‘Fess up — did you skip breakfast this morning? If so (whether it was a pure mistake and your cereal’s still sitting on your bench going soggy, or you make a point of skipping what’s been hailed the most important meal of the day), you’re not alone. More than half of all Aussie adults and one in seven Aussie kids start their day without cereal, toast, yoghurt, fruit or a smoothie ...

Research shows that there are some basic habits that combine to make a winning formula for families with successful, well-adjusted children who will flourish in life. “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated,” are the wise words of Confucius. Albert Einstein said it this way: “Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.” And one final word of wisdom from Steve Jobs is, “Simple ...

Laughter, Sex, Vegetables and Fish — 10 Secrets of Long-Living People is definitely a book title that is going to grab your attention. Many years ago, I was standing in a bookshop in Tasmania, trying to find my credit card so that I could invest in a book on how to live longer. It was a long-life investment! Dr John Tickell is a medical doctor, international speaker, bestselling author, and television ...

It might seem harmless — a quick drive-through on the run home to pick up a cheap meal that satisfies hordes of hungry tummies and delays dirty dishes for another night. Yes, it might be fast and convenient — but the truth is, takeaway food can come at a huge cost to our health. What should be a rare treat is fast becoming a frequent meal — with many Queenslanders consuming ...

Dads set the tone and build the context for relationships in their home. Father’s Day is a good opportunity to reflect this tone back by making the day one for food, family, and festivity. Report after report, study after study, and testimony after testimony, repeatedly tell society that dads live out an indispensable role in the life, health, and evolution of the man for woman, woman for man family unit. (See ...

Our culture pressures us to keep working and consuming. It takes a conscious effort to step back, take a breather and re-prioritise, but doing so is really worth it for good health and peace of mind. “We have more ‘things per person’ than any other nation in history. Closets are full, storage space is used up, and cars can’t fit into garages, having first imprisoned us with debt. Possessions then take ...

Whether it fizzes, gives you wings or opens happiness — the truth is, it’s packed with sugar and it could be causing serious health problems in children. Figures show 1 in 6 Queensland kids are drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage daily. That’s not limited to soft drink either — it includes energy drinks, fruit drinks, cordial and sports drinks too. The 2012 Queensland Chief Health Officer’s Report revealed 16 per ...

All right, all right… I admit it… I’m a perfectionist. I take pride in a job well done. I’m a mum, I’m a wife, I’m a worker, a house cleaner, a seamstress, a medic, a teacher — the list is a mile long. And somewhere in amongst all of these roles, I need to find the one that magically helps me to find balance… and then I need to excel at ...

Last Christmas, two hearty friends of mine surprised me with a present. It was a drinks coaster with a 1950s-style image of an apron-wearing woman holding a toaster with the caption, “If it fits in a toaster, I can cook it!” On its own, it would give most good folks a chuckle, yet, for me, it held a story. In the early days of updating my status to separated parent, I ...

Life is full of situations that cause stress! However, stress isn’t always a bad thing. It can be the motivation to get us moving — to write that report, make the ballet costume, perform in the play or make that important speech, etc. But when you are constantly functioning with your foot on the stress pedal, your mind and body will eventually feel the effects. Stress Signals When we’re facing something ...

Making the time and effort to establish regular healthy eating patterns for your family will go a long way in creating quality bonding time and a lifetime of nourishing habits for your children. Food is fundamental in forging a healthy family. There’s something to be said about making the effort to gather the family around a hot meal as regularly as possible. I also find there’s a lot of clout in ...

On the weekend I headed to see the movie Bad Moms with a group of school mums whom I just love hanging out with and getting to know. Let’s be honest, there was bad language and themes that were definitely for adult eyes only. But the movie pointed out something that all of us mums need to know — we don’t really have it all together, no matter what type of ...

Coronavirus is sweeping across Australia. Here are some tips to boost your immune system — and your loved ones’ immunity — so that you will be prepared if you catch it. Your body is your best friend. You live in your body, so it is important you take care of your body. The 12 Ways to Beat Covid-19 are more based around the concept of prevention as opposed to cure. The ...

Orange, yellow, red, green, blue, purple, white, brown… did you know our fruits and vegetables come in all colours of the rainbow? In fact, research shows we need to plate up as much colour as possible every day to get the maximum health benefits from fruits and vegetables. Far too few of us eat the recommended daily intake of five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit. Not only do we ...

Health-hindering lockdowns are by no means fun. The routine COVID-19 “stay home” decrees were agreeably necessary when little was known about the virus. 19 months on, government decrees are less about preserving health, and more about governments serving themselves. There’s little doubt that keeping people scared, helps an increasingly militant bureaucracy keep emergency powers firmly in their hands. It’s with this in mind that I’m reluctant to give out ideas for ...

Dr. Seuss said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” This famous children’s book author was certainly across his subject. Here are 10 good reasons why you should read to your children. Hopefully you are inspired. 1. Dads Bring Something Special to the Reading Equation. Harvard-trained Dr Elisabeth Duursma said, “In most families, mothers are the ones ...

Did you know that nearly half of Australians expect to gain up to two kilos during winter? Some surveys suggest 90 per cent of people eat more fast and snack foods and takeaways because they make them feel warmer and happier; 36 per cent of Australians worry about weight gain during winter; and 59 per cent know that weight gain will be caused by exercising less and eating more fast and ...

Margin is a term entrenched in the financial world. Margin trading. Stock margin. Profit margin — the examples are vast. In situ, it means the sum total between a ‘product or service’s selling price and the cost of production’. In practice, margin is a buffer.   In other words, margin is whatever fills the gap between success and ruin. Margin is what’s left over after both variable and invariable costs have been ...

It’s Friday night and I have just come home from the fish-and-chip shop up the road. I went up earlier with my 9-year-old daughter Angel. While we were waiting for our order — chips and gravy — she was telling me with much conviction that if you spit chewing gum onto the footpath, some people will come along and pick it up, and because it has your tooth-prints in the gum, ...

So, my eldest started school last week and I was cool with that. Yes, I did get a little misty-eyed at drop-off time (Tyson, as predicted, was totally fine and ran off into the proverbial distance with nary a look over his shoulder). I thought I’d be anxious about leaving my baby, about him making friends, about liking his teacher… but do you know the thing that freaked me out the ...