Diary of an academic mum

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach. There are people who insist on eating before a run to feel energised and prevent the dreaded mid-run "bonk" (no, not that kind of bonk...) and those who absolutely refuse to eat to avoid tummy upsets and hope for the best. Both of these runners will use stored carbohydrate, which comes from food consumed in meals consumed in the hours and days before the run. Regardless of whether you eat before a run or not, your run is going to use carbohydrate/carbs (sugars) to fuel your muscles. Therefore, getting the most out of your running depends on the food you consume, and don't consume, at times when you aren't running too. Those who make sure they get sufficient carbohydrate in their diet throughout the days leading up to their run will likely get more out of their running. Eating to run: How much carbohydrate should I eat each day? There's plenty of e...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD).  Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach. My last post involved talking about the potential positives of being isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it's time to talk about some of the negatives. But, I'm not going to talk about the immediate negatives like poor health and economic outcomes . Instead, I'm going to focus specifically on the future negatives. What could go wrong when we encourage the entire Australian population to stay indoors? Image 1: Will you look circle-like after self-isolation? (credit: Bored Panda ) For those who don't know, I am a researcher and do a lot of work in changing health behaviours (e.g. supporting people to exercise more). So this pandemic has made me not only fear for our current health, but also our future health as a result of the lifestyle changes we'll make as we transition to increasing the amount of time spent indoors trying to dodg...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). As parents, when we think ‘solids’ we think 2 things: choking and allergy…oh and a third…copious amounts of mess. As a mum, I want to do all that I can to prevent my 5-month old daughter, Abby, from developing any allergy, including food allergies and related diseases like asthma, eczema etc. To do this, I have been eating peanuts, fish, shellfish, tree nuts (e.g. almonds), taking probiotics daily and working hard to continue exclusively breastfeeding all because I have heard somewhere or from someone that this can help to prevent Abby from developing allergies. I also jumped at the chance to feed Abby peanut butter, egg, fish and other foods because I also heard that she should eat these as soon as she starts solids to reduce her chance of developing allergies. Image 1: Abby loves eating solid foods, especially when she can make a mess. I made some love-heart shaped omelette with sesame oil. Allergens galore! S...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Last week I wrote an introduction to sedentary and screen time . This is the second post in a series of posts on children’s screen time and will involve examining some of the physical health risks associated with screen time. Parents often worry that their children are spending too long watching screens. Screen time involves time spent with various devices, such as laptops, desktop computers, game consoles, smartphones, tablets, TVs and anything else I have forgotten to mention and that you are probably holding right now. Screens dominate our lives, making life both easier and more entertaining. However, there might be risks associated with using them too much, making them dangerous for the health of our kids. Image 1: Are TVs really dangerous? (credit: The Imaginative Conservative ) I did a quick search and found hundreds of studies on screen time and child health, dozens of which were review-level (some of the bes...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). I am sharing this post a few months after writing it. This was written while I was in my last trimester of pregnancy and reflecting on the advice I was offered throughout my pregnancy. I was wondering what the evidence was behind all of this advice and, therefore, if I should follow it or not.  BehaviourWorks Australia (my amazing workplace at Monash University) has caught baby fever this year and so I thought it was time that I wrote a pregnancy-inspired post. Today my 37-week bump and I decided to go for a walk to meet a friend of mine from the medicine faculty and enjoy a cheeky coffee together. Why is coffee cheeky you ask? Well, apparently, having coffee when pregnant is  bad  for you. So, suddenly my drinking of coffee is now cheeky and bad. I probably shouldn’t tell you that I accidentally had some cold chicken today too. But is there any evidence to say that pregnant women should avoid these ...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD).  Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach.   This is part two of my blog post on the tendency for people to set new year’s resolutions that involve weight loss, rather than focusing more broadly on achieving good health. This post was inspired by my personal reflection on my relationship with food and exercise since giving birth to my daughter four months ago. If you haven’t read that post yet, then please read it here as I will be referring to it throughout this post. Let’s pick up where we left off Let me return to the question I ended yesterday’s post on.  How do we focus on ways of eating, exercising and participating in other behaviours that can support physical, mental and social wellbeing (“ health ”) instead of just taking the mental shortcut and focusing on becoming thin? I believe it requires a shift in our thinking from eating to lose weight, which involves surren...