"Pumpkin Soup"

This year in an effort to bring what I value into my teaching to share with my students, I decided to try the Food Explorers program with my class. Food Explorers is a program that aims to introduce students to nutritious foods and involve then in discussion, planning, preparing, and eating of them. My school is already apart of the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program and my students are routinely introduced to new and healthy foods. But they are often very reluctant to try them, or have already decided they won’t like it before taking a bite. I like the premise behind the Food Explorer program as it lets students take more ownership of the healthy foods they eat. After learning about, making connections with, and sharing their experiences with the chosen food, they choose as a class from the recipes provided a way to try the new food. I hoped that the act of choosing, preparing, and cooking a new food would create a far greater incentive for a child to try something unfamiliar and outside their comfort zone.

After our pumpkin patch trip I thought it might be a great opportunity to introduce squash. I stumbled across a book in my school library called Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. It is about a cat, duck, and squirrel who love to eat pumpkin soup. One day they weren’t able to find a ripe pumpkin. They decided to try other new soups but every new adventure ended with the duck saying “Yuck!” and refusing to try something new. While reading this story to my class they loved yelling yuck along with the duck. It also opened up a great conversation with my students about trying foods before deciding we don’t like them. One of my students said, “that duck has a bad attitude” and all the other children agreed. After each yuck, they repeated “that’s a bad attitude” and scolded the naughty duck. I stopped the story and asked how the duck could have a good attitude towards the soup his friends made. One of them suggested, “he should try a little bit first”.

This was a great teachable moment because whenever my class is trying a new fruit or vegetable I always tell them “even if we don’t think we like it, we try a little bite. It’s ok not to like it, but it’s not ok not to try.” This coupled with the positive effects of peer pressure (everyone else around them is trying the new food) all of my students this year are taking at least tiny bites of the food offered, which is a big step. Studies have shown it can take over 20 exposures to a new food for someone to develop a liking for it, so even a small exposure is a big step in the right direction.

At the end of the book the squirrel decides to trick the duck by making a soup that looks like pumpkin soup. He cooks squash, carrots, corn, and tomatoes together and produces a soup that is the exact colour of pumpkin. The duck tries it and exclaims, “That’s not pumpkin! But it’s the best soup I’ve ever tasted!” And my class cheered for the duck and his delicious new soup. I asked my class if they would like to try making the delicious soup that squirrel made. I received an unanimous “yes!” and I told them that tomorrow we would make the soup in class. We talked about the fact that some of them might not think they like pumpkin soup, and that’s ok, but do we want to be like the duck who says yuck? Everyone agreed we did not want to be like the duck who said yuck and that we would all try at least one little bite.

The next day I came to school armed with my slow cooker, emersion blender, and the ingredients for making “pumpkin soup”. I chopped and my students helped me to put the ingredients into the slow cooker and stir the soup. I turned the slow cooker on high and hoped that it would be ready by the end of the day. It was not (a teachable moment for the teacher about testing things out before the lesson). So we let it cook over night and by the next day our classroom smelled of delicious soup. All day my students spoke of how excited they were to try the soup. When it finally came time I served each child a bowl and asked them “are we going to be the duck that said yuck?” They all said "no" and every single child tried a bite of the soup. Not everyone liked it, but they all tried it and took pride in their efforts and bravery. Their efforts of choosing, preparing, and talking about the soup made trying the new food an enjoyable experience, even if the end result was them deciding “it wasn’t their favorite” (which is what we say in the classroom instead of “I don’t like it”).

I really like the Food Explorer Program and the concepts it embodies. Involving my students in food choice and preparation is changing they way they interact with food and their willingness to try new foods. Food can empower, engage, and surprise. It has become a great learning tool in my classroom. Next  on the menu, beans. We can’t wait!

Links:

Food Explorer Program

http://bcdairyfoundation.ca/programs_workshops/elementry_middle_school

BC Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program

http://www.sfvnp.ca/

Pumpkin Soup, by Helen Cooper

http://www.wormworks.com/helenpages/bgpump.htm

My Own Skin

The fall semester is rapidly coming to a close and I’m beginning to think that the expression “I have a lot on my plate” is the perfect metaphor for me. I’ve begun to feel that my life is little more than a routine of work, gym, and schoolwork with some healthy meals interspersed throughout the day. In recognition of health being a holistic view of self, I decided it was time to make some much needed personal time and do something I’ve felt I hadn’t had time for in months. I decided to invest in some self-love and get my haircut. While waiting for my appointment I opened up the nearest magazine titled “meatpaper”, which seemed like an odd choice for someone that doesn’t eat meat, but I have to say I was intrigued. As I perused the pages I came across a stunning photograph of pigs standing in packed pens with an anomaly in the middle, a bowed naked human back amidst hundreds of sows. At first I thought it must be about empathy and feeling for an animal so close to humans in many ways, but playing slave to our cultures obsession with eating meat. But as I delved into the article it seemed to centre around the idea of skin and how it creates our perceptions of our world. Just then I was pulled away for my appointment but I glanced down at the name of the photographer, Miru Kim, and mentally filled it away thinking I might want to know more about it later.

