Fitness, Health and Wellness Musings, Tips and the occasional rant'n'rave about finding your excellence from an Athens 2004 Olympian.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Pure Fruit Sorbet Magic


Not much going on today, but I really want to share this fabulous recipe I found at Taste.com.au for Mango and Lime Sorbet.

I'm sure you wouldn't ordinarily think of sorbet as something we'd recommend here, and you'd be right, but This Sorbet is different. It meets all our criteria for good-for-you-food.
It's a fabulous marriage of "Nature's Sweeties" that will leave you truly satisfied without aggravating your sugar cravings. Here are 7 reasons why:
  1. It tastes great!
  2. No preservatives, additives or emulsifiers that you'd find in a shop-bought sorbet
  3. It's a fantastic way to eat fruit in the hot weather we're facing here in Australia.
  4. An exotic Icy treat for those of you experiencing a very chilly winter around the world
  5. Stacked full of great-for-you, energy providing and recovery vitamins and minerals served in their natural states: a real, whole-food supply of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Potassium, Calcium, Phosphorous and Magnesium (Source: http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html )
  6. Natural fruit sugars the way we were meant to consume them - sweetness along with loads of nutrients and fibre - so you'll feel satisfied with one sensible sized serving.
  7. REALLY quick and easy to make!
Try it out and let us know what you think: Mango and Lime Sorbet

Monday, February 02, 2009

Why Taking Obese Children Away is not The Answer


Over the last year or so much has been made of the parental role in childhood obesity in Australia and world wide. And it's resurfacing.

Doctors, Local Council officials and leading health experts in the UK have all called for obese children to be taken from their parents.

Surely our history teaches us that taking children from their parents is not the answer?!
As a very quick example, consider the damage caused by historical Australian government policies that removed indigenous children from their parents. While at the time, this may have seemed the best policy for the care of the children, it has since been admitted and recognised how damaging and cruel this policy really was.

Given that we know children "comfort eat" just as adults do; that they know when they are full and over-full; and that they can recognise the difference between when they're really hungry and when they are eating for emotional reasons, it seems strange and completely topsy turvy to remove them from their support bases.

Parents do play a very significant role in childhood obesity, however it must be better to educate the parents and the family and support them in lifestyle changes than to remove children from their support network and cause more reason for emotional eating and damage.

From a government spending perspective it must be cheaper to educate parents and families than remove children and feed, clothe and educate them elsewhere, and then need to provide counselling for both parents and children who have been separated. If the governments of this world, and (and as I'm in Australia) more specifically, the Australian Government really wants to reduce the costs of preventable disease, they will be wise to invest in such families and educate and thereby empower them.

Taking obese children from their parents is not the answer, unless we want to encourage a disabled mentality. Effective education and support in these cases should be used in the first instance to empower people and will prove to be a sound investment in the country and it's economy instead of a drain.

Labels: , , , ,