Marc Wellness International Blog

Last week Sydney was the city of Spirit as World Youth Day hit with thousands of youthful pilgrams from all around the world gathering in our beautiful country to celebrate and learn about their faith. Organised by the Catholic Church with a special visit from His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. World Youth Day was a major success! As Cardinal George Pell, Catholic Archbishop Of Sydney said “We’ve experienced a tsunami of joy and faith.”

Sydney was buzzing and we were blessed enough to go and get involved in the celebrations. Some of the highlights were at Barangaroo where we were meters away from Pope Benedict XVI at his arrival as well as the moving Saturday night Vigil and Sunday Mass with 400 000 people attending, held at Randwick Racecourse.

Check out our pictures below!

 
The Pope Arrival At Baranagroo
Richard chatting to the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, at The Pope Arrival
Our Candles at the Saturday Night Vigil Pope Benedict XVI driving past us in his ‘popemobile’ at the Sunday Mass

 1. LIMIT TELEVISION TIME
•        Limit the TV time to less than 2 hours per day. Also incorporate a TV free day where you can allocate 1 day per week where the TV does not get turned on.
•        A remote control free household. Yes… even getting up to change the channels will burn more calories than sitting down.

 2. WHERE TO EAT
•        Avoid eating food in front of the TV, when reading or on the computer.
•        Have specific dinning areas to eat meals away from the TV or any distractions. For example the only place food can be eaten in the house, is on the kitchen bench or dining area.

 3. SMALLER PORTIONS
•        Use smaller plates at home when serving up food, most people serve up food the size of the plate.
•        If children want seconds let them wait a few minutes then ask them again.  

4. GET ACTIVE
•        Instead of directing your child “You need to go for a walk”, suggest to them “Why don’t we go for a walk together?” This will increase their motivation and provide a bonding time between parent and child.
•        Make Sunday active family day. Let each family member take turns to choose what activity they would like to do eg. soccer at the park, hire a tennis court, gardening together, riding bikes. 

5. EAT BREAKFAST & HEALTHY MEALS 
•        Make it a standard rule no one in the family can walk out the door without having breakfast.
•        There isn’t enough time to eat. Grab a muesli bar, bottle of water and a piece of fruit to eat on the way to school.
 •   Choose healthy cooking options for meals for example grill instead of fry foods.
•    Include fruit & vegetables in your daily diet.      

Remember it is the environment in which you live which will determine the lifestyle your child will live. what changes will you implement to assist your family in living a healthy lifestyle?

PS. For more info about children and family health and wellness click here 

I just opened my ninemsn homepage and saw the heading “Australia worlds fattest nation”. I thought oh no, it has happened we are now official the world’s fattest nation. It is so disheartening to see this but what we need to do now is take action!

The study has shown that 26 per cent of adult Australians - almost four million - are now obese, one million more than the last calculation in 1999. And Australia now holds the top spot as the world’s most overweight nation, ahead of the notoriously super-sized Americans, who have a 25 per cent obesity rate.

It is so scary all these studies and statistics that are released, it is almost like warning signs for the nation to shape up and get healthy!

Professor Simon Stewart, head of preventative cardiology at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute said “That, unfortunately, makes us the heavyweight champions, a title we don’t really want,” and I agree we don’t want to be titled the heavyweight champions of the world at obesity!

It is vital our community identifies the health problems that are associated with obesity such as heart related problems, diabetes type II, cardiovascular disease, joint problems and the list goes on. These health issues need to be acknowledged and the important factor to take into consideration is “Obesity can be prevented!”.

Now is a time our community needs to stick together and help each other to lead a more healthier lifestyle. Start using the facilities in your community such as local gyms, indoor pools, parks or your backyard to get active and get healthy. But it all needs to start at home. Get healthy in your home with your partner or with your entire family.

We would like to hear from you, what are your thoughts on this topic?

Do you believe we are the world’s fattest nation? 

Listen to what Joey Marc really thinks about this  

 Australia 'world champions' at obesity! [5:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (9)

Why is it that we as human beings always love a bargain? You can’t tell me that there isn’t one person in society who doesn’t love to get value for money. But when it comes to SUPERSIZING, are we getting value for money in the long run? 
Why is society continually making it difficult for us to live a healthy lifestyle? You go to the movies and the small popcorn doesn’t even exist anymore suddenly the old medium size popcorn has replaced the small.     Tell me where did the small popcorn size go?  