Two days later I was still thinking about the article and the photographs so I googled the photographers name and came upon her web page with a write up about her exhibition entitled “The Pig That Therefore I am”, a retort to Renee Descartes statement “I think, therefore I am who in the spirit of disassociating the body from the soul, viewed animals as simply “automata or moving machines.”  In essence it almost seemed like a photographic summary of the learning and discussion happening in our Masters cohort. Discovering anew the mind body connection and witnessing and striking parallels between training horses and teaching children I look upon these photographs as a testament to the oneness of body and mind and a holistic vision of health and how we view ourselves and our world.

Miru does not stop there, she takes her work down to the most basic way humans and animals experience their world and bodies, through our skin. She passionately quotes Michel Serres; "The skin, a single tissue with localized concentrations, displays sensitivity. It shivers, expresses, breathes, listens, loves, and lets itself to be loved, receives, refuses, retreats, its hair stands on the end with horror, it is covered with fissures, rashes, and the wounds of the soul." Miru’s work speaks to the shared experience of humans and pigs through skin, but it is her focus on skin itself that I find most powerful about her work. It makes me think of how I experience my own skin and in turn how others perceive it.

How are my experiences in my skin shaped by how I feel about it? If I worry so much about the shape, colour, scars, dimples, or other imperfections how does this change my lived experience and my connection between my senses and my perceptions? If skin is a defining medium for the internal consciousness of the body how do negative perceptions of ones skin interfere with life and health as lived experience?

Miru concludes with the thought, “Nevertheless, at some point in our lives, we must experience the emblematic process of flaying our skin and offering it up for others to see, hear, and feel through art, music, and poetry.” I add teaching to this as well. If we teach authentically we offer up our selves, our perceptions of the world, and our wisdom and experiences learned through our senses. This is shared with those we teach everyday through our voices, our touch, and our appearance. As my term paper continues to unfold in front of me and I think of my perceptions of myself and my own skin, and the perceptions of those I educate I begin to better appreciate and value the idea of my skin as my perfect connection between mind and body, not something that needs to be bettered or changed.

This idea of health as a holistic entity is not something that comes easy for me, or that I see in many of my daily health practices. But I believe there is power in this idea of re approaching health from a humble beginning instead of as a veteran of physical fitness and healthy eating. Humbly I go.

Café Scientifique presents: Big Food Companies: Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Obesity and Chronic Disease

After reading the link posted on our blog and some PR from Rosie who had attended the previous seminar I attended SFU’s Café Scientifique this past Wednesday. The topic was Big Food Companies: Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Obesity and Chronic Disease? It is held at Surrey Central Brewing, which was a very welcome change from the stark SFU classrooms. The way Café Scientifique works is that there is a presenter or two who present a topic for discussion, alongside a mediator who opens, closes, and sometimes rebuts or adds fodder to the discussion. After about half an hour of the presenters and moderator speaking the microphone is given to the floor and all in attendance are able to ask questions, create dialogue, and comment on what is happening in the discussion.

I greatly enjoyed the interactive style of the Café and the topic was of great interest to me. The first presenter was Dr. Diane Finegood, an SFU professor in the Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology department who work with the Chronic Disease Systems Modeling Lab. The second presenter works for the BCRFA (British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association, whose name I did not catch. The moderator (another name and title I missed) started off the discussion by likening Big Food to Cigarette Companies and placing the blame for our society’s current struggle with obesity and chronic disease squarely in their hands. Dr. Finegood’s presentation shifted the blame from big food and onto the individual. She believes that obesity and chronic disease are far to complex an issue to hold any one entity culpable. The representative from the BCRFA spent his time going over challenges faced by the food and beverage industry in providing healthy choices (lack of demand, taste profiles, small or independent suppliers) and all the ways that big food are working towards making food healthier (labeling and health information initiatives) and restriction of trans fat used in foods by its members to name a few.

I will be the first to admit that I came to this session already with the mindset of big food being the bad guy. After reading many books on the topic, such as “Food Politics” by Marion Nestle, “The End of Overeating” by David Kessler, and “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, it becomes readily apparent that big food is big business, and the bottom line will always be money before health. That being said I did come away with some new ideas or food for thought.

Dr. Finegood presented as interesting view on some of the greater effects of the prevalence of big food in our culture’s day to day life. Not only is consuming more and more convenience foods or foods outside the home making our society ever more prone to obesity and chronic disease, it is also contributing to a “deskilling of peoples behavior” when it comes to cooking and food preparation. Big food is food that is researched, engineered, and marketed to be as hyperpalatable as possible to the consumer. Studies have shown these designer foods to be highly mentally and physically addictive, and considering the millions of dollars that going into new food creation there must be validity to this argument. Dr. Finegood’s deskilling comment made me think about how addictive the idea of not cooking or preparing food must also be for the consumer. This deskilling through the big foods capitalization on value added foods from tv dinners to pre chopped vegetables creates a of skill based dependence in already vulnerable populations. The less people know about cooking and preparing foods the less chance that they will cook and prepare their own foods. Big food is creating multi faceted dependencies and leaving consumers with fewer and fewer abilities to make different choices.

