Keri Cronin

Category Archives: Health and Wellness


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Niagara’s First VegFest

Saturday June 2nd marked the first ever VegFest in the Niagara Region. I was part of the organizing committee for this event and while we were hoping the day would be a success we simply could not have anticipated the overwhelming response to the festival. Doors opened at 10 am and by about 10:30 we realized that we were going to be seeing some pretty large crowds during the day. The final attendance tally was 1250! This completely exceeded our expectations and at times things got a little crowded. However, everyone was in good spirits and took it in stride. As one of my colleagues remarked, “yeah, it was a little crowded, but it was exciting! It made you feel like you were really part of something.”

We had 30 fabulous exhibitors and vendors who ended up selling out of most everything by the end of the day. We had 4 generous sponsors who stepped up and took a chance on a new festival–a huge thanks to Kindfood, Sestres Coffee Shop, The Naked Sprout, & Bamboo Natural Food Market for their help in making the Niagara VegFest a reality. Thanks also goes out to VegFund for awarding us a grant to help put on the festival. We also were incredibly grateful for the assistance of Niagara Action for Animals and all our fabulous volunteers. What a day! I think more than anything what I took away from Niagara VegFest is just what an amazing community we have here.

I was also so impressed with all of our speakers. Marni Wasserman kicked off the day with a session on green smoothies, and even made enough to give samples to the audience. After that we had Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan from Our Hen House speak on the subject of food activism (one of my favourite topics!). Our third speaker was Chef Douglas McNish who talked about the path that he took to become a vegan chef and cookbook author. (note: Doug sold out of books at the festival–they are a huge hit! Make sure you order one!) Our fourth speaker was local athlete Jennifer Hintenberger, who just happens to hold some world records in kettle bell and who also happens to be vegan. She talked about how she overcame numerous illnesses because of her plant-based diet and I love how people like Jennifer help to shatter the myth that vegans are weak–she is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met! (for more on Jennifer’s story, check out her appearance on this week’s Our Hen House podcast). All of these speakers were so compelling and talked about the many benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. They were funny, engaging, and informative, and I was so honoured that they all so enthusiastically agreed to be part of Niagara’s first VegFest!

We closed the day with a screening of Vegucated, a fabulous film that is getting great reviews all over the world. We had a great audience for the screening and many people have since asked me where they can get a copy of the film for their own collection. It is a must see!

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to the festival and helped make it the success it was. Plans are already under way for the 2013 Niagara VegFest. Stay tuned!

Update: check out Our Hen House’s episode featuring Niagara VegFest!


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Blitzen the Tenure Blender

I’ve wanted a Vitamix for quite some time now and when I got word that my application for Tenure & Promotion was approved Laurie bought me one as a “yay! You got tenure!” gift. Wowie wow on so many levels!

Blitzen the tenure blender arrived in my life 4 days ago and I’m already wondering how I ever lived without her. She is amazing!! I’ve been making all kinds of smoothies (green smoothies! smoothies with fresh Niagara cherries! pineapple smoothies!), and we’ve also whipped up a lovely robust salad dressing (with tahini, veggies, and other goodies in it) and a strawberry-lime sorbet. It is too warm to try making soups, but one of the things that fascinates me about the Vitamix is that you can throw in fresh veg, blend it up and have hot soup (yes, hot!!! right out of the blender!!) in minutes. I know I am dangerously close to sounding like an infomercial here, but I’m really excited about how this really opens up new possibilities for fresh, healthy vegan goodness.

strawberry-lime sorbet

green smoothie


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“Do Not Refuse To Look At These Pictures”

The news about the abuse uncovered on an Ohio Dairy Farm by Mercy for Animals has hit the global media. The horrific film footage showing cows and calves being beaten, stabbed and kicked is stomach-turning.

I wish this were an isolated incident, but as anyone who has tried to learn more about where our food comes from knows all too well, abuse of animals in factory farm settings is not uncommon.

