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j0shripley · 4 years

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Research Report

Josh Ripley

Professor Burton

English 2010

April 15, 2020

Research Report

One day while I was at my friend Cole’s house, his dad talked about a recent experience he had. He found a homeless man on the side of the road and was instantly filled with compassion for him. He decided he wanted to help out as much as he could, so he took him to lunch, and they went shopping afterwards. While they were shopping they picked out things like food that he could pack, a sleeping bag, new clothes, and hygiene supplies. He dropped the man back off where he found him and that was the end of it. A little while later, tragically there was a report of a homeless man who was found dead in a river with nothing on him. They found out it was the same man Cole's father had tried to help and his things had been stolen from him before he died. If there were equal opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and had the supplies they needed to survive and get on their feet this may have been avoided.

This previous experience helped me want to see what I could do or what is currently being done to help these people. This is why I am writing to you, our local government officials, based on the research I have done and the statistics I have seen, I feel like it is time to once again make an effort to emphasize helping our fellow citizens who don’t have shelter. When thinking of who to write to, I chose you because we have elected you to watch out for us. Whether some of us have homes or not, you are our leaders and should have our best interest in mind. Before we can focus on helping those outside of our immediate fascinity, we should focus on getting those that we see around on their feet. Their success should be our success, and our success is ultimately your success. Everyone wins.

My research began with updated articles I could find on the internet, followed by additional articles found in the schools library. I did both because along with the academic sources found in the school library, there are other sources that aren’t found in there that seemed to be more recent and more specific to my issue. In the article Why America Can’t Solve Homelessness the author, Michael Hobbes, addresses the hows and whys to the homeless issue in major cities like Salt Lake City, New York, Seattle, etc.

This article gets pretty personal when bringing up an individual who doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break. Meet Eric, “Eric (not his real name) is exactly the kind of person Utah’s policy experiment was intended to help. He is 55 years old and has been homeless for most of his life. He takes medication for his schizophrenia, but his paranoia still leads him to cash his disability checks and hide them in envelopes around the city. When he lived on the streets, his drug of choice was a mix of heroin and cocaine. These days it’s meth. Despite all his complications, Eric is a success story. He lives in a housing complex in the suburbs of Salt Lake City that was built for the chronically homeless. He has case workers who ensure that he takes his medications and renews his benefits. While he may never live independently, he is far better off here than in a temporary shelter, a jail cell or sleeping on the streets. The problem for policymakers is that Eric is no longer emblematic of American homelessness. In Salt Lake City, just like everywhere else, the population of people sleeping on the streets looks a lot different than it used to.”

That article was written when everything was good, The “housing first” program was working and people like Eric were finally getting the help that they needed to get on their feet and stay there. But, after some time, slowly other things took priority and for some reason that changed. With the housing first program now on the backburner, the homeless population seems to be climbing at an alarming rate.

Another article I found that speaks pretty clearly to the rising problem is titled Once a national model, Utah struggles with homelessness, by Gregory Scruggs. It talks about how Utah used to have that program in place that decreased chronic homelessness by 91%, but in the last 3 years the number of people sleeping outside has nearly doubled. When asked about the rising issue, officials said “The mistake we made was stopping” (Scruggs). I relate to this issue because I have noticed the difference while walking around the park in downtown salt lake, it is impossible not to notice the struggling individuals begging for food. This is our home and our people, it is hard to sit back and see someone going through that. We know that there are solutions that work, the issue is implementing them and making them a priority once again. When reading the articles I couldn’t believe that we just “stopped” helping, there had to be a reason and I was determined to get to the bottom of it and find out what exactly happened.

While pondering on why they would’ve stopped, I decided to interview my father, who I have many political conversations with, he has a pretty level head and doesn’t just go with the easy answer. I chose to interview him because he has a law degree and is very informed politically on what is going on in our state and nation. One question I asked that opened my eyes to the more cautious side of the argument when it comes to giving out money was, “What do you think we can do to help our homeless neighbors?” When asked that he responded, “You know, I think the best thing we can do as fellow citizens is giving to them things that can be found useful, like food, toiletries, blankets, coats, etc. Recently I saw a mother and baby asking for money outside of walmart and I decided to go in and buy stuff for them rather than just give them money because with all the drug abuse that goes on, I wanted to make sure that some of the money that I would’ve given them would actually go to caring for her child. I don’t want to judge too critically or be too assumptive but that is a sad case we see happen all the time, single mothers who are hooked on drugs having a hard time feeding their addiction and child at the same time.”

