Life&Style Got style? Contact us at lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca & A mountain of motivation By Jacey Gibb, Opinions Editor Jacey Gibb and Sharon Miki signed up for Douglas’ Biggest Loser competition with the goal of losing the highest percentage body weight in eight weeks. Join them on their noble quest as they chart their triumphs and tumbles. Winner gets the bragging rights, loser eats a cockroach. Seriously. o here we are folks: week one G: Douglas’ Biggest Loser competition. Weigh in was only a few days ago, meaning I don’t have an overwhelming amount to update you on, but something I thought I should focus on this week is motivation. Luckily, my building has a gym for me to freely abuse on a daily basis, so that increases the convenience factor. Go me! A problem I’m usually faced with though is a lack of motivation during my workout. You can only watch so many Family Feud double features before your mind begs for you to take it out back and put it down. So, with daytime programming out of the picture, I’ve come to rely on my iPod to keep me going. Since the switch, I’ve noticed a big improvement in my pacing, but there’s a catch: the music has to be fast-paced and beat-driven. Common sense, right? Tell that to my past self, who tried working out can’t help breaking out in a mental fitness montage, where I’m training harder and faster than ever before, all while picturing Sharon Miki squirming as she’s forced to eat a cockroach. Just gets me pumped, ya know? Speaking of my one-sided “It seems I’m more willing to push my body beyond physical comfort when I’m not listening to whiney folk rock.” to Bon Iver’s new album. It seems I’m more willing to push my body beyond physical comfort when I’m not listening to whiney folk rock. At this point, I’m just going to come out and say that my Biggest Loser campaign has been sponsored by Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Other workout favourites include: “Cylinders” by Matt & Kim, “Sabotage” by The Beastie Boys, “Family Tree” by The Black Lips, and my current anthem, “Civilization” by Justice. Every time the song reaches the 1:11 mark, I rivalry with Sharon, I’ve got a few things motivating me in the competition that will likely give me an advantage. First off, I don’t like eating live insects. Therefore, I don’t plan on having to do so anytime soon. Another thing motivating me to lose pounds is that I’m on a hot streak, rivalry-wise, with Ms. Miki. I’ve—arguably, she might interject—won our last three bets and I’m not one to stop when I’m ona roll. More seriously though, I’ve been noticing a few problems with my health lately. I’m constantly tired (though you can probably point fingers at the student lifestyle for that one) and there’s a persistent screaming pain in my left leg that usually worsens with physical activity. Also, my back has been tightening up in the way that a good ol’ crack would usually cure, but now won't. A recent gander at the scale back home revealed the culprit to my physical woes: somewhere in the last year, between the binge drinking and midnight pizza runs, I’ve gained about thirty pounds. Not cool body. Not cool at all. While I don’t plan on revealing all my strategies so soon in the game—I know you're reading this Sharon, so no piggybacking on my brilliance—I’ve got a few changes I’ve been making that are sure to get the weight loss rolling. I’ll see you guys ina few weeks! PS: Sharon, do you prefer the taste of the hissing kind of cockroaches or do you like the normal kind? Just wondering what ones I should order for you. Health problems not simply the result of lifestyle choices Researcher points out issues in our environment ‘that create the conditions for disease’ By Francesca Handy — The Cord (Wilfrid Laurier University) WATERLOO (CUP) — The growing number of “sugar-free,” “no trans-fats” and “reduced salt” products in grocery stores suggest that Canadians are trying to make healthy choices. However, according to Dr. Bruce Lanpheat, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded researcher currently studying the the environment’s effect on health, there are some factors that people have little control over and of which they may not even be aware. Dr. Lanphear has been involved in research for almost 20 years and while he focuses on industrial pollutants and environmental chemicals, there are many other important environmental factors that he tries to take into account. He defines the term “environment” broadly, explaining it involves “thinking about the environment as those conditions, those pollutants that either cause disease or disability or make it convenient or inconvenient to adopt healthy 12 lifestyles.” As the environment is often something most people have little control over, Dr. Lanphear emphasized that the federal and provincial government have a duty to correct the current conditions affecting the health of citizens. “Lifestyle is sort of a crutch. It’s easy for a federal agency or [World Health Organization], for example, to blame people for their own problems — “That person chose to smoke, that person chose not to be physically active,” he said. “When we think of environment, often times in public health we think about those things that create the conditions for disease, so it’s not so much blaming people for their lifestyle choices but things like how close [somebody lives] to the highway or an industrial plant, and the industrial pollutants that are emitted which they can’t control.” Factors that affect health and can lead to problems such as heart disease — the leading cause of death worldwide — include air pollution, lead exposure, blood lead levels and tobacco exposure. “There have been a number of studies that show when you ban smoking in public places there are fairly striking reductions in acute heart attacks,” said Dr. Lanphear. “Even low levels, levels that we thought were innocuous even a decade ago, we’re now beginning to recognize can have a profound impact on disease and even death.” Lead exposure is also much more damaging than is commonly believed and is also linked to heart disease and other health issues. “Tn other cases, like with mental health problems, ADHD or criminal behaviour — anti-social behaviours, as we call them — there are other factors like lead exposure again, which people have relatively little control over,” he added. Lanphear suggested some simple short-term solutions to help people reduce the potentially harmful effects of their environment, advising people to buy fresh foods to avoid pesticides that conventional produce might contain, avoid smoking and permitting smoking in their households, and finally, to try to take advantage of public transportation. “What we ultimately need to do is to find ways to dramatically reduce the allowable levels of industrial pollutants and environmental chemicals in the air and in our foods in particular, but also in the water we drink,” he said. “For that, we really have to rely on federal agencies or provincial government to help control those kinds of exposures because it’s really beyond the ability of most of us.”