There are certain times in our lives when we're prone to gain weight, like when we become part of a couple and after having babies. The first common time for gaining weight is when we go off to college. It's understandable, especially for kids who eat at school. Most colleges have dining halls with an array of food choices (some healthy, others not so much) and there may be fast food services available on campus too. Add in several sedentary hours of studying per week and the pounds creep on quickly.

If you're just starting college, you can avoid the freshman fifteen by making smart choices in the dining hall (think salad instead of an extra slice of pizza), avoiding the fast foods and make time for exercise. It also helps to keep healthy snacks and water in your dorm room and not chips or sugary sodas.

Here's Help For Avoiding the Freshman Fifteen

• What Causes the Freshman Fifteen?
• Common Lifetime Events and Weight Gain
• 15 Tips to Avoid the Freshman 15
• How to Avoid the Freshman Fifteen
• Resisting the Urge To Snack In the Dorm

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High fructose corn syrup is used in soft drinks and many processed foods because it is cheaper than regular sugar. Since it is high in fructose, some people claim that high fructose corn syrup is largely responsible for our bigger waistlines.

So is regular white sugar better? Some higher-end soda companies use "real cane sugar" in their products. But is there really much difference between high fructose corn syrup and regular refined sugar? Learn more about sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

Daily Nutrition Tip

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I think if you don't lose complete control over your diet, relaxing with a few fun foods now and then is perfectly okay. The USDA's MyPyramid.gov even gives you a few (like less than 200) calories every day to enjoy as a small treat. The problem occurs when you add extra calories every day, then your weight goes up and your risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes goes up along with your weight.

So how do you do it? Do you have a little treat every day? Do you eat right almost every day and have a 'day off' from your healthy diet once a week? I'm more of the eat a little something fun every day type of person - usually chocolate - and maybe once a month I 'll have a day when I eat things that I typically avoid like a big ice cream sundae. Of course, even on one of those days, I still eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

Need a little help keeping your weekends under control or taming your sweet tooth? Here's how:

• Weekend Diet Traps
• Satisfy Your Sugar Cravings Without Ruining Your Diet
• Why You Crave Sugar When You're Not Even Hungry

Eggs are part of most people's diets and every link in the egg production chain is periodically inspected, but as the recent egg recall demonstrates, problems with Salmonella contamination still exist. The Food and Drug Administration recently updated their final rule for egg safety to prevent Salmonella contamination of eggs.

Some people blame large egg producers and agri-business in general and want tougher regulations and more frequent inspections by the Food Safety and Inspection Service, but others don't trust government agencies at all. Leave me a comment to let me know how you feel about food safety, the egg recall and the government agencies involved.

Daily Nutrition Tip

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