By: Michal Coret

You look in the mirror and go through your list of things to improve about your body. Flatter stomach, perhaps? Thinner arms? Or more muscular arms? Maybe “nicer” legs? Regardless of your favourite target for scrutiny, you are not alone in this attitude. According to a 2011 study by Wade et al., body image disturbances and eating disorders affect over 30 million Americans at some point in their lifetime. That’s an unfortunately high number, and the situation isn’t much better in Canada.

We all know body image affects self-esteem and confidence. These factors, in turn, have been studied and shown to negatively affect academic performance, and are correlated with increased drug and alcohol use, as well as increased risks of depression and anxiety.

What can you do to improve your self-esteem? Maybe you aren’t comfortable going to see a (free) counsellor at the Student Wellness Centre in the basement of MUSC. Maybe you haven’t yet heard that SHEC has (free) peer support in MUSC 202, or that there is an anonymous (free) Peer Support Line provided by McMaster students. I can go on promoting other (free) services, but they might not be the best answer for you. It can be difficult to walk into a counsellor’s office and openly admit that you are having trouble with your body image. It can be difficult to call a support line and tell them your story. Asking for help can be incredibly challenging and will be perceived differently by each person. So if the above services do not work for you at this moment, there are ways you can help yourself.

The beneficial effects of daily yoga and meditation have been a hot media topic recently. To people new to the idea, all the benefits that are advertised can be hard to believe but most are actually supported by solid research. A new and uprising area of study focuses on the effects of mindfulness on body image. The researcher Jennifer J. Daubenmier said in a press release about her study on how yoga benefits body awareness and reduces self-objectification: “This study suggests that women may have intuitively discovered a way to buffer themselves against messages that tell them that only a thin and ‘beautiful’ body will lead to happiness and success.” Yoga was found to reduce self-objectification due to its focus on body awareness and responsiveness. Although that specific study focused on the effect of yoga in women, it is important to acknowledge that body image certainly affects men as well, and the effects of yoga are likely not limited to one gender.

DBAC offers yoga classes as well as free mindfulness meditation classes. There are also plenty of apps, books, videos, and classes off-campus that teach yoga or meditation.  The benefits of yoga extend beyond improving self-esteem and include improving sleep quality, bone strengthening, increasing your focus, and boosting your immune system. We are fortunate to have these opportunities around us. Join SHEC in this challenge to benefit from these options and become more self-aware and develop a healthy (or healthier) attitude towards your own body, one breath at a time.

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

Two years ago, I began having health problems at the ripe age of 21. One potential cause was that I ate the last-day-on-earth diet of an overworked student, so on the advice of a nutritionist, I looked to Canada’s food pyramid for help with balancing my diet.

When religiously following the guide my health declined further, leaving me flummoxed. I was following conventional nutritional wisdom! My diet looked almost exactly like the rainbow chart in my nutritionist’s office.

Unfortunately, our understanding of nutrition had led me astray. Moreover, with a country plagued by a host of chronic diet-related health issues, the food pyramid doesn’t seem to have the impact it should. So where are we going wrong?

The answer may lie in Brazil’s 2014 food guide. Unlike its Canadian counterpart, Brazil’s nutritional advice focuses on reducing the amount of processed food in the diet instead of acquiring individual nutrients in food such as protein, fiber or omega-3s. The guide urges Brazilians to make whole, unprocessed food the basis of their diet and limit the consumption of lightly processed foods, such as pickles, cheeses and breads. It goes so far as to urge the complete avoidance of “ultra-processed foods,” such as sweetened breakfast cereals and yogurts, or instant noodles—foods that Canada’s guide does not scrutinize nearly as closely.

Ultra-processed foods are items that generally include five ingredients or more, including things that are not easily recognizable or part of traditional diets, such as high fructose corn syrup or colorants. Generally found in the center aisles of the grocery store, these products include excessive amounts of unhealthy salt, sugar, and fat, along with additives that distort colour, taste, and shelf life. These foods are at best benign, and at worst nutritional landmines. They deprive our bodies of the nutritional complexity of unprocessed food, making them the antithesis of the varied and nutritious diet that Brazil’s guide is attempting to cultivate.

