RunnerGrad
-
Posts
292 -
Joined
-
Days Won
1
Posts posted by RunnerGrad
-
-
Congratulations to everyone who has received offers this week! I hope a bunch of you get good news from UofT soon and that I'll see some of you there. I did find out that two other students from my undergraduate program were accepted to UofT's MPH in Community Nutrition, so I'll know some of my classmates. Hope to have some of you as classmates in the general public health courses as well.
-
I mean, that WOULD be pretty weird. Why on earth would people expect spouses to support one another...?
In addition, we can add a 3rd "never smoked or done drugs". Caffeine is about as exciting as it gets for me too. I am a boring person, and I am okay with this.
You can add me to that list as well. I've never smoked or tried recreational/illegal drugs (I've unfortunately taken many prescription drugs throughout my life for a variety of health issues).
Other things to add to my previous list: never had a one night stand (well, never had sex with anyone except my husband), never had sushi, never read or watched any of the popular vampire books or movies, never lived with a room mate (lived with my parents, then on my own, then with my husband, and was lucky enough to have a single room when I lived in residence first year at university).
-
Ties to your home country include things like having a bank account in the country, a permanent address in that country, close family members in that country, etc.
-
I'm surprised that in the US you don't need a Masters degree to get into a PhD program! Most PhDs in my area, in Canada, require a thesis-based Masters degree in order to be able to apply. Now, there are some students who start a Masters and, if they do well, apply for promotion to the PhD, so they never actually complete the Masters. I'm just so surprised that the normal thing in the US seems to be undergrad to PhD! It just seems so strange to me.
-
Anyone else attending the University of Toronto starting Fall 2014?
I'll be studying in the MPH program, Community Nutrition concentration. It combines the MPH degree with the dietetic internship required to practice as a registered dietitian in Canada.
I'll be commuting from a smaller city about an hour from Toronto, so the commute is my biggest worry right now. I've had long commutes before (when I worked in Ottawa, I lived in the suburbs, and had about an hour on the bus each way as I worked downtown) so at least I know I can deal with them (although Ottawa traffic is nothing like Toronto traffic).
Anyone else who will be attending UofT?
-
Sighs End of April for U of T? That is so late
I have to respond to Queens U by April 14... but U of T is my first option
What shall I do ?
You may hear from UofT before the end up April via email, but may have to wait until the end of April for the official offer via post.
At least, that's the case for the MPH in Community Nutrition. I was told, via email, that I was being recommended for admission to that program, and to email them back with my intentions. I emailed back that I would accept their offer, and they replied that I would receive the official offer, in the mail, by the end of April.
I don't know how the other specializations or programs at UofT work, but that's how they've done things in the MPH Community Nutrition program.
-
We buy all our meat (chicken, beef) from local famers and butchers, where we know the animals are well-treated (we've seen the farms) and aren't bed hormones or antibiotics. The chicken is flash-frozen, so isn't injected with saline solution.
We also buy fruits and vegetables from the local farmer's market whenever possible (so when things are in season) but do end up purchasing from the grocery store for fruits and vegetables when they are out of season here (pretty much all winter). Frozen vegetables and fruits are perfectly fine, and retain many of the nutrients that are lost when canned.
As a dietetic intern, the foods I would encourage people to enjoy include fruits and vegetables, of as many different colours are you can incorporate into a day; lean meats from animals that weren't fed hormones or antibiotics; some source of omega-3 fatty acids in your weekly diet, so wild salmon, ground flax seed, hemp seed.
Avoid any grain products that are "white" - so avoid white bread, white pasta, white flour.
Enjoy whole grains (not multigrain, which is often white flour with a few grains added in so they can call it multigrain) - so 100% whole grain or whole wheat bread (if you can buy it from a local bakery that doesn't use preservatives, that will be better for you than grocery store bread), whole wheat pasta, quinoa, oatmeal (plain oats, not the processed Quaker junk with added sugar and salt).
Avoid foods with too much added sugar - strive for <5g of sugar per serving. Natural sugars, found in fruits and vegetables are fine.
Avoid foods with too much sodium. You should only be consuming about 1500mg of sodium a day. Most Canadians (I don't know about Americans) consume twice that amount. The safe upper limit for sodium is 2300mg a day, and health problems can start to occur when you regularly exceed that level.
Enjoy legumes (beans, lentils). Even canned beans are fine (just rinse them well), but cooking them from dry will be cheaper.
Avoid energy drinks.
