So this is really fun for me. And so I started off in the eating disorder field, really at the beginning of my career, and spent years working in treatment center environments with substance use, general mental health, and, of course, eating disorder as a primary concern. And I had babies, and that job became a lot for me and starting a family. So I quit reluctantly because I knew this was my passion, even though it's not what I went into the field for. And eventually I went back into teaching, and I have really loved it because I am able to bring all the things that I enjoy in my passion of understanding our food dynamics into the education I provide at Arizona State in my classes.
[00:01:33.890] - Megan Kniskern
I also have a private practice and business that I run called MAK Nutrition Services, where I provide professional supervision. I provide consulting for treatment centers and their programs, and I also do offer one-on-one nutrition counseling. I've recently brought on two individuals to the team. So we do eating disorders and general MNT care, all through a weight-inclusive lens. And so it's been really wonderful to see the evolution of our field, even over the course of my career. And this conversation today about the "Freshman 15" is essential.
[00:02:11.700] - Ashley
Yeah, and I think that it brings it back to what we see both having been people that have gone to college and lived in a body, and also working with students and having friends, and having friends that have friends that go to a four year institution. So, yeah, we really appreciate the topic that Megan is going to chat with us about today. So maybe first off, just to do some definition, as the teachers in us, can we talk about what is the "Freshman 15" and why- or where did it come from? Or what is this phenomenon that we put pressure on our first year students coming to college?
[00:02:53.420] - Megan Kniskern
Right. There are so many really profound dynamics that happen in that time frame in our lives. So, one, we are essentially young adults being expected to take on a really important transition into autonomy, oftentimes living in a new environment, living on our own. That means mom and dad aren't buying the food, prepping the food, cooking the food, making the food available, or whatever support system you may have had around those dynamics from the original environment you came to. So the "Freshman 15" really kind of demonstrates how diet culture, that is, our desire to constantly be improving ourselves through food and exercise efforts in the name of, air-quoting here, "health". So that's diet culture influences and it comes from our fear of change. We as individuals do not love change, right? And so sometimes when we have these big transitions in our lives, change happens and then we feel a little bit powerless and we give it a title and a name and it becomes a social norm, such as the "Freshman 15." How does that sit?
[00:04:08.090] - Ashley
Yeah, I think I just always feel like there's so much change. It's a new environment, all those things you said, there's new pressure. And it just feels like one other thing that folks are forced to be concerned about at a time where things are really hard and new and scary even.
[00:04:27.290] - Megan Kniskern
Right. And so one of the things we really want to think about is how stress impacts our body and our body's functions. That's different for different people, and that is really based on our genetic makeup and our lived experience. All of that informs how we handle things. So let's put it into a simple situation. I'm going to ask both of you this just so we can play a game here. So I'll start with Ashley. Ashley, if you are hyper-stressed out and overwhelmed, do you have a tendency towards not eating, or a tendency towards making sure you're fueled, or maybe even turning to food a little bit to comfort and keep you going?
[00:05:05.210] - Ashley
Is it weird that it depends on what kind of stress it is? Or what environment it is?
[00:05:07.750] - Megan Kniskern
No, it's not. Tell me.
[00:05:09.850] - Ashley
I do feel like if I have that stress that is overwhelming and it's making me sad or depressed or it's related to my kid or something like that, and I'm trying to avert my energy to somebody else, then I neglect myself, if that makes sense. If I am just stressed about my own nonsense with my own self, then I tend to turn to food as a way to avoid something. I tend to be like, "I am so anxious right now and I don't want to sit with my anxiety." So I will turn to food in those moments. So it depends on what's fueling the fire, a little bit for me. But I've noticed that when I'm like, I am eating right now and it's fine, I'm making this decision and this is how I'm choosing to cope, and I know it's because I am so anxious and I don't want to deal with that. Does that make sense?
[00:06:00.270] - Megan Kniskern
It 100% makes sense. And it really sounds like a person who's thought about this and has awareness and you're connected. And so a lot of 18 year olds, let's say 19 year olds, and maybe people who don't even come right away, some people come at 17. They're not often as connected to their emotions and how it impacts everything. So the tendency is to do one or the other. We're very kind of like a black or white, one or the other kind of a culture. Ali, what would you say? What has maybe currently or in the past maybe been your tendency towards how food you respond to food and stress?