The BCRFA representative really worked hard to put a positive spin on all aspect of out of the home food, big or small. Many of the initiatives he spoke of were positive, but it is always easier to talk of things that could or might be happening that what are current practices. When I asked him how criteria for food labeling and nutritional information would be set he did everything he could to avoid my question and make the response more positive. I don’t blame him; food labeling is a hot topic right now. Front of package labeling has been getting a lot of media attention in the United States currently as the FDA attempts to create and police the labeling of food. While more readily available information about the food we eat might seem like a great idea, unfortunately it is often used by big food to promote the good qualities and often un or sub substantiated benefits of their products while masking the undesirable information. For example, it’s great that a product has whole grains, is organic, or has anti oxidants, but if the first ingredient it sugar and it contains trans fats no amount anti oxidants or organic ingredients will make it a health food. This was my concern about food labeling in British Columbia, but it went unaddressed during the response from the BCRFA speaker. I was also wary of many of the statistics he was using. His association uses largely survey based information to determine their policies and procedures, which is challenging because people often misjudge or are unaware of what they are eating. When he told the group that the average person ate food from outside the home less than twice a week, I really stopped to question the validity of the information. I don’t know if I can think of anyone, myself included, who doesn’t grab a coffee from a coffee shop, stop for some lunch, go out for dinner with a friend, order takeout, or pick up a pre made dinner more than once a week. That statistic seems quite inadequate to account for the amount of money made by the food and beverage industry and the resulting health fall out in our society.

One of his points I did find very valid, however, was that there are not a lot of people asking for healthier options, or that are happy to sacrifice portion, price point, or taste in exchange for a healthier meal. If this is the case, (which I suspect it is) then why would Big Food be supplying it? Even myself, who often wishes there were more healthy options, may be part of the problem because instead of asking big food to make changes, I simply avoid eating at or from establishments who don’t already make the food I like to eat and then complain that they aren’t doing enough. If we want big food to change, we need to take some onus and demand for it. This includes asking more of big food and asking our government to put more controls in place. Big food is about bottom dollar, and what people want is where the money is, the challenge lies in making people want and ask for healthier foods.

All in all I greatly enjoyed the evening and appreciate the chance to discuss and think about food and health in new ways. I think this series Café Scientifique is presenting is doing a great job of getting people interested in health and making peoples feel as if they have a voice when it comes matters that effect us personally, locally, and globally. Just a little food for thought.

New Focus

The end of the semester is arriving at an unbelievable pace and as due dates loom I find myself spending more and more of my waking hours thinking about my final paper. Not in a dreading “I don’t want to write this paper” sort of way, but in a “my mind won’t let this idea slip far from my consciousness sort of way”.  This is how I know I’ve chosen the right topic to write about.

The intention for the assignment is that this paper develops from a first person narrative and my recent parent orientation presentation leapt to my mind. During my orientation session for the parents of my new kindergarteners I belabored the nutrition portion of my presentation in hopes that I would positively influence my students eating habits throughout the year. After the session parent and child interview with each individual family and it soon became clear that my nutritious lunch spiel had missed the mark. After having tense, worried, and obstinate conversations with many of the parents about food I began to think that my attempt making healthy eating a focus at school might have done more harm than good.

After typing out the narrative I thought the focus for my paper was clear, why was food shopping, choice, and preparation, and feeding children such a struggle for many young families and how the social determinants of food security play into it. I was curious to look into how much influence children had over their food and the factors that influenced them. But as I started researching and thinking more about myself and my own health practices I began to wonder if what I was pulling out of the narrative was really the most telling force in my interaction with the parents.

After continued feedback about my paper and much soul searching about my own beliefs, conceptions, and insecurities related to eating and nutrition I decided to take a leap of faith and take on a topic far more personal, which while hard to admit gave me a far amount of trepidation.

I’ve instead decided to write instead of how my own fears, convictions, and practices in regards to eating and food create barriers between myself and those I speak with. When I look back at my presentation I find myself more focused on how the parents perceived what I said, how I said it, and what was left unsaid. I find myself wondering now who was judging who more. Was I overly judgmental when I assumed that they needed to be told how to feed their children, that they could afford the sort of foods I was suggesting, or that they must not know how to eat themselves due to their own physical appearance? Or did my words serve to make it easier for them to judge me as a young know it all teacher without picky eaters to contend with, time, money, and energy with which to allow nutrition to be a focus in my life, and an appearance that would suggest I equate nutrition with a certain body image.

It’s hard to admit to myself how much my concern over food can be a negative factor in my life and how the idealism I strive for could be the greatest barrier between being someone who could affect positive change in my students, which was the entire intention of the nutrition talk in the first place.

I want to know how best to break down barriers between others and myself. What are my intentions when I engage others in conversations of health and how can I remain authentic, yet helpful and nonjudgmental. How can I work to mitigate barriers between myself and others when it may be a barrier created by age, appearance, or vitality?