For keeping up energy levels and maintaing stable blood glucose levels and blood insulin levels, combine a carbohydrate-containing food with a protein-containing for at each meal and snack. So a whole grain cereal (with less than 5g sugar per serving) with skim milk or milk alternative. An apple or banana with natural peanut butter (with no added sugar). A sandwich made with 100% whole wheat bread and lean meat and/or cheese. 100% whole wheat pita with hummus. A smoothie made with fruit, plain yogourt (no added sugar), skim milk, or whey protein (again, check the label for no added sugar). Natural nut butter and celery.
Drink plenty of water. Enjoy diet soda in moderation (one a day won't harm your health). If you like fruit juice, cut it with water - so make a mix of half fruit juice, half water. If you don't like water, you can flavour it with just a bit of fruit juice, or even better, infuse it by sticking a couple of pieces of peeled fruit in the water, and let the water absorb some of the flavours.
Use olive oil for cooking when you need oil. When baking, canola oil can be used, but try using alternatives to oils in baking (such as applesauce, ground flaxseed, mashed beans, etc.)
Enjoy coffee and caffeinated tea in moderation.
Enjoy alcohol in moderation. Red wine may have some additional heart health benefits due to the resveratrol present in red wines, but there is a small heart protective effect just from alcohol. The trade off is an increased risk of some forms of cancer in those with a family history of cancer. But with no family history of cancer, one glass (6 oz) of red wine a day may be healthy, and have heart protective effects. Research is still being done on this topic.
Avoid deep fried foods.
Avoid processed deli meats. Use roasted meats or leftovers in making sandwiches.
Use a meat thermometer to ensure foods are cooked to a safe temperature.
-
I've never:
- gotten sick or passed out from drinking too much alcohol
- read the Harry Potter books
- seen the Harry Potter movies
- eaten ramen or other instant noodles
- used textspeak (even when I text I use proper English, and I don't text often)
- crammed for an exam
- pulled an all-nighter
-
Most of the professors at my current institution are referred to by their first names, by both Masters and PhD students. Also by senior undergraduates, if they get to know them well (i.e. the prof that I did summer research with, and the prof who supervised my honours thesis, both told me to refer to them by their first name).
-
These links were interesting, thanks. I think everyone appreciates the complexity of the problem. But for the sake of argument -- which may actually be the entire point of this thread, come to think of it
-- consider alcoholism. It's malady with many causes: upbringing, personality, genetics... And yet, in the final analysis, you cannot get drunk unless you put alcohol in your body. Likewise, obesity has many causes. But you cannot get fat unless you put more calories in your body than you burn.Of course, it's another matter entirely to treat people cruelly because they are fat. But don't you think the biological fact can be lost in all the interconnecting arrows you provided in your diagrams? Maybe the most important thing for people to understand is that they should eat better food and move their bodies. I believe there was once a MAD TV skit on this very topic, so QED.
Also, I don't understand why some people here are accusing the Gnome of trolling this thread. I think it's refreshing to hear a grad student who is not sanctimoniously good and kind. I always think that excessively nice people are hiding something.
There's one huge difference between alcoholism and obesity. Nobody needs to drink alcohol to live. Everyone needs to eat in order to live. It may be through enteral or parenteral nutrition, but if you don't get food into your body, you are going to die.
If it were simply a matter of consuming fewer calories then we wouldn't have climbing rates of obesity in the developed world, and we wouldn't have the dual burden in the developing world (where on the one hand you have climbing rates of obesity in some segements of society, while still having undernutrition in other segments).
I don't have the references handy, but in multiple clinical nutrition courses I have learned the following.
Realistic amounts of weight loss are:
3-5% through diet and exercise
5-15% through medications
20-30% through bariatric surgery
If it were simply a matter of consuming fewer calories and exercising more, than the percentage weight loss for diet and exercise would be a lot higher than 3-5%. Sure, there are some people who manage to lose more and keep it off, but they are the exception, rather than the rule.
For those interested, here are some other papers that address obesity:
Obesity is a sign – over-eating is a symptom: an aetiological framework for the assessment and management of obesity- hashslinger, louise86 and SocGirl2013
-
3
-
It's as easy or hard as you want it to be. There are loads of suggestions here about ways to meet people: meetup groups, taking a class or attending events that you're interested in, joining an activity club in the town/city, groups for young professionals, etc. I'm not sure why you're limiting yourself to all grad student things though...
Agreed! Join a club or organization that interests you. Take non-academic classes that interest you (i.e. dance, fitness, martial arts, painting, photography, etc. - whatever you enjoy). If your university has a grad student lounge, you can hang out there to meet people as well.