[00:06:35.630] - Alli
Oh, I definitely tend to eat more. I think it's like the comfort of like, I'm going to have a really warm yummy bowl of whatever, or things that I just know [will help]. I guess similarly to Ashley, it's the awareness of, like, I'm avoiding this - I feel really anxious right now. Maybe I'll take it back later, maybe I'll go on a walk later. But right now, I want a bowl of buttered noodles and breadsticks. And that's like, my mom used to make or not breadsticks, breadcrumbs. My mom used to make, like, butter noodles and breadcrumbs when we were sick. So I think there's also that like, yeah, that feels comforting to me. And it's my go to, my fiance is like, oh, are you, like, having a bad day? Because I just want buttered noodles and breadcrumbs. And I also like a good chocolate chip cookie. So I also know my foods that bring me comfort and kind of like, allow me to [say] this feels really satisfying. This feels really comforting. And when I'm ready, then I'll be like, okay, like, I'm really anxious. Maybe I need to get up and go on a walk or have some puppy snuggles or whatever it is.
[00:07:59.170] - Alli
But I think that definitely for me, that stress leads to just needing that comforting meal.
[00:08:08.490] - Megan Kniskern
Absolutely. And other times, people feel emotions in a space of, "I'm nauseous. Everything is in my stomach right now. I can't touch food. Food can't be my thing." So if we even just take that basic concept and apply it to transitioning to a new environment, new people, new learning, new living, new food, new food dynamics, we have to expect that the body might have a response to this. And so when we really look at kind of what contributes to this idea of the "Freshman 15", we can't just say kids go to college and they eat more and they work out less and they consume alcohol. That is a very insulting and oversimplifying way of looking at this. And we know that stress is going to be high, so let's stress them out more by telling them how they're going to be undesirable and unattractive and have some sort of a failure before they've even gotten started. It's just so diet culture. That's the only word - cult. I could have a whole podcast on cult tendencies, but really it comes down to that.
[00:09:23.580] - Ashley
Yeah, it does. And I think, too, then we hear from students, that first semester, that fear is implanted in our first year students. And then that first semester happens and then they have to go home, possibly for the holidays, and see folks or see people from high school or whatever and it kind of has this whole new stress of "my body has changed and now I have to go see people and how do I cope with that change of my body?" That probably, from what we're talking about, sounds really natural and maybe developmental and just a circumstance of environment and not anyone's fault, I guess. Not that it's bad for bodies to change. I think we maybe don't tell folks enough that body change is normal and that body change happens naturally and it will continue to change through your lifetime.
[00:10:14.390] - Megan Kniskern
I'm 42. Oh, sorry, I was just saying I'm 42 and I think I'm in my 6th or 7th body that I feel like I've settled into. Having had two babies and having lived through pandemics and I mean, you name it, I can give you 100 reasons why my body has changed. And we have to be, again, really cautious about what those reasons are and where we are going to assign some sort of a blame. Right. Sorry. Ally, what were you going to say?
[00:10:41.530] - Alli
Well, I'm kind of thinking back to my own time at U of A on campus. This was a long time ago now, but that access piece too. I remember being in the dorms and I was in Greek life, so I got some meals at the house, which was nice, but at U of A in particular, there isn't the dining hall. You have really limited options and you don't have a stove. You have a mini fridge and some options, but most of us didn't have a car. And so, like, that access piece too. I think obviously it's different in different campuses, but I just remember, like, going in, living in the dorms, and being grateful for my one meal at the house, but then also feeling very restricted in that sense, too, because of the limited options and then the financial concern of that feeling of, like, I'm spending money on every single meal that I'm eating. Which I guess you are always, but versus like when I lived at home, we got groceries once a week and we need the food. And that was like a really big change for me in terms of the financial piece, the access piece, and feeling really restricted in that way.
[00:11:58.640] - Alli
So I remember when I would go to the sorority house to have lunch or dinner, I felt like that was my one meal for the day. And that felt really, I guess for lack of a better term, very restrictive. And I know different campuses are different in that way, but I think Arizona in particular, that limitation piece was really a big shift for me.