So how is it that our food guide can claim that Gogurt, Shredded Wheat, and fruit cocktail—all ultra processed foods—can be part of a healthy diet? The answer comes down to money. It is, simply put, more profitable to sell you highly processed foods. A company can manipulate their product to make cheap, processed and unappealing ingredients taste great, thus justifying selling it to you for much more than the sum of its parts. The use of synthetic food additives can also enhance the flavor of less appealing ingredients, such as tasteless produce or low-grade meats, further widening profit margins and reducing nutritional content.

The problem is that our food guide does not distinguish between highly processed “franken-foods” and more wholesome meals. This is in part because it was written by those who wish to sell you processed food. One quarter of the 12-member Food Advisory Committee who composed Canada’s food guide were working for corporations that produce and sell processed food. Instead of investigating a holistic concept of health, the authors of our guide focused on individual nutrients.

This means that Captain Crunch can tout its fiber content, while Kraft Singles can boast being a source of calcium. Both of those “foods” are ultra-processed, but suddenly they become part of food groups that we are supposed to consume every day. This vastly distorts what we can consider healthy.

Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect, compared this to cutting pharmaceutical-grade cocaine with tea. You could conceivably claim that it was healthier for you, less addictive, and “now with chai!”—but would you actually say that it was good for you? Probably not.

So what should your diet actually look like? The short answer is to avoid processed foods, but that is not always possible, especially for those with limited time, cooking skills or access to affordable quality ingredients. Instead, my answer is that you should be skeptical. Is a company trying to sell you highly processed food based on one or two nutrients? What exactly is “natural” or artificial flavouring, and how is it affecting your diet? Just how much sugar has gone into your yogurt? At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, do not trust Canada’s food pyramid, because Brazil’s ended up being the key to regaining my health.

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By: Emese Sykes

I know first-hand that body shape, size and even standardized charts can’t tell you whether or not someone is treating their body with the respect it needs. I also know that none of those same measurements should have any bearing on the level of respect a person receives from others.

As a person with a relatively tiny body, I find myself on the receiving end of quite a few awkward, challenging and even insulting comments about my body and eating practices. Everything from “That’s all you’re eating?” to “Where are you putting all that food?” and even “You’re too skinny. Eat some dumplings!”

I get “compliments” in the form of thinly veiled complaints about the speaker’s own body (Um, thanks for making me feel awkward, I think you’re beautiful, by the way). Yet when I go through seasons of overeating and avoiding exercise, I start getting the real compliments: “Wow! You look so healthy now!” I end up being approximately the right size, and even the perfect BMI to match someone else’s prototype of a young healthy woman when I’m treating my body poorly.

I’ve had to learn and re-learn that not everyone is going to accept that my body’s natural size is a result of genetics, rather than dieting, discipline, or an unhealthy body image. It says nothing about my character or my lifestyle, and nothing about anyone else’s either. As such, I’ve had to learn and re-learn to take care of it properly, and not force it to change into an unhealthy imitation of someone else’s healthy body.

While the size of my body has at many times apparently qualified it for public debate and appraisal, I can usually laugh awkwardly and run away. Yet I know there are many men and women who find themselves in much more detrimental situations because of discrimination against their body’s size or shape.

As it stands today in Canada, protection against sizeism is not included in human rights codes. In other words, you can’t lose your job because of your religion, your disability, or your gender. But if your employer considers your weight to be an issue, you don’t have much legal support to fight getting laid off, or getting passed over for a promotion, or even not getting hired in the first place. Sizeism seems largely overlooked by Canadian law, with only one noteworthy exception: the Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling that any large persons in need of two seats on an airplane must only be charged for the one.

Even in the most recent update of McMaster’s Discrimination, Harassment & Sexual Harassment: Prevention and Response policy, body shape and weight discrimination are missing from an extensive list of individuals and groups protected by the university’s policy (which, thankfully, includes an “other” catch-all).

These and other examples of institutional blind spots, coupled with a very profitable weight loss industry can contribute, first of all, to a lot of pressure for Canadians to change their bodies (whether their weight poses a medical problem or not). Moreover, the omission of protection against sizeism gives permission to employers, teachers, doctors, and the general public to treat any adult or child they perceive as underweight or overweight with less respect than they deserve. This culture cultivates a judgmental, comparative and even competitive attitude towards body weight and shape, in which individuals must answer to strangers’ assumptions of character, choices and lifestyle based on how our bodies are perceived.