-
Since I'm in nutrition, I actually have studied obesity. It isn't as simple as calories in = calories out, as some of you think. It also isn't always about personal choice.
If any of you actually care to educate yourselves, here are some good studies and other articles on the topic:
The epidemiology of overweight and obesity: public health crisis or moral panic?
ECONOMIC CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF OBESITY
Here are some great graphics that illustrate the many causes of obesity:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/nutritionrunner/determinants_zps32a90d05.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/nutritionrunner/obesityfactors_zps9041a94e.png
Oh gee, look at all the factors that aren't under an individual's control! Imagine that!
The following is the best illustration of all the many factors that affect obesity. It is an incredibly complex problem:
http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html
So please, educate yourself about the causes and treatment of obesity before you go assuming it is the individual's fault. The research being done in this area indicates that there are many complex, interacting factors that affect obesity and obesity rates. It isn't always a matter of eating too much and moving too little. It is much, much more complex. Energy balance is only part of the equation.
- pears, Munashi, fuzzylogician and 4 others
-
7
-
My husband and I have lived through several periods where our relationship was conducted at a distance. Why did we do it? Well, we had no choice. The military doesn't exactly let me come with him when he's away on training for months at a time, nor when he is deployed overseas for months at a time. They don't exactly let non-military spouses deploy on training, combat or peacekeeping missions with the military member.
It would be silly to end our relationship just because he has to go away on training or deploy. He was in the military when I met him, and I knew exactly what that meant. Our love is strong enough to deal with the separations when they occur. It helps that we are best friends, that we completely trust one another, and that we are good at communicating with each other.
Long distance relationships can work if both parties are committed to it. Both parties need to realize that there will probably be times when it is difficult being apart, and that having a strong relationship with open and honest communication will help them get through those difficult times.
-
Calorie vs calorie. A Calorie (capital C) is actually a Kilocalorie, and is what most people refer to when talking about a "calorie." So we use "kcal" to be clear what we are talking about.
Diet. Technically diet is whatever you eat/consume as food and drink. But in popular culture it means changing your eating habits so as to promote weight loss. But your diet is just what you eat and drink, it doesn't have anything to do with weight loss.
-
Well, my UofT status finally changed to Decision Made, two weeks after I received notification of my admission via email!
I've also now been asked to provide official (paper) transcripts to UofT, as I had previously just uploaded the scans of my transcripts.
Was also accepted off the waitlist to my second choice program, but after some discussion with my husband, I'm going to stick with UofT.
-
I make time. I schedule in exercise just like I schedule everything else. I also find I'm much more productive if I take a break, do something active, and then return to work or studying afterwards. Exercise is good for memory, concentration, mental health, stress relief, etc., as well as having so many physical benefits. So exercise helps me to work for effectively and efficiently.
I'm also a group fitness instructor, so having times where I absolutely have to be there to teach a class, unless I'm ill or injured, helps on those days where my motivation might be lacking. When I teach a class, it's not my workout, since I'm focused on the participants, but I still get in some exercise just by leading the class, even if it's not as intense a workout as I might get on my own.
Fitness is a way of life for me. I can't imagine doing without. So, like everything else that is important to me, I make the time. The payoff in terms of improved mental and physical health is enormous.
Oh, it's helps that my husband and I enjoy running together and lifting weights together. So workout time becomes us time.
-
Exercise. Running.
School. Studying.
-
Congratulations to everyone who has received offers in the past few days!
I hope I will see some of you at UofT in the Fall.
-
If you want to be an RD, you need to complete a dietetic internship, so whichever one lets you do that in the easiest manner.
-
any one heard from U Vic or SFu or GUlph.....
It's spelled GUELPH.
Also, as I posted before, candidates could submit their documents to Guelph until March 15th. So they obviously haven't made any decisions yet, since they've only had all the documents for all the applicants as of yesterday. So for Guelph you are going to have to wait a bit longer. They can't magically review everyone's documents in one day, or even in one week. All of this is clearly indicated on Guelph's website.
-
Reality TV
Fast food
Mayonnaise
Cheese slices/processed cheese
Pepperoni pizza
Harry Potter
-
Housing in the GTHA is getting pretty expensive. Without knowing what your price range is, it would be hard to recommend any particular area. I would always advocate moving to a city with a bit of a "community feel", which means that personally I would rule out any of the suburbs outside of the city. I'd suggest looking west of Toronto if you buy anywhere. Those communities are more established than anywhere east or north of Toronto. Also, no one has mentioned this, but as someone who currently drives on the highways around Toronto every day, I can tell you with certainty that you may not be prepared for the terrible commute if you choose to drive to campus. It's one of the worst in North America.