 And what about when you purchase petrol? You go to pay for the petrol, walk to the counter and are offered with deals like two chocolate bars for the price of one with your petrol purchase. But it doesn’t stop there, you are in the car driving home and you spot the signs on the side of the road for fast food restaurants and you know that if you step foot inside you are definitely going to get asked the big question “Would you like to Supersize or Upsize for just a $1 more?” and you think “Argh what the heck!” it’s a deal right? You are only going to pay $1 more and are going to receive so much more value! But in the long run if we continue to eat and eat, more and more and fall into the Supersizing trap then is it really going to work out cheaper for us?
      Or will our health suffer and the doctor’s bills increase?  

Is it convenience, is it that there are just endless amounts of fast food chains and junk foods presented to us absolutely everywhere we go, that it makes it almost difficult to eat healthy these days?  Whatever the temptation, my question is “Is society Supersizing Us?” or simply “Is it us?”… Are we to blame for making the incorrect food choices and purchasing the food in the first place and eating it? But then there are marketing campaigns everywhere we go, convincing us to purchase their products, so are we being trained by what we see? Or more importantly are we being educated the wrong messages?  Interesting isn’t it, when you sit back and take a moment to think, do I truly  make my own decision to go through the drive thru for fast food myself or is it that I saw the sign on the side of the highway and thought “Argh I can do with a snack, it’s easier then cooking?”     

Don’t be tempted to fall into the trap of eating unhealthy foods or opting for the latest deal of Supersizing for $1 more. It is in the small decisions we make in our daily life which can shape our future. At http://www.marcwellness.com you can receive a free thought of the week to help you keep motivated along the track to living a healthy lifestyle. It is important to keep motivated towards living a healthy life on a daily basis because if you make the choices to eat or snack on junk food daily this will effect your health in a negative way however if you make the choices to eat a well balanced diet combined with frequent physical activity this will make a difference in leading a healthy lifestyle.  

We all want to live a life of fulfillment, fun and enjoyment but to do this you need a healthy body and a healthy mind.  

This recipe is great for cold winter nights! A yummy lentil and vegetable soup. When making soups, I like to throw a lot of different vegetables in the pot but you can choose what you like to add according to your food choices. So here is the recipe, I even took the picture above after I cooked it, so you could check it out! Serves enough for 5 people (Even if you only want to make it for 2 people, I like to make extra so I can freeze it for another nights dinner!) Ingredients:1 cup red lentils,1 cup brown lentils,1 onion or 1 leek (whatever you prefer!), 2 carrots, 2 zucchini, 2 celery sticks,1/4 pumpkin, 2 potatos,1/2 cup peas, 1 Tablespoon mixed herbs, 1 teaspoon fresh dill, 1 bunch english spinach, 1.5L Vegetable Stock, 400g canned whole pealed tomatos, Extra Water (1-2 cups)Variation: If you wanted to have lentil soup that is not just vegetable and lentil then make small changes to the recipe. Such as - instead of using vegetable stock use beef stock, add vegetables like carrot, celery, onion and add bacon bones into the soup for flavour. 7 Simple Steps how to make the soup:

1. Prepare and cut up all the ingredients: cut the pumpkin and potatoes into chunk sized pieces, the carrots and zucchini sliced into circle pieces, the celery and onion or leek into small pieces and divide the spinach in half.
2. Brown the onion or leek in the pot.
3. Add the vegetable stock, lentils, potatoes, pumpkin, mixed herbs and bring to a boil. Let it boil for a few minutes or till the lentils and vegetables start to get soft.
4. Once lentils and vegetables are starting to soften, add the remaining vegetables, peas, carrots, celery, zucchini and add the tin of whole pealed tomato. If the mixture is very thick or there is not enough liquid like a soup, then add some water.
5. Cook on low to medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are soft.
6. 5 minutes prior to serving add the spinach to the soup. The spinach needs to be added last because it takes only a few minutes to cook.
7. Serve in a soup bowl and add a garnish of dill. 
  Enjoy!  

Yes, I know we have been a little slack with blogging the last week but check out what we have been doing! We have spent the last week in the gorgeous sunny Whitsundays!

Everyone needs a break every now and then… So, in a last minute decision we jet setted off to grab some sunshine during the aussie winter up north. We flew out of Sydney and headed to Cairns then jumped on a tiny 12 seater plane to Dunk Island. Our relaxation destination for the week and that is exactly what it was, full of stunning sunsets every single day, beautiful white sandy beaches and loads of sunshine… The days were warm even warm enough to sunbake and it is winter!! I was so excited about that

In the busy every day lifestyle we live, we are all working extremely hard with our jobs and everyday committments however it is important for us also to take time out to relax, reflect and experience. Reflect on what are we working towards and is there balance within our life. Do I have work, family life and most importantly a balance between everything?