Shape, size, tests, charts and numbers are completely unrelated to the amount of respect that you owe yourself, the respect that anyone else owes you, and the respect that you owe others.

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You’re having one of those days where it seems as if the whole world has teamed up to make your life miserable and revel in the aftermath. One of those Murphy’s Law days when everything and anything that could go wrong is going wrong.

On those days, it doesn’t take much to push you off the edge – a jerk’s offhand comment in the elevator, a long line for food, or loud people in lecture. For the approximately eight percent of adults that the Canadian Mental Health Association cites as suffering from depression, this is a daily reality – a lethargy that bleeds into weeks, months, even years. Depression is not one-size-fits-all. It is different for every person. Yet it is as if there is some indescribable shift – a gear changing cogs – that causes your brain and body to run on ten percent of what it used to.

Like depression, anxiety disorders don’t discriminate based on age, gender, race or religion. Both are very real problems, and ones that need to be talked about openly. Too many times people hide their disease. When a friend asks why your eyes are bloodshot or if the bruises under your eyes are an indication of how much sleep you have been getting, the answer is “I think I’m coming down with something.”

The reality is that you have been sick for a while, just in a way that somehow seems less acceptable to voice. This has to stop. When people have pneumonia, they get antibiotics that clear up their lungs and help them breathe again. While people are not generally shy to say they have pneumonia, they are much more reluctant to claim that they have depression or anxiety. Which means that pneumonia gets treated, and depression and anxiety do not.

The Canadian Mental Health Association cites that once recognized, treatment can make a difference for 80 percent of people suffering from depression, allowing them to resume their daily lives. Yet five bullet points down is another staggering statistic. Only one in five children who need mental health services get the appropriate care. This discrepancy is a huge warning alarm demanding to be addressed.

To tackle this issue, we must attack at the root, the perception of mental illnesses. The circulation of phrases like “yesterday was such a rough day, I was super depressed” and “your text gave me a panic attack” does two things. It diminishes the gravity of depression and anxiety disorders as mental illnesses. Reducing a serious illness to the same lines as a bad day discounts the daily struggle to do something as simple as getting out of bed. Secondly, by misusing the terminology of these disorder in colloquial speech, it makes people retreat further into their shells. It makes sense that nobody wants to come out and admit that they need help when the people they are confessing to are the same ones throwing around jokes.

We need a society where someone is comfortable responding to “what did you do last night?” with “I was at the therapist’s office.” It is hard not to go through something like that and not feel alienated from the world. There are surprising amounts of people that go to see therapists but mask it with trips to the mall or the library. The problem is not the visits to the therapist. Those visits are intrinsic to the healing process in the same way that Tylenol relieves a chronic headache. To the people who are seeing or have seen therapists, you are infinitely brave for taking that step. The road to recovery is long and arduous, but what matters is that you are on this road. The problem comes in this desire to mask these visits, and what it is that leads people to feel like they have to.

The signs for a forward movement are there. We are coming fresh off of a week where Bell Let’s Talk promoted a culture of open discussion about mental health. The important thing is to keep the momentum going past those 24 hours. Depression and anxiety last much longer than that.

We need a paradigm shift in the way that mental disorders are viewed. It starts with every person accepting personal responsibility for those around us. We are not islands cut off from others. Our actions affect those around us, even when we are not aware of it.

It starts with open and honest conversations, with acceptance and with the idea that we need to be mindful of others. Think twice before you mock someone for what they are wearing or for riding the elevator from the third floor, because to them it could be a big deal that they got dressed and onto that elevator at all.

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Happy National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, McMaster! I think it’s time we talk.

You see, eating disorders are an ugly problem especially prevalent among people our age, and we need to change that. One in ten people with anorexia will die due to suicide or medical complications within ten years of diagnosis. We all contribute to perpetuating society’s disordered relationship with food and exercise and we all have the responsibility to fix it.

There’s so much that you can do. You can call people out on b.s. about “clean eating” (which isn’t even based in scientific evidence) and labelling food as good or bad. You can compliment young girls on their ideas rather than how cute they look. You can challenge stigma towards the psychiatric system, recognizing that eating disorders are often connected to depression or anxiety, which may require medication. You can stop assuming that it’s only underweight people that suffer from eating disorders; in fact, people with bulimia tend to be average or overweight.

