Melbourne Boot Camp

The increase in obesity in Australia is disturbing. It doubled for the general population and trebled for 7-15 year old between 1985-1997. And that’s 14 years ago. According to Jane Martin from the Obesity Policy Coalition, 6 in 10 Australian adults, and 1 in 4 children are overweight or obese.

The Obesity Policy Coalition is a group of leading public health agencies working to encourage individuals, governments and industry to stop the progression of obesity, especially in children. They’re targeting all forms of promotion of unhealthy food that children have access to, especially TV advertising during child-watching hours.

A really useful initiative of the coalition has been the introduction of the free download ‘traffic light food tracker’ app. that helps consumers know if foods are healthy even when labels say ‘fat-free’ or ‘sugar-free’, while they’re at the supermarket. The only negative comments have been from food manufacturers. Should we be surprised?

Empty calories – foods full of calories but empty of nutrients are a part of the problem. You only have to watch kids on any street, at any time, slurping from their bottles, not of water, but fizzy drinks. Drinking carbonated drinks has doubled in line with the rise in obesity. But there’s a bigger worry than getting fat. The UK Daily Mail recently reported on a Swedish study that showed 2 fizzy drinks a day can double your risk of developing pancreatic cancer, which has only a 2% survival rate.

Would a ‘fat tax’ help? They’ve introduced one in Denmark, so we should be watching closely to see what happens. A tobacco tax reduced the number of smokers, so it’s certainly worth trying anything that might cut obesity.
Professor Kelly Brownell of Yale University thinks a tax on soft drinks would be a good place to start. At a recent conference of the Australian Psychological Society, he had this to say:
“From a psychological perspective, human beings respond to what we call environmental defaults. In eating terms this means they will eat foods that are most easily available, least expensive, and most heavily marketed. If the school canteen serves junk food, school children will eat junk food. If the school canteen serves healthy food, children will eat healthy food.”

If we don’t take action fast, we’ll be able to replace the image of the fit bronzed Aussie with a sickly overweight/obese person lolling in an armchair, unable to get up.

Written by Andrew Talati

Hungry Jacks has just announced it will offer salad cups as part of its menu.

It’s definitely a move in the right direction.  However, one should maintain a healthy level of skepticism, given that all other products on offer at Hungry Jacks are full of sugar, saturated fat and salt.

What’s interesting is the pricing structure.  A salad cup will set you back $4.95 if purchased on its own, or $2.50 when ordered as a value meal. This fact highlights that processed food is a lot cheaper to sell and has higher margins.

You have to ask yourself whether the heavy 50% discount of the salad cup in the value meal is really being subsidised by your burger purchase or if the pricing structure is more about getting the consumer to buy  burgers by offering a price penalty for purchasing the salad cup on its own.

Perhaps you can only sell vegetables cheaply if  you first process them, extrude them into vegetable shapes, then add back colours and flavours?  That would explain the inflated $4.95 price.

Maybe by serving raw vegetables Hungry Jacks is merely upping the ante against McDonalds’ salad options?

Look, its a great initiative, but it’s kind of like a Yoga studio that offers kick boxing classes. It begs the question – what’s their brand offer really about?

Is Hungry Jacks’ new healthy food option in alignment with their brand? Are their communication channels really speaking to the market about healthy food?

Written by Andrew Talati

A few years ago a book was released called “The Secret.” It spawned a movie by the same name.

The underlining premise was to think about what you wanted and you would receive. However, the missing ingredient was that you must also “do.”

The notion behind “The Secret” was  based on the laws of attraction. It claimed that the projection of your underlying thoughts can influence and determine future or present events.

The book uses the term “universe” to embody what we cannot quantify, what we are project our thoughts onto and what we deliver or how we determine our outcomes.

While  quantum physics is only starting to quantify how changes in  molecular structure at the sub atomic level can influence surrounding elements, we can still apply this theory to something that we can comprehend and understand.

It’s all very well to say: “One day I want to be rich or win the lottery” and expect that the next day that your numbers come up. What you really need to change is your underlying thought patterns. You must reprogram yourself for success.

It’s all about the thoughts that you project on an ongoing basis, whether at a conscious or subconscious level. Once thought of as hippie mumbo-jumbo, the idea is slowly gaining acceptance and momentum in the mainstream.

Lately, the business world has starting applying the term “the universe” to business processes.

Even motivational speakers like Anthony Robbins are saying it’s all very well to gain information – we must still act upon it.

We can believe in abundance, or that there are adequate resources in the universe for everyone to receive everything they want. Yet, if we don’t take the necessary steps to tap into abundance it will elude us.

So, to “do” is to focus on all the positive stuff and to create a foundation that predisposes you to all the good things happening. Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet that will miraculously change your life. Rather, you should pursue a  positive reinforcement of your thoughts and actions over days, weeks, months or even years.

It’s about all the experiences we have on the way to achieving our goals.  The necessary potholes on the road to success only make our achievement all the sweeter.

Written by Andrew Talati

What a fantastic achievement! A combined total of $1500 was raised from 15 people attending our 6 week running program – an awesome result.

With one training session left leading up to the Melbourne Marathon, Michael Bellofiore from Moonee Ponds and Joel Mautner from Richmond/Elwood have done an amazing job.  They’ve very kindly donated their time and energy to help generate enough interest to raise funds for Beyond Blue, a great organisation dedicated to supporting those affected by depression. Beyond Blue will also hold a national mental health week from the 9th to 15 October.

Michael was recently featured in a local Melbourne newspaper promoting our special running group and building awareness of this fantastic cause.

Thank you also to the generosity of EZ Facility who allowed us to use  their scheduling and billing software at no charge.

Written by Andrew Talati

Finally, a tick for common sense!  The Heart Foundation has changed direction in its accreditation of fast food companies.

What message has the Heart Foundation really been sending by endorsing fast food outlets?

It may have finally understood that endorsing fast food was only damaging the Heart Foundation brand and, more importantly, the credibility of its big healthy tick.

Giving the tick to McDonalds was very strange, particularly as the fast food giant seemed to bury any of the items deemed to be its healthiest choices deep into its menu.

Walk into any McDonalds anywhere in the world and it’s immediately obvious the majority of the presented menu is selling hamburgers, fries and frozen desserts. You really have to look hard to find where their salads and healthier choices are located.

If McDonalds was really committed to changing the perception of fast food and promoting healthier lifestyles, why would  products endorsed by a leading health organization be hidden?

It really begs the question as to whether the Heart Foundation’s tick is merely being used to capitalise on the healthy food market to maintain a connection with customers who may go elsewhere. With increasing rates of obesity, Type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a vendor of fatty, sugary and salty foods runs the risks of becoming a dinosaur unless drastic steps are taken.

To me, it seems to be business as usual.  For instance, billboards on freeway overpasses still show $1 burgers during lunchtime. Is this a corporation that’s really serious about promoting healthier food choices?

It’s like buying a Ferrari and putting a speed limiter that stops you from going over 100 km per hour. You have an engine powerful enough to propel 1300 kg to 100 km/h in under 4 seconds with a top speed of over 300 km/h, yet you can only drive 100km/h.

We all know we can only drive at the speed limit, but would it stop you buying a Ferrari if you had the means?

By moving away from fast food operators and placing a greater focus on cafes and restaurants with random sampling to determine fat and salt content, the Heart Foundation should be applauded for speeding in the right direction.

Written by Andrew Talati