For the most part, I seem to have found many, many more questions than answers, but learning is a journey and this is not something I will be able to reconcile to myself in 3 months of thought and 15 pages of text. I know it will be an ongoing dialogue with myself and will shape my practice in the classroom. But that is the most exciting part of this discourse, because no matter what conclusion I come to, I will have to give a parent orientation presentation next September and while I don’t know now what I will say, I know it won’t be a regurgitation of this year’s. And that is what I truly believe is at the heart of meaningful pedagogy, constant re-evaluation of current practices, beliefs, and biases, and the willingness and acceptance of the need for change and growth.

The Mane Event

Our Masters cohort was going on a field trip, to be honest though, I wasn’t too sure about the whole endeavor. As I drove through the torrential rain on Saturday morning out to Chilliwack for a Trade Fair on horses I have to admit that I reminded myself several times to keep an open mind. The reasoning for our trip out here was still unclear to me. Exactly what health education and cowboys have in common I remained unsure about, but if nothing else it would be a nice change of pace from yet another classroom that I would otherwise spend all week and most of my weekend in.

As I walked about the exhibition grounds I was definitely not disappointed in my assumption that I would see cowboys. As I passed person after person and stall after stall of Stetsons, boots, and buckles, the only thing that seemed to stand out against the western backdrop was me. As I found my colleagues and took a seat on looking the Round Pen (yes its name is an exact description of the arena) I still has no idea what to expect.

We were here to watch the Trainers Challenge which is a competition between three clinicians who are given three very similar untrained horses and four one hour sessions in front of the audience to train their horse, while being judged. We were set to watch session two and as the horse and trainer entered the pen it became quickly evident what an undertaking such a feat would be.

As I watched I was struck be three things. The first was how powerful, animated, and unsure the horse was inside the pen was. The second was that though many of the stereotypes I had about cowboys were true, there was definitely much, much more to horse training than I had ever considered. The third and most striking observation was how many connections I was making between the trainer’s work with his horse and myself as a teacher and the work I do with my students.

While both clinicians had very different methods the training sequence was the same. From what I saw, both trainers had the same 4 over arching principles. In order to train the horse you had to know your horse, be consistent with your horse, believe in your horse, and celebrate with your horse. Replace horse with students and my own teaching philosophy spilled out before me inside the pen as the trainer and horse worked together to realize the horse’s potential.

Each of the four steps resonated with me and it’s place within my teaching practice.

Step one - know your horse:

Just as the trainer noticed the movements of the horse’s body, its face and ears, when it whinnied or if sweat appeared on its body, much of the information I use to asses and gauge my students comes from non verbal cues. When working with young children who often don’t yet have the vocabulary to express their feelings wants and needs, body language becomes one of my greatest indicators of my student’s interests, feelings, and thoughts. In order to teach my class I need to know if they are ready to learn or if their non verbal cues are telling me that they are to anxious, overwhelmed, upset, fidgety, or uninterested to engage in the learning process. If so, it is then my job as teacher to honour their feelings and guide them to a state of readiness for learning before my lesson can begin. Each time the horse’s cues changed the trainer adapted with him. The state of learning and trying something new is a vulnerable and often scary place and without taking into consideration how your charge feels no meaningful teaching can begin

Step two – be consistent with your horse:

While a good trainer or teacher values the feelings of their charge, it is still imperative for the trainer – horse relationship and teacher – student relationship to have boundaries, expectations, and consistent follow through. The trainer establishes a task and works with the horse in a firm and consistent way until the horse is able to meet the challenge. The trainer and teacher give many chances, try different strategies, and recognize all small steps in the right direction, but the expectation remains constant and the horse or student thrive under consistent expectations and feedback.

Step three – believe in your horse:

One of the most memorable things I heard one of the trainers say was “I wouldn’t have asked him [the horse] to do it if I didn’t know he could.” Teachers need to believe in their students as much as a trainer needs to believe in their horse. If a teacher asks a student to do something they cannot do, the student will only learn failure from the experience. But also if a teacher asks a student to do something that they think they should be able to accomplish, but then gives up on it once it appears difficult or time consuming, the student again libelearns only failure. Trainers and teachers need to pick realistic goals and believe that your charge can accomplish them, even if it takes endless strategies, scaffolding, time, and faith.

Step four – celebrate with your horse:

Victories big and small are worth celebrating and whether they are an applause in the pen, or a sticker on the back of the hand, both horses and children deserve recognition of their accomplishments. Too much praise, unspecific praise, or praise to early can be as problematic as no praise. Using praise wisely is one of the most effective tools in a teacher or trainer’s arsenal. Used appropriately, praise helps foster esteem and pride in the student or horse.

After watching these two trainers I was astounded by the incredible connections to teaching and how much insight I gleaned about my own practice as a teacher. The day was not over yet however, and the afternoon’s billing of Jonathan Field and his “amazing horses!” seemed intriguing.

