Healthy attitudes

Seeing things differently

By now you're probably all aware that I like to look at things differently.  I think it's important, and when it comes to our health I think it's extra-important.

I'll give you two examples: what we eat, and what we drink...

Diet — lots of people hear the word and think it means doing something — eating less or eating the right things to lose weight, and it can mean that, but the word diet is also a noun, it means the sum total of the food we eat. So a weight-loss diet is only one of many.  There are gluten free diets, vegetarian diets, pescetarian diets (for people who eat fish but not meat), even a thing called ketogenic diet (a high fat, low carb diet used to treat epilepsy in some children).

I know what you're thinking: What does it matter that we see diet as a verb and not a noun? It matters because people often go on ‘a diet’ to lose weight, then when they reach their target weight they shift back to the old diet and put the weight on again: just think of Claire Richards from Steps. 

Actually, when someone is unhealthily overweight the best thing they can do is change their attitude towards food, and commit to it long-term. Otherwise their weight is just gonna yo-yo.

Alcohol -- What is alcohol? For some it’s an escape; for some it’s a way to relax; for Homer Simpson:

But actually, it’s a poison.  A healthy attitude to alcohol is to realise that it can be dangerous and it should be treated with respect.

Did you know

·         More than 36,200 people were admitted to hospital because of the toxic effect of alcohol in England in 2011/13 (16,600 men and 19,600 women) – that’s nearly 700 every week.

·         360 people died from accidental alcohol poisoning in England in 2011.

·         From 2007-2010, 20,000 under 18s were admitted to hospital in England as a result of drinking alcohol.

I want you to watch a video about drinking fails

In fact I want you to watch it twice: once to see how funny it is, and the second to see how funny it really isn't.  It’s sad and pathetic.

Take the woman in red who brings a tent down on a wedding party,  or the guy at the wedding who rushes in to grab the bouquet and crashes into a little girl. It’s just embarrassing.

Drunk and classy?

Fail

Local News

Wedgewood  Centre, Mirehouse gets a facelift with help from the Copeland Action Group.  

It's amazing what you can do with paint and elbow grease.

Brave New World?

It’s possible that many of you won’t be aware that there was a by-election yesterday, and that it could be very important to life in this country.

A by-election happens when an MP gives up their seat (either by resigning, retiring, or something more permanent)

In the case of Rochester and Strood it was because the MP changed teams.  The people of Rochester and Strood elected a Conservative MP, Mark Reckless, in the 2010 General Election. So when Mr Reckless decided he wanted to be in UKIP instead, it automatically triggered the need for a by-election.

Well, the people of Rochester and Strood have chosen to re-elect Mark Reckless, and that’s a big deal because it’s the second time in as many months that it’s happened.  Douglas Carswell defected to UKIP and was re-elected in the Clacton by-election, in October.

So what does that mean?

Well, it means the major parties in UK politics are nervous.

It’s a bit like a new company coming to Whitehaven selling burgers: McDonalds aren’t going to be happy. They’d probably do all they could to stop the new company from getting set up in the first place. But imagine the new company do get set up, sell their burgers and get loads of people through the door.  Imagine the new company let’s young people hang out inside for as long as they like. What do McDonalds do then?

Come on in, burgers on me...

Whether they like it or not, I reckon they’d start making some very attractive offers — that’s what market competition really means.

And that’s what could happen in politics.

Until now there have been two main parties — Conservative and Labour, and one or other of them would end up being the government and being in charge of the country. But what if there starts being a third choice, or a fourth, or a fifth? The political parties would be much more likely to make those attractive offers

“Vote for us and we’ll lower taxes”

“Vote for our party and we’ll keep your hospitals open”

“Elect us and get a free pony”

(That’s a real campaign promise from Vermin Supreme)

Local News

The observant among you will have noticed there was no blog last week. That was because we had 20 students from the Whitehaven Academy for the day.  It was a good day and we all learned something — that you can safely house 44 people in a four-bed bungalow and not call it over crowded.

Dodgy taches and lumps

Okay, so it’s November, which means it’s actually Movember and time for the dodgy moustache growing. Which can cause a few funny looks from people 

It’s all in a good cause, raising awareness and funds for the diagnosis and treatment of testicular and prostate cancer (prostate cancer accounted for over 10,000 deaths in 2012, testicular cancer for a further 63), and it’s not just something that happens to old men.  While prostate cancer tends not to appear until men are in their 40s, there are several documented cases of testicular cancer in teenagers and young adults, and there have even been cases in children.

Movember has been very successful in raising the profile of something that’s both life threatening and embarrassing (a bad combination), and it's a great example of the way campaigning can take so many forms.  Basically all 'campaign' means is to fight for a cause, and you can do it in almost any ways you like: writing letters, doing a sponsored event, starting a Facebook group, wearing a ribbon or wristband or sitting in a bath of beans.

The point is that what you do, doesn't really matter, so long as it raises money or awareness (or both) for your cause, you are campaigning.

So what cause to choose? What do you feel passionate about? It's a personal choice.

I chose prostate and testicular cancer because they are life threatening, and people need to know about them, boys and men need to be aware that they could lose their lives to cancer, or possibly survive but lose their testicles or prostate. And that's no laughing matter. Unless it happens to cats.

And it's very easy to guard against these cancers: they can be treated if caught in time, and they can be caught in time, because the symptoms are known. Check out the Movember website for more information on men's health.

The greater the sacrifice, the greater the sense of satisfaction.  So the woman in the bath of beans might feel more proud than the person who just bought a badge.

Movember is a huge sacrifice for me because my facial hair often ends up turning ginger, I run the risk of looking like a bald Keith Lemon, or the Lorax.

Local news

Speaking of cats: funny captions stuck on a picture of a cat is a work of comedy genius.  But tying fireworks to a cat is not. Whoever the Whitehaven resident was who thought it would be funny to physically abuse a cat really needs to man up. It wasn't funny, and it wasn't clever.

It was cruel and sick and they were just lucky the cat got away in time, because they haven't been so lucky in the past; and the problem there is that you turn a lot of neighbours into vigilantes, who would happily cause some physical pain in revenge. 

In 2010 a woman in Coventry received death threats for putting a cat in a wheelie bin, and that cat wasn't even hurt.

Before doing anything potentially hilarious, ask yourself two questions: could anyone get hurt because of this? Could anyone want to hurt me because I did this?  If the answer to either question is yes, it is almost certainly not hilarious...