We are finally permitted to practice indoor sports again. I have enthusiastically taken up squash again. The gym at De Bongerd is filling up with students again. After all, the temple where our souls reside requires maintenance. Many students visiting the gym aim to have that temple shrink in its width.
Personally, I struggle with the opposite issue: being underweight. Losing a considerable amount of weight would require the removal of body parts. I am trying to increase my weight, no easy task.
WUR often seeks healthy young males and females for research purposes. And I feel the term “healthy young male” fits me like a glove. I made it through the screening for a study: I completed all the questionnaires correctly, used no medication that might interfere, and am a non-smoker. Just one formality remained: checking my BMI. Despite the one-and-a-half litres of water I sneakily drank to increase my weight, my BMI was too low to qualify as “healthy”, much to my surprise. Not being prone to weight gain is not altogether the genetic jackpot. Plus, I am always cold; I want some fat on my bones!
A health professional telling me to eat more mayonnaise, a dream come true for many students
I am currently following the advice of a dietician, who told me this week: ‘you have lost weight, I recommend you eat more mayonnaise’. She mentioned more products, but the mayonnaise stuck with me. A health professional telling me to eat more mayonnaise, a dream come true for many students. I immediately went to the supermarket to buy a jar of prescription mayonnaise. If I throw it down the hatch immediately, I may qualify as a “healthy young male”, I thought.
As a teenager, I expected the Great Turning Point with respect to my weight would be somewhere during my student years. After that, the fun would be over, and I would gain weight, no longer be able to eat a family size serving of chips and get a pot-belly. I am now 24. What will nature have in store for me in the coming years? Until then, I will consume plenty of mayonnaise and beer in addition to a generally healthy diet.
Steven is a master’s student of Economy and Governance and enjoys playing squash. He is always open to a game of squash and a good conversation. You can reach him by email.
