Research articles: I eat this stuff right up!

Two friends were teasing me yesterday because I don't use the Internet as I should.  I don't spend free time (wait, should I even have free time these days?!) searching meme-things or scrolling through that other site... what's it called? Tumblr??  Instead, I read research.  Yes! Throw an article on the latest and greatest randomized controlled trial in my direction and I'll be happy as a clam to sit down and read it line by line, making little notations in the margin.  Don't believe me? Refer to the post on how I spent my birthday!


For those looking for something to whet their appetite for more posts related to my research, I'll share an abstract from a review that just hit my inbox.  It's written by Simone A. French, Leonard H. Epstein, Robert W. Jeffery, John E. Blundell and Jane Wardle from Appetite (supposed I should tell you volume  59 and pages 541-549, too, huh?):

But, *geek alert* you know what really excited me about this review? I KNEW WHO THOSE AUTHORS ARE! I was giddy that I've been reading their stuff for years (okay, some of them I've only probably been reading since 2008-ish when I was gearing up for the intervention for my master's thesis, but still...).  It's Oh! moments like this that reinforce my decision to be in research. Wahoo!

The purpose of this review is to spark integrative thinking in the area of eating behaviors by critically examining research on exemplary constructs in this area. The eating behaviors food responsiveness, enjoyment of eating, satiety responsiveness, eating in the absence of hunger, reinforcing value of food, eating disinhibition and impulsivity/self-control are reviewed in relation to energy intake, body mass index and weight gain over time. Each of these constructs has been developed independently, and little research has explored the extent to which they overlap or whether they differentially predict food choices, energy intake and weight gain in the naturalistic environment. Most available data show positive cross-sectional associations with body mass index, but fewer studies report associations with energy intake or food choices. Little prospective data are available to link measures of eating behaviors with weight gain. Disinhibition has the largest and most consistent body of empirical data that link it prospectively with weight gain. An overarching conceptual model to integrate the conceptual and empirical research base for the role of eating behavior dimensions in the field of obesity research would highlight potential patterns of interaction between individual differences in eating behaviors, specific aspects of the individual's food environment and individual variation in state levels of hunger and satiety.

So, some good things to think about.

Twitter Conference 2012 #OUTweCon

Signing up for "stuff" often encourages me to get my rear in gear and do work.  So, when something about a Twitter conference landed in my e-mail inbox I jumped on the opportunity.  I spend most of my life in front of my computer, so this seemed easy and fun.  All we had to do was send out six tweets to explain our thesis.  Cheesy easy.


I've been "tweeting" for months.  When I first set up this blog I did some fancy schmancy maneuvering to link it to Twitter so that as soon as I hit "Publish" an update would pop up automatically.  Generally, though, I don't engage in some sort of conversation on Twitter.  Once I got the hang of following #OUTwCon for our conversation and @OtagoGRS for the introductions it dawned on me how cool it all was.  

I was set to present at 2:30pm.  Even though I pre-wrote my tweets they were still too long to post, so there was some tweaking to my tweets that had to be done.  Ideally, I would have posted them quickly and then I would have answered any questions people had.  I took nearly all of my allotted 15 minutes to get those tweets out! Oh well, I've learned for next year.

1. Modifiable Factors Assoc. w Weight Gain Prevention Among Mid-Age NZ Women to be Targeted by a Wt Gain Prevention Intervention.

1. Obesity = major public health issue. But, people who lose weight often gain it back in 3-5 years. Perhaps prevention is key.

1. We are collecting data on lifestyle, eating habits and well-being from mid-age New Zealand women through a mailed survey. 

1. I'll look at experiential avoidance, mindfulness, psychological inflexibility and BMI - will they relate to wt maintenance?

1. If so, an intervention will teach women how these psych factors can help them make small changes that lead to dietary changes.

1. Hopefully, the changes will be effective and sustainable for maintaining weight! I just want us all to be happy and healthy. =)

So, here are my tweets from yesterday's Twitter conference: 
The nice thing about this conference was being able to follow other people's tweets throughout the day.  I didn't feel like I entirely missed out when I couldn't be in front of the computer to watch the conversations.  The whole conference can be viewed here. 

OUTweCon 2012

It's a last minute post, but check out the Otago Graduate Research Services Facebook Page for information about today's Twitter conference.  In just a few hours I'll tweet my thesis.  I'm still figuring out what this all entails, but it should be interesting nonetheless!