Think about this for a moment…. if you were to sit on a sea saw which way would you fall? Towards the side where work is weighing you down or is there a balance on the sea saw with work, life and play? It is easy to get swept away in the fast paced lifestyle we live, so how do we slow down and enjoy each moment. Firstly by taking time out to really sit back and reflect on what your lifestyle is like. What kind of life am I living, do I have balance and do I LOVE it?

A great way to reflect is to write. Grab a book and write down your thoughts about your lifestyle, what do you love, what do you like or dislike, what are any challenges you face, what are your grateful for and most importantly what you would like to change in order to achieve pure happiness and enjoyment.

Don’t let the daily rat race get to you, take a break whether it be to go for a drive for the day to your favourite hideaway or jump on a plane and visit the destination of your choice but most importantly have fun and relax with your friends or your loved ones.

Check out some pictures of our trip below.

We went on a mountain bike ride around the island…

Sunset swimming in the ocean…

Explored some different islands and beaches with our dinghy…

And my favourite, the most stunning sunset I have seen in a long time. Photo taken straight from the beach…

Have a wonderful day!

Joey

From the left: Tony Findlay, Joey & Richard Marc with the directors of Food Matters Larentine ten Bosch & James Colquhoun 

Earlier in the month we posted some infomation about the latest documentary to be released shortly called Food Matters. Last night we went to the Global launch and what a movie!It is full of loads of valuable information about why food really matters in your lifestyle.

We all know that we need to eat well and keep active to live a healthy lifestyle, but why is it that we are all falling sick or that there are a bunch of lifestyle diseases still affecting us all worldwide? Despite the billions of dollars of funding and research into new ‘cures’ we continue to suffer from a raft of chronic illnesses and everyday maladies.

Find out why this is and how the food you eat effects your body. The film has some incredible statistics, studies and the real facts on the ‘Sickness Industry’ and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for curing disease naturally.

Find out what works, what doesn’t and what’s killing you. Some of the information in the film really opened our eyes to what is really going on with our lifestyles and why we are all sick and unwell! Including the information about Cancer and are these methods of treatment used by doctors really helping the patients?…

Do you want to watch this film right now? Because you can watch it instantly! Just click on the banner below and find out how you can download and watch this film now. 

 Click on the screen above to watch the families as their results were revealed on

A Current Affair last night!

The two families featured on the show received amazing results, all their techniques and tips they followed are available in our book Please Mum, Don’t Supersize Me!
Here are 4 action steps the families did to achieve their success:

Click here for more info about Please Mum, Don’t Supersize Me!

Another study has been release about junk food advertising and it needs to be a wake up call for advertisers and the government. It is our kids future we are talking about, we need to help these kids to eat healthy - not encourage them to eat junk!!!

Here is the latest study that has been done by choice who did a Newspoll survey of 320 Australian parents  and found that:

• More than 80 per cent of parents say they have been nagged by their children for a specific food or drink as a direct result of marketing. And say their children are being enticed by advertisements, give-aways, competitions and the use of favourite characters or celebrities.
• Sugar and fat-laden treats are topping youngsters’ demands, with 90 per cent of parents saying they have been pestered for unhealthy foods, a third of them often.
• They also found 88 per cent of parents believed relentless food advertising and marketing to children were undermining their efforts to teach healthy eating habits.
• And 82 per cent called for new laws to restrict junk food advertising and marketing to children.

The stats say it all. Parents want a change, they want the best for their children and their health but it is difficult when it is a constant uphill battle with kids using PESTOR POWER to get what they want. 88% of parents believe the food marketing and advertising is undermining their efforts to teach their kids healthy eating habits.

The article also stated:

It was McDonald’s happy meals all around when Brendan Fahey celebrated his eighth birthday with dad Paul and mates Aidan O’Cleirigh and Thomas Jensen in the city yesterday. But it was the Pokemon toy rather than the food that the boys were sold on.

We have an obesity epidemic on our hands, we need to take this seriously. Do you think the junk food ads are helping us reduce the risks of our kids becoming overweight? Using advertising for junk food with characters, is no game. It is unfair and is effecting the health of our kids especially for the future. The habits our kids develop early in life will lead into the habits they keep into adolescence and adulthood.

Starting their life off with surroundings of junk food advertisements and temptations is not a smart option. Its time for advertisers and the governments worldwide to wake and realise what effect the junk food advertising and marketing is having on our children and help our families live a longer life.

 Ban the junk food ads and look after our kids health!

To read the article junk ads fuel nation of naggers click here