This opened my eyes because I tend to lean toward more of giving people the benefit of the doubt and doing what is more convenient for me, which is usually giving away a little bit of cash rather than having to go in and pick out things for their specific situation and trusting they will use it for food or shelter. But after he told me about this experience, it helped me see that we can’t always assume people will do the most rational thing and there needs to be some guidance. That is why I think it would be good to have required classes for independent living, substance free.

On top of that interview, I spent a lot of time reading articles I could find in the school library that touched on the issue in the state. I found some interesting information that answered my ultimate question of “Why did Utah stop it’s housing protocol?” This question came from the previous article where an official failed to give a proper reason to satisfy the question posed by a reporter. As I suspected, one of the primary reasons was the increasing costs found in our state as well as the scarcity of space. With our economy continuing to climb along with our population, it is no surprise that this issue that seemed to be resolved, slowly lost it’s spotlight.

After the last little while of research it has opened my eyes to a lot of opportunity to bring this issue to light. I hope to find programs in place with our neighboring states that are successful that could be adopted. I want to do a survey that helps inform people about the current issues with homelessness around us and put together a brochure to have printed out and made available at different places around the community. They would be put in public places and government buildings, in a perfect world this would be an issue that we start talking about with the elections coming up. But this world is not perfect and I am sure there will be other agendas to fill, my goal with this research and this project is to help people see that a little can go a long way when acknowledging people's struggles and giving a little bit of aid. I’ve never been homeless, I can’t imagine not having somewhere to sleep and call home, just like most of you, so why would we ignore that need? I realize that just giving out resources won’t solve the problem, but there needs to be programs in place to help them become independent and transition into bettering our society and state.

Works Cited

Scruggs, Gregory. “Once a National Model, Utah Struggles with Homelessness.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 10 Jan. 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/once-a-national-model-utah-struggles-with-homelessness-idUSKCN1P41EQ.

Hobbes, M. (2019). HuffPost is now a part of Verizon Media. [online] Huffpost.com. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/homeless-utah-end-america-salt-lake-city_n_5cd1cac0e4b04e275d511aba [Accessed 29 Oct. 2019].

Eisenberg, Marla E., et al. “Homelessness Experiences and Gender Identity in a Population-Based Sample of Adolescents.” Preventive Medicine Reports, vol. 16, Dec. 2019. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.100986.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “California’s Housing Crisis, Homeless ‘Apocalypse’ Are Focus of AHF’s New $500K TV Ad Campaign.” Business Wire (English), 2019 July 11AD. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=bizwire.bw84642226&site=eds-live.

Netsmart. “Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Partners with Netsmart to Address the Opioid Crisis.” Business Wire (English), 2019 May 11AD. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=bizwire.bw092956424&site=eds-live.

Balagot, Caroline, et al. “The Homeless Coordinated Entry System: The VI-SPDAT and Other Predictors of Establishing Eligibility for Services for Single Homeless Adults.” Journal of Social Distress & the Homeless, vol. 28, no. 2, Nov. 2019, pp. 149–157. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/10530789.2019.1622858.

Keuntae Kim, and Ivis Garcia. “Why Do Homeless Families Exit and Return the Homeless Shelter? Factors Affecting the Risk of Family Homelessness in Salt Lake County (Utah, United States) as a Case Study.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, no. 22, 2019, p. 4328. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3390/ijerph162243

Laine, Samantha. “How Utah Reduced Homelessness by More than 90 Percent.” The Christian Science Monitor, 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbro&AN=edsbro.A412252911&site=eds-live.

McCoy, Terrence. “The Surprisingly Simple Way Utah Solved Chronic Homelessness and Saved Millions.” The Washington Post, 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbro&AN=edsbro.A410095685&site=eds-live.

