Home

A recent article by UK camping and caravan-ing website (www.campingandcaravanning.co.uk) claims campers are much happier than non-campers.

Not just a promotional exercise, the article raises some good points about the lifestyle differences between campers and non-campers. If it’s true that campers are happier (93% of campers say they are, according to the article), perhaps it’s time for all of us to get back in touch with nature and go camping for our next holiday.

Benefits of Camping
Far too many of us feel the pressure and stress of long work hours and understand the effects this can have on our health. Unfortunately, in this day and age, long work hours, poor diet and lack of exercise all seem to go hand in hand. And most of us are pretty miserable as a result.

Taking time off and getting away from the pressures of everyday life has its benefits. A survey conducted by the website found that campers tend to be more satisfied, optimistic, happier and energised while non-campers tended to be more stressed, bored, frustrated and lonely.

Enjoying Nature
One of the biggest benefits of camping is the opportunity to get back in touch with nature.

The fresh air,  peace and quiet (or the noise of wildlife as opposed to traffic!), time away from the office… these are all wonderful reasons to go camping.

People have turned to nature for centuries as a much needed getaway.  Nature has a wonderful  ability to calm and restore mind and body. Many campers say camping creates happy memories, allowing them to recharge their batteries, appreciate nature and expand their horizons, as well as provide fun for the family.

Exercising in the Great Outdoors
When it comes to camping, the opportunity to enjoy some outdoor exercise is a big plus.

In addition, to promoting family togetherness, rest and relaxation, helping children learn, social interaction and creating memories and family traditions, camping opens up a world of exercise possibilities.

You can get some good old-fashioned exercise from hiking through the bush to rock climbing, gathering fire wood to swimming, or wading in a creek. And, unlike working out in the gym, it won’t even feel like you’re exercising!

It seems that campers may be onto something. Camping’s many benefits – from  exercise to relaxation – make it worth packing up the tent and heading bush.

But camping’s benefits don’t come from a once a year trip. To really experience these benefits, try getting away as often as you can – your mind and body will be much happier for it!

There’s nothing quite like it to chill out, relax and remove all of the noise and distractions in our lives.

Written by Andrew Talati

While the secret to a long, healthy life may be theorised, a Greek study highlights the relationship between longevity, eating a healthy diet and getting sufficient sleep.

The study of Ikariathat island residents in the Aegean was conducted between June to October 2009.

Amazingly 1.1% of the population were over 90 years old, compared to 0.1% for the rest of Europe.

On Ikariathat, the main diet consists of fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes and fish mixed in with the regular consumption of olive oil. Unlike many westerners,  sleeping habits included an afternoon siesta which gave the residents’ bodies time to rebuild and replenish from the day’s activities.

Like most things in life, taking a common sense approach to living a healthier lifestyle is challenging, particularly given the rigors of everyday life. When you add up too many commitments, too little time and all too consuming activities, it’s clear we’re neglecting the basic principles of optimum living.

With so many processed food manufacturers and restaurants happy to fill this void, we need to find the time to get back to the basics of eating less processed foods and more fresh fruit and vegetables.

Set a target of cooking one additional meal using fresh ingredients and forget the processed additives that can make the procedure a lot faster or more convenient. Try making your lunch for 2 -3 days per week. Not only will it save you thousands of dollars every year, your heart will thank you for it.

Written by Andrew Talati

Educating children about the benefits of healthy eating can start with showing kids how to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

What children learn from a young age can set the habits and behavior for later on in life as adults.

Ultimately parents need to take some responsibility for educating their children with healthy eating habits. This starts with an appreciation and understanding of the basics such as consuming plenty of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis.

An awesome initiative by Stephanie Alexander involves helping primary schools students growing their own vegetables in the schoolyard and harvesting their produce for cooking in the school’s kitchen.

This initiative spans 180 schools across Australia and involves children age from 8 to 12 years of age.

Today the Commonwealth government has contributed $12.8 million in supporting this invaluable program. These costs help offset any specialised staff and additional infrastructure that may be required in the food production process.

