Marc Wellness International Blog

 I came across this picture and thought to myself, humm… now that’s a tiny portion size! But it got me thinking about portion distortion and how the option of super-sizing meal servings today are making a difference! Over the past few decades we are now eating anywhere from two to five times more per serving than in the past. If we just changed the portion sizes of the food we eat at meals, it can make a dramatic difference.

If you feel as though you may have overindulged in the holiday season and your clothes feel like they have shrunk!? Yet you don’t want to reduce the afternoon munches or occassional glass of wine… then why not try smaller serving sizes with all your meals. A better way to look at a serving size is to use your hand.

- A serving of protein (chicken, seafood, and meat) should be approximately the size of the palm of your hand, length and thickness. 

- Green vegetables or a mixed salad could be the size of two fists – Are you eating enough of these? 

- Carbohydrates such as potatoes, rice or pasta should be served no bigger than the size of your tightly griped fist.

If your new years resolution was to start an exercise program and you have already made the excuse to yourself  “I’ll start in February” try one of the 4 tips below:

1. Grab a friend and get moving, whether it be a work mate at lunch, or an afternoon walk with friends! 

2. Hire a Personal Trainer to give you a kick start!

3. Ask your boss to get Corporate Fitness trainers to design a team building, health, fitness and wellness program for your whole company.

4. Report to a friend or your partner how many times you plan to exercise in the week and get them to check up on you.

For more information on how to lose weight or looking for a personal trainer check out this website: http://www.meetyourpersonaltrainer.com.au

Honestly and truely do we really need a burger that contains 70grams of FAT? Of course NOT…

It is disgusting that in society today we are more aware then ever about the problem of obesity but fast food chains continue to place food products out there that are only contributing to the problem further!

A brand new Quad Burger from Hungry Jacks, which comes with four beef patties, four slices of cheese, two rashers of bacon, barbecue sauce, and two buns and has no lettuce or vegetables has gone on sale in Australia this week.

The burger has more than 70g of fat and over 4520Kj (1000 calories) – half the daily recommended calorie intake for a woman and nearly one-third for a man.

Not only is it going to effect the calorie intake and health for adults, imagine what this burger will do for the body systems of kids who eat it?

And lets be realistic not only is the Fat content a concern in the burger, we also need to think about how long it is going to take for the body to digest the 4 beef patties & 2 rashers of bacon it has in one meal sitting - from one burger!It is definately not a friendly meal for the digestive system that’s for sure!

Given the extent of the worldwide obesity problem I just can not believe that fast food chains are aloud to continue come out with new and improved burgers that contain endless amounts of empty calories which do absolutely nothing for any persons health and wellbeing.

What do you think? Share your opinions with us below.

Welcome to the first Friday Q & A Day! As promised we would dedicate a blog on Friday to answering questions “Parents want to know about childhood or family health and wellbeing”.

Thanks to all the parents who have submitted their questions. We have a bunch of emails that have come through with loads of questions and we hope to answer as many as possible through the following Fridays until the end of May.

Q: “What should I be putting in my kid’s lunchbox every day as a snack? At the moment I give them a piece of fruit, chips or a chocolate bar. I would like some more ideas of how I can get more healthier foods into their lunchbox and slowly get rid of the chocolates and chips. It is just really hard because that is what the kids want chips and chocolates. Thanks.” Janice, Wollongong Hi Janice,

Thank you for your question. It is important to place a variety of fruits and vegetables in the lunchbox on a daily basis. First of all it is great that you are placing a piece of fruit into their lunchbox. Here are some ideas of how you can include more fruits and vegetables in your kids lunchbox:

- Make it fun for the kids & easy to grab! Cut the fruit up into different shapes such as cubes, triangles or use cookie cutters to cut shapes. Just by cutting the fruit into pieces makes it easy for the kids to grab and eat, whilst also making it fun.  - Dunk & Dip! Cut up some cucumber, carrots or celery into small sticks and include cherry tomato. Then place all the vegetables into a container. In the middle of the container add a dip such as hommos or cheese. Make it fun for the kids and so they can dunk their food into the dip.  

