Going on exchange is exciting, students get to try a lot of new things including food. And a lot of those foods are not exactly on the healthiest side. Many students will experience weight gain and sometimes stomach distress during their first few weeks/months as they adjust to American food. There is also the factor of less movement, many students come from places where walking/riding bicycles to and from places is regular daily occurrence, not so much in spread out America. So it is important to talk about keeping a healthy life style on exchange, I am not saying don’t let them enjoy our treats but maybe balance it out with a salad.
America has the reputation of being all unhealthy food all the time. Not in my house. I create healthy balanced dinners and encourage healthy lunches and breakfasts. My husband and I do have a sweet tooth and keep ice cream well in supply, so we do indulge but I try to keep it balanced. I eat a low carb/keto diet for my personal health reasons so there are a lot of vegetables and not a lot of simple carbs for dinner, sometimes (because my students are responsible for making their own breakfast and lunch during the week) it is the only vegetables they get during the day, so I overload it.
We talk about making healthy food choices for when they plan their breakfasts and lunches or when we go out, especially if the student is struggling. We talk about taking a teen multivitamin, which we encourage checking in with mom/dad about as well. We fuss about drinking a proper amount of water, we had one student that barely drank anything during the day and I would send regular reminders to drink some water. We even got those Mio flavors to help.
For students that join a sport, exercise isn’t an issue. But for those that do not, or the semester they do not do one, it is important that they move some. We had one student that would do Pilates in her room almost daily and others would go to the gym with me. Some are harder to convince to do something and won’t head your advice until they feel crappy and realize that sitting in on the couch watching Netflix and binge eating Oreos is probably the reason. Even if it is just walking around the yard/neighborhood, encourage them to move, especially if they are coming from movement everyday to sitting all the time (class, home, in the car/bus).
We also talk some about mental health, because exchange is stressful even when it goes perfectly. So we talk about how to deal with stress, keeping a balanced life, meditation/yoga options, and just talking it out. We also have a “feel good jar” that is a jar with little notes to help in sad/bad moment.
Some students will need more encouragement/help than others. We have had some super healthy students to super not. I also view encouraging them as encouraging me, sometimes I need the extra motivation to work out or to eat the salad versus the burger, or be reminded to be present and not stress about every little thing.
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