Month: November 2021

What's in a name, with Shakespeare's head and a rose. What’s in a name? A lot, if the word ‘obesity’ is gone
fitness · research

What’s in a name? A lot, if the word ‘obesity’ is gone

catherine w

Instead of opening my post by chatting and eventually getting around to my topic, let me make like a journalist and offer an actual lede. Here goes:

The main research center for food policy and weight discrimination research, the Rudd Center, just changed its name this week.

You may be thinking, okay, thanks for the info. Now onto the next thing.

Hang on a sec! I forgot the most important part of the name change. The Rudd Center used to be called The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

Logo of the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (with a globe that looks like an apple)

As of Monday (that’s when I got the email), the Rudd Center had changed its name to The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health.

New banner for the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, with apple graphic on the left and image of extremely cute kid in the background, possibly holding a piece of fruit.
New banner for the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, with apple graphic on the left and image of extremely cute kid in the background, possibly holding a piece of fruit.

Wow.

A "wow" emoji as the o in wow, for emphasis. Cool.
A “wow” emoji as the o in wow, for emphasis. Cool.

This is big. No longer using the word “obesity” which I really dislike (read more about why in my post here) represents a shift in the ways a major research and policy center thinks and acts about food practices and population health. Here’s what the Rudd folks have to say about it:

This change reflects how our work has evolved over the past 15 years. When the Rudd Center was founded, the majority of our research focused on strategies to reduce obesity rates. Although many of our current initiatives remain grounded in the idea that improving the food environment will promote better nutrition, we now study a range of health outcomes, and focus on several specific populations. Among our newer areas of work are: food insecurity; the whole school, whole community, whole child model; minimum wage policies; and LGBTQ youth.  

We remain dedicated to using research to inform policy; fighting weight bias and discrimination through research, education, and advocacy; studying the social, economic, and structural drivers of diet quality and health equity; and reducing the harm of food marketing to youth. 

For years, the Rudd Center has been at the vanguard of research into ways our industrial food system and flawed healthcare system harms children, exacerbates health disparities and discriminates against fatter people. But this conscious and very public shift away from research on obesity rates, including getting rid of that word (ob*sity), sends a clear message: we’re not interested in researching about body weight. We’re interested in researching about food policy, access and discrimination. Here’s what they’re focusing on these days:

  • early care and education
  • food marketing
  • food policy
  • food security
  • schools
  • weight bias and stigma
List of research areas from Rudd Center website

Name changes are powerful. They signify changes in identity, changes in the ways we view the world and changes in the ways we view ourselves. This name change is one that I welcome with open arms.

If you are interested in learning more about the work the Rudd Center does, check out their website here.

Readers, does this seem like good news to you? Do you dislike the word ob*sity as much as I do? Any thoughts you have are most welcome.

fitness

Is there a relationship between gratitude and health?

fieldpoppy2 Comments

I’m not sure how November became “gratitude month,” but I’m kind of grateful for whatever meme-maker started it. Sam is too. At first, it seemed like the provenance of bullet journal-makers and the people who teach mindfulness in the workplace, but I have realized through my coaching practice that focusing on gratitude can actually be a meaningful intervention to shifting our ability to cope in complicated or difficult times. There is, it turns out, even literature to support this.

It’s been known for a while that interventions like gratitude journaling can have a positive impact on stress and a sense of wellbeing in many contexts, including parenting, school and work — and there are hints that “gratitude interventions” can have a positive impact on physical health, including improving management of asthma, cardiovascular health, and other forms of chronic illness. This is especially so when gratitude is part of a social relationship — i.e., expressed to or by someone else.

So — why is this, exactly? There are a ton of researchers looking at this from a lot of different angles, including measuring brain activity in relation to various gratitude experiences. There is some suggestion that experiencing gratitude may lower your heart rate (certainly in comparison to experiencing resentment or a threat), and that gratitude ignites neural pathways that are related to (my words here, not theirs) the same parts of our brains ignited by belonging or caring for other people.

