Regular readers will be well aware of the important relationship between obesity and mental health.
Not only can excess weight affect self-esteem, body image, eating behaviours and even promote depression and anxiety, the opposite is also true – virtually all mental health problems ranging from depression and attention deficit disorder to PTSD and addictions can promote [...]

When I was twenty-two I owned, and proudly wore, a burgundy coloured pirate shirt. It had puffy sleeves, a long v-neck with laces, and — if I let it — it hung to my knees. It was awesome. I had … Continue reading →

…hi. I accidentally published this post before I had even started it. Whoops. My apologies. So, this is the version that has words. Thank you, to everyone who offered to help with the cost of our daughter’s gravestone. We received … C…

We can’t afford to buy Evangeline a headstone. Not any time soon, anyway. We priced stones last week and the second smallest costs $900. It’s a flat stone measuring 24″x12″x4″, it’ll have her full name, her birth dat…

“Mom I need a snack”, “Mom when is dinner going to be ready?”, “Mom (insert siblings name here) is bugging me”. These are the outside noises that are constantly being yelled, shouted, screamed and bellowed every single day. …

Somehow, it’s already Wednesday. Creepy. So anyhow: Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam wants Ontario to join up with Quebec in the fight against long-gun registry data deletion (say that 5 times fast); surveyed TTC riders are strangely content with transit service; Doug Ford is pro property tax freezes; Toronto roads account for half of the province’s worst; families of individuals shot by police meet to discuss better police handling of those with mental health issues; and Occupy Toronto up to slightly different tricks.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) wants Ontario, as Quebec, to go to bat against the feds on the issue of deleting data from the recently-nixed federal long-gun registry. Though the registry was successfully abolished by Prime Minister Stephen Harper after years of touting its insignificance (this, despite the Canadian Association of Chiefs of [...]

I’ve been having nightmares every night for the past two weeks. While I’m in a dead sleep I’ll sit up in bed, put my feet on the floor, and sit there while the nightmare plays out. In the nightmare I’m … Continue reading &…

Simon Fraser students debate gender-exclusive spaces

First, thanks to everyone who left a comment here, or sent me an email. It helped to know there were people out there who understood what was going on, and how I was feeling. Because, honestly, there really wasn’t much … Continue reading &#…

Josh Visser Police say they have identified the rider of a motorcycle who uploaded a video of himself to YouTube travelling at speeds close to 300 kilometres an hour, while weaving in and out of traffic on a busy highway outside of Victoria, B.C. The rider is thought to be a 25-year-old man, who is [...]

Christy Clark launched a comprehensive review of the province’s justice system two months. She says her goal is to make it more efficient and modern. But a new report prepared for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association says a business administration mo…

Everything started to fall apart early Friday morning. Diane’s water broke on Monday, but the doctors believed she and the baby could last to the 24-week mark, when our baby girl’s lungs would be better developed. But by early Friday &#8230…

When it comes to changing behaviours, it is important to understand what drives motivation.
Two well known frameworks often used in this context are the transtheoretical model of ‘Stages of Change’ and ‘Motivational Interviewing’, an intervention strategy that can help reveal and deal with ambiguity, toward changing the status quo.
Another theoretical framework that may well provide [...]

Someone once asked the question, how can you create a smarter life and better planet? To me this question cannot simply be answered in a mere couple of answers, but a chosen lifestyle that will consciously affect others to change along with you. The fi…

My girlfriend is in the hospital, unless something dramatic and horrible happens she’ll be in there at least two weeks, maybe longer. Her water broke early this (Tuesday) morning, she’s only twenty-two weeks into the pregnancy. The doctors …

Day 2 of the 2nd International School on Obesity Research and Management (ISORAM) was kicked off by Bill Colmers (Edmonton), who provided a succinct review of the neurohormonal regulation of energy homeostasis and its importance for survival. While there was no evolutionary pressure to not exceed the minimum needs, biology favoured the ability to opportunistically [...]

This has been one of the dumbest years of my life, and it’s only three months old. First: it’s too hot. It has basically been fifteen degrees hotter than it’s supposed to be, every day, for the past week. That’s … Continue…

I join the outcry today over the sentencing of convicted serial pedophile Graham James to two years in prison for the sexual abuse of Theo Fleury and Todd Holt. Counter-intuitively (because I knew it would just get me stirred up) I watched the news co…

Two professionals meet at a street corner in downtown Victoria. They set their laptop cases down and begin to talk to each other. One of them leans against the wall of a building. Suddenly two police officers arrive and start yelling obscenities at the…

Thronged were the streets with people; and noisy groups at the house-doors Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped together, Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed and feasted; For with this simple people, who lived … Continue…