There is no doubt that this is difficult stuff to read about, look at, and discuss, but we need to know about it. I can’t tell you how many people have said to me “oh, I can’t look at that stuff. I can’t hear about animal abuse or look too hard into where my food comes from.” These are often well-educated, intelligent people who I love and respect. And yet on this point I must respectfully disagree. If you care about your health, the health of your family, about animals or the fate of our planet nothing could be more important than knowing these sorts of “dirty little secrets” that the factory farming industry would rather we didn’t know.

I’m not saying we should all make a bowl of popcorn and sit down with the family to watch the Ohio dairy farm footage on the big screen TV. And yet, as Ed Burtynsky pointed out during an interview on CBC’s The Current yesterday, imagery is often what brings much needed attention to an issue. Burtynsky was not talking about the Ohio Dairy Farm case but, rather, about another horrific story, the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The point, however, is valid in both instances.

As someone who teaches about and conducts research on visual culture, this point is one that I have spent a lot of time thinking about. Right now I’m doing a lot of work on 19th century animal welfare activism and, in particular, the use of imagery in that movement. The great 19th century reformer Frances Power Cobbe began one of her illustrated anti-vivisection pamphlets with the words: “Do Not Refuse to Look at These Pictures.” She went on to discuss why it was so important for people to see with their own eyes the ways in which animals were treated behind closed doors in medical laboratories. Cobbe recognized that most people would not be granted access to these labs (just as we aren’t easily granted access to factory farm complexes) and, as such, she strongly believed in the power of visual culture to convey this difficult information to a broader public.

Things haven’t changed that much since Cobbe’s day and here I’d like to repeat her plea — “do not refuse to look at these pictures.” We can not keep ignoring what is going on.


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No Bikes?

So, I had a medical appointment today. It was at a new building, a place I’d not been to before. As I walked up to the front door I saw this sign:

Hmmm… I want to give this medical establishment the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe they mean no motorbikes or something similar.

Can a place that purports to support human health actually ban bikes? Is this for real?!?


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Jane’s Walk

I just heard about this weekend’s “Jane’s Walk” initiative (thanks CBC!) — I love this idea! Even though St. Catharines isn’t listed as an official participant (yet), I’m going to get out my walking shoes and my camera and explore my new adopted neighbourhood in downtown St. Catharines today.

Updated — photos from my walk.


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Plasticity

Last evening the good folks over at OPIRG-Brock screened the film, Addicted to Plastic. First of all, let me just say that I love this idea of showing documentary films in this centrally-located downtown space. I hope this initiative grows and continues and I certainly plan to get out to as many of the films as my schedule will allow.

Ok, the film. Well, many of the scenes were eye-opening. I knew about the problem of plastic products and packaging ending up in the ocean and on beaches around the world, but the graphic images in this film really drove that point home. Piles and piles of bottles, bags and other “throw-away” items are killing animals and polluting the water, a pretty horrific legacy for products that are so ubiquitous that they barely get noticed in our day-to-day lives.

After reading books like Slow Death by Rubber Duck, I have made a deliberate and conscious effort to minimize the amount of plastic in my life. Glass jars and containers have replaced the plastic ones I used to use, my morning cuppa is brewed in a stainless steel kettle instead of a plastic one and I shun plastic grocery bags. Fair enough. But this exercise has also demonstrated to me just how difficult (impossible?) it is to go through the day without encountering plastics. Right now, as I sit in the kitchen, I am taking stock of all the plastic around me: the bird feeder on the porch, the bottle my cat’s medicine comes in, the bottle holding the dish soap, the packaging my tea comes in, the computer I am typing this blog entry on, the light switch, the handle on the fridge, the beaver balls made by my students that have inexplicably turned up on the kitchen table yet again (these things are everywhere, I tell you!). When I turn on my tap, does the water come to me through plastic-lined pipes? Probably. When I leave the house later I’ll get on a bus that is full of plastic parts and head to the grocery store where I’ll have to decide things like “should I buy the chickpeas in a can (lined with plastic) or the dried ones in the plastic bags?” It kind of makes my head spin.

There are people who have been blogging about their attempts to live plastic-free. This inspires me. There are shops that specialize in plastic-free alternatives. This is good news.

