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Boot camp: nowhere to hide

This new exercise craze is taking off around the world, not just as an intensive 'get-in-shape' tool, but as a regular part of a training program. But what’s involved in this military take on physical activity?

This new exercise craze is taking off around the world, not just as an intensive ‘get-in-shape’ tool, but as a regular part of a training program. But what’s involved in this military take on physical activity?

What’s the difference?

Just like any other group activity or fitness class, boot camp, provides added motivation of working out with peers. But with boot camp there’s no slacking off at the back of the aerobic class, as your fitness instructor, aka drill sergeant, is there willing (screaming) you on at every turn.

Many boot camp programs also involve team building and adventure activities that push you mentally as well as physically. Chances are you’ll find a new depth of motivation if you’re last in line to finish your team’s commando course.

The other obvious difference is that it is based outdoors, so you’re likely to get a good dose of rain, hail, and if you’re lucky, sunshine. As a new recruit you’ll also be kept mentally active as you trial new equipment and activities for the first time.

What type of activities?

Fat loss and a top cardio workout are two of the main physical outcomes from boot camp activities. Types of activities range from sand jogging and hill training to wall climbs and log rolls. You may even be sent on an individual or group mission that involves a test of your brain (problem solving ability) and brawn (strength, stamina and endurance).

How do I enlist?

Some boot camp programs require a doctor’s certificate clearance before they’ll sign you up whereas others are tailored to cater for varying fitness levels. If the idea of pushing yourself beyond your normal limits is daunting, then maybe boot camp isn’t for you. But if you know you need to step in line, check out programs run in conjunction with your gym or a corporate package for your next work do.

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Introducing solids to your baby

When it comes to introducing solids, slow and steady certainly wins the race. Let’s take a look at a few of the fundamentals and latest advice.

If you’re a first time mum and have a baby around the four month mark, you’re probably getting excited about starting solids. But before you rush into stocking the freezer with mini casseroles and other bite-size gourmet delights, it pays to remember that patience is the key.

Worth the wait

The age of introduction of solids goes in and out of vogue, however current health professional guidelines recommend solely breast or bottle feeding with the appropriate formula until your baby turns 6 months.

Ages and stages

The signal to start solid food is not simply age specific and you should take into consideration how developmentally ready your child is. Signs that they are ready include an interest in your own food, good head support, loss of the tongue-thrust reflex, as well as wanting to chew on everything including toys and their hands.

First foods

Baby rice based cereal mixed with expressed breast milk or infant formula still tops the list as the first food of choice. However there is no reason not to choose a fruit like pureed apple or pear or a vegetable like pumpkin.

Off the menu

There is no need to add salt, pepper, sugar or other condiments to spice up the variety of your babies pureed pumpkin or apple as babies have super sensitive taste buds. What seems bland and boring to you will be a whole new gourmet adventure for your little one. It’s also best to avoid foods that can cause allergies like wheat and egg whites until 8-9 months and wait for large quantities of cows milk, shellfish and honey until after 12 months. If you have a known allergy history in your family, say to nuts or strawberries, it’s wise to leave these foods as well until at least three years of age.

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Best breakfast ingredients

With focus these days on functional foods, breakfast cereals are one group that has its fair share of super ingredients. Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits in your bowl.

There’s no debate on the power of breakfast as the most important meal of the day for good health, disease prevention, weight management and optimal cognitive and physical performance.

Beta-glucan – is a type of soluble fibre found naturally in oats that helps lower cholesterol re-absorption and protects your heart health.

Calcium – is an essential mineral for building strong bones in childhood and protecting this strength as you age. Eating a cereal fortified with calcium plus milk at breakfast, is a great way to maximise your intake of this nutrient, and along with weight bearing exercise, prevent osteoporosis.

Soy phytoestrogens – are naturally found in soy beans and there is increasing evidence that they help maintain the heart and bones. They may also be beneficial for women during menopause to help complement natural hormone levels.

Zinc and vitamin B6 – are two main players in keeping your immune system in tip top shape. Zinc is also vital for growing kids and one mineral that they may fall short on.

Hi-Maize Resistant Starch – is a unique dietary fibre that is particularly important for bowel health as it encourages the growth of good bacteria. Research shows that Australians currently consume around 5g per day of resistant starch, however 20g per day is recommended.

Folate – is a B vitamin that is particularly important for women of childbearing age as it is vital for a healthy pregnancy. Adequate dietary folate can help prevent neural tube defects, like spina bifida, in babies. Folate is also heart friendly as it has been shown to lower plasma homocysteine levels, a marker for heart disease.

Antioxidants – vitamins C and E, along with plant extracts known as phytochemicals all protect your body cells from the damage of free radicals. By minimising this oxidative damage you are decreasing the risk of lifestyle disease like cancer and heart disease.

