Connie H. Nelson

Food Insecurity and Obesity: A Comparison of Self-Reported and Measured Height and Weight

OBJECTIVES We used self-reported and measured height and weight data to examine the relationship between food insecurity and obesity. METHODS We defined food insecurity according to 3 different models. We used self-reported and measured height and weight from 2 versions of the Canadian Community Health Survey to calculate obesity rates. RESULTS When self-reported height and weight data were used in calculating obesity prevalence rates, rates were significantly higher among food-insecure respondents than among food-secure respondents; by contrast, when measured height and weight data were used, there were no significant differences. Female respondents classified as food insecure and experiencing mild hunger were at greater risk of obesity than were food-secure female respondents when measured height and weight were used. CONCLUSIONS Associations between obesity and food insecurity are more pronounced when self-reported data on height and weight are used than when measured height and weight data are used. Caution should be used when using self-reported data to examine the relationship between food insecurity and obesity.

Complexity and food hubs: five case studies from Northern Ontario

This paper reports findings from the Northern region of a province-wide initiative aimed at better understanding local food hubs in communities throughout the province of Ontario. Drawing on case studies of five key hubs in the emerging Northern local food system, we explore from the theoretical framework of complex adaptive systems theory the emergence and development of each hub as they collectively give shape to a regional local food system. This analysis focuses on the four phases of the adaptive cycle which describes the typical developmental sequence of complex systems and reveals how they emerge, self-organise, adapt to change and harness innovation for new cycles of growth within the shadow of the dominant food system.

Aboriginal Health Learning in the Forest and Cultivated Gardens: Building a Nutritious and Sustainable Food System

ABSTRACT Sustainable food systems are those in which diverse foods are produced in close proximity to a market. A dynamic, adaptive knowledge base that is grounded in local culture and geography and connected to outside knowledge resources is essential for such food systems to thrive. Sustainable food systems are particularly important to remote and Aboriginal communities, where extensive transportation makes food expensive and of poorer nutritional value. The Learning Garden program was developed and run with two First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario. With this program, the team adopted a holistic and experiential model of learning to begin rebuilding a knowledge base that would support a sustainable local food system. The program involved a series of workshops held in each community and facilitated by a community-based coordinator. Topics included cultivated gardening and forest foods. Results of survey data collected from 20 Aboriginal workshop participants are presented, revealing a moderate to low level of baseline knowledge of the traditional food system, and a reliance on the mainstream food system that is supported by food values that place convenience, ease, and price above the localness or cultural connectedness of the food. Preliminary findings from qualitative data are also presented on the process of learning that occurred in the program and some of the insights we have gained that are relevant to future adaptations of this program.

Indian Agency Development: An Ecological Practice Approach

Non-Indian practitioners worked with the Indian staff and board of a Northern Ontario indigenous Indian crisis house in a facilitator-mentor role. Within an ecological systems perspective, four practice principles—mutuality, maximizing differences, empowerment, and a structural approach—were utilized.

Addiction and the adaptive cycle: A new focus

Abstract This paper explores addiction through the lens of complex adaptive systems theory, as an emergent, non-linear phenomenon that undergoes cyclical patterns of stability and change. Particularly, an addiction is a behavioural pattern that emerges through the dynamic interactions of numerous variables operating both within the individual and in the environment. Furthermore, we argue that an addiction moves through the four phases of the adaptive cycle and exists at a given scale nested within a panarchy of other complex systems. Each of these complex adaptive systems is moving through its own adaptive cycle at faster and slower rates, affecting the course of addiction in various ways. We conclude this work by suggesting that forthcoming addiction interventions and research may benefit from the consideration that addiction is a function of three separate, but related, adaptive cycles; the addiction cycle itself; a transitory cycle, and a final cycle in which the individual is actively responsible for the maintenance of his or her own recovery.

Broadening the Knowledge Base of Small-Scale Fisheries through a Food Systems Framework: A Case Study of the Lake Superior Region

Lake Superior is the largest and northernmost of the Great Lakes of North America. It supports a diversity of wildlife and fish species, along with commercial, recreational, and Indigenous fisheries that make vital contributions to nutrition, livelihoods, cultures, and food systems. However, this diversity of social and cultural values is not fully reflected in management practices that tend towards a ‘resourcist’ approach. This chapter seeks to ‘broaden the scope’, proposing a food systems framework as a way of grappling with the wicked problem of Lake Superior fisheries governance. Using a food systems framework, we look at the different values associated with fisheries, including the objective, subjective, and relational contributions they make to Lake Superior food systems. We explore these food-related values attached to fisheries by presenting three illustrative examples: The fisheries of Batchewana First Nation; Eat the Fish, a small business marketing local fish through alternative food networks in Northwestern Ontario; and Bodin’s Fisheries in Wisconsin, a regional fish processor and retail outlet. We conclude by identifying ways of strengthening fisheries contributions to regional food systems and offer a set of transdisciplinary questions on fishery-food system linkages that may assist others in ‘broadening the scope’ of fisheries governance.

Using a Complexity Lens to Address Local Food Dilemmas in Northern Ontario: The Viability of Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding

Using the lens of complex adaptive systems theory, we review the emergence of the local food movement within the broader systems of the industrial approach to food and in the unique context of northern Ontario. We argue that this systems thinking perspective reveals potential pathways to supporting transformative change and food system resilience. Crowdsourcing, a form of distributed problem solving, is reviewed as a potential tool for enhancing both engagement and innovation when tackling complex problems. Crowdfunding, an online approach for leveraging financial support from a broad group of people, is reviewed as a unique tool for supporting local initiatives while also enhancing engagement. These approaches are explored through two case studies. Recommendations for future work with these tools are provided. We conclude by discussing the value of the systems thinking perspective for both understanding complex problems in the food system context and identifying innovative solutions.