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When it comes to health, smoking is one aspect that has a huge impact. Unlike other staes in Australia, Queensland has shown true leadership in introducing smoking bans that actually reduce the exposure of secondhand smoke to innocent bystanders.

Pretty simple stuff, outdoors means no roof or a ceiling or enclosed by a solid covering, surrounded by walls (as my example), high fences and timber palings.

Pretty logical stuff, while there are always loop holes in these definition, it catches most places in Victoria that are legally defined as outdoor but really are enclosed.

So what’s stopping Victoria from adopting these tougher smoking laws in public spaces?

McDonalds recently introduced a play food toy set which is being sold through Toys R US in the USA, with increasing levels of childhood obesity, is this being responsible?

The Australian Government has introduced the National Preventative health taskforce but has not regulated the marketing or the use of toys for promotional and advertising purposes, at this stage it is tabled to be phased out.

It is concerning that global icons such as McDonalds have many touch points to children around the world, in Australia they sponsor little athletics, have a restaurant at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, childrens birthday’s catering, branded Characters, ie Hamburgler, internet Games and have branded toy giveaways at their restaurants.

Now McDonalds can build brand awareness through their play food set which included hamburgers, french fries, soft drinks and Sundaes.

It’s strange that McDonalds have healthier meal options yet none of these products are included.

The danger here is normalising the experience of going to McDonalds or eating any fast food for that matter.
As a child going to McDonalds was for special occasions or a rare treat, now there is an expectation that eating fast food is something we engaged with on a regular basis.

I would like to see a survey of Children from the USA or Australia in age brackets from 3 -5 and 6 – 8 and show them the McDonalds logo and ask them to identify the company and secondly to go to a McDonalds restaurant and to see what the children order or point to.

Childhood obesity is a very complicated issue with numerous elements contributing to the overall growth.

All we can do is to evaluate what has changed in the past 10-20 years with the promotion of fast & junk food to help understand and change this global epidemic.

While no one is pointing the blame to any one person, company, school or business, we all have a role to play in helping to reverse the trend.

But there has to be a point where we have to ask if the McDonalds play food set toy is being responsible and what needs to change to address this issue.

When it comes to exercise & dogs, it’s hard to involve both parties so here are some ideas to help you exercise with your dog and improve your fitness.

1.Sprint based interval training, dogs love to chase sticks, balls etc so race your dog to retrieve the ball then jog back to the start, repeat 3 -4 times

2.Movers & Shakers, while holding the ball high in the air, side step to the left, to the right, move forwards and backwards continuously.
You are the mover while your dog is the shaker, after 2 minutes hand the ball/toy to your dog and swap roles.

3.Walking/jogging with your dog, the harnesses available now give you the freedom to attach your dog to a waist harness while maintaining a full range of movement.

4.While walking/jogging around an oval or field, stop, throw the ball, perform squats or lunges until your dog returns, next throw the ball and run in the opposite direction until your dog catches up with you, repeat the full sequence.

5.Try an outdoor group exercise class, it’s not as scary as you may think.

Remember to warm up thoroughly beforehand and consult medical advise when engaging in any rigorous exercise.

So it’s not as hard as you think, with these simple ideas to exercise with your dog, you will improve your fitness & give your dog a work out as well.

After a recent trip to Italy, I was impressed by the locals who showed that you are never too old to exercise.
While there I managed to take some fantastic sneaky video footage of retiree’s enjoying their early morning exercise in the Dolomites.

Check it out and be inspired!
Another very inspiring person is 83 year old Bette Calman who still teaches yoga.

While we all have excused not too exercise, “too tired”, “too unfit”, these spritely 70 year olds show that age is no barrier to keeping healthy and fit, so make a start today, you are never too old to exercise.

The alcopops tax passed through the senate with a resulting 70% increase in the tax, distillers will introduce alcohol labeling laws by the end of the year.

With the government reviewing a multitude of the Food & beverage industries it is interesting to see the voluntary initiatives being introduced by the Confectionery, Fast Food and now the liquor industry.

While the alcoholic beverages sees the writing on the wall with tougher regulations on the horizon. Like the fast food industry, the distillers are taxing a pro active approach before the government introduces there own legislation.

The Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia Inc (DSICA) are introducing labeling to feature the message “Is your drinking harming yourself and others?”
The question is whether the impact of this type of label is as effective as the current cigarette labeling. Will a 16 year old say “Hey Dude, better stop drinking as this is not only causing irreputable damage to my brain cells & kidneys but also affecting my friends”?

With a Government Senate enquiry into the Ready to drink alcohol beverages from June 2008 showed some disturbing figured regarding the consumption of pre mixed drinks for both male and females in the 12-19 year old age group.

To put the RTD or ready to drink market into perspective according to this Senate enquiry, RTDs increased from three per cent of total alcohol sales of $942 million in 1997 to 15 per cent of total sales of $5134 million in 2006 or a massive increase of 450%.

The interesting point is that a standard drink is only 1.5 RTD cans/bottles or no more than 4 standard drinks on an average day – and never more than 6 per day.
No more than two standard drinks in the first hour and one per hour after that.
For women No more than 2 standard drinks on an average day – and never more than 4 per day. No more than one standard drink per hour

So with so much at stake, it is well worth protecting this market before the government introduces there own tougher regulations.

Unfortunately, consumers generally modify behaviour for 2 reasons, availability & price. This has been anecdotally witness in New Zealand with tougher smoking laws making it difficult to smoke in public places or with car usage, remember paying $1.55 per litre for petrol? Did people reevaluate car usage, did public transport patronage increase?

So will wait and see the effects of the new Alcopops tax and alcohol warning labels on consumption.