Hello from Reykjavik!

Downtown Reykjavik 

My husband is busy at his conference today and I am sitting in a little cafe in downtown Reykjavik finishing my final project. As there is nothing like procrastination, I'm writing a blog post to say how amazing Iceland is. 

I've been on the look out for health promotion behaviours and programs since arriving at Keflavik airport on Monday but they aren't overly evident (I did see a billboard for a fluoride rinse - the only dental think I've seen since arriving!) Icelanders are said to be among the happiest people in the world and I believe it entirely. Icelanders are incredibly intelligent, well educated and socially connected. They have strong family units and seem to spend a lot of time socializing with friends and family. I've seen more men pushing prams alone than women.

I commented to a tour guide we had about the strange working hours here (Grocery stores are open from 12-6:30, most restaurants that serve dinner are closed by 7:30 or 8pm, nothing opens for breakfast before 8am) and wondered if Icelanders work more or less than the average Canadian. He stated that Icelanders work long hours - 8 or 9 hours a day. When work is over, they go to pubs and cafes to socialize and chat. Families seem to all go together (in fact, they leave their infants in prams outside cafes while they sip their coffee inside!) and there is a real mix of ages in all the places we've been. 

The tour guide also told us a bit about their health and education systems. They have a yearly cap of 15,000 kronur for prescription drugs (about $120 CAD) so when you've paid that much, the rest is free no matter what. All their medical costs for surgery and such are paid for except for a doctors visit fee of 300 kronur ($2.50 CAD). As for education, primary education is free. After primary school, they have a choice to enter a trade or continue with secondary school. Secondary school costs ~2,000 kronur per semester ($16 CAD). When they continue to university, it costs between 7,000-8,000 kronur per semester. (~$55-65 CAD). All Icelanders learn to speak English starting at age 8 and Danish starting at age 9. They have to choose between 3 more languages in secondary school (French, Italian and German I think?) and most choose all three. All the Icelanders I've met speak fluent English without any problems. 

I haven't seen one overweight local, yet I don't see any 'traditional' exercise either. There are no runners, very few gyms (I've only seen one - a crossfit gym!) and the public swimming pools are used as social gathering spots (and are hot springs so essentially big hot tubs!) The portions are smaller but the food is amazing. They eat a lot of lamb and fish. 

Overall, it has been a hugely different experience visiting Iceland but I would come back in a heartbeat. It's a stunningly beautiful place!

Lime Margarita Cupcakes

The recipe can be found HERE.

I had to add more icing sugar to the icing to make it pipe-able. I doubled the recipe and got 21 large cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Fitocracy

After talking about what motivates us to make changes in our health, I thought I'd share a fun motivational tool for exercise I found a few months ago.

Fitocracy is a social game where you track your exercise to get points. You must get a certain number of points to move on to the next level. The higher you get, the more points you need to level up again.

There are quests to undertake such as "The Squat isn't so Scary" where you must complete one barbell squat and "Stiff as a Board, Light as a Feather" where you must perform 300 seconds of planks and a set of wide grip pull ups.

There are also Achievements which are for performing the same activity multiple times such as "I lift things up and put them down" (the creators have a sense of humour!) for deadlifting 1.4x your body weight or "I seem to be lost" for running 20 miles (32.2km) in your lifetime.

Overall, I've found it a fun place to track exercise and motivate myself to try new things (I like to see that completed quests number go up!)

I have 9 invites, so I'll put up the link here if anyone wants to try it out. Those 9 could then share their invites as well so that everyone can give it a go if they'd like.

Happy exercising!

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I have invites to Fitocracy, the social game you play to improve your fitness. Snag one here! http://ftcy.co/niFBSM (via @fitocracy)

The Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada Conference

A conference to discuss reducing chronic diseases in Canada from the standpoint of some of the social determinants of health.

For any that are interested....

Link is HERE

On being below Health Care

(Me and a classmate in 2005 posing with Dexter, the head/teeth model)

When Lori came to speak, she said something that struck me. Being in recreation and competing for resources and respect is difficult when you are 'under' health care. She said they market with buzz words common in health promotion now to interest people who are thinking only in the health care realm.