What is the relationship between focusing on the things you appreciate in your life and better managing your diabetes? There are two different types of processes involved.

The first is your own individual motivation. One group of researchers suggests it goes something like this: if you develop positive affect (i.e., a sense of appreciation or happiness) about your life in general, we feel less stress and have more energy to do the things that make us healthier (like exercising, not smoking, not drinking excessively, sleeping well), which helps reinforce unconscious motives for healthy behaviours, which leads to further engagement in healthy behaviours. It’s not as simple as individual choice and free will, of course — you need a social context and environment where healthy behaviours are possible. But there definitely does seem to be a relation between stress and misery and the deterioration of emotional and physical wellbeing.

The other set of factors is “prosocial” — i.e, related to how we experience ourselves in communites and relationships. Amplifying our sense of gratitude leads us to appreciate the people around us more, and to participate more fully in our communities. And “prosocial behaviour” — ie.., feeling like we belong to a community — has a well documented positive impact on our health.

So all those memes? They actually mean something. Cultivating a practice of quiet gratitude on its own supports our own emotional and physical wellbeing; telling someone else you are grateful for them amplifies it.

I’m going off now to send some texts full of gratitude. And I’ll leave you with a yoga I was grateful for yesterday, when I made the time to comfort and nourish myself.

Fieldpoppy is Cate Creede, who is particularly grateful in this moment for her cats, her functioning body, her home and all the people she loves.

challenge · fitness

No-vember?

Sam B1 Comment
“No”-vember

I made it through October and now I’m arriving at my office in the dark, biking home in the dark, and there’s white stuff falling from the sky as I type.

November is a month of many things, including cold and here in Canada, the start of snow.

November is also a month of challenges.

It’s Mo-vember.

It’s also Gratitude Month. I’ve blogged about that here.

It’s No Spend November.

For many of my writer friends it’s also NaNoWriMo.

Lots of different challenges are going on, but another friend says that for her, it’s NO!-vember. She makes November not a month of taking on new challenges. Instead she makes it a month of saying NO to things.

Me, I’m all in on the Month of Gratitude. It makes me feel good, even while I know it’s somewhat forced and artificial, it also works. But I can also see the appeal of a month of “no.” Of course it’s more complicated than a simple across the board NO. Some things you want to say YES to. Instead, it’s a month of permission to decline things.

For me, I don’t think I need that permission. That’s too close to my pre-existing grumpy November mood.

But for you, maybe it works for you. Is there anything you’re saying NO to these days, as a conscious effort? Or is there another November challenge you’re taking on that I haven’t mentioned? Let us know in the comments!

Photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash. Painting of the word “No” in yellow on a red background.

Self-Discipline As Ease and a Path to Joy
motivation · training

Self-Discipline As Ease and a Path to Joy

Mina

On a recent morning, I experienced my self-discipline in a whole new way. I’ve always thought of self-discipline as being about … well … discipline. Getting shit done. Staying on top of things. Progress. Maintenance. Control. The universe introduced me to the possibility that self-discipline may contain all those things, and their seeming opposites.    

I woke to torrential rain. I’d been looking forward to my run and the audio book I’m listening to. Instead, I was going to have to do a Peloton ride or stream one of their Pilates classes. Have to, because I had a day full of Zoom and wanted to move; and because moving (and sweating) makes for a happier, more settled day, for me. The have to was weighing on me more than usual. Most of the time, I’m glad to have the external encouragement of the instructor. But not this particular morning. I wanted to move, but not that way, not with that kind of intensity or focus.

When I got to the bike, I thought, hang on a minute, I can do this differently. I don’t have to take a particular class. I can do my own thing, can’t I?  And I did. And it was profoundly satisfying.

