All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing

– Edmund Burke 1770 (attrib)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When they come for you,

who will be left to fight?

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Health experts fear community confusion is driving Queensland’s growing obesity crisis.

The grim warning comes as a new survey found only four per cent of people could tell the difference between healthy and unhealthy food.

“In a recent survey, people were asked to identify foods as healthy and unhealthy. Worryingly only four per cent of people surveyed passed this simple test,” NAQ Nutrition Senior Nutritionist Aloysa Hourigan said.

“The most common ‘pitfall’ was people incorrectly identifying unhealthy foods like high-sugar breakfast cereals, Caesar salads and frozen yoghurts. These foods are often marketed as healthy but actually contain high amounts of sugar, fat and salt.

“By not knowing the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods, Queenslanders are placing themselves at a higher risk of developing potentially deadly chronic diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

“Basically, people are eating too much, too often and snacking too regularly on junk food.

“A single chocolate bar a day might not sound like much but over a year it could lead to weight gain of around 12 kilograms per year. Simply saying no could help people shed up to 12 kilograms a year.”

Ms Hourigan said it was clear many people were overindulging on junk food.

“There was widespread unawareness about how often we should be eating ‘extras’ foods like chocolate bars and potato chips,” Ms Hourigan said.

“The survey found almost 80 per cent of people were eating ‘extras’ foods up to twice a day. This exceeds the Australian Dietary Guidelines which suggest most Australians should eat very little or none of these foods as part of a healthy diet.

“With this amount of confusion it is probably not surprising recent research found Queensland has the highest rate of obesity in Australia.

“Small changes can make a big difference. Simply saying no to extras can make a positive difference to your weight over time.

“The obesity crisis is a significant health issue confronting Queensland and, unfortunately, this survey gives Queenslanders an ‘F’ for nutritional knowledge.”

The survey found:

·         78 per cent of people ate high sugar, high fat foods (cakes, chips, biscuits, lollies and chocolates) one to two times a day

·         20 per cent ate high sugar, high fat foods three or more times a day

·         On average, people ate high sugar, high fat foods 10 times a week

·         Almost 20 per cent consumed sugary drinks every day.

Ms Hourigan said there was a range of ways people could take charge of their own health including using food diaries to keep track of what they are actually eating.

“Research shows recording how much you consume is one way to help reduce consumption,” she said.

“There are plenty of free apps that can help people record what they eat or alternatively the old-fashioned way of using a pen and paper can be just as effective.

“Why not make it easier for yourself at home by doing a basic pantry and fridge audit and getting rid of the junk food and stocking up on lots of vegetables?”

Diabetes Queensland, the Heart Foundation and NAQ Nutrition are encouraging Queenslanders to eat healthier, smaller portions during the festive season. The Queensland partnership is also supported by the Australian Government’s new obesity prevention initiative, Shape Up Australia and funded by the Queensland Government.

When he announced his retirement at the end of the first sitting week of Parliament, Kevin Rudd surprised not only his own colleagues, he also shocked his old foe Dr Bill Glasson.

Glasson had only recently returned to work, and after some hesitation (he admits to exhaustion following the September election), he’s decided to step forward again for the LNP.

Dr Glasson is well known and well liked in the electorate and a speedily organised by-election would have suited him. However, by waiting until November 23 to formally submit his resignation, Mr Rudd bought some time for the Labor party and avoided a pre-Christmas poll.

The focus now is on who will replace Rudd as the Labor Party’s candidate for Griffith.

Two candidates, Terri Butler, an industrial lawyer on the Labor Left, and Jeremy de Lore, purportedly new to the Labor Party and supported by the right faction, will fight it out for that opportunity at a plebiscite (70 percent branch members; 30 percent party executive ‘Electoral College’), to be held on December 14.

For now, Jeremy de Lore is keeping a low profile. He has been reported as saying he won’t be spruiking his polices until after December 14.