[00:12:21.330] - Megan Kniskern
Absolutely. I think that there are two ways to sort of look at the idea of what a body can go through in a time period, right? So if we were to look at it like, yes, if you came home halfway through the school year at that holiday semester break, and there was a clear weight change, meaning gain or weight loss, we want to make sure we don't praise or shame. We want to go into it with, hey, how is school going? Are you happy? Are things good? How are you doing? It's not, "I notice your body." This could be one sign or one cry for help in one particular way, and then on the other side of that is figuring things out. So let's say it's a less dramatic, less obvious, but more uncomfortable in our physical appearance, and maybe we do need to get some new clothes, or maybe some things don't fit quite the same, or we feel more uncomfortable in our body. There's so much that goes into that. So I love, Alli, what you're talking about with access. What is your knowledge base? Even if you had a kitchen, how equipped would you be to use that kitchen and actually make food that you feel like you want to eat?
[00:13:35.530] - Megan Kniskern
I mean, I know lots of kids going into - I say kids only from a place of full like, I call my college students my kids, but it's just from a place of, like, love - and so I see kids that are like, I can't make pasta. And then you're like, even your buttered noodles have limitations there when we're looking for comfort food. And there are some basics that would be really important to look at, but we don't teach home ec, we don't teach woodwork, we don't teach balancing a checkbook, we don't teach taxes, we don't teach credit cards and interest rates. These are all things we force people to figure out on their own. So we've got the food piece, and that's really important. Then we have the movement piece. We have lots of people that go from sports, super regimented activities to, yes, you're on campus, you're walking more, you're probably not going to have a car. I think most college campuses don't even allow freshmen to have cars. Right. And so that happens, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're as active or active to the degree and the level that you were in the past, which is okay.
[00:14:42.150] - Megan Kniskern
Sleep - I think it's really important to talk about sleep here, too, when we talk about stress and food and body changes. We don't sleep the same in college. We're, like, on a slumber party with all of our friends for the first time, and so now we're up late. We're with people more. We're learning to live with people as well, in close environments. Our sleep is a mess, and that impacts our appetite. Our food cravings are fueling needs. Do you just see where this is going? It's like, give people a year to figure it out without worrying about the fact that their body might change. It will probably also moderate itself into a more adult like state as they go through their college experience. But we really do place a lot of blame on "junk food" or "overeating", I'm air quoting here. Again, alcohol consumption can be another thing to be on the lookout for, even when it comes to weight loss or weight gain, right? And that can be something that gets out of control in a more free environment for some individuals. But it's not just one thing, and it's not someone's fault or that they've done anything wrong.
[00:15:52.730] - Megan Kniskern
It's really a more normal part of just how we set up our culture for growing up and going to school. It just is what it is. We really do kind of send kids off with not quite as much preparation in some of those "caring for themselves" type situations, as we think we do as a society.
[00:16:12.570] - Ashley
It's that like pull up your bootstraps discussion. I love the part of it's no one's fault. Because it's almost like if we've approached this season of life, if you will, with compassion and skill building and tool building and just asking more questions, instead of blaming. Like, I loved your point about when folks go home, coming from like, how is school going? What has been great? What has been hard? Instead of, oh, you look like your body [has changed] - or drawing attention to the body as well. Why do you think people care? Why do you even think because it sounds like an American and Canadian thing that we even label this kind of, quote unquote "Freshman 15" phenomenon or pressure builder. Why do we even care?
[00:17:02.870] - Megan Kniskern
It really comes back to- our societal norms are very narrow, and we expect ourselves, this is what we put on ourselves because we want to fit in, we expect ourselves to fit into those narrow categories. And so if we have comfort with something, we don't want to disrupt that comfort. We don't want to be put into a new category. We recognize that people in larger bodies in our society are not treated well, and there is an immediate fear and hesitation to have your body change in any way that will put a target on your back. And I think that that is where so much can be learned, because the shaming of an individual doesn't create great change. In fact, it creates more pain and oftentimes leads to more undesirable and unhealthy behaviors to cope. So when we come to people with more curiosity, compassion and concern, then they can really live in a life where they don't feel as judged and stressed. And as I've mentioned before, stress impacts all of our bodies in different ways. We don't get to decide that necessarily. So this comes from our own societal pressures of keeping up the standardized norm that our bodies aren't allowed to change our first year of college, or that our bodies aren't allowed to change at all.