Also, lots of analysts talk about an impending housing market correction once interest rates increase and as boomers move out of their homes (and try to sell to millennials who will never make enough to afford the prices the boomers are asking). I don't want to get into a discussion of the economics of home ownership, but renting isn't a terrible decision in the GTHA right now, especially if your resources are limited (i.e. you're on a fixed student income).
Well, just goes to show you that everyone is different. There are many, many people who commute into Toronto from as far west as Hamilton and Kitchener/Waterloo. That's why the GO trains are full of people doing those commutes on a daily basis.
Also, my husband and I looked at the places for rent in Toronto before we ended up buying our house out where we are. We absolutely could not afford to live anywhere that would meet our needs. Like I said before, a small, one bedroom apartment would have cost us more in rent than our current mortgage does on a three bedroom semi-detached. As for renting versus owning, let's just say that when you've been renting for 20 some years, owning your own place begins to have a great deal of appeal. Also, we aren't worried about any housing market corrections, for a vareity of reasons. If someone is looking to move again in the near future, however, I would certainly suggest some caution.
Besides, the commute on the 407 isn't that bad. Neither is the 401 at 0530 to 0600 in the morning, nor at 1500 to 1530 in the afternoon. At least not from where we are, west of Toronto, into the GTA. We don't end up driving into downtown Toronto, however. That is something I wouldn't do. I'll be hopping on the subway line at my husband's workplace, where he conveniently has free parking, and that is right across from a subway station. I've done the commute enough with my husband, when I've been going into Toronto for a variety of things (conferences, interviews, etc.) to know that it really isn't all that bad, for us. Some people might consider it horrible. When my husband doesn't want to drive, due to weather or other reasons, we commute via the GO Train, which is just fine, although it does get crowded the closer you get to Toronto.
No doubt for many people the best choice is to rent somewhere in Toronto. It just wasn't the right choice for us. We much prefer living in a small city, west of Toronto, and dealing with the commute. LIke I said, there are thousands of people, just like us, who live in communities served by the GO Train, and who commute into and out of Toronto daily. Of course the closer you get to Toronto (i.e. Oakville), the more expensive the housing becomes, but I know people living out in Georgetown, Guelph, Burlington and Hamiton who do the commute daily. It all depends on what you want.
RunnerGrad - Thanks for sharing your opinion. Would you have any non-city recommendations for us? My husband is not a city guy and would actually really like to buy rather than rent. For my first year we will rent but we will definitely be reevaluating our situation next year.
Anywhere west of Toronto that is on one of the GO Train lines, would be my recommendation. Note that the closer you get to Toronto, the more expensive housing becomes, so there's a trade-off between shortening your commute time and housing prices. You can see a map of the GO Train lines here: http://www.gotransit.com/timetables/en/PDF/Maps/01140414/train_map.pdf
Georgetown is quite nice. Not too big of a city yet, although bigger than it was 10 years ago. Milton is another community that has seen enormous growth over the past 10 years, as has Burlington. But it really depends on how much of a commute you are willing to deal with. I seem to have a fairly high tolerance for a fairly long commute, as compared to some people!
-
As others have said, I wouldn't live near York. It is located in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in Toronto. However, that's where there was land when the university was founded, and the neighbourhood definitely wasn't as dangerous back then (1959).
I'm not a fan of big cities, so despite the fact that I will be attending the University of Toronto, my husband and I are staying in our home, in a smaller city to the west of Toronto, and we'll both commute daily. My husband already commutes to Toronto 4 days a week, and it's only 50-60 minutes for him, by car. I'll have to add about another 20 min on the subway to that. When I lived in Ottawa, however, my commute was 1-1.5 hours on a crowded OC Transpo bus, with one transfer part-way through, so I'm used to a long, annoying commute. So it really depends on what you want. I know some people hate commuting so they are willing to spend a lot of money on rent for a tiny place in Toronto. We decided we would rather have a nice 3 bedroom home with a mortgage that is far less than what we would be paying for a 1 bedroom apartment in Toronto, and that we would put up with the commute.
-
Public health and community nutrition. Which makes sense, since my undergraduate degree is in nutrition/dietetics, and my MPH will be in community nutrition. The MPH includes the dietetic internship that is required to practice as a registered dietitian.
Eventually I would like to end up as an RD doing program development, implementation and evaluation for nutrition and physical activity interventions.
Honors Thesis vs. Foreign Language
in The Lobby
Posted
Personally, I would do the thesis.
You can always learn another language on your own, either by continuing to take university courses as a graduate or non-degree student, or through other means.