It’s only one day till school holidays begin (although for some school’s it has already begun!). I remember growing up as a kid and counting down the last days of school until summer holidays! I loved Christmas holidays during summer.

With the increase of technology in our fast paced soceity we have today, many kids are more likely to want to hang out at home and play with their xbox, playstation or watch TV. Whilst these activities may be fun, it is also important that kids spend time during the summer holidays having fun outside with their friends being active.

Here are some Fun Holiday Activities kids can play this summer!

- Sports and Games: backyard cricket, beach volleyball, handball, shooting hoops in a basketball ring, bike riding, swimming at the pool or beach, surfing, snorkelling, bowling, skateboarding, frisbee, tip, ball games.

- Join Together: Get together with another family and enjoy games and a picnic at the park. Bring along some tennis balls and a cricket bat and have a game of cricket or play a game of mini-olympics. Join together and form countries in your teams and choose different sports or events you like from the olympics such as atheletics – shot put (use a tennis ball instead of a real shot put), discus (use a frisbee instead of a real discus), relays (run from one spot to another and tip the next person in line).

- Join a local kids club or sports camp. Kids Club and Sports Camps are great for kids during the school holiday period, as they interact socially with other children and learn a variety of different activities and skills. When selecting a sports camp ensure to select a sport that your child is interested in, so they will be excited about attending the camp.

SUN CARE REMINDER: It does get hot in the summer, so when your kids are going outside they need to wear a hat and sunscreen. It is also important that they stay hydrated by drinking lots of water. A good idea is to have a water bottle with their favourite cartoon character on it (filled with water) which they can carry around with them especially when they go outdoors to play.

We came across this article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald newspaper (page 4) which has alarming information for parents regarding Liver Disease and why children are developing this disease today.
With the increase of childhood obesity also comes the increase risk of fatty liver disease in children. Within the article it states that “Doctors say they are seeing children as young as nine with the condition, which develops when there is so mich fat in the liver that it can’t process it”. Can you believe it! As young as nine years old developing liver disease. Then Dr Avi Lemberg said “There’s probably a significant proportion of the population out there with fatty liver disease and they don’t know it”

You have got to check out this article for more information about fatty liver disease some of the symptoms, statistics and what doctors recommend. Click here: Liver disease stalks growing numbers

What’s for breakfast, what’s for lunch and what’s for dinner? Stop and have a think for a moment, think about what you ate all day yesterday. Out of all the food you ate in the entire day, what was the ratio between – how much junk food you ate, compared to how much healthy food you ate?

Some people may believe that eating junk food or supplying a meal of junk food for the family, is a cheaper option then healthy food.

I stumbled across an article today called Battle of the bulge is a fight for life, featured in The Advertiser (Victoria) where Bendigo Community Health Services manager of healthy communities Kaye Graves said “People were putting themselves at risk of grave health concerns by making poor dietary choices.”

“Fresh food is best and takeaway is always more expensive than fresh food” she said.

The article continued and stated that “A study by Deakin University in conjunction with the Department of Human Services found 50 per cent of Victorians aged between four and 12 had more than two serves of junk food in their lunchbox on a daily basis.”

Wow that is half of the kids between four – 12 years old having more than 2 servings of junk food in their lunchbox each day! So if you calculate that junk food daily by seven days in a week, how much junk food are kids consuming on a regular basis per week.

It is important to realise that it is in the daily food and exercise choices we make, that determine our health status for life. If children develop healthy lifestyle habits such as healthy eating and daily activity/exercise from an early age, they are going to grow up with healthy lifestyle habits. It is the lifestyle habits we learn as kids, that determine our choices for life.

To read the article “Battle of the buldge is a fight for life” click here

Next time you pack your child’s lunchbox, take a look inside. How many different options of foods have you given your little one and what is the ratio of healthy food to junk food?

“Researchers recently found 72 per cent of students had no vegetables or salad in their lunchbox, 24 per cent had less than one serve of fruit and only 34 per cent had one or more pieces of fruit packed in their schoolbag.” That is saying that – ALMOST three-quarters of children do not have any salad or vegetables in their school lunchbox and almost half have too much junk food.

Check out the article with all the info http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23047685-2702,00.html

With this latest study I thought it was important to help parents out with some lunchbox tips. So, when your kids go back to school this year what is going to be in their lunchbox?

Here are 4 tips to a healthy lunchbox for 2008:

1. Make it fun – place pieces of fruit such as strawberries in clear zip up bags and write a note or joke to your child on the front. This will make them excited about opening their lunchbox to see what note is left each day. Cut sandwiches in different shapes (quarters, circles, smily faces).

2. Make it colourful – ensure there are plenty of fruit and vegetables in their lunchbox so it is colourful and healthy: – such as a sandwich, with fruit salad, vege sticks (carrot, celery), piece of fruit/apple, juice, water.

