By Sophie Isbister (Opinion Editor) – Email
“Eat well. Be active. Live tobacco free.”
This is the advice given to citizens of Abbotsford in an effort to“[make] Abbotsford a more healthy and vibrant community,” according to a press release dated January 18, 2011. In addition to the aforementioned sound advice, this campaign, which coincides with the traditional time of year dedicated to shedding a few pounds, includes a website billed as a tool to link citizens with “a one-stop-shop for news and information on healthy living and eating, as well as resources and activities to help make Abbotsford one of Canada’s healthiest communities.”
All of which sound like great ideas. Healthy living? Sure, I’d like to make some life changes. Vibrant community? I’d love to live in one! Free information on an easily accessed website? Sign me up. So what are some of the flaws with this city-wide New Years resolution? At first glance, not a whole lot.
Much of the healthy eating advice on the website makes sense: shop the outside perimeter of the grocery store (this is where they keep the fresh food), eat one leafy green and one dark orange veggie per day (at least), and take your coffee black (I’m one step ahead of you, Abbotsford!). The exercise advice is good too. Walk to work, watch less TV, stretch before and after you work out, and include vigorous household activities like gardening or scrubbing in your regular routine. Even the smoking cessation advice, about which I was initially skeptical, seems reasoned and attainable, and the website includes links to resources that should help smokers finally stop.
The main problem with telling a city full of people to get off their fat asses and get to the gym is a systemic one, and one that pertains mostly to students who do not own a car. One of the pieces of advice on the healthyabbotsford.ca website is for people to stash a gym bag in their car, which is a great idea, if my car wasn’t the #3 bus. As it is, living car-free in a car-dominated town like Abbotsford involves a lot of extra planning. My day becomes even more complicated when I have to factor in a trip to the gym either before or after classes – unless, of course, I feel like running on one of two treadmills at the Envision Athletic Centre, both of which are next to a gigantic window that displays my not-so-svelte jogging self for all of UFV to see.
Run outside, you say? Good idea. But you will find it interesting to note that even the Healthy Abbotsford website doesn’t explicitly encourage you to run outside; the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sport Recreation Centre is open to the public all year for your indoor walking pleasure, absolutely free! Even city hall knows that it’s not such a great idea to exercise in the smog and fog of agri-city life.
So, it seems that Healthy Abbotsford and I are at an impasse. With no buses going direct between UFV and either of the recreation centres, the lack of clean air for jogging outdoors, and ongoing construction leaving the McCallum overpass a wreck for students who want to walk to campus, the website of handy tips remains just that: a website of handy tips.
But I don’t aim to be a complete naysayer. After all, if it weren’t for healthyabbotsford.ca, I wouldn’t know that quinoa “contains iron, potassium, riboflavin, B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese.” So, Abbotsford, I’m going to gorge myself on kale and quinoa, while you try to come up with a more comprehensive plan to combat laziness, instead of just throwing up a flashy website that pays lip service to healthy living.