To start, I opened the window next to the bike. My music for the morning was the sound of the pouring rain. Next, I hunted down the bike feature that would allow me to do what I wanted. I found the feature under the tab labeled More; and really, it’s more of an un-feature called Just Ride. Finally, I hooked my iPad over the bike screen and pressed play on my audio book and then shut off the screen’s light. Soon I was immersed in the words of David Abram’s, The Spell of the Sensuous, about the origins of language, as it arises from impulsive, gestural responses to our sensorial experience as beings in the world. I was a being on a bike, listening to the rain and the occasional city sound of traffic or a siren, experiencing my body in motion, the sweat running off my face, the rhythm of my legs and the light of a grey day leaking slowly into a dark room, though I mostly rode with my eyes closed.

Such. Pleasure.  

Red leaves through rainy window,
by Anne Nygard on Unsplash

A couple of hours later I was engaged in a deep dive conversation with two study partners about the difference between self-discipline and obedience (as part of my Non-Violent Communication program). My ride was the distinction we were talking about. I woke up with a desire to move and I made a choice to nourish my need. That was my inner voice of self-discipline, or at least how I usually think of her. Then a bunch of shoulds arrived to try to divert me from the freedom underlying my choice. You should do an instructor-led ride. You should try to ride harder than you will on your own. You should be more serious. You get the picture. On this particular morning, the idea of listening to those voices felt like obedience to some random external measure of success. A killjoy. Then, I discovered that getting to the bike was only Part One of the self-discipline voice. Part Two kicked in when I illuminated the screen. In lieu of obeying felt societal pressure, even if that pressure was and is largely imaginary or self-imposed, Part Two suggested that I search inside myself for the answer to what I wanted. The answer was clear. To just ride. To feel connected to nature, even if it was only through an open window. To listen to my book. 

I got off the bike drenched, my brain tingling with the sparks of ideas connecting and my body ready for some hours inside a box on a screen. 

Part One of my self-discipline on her own might not think I did an appropriate workout. She’s a lot about obedience. That’s where Part Two (a fresh aspect of self-discipline) came in to remind me that obedience does not have to be blind choice, but can include flexibility and creativity.  Part Two trusted me to decide, to double check inside and verify that my decision came from a place of internal discernment and not from an externally-fueled judgment of sufficiency. Part Two expanded on Part One’s mission to keep me healthy, reminding me that I alone have the power to decide what is the right workout self-discipline on any given day. With all due respect to Part One, Part Two encouraged me to free myself from obedience to arbitrary, impersonal measures of that incredibly elusive concept—success.

Instead, I my self-discipline is making this choice: what will give me the most joy today? 

More Rehab Exercises Keep Christine On Her Toes
fitness · flexibility · habits · injury · stretching

More Rehab Exercises Keep Christine On Her Toes

Christine Hennebury

I have spent entirely too much time thinking about my big toes this week.

Aside from the occasional stubbing incident, and an unfortunately-located bee sting when I was 8, I have never given my big toes much thought at all.

A GIF of Garfield, a large orange cartoon cat with black triangular lined patches on his back and tail, is moving on tiptoe. ​
Okay, so I’m not ‘on my toes’ as much as our friend Garfield but this GIF made me laugh so I couldn’t resist adding it to this post. Image description: A GIF of Garfield, a large orange cartoon cat with black triangular lined patches on his back and tail, is moving on tiptoe.

But last week, a conversation with my chiropractor led to the realization that I roll my foot inwards when I am trying to keep my balance. That means that the muscles in my feet weak from not being used properly. And, I am compensating for that weakness by using muscles in my legs instead.

You remember the ongoing saga with the muscles in my leg…the pain in my heel…wait, is it my foot, right?

Well, this is probably tied into that whole mess, too.

I’m not sure if the problem started with my toes, messed up my foot, then aggravated my calf and so on, or if things went the other way, or if it all kind of happened at once.*

I wish that I could have noticed the whole thing before it got this bad, I just have to work through all of the different muscles while they recover.