3. Keep it healthy – cut up pieces of fruit for your child so it is easy for them to eat. Such as watermelon (cut into cubes), apples (quarters), kiwi friut (circles), orange (quarters or peel the skin in a circle motion forming a long snake like ring that sits on the orange until your child is ready to eat it. Then they pull off the skin to eat the orange and the skin is in a snake ring – makes it fun for kids!)

4. Leave the junk out! – if you do not put junk food into your child’s lunchbox high chances are they won’t eat it! So ditch the junk and replace it with healthy foods such as fruit, vege sticks, yoghurt, cheese or healthy museli bars.

An article today in NSW Australia revealed:

“The latest NSW Health data shows that there are seven urban and 12 rural areas in NSW where more than half the people over the age of 16 are fat. Barrier in outback NSW is home to the highest number of overweight or obese people in the state.

Premier Morris Iemma said the state’s obesity crisis was worsening as fewer people exercised.

“These statistics show us that the health issues, which arise from people being overweight or obese, must be faced by the whole community not just [the] Government or the health system,” he said.

Mr Iemma said more than half of all NSW adults and one-quarter of schoolchildren were overweight or obese.

“Obesity levels are at all all-time high and this in turns leads to an increase in a range of chronic diseases such as diabetes,” he said.”

With the release of our book “Please Mum, Don’t Supersize Me!” in all good book stores Australia wide soon, we are all about providing solutions to be able to help this growing concern. Being healthy is about eating a well balanced diet daily and being active everyday in your life.

Here are 3 tips of how you can make a positive health change in your life right now!

1. Be active everyday! Instead of sitting down after dinner and watching TV go outside and get active! Go for a walk around the block or to the local park and throw a ball around, walk the dog, go for a bike ride. Go outside and be active for 20 – 30minutes!

2. Be conscious to drink water everyday! Did you know there are 10 teaspoons of sugar most cans of soft drink? Go the H2O its better for hydration…

3. Replace any high sugar snacks such as a chocolate bar and lollies with a piece of fresh fruit or fruit salad.

Click here to read more about the mentioned article above relating to the obesity levels in NSW areas.

THE South Australian Government will outlaw junk food advertisements during children’s television programs if the industry does not agree to a voluntary ban.

South Australia’s Health Minister John Hill states “With SA figures showing one in five of our state’s four-year-olds are either overweight or obese, and similar figures across Australia, these big companies need to take action and be part of the campaign to stop the escalating obesity crisis”. With these alarming figures of childhood obesity occuring, Mr Hill is taking one step which could make a difference to the contributing factors that are influencing the rise on childhood obesity for his state South Australia.

Of an afternoon when kids race home and watch TV it is what’s in the ad breaks that make a difference. Children who usually watch Television straight after school, are watching when their tummies are rumbling for an afternoon snack and in the mornings it is just as bad. Children can be watching TV whilst eating breakfast and what is on the screen? Ads for fast food and high sugar products!

The article stated that “Another survey, conducted in NSW, revealed 10 junk food advertisements were shown each hour during children’s television times.” Imagine that 10 junk food ads per hour, and when children watch an ad, time and time again naturally what do kids want? No time is better then right now, for the government and industries to step up and make a change. Make a change to help the kids of the next generations to lead a healthier lifestyle. Because not only do these ads influence children’s choice on what to eat, it increases the pester power towards mum and dad who are trying hard to make a difference.

The article continued “78 per cent of people believed there was too much advertising for unhealthy food during children’s TV programs.” With 78% knowing there is too much advertising for unhealthy food shouldn’t this be enough to help get these ads banned. The concern is obviously there!

Whilst the government in South Australia is making a statement to implement change what about the rest of the nation? It is great that one state is stepping up but it’s time for all of us to make a change. But don’t wait for the change to be approved – you can make a change in your family’s life right now! Simply by increasing your children’s play time outside each day and decreasing their indoor couch television time. Start implementing changes such as:

- No TV before school or no TV before 7pm

- Go for a walk or play in the backyard as a family together each night after dinner. Or set a time each day which is family active time, to play and have fun outdoors!

These TV free activities and more can be read in our latest book “Please Mum, Don’t Supersize Me!”

Read the entire article – Ban junk food ads on kids tv ‘or else’

Today we officially launched our book “Please Mum, Don’t Supersize Me!” with The Hon. Pat Farmer MP – Shadow Minister for Youth and Sport.

At a primary school in Sydney NSW, Pat Farmer shared with the kids some of the important factors of living a healthy life everyday which includes eating healthy foods and exercising. One child shared with us her thoughts of health “It’s all about balance!”, which is exactly true. Your daily lifestyle habits are about balancing your energy in (food) with energy out (exercise) which is discussed our book www.pleasemumdontsupersizeme.com. After chatting to the kids about healthy eating and living, we presented some of our books to the Deputy Principial for their school library and enjoyed a few musical games with the kids.

Check out the pictures below and the video above (as seen on Channel 10 news) from the launch -It was a great morning!