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Top lifestyle tips to get in great shape

9

Get back on track this year with my top 10 healthy lifestyle tips for 2005. You might like to adopt 1 or all 10.

Print out the lifestyle tips and stick them on the fridge or your pin board at work, as a daily reminder. Or write them throughout your diary as memory joggers at the start of every month.

Tip 1

Eat a wide variety of foods and remember that if you eat well, you’ll feel great. Try to include ‘superfoods’ such as yogurt, kiwifruit, beans, oats etc. in your regular diet.

Tip 2

Eat breakfast. Not only will it give you energy to get through the day (and improve your mood), it will also help stop you snacking on the wrong foods later.

Tip 3

No carbs; no go. Don’t give up carbs as they are essential for physical and mental energy. Choose nutritious carbs with plenty of wholegrains, and eat as many or as few as you need to meet your own requirements.

Tip 4

Include lots of short bursts of easy, fun activity in your daily life to help clock up more incidental activity: take the stairs, walk the dog, get off the bus one stop early.

Tip 5

Beware of portion distortion. Over recent years, serving sizes have been getting bigger and bigger so that nowadays one serve of ice-cream or one bottle of drink can be several times larger than the portion sizes of the past. Keep serving sizes modest and don’t overeat.

Tip 6

Serve family and communal meals smorgasbord or platter style (rather than plated) so that everyone can choose what they like and how much they need. Remember that children usually have a very good sense of how much or how little food they need, but this ability is lost as you get older and become more accustomed to serves. Sit down and eat together with family and friends as much as possible.

Tip 7

Breathe, relax and slow down at times. Remember the fast way is not always the best way. Make time to turn some fast food into slow, relaxed meals to linger over. And partake in some slow, meditative activities like Tai Chi or yoga.

Tip 8

Drink plenty of water and limit beverages containing caffeine.

Tip 9

Challenge your mind and body with new pursuits to keep physical activity fun and keep up your motivation to exercise. Join a new sport club, sign up for a new class or explore a new park or bike path.

Tip 10

Be positive and encourage a positive body image amongst your family and friends, and set a good example. Remember, healthy people come in all shapes and sizes.

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Dog hair removal

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My neighbour’s cat

Moving into a rental property while we were looking for a new house to buy, I found in the backyard what I believed to be a very sick stray cat. Its coat was all matted; it walked with a limp and was incredibly thin and frail.

Feeling sorry for the cat, I looked for a tag in the hope that I would be able to return it to its owner. While looking, I found it had open and weeping sores on its body. I treated the animal as kindly as I could and offered it some food — the cat ate all that it was offered voraciously.

We already had enough cats, so keeping it and nursing it back to health was out of the question. Deep down, I realised that I would have to take it down to the local shelter, as it was just too cruel to keep letting it suffer so.

I retrieved my cat cage and put the poor animal inside and drove down to our local animal shelter, knowing that it was unlikely that anyone else would take on such a sick animal.

A month later we received our neighbour’s mail so I went next door and knocked on their door to pass on the mail. The neighbour thanked me and informed me that she was quite upset because her cat had gone missing and asked if we had seen it. She went on to inform me that her cat was so old its coat was permanently matted and it walked with a limp. As she continued to describe what her cat looked like, I was quite horrified and ashamed to realise what I had done.

Knowing that it was too late to do anything about retrieving her cat, I replied that we hadn’t noticed it, expressed concern and hope that she would find her cat soon, and advised her to check with the local animal shelter just in case.

I then left as quickly as I could and went home, sick with dread over my actions, which I had thought to be the correct actions at the time. We moved a few weeks later into our new house and we never saw our neighbour again.

I made a point never to help any stray animals again.

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Golden retriever troubles

Question:

How can we stop our four-year-old female golden retriever from “mounting” people when they come over? We have had her desexed but this has done little to solve the problem. Help!

Deb, via e-mail.

Answer:

Usually mounting behaviour is not sexual but dominant in nature, especially in a desexed female dog. She is trying to tell your guests that she is higher up in the pecking order than they are. Usually dominant dogs are pushy for attention, may resist being moved (eg, from furniture) and will be obedient for some members of the family and not others.

If there are no other problems such as aggression, you can just concentrate on training her out of this embarrassing habit. Have her on a lead when visitors come and work on her obedience so that you can ask her to sit as they approach. Give her a treat and praise when she sits and ignore any attempts to mount or jump (she will be under control on a lead).

Teaching her to drop is even better as she can’t drop and mount at the same time, but also because these are submissive behaviours — she is submitting to you. She needs to be reminded that as a dog her place is the bottom of the pecking order. She will accept this and realise that behaving appropriately gets her far more pleasant things — dogs are very quick to learn what works best for them!

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Reality TV for cats

Question:

Hi Dr Julie,

It’s my cat’s 10th birthday soon. I remember you mentioning a DVD called “A Walk on the Wild Side”. Can you please tell me where I can buy this as my cat loved the preview we saw and would like to see the full movie. Thanking you in advance!