As a dental hygienist, people often think my job is to 'clean teeth'. Don't get me wrong, debridement is a very large part of my job, but there are so many other facets to my profession. In dentistry, we're constantly trying to prove to the public and other health professionals that oral health is incredibly important to your overall health. With periodontal disease being linked now to heart disease and pre-term low birth weight babies among other serious medical complications, the science is finally backing up what we've been saying all along. Oral health is important! Yet, I completely understand Lori's point of view - being 2nd fiddle to Health Care.

It's easy to get lost in your own professional bubble. I think about teeth so often that I forget sometimes that people don't care about oral health as much as I do (although watch out when a group of hygienists get together - you can't stop us from sharing work experiences and talking for hours about teeth! Thank goodness our husbands are all IT professionals and they can relate to each other ;)) I was completely oblivious to the fact that we might not be the only profession that feels marginalized in the health community.

I'm writing my paper about how professionals can work together to form a better, more holistic focused medical system. Part of being able to work together involves being aware and respectful of other's practices. Lori helped to open my eyes to the fact that there are other professions that contribute to a healthy society that may not be strictly under the 'health care' agenda.

My CSA Experience: Skeeter Farm

On the very first class, I had talked with a few people about my participation this season in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and said I'd share the name of the farm that I'm a part of. Now that I have just received my very last CSA bag for the year (sad!) I thought I'd share my experience.

Week 2 of my CSA (Personal Photo)

We signed up for a farm share with Skeeter Farm in February this year. Our share was for 15 weeks of delicious veggies grown but the lovely young farmers at Skeeter. We paid $375 in February and started receiving veggies in July. Skeeter farm sets up various pick up locations across the lower mainland on Wednesdays (Vancouver and Maple Ridge I think?) and for all those near Coquitlam, we picked up our weekly veggies at the Coquitlam Farmer's Market on Sundays. Farmer's market day pickup was great for me because I could pick up some fruit, bread, eggs and delicious cinnamon buns while I was there from other local growers and bakers! 

Being part of a CSA changed my shopping and cooking habits for sure. Instead of finding a recipe and buying what I needed, I'd look at the veggies I received that day and plan out what I'd make with what I have. It was a great transition in to more local and seasonal eating as well as forcing me to try some different things (I still don't like fennel!). 

Amy, Amanda and Patrick (the owners/farmers of Skeeter Farm) sent out a weekly newsletter with info on the veggies we'd be receiving that week as well as a recipe to try that included a veggie we'd receive. We made an amazing green salsa with the tomatillos we received one week! 

All in all, this was a fantastic experience. We're both so sad that we don't get any more veggies from Skeeter this year. We'll definitely be signing up next year for more delicious veggies from Skeeter (and hopefully the winter CSA they've been planning will happen next year too!) 

If you want to sign up for a CSA with Skeeter next year, head to their website and send them an email. If you'd like to check out other CSA's offered in BC, a list of them can be found here (although I think the website needs some updating, it's a good place to start!)

The Mane Event

Personal Photos, April 25, 1992

I've always been enamoured with horses. I took lessons for a few years when I was quite young and have always been fascinated by them. Horses seem to be so intuitive, understanding the excitement or fear of their human companions. 

What was explained to me as a child as sensing ("the horse senses when you're scared, so be confident Brittany!") was so interesting to see played out in the trainer's challenge and by Jonathan Field. I was particularly impressed by Kade Mills' approach to 'natural horsemanship.' I felt he really had a connection with the horse and was able to encourage him to overcome his fear to accomplish different tasks. I was struck almost immediately by his calm energy. He talked at the beginning that he must be calm and collected at the beginning because the horse is nervous and anxious after just entering the pen. It was amazing to watch the horse calm down and stand still or follow him around in such a relaxed manner just by Kade changing his energy. 

Jonathan Field was very impressive also. He seemed to notice even the slightest change in the horse's attitude or reaction, which often to me wasn't even detectable. He had a really connection with his horses and what appeared to be a deep respect for each other. I know that type of relationship is something honed over time and it shows how much effort a relationship like that requires. 

In my field of work, I see lots of people that are very scared or anxious. After watching the events at the trainer's challenge, I'm going to focus on the energy I'm projecting. Perhaps thinking of a calm and safe feeling will help my patients feel that calm and safe feeling too. I'm sure that without thinking I do some of these things anyways, but it will be interesting to see if there is a change when I consciously think of projecting a certain energy.