Yours in health and wellness,

Richard & Joey Marc

The Wellness Duo

With the Easter long weekend now over, we hope you had a wonderful celebration with family and friends. We spent Easter day celebrating with our families, the famous Aussie way with a backyard BBQ. At our family lunch gathering all our nieces and nephews were playing games like parachute, ball games, playing fetch with the dog and then came the Easter egg hunt! A little tradition that my mum in particular loves to organize for the kids.So we hide all the Easter eggs (chocolate eggs!) in the backyard then all the kids run and find them. It’s a fun game that the kids love as it’s full of adventure having to run and find the hidden eggs!

As I helped to hide the chocolate eggs, I couldn’t help but think to myself there is a lot of chocolate here, plus the chocolate eggs the kids have already received as gifts, what are the kids going to do with it all? So, being the healthly one I am, I was trying to think of a plan where the kids can have fun with the Easter egg hunt but end up with smaller amounts of eggs rather then excessive amounts of chocolate…

So, we hid the chocolates and whilst I placed another down on the ground, my mind was ticking thinking… Once all the eggs were hidden I then explained the rules to the kids saying “When I say go, you must run and find as many eggs as you can and place them in your bag. At the end when all the eggs are found, you must run and give one egg each to an adult as an Easter surprise gift from you – ready, set, go!”

It was so cute watching them all run around collecting their eggs and when they had finished, they ran to each adult and gave them an egg each. And the kids loved it, as it was a special gift from them to their parent, aunt, uncle or cousin. It made them feel special whilst also decreasing the left over amount of eggs in their bag!

So there is a little secret for the next time you do an Easter Egg hunt with kids!

Have a great day!

Joey Marc

Friday Q & A Day where we answer questions “Parents want to know about childhood or family health and wellbeing”. Check out below some questions which have been submitted by parents this week:

How can I motivate my children to exercise? I have a 5 year old and a 8 year old and they like to play but prefer to play indoors on their video games. Melinda, Surfers Paradise Be active yourself first! - If you want your children to become interested inexercise it is important for them to see you participating in activity. Be a good role model – as a parent introduce family activities in the home, in the backyard or having fun at the local park or pool. Show them - It is important to show your kids how to be active and play games or activities with them, show them how it is fun! Either play games at home like tip your in, frisbee, jumping on the trampoline or try taking the kids out to try something different like hiking, bike riding, rockclimbing, in-line skating. Take action – If you want your kids to be healthy, happy and then grow into adults with healthy habits, you need to take action and make activity part of your everyday lifestyle. Rewards System – Use a star chart system to keep the motivation going.The star chart system is where you write all the families name on a chart and reward your children with a star if they are for example keeping active through play, encouraging their siblings, interacting in sports or activities at school or home, eating their vegetables at dinner (this works particularly well with younger children). I have a five year old who just started school this year should I put him on an exercise program to keep him fit and healthy? Ben, Palm Beach We prefer to use the word ‘activity’ rather then exercise when it comes to children. Kids need to be active, the benefits of being active include:increases skill development, balance and co-ordination, increase confidence and self esteem, builds strong muscles and bones, assists in healthy eating, great for socialization and making friends. Children can be active through playing games and sports. What we need to remember is kids are not adults, so they don’t need to be on a cross trainer at a gym for an hour to gain exercise. For a five year old he should be getting outside and keeping active through sports and playing games like tip your in, stuck in the mud, throwing and catching a ball, riding bikes, kicking a football, hopscotch. Whatever sports or activities kids are interested in are the best ones to play with them at home or at a local park. Organised local club sports are also great for socialisation and skill development. For school aged children 60 minutes of planned physical activity and 60 minutes of active movement are recommended daily. Their activity can be broken up and doesn’t have to be done all at once. Such as planned activities, can be activities such as school sport, club sports, organized sports. Active movement are activities they can play with their friends at lunch, after school or active time at home.Have a wonderful weekend! Richard & Joey Marc

I read an article on the weekend “The Lunchbox Nazis”, it was talking about a new health initative implemented into some day care centres which is trying to help combat childhood obesity. But parents are in fury over some of the strategies used in the program with one parent saying “It’s basically a diet they are putting them on and I don’t want my three-year-old children on a diet”

But the program director Colin Bell from Good For Kids, Good For Life defended the initiative saying it was to promote healthy eating – “Our Surveys in the Hunter New England found that, of those children that responded around 18% of pre-school age children were overweight or obese” he said

After reading the article I thought the initiative seems to have it’s heart in the right spot, trying to help educate parents with healthy food options for their children but on the other hand the article stated “The government initative requires childcare staff to conduct lunchbox audits to ensure parents comply with strict food policies”

Interesting strategy I thought but is it really an effective one? Is that going to be realistic and work long term? But parents are outraged as they believe they should be allowed to give their children whatever foods they want. With one mother saying “Recommending healthy food options was one thing, but “lunchbox nazis” limiting a child’s fruit intake was going too far”.

What do you think? Is it a case of Lunchbox Nazis or an initiative caring for our kids?