When it came to coping during the pandemic, Dr. Gail Low did the two things that come naturally: cooking and research.
"I was sitting in my kitchen during lockdown, and I was thinking ‘Geez, I'm scared! I don't know what to do. What can I do?’” says the associate professor in the Faculty of Nursing.
During a recent conversation with the Office of Research Services Research Recast(ed) podcast, she revealed the answer: Food!
“I reached out to some colleagues and we began thinking about recipes for living a mentally healthy life,” says Dr. Low, who is also MacEwan’s newest Chair of International Health.
Her experience as a researcher pushed her to back up her ideas with credible sources, leading her to ask the hard questions, including how those findings could resonate more with everyday people, how she could turn learnings from living through physical distancing into valuable knowledge and how people could return to a more normal life in a way that pairs with food.
Dr. Low and her colleagues reached out to a research chef from NAIT’s Culinary Arts Program, a digital artisan and a funder to develop the Living Well Research Team.
Together, they interviewed over 1,300 Canadians aged 60 and older about anxiety, the pandemic and living well into old age.
Why seniors? “Older Canadians have a lot of oomph,” says Dr. Low. “A lot of go and get it! A lot of perseverance.”
She should know. Her master’s thesis – in Gerontology – looked closely at the experiences of a married couple, one of whom had a chronic lung condition, with questions like: “What is it about them and their relationship that shapes and contributes to that quality of living?” Ultimately, she says, she was asking what makes for a good life.
Her PhD in nursing – in human and social development – focused on quality living and later life, and the things that shape it.
“People's lived experiences matter, and we can learn a lot from them,” she says. “We ought to listen and leverage that everyday knowledge to guide our thinking and our research.”
The experiences of the seniors surveyed by the Living Well team culminated in Cooking Up Calm . Part research report and part cookbook, the publication features recipes, like chicken pot pie and roasted salmon, that focus on simple foods and common ingredients or, as Dr. Low says, “What's in my fridge, and what can I make of that?”
Among the participants surveyed, 72 per cent responded that eating healthy was an anxiety-lessening strategy that worked for them. It makes sense to Dr. Low. “Everything we do is connected. When we can find ways to weave healthy habits into our day-to-day activities, we are more likely to have personal success. The act of cooking can serve as a reminder of your abilities, and it can be a healthy distraction from challenges you face,” she writes in Cooking Up Calm.
“We showcase sage advice through recipes, as well,” she adds. “And, akin to our findings, a sprinkle of this strategy, a sprinkle of that strategy, all add up and help manage pandemic-related anxiety. It was very palatable, pardon the pun.”
To hear more lessons learned (and a few more food puns), listen to Dr. Low’s full interview with Research Recast(ed).
Watch the full podcast