However the program only reaches a small minority of schools cross Australia, while the majority of the 6000 schools missing out.

Once again it comes down to budgetary constraints with very limited funding for a program that has the potential to have a positive effect on reducing Australia’s high proportion of people overweight and obese.

With an alarming 60% of Australians now overweight or obese with me to curtail this alarming statistic by starting by educating children.

It seems the government has the funds to squander $7.5 billion on Victoria’s appalling public transport system since it was privatised in 1999 or the $50 million per year that the Australian GrandPrix costs the Victorian taxpayer.

Surely such initiatives that affect the long-term health of our country deserve a higher allocation of funds.

While fruit and vegetables serve as the foundation for a child’s diet, many parents have experienced it can be a challenging task to get kids to eat their greens.

By giving children a greater understanding of how the fruit and vegetables are produced from a single seed/sapling, cultivation, harvesting and consuming what they produce, there is a greater probability of success as more sensors are associated with the process.

For children having the sense of touch with the plants, cultivating the smell of the garden, and the richness, tastes and smell one gets from freshly grown vegetables it helps children have lifelong associations with fruit and vegetables.

There are also other benefits that children learn responsibility as the plants must be tended to on a daily basis.

Ultimately it is about sending a positive messages about nutritious eating habits that will carry through to adulthood.

It’s interesting to see the amount of time children spend playing video games versus being outside and exercising. Even when on holidays, playing video games seems to rate higher than enjoying the beach.

It was great however to see parents spending time with the children throwing the frisbee, playing soccer or other each activities.

There is a disturbing trend of children spending more and more time per day either engaged with some computer-based activity the social networking or playing video games. The growth of video game consoles and sharing players involvement over the Internet has seen an increase in this type of activity.

While children find video games lots of fun and mentally challenging at some level, there is no substitute for their parents spending quality time with them either in the park or in the backyard playing games all some level of fit physical exercise.

According to the Australian Bureau of statistics in April 2009 2.2 million or 79% of children use the Internet either at home or during school hours.
The portion of children accessing the Internet increase with age from 60% for 5-8yo to 96% for children over 12.

I’m sure if you asked any child if they preferred playing video games under spending time with their mom or dad, to be confident in saying that the children much preferred the real-life interactions with the parents rather than the artificial environment of the computer or video game.

With the world experiencing an of obesity epidemic and a society with our significant portion of overweight people, unfortunately there some apathy regarding the cost to your health.

Australia is officially the most overweight nation in the world, this officially happened a few years ago and it’s one statistic that we don’t want to be proud of.

According to the World Health Organization, globally there are over one billion overweight and more disturbingly 300 million people that are obese.

The universally accepted measurement for determining an overweight person is having our BMI of over 25 and an obese person has a BMI Of over 30. [BMI is calculated by dividing the person's body weight in kilograms by the square of the height in meters–KG/in]

The seven major risks of being over weight/fat are;

1. Dying early, men and women respectively have been 81%, hundred 115% risk of early death between the ages of 40 to 70

2.Diabetes, it is universally excepted that having a waist circumference of 100 cm for men and 90 cm for women increases the risk of getting type II diabetes.

3.Heart disease, having a large waist circumference as mentioned above increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.

4.Reduced Lifespan, Being 10 Kg Overweight Will Cut Three Years Off Your Life Span and 70s if you are 20 kg overweight.

5.infertility and pregnancy risks; women who have a BMI of over 28 have approximately 2 1/2 times more risk of infertility. They can also be complications during the pregnancy such as premature delivery gestational diabetes and cesarean delivery.

6.Illnesses and disease; fatty liver disease, can lead to diabetes and heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver,
sleep apnea, being overweight or obese can also lead to sleep disturbances whereby personal stop breathing numerous times per minute which can leave to heart attacks
if other illnesses include cataracts, stroke, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, gallbladder disease and osteoarthritis.

Ultimately it comes down to adopting a healthier lifestyle with healthy eating and increasing energy expenditure.