So, I’ve added some toe exercises to my calf/heel/foot routine. I have been taking my chiropractor’s advice and consciously choosing to use my big toe for support as I do yoga and walk and practice Taekwondo.

And I bought some of these chummies (you may know them as toe spacers but they’re chummies to me.)

A white-appearing person’s feet, one flat on the floor and the other raised to show the bottom. They are wearing blue toe spacers that wrap around each toe.
These aren’t my feet! This is a photo of ‘Toe Pal’ spacers as shown on Amazon. Image description: a white-appearing person’s feet wearing a pair of blue gel toe spacers. One foot is flat on the floor and one is raised so the sole is visible. The spacers wrap around each toe and have a thicker wedge that rests between the toes to hold them apart.

I think my feet are feeling a little better already but that is probably just the power of suggestion.

I guess that as long as it encourages me to keep up a routine that will work, it’s a useful form of delusion, right?

Anyway, let’s hope that I can soon get back to not thinking about my toes, my feet, or my calves at all.

*This article certainly makes it sound like the problem could have originated in my toes.

fitness

November is Gratitude Month: What are you grateful for? #NationalGratitudeMonth

Sam B

I hate November, generally speaking. We all know that around here. It’s old news.

More recently, like last year. I decided to bring out the big guns in mood improvement. For me, that’s time outside, indoor bright lights, cozy things, staying connected to friends and family, and gratitude.

November is Gratitude Month. I blogged about it here, Sam is making a conscious effort to acknowledge gratitude.

“Today I am grateful for all of the children in costumes and their parents who helped provision them. Thanks for stopping by our house and sharing in the candy!”

Here’s our house and Cheddar the dog, ready for trick or treaters.

fitness

Happy World Vegan Day! (#reblog)

Sam B

World Vegan Day is November 1st In honour of world vegan day, here are some of our past posts on veganism: Vegans and Protein: Yes, We Like It, Too Trending now: plant-based eating How to Get Lots of Vegan Protein Can an Ethical Vegan Gain Muscle? Yes! “Vegan” Is Not a Fad Diet Eating Vegan: Not […]

Happy World Vegan Day!
fitness

Sam is Checking In for October 2021: Hello Fall My Old Friend!

Sam B

October was a month. A very long action packed month. Work was very busy, starting at 8 am most days, running into evenings, and often spilling over into the weekend.

It’s sort of odd because in the Before Times October was also usually a busy conference travel month and there’s none of that these days. Instead it was all academic administration all the time. So many virtual meetings!

Luckily, it was also an action packed fitness-y month. Sometimes busy work months feel worse because they eat into my workout time and then I’m both overworked and extra frazzled. This month was busy with work and fitness-y things, and I even mostly got enough sleep. What suffered? My house. But that’s okay. I can clean and organize things once it’s dark all of the time.

I won’t bore you with work details–that belongs on my other blog–but I will list some of my fitness accomplishments, big and small.

I finished Zwift Academy and blogged about it here. Yay!

I also went back to the gym. It’s nice to be in a group fitness class again. Go me!

Along with my Fit is a Feminist Issue teammates, I took part in the very Canadian Participaction challenge. Go Team!

Ellen, Sarah and I rode in the Guelph Coalition for Active Transportation’s Fall Colours Ride. Yay us!

Photos from the Fall Colours ride

And if that weren’t all enough, my mother went away. How does that impact my fitness, you ask?

Well, she left us her dog Charlie. Often my mother walks Cheddar at least once during the day but for 10 days in October we had double dog duty. And Charlie, unlike Cheddar, likes three walks a day. There was a lot of dog walking this month. Go Charlie and Cheddar!

In October, we also had Jeff visiting while he’s waiting for repairs on his boat. Nicely timed visit home for Thanksgiving and his birthday. Go Jeff!

Stay tuned for more bikes and boats in the future!