[00:18:24.650] - Megan Kniskern
I do feel like I was sold a bill of goods, like, oh, you're going to become an adult, and then that's your body. And I do, I have a mom who has very borderline orthorexic tendencies who's very much been in that same body her whole life, and I've watched her torturously maintain it. And we have to open up this idea that the world we live in now is not as stable, is not as clear cut, is not as safe as an environment that we hope to create. And so we need to do the best that we can for ourselves, to create confidence, to garner support, to do the things that we know are best, and again, to be cautious in how we judge and make assumptions about others and what they're experiencing. It's a bigger picture issue, as you can see here, but it's also a really good demonstration of where we can start letting go very easily in our culture with some of these things. Like, the "Freshman 15", it's like, really, who cares?
[00:19:27.000] - Alli
If you're a student, and a friend has been making negative comments about themselves and is kind of concerned about that "Freshman 15", again using air quotes, how do we navigate this? Like, what would you tell a student who's kind of navigating a friend who's dealing with this, too?
[00:19:47.230] - Megan Kniskern
I love that. There's two things I think of - I guess - situations that I think of. One is maybe a friend who's constantly making comments about themselves, right? That situation you're kind of talking about there. "Oh, I'm gaining so much weight. Oh, I look horrible. Oh, my clothes aren't fitting." I would always just offer a compassionate ear. Don't fix it. You're not fixing it for them. Don't say things like, "oh, you're not fat. You're not gaining weight." You don't get to decide that, just like they don't get to decide that, necessarily. So instead, it's "oh, I do not love hearing you say negative things about yourself. Oh, I'm hearing you being really uncomfortable. What's going on? What can we do? Because you being negative to yourself all the time is probably not going to help you feel any better." Right? So I think being supportive, compassionate and not- we tend in our society to be like, this is the most common one, when someone's like, "oh, I'm feeling so fat." "Oh, you're not fat." Okay, first of all, you can't feel fat. And second of all, there's nothing wrong with fat. It's just a descriptive term. Fatness exists for a reason and a purpose.
[00:20:56.260] - Megan Kniskern
And so we want to, like, fix the fat problem, and instead, it's like, that's not a problem. "I love you. Do we need to go get some new clothes? Let's sell some stuff, and I'll go with you. What can we do to support right now? I love you no matter what is going on with your body." We can really navigate away from that appearance focus, and get to what's really going on for that person because it's usually something bigger. Does that feel applicable? Does that feel like something that would be easy to do?
[00:21:28.450] - Alli
Yeah. I like how you said, don't fix it. I think in so many situations, I know for me, it's that auto place of coming from like, I need to fix this. This is uncomfortable for me to hear you feeling bad. And so I need to have solutions as a friend. And I think sometimes that person is not even asking for a solution. They're just asking to be heard. And so I think I've really, even in my own relationships, tried to say, like, "okay, how can I support you?" Like, just leaving that door open of like, what support do you need from me as your friend, as your partner, as your sister? And I think sometimes that also forces the person who's feeling uncomfortable to kind of do a little self check and say, like, yeah, actually, what am I looking for as I'm saying this out loud? So it's both self reflective and also just holding space for that person.
[00:22:29.540] - Megan Kniskern
You become also a person that they know they can maybe be more honest and more open with, and it can really create a more authentic space to exist in, rather than the standard, normalized ways that we talk to each other. I had a client this week who was hanging out with her friends, and she's like, I just don't know how to respond at the end of dinner when they're all like, oh, I'm stuffed. I'm so full. And she's just thinking, why are you saying that? Now I'm worried. Am I too full? And she's really strong on herself. She's like, Why are we talking like that? And she's like, I don't know how to say it. And so the other piece I wanted to offer is we need to catch ourselves. We've heard our moms, our aunts, maybe our dads, our grandmothers. We are growing up in generation upon generation upon generation of body negativity, body talking, body perfectionism. And again, I say that from my own generational experiences in my family dynamics. And so we need to start breaking that pattern by catching our talk and how we're doing things and doing our best to not be saying that out loud and in fact catching our negative thoughts before we say them out loud and think, why am I telling myself this?