DARK, STEPHEN. “As Boise Considers a Housing First Model to Fight Chronic Homelessness, Utah’s Experience with the Program Shows Uneven Results.” Boise Weekly, vol. 25, no. 26, 14 Dec. 2016, pp. 8–11. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=120224108&site=eds-live.

“Researchers from Utah State University Discuss Findings in Social Services (The Relationship between Community Investment in Permanent Supportive Housing and Chronic Homelessness).” Politics & Government Week, 2014, p. 370. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgit&AN=edsgit.A378479942&site=eds-live.

Rogers, Charles R., et al. “Colorectal Cancer Screening Uptake’s Association With Psychosocial and Sociodemographic Factors Among Homeless Blacks and Whites.” Health Education & Behavior, vol. 44, no. 6, Dec. 2017, pp. 928–936. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=126234585&site=eds-live.

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wellpersonsblog · 7 years

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Intermittent Fasting for the Vegan Athlete: Is It Right for You?

Intermittent fasting is all the rage—but is right for you?

Fasting has long been a common practice in many cultures, used to promote mental health and longevity. More recently, it’s gained popularity as a weight loss tool.

But significantly restricting your calories for a long period of time can be dangerous. Not to mention incredibly difficult, scary, and simply not fun.

That’s where intermittent fasting comes in. Intermittent fasting refers to dietary patterns that cycle between fasting and and non-fasting, to help you experience the health benefits of fasting without many of the downsides.

And studies have shown that it can help you lose weight, boost your metabolism, reduce the risk of certain diseases, and even improve your mood.

The best part? Intermittent fasting is completely natural.

According to a 2014 article in the journal Cell Metabolism authored in part by Valter Longo, the director of University of Southern California’s Longevity Institute, intermittent fasting may act as a low-grade stress, which triggers the body’s cellular defense mechanisms, repairing damage and fighting disease.

It’s a tool that helps to trigger our bodies’ own natural healing processes. And speaking as someone who has practiced it for over five years, I can tell you that it works.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Before we go any further, it’s important to explain what intermittent fasting actually looks like. It’s confusing, in part, because when people refer to intermittent fasting, they could be talking about several different approaches:

The 16:8 method where you eat within an eight-hour period each day and fast for the remaining 16 hours. When you’re fasting you can’t take in any calories, but you can consume non-caloric beverages, including coffee, herbal tea, water, and sparkling water.

The 5:2 method where you eat normally for five days of the week, and restrict your calories to 500 (women) or 600 (men) the other two days.

The eat-stop-eat method where you do one or two 24-hour fasts each week; for example, not eating after lunch until lunch the next day.

The alternate-day fasting method which involves eating normally one day, and then eating very low-calorie (500 calories) the following day.

As you can see, none of these calls for more than two days of complete fasting per week, and most allow for calories every single day.

In my opinion, as long as you stick to one of these four options, there’s no wrong way to approach intermittent fasting. Which option you choose has more to do with your preferences and needs, but I’ll get to that in a few minutes.

Intermittent Fasting on a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet

If I were to poll ten vegans about the ideal diet, I’m willing to bet at least nine of them would say “whole foods plant-based.” In our circle, the whole food plant-based diet (WFPB) is what most of us strive for.

It’s the top dog. The (vegan) crème de la crème.

But for some of even the strictest WFPB followers, it may not be enough. They may still struggle to find their ideal weight, or want to take their diet one step further.

I’ve had many people come to me in my practice and say that they feel they must be doing the WFPB diet wrong. That despite following it (and feeling great), they can’t seem to lose the extra weight. That’s relatable, because that has also been my own experience.

Even though I eat a WFPB diet—with the rare vegan treat, of course—and I am very active, I still have to rely on intermittent fasting to prevent weight gain.

But how do they work together?

As a vegan Registered Dietitian, I’ve see many people in my practice get the benefits of a WFPB diet combined with intermittent fasting. In fact, combining WFPB and IF is a highly anti-inflammatory way to eat, and may reduce your risk of disease even more than either approach can on its own.