Chelsi, via e-mail.

Answer:

You are correct: the DVD is “reality TV” for cats and is called “A Walk on the Wild Side”. It features critters such as fish, birds and crickets up close, with realistic sounds to get cats interested. It is available online at www.catsizeentertainment.com or at pet stores and vets.

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I had my kids’ father thrown in prison

Rob and I married in 1994 and were happy raising our three daughters. But a few years ago Rob began to change. He bought a motorbike, shaved his head, covered himself in tattoos and started to hang around with a mob of rough bikies. I knew he was smoking marijuana but as he never did it in front of the girls it wasn’t a major concern.

Then, last year, all our lives changed. Rob got behind with our rent and we were evicted. He started to abuse me and the girls. We moved to a farmhouse 15 kilometres out of town and from then on his mates came over every Friday night. They’d spend the entire weekend drinking and taking drugs in the shed, and they rode in and out at all hours of the night and day.

I asked Rob what was going on and he told me they were using and selling heroin and cocaine, then he grabbed me around the throat and warned me to shut my mouth. I knew I had to get the girls away. I was also pregnant again, but I hadn’t told Rob. I’d been waiting for the right time.

A few days later he seemed in a good mood, so I told him. Thank God the two eldest children were at school and the little one was asleep because Rob went absolutely wild. He accused me of having an affair, then he hit me so hard in the stomach I could hardly breathe.

That night I lost the baby and he even made me drive myself to the hospital.

Finally I rang my sister Teresa in South Australia and told her everything, and she promised to help. Her husband John is a policeman, and we hatched a plan to catch Rob in the shed at the weekend.

Now all I had to do was get the girls and myself away from the farm the next Friday.

Rob always told me he’d never let me leave him because I knew too much but I begged him to let me take the girls to his mother’s place, 175km away, for the weekend.

On the Thursday night he agreed to let us go. I rang John to let him know I’d be away for the weekend and everything was set to go. At last it looked as though I was going to get out of the hell I was trapped in.

On Saturday morning I got a call informing me that Rob and six of his friends were at the police station. The drug squad had raided our place and found drugs with a street value of $20,000, plus $15,000 worth of cash and stolen goods. This was a much bigger load than even I knew about.

Rob and his mates are now locked away. The girls and I are living with his mother until I save enough to move to another state. Rob’s mother didn’t know what he was up to and, naturally, she’s very distressed, but I’m happier now than I have been for years, and she’ll never know I was the one responsible for her son being thrown in jail.

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Quit now

Quit now

By Annette Campbell

The new year always comes loaded with hopeful resolutions but many don’t actually make it into action. Right at the top of many lists is the declaration: “I’m going to quit smoking!”

No one knows the reality of how hard it is to quit more than Sydneysider Michelle Stanger. But now that she’s succeeded, Michelle also knows first-hand how great it feels.

“I feel like a different person,” says Michelle, 42, a part-time administration manager and mother of nine-month-old son, Jack.

“I haven’t had a cigarette now for five-and-a-half years, and that was from having smoked a packet or more every day. I definitely feel so much better. I don’t have that continuous cough and wheeze, or the horrible taste in my mouth. And when I wake up in the morning I’m not exhausted.

“I will never go back — especially now that I have a baby, because I don’t want smoke around him.”

Michelle says she’d been smoking on and off, “forever”. She started at 13, quit at 19, started again at 21, and then smoked at least a packet a day until her last cigarette ever … on July 25, 1999.

“That was the day I went to a health retreat,” she explains. “I was actually going there to lose weight but I thought if I gave up smoking as well it’d be an added benefit.

“They say withdrawal symptoms usually occur on the second or third day but for me it was day four. I was a basket case! I had more of a psychological reaction and was quite distressed and miserable. I cried and slept alternately for the next 18 hours and when I woke on the morning of day five, I actually felt much better. By the end of that day I felt fantastic!

“Since then it’s been quite manageable. I still have cravings, especially during social or stressful situations. But every day it gets easier.

“One thing that’s made me stick to it is mentally rewarding myself for every day or week or month or year I haven’t smoked. Just thinking ‘well done, fantastic!’ The fear of failure also helps — who wants to go backwards?”

So you’ve made that new year’s resolution to quit smoking?

Quit Victoria has made planning your attempt easy by developing the New Year Quit Pack. It’s free and available by calling the Quitline on 131 848 or visiting their website, www.quit.org.au

“It’s full of tips and resources to help smokers cope with the tough times they might face when quitting in the holiday season,” says Quit’s executive director, Todd Harper.

“Keeping with the festive spirit, the New Year Quit Pack includes a lift-the-flap planner in the tradition of an advent calendar. The planner covers the countdown to your quit day and the weeks following. Each flap gives you information on why you are ready to quit and how to go about quitting.”

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