[00:23:42.690] - Megan Kniskern
Is this accurate? And is this even helpful? And we can be better advocates for our health than what we think is advocating for our health, which is diets, right? That is not advocating for our health. That is a bajillion dollar industry that is distracting us from doing other productive things with our lives and fixating on a problem that would be much less of a problem if we stopped telling everyone how much they sucked. And instead we start telling ourselves why we care about ourselves, why we have value and we garner and hone what we like about that. We choose foods we like, we stop eating when we feel content. We don't restrict ourselves and limit ourselves, and sometimes our body goes through a change. I've never been through a pandemic before. I don't know what's going to happen at the end of that road. If you've never gone to college before, you don't know what that experience is going to entail. And so go in curious, go in open and go in not ready to tell yourself you're going to fail at something. That is what's going to be really helpful in putting yourself out there for the best that could potentially come. And gaining a little bit of weight because you had to make some adjustments doesn't impact your experience in any negative way.
[00:25:00.790] - Ashley
I love that. And my follow up question was to ask you about takeaways or things students could do to cope with their body changing. But I feel like you're kind of alluding to outright naming. Not being overly concerned that it will, and just kind of coming in or leaning into that it probably will. And that that's okay and that there's nothing wrong with that. And to allow yourself to build skills and become confident in your new environment without the pressure. Alleviating some of that pressure, which I think unfortunately sometimes comes from other people, not only just the media but I know certain people get directly told from maybe family members or other well-meaning people to "be careful" or whatever language they use. But it's usually not helpful. The media does it too. But I think it's even harder to hear when our own trusted adults in our lives do it.
[00:26:04.870] - Megan Kniskern
It's so much worse. But here's the thing about that, Ashley, that's so interesting, is in fact the people who we're closest to, tend to be the ones that are more likely to offer us feedback that's more shaming. It's out of a place of love and it's out of a place of health concern and it's out of a place of, again, missed opportunities for learning generationally speaking because parents and family and friends come from a place of not wanting you to be in pain and they believe that they're helping you by not letting you get into the wrong body. Right? Well, wait a minute that's how I avoid pain my whole life? I don't think so. It is really difficult especially when the people closest to you are committed and connected to that idea. My suggestion is to demonstrate to them that you're going to be confident and comfortable no matter what. And so, I appreciate you worrying about me, but that's not the type of way I need you to worry about me, right? Maybe? And that can be a nice way to kind of say, like, I don't need you to worry about how I feel about my appearance because I'm working on that every day on my own, without a little bit of side shame that I can do better.
[00:27:17.650] - Ashley
Well, there's so many other risky behaviors that you can engage in. And so, if the pressure is on this one thing and you're just willing to utilize these risky behaviors to achieve that one thing, I think as someone who tries to help our campus community, it stresses me out to know, like, oh, they're just not going to eat to be able to achieve this or they're going to engage in alcohol in a really risky way. And that's, I think, what sometimes comes back to that, like, harm reduction piece, that makes me a little nervous.
[00:27:49.210] - Megan Kniskern
I completely agree. The more open we can be, the more that we can be a safe environment for people to come to, in the sense that they're not going to immediately be judged, they're not going to immediately be told they have to fix it. People need time to come to a place of asking for support and then being willing to make some changes because, again, we don't like change. So the "Freshman 15", in the context of what it is, feels like it's happening at us and as if we have no control. So if you want to have some control then here's some things to think about, are you eating regularly? Are you fueling throughout the day? Are you hydrating? Are you sleeping in normal ways, in normal amounts with quiet and peacefulness? Not 4 hours here and 4 hours there and 2 hours here. How are you taking care of all of that? So they are not just food related? Are you moving your body? Are you taking some time alone for yourself? There's so much more to do and to be aware of so that you are fully in control of this experience, as best you can be, and you're not wasting your time worrying about and focusing on and further stressing about things that maybe just don't need to be worried about and looked at and stressed right now.