Jonathan Field calls what he does with his horses “Liberty Training” This whole concept of liberty seemed odd in cowboy context because whenever I hear the word it reminds me of John Stuart Mills and his essays “On Liberty” which of course have nothing to do with horses, pertaining instead with the sovereignty of an individual within society. But as I watched Jonathan interact with his horses, liberty, as it pertains to horses, citizens in a society, or students in a classroom began to appear increasingly similar. Jonathan didn’t just train his horses; he developed a relationship with his horses. He had such faith in his horses, and his training that he is able to let go of absolute power and let respect for his horse and their liberty reign supreme in his interactions with them. Just as Fields and Mills advocate the necessity and right of individuals and horses to liberty, how do our student’s right to liberty play out in the classroom? Is taking a child by the hand and sitting them down when every verbal and non verbal cue they are giving speaks to their discomfort or unwillingness any different then using a whip or rope on a horse? How can a teacher or trainer manage what we feel is the greater good for the child or the horse over their liberty?

Watching Jonathan and his horses makes me wonder how much my actions or management strategies value the liberty of my students. If I assess their needs, teach them what they need to know, and set realistic boundaries can I simply let them go and try in on their own, accepting that they way bolt or run or not do what I’ve asked? Watching Jonathan’s concept of training with liberty in action may have raised more questions for me than answers, but this concept of liberty in my classroom is one that will not be leaving my mind in the near future.

The Mane Event was an incredibly powerful experience for me. To see the power of no verbal training and teaching in action has greatly raised my awareness of its power in my classroom and my responsibilities to it as a teacher. A deeper understanding and respect for such beautiful, intelligent, and powerful creatures is still yet another reason to be thankful for the experience. 

Just Breathe

While I am clearly the minority in our Masters cohort of runners and yogis, my active living weapon of choice is first and foremost the gym, my second home. Most people in my life don’t seem to understand my devotion. Why not play a beer league team sport, or run in beautiful scenery, or hike the many amazing trails the lower mainland has to offer?, are questions I often field. It’s not as though I don’t enjoy these things as well, but they are the addition to my practice, not what sustains it.

I have tried many a time to explain my practice and what draws me to it. While each of my attempts teases out a little something more, I still often am at a loss to truly describe how satisfying it is to sweat it out in a hot, usually crowded space full of others engaging in their own greatly varying practices.

At first I thought my love for the gym was simply a physical translation for my love of routine. I am extremely routine oriented and admittedly struggle with uncertainty and abrupt change. In this regard the gym is a safe and constant environment for me. The environment rarely changes, the hours are constant, and the faces familiar. I am free to follow my routines without having to adjust for others. Unlike teaching kindergarten where there is a constant demand for my attention or help, the gym is a haven with very few outside demands or distractions. Headphones in and I am enveloped in my own world of order, control, and routines amidst any chaos around me or in my life.

However, this explanation for the love of my practice falls short. When travelling, working out with friends, or the always-dreaded maintenance closure of my gym, I am forced to take my practice to new spaces and learn the ropes of a new gym. In the many, many gyms I have been in there are only a couple with which I do not find serious fault. While this is partially because some gyms are very poorly planned, I have come to realize that it is less the physical space I find lacking, and more the community. Not that these other gyms don’t foster a sense of community, it’s just that I’m not a part of it. Despite my gym’s many faults, it belongs to me, and everyone else who practices there. Countless conversations about technique, theory, challenges, and successes shape my practice and those around me. The energy I derive from my fellow fitness colleagues pushes me further and makes my successes acknowledged and celebrated by others. My most challenging workouts are usually when the gym is empty, or when there are no familiar faces. The simple action of joining my body into motion in a room alive with movement, even in a seemingly individualistic practice, propels me through even the most exhausting sessions.

While this is already quite a bit to have teased out of an acticity most would surmise as simply a hopeless gym rat getting their fix, or an obsessive attempt to achieve a bodily perfection that does not exist, it still does not entirely encompass my practice. There always seemed to be a piece missing and it wasn’t until my exploration of somatic awareness, prompted by our class discussion, that I started to view my love of the gym in a new way.

No matter how stressful my day, or how heavy the load I carried to the gym, I would leave feeling far more calm and collected than when I arrived. The gym is my stress free zone. I push myself to hard to worry about anything else other than focusing my body and completing my routine to the best of my ability. I chalked up the release of stress to the science behind endorphins and their role in managing tension and the brain and body’s physiological responses. But as life continues to prove increasingly stressful and I seek to find new ways to effectively deal with the rigors of my life, I keep coming across a key element in my search towards a life of lower stress - breathing. The more I search it seems that the seemingly simplest human action may indeed be the most powerful. As I’ve been incorporating mindful breathing into a variety of my daily activities, such as when eating, at work, or during difficult moments, I have come to appreciate how effective such a simple task is at changing my entire mindset. This revelation started me thinking where else the awareness of breathing could effect my life and it brought me to a realization of how much it already did, only it was happening unbeknownst to me.

