Getting my waistline back!

Yesterday, a very kind colleague told me that I look 15 years younger. A number of other colleagues have commented that I look a lot slimmer. Well, walking 50 km a week for 3 months in Oxford, UK, will do that for a person. Before that, for 6 months, I hiked around the Harvest Forest trails. During my sabbatical I spent hardly any time commuting anywhere in a car.

During the 5 years that I was director of IRIS (2006-2011), long working hours, catered meetings, sitting in my car (instead of walking to work or to the TTC), combined with less in-class lecturing and field work (i.e. severely reduced movement), resulted in me putting on weight. So, ironically, at the same time as I was carrying out research on "human security", including "health security" and writing blogs about the ecology of food production, I was piling on the pounds. There is extensive media coverage of the so-called "obesity" epidemic, including an excellent multimedia series Sick Cities in the Sydney Morning Herald website. This Australian series does a great job of explaining the economic and social drivers behind our collective expanding waistlines, including the lack of exercise incorporated into our daily lives, partly due to poor public transport systems. In Oxford, I walked everywhere, all the time (or took the bus).

During each of my sabbaticals, I have undertaken one "personal" project that will contribute to improved career performance as a professor. In 2004, I worked on being on time for meetings - my entire family is notoriously late for everything and I was right up there with my numerous uncles, aunts and cousins. I worked with a life coach and the book Never Be Late Again: Cures for the Punctually Challenged by Diane DeLonzor. It HAS made a difference. This past sabbatical, and in fact, beginning in January 2011, my goal was to return to my 2006 "fighting weight". I used a pedometer, started mapping my walks and got a hold of a personal trainer, to kick me into lifting weights and meaning it. I am not there yet, but I am moving nearly as much as I did before 2006. This is a GOOD thing. And, the research is in - we evolved, as humans to think as we move. John Medina's excellent book, Brain Rules, explains the research very well indeed. The more we move, the better our thinking.

Along the way, I learned from my personal trainer, who also has a B.Ed. degree, that the multibillion dollar fitness industry exists simply because people are, in general, fundamentally lacking self-discipline, and the ability to keep on task. You DON'T need a fancy gym or classes to keep fit. You just need to keep on doing a bunch of incredibly boring exercises, such as sit-ups, push-ups, squats and lunges, with less than $100 of exercise equipment, that you can keep in your own front room, plus, just walk 7 km a day. The average person just cannot keep this simple effort up by themselves.

This all raises the question of the extent to which education is able to shift societal norms. The reality is that a large proportion of the population is NOT moved to action by education that comes from peer-reviewed research. Indeed, I am a prime example of this, and I am scientist! This morning, I have written this blog, instead of doing the supersets promoted by Canadian Living's fitness advisor, Pam Mazzuca. While living in Oxford, I had no choice but to walk, and carry groceries in my backpack (which took care of the weights).

However, money IS a motivator for many more people than is knowledge and education. An interesting example of this, comes from a relative in the UK, whose family is required to wear pedometers and to upload the data weekly to their health insurance company. The exercise undertaken by the family translates into reduced health insurance premiums. Is this a form of "fat tax"? I'd say so - although it's also a bit like negative billing from cable companies.

Dawn R. Bazely