[00:29:11.430] - Ashley
That's such a good reminder that it's not just about food and movement. I think we tend to focus on that because as a society, I feel like we really believe that people have control of that and it's up to them, and we forget about all the other things that promote wellness, if that's in fact what folks are looking for even. So, I think those are great, really specific things that students can access daily, or at least aim to access and experiment with as they kind of run through the semester. Understanding that the beginning and end of semester sometimes look a little different. I was talking to a client the other day, and we were kind of just talking about having compassion, that there are parts of a semester that are really stressful. And so almost like understanding that and welcoming that a little bit and figuring out, okay, how am I going to do my best to take care of myself in those moments instead of trying to stay, quote unquote, "perfect" all semester long? And again, that kind of pressure that we put on ourselves and that society maybe adds too.
[00:30:17.010] - Alli
Well, and I think too, just this idea from what we're talking about, it goes back to health is this moral obligation. And it only being food and body versus like when we look at if health is even something that you value. If, number one. But then number two, like, okay, yeah, you're sleeping in a dorm, probably with another person who's on a completely opposite schedule than you are, and your class schedule is all funky and you have a random day off on Wednesday that you're going to take a four hour nap. So these things that don't necessarily even equate, the air quotes again, like "health" on this more holistic standpoint. And then the second piece of that is like, if that's even something that you value individually versus Mom and Grandma sitting here being like this weird bonding of like, well, if you're happy or if you're healthy, then you're doing X, Y and Z. And this collective bond that we have over disliking the way that we present ourselves.
[00:31:30.430] - Megan Kniskern
I want to break that cycle more than I can ever explain to you, Alli. My almost 90-year-old grandma, I am just like, can we please finish your life without you being invested in weight loss?
[00:31:45.470] - Megan Kniskern
Please?
[00:31:46.930] - Megan Kniskern
It's hard. It's very hard. And that's why we don't need to put this on our freshman.
[00:31:53.530] - Alli
Agreed.
[00:31:58.670] - Ashley
I forgot to send these to Megan, but we're going to ask some end of podcast questions in a moment. I forgot to send them to you, Megan. Just three rapid fires that are very simple. But before we do that, is there anything that we didn't ask or that you wanted to share with our student U of A community about today's topic that we didn't already kind of cover?
[00:32:24.890] - Megan Kniskern
I'm so glad- I really want people to have takeaways and I really want to emphasize, I guess, that the level of stress and the more you worry about something that isn't 100% directly in your control, the more you create a cognitive dissonance, a divide between where you want to be and where you actually are. And that is an unnecessary fight for you to have with yourself. I know you hear it and it's all around us, but if you're doing your very best- again, it's things like don't just eat one giant meal at 02:00 in the afternoon and again, don't get 3 hours of sleep. Can you make these small changes? And we think that's survival and we think we're just doing our best. These are the easy ways - just come back to the basics. Come back to the basics. Don't get overly complicated. Don't cut out food groups. Don't go on some keto or Paleo or intermittent fasting. Just fuel your body regularly. And then if you do, always feel free to reach out for a little bit of support. I think check-ins can be really important. You don't have to see a professional forever to do a couple of check-ins here and there too.
[00:33:33.960] - Megan Kniskern
And you may want to do that at the beginning of the semester and the end of the semester. I think of dietitians a little bit like dentists. Yes, sometimes people need to be there all the time getting lots of work done. But sometimes a couple of good check-ins can really help to make you connect with your dynamics around how you feel about food and get some good solid information. Because there is so much out there and I'm going to tell you, 93% of it is not helpful. I am going to stick with a 93% on that.
[00:34:02.810] - Ashley
I support that percentage choice. I love the discussion of like we're dentists. Like I think that feels really accurate.
[00:34:12.650] - Megan Kniskern
My dentist stalks me twice a year to come in and I hate being there. Why don't dietitians? Why aren't we seen twice a year to check in on how you are feeling about your body? How are you feeling about food? A new diet came out, what can I answer for you? Let's just touch base. Any medical concerns? Did any health things come up? Do you need any new recipe ideas? This would be amazing.