Not so Terri Butler. She is active on Twitter, has her own ‘Terri Butler for Griffith’ blog, and has recently been interviewed on radio and in local media. She spoke with No Fibs this week.

She said she is talking to media now because she does not want Dr Glasson to get all the running on the issues.

Griffith, she said, is a diverse electorate and the issues vary across the suburbs, but key concerns include airport noise, childcare, and workforce participation, and not just for the young. “I am passionate about addressing age discrimination … it takes away people’s power,” she said.

The Newman Government’s block on Commonwealth funding for the cross river rail has angered parts of the electorate, Ms Butler said, which may be a factor in this by-election, particularly given what she terms the “disrespect” and “arrogance” Newman has shown voters by sacking the Crime and Misconduct Committee. This she said, “has given rise to great community outrage”.

Some have touted this by-election as an early litmus test for the Abbott Government and its ‘axe the carbon tax’ policies, so I asked Ms Butler what she made of Dr Glasson’s recent comment, reported in the Fairfax media, that: “If we try to sell it (the election) on a political basis, or a leadership basis, we won’t get up”.

Ms Butler responded that Dr Glasson “probably has some sense that Mr Abbott’s government is not travelling well. Voters must be horrified that the Government has so soon got into such a sensitive position with Indonesia”.

She added that the recent issues of the separation of an asylum seeker from her new baby has not played out well for the Government.

“After the results in this week’s Nielsen poll I can understand why Dr Glasson would want to distance himself from Mr Abbott,” she said, “the problem for him is that he is Mr Abbott’s candidate.”

It is still not known whether the Palmer United Party will run a candidate in the election. PUP was not a factor in Griffith in September and Ms Butler said that people are now waiting to see what that party will do, and commented: “We know about the public persona, but we don’t know enough about what they stand for”.

She acknowledged that Bill Glasson is a nice bloke, and is generally liked in the electorate, but said: “Being in parliament is not about being nice, it is not about who Tony Abbott would have a glass of wine with to sort things out privately, which is what Dr Glasson said on the ABC the other day, it is about representing the views of your constituency”.

“I think Dr Glasson will be hamstrung because he has to toe the party line. Voters can be confident that I won’t be a mouthpiece for Tony Abbott, but they can’t be confident about that when it comes to Dr Glasson.”

Ms Butler acknowledged that, “no-one really likes by-elections”, but noted that others have resigned in similar circumstances to Mr Rudd.

“Peter Costello and Alexander Downer did it, and Rob Borbidge after he lost the State election. I understand why a former leader might think it’s the honourable thing to do, to leave the party and make room for renewal, and I think people will understand that.”

Asked about the legacy of her possible predecessor, she said Mr Rudd will always be remembered for connecting with the community. “He donated over 900 bikes to the community”, and on a national level she said: “His apology to the stolen generation was a watershed moment in Australia’s history, and his government steered us through the Global Financial Crisis”.

Butler sees herself as a reformer within the Labor party, but it remains to be seen whether the party and its members are ready to embrace her as their candidate for Griffith.

And if so, whether she can replace Kevin Rudd in the affections of Griffith voters.

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2013/11/27/whos-naughty-nice-silly-season-starts-griffith-jan-bowman-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.DkXOc6qs.dpuf

Anyone walking down Boundary Street in recent days will have noticed a hive of creative activity at the People’s Park in the middle of the street, with numerous people engaged in renewing the large mural which covered the entire wall on the northern side of the park.

This mural is a collaboration between Jugglers Art Space and five Indigenous Australian students, studying at Griffith University, Southbank Campus (formerly known as QCA). All the students are just finishing their first year of the Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art.

According to Andrew Gall, one of the artists, “As a group, my fellow classmates and I came up with a design and storyline for the mural. We sought guidance from one of our lecturers, Mr Laurie Nielson, who was the lead artist on the previous mural. The design was then shown to Mr Peter Breen from Jugglers and Councilor Helen Abrahams, both agreed that the design would be suitable and a start date was set.”