5 Great Reasons to Consider Intermittent Fasting

Now that we know what it intermittent fasting is, and that it can work together with a whole foods plant-based diet, let’s talk about the why. That is, why intermittent fasting may be right for you.

Here’s what we know:

1. It’s simple. There are no extra supplements to take, and your meal prep and planning will be simplified because you’ll eat less often. As a result, it will likely reduce your food costs too.

2. It is effective. Intermittent fasting can be just as effective (if not more effective) as calorie restriction in promoting weight loss.

On top of that, studies have shown that intermittent fasting may:

3. Improve your mood and your focus. I know some of us get hangry when we don’t eat, but, with a little practice, fasting can actually improve your mood and focus. In fact, intermittent fasting may be successful in helping to treat depression.

4. Help you lose fat while preserving muscle mass. Unfortunately, when we lose weight, we don’t just lose fat, we lose muscle too. But intermittent fasting is more effective than calorie restriction at preserving muscle mass during weight loss.

5. Reduce your risk of disease, and possibly help you live longer too. Calorie restriction is one of the few things that has been proven to extend lifespan. Interesting … but are you now just going to be hungry and miserable for a longer period of time? intermittent fasting helps to alleviate that concern.

Some researchers argue that you can get may of the same benefits through periodic restriction, like intermittent fasting. It may also improve insulin sensitivity, reduce inflammation, and reduce risk of diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Weight Loss Results: What to Expect

Weight loss with intermittent fasting is similar to the results with calorie restriction. If you are consistent, you can expect to see a loss of 1 to 2 lbs per week.

For some people, intermittent fasting may appear to work much better than calorie restriction or other similar methods, however this is likely to be because you’re able to be more consistent with it. I hate to break it to you, but if you’re not consistent, just like with any other diet, it won’t work.

Think of intermittent fasting as a lifestyle change, not something you will just do for a few weeks to get to race weight or to fit into a bridesmaid’s dress. It’s something you can do for life—just like going plant-based or picking up running.

When you reach your “happy weight” you can maintain it by fasting less often, or in a less restrictive window. This is what I do, and I love the results.

Who Should Try Intermittent Fasting

I believe that most people can benefit from some form of intermittent fasting, and that some people seem to really thrive with it.

If you’re an “all or nothing” person who finds moderation challenging (just how many vegan brownies is a once-in-a-while treat?!) then intermittent fasting may be perfect for you. That is one of the many reasons I myself love it.

It just makes eating and meal planning and snacking simpler. You’ll need to organize and prepare fewer snacks and meals and that reduces decisions and time spent in the kitchen.

And who knows, you might just save some cash too.

But Proceed with Caution—It’s Not for Everyone

Have I sold you on intermittent fasting yet? Before you dive in, let’s make sure it’s a good fit.

Fasting is not for everyone. It’s not a good strategy for if you are diabetic and take insulin, or if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. People who have a history of an eating disorder should be cautious with fasting because it might be a trigger for them.

Or, if you’re just the type of person who gets really hangry when you don’t eat (yeah, you know who you are), you probably shouldn’t practice intermittent fasting. If not for yourself, then for the sake of everyone who has to live or work with you.

Finally, some people just don’t like fasting, even after getting used to it. And if that’s you, that’s okay. Good for you for giving it a try.

How to Get Started with Intermittent Fasting

When I first tell most people about intermittent fasting, their eyes glaze over thinking about all the rules and complications. But it’s a lot simpler than it looks, as long as you’re smart about your approach to getting started.

1. Make a plan: For fasting to work it will require structure and rules, because as you can guess, there are times when it’s going to be hard.

But there are a number of ways to set those boundaries. When trying to select which protocol will work for you, follow your instincts. People usually have a sense of what might fit well into their lifestyle, and for some, trying to eat only 500 calories in a day seems too restrictive and they would rather try eating within an eight-hour window using the 16:8 method.

It’s less about which is best, and more about which is sustainable.

2. Ease into it: Going all-in on day one could result in no day two. Ease into it.

For example, It‘s fine to start with a twelve hour feeding window (say 7am to 7pm) and then move to a ten hour window before ultimately dropping to that eight hour window when you’re getting in that day’s calories. If you start with eight hours right off the bat, chances are it will be too hard to sustain.