The film I saw last night spent quite a bit of time talking about bioplastics as an alternative. This worries me a little. On the surface, it does seem like a good idea. Plastics that are toxic-free and biodegradable seem like they would be a good solution, however, there are a whole host of other ethical and environmental questions that arise. For starters, are the crops that are used to sustain the bioplastic industry GMO crops? Is this the best use of farmland? Are these crops sprayed with pesticides? It seems to me that the bioplastic industry may be pointing the way forward in terms of some of the changes that need to be made, however, simply replacing one kind of plastic for another doesn’t really address the problem of over-consumption. How much of this stuff do we really need?


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Observations from the Great Car-Free Experiment

I have been conducting the Great Car-Free Experiment for over 2 months now.

During this time I’ve only driven my car once and had disastrous results!! On a stupidly busy day about 2 weeks ago I decided to start up the car and drive over to the store instead of walk. It is about a 30 minute walk from my house to the shopping plaza I was heading to and I normally really love this walk as it takes me along the shores of both Lake Ontario and Martindale Pond, but that day I decided that I just didn’t have time to squeeze in a walk between finalizing my SSHRC application, prepping for class and the other gazillion things I had on my “to do” list. What happened next, I believe, was some sort of intervention by the gods and goddesses of exercise and all things eco — my front tire fell off! Fell right off the car. Wheee…I watched it spring from the car and land about a half a block away on the other side of the road. I’m very glad this happened on the residential street in front of my house and that I was driving very slowly as I was about to turn into my driveway. I don’t even want to think about how this might have played out if I’d been on the highway when the tire came loose.

So, yeah, not keen to get back to driving any time soon!

While there are some annoyances with getting around this region without a car (like the lack of regional transit or the fact that bus service on evenings and weekends is a little sparse), so far it has been going rather well. The cooler autumn weather and the hectic pace of the term means I’m not biking much any more, but the start of the school year means that the buses up to Brock run on a much more frequent basis. I also find that taking the time out to go for a walk to the store or pub or other such location is actually really important for my overall well being. We all know, of course, the benefits of regular exercise, but the catch is trying to fit it in. For me, combining exercise with errand-running is one way of doing this.

I’ve also recently started listening to audiobooks on my iPod. I’ve never been a fan of audiobooks, but I have discovered a narrator that I really like (Scott Brick), and this has helped to change my opinion of audiobooks. Another reason I have not really enjoyed audiobooks to date has been that I’ve always tried to listen to them while doing other things — an absurd idea, really, given that I don’t try and do other things while I read a book. So before I had a hard time following the story because I’d be distracted by all the other things I was doing. Now I use the time that I’m riding the bus to zone out and listen to whatever book I’ve recently downloaded from Audible, and I have to say it is a pretty cool way to start and end the work day. I’ve actually found myself looking forward to the bus ride home so that I can get back to the story.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with my car. The CAA tow truck driver that came out to help me after the tire flew off gave me a coupon for a free diagnostic appointment at the CAA car care centre. I might take it there and find out what the scoop is. I’m also eyeing the Retire Your Ride program which appeals to me because of its simplicity – sign a few forms and they take the car away. No fuss, no muss. I need to find out just how much it will cost me to cancel my car insurance before the policy is up for renewal, but I’ve been putting that off.


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Allergy Agony

My seasonal allergies are in full swing and it seems to me that this is the worst year yet, although I’m probably just not remembering other years correctly. This is so frustrating! I’m sneezing and snorking my way through the days and feel exhausted all the time. This does not help with the writing deadlines I’m trying to keep.

I am desperate to find a remedy — medicinal, herbal, whatever. A Benedryl at night helps me sleep, but I’ve not been successful in finding something to take during the day. I was on Reactine but it wasn’t doing much so I switched to Aerius. So far it doesn’t seem to be doing anything either. I wonder if I need to take it for a few days in a row before it starts to work. I saw an ad for this product on the Weather Network, but haven’t been able to find any stores that carry it in my region yet. It seems a little weird, but I’m willing to try *anything* right now! And in that vein, some googling led to this study which suggests Sapporo beer might help with allergy symptoms. I like the sound of a remedy that includes a pint or two! :)

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