We're living longer, but not healthier

Hot on the heels of my posts about giving the healthy gut bacteria some credit for disease (particularly obesity) prevention is the latest news from laureate professor, Alan Lopez of Melbourne University. Australia is now number five in the world for life expectancy. Females' average lifespan is almost 84 and males' nearly 80 and that’s a significant increase from 80 and 74 respectively in 1990.

But Lopez is quick to point out that obesity and the multitude of co-morbidities are not only a huge burden on health costs, but they will become more prevalent unless strong prevention strategies are implemented.

Couldn’t agree more! We need to not only encourage, but reward people who exercise regularly and put whole, fresh, unrefined produce on the top of their shopping and eating lists. We need to make it attractive, for those who take personal responsibility for their own health and that of their family without constant recourse to the healthcare system. But for those who are struggling with a legacy of several generations of inappropriate diet and lifestyle choices, burdened with the profound trans-generational effects thereof, we need to give them foundation nutritional support (e.g. probiotics) before we send them out to exercise and change their eating habits, especially if they're planning to start a family. 

Should school canteens be held accountable?

A review of 263 school menus across Australia identified that only 30 percent of primary schools and fewer than 19 percent of secondary schools are compliant with nutrition guidelines. What hope do kids have when national nutrition guidelines are flouted by the very school canteens and tuck shops where they should be most firmly upheld?

I actually believe that the next generation’s preferences for healthy or unhealthy foods are established long before those kids first put food into their mouths and several recent blog posts highlight the mechanism for these epigenetic, trans-generational effects and the importance of making them positive rather than negative ones. School tuckshops come a long way down my list of potential positive influences.

But let’s face it, lots of parents have missed the boat in bequeathing their kids a taste for healthy foods. Lots of parents don’t have the knowledge or the intestinal fortitude that it takes to change the junk-food diet that their kids favour. So can we expect school canteens to set an example? I believe we can - but this recent report indicates that Australia still has a long way to go in getting rid of soft drinks, confectionery, cakes, pastries and other unhealthy fare. Legislation? Hardly a popular move, even though one Australian state has taken that step.  

I don’t know what my local high school serves at its canteen. But trending to green and healthy would explain why on recently queuing to pay for petrol, I was delayed by half a dozen teenage boys on their way to said school, scratching around in pockets for loose change. Eventually boys exited the servo with several litres of Coca-Cola and at least two cans of energy drinks apiece. Pity the teachers whose classes they will inhabit. But power to someone who can change those habits or limit the availability of such choices by school students at 8:00 am - maybe NYC Mayor Bloomberg has an idea?

A generation of fat kids - who's really to blame?

Researchers confirm that junk food consumption during pregnancy will program your unborn child for the same unhealthy preferences. 

If you watch the latest edition of Australia’s The Biggest Loser, even if you only watch the pre-screening ads, you’ll be seeing the trans-generational effects of poor dietary choices at first hand. Now the researchers shed some light on the mechanism and I can’t help but say “I told you so!”

Junk food addiction is indeed an addiction! The consumption of junk food stimulates the opioid receptors and just as with heroin, morphine and other opioid substances, tolerance develops ... more junk food is required to give the same “feel good” effect! And just as a heroin-addicted mother bequeaths the addiction to her infant, the same story applies in the case of junk food!

Good news is, you can program your baby for a different outcome, program her to enjoy a wide range of healthy tastes in exactly the same way. Even better, consumption of things like cruciferous vegetables during pregnancy can confer cancer-protective effects on your baby. 

So get rid of the high-sugar, high-fat, fried, additive-laden and get some clean, green, whole, in season fruit and vegies into you! Where to begin? Try some of the simple, truly nutritious recipes that my very own healthy baby (now 27 years old) has created for you. 

After all, you know that a baby addicted to narcotic drugs is a tragedy, but equally tragic is one addicted to junk food. Do you really want to be the one to blame for your fat family?