I began to think that maybe the true reason for my love of the gym and how invigorating and refreshing it makes me feel, despite working my self to the point of exhaustion, has less to do with routine, community, and endorphins, and more to do with the simple act of focusing on my breathing for an hour or more at a time. In essence, breathing underlines every movement I make at the gym. Throughout my workout I am completely focused on my breath. Whether it’s ensuring I exhale on exertion, or find a comfortable rhythm during cardio, my attention is continually returns to breathing.

When I follow my own routine, breathing comes easier. When I’m supported by a community and know I have a spotter when needed, natural and rhythmic breathing follows. It is not that the other reasons I love my practice are not important, it is only that now I seem them as enablers of enriching my most important somatic experience, breathing.

I am developing a new relationship with breathing and have been enjoying this mindful practice in new areas of my life. It is also becoming an important tool in my teacher toolbox and has been helping my students engage their body and minds and work towards self soothing at school during distress and worry. Becoming aware of how powerful breathing already was in my life, even though I was unaware, is serving as a daily reminder of why I practice something that seems to simple. Putting intention behind an often unintentional or unnoticed act has made me much more aware of the power of the body as a whole. Instead of understanding my gym practice as simply a way to keep my muscles, bones, and physical body healthy, I am now beginning to understand the dramatic implications this practice has over my entire health. My body is a whole and my mind and body do not act separately. My breath is the connection between the two and as I strengthen this bond I strengthen my body. 

The 100 Mile Table

The day after a Thanksgiving feast is a great day for reflection. Not only for the many, many things I am thankful for, but also this year in particular I have been reflecting on my self-propelled journey into local and seasonal eating. Turning my thinking towards local eating is a gradual lifestyle shift in which I am attempting to reacquaint myself with food. The idea of reacquainting myself with food seems almost silly. Do I not spend hours in my kitchen cooking, planning, and enjoying food? But despite this, most of my experiences with food existed only after buying it at the grocery store. That is most certainly missing a lot of the process it took to get that food to me. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to the thousands of miles it took for many of my favorite foods to arrive in my hands, and the ecological and nutritional tolls that takes. 

So this year I decided to reacquaint myself with food and serve a Thanksgiving feast of foods whose history, travels, and growers I knew. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as hard as I had expected and the journey proved to be worth every effort.

Here is the menu:

Turkey – an 18 pound grain fed, antibiotic free, ethically raised turkey from JD Farms in Langley http://www.jdfarms.ca/

Stuffing - Sliver Hills Sprouted Bakery Bread (Abbotsford) Walla Walla onions (Washington) Free Range Eggs from Maple Hills Farms (Abbotsford) and fresh Thyme and Sage (Delta)

Cranberry Sauce – Fresh cranberries from the Farmers Market, honey by Chilliwack River Valley Natural Gourmet

Gravy – Drippings from turkey, whole-wheat flour from Anita’s Organic Mill (Chilliwack)

Carrots – backyard garden

Brussel Sprouts – backyard garden

Corn – From Farmers Market, grown in the Fraser Valley

Potatoes – Yukon Gold (Keremeos, purchased while travelling in the region) Purple Russian Garlic (Keremeos)

Squash dish – Acorn squash (Keremeos purchased while travelling in the region) Crimini mushrooms (Fraser Valley) Green Beans (local farmers market) Hazelnuts (Aggasiz) Fresh Sage and Thyme (Delta) Garlic (Keremeos) Butter (Fraser Valley)

Pumpkin Pie – Pumpkin (our garden) Milk (Avalon Organic Dairy, Burnaby) Eggs (Abbotsford) Honey (Chilliwack) Hazelnuts (Aggasiz) Spices (not local) Whole wheat flour (Chilliwack) Butter (Fraser Valley)

Whipping cream – Cream (Avalon Organic Dairy, Burnaby) Vanilla (not local) icing sugar (not local)

Apple Pie – Macintosh Apples (Keremeos) Flour (Chilliwack) Butter (Fraser Valley) Spices (not local) lemon (not local)

Ice Cream – Island Dairy (Vancouver Island)

So not perfect, definitely some notable not local additions in the dessert area, but on the whole I was very proud of the ability to eat so well locally. I was amazed at how powerful the simple act of cutting corn off the cob was. Of course I know that corn comes from the cob, and in the summer I eat local corn on the cob and immensely enjoy it. But what do I do the rest of the year? I suspect what most people do, simply purchase it in frozen in bags or cans and not think twice about where it came from. Turns out the frozen corn I keep in my freezer the rest of the year is from Seattle. How silly it seems to eat corn from Seattle when it grows so much closer to home and all it takes is a little slicing.

This culinary experiment has simply reinforced how manageable it is to take small steps towards eating more locally and seasonally. I live in an amazing region of the world where delicious food abounds and with a little effort and planning its bounty seems to simply unfold before me. Participating in local market economy, talking to farmers and growers, and getting my own hands dirty in my garden are powerful reminders of food as it was meant to be and an attachment to the land that I had all but forgotten.   

