A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
According to experts, everything from our gadgets to our eating habits and ultimately modern life itself are eroding our brains, chipping away at neural pathways and making us slower, denser and less capable of original thought. Most recently, a study by the University of Montreal, published this month, found that eating large quantities of saturated [...]
As a brand new school mum, I've recently discovered that schools have assumed the role of the Lunch Box Police. Every morning tea and lunch is a test to see if kids and their parents have faithfully followed the laws of healthy eating. It's a nice idea, but it's questionable whether this has anything to [...]
Want to stack the nutrition odds in your favour? The key is good food so here are five things to never let into your shopping trolley: lollies, biscuits, sugar-sweetened drinks, potato crisps and processed meats. Known as discretionary foods, all five are high in either added sugars, saturated fat or salt. Discretionary foods provide kilojoules [...]
The mere sight of a slice of gooey chocolate cake, a cheesy pizza, or a sizzling burger can drive us to eat these foods. In terms of evolution we show preference for high calorie foods as they are an important source of energy. We tend to crave these rich, tasty foods not only when we [...]
Can you remember watching Jamie’s School Dinners and being horrified at what UK and US schools were serving up to kids on a daily basis? Can you remember shaking your head in disbelief as school principals, canteen supervisors and local administrators continually argued that healthy food wasn’t financially viable in a school setting? I mean, [...]
Surprise and disappointment accompanied the recent publication of country by country test results from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study when Australian children unexpectedly performed poorly. In the reading literacy test our children rated 27 out of the 49 countries tested and in the maths [...]
Apple juice has as much sugar as soft drinks, and health experts are warning consumers to limit consumption or risk gaining weight. Often selected as the healthier option over soft drinks or energy drinks, apple juice is no more than a ''sugar syrup'', nutritionists say. ''It's just like drinking Cola-Cola, it's no different,'' Dietitians Association [...]
There are some foods that you know offer so little nutritionally that you would rather not eat at all than get your energy from these particular options. Some of these may seem obvious while some may surprise you as they commonly masquerade as "healthy" options. via The 10 foods most nutritionists won't eat.
Puberty announces itself to girls with growing breasts and their first period. This process, fuelled by significant hormonal changes, is hard on girls no matter how mentally mature they may appear. In 1901, the median age for girls going through puberty was approximately 14 years and there was little difference among ethnicities. But things have changed. As [...]
Excellent advice on helping a friend with an eating disorder and dealing with stalking When I speak in schools, I’m often asked for advice on how to help a friend with an eating disorder (and not just girls - a male student ask me in a school in regional NSW recently). So I was really [...]