- More than just cheese and crackers – When packing cheese and crackers as a snack option, opt for a cheese that you can cut yourself instead of pre-packaged. This way it gives you the freedom to choose a healthy cheese option and also to include add ons. Use a container from home and cut up some cheese and include cherry tomatoes, cucumber (cut into circles) and include crackers. That way the kids are getting more then just cheese and crackers. In regards to chips and chocolates, it is important to identify the difference between a treat and a habit. For example a chocolate bar that is included in the lunchbox on a daily basis equals 5 chocolates a week and that is not including any extra chocolate snacks after school or on the weekends. So if it is daily it is a habit. So it may take some adjusting at first but we would recommend chocolates or chips to be as an occasional treat in the lunchbox. Look for healthier snack options to include instead, such as fruit, yogurt with fresh strawberries, cheese and vegetables with crackers, homemade muffins, biscuits with vegemite and cheese, dunk and dip!

**Place your comments below to share with us some healthy lunchbox ideas you place in your kids lunchbox!** 

Q: “My kids don’t eat enough vegetables. I have a 6 year old and 3 year old, how can I possibly get them to eat more vegetables? I try to get them to eat vegetables at dinner but it always seems a struggle.” Anne, St KildaGreat question Anne. It is really important to ensure we encourage our kids to eat more vegetables and for them to know that vegetables as part of their daily diet and this is normal. We can do this by including vegetables in the diet on a daily basis through all meals.  Here are some ideas of how kids can eat more vegetables throughout the day and in general.

Firstly add some vegetables at lunch or as a snack:

- Mix it in a wrap! Make a wrap (or a sandwich), add your child’s favourite filler such as chicken or ham and mix some vegetables into it such as avocado as a spread instead of butter, grated carrot, lettuce, tomato, cucumber. Cut the wrap into small pieces which are easy to grab. - Make some muffins and add real fruit or vegetable ingredients such as grated carrot, mashed banana with sultanas, apple, apricot, pumpkin.

Add more veges at dinner:

Vegetable Soup Make a pot of vegetable soup (there is a recipe in a previous blog) and place the soup through the blender. That way the vegetables are mixed in the blender and when the soup is served the vegetables are definately there but not necessarily seen.

Pasta is another great meal where you can cut vegetables into small pieces and add it in the pasta sauce such as broccoli, carrot, celery, eggplant.

Make the vegetables fun on the dinner plate. Make a smily face with the vegetables such as the eyes are potato, nose is zucchini, mouth is corn and hair are peas! 

Add a side salad Make a side salad a common side dish at dinner. So it is something that children are use to. 

Cook the vegetables a different way Try cooking vegetables in a variety of different ways such as grilled or steamed adding different flavourings or toppings.

Grow your own - If you have a backyard, start a little vege garden. This is fun for the kids and interactive. They will learn about where vegetables come from and how they grow. Plus, they will also get to eat their vegetables once they are grown!

**We would love to hear some of the ideas and ways you encourage your kids to eat more vegetables. Share with us your ideas in the comments below**

We hope you enjoyed the first edition of Friday Q & A Day. If you have a question about family fitness, health or wellness to include in Friday Q & A Day! then email us at: richardjoey@pleasemumdontsupersizeme.com

Have a wonderful weekend!

Richard & Joey Marc

Tonight we went to the book launch for a new book called “Star Foods”, written by Dr Joanna McMillian Price (picture above on left, middle Joey Marc, right Richard Marc) and Judy Davie.  Star Foods discusses the best vegetables and fruits, proteins and carbohydrates needed for a daily diet to benefit overall health and wellbeing. It also explains fats, drinks and even the better treats to look out for! And contains more than 70 healthy and delicious recipes.

The authors have a great way of discribing foods such as ‘Ranking The Players’, where the foods are ranked in performance levels according to nutritional value. A great alternative way to look at the foods we should eat more often to  achieve and maintain good health.  Dr Joanna McMillian Price co-author of Star Foods has a PhD in nutritional science and is also featured as a speaker in our 7 CD audio program “Secrets of a healthy family” due for release shortly. 