Granted, I do have to admit that eating locally is more expensive and it’s cost is a barrier to many for whom food is a less than enjoyable, worrisome experience due to it’s cost. My local Thanksgiving feast required more expensive ingredients from specialty realtors such as Whole Foods and Choices. And the cost between some ingredients, local honey versus mass-produced imported white sugar for example, were staggering. But there were some pleasant cost savings as well, such as a bag stuffed full of fresh herbs for $1.50 and Aggasiz hazelnuts for less than my local Grocery store charges. On the whole though, I am keenly aware of the expense of local eating and how unattainable it would seem if food insecurity were a problem I faced.

This week I have been researching what, if anything is being done in my community to support food security for those most at risk. This is not a mute issue and I found several advocacy groups working towards protecting food and it’s accessibility in my city and province.

BC Foods Systems Network http://fooddemocracy.org/

New Westminster Food Action Committee http://www.fraserregionfoodnetwork.ca/new-westminster-community-food-action-committee/

Fraser Valley Food Network http://www.fraservalleyfoodnetwork.com/

These groups are working towards making changes towards our Province’s and Country’s food policies and putting accessibility of nutritious foods for all citizens at the forefront of public consciousness.

Going forward from this experience I have decided to set a personal nutrition goal for myself this year. My goal is for my diet to consist of at least 80% BC grown fruits and vegetables. To make this goal more manageable I have signed up for an organic fruit and vegetable delivery service where I can select my produce each week by what is availably locally instead of the standard array of food imported across the globe at every ecological and nutritional consequence possible. I was also extremely pleased to find that it will cost me no more for this service than I was paying at markets and grocery stores. www.spud.ca

A few small steps, a big impact in my life, and an endless array of possibilities, challenges and improvements on a larger scale. I now proudly take up the term “locavore” in my lifelong journey of food discovery, growing, cooking, and most importantly eating.

Bon appetite!

Food: Nutritious and Contentious

What to eat? A question I, and I would assume most people, ask themselves every day. It is also a title of one of my favourite books (What to Eat by Marion Nestle). I admit that this is a question I ponder almost obsessively at times and has lead to my addiction of books about food. What to eat has become a two and a half year long journey for me.  An ever evolving thought process to try and create the perfect diet. To say that it has proven challenging would be an understatement. Two and a half year ago I embarked upon a diet transformation know as Clean Eating. The premise of which is eating foods in their most natural state. Now this is just good common sense, but no small feat in a world of limited time and convenience foods on every corner.

The last two and a half years have taken me on a discovery of raw food, veganism, living foods and trying to balance my nutritional needs with foods I love and bodily aesthetics.  I’ve eaten Clean and counted calories. I’ve eaten a higher protein low grain diet and then avoided all animal proteins. I cut out all meat, dairy, fruit, most nuts, and soy for months on end. I am constantly striving to find the best possible balance for myself, though admittedly I still haven’t found it. I can however say that I eat almost exclusively whole foods, I eat at least 2 times over daily recommendations for vegetables, and I feel absolutely fantastic most of the time, so I must be doing something right. However, in this journey I have come to only one conclusion - there is no perfect diet. Nonethless, I will never give up the quest and continue to find joy in the entire process of eating from the planning to the shopping, to the cooking, and then of course the tasting.

Lately, as I’ve settled into my current eating regime of a grain restricting, small amount of fruit incorporating, dairy free non calorie counting pescetarian; I find myself becoming less concerned about which foods to chose, and more concerned about where my food is coming from.

After travelling for 6 weeks this summer in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, my view of food has become less about what is in my mouth and more about where it has been before. As I travelled through emerald rice patties, food plantations, open air markets, and sidewalks brimming with food of every sort, I, for the first time thought of how stark and sterile my food experiences are at home. Food was everywhere. It was accessible and affordable. There was accountability. You could see how it is grown, handled, and prepared.  Is it possible to see this chez moi? In the suburbs of Vancouver? Possibly, but it would require a lot of time, travel, and effort.

But try I do and this year I have made great efforts to buy locally from my farmers market and take advantage of my suburban home and turn most of my yard into garden (yes that’s my house with brussel sprouts and garlic growing in the front garden where everyone else has flowers) In fact this year we grew over 20 different foods, and enjoyed them all. But still the majority of foods I’m eating in a year come from far, far away. While I recognize that some foods just can’t be local, I also find myself feeling guilty of buying out of season produce instead of fresh and local bounty, and trying to save money by buying imported produce at the supermarket instead of the higher quality more expensive fare from local farmers.

As part of the class I am currently taking entitled “The Social Determinants of Health” I am becoming much more cognisant of barriers to healthy living that I and others around me are facing. And while this idea of eating locally has so many benefits (fresher more nutritious food, smaller environmental footprint, supporting local economy to name a few) the more I think about it, the more I realize how unattainable it is for most people. If I, someone who devotes this much time to food research, planning and preparation. Who has easy access to land for growing and sufficient enough income for food, struggles to eat locally - is this even an attainable goal for our society?

