Rob Ford Weight Loss Campaign
Mayor Rob Ford Weight Loss Campaign
The Calgary Herald made a post today about the fact that Doug and Rob Ford look to expand public weight-loss campaign across Canada.
Here is an excerpt of the post below
Toronto’s man-of-the-people mayor Rob Ford, and his rookie city councillor brother Doug just challenged our Nenshi to a battle of the bulge.
According to an article last week by Herald colleague Jason Markusoff, the Toronto power eaters launched a public weightloss challenge this week.
“The first mayor we might target is our friend over in Calgary,” brother Doug said, “because he has a little beef on the front of him.”
The mayor was initially reluctant to get into a war of the weigh scales with the Fords, but eventually said to a CBC radio reporter, “Are they calling me fatty?
“Before I started this job,” Nenshi said, “I was actually a bit of a gym rat and, in fact, took pretty good care of myself. This job hasn’t been great for that.”
While there’s something to be said for Bob and Doug of the 416 setting out to slim down in 2012, treating their bods much the way they view their job description – less is more – I’m not sweating my mayor’s front porch too much.
Beef happens, Bob and Doug.
On the other hand, we could all use a little January redemption from our daily (bad) habits. If Bob and Doug want to lead the most unlikely looking fitness boot camp ever, well, that will only be the latest surprise to come out of the Big Smoke since they elected a Ford mayor.
Since our mayor is a culture vulture – he used to be on the board at Epcor Centre and can usually be found most nights showing up at one of the many cultural events that take place in this city – I turned to a former Calgary playwright (and marathon runner) for some fitness advice.
Melanie Jones’s show ENDURE!, which she performed here and in Cochrane this past spring (and in New York in the fall), is an inspiring meditation on putting your life back together by getting in touch with your inner long distance runner.
From Brooklyn, where she is now based, Jones offers Bob, Doug and Naheed a dietary tip that she says provides the fuel for her daily long-distance workouts.
“I am a huge, huge fan of green smoothies,” she writes, in a Facebook message.
“If Nenshi starts his day with one of those bad boys, he’ll mop the floor with Toronto.”
Here’s Melanie’s go-to recipe:
- 2-3 big leaves of green kale, rough chopped
- 2 cups almond, rice or hemp milk
- 1 banana
- 1 tbsp raw cacao
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp agave or honey
“Blend it,” she adds, “drink it, feel like a champion.”
So there you go, Mayor. And might I suggest something else?
If Bob and Doug are going to issue a fitness challenge, our mayor responds with a literary challenge.
In other words, while they’re all busy dropping a few kilos, Bob and Doug have to read a book of Naheed’s choosing.
I should be both fun and interesting to see the outcome of this competition but to be honest I think Doug and Rob Ford might not win this weight-loss campaign. The most important thing thought is that they are taking a step in the right direction and only good can come from this weight-loss campaign.