To find out more information about Star Foods visit Dr Joanna McMillian Price website http://www.joannamcmillanprice.com/star-foods/  

Yours in health and wellness,

Richard & Joey Marc

The consumer advocacy body’s proposed a ban to prohibit all radio and TV ads for foods high in fat, sugar and salt between 6am and 9pm on Australian TV. With up to 15 junk food ads viewed each hour, during children’s television viewing time it is about time someone has taken some sort of action to get these ads banned! Check out the table above taken straight from the Sun Herald on March 16. It provides a breakdown of the free to air fast food sell and lists fast food commercials on channels 7, 9, and 10 which were shown between 6pm and 9pm on Thursday 13th March!

In having so many junk food ads on TV it creates pestor power for parents and the environment we live today is difficult enough already for parents having to fight off the temptations of supersize options and convenient drive thru fast food resturants. With kids exposure to junk foods on TV which are high in fats, sugar and salt promotes an idea to them that junk food is fun and attractive to eat. But reality is most of these foods advertised are so unhealthy for kids and they do not need to be consumed on a regularly daily basis.

What there needs to be is 15 food ads per hour promoting healthy food options that are fun and attractive to replace the junk food commercials.

This call of action really needs to go directly to the government, they need step up and help fight this obesity epidemic which is shortening the life span of many Australians.  But instead of making a decision right now, a spokeswomen for the health and ageing minister Nicola Roxon responded with “We are not looking at changing existing regulations right now. There is a review by Australian Communications and Media Authority due out later this year and we will be examining its findings”

Ok…so from that comment we have no action right now and maybe we will address the problem later in the year! Hummm….the title of the article in the paper read “It worked in Canada and now the call is to ban junk food ads on TV in Australia!” Interesting isn’t it, that other countries have tested it such as Canada as well as Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Ireland - So what is Australia waiting for?

Our suggestions would be in the meanwhile, try to limit the TV time your children watch currently. Get them off the couch and outside playing. Set some restrictions such as no TV before 6pm or no TV before school. And encourage kids after school to go outside and play with friends or mum and dad. Another alternative if mum and dad are busy and can’t play outside everyday is to encourage your kids to have fun with arts and crafts or reading instead of watching TV.

Share you thoughts and comments with us - Do you think junk food ads should be banned on Australian TV?

Looking after your health,

Richard & Joey Marc

The Wellness Duo 

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.

Today we were at the local shopping centre and there have been some major renovations that have occured. We were checking out all the new stores, then noticed a new donut store that had opened. The reason why we stopped to take a closer look was because within the shop fitting was a bunch of different signs representing fruits. As we stood there we thought why is there signage about Fruit and fat content in a donut store. Then we looked closer and there stood a sign saying “How does your snack rate?”. Then under the heading was a bunch of snack foods such as chocolates, muffins, crossiant, cookies and a donut (which were all rated in grams per serving). But what caught our attention was that they had listed the snack foods from very high in fat to low in fat. So chocolate and cookies rated the highest fat content in snack foods and then donut was rated as a the lowest fat content in snack food - weighing in at 12grams of fat per donut. Yep that is right 12g per fat per donut! However this rating of donut is only for the plain donut not the chocolate coated or glazed donut. It seemed a shame that a real piece of fruit wasn’t compared on the “How does your snack rate” rating table! Now we know there are alot of snacks such as a piece of fruit which are definately a more healthier option then 12g per fat per donut. And then you need to ask the question how long will this snack actually keep you full before eating another snack and how come they didn’t show how much sugar content was in each donut? You only need to look at the donut to see the glazing on the top to take a guess at how much sugar is there. Check out the picture of Richard holding the donuts to see!
It’s interesting because just down the corridor from this donut shop is a fruit shop. Now we ask what is the healthier snack, a 12g fat plain donut or an apple?
So the tip here is - don’t be tricked by the way food can be presented as low in fat! Always be aware and ask yourself is there a more healthier option?