You can also lobby for important institutional change. We should have at least one dietician in the Student Wellness Centre and ideally a psychologist as well. McMaster should have a policy that athletes with eating disorders are not allowed to compete until they’ve started to work towards recovery. We should have the ability to provide treatment for students that don’t qualify for outpatient because of a low BMI.

The status quo is insufficient. I experienced this when I was diagnosed with an eating disorder but my weight was too low to be accepted into outpatient. The people at the Student Wellness Centre went above and beyond to help me, but eating disorders require expertise and a level of care that the SWC is unable to provide. I am thankful to have survived and thrived thanks to an incredible network of friends and family. But I’m worried.

I’m worried for the students that will come after me. I’m worried that if they don’t have a severe enough case that they won’t receive sufficient help from the SWC because of resource constraints. I’m worried that the cult of perfection at our university will continue to be a catalyst that does not get subjected to criticism. So please be critical of our institution and of yourself and the norms you perpetuate, not just this week, but every week.

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On Jan. 28, Bell once again completed another successful “Let’s Talk” campaign, working to challenge the stigma associated with mental illness, and add to the $67.5 million they have already raised in support of mental health initiatives across Canada.

While anyone who advocates for mental health issues will tell you Bell is making a positive change, its efforts are far from perfect. If Bell truly wants to effect change in society and tear down the barriers experienced by sufferers of mental illness, they cannot limit themselves to focusing their efforts on combating “stigma” alone, as this wording neglects the systemic discrimination that those with mental illnesses experience.

To those unfamiliar, stigma and discrimination might seem interchangeable, but they actually have important differences. Stigma is the negative stereotype a person receives, and discrimination is the behaviour that results from this stereotype. This distinction might seem small, but language is powerful and subtle differences can drastically change something’s meaning.

In the case of Bell’s “Let’s Talk” by outlining “anti-stigma” and not “anti-discrimination” as one of their campaign’s four pillars, it undervalues and potentially ignores the existence of mental health discrimination. By only ever using the word “stigma,” and basing your entire campaign around it, you are effectively presenting the idea that those with mental health disabilities may face many negative stereotypes, but they experience little or no actual behavioural consequences. For a campaign that explicitly describes how “language matters” on its second page, it seriously fails to acknowledge the importance of this distinction.

This choice of wording and its resulting popularity becomes incredibly problematic when you read reports like those made by the Ontario Human Rights Commission on Nov. 7, 2012.  The OHRC surveyed 1,500 people in Ontario, and found repeated examples of laws that actively allowed for discrimination against those with mental health disabilities. These examples included multiple accounts from sufferers who had been denied housing, employment and even medical care because of their mental health.

One example from the report says that significant research exists that supports the fact that many private landlords deny housing to people with mental health disabilities. The report cited multiple sufferers who were forced to sign contracts that stated that if their condition worsened, they would be evicted from their residence.

One victim even describes intense discrimination within the healthcare system: “after surgery, my surgeon told me, ‘had I known you were crazy, I wouldn’t have operated on you.’”

These examples reflect only some of the harsh discrimination those with mental illnesses face, and yet Bell and others advocating for mental health issues limit their discussion and focus to combating stigma alone.

It’s easy to see a simple choice of words as a relatively minor issue, but the difference between “stigma” and “discrimination” is a deeper issue than a mistaken campaign by Bell. If you don’t believe me, take a second to consider how other issues of prejudice in our society are described. When discussing racism, sexism, or homophobia, discrimination is the word of choice. However, when describing mental illness, “stigma” is the overwhelmingly popular term.

Don’t believe me? Try typing the word “stigma” into Google. You’ll find page after page discussing mental health issues, and a list of related searches pertaining to that same subject. Try that again with the word “discrimination.” Here the examples address race, homophobia, and human rights concerns, with no mention of mental health even after five pages. It quickly becomes clear that Bell’s decision to use the word “stigma” instead of “discrimination” reflects a much larger cultural issue.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. In fact, the very first resource Bell directs you to is a document from the Canadian Mental Health Association. Within the second paragraph the CMHA makes it clear that they have the same concerns:

“The problem with the word ‘stigma’ is that it puts the focus on the person’s difference instead of on the people who are setting them apart. Using the word stigma makes it seem different than racism, homophobia or sexism. It isn’t. So it’s time to talk about stigma for what it really is: prejudice and discrimination.”