But it is important to me, and I know from many conversations I’ve had about eating locally that it is important to others and therefore it continues to weigh heavily on my mind. So I decided to do a little research and see what, if anything is being done to make local eating accessible to the public. I was very excited to find out that my local farmers market, The Royal City Farmers Market, offers a program for young mothers which includes access to free food stuffs from the market and educational initiatives. I’m also very pleased that the inner city school I teach at is participating in the government run BC School Fruit and Vegetable Program which brings local foods to school twice a month to encourage students to try new and nutritious foods. With these great initiatives in my own backyard it is clear to see I’m not the only one interested in the accessibility of local foods. While my term research proposal is still in its infancy, the momentum I’m picking up in my search for local and accessible foods will be a key focus.

But before I finish this thought, and this post, I have been inspired by the work being done in my community, and by one of my favorites local books “The 100 Mile Diet: A year of Local Eating”. I have decided to pick up the torch and challenge myself. While it’s no where near the grandeur of attempting to eat locally for a year, its still a quantifiable attempt at local eating. Each year we prepare Thanksgiving chez nous for family and friends. For the last few years we have had between 15-19 guests and serve over 12 dishes. This year my challenge will be to create a family friendly Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings  from food within a 100 mile radius of home. If this seems easy to you, check where your food is coming from next time you’re at the grocery store, most of our food travels hundreds if not thousands of miles away, often even despite the fact that they are available locally. But this is my challenge, and I’m ready to tackle the task of more local eating day to day, and a 100 mile feast to impress this Thanksgiving day.

http://www.aitc.ca/bc/ BC School Fruit and Veggie Program

http://rcfm.ca/ Royal City Farmers Market

Fuel For Thought

The impetus for this blog may have been the debut of my graduate studies in the field of Health Education, but the want to record my own journeys, personal and professional, in a tangible and reflective way has been a long time in coming.

My name is Jenn and I am self confessed healthy living addict. I am a kindergarten teacher with the New Westminster School District and can usually be found up to my elbows in paint, playing tag on the playground, or swarmed by my twenty minions while we navigate our way through their exciting and influential first year of school.

While I love being a classroom teacher, I am embarking upon graduate studies to expand my knowledge in Health Education and Active Living; a field in which expertise is so greatly needed in a school system where often children and their families come to us so unequipped to live happy and healthy lives. With my continued education I am excited to learn from the diverse group of individuals in my program and to implement innovative ideas and initiatives into my practice. I would love to someday move sideways in my career path and work as an educational consultant or programmer within Health Education in collaboration with communities or schools.

My interest in health education comes from the struggles I witness people having daily with exercise and nutrition. Most days I find myself having conversations with parents and students about health concerns such as food affordability, nutritious lunches, picky eaters, and becoming acquainted with new foods. With colleagues and friends I find myself constantly engaged in conversation about confusion over food and what good health looks like. Questions of dubious health claims, finding time and outlets for exercise, and making sustainable change are continuous topics of conversation. It is ever apparent that people are not finding answers. I know what it is like to struggle with healthy living and have lived first hand the effort it takes to change your habits and ultimately your life. I’m very excited to begin graduates studies in this field and attempt to shift my thinking and possibly make greater changes in this world for those children and families who are finding health and balance unattainable in their lives.

In my personal life, those who know me would say that I can be found in one of two places, the kitchen or the gym. My blog is titled FuelYourLife because I believe that good nutrition and exercise are the cornerstones of good health. Food is the fuel that our body runs on, and eating is one of my greatest priorities. I Eat Clean, which is essentially a way of eating, here are the basic rules:

• Eat a wide-variety of whole, unrefined and unprocessed foods in a form that’s as close as possible to how the foods appear in nature
• Avoid processed sugars, especially sugary beverages like soda
• Avoid saturated fat and trans fats, and instead substitute healthy, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats
• Always combine complex carbohydrates with lean protein and some healthy fats at every meal
• Spread your food out over 5-6 smaller meals, consumed every 2-3 hours
• Eat for maximum nutrient density. In other words, avoid “empty” calories found in fast food, soda, snacks, cakes and cookies, and substitute in nutrient-dense snacks.
• Pay attention to proper portions and practice portion control
• Drink lots of water (at least 8 cups a day.)

I’m also a pescetarian (no meat, just fish and seafood) who avoids dairy and restricts grains so eating for me takes some organization and planning. Cooking delicious and healthy meals one of my most pleasurable hobbies and I spend hours in my kitchen researching, creating, eating, and feeding others. I never leave home without my lunch and snacks packed so I feel full and energized at all times.

The other essential way to fuel your body is by keeping it active and able. Exercise is how I relax and I am at my best when I’m at the gym giving everything I have to my workout, training 5-6 days a week. I love the methodology of creating my routines, figuring out my split, and keeping my body guessing through a mix of high intensity intervals, plyometrics, and heavy lifting. Keeping my body lean and strong is always my focus and it propels me through my workouts. My favourite cardio is skipping and I will sometimes skip for an hour when I’m in my groove. I ensure I evenly train my entire body, but I secretly admit I love training my lower body the most.

FuelYourLife will hopefully be a cathartic experession of my journey through my studies in Health Education and Active Living. I hope to share my quest for optimal health and find ways to excite others about my greatest passion, health and active living.