3. Set a target: Like with any health and lifestyle improvement, intermittent fasting takes some time to have an effect. It is important to give a good try before deciding if it works for you. Set a target of trying it for 30 days.

Although fasting can be difficult at first, many people actually report that it gets easier with time. And after your target date, if it is not working out, don’t feel you need to give up on fasting entirely. You can always experiment with a different fasting protocol.

4. Plan to succeed: Meal planning while fasting? I know, I know …

But I still recommend it. We often make healthier choices when we plan in advance and have all the ingredients we need on hand; even better if we do some of the prep in advance. This is particularly important when you are fasting, because once your feeding window opens you’ll likely be hungry and want to eat whatever is fastest.

Instead, you should be focusing on healthy, fiber-rich meals that will sustain you when you are fasting.

My Top 3 Tips for Success

1. Don’t be afraid of a little hunger. Hunger tends to come in waves, and even if you are feeling very hungry now, you might not in 30 minutes if you can keep busy and take your mind off of food.

Many of us have become accustomed to continual snacking, and that is a habit that we need to break if we are to become successful at intermittent fasting. We can use our energy stores to support our activities when we are not fueling, and that will help us burn fat.

Of course if you are feeling lightheaded or can’t concentrate, it’s time to break your fast.

2. Stay hydrated. You will find fasting much easier if you drink lots of water or herbal tea. People often mistake the feeling of thirst for hunger, and drinking will keep your hands busy and help you feel fuller.

3. Once you know the rules, you can break ‘em … a little. One of the great things about intermittent fasting is its flexibility. If you are following 16:8 and your usual eating window is between 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, and you know you are going to a party in the evening and you would like eat and drink at that party, then you can adjust your window to later in the day: say 2pm to 10pm.

You could also try for a less restrictive window that day, like an eating window of 10 or even 12 hours. Finally, you could just take a day off from fasting. If you were faced with the same situation and you follow the 5:2 pattern, just move your fasting days around so they don’t fall on the day of the party.

Training while Intermittent Fasting:

Okay, now to the question I’m sure all No Meat Athletes have in the back of their mind: How will this affect your training?

Intermittent fasting can be successfully combined with running, swimming, walking, zumba, martial arts, Crossfit, and just about any fitness activity. We have enough glucose stored in our liver to support moderate intensity activity for 90 minutes or so, and 30-60 minutes for high intensity. You can do these workouts without fueling.

Keep in mind, however, that not fueling may impact your performance. If you find that’s the case, try doing your workout during your eating window or on non-fasting days. You may also decide that for the moment weight loss is more important to you than gains in performance. For most people the difference in performance with or without fueling on shorter efforts is marginal. Give it a try before deciding that you need your pre, during, and post workout snacks.

The one possible exception to this is long efforts.

If you are a marathon or ultramarathon runner or a distance cyclist, and your workouts last several hours, you will almost certainly need to fuel during those workouts. In that case, try to workout during your eating window, or don’t fast on the days when you do your long run. If that seems impossible to coordinate, then maybe intermittent fasting is not for you. You can perhaps try it at a later time, when your race goals and workout plan has changed.

Ready to Start Fasting?

I’m the first to admit that the idea of fasting can seem a bit crazy—even scary.

… What if I’m hungry all the time?

… Will it leave me tired and weak?

… What will other people think?

Intermittent fasting can take away many of the concerns around fasting because it offers so much flexibility, while at the same time acting as an effective health tool.

If intermittent fasting sounds interesting to you, give it a one month try and see what you find. It could but just the boost you need to drop a few pounds and jump start your long-term health.

About the Author: Pamela Fergusson is a vegan Registered Dietitian with a PhD in nutrition. She and her husband Dave have four children, and she loves to speedwalk ultramarathons. Read her nutrition blog and find her on Facebook.

The post Intermittent Fasting for the Vegan Athlete: Is It Right for You? appeared first on No Meat Athlete.

First found here: Intermittent Fasting for the Vegan Athlete: Is It Right for You?

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