Even organizations directly supporting the campaign feel it is crucial to distinguish the problematic nature of the word “stigma,” and yet Bell remains one of the many that make no such effort.

So why is it people seem to be uncomfortable with associating “discrimination” with mental illness? Do we really believe not receiving medical treatment because of one’s race is that different from not receiving it because of one’s mental health disability? While it’s pointless to compare whether one type of discrimination is worse than another, it’s unsettling to see that we as a society seem intent on labelling mental health as a separate issue, to the point where it even has its own distinct terminology.

We as Canadians need to aim higher than simply combating the stigma surrounding mental illness, and must work to remove the systemic barriers to success that exist for those affected by mental illness.

If Bell really wants to get people talking, ask Canadians why they’re so afraid to acknowledge mental health discrimination that they won’t even use the same words.

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By: David Rios

On Jan. 27 to 29, I am voting in support of the MSU Health Plan Referendum and I think you should as well. The current MSU health plan falls short of providing the essential coverage students need. For an additional $18.50, students will receive 80 percent off the price of contraceptives. A further increase of $32 will extend health insurance even more, to include vaccines, enhanced vision care and access to specialists including chiropractors and psychologists.

Related: Proposed referendum changes

The increase in health coverage would allow more students greater access to specialists who can positively impact their physical and mental wellbeing. It would cover a portion of the cost of seeing a clinical psychologist, physiotherapist, or naturopath, as well as a variety of other healthcare professionals. These are services that are often inaccessible to students due to their costs. The more comprehensive option would also cover 80 percent of the cost of an ambulance ride and provide more vision coverage.

The inclusion of contraception coverage would allow students who so choose to have agency over their own bodies and more freedom and safety with regards to their sexual choices. Moreover, birth control helps treat health ailments such as endometriosis, hormone imbalances, erratic periods, severe menstrual cramps, and helps to prevent ovarian cysts.

Just like the current healthcare plan, you can opt out as long as you have some form of healthcare coverage. Even if you opt out from the MSU health and dental plan, other students will still be able to access this increased health care coverage.

In my first year, I severely injured my knee playing soccer. The medical costs surrounding rehabilitation were a significant economic strain and something I had to focus on, on top of getting better. I would have benefitted tremendously if I had access to the proposed health care coverage, and I know that my experience is not unique.

You never know when you will need these services and should not be blindsided by these situations. So when you vote, please consider the benefits, not only for you, but for the entire student body.

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By: Beth Barr

In this week’s installment of the SHEC Interview Series, we feature Krista Madsen, an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Madsen’s dedication to the dissemination of knowledge led to her becoming the department’s first teaching professor, a position she holds with pride along with a firm determination to “ignite lightbulbs” for students.

Madsen believes that her fascination with the human body began in childhood. She doesn’t exactly know why, but speculates that it might have to do with a textbook her parents had at home; Madsen marvelled at the diagrams, and at how all that “stuff” fit inside each person as she peeled back layers of skin, muscle, vasculature and organs. Combine this experience with her natural tendency towards sport and visual learning, and you get a kinesiology professor whose ability to clearly illustrate and demonstrate principles ensures no student gets left behind.

When asked what she loves most about her work, Madsen has a lot to say – what’s not to love about her job? However, she became noticeably excited about the notion of watching students take what she presents, in any of the ways she manages to frame and re-frame concepts, and move on to do exciting things, from furthering advanced research, to landing top positions in emerging fields. She says she “really enjoy[s] the mentorship aspect.” In kinesiology, Madsen teaches from second to fourth year, and strives to challenge students and create opportunities for them to grow. She discovered that while she “appreciate[s] research and uses it all the time,” she “really enjoys the process of knowledge translation,” which is how she makes concepts manageable, useful and meaningful for students.