The new Mural will be officially launched, and presented to the people of West End, at a ceremony in the Park at 4.00 pm on Monday 9^th December. Light refreshments will be served. More information on the opening is available from Councillor Helen Abrahams’ office on 3403 2165.

The story reads from left to right when facing the wall:

Our story is ‘History in A Day’, that is to say from the far left to the end of the mural on the right, has a pallet of blended colours taken from sunrise to sunset then on into the night and finishing with the vibrant colours that make up the modern style of Graph art.

As you look to your left you will see a young Aboriginal boy sitting, looking down the river in a thoughtful pose, what he is thinking is left up to the imagination of the viewer. The young Aboriginal boy also represents a time when the river was young.

The river meanders through a tranquil natural bush setting until it reaches the next phase of its growth. Now it is midday and the colour tones have changed. This stage is represented by a young Aboriginal man, who is also looking downstream.

However this young man is standing next to a signpost and the name on the signpost is “Boundary Street”. The signpost is wrapped in barbed wire and a chain restricts this young Aboriginal man’s movements, illustrating a significant point in the history of both the river and West End.

(In Colonial times, Boundary St in West End and Spring Hill marked an actual boundary, which the local Aboriginals were prohibited from crossing to enter the young settlement of Brisbane, outside certain hours – Ed.)

As the day is coming to an end the river meanders past a site where the sacred fire used to burn bright, within the dancing flames there is a name, Musgrave Park.

It is evening now and the colours have changed, the river has grown older and bush has gone. There is an elderly Aboriginal man looking towards where the bush used to be, now there is a city with building taller than the trees which once stood proud and tall, the river keeps flowing on into the vibrant colours of the city lights, which reveal West End.

The Artists on this project are;

From Jugglers; Jordan Bruce (Lead artist) & Gus Eagleton

QCA Students were Emily Martin, Tori-Jay Mordey, Warraba Weatherall, Jason Murphy and Andrew T Gall.

Photo Credit: Kate Bennett, Embellysh Photography.
Caption: Back Row: Jason Murphy, Gus Eagleton, Andrew Gall and Cr Helen Abrahams
Front Row: Tori-Jay Mordey, Emily Martin, Jordan Bruce and Warraba Weatherall

Office workers can rest assured – as long as you are physically active, your desk job won’t kill you.

While increasing attention has been paid to the detrimental effects of overall sedentary behaviour in recent years, new research from the University of South Australia shows that long periods spent sitting can be combatted with moderate physical activity.

Published today in the international journal Obesity, the study shows a desk job won’t put you at risk of obesity and associated health problems as long as you exercise.

UniSA Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Carol Maher says her study is good news for office workers.

“The nice thing about these results is that people with desk jobs can be reassured that as long as they are doing a bit of activity, their desk job isn’t putting them at risk of obesity,” Dr Maher says.

“And our results suggest the amount of physical activity needed is actually very achievable.”

Dr Maher’s study was done on 5083 American adults, taking cross-sectional analyses on a nationally representative sample from the April 2003 to June 2005 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. She undertook the study while she was a visiting scholar at Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana last year.

“I looked at how people’s physical activity and sedentary activities were related to the risk of being obese and overweight,” Dr Maher says.

“We classified people into three activity and three sedentary groups – low, medium and high physical activity; and low, medium and high sedentary activity.

“We found that low physical activity was a strong predictor of obesity. People who had low levels of physical activity were up to four times more likely to be overweight or obese than people in the moderate and high activity groups, while sedentary time was unrelated to being overweight.

“Obesity was more strongly related to not being active than either TV time or total sedentary time.”

Dr Maher says the amount of activity needed is ‘achievable’.

“Small differences in daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity of just five to 10 minutes were associated with relatively large differences in the risk of obesity.”

The full study can be read at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20430/abstract