[00:34:34.140] - Ashley
That's really good. And it reminds me of like, we're thinking and we're probably going to do it, but I don't have a ton of details. But rolling out, drop-ins with the dietitian at one of our new locations here on campus, at Bear Down, and what a great opportunity. It is like, come in, it's a quick check in. They're going to be free, which is also going to be really nice. So I think that kind of speaks to the model you're talking about. A little bit of a tune up or a little bit of a check in, a little review of what you're doing and maybe kind of coming back to the basics like you're saying. I think that's a really good takeaway. Like, come back to the basics, don't try to overhaul it. Just small, sustainable things.
[00:35:14.810] - Alli
Yeah.
[00:35:15.600] - Ashley
Good sleep.
[00:35:17.330] - Alli
Do we want to do our rapid fire questions?
[00:35:20.410] - Ashley
Let's do it.
[00:35:21.860] - Alli
Okay.
[00:35:22.420] - Alli
Megan, if you could only eat three foods ever again, what would they be?
[00:35:27.000] - Megan Kniskern
Alright, that's tough. OK, I'm going to start for sure with pizza. Like a good old, just like basic pizza for sure. I do also love a very comprehensive salad. I think that with all the things in it, it may be one of my most favorite foods. And then, the last one has to be something sweet. But is it chocolate or is it ice cream? I think it's ice cream. I mean, look where I just went. I literally pizza, ice cream, and a salad.
[00:36:02.690] - Ashley
You just made dinner, really.
[00:36:04.140] - Megan Kniskern
I did, yeah. And I would be happy with it.
[00:36:07.040] - Ashley
Amazing. And I do love the call into salads that don't suck, that have a lot of ingredients in them.
[00:36:14.080] - Megan Kniskern
We have a famous one up here in Phoenix. It's called the OMFG salad. It started at a restaurant called Cowboy Chow, but now it's at the Gladly because Cowboy Chow closed down. And the chef is over at the Gladly. And I get it. It's like ten minutes from my house. I get it at least once a week.
[00:36:30.520] - Ashley
I'll have to remember that when I go up there, I feel like I've been to the Gladly.
[00:36:36.090] - Alli
Breakfast or dinner for you, Megan?
[00:36:39.990] - Megan Kniskern
It's breakfast all the time, except for if I get to go alone to a dinner with my husband.
[00:36:46.110] - Alli
Good little caveat.
[00:36:48.230] - Megan Kniskern
Yeah.
[00:36:50.970] - Alli
Perfect. Ashley, do you want to ask last one?
[00:36:52.970] - Ashley
Sure. So if you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who would they be?
[00:36:59.250] - Megan Kniskern
Oh, my goodness. Okay. This is a really good one. I would for sure have some sort of a housewife there because I'm pretty Bravo liberty obsessed. It used to be Bethenny Frankel, she's bothering me a lot now, but it would probably be like a New York housewife or an OCOG housewife. Someone from there I would have to bring. Oh my gosh, this is so fun. A sports figure as well, I would probably want to bring in. I don't know if Aaron Rogers is it, but I'm a big Green Bay Packers fan, so maybe someone fun like Jordy Nelson, maybe like a receiver off the Packers. I mean, I'm going to have a very weird dinner here. And then Chris Hemsworth, just because I would stare at him the entire time.
[00:37:49.600] - Ashley
You got people for conversation and maybe a little spiciness. You've got some interesting stories, and then you have some eye candy.
[00:37:57.640] - Megan Kniskern
I mean, Chris Hemsworth is also very funny and does lots of things, but I just would if I could have anything.
[00:38:05.470] - Ashley
And you'll have pizza, a salad, and ice cream.
[00:38:10.810] - Megan Kniskern
It'll be amazing.
[00:38:12.000] - Ashley
Yeah, that sounds amazing. I can't thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy schedule and all the work you do in all of the spaces that you impact. And I just appreciate you lending your expertise for our students and talking about, like, a sticky topic that I think has a lot of layers to it. So I felt like this is just going to be such a great takeaway for students to have some tangible things that they can work on and have some self reflection with. So I just really appreciate you doing this for us today, Megan. We really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun.
[00:38:49.490] - Megan Kniskern
I'm beyond thrilled to be here. You guys are amazing. Please keep up all the work you're doing. University don't offer a good deal of education and support in these spaces, and our college age students are the ones that are really at such a high risk point. So I'm so grateful for all that you guys are doing.