When asked about her regrets of undergrad, she mentions lack of sleep and poor cooking skills. She highlights the real importance of good sleep habits, and taking “moments of pause” to check in with yourself, even if you feel like you can keep going. Madsen suggests that listening to what your body actually needs (such as a nap) can overrule that adrenaline-filled need to accomplish things, and leave you more refreshed and ready to take on your challenges. She mentions immune function in relation to sleep and food, and reminds us of the viral hot box we live in, especially during exam and midterm seasons.

I wanted to know in what ways students could lead a more balanced lifestyle. She responded that “we always have the chance to start with today,” and went on to explain that while long term goals can be useful, we need to accept that “we are presented with choices in every moment,” and we have to do make small changes within them. If you only focus on the long-term goal, you may feel like you’re failing all the time, which can wear you down.

By focusing on today,” she said, “you can experience many small successes from moment to moment.”

She recommends minimizing any mental or physical barriers to make positive changes, like keeping your exercise gear by your bed, and advises acknowledging your unique personal victories rather than comparing yourself to external standards that can be self-defeating.

A major theme that flowed through our conversation was self-judgement. Madsen doesn’t recommend bogging oneself down with negative perceptions and judgements, and she links this back to the idea that we’re human and sometimes things aren’t right for us. “Just let it go,” she says. In terms of New Years Resolutions, she thinks they can be great; those who need a concrete starting point can begin with something realistic. Those who need less structure can start these habits at any time – but they all benefit from new efforts and goals they undertake.

Finally, Madsen touched on mental health and the mind-body link. She says that “mental health can be a struggle for many people, and physical activity can have a very positive impact when people take a balanced and rewarding approach to exercise.” She encourages students who are struggling – whom she might see in a classroom setting – to seek the help they need without judgement and to remove the barriers they perceive around help and self-help. Madsen is a firm believer in the mind-body link, and advocates care on all levels.

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By: Emma Little

New year, new you, right? It’s hard to keep the resolution of eating healthy with all the unhealthy choices on campus – especially when you’re hungry! These are some of the best healthy snack options that you can find on campus, or off.

Fruit

Apples and berries make a great snack early in the day. They contain natural sugars and fast acting carbs. These will boost your energy and allow your body to burn off the sugars throughout the day. Fruit is a great way to snack healthy because it’s filling, nutritious and contains antioxidants.

Where: You can find fruit all over campus! Apples are the most commonly sold fruit. Berries are harder to find depending on the season but can be found at grocery stores.

Hummus 

Hummus is a tasty snack, especially when dipping vegetables or crackers. Hummus is made from chickpeas, and contains those good-for-you carbohydrates. This combination of fibers and proteins help you feel full for longer. This makes it the perfect snack to get you through those long days of class and studying!

Where: Summer Fresh makes the perfect snack packs that come in a few different flavours with flatbread crackers. Summer Fresh packs are sold in most food stores on campus.

Plain Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is packed with protein, low in carbohydrates, has approximately half the amount of sodium than regular yogurts and contributes to the recommended amount of calcium per day. Plain yogurt is better than pre-flavoured varieties because it has a lot less sugar. Mix in some fresh berries, nuts or honey for added flavour.

Where: While you can’t easily find plain Greek yogurt on campus, there are a few Greek yogurt flavours sold across campus, including at Union Market. If you want to be healthier, try buying plain Greek yogurt at a grocery store.

Almonds & Trail Mix

Almonds are a top super snack because they are high in protein, packed with fiber, healthy fats and vitamin E. It only takes a handful to help you feel full, and helps you maintain a healthy weight. They are also great for your heart! Don’t eat too many, a handful is roughly the perfect amount. Try to find plain, unsalted mixes without chocolate and added sugars, or make your own!

Where: Trail mix packages can be bought at most food stores on campus, though plain almonds are harder to find. If you want plain almonds and trail mix you can buy large bags at large grocery stores.

Protein Bars

Protein bars are great and easy to take on the go, but there are many good and bad protein bars out there! If you are having one as a snack, there some important nutritional facts you should check before buying. Protein bars should have less than 200 calories, at least four grams of fiber and the protein should be at least half the amount of the bars carbohydrates. There is a lot of different advice out there for protein bars, so do your research for buying.

Where: The best type of protein bar at Union Market is Power Bar Protein Plus. You can find even better protein bars, such as Quest bars, off campus.

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