[Moorf]

Another great suggestion! Keep them coming....

On arrival in NZ have you found yourself embracing the outdoors life and are healthier and fitter than you were in your country of origin? Have you gone from couch potato to iron-man? If so, why? If not... why?!

Have you become more involved in playing sports? Walking? Watersports? Cycling?

Do you eat differently, i.e less processed, more fresh or more pies and more chips?

Has any aspect of your health improved that you could put down to, in part, to your move to NZ?

(I'll do Health System in another one, so just your personal activities/health here please!).

You know the drill......

[Silverwing86]

Emigrating has definitely been adding to my waistline :p ! Soooo many wonderful new foods to try, mmmmmmmmm :laugh...

I do spend far more time outside than I ever did before, even now in wintertime. I would never have considered sitting outside reading a book back there during the winter (not often in summer either, come to think of it), but find myself doing this practically every day here as the sun does come out on most days. I'm very pleased about this as it certainly makes me feel better.

Perhaps this also has something to do with my much increased appetite since we've been here ;) ???

I've also started eating more fruit and drinking more fruit juice as opposed to fizzy drinks.

Now all I need to do is learn to resist all those yummy yummy things like chocolate mud cake and such :D...

Silver

[clg]

It has been healthier for me, mostly because I walk much more, I walk to the train and walk from the train to work each day. I also try and do some more serious walks each week which help. We eat less processed foods here but I mostly chalk that up to taste and cost it has worked out well for us though. We were just back in California for a month and I felt sick at times eating all of the junk food I was used to!

[jubjub]

We are a house of two halves here...

Hubby has taken up mountainbiking, and is now in training for a half marathon, after running an 8k earlier in the year. Initially he piled on a bit as he was here alone for 6 weeks, beer and pizza do not make for a small waistline.

Me, well, lets just say the baby fat hasn't moved.... BUT, I do go out for longer walks than I used to, and not only just to walk the dog, I have a friend that does a lot of walking too, so we tend to just get the kids in the buggies and trot off for an hour (there is not always a cafe at the end of the walk either! :laugh )

[nippa&pippa]

Diet in my family not much changes at all due to family allergies mean I always have homemade foods...
But the lifestyles improving that we now own 10 acres of land, mean my children and us are at outside alots in lovely fresh air, 33km from city of chch. So my OH and my son tend to be outside doing work on the land etc, keeping them busy..
make them eat more through!! without increasing waistline :nice1

[Moorf]

Well, I've lost almost 17kg since this time last year (but that's probably half to do with the health service too - note to self, add Health System to list of myths) :D but, alas, I've started smoking again :o.

Hubby, on the other hand, is a changed man - a lot of it has to do with his newly discovered fetish for sawing and chopping and, yes, even shovelling coal and stacking logs! Having said that, he's 5kg heavier, but in all the right places!

NZ has definitely got us going outdoors a lot more, just exploring and being somewhere new, and having a dog gets you out walking every day, but we haven't changed in that we still prefer the majority of our sports sat on a sofa drinking beer :) and you won't find us cycling up mountains (just skiing down them!).

[gil]

Yep, walking more, spend more time outside, now go kayaking, cycling etc, loving it!

On the downside, we were at the doctor's today because Immy has beensuffering a bit, only to find she's asthmatic. Now, she had infantile asthma at age 2-3 in the uk, but that was treated with Ventolin syrup and never developed into anything serious.
Doc said that NZ is infamous for asthma and if you have a susceptibility, then NZ air will bring it out.

Still, she's got puffers now and we wil see how effective they are.

GIl

[Sam B]

Hmm, we were pretty healthy, fit and active in the UK and we're the same here. We moved to Cornwall because we liked the great outdoors, and it's the same here.

My work is much less stressful, and I am sleeping better. I was drinking more (emigration stress) but that is back in check now.

I put on about half a stone in the first 5 months I think, but I have cut back a bit and increased my exercise and I am back to normal now. I developed a bit of a penchant for cooked breakfasts at the Deli on the Corner in Cambridge and I blame those creamy mushrooms, but I have banned myself from such things for a while.

We always ate loads of veg and stuff, but if we didn't, I'm sure we would be eating more, as eating lots of veg does seem to be the norm here. Food is more real.

[Familyofmonkeys]

We have discovered Aghan cookies and chocolate raisins/coffee beans by the scoop....it's tempting to buy them when they are SO much cheaper than UK.
It's not all bad though....much less choice of veggie burgers, pizza etc, so not buying them as not available! Managing to lose baby fat slowly, so must be doing something right :)

[gpbenton]

My company pays for biscuits at work
:roll

[gil]

My company pays for baskets of fruit at work :D

[barryp]

As does mine. Gotta grab an apple right now....

I find the food environment in NZ much less toxic than in the States - there's an emphasis on fresh ingredients in fast food options, and it's pretty easy to have an affordable and tasty diet of minimally-processed foods. (If you require your foods to be organically grown, that's not so true.) Hurrah for farmers' markets and the ability to avoid high-fructose corn syrup!

Of course one can eat pies and chips every day instead. And I find it rather difficult to avoid the delicious pastry on offer everywhere in Wellington - just thinking about the butterscotch apple cake we had yesterday at Felix is making me very, very hungry right now. Yum.

[andreamatt]

I used to do a bit of running in the UK, nothing very serious - haven't done any for weeks. But have been doing much more walking (to /from school), and messing about with the children - and these steep Wellington hills must be good for something! Have heard there are some fun harriers clubs for all ages, all levels so will look into that. I just feel that I want to be outside more here.

Butterscotch apple cake? Sounds very naughty but nice.

Andrea

[wanderingoregonian]

I think I'm way healthier now... walking up 10x as before, stress cut in half, eatting fresh veg from the market - 90% of meals, plus I now get my meat from a ocal butcher, and in general when I am happy with my lot in life, my health improves.

[macd]

Watched a programme yesterday that did a test on whether running or walking was better for burning fat and walking 1 mile burnt 3.8g of fat whilst running was 3.5g.

[dilanium]

Watched a programme yesterday that did a test on whether running or walking was better for burning fat and walking 1 mile burnt 3.8g of fat whilst running was 3.5g.

The amount of fat burned also depends on what kind of shape your in. If a person hasn't worked out for ages and is in terrible shape they will burn more fat by walking a mile than someone in better shape will.

The more muscle your have on you body, the more calories you will burn (at all times). So people who lift weights tend to burn more calories (and therefore fat) by sitting on the couch than people who only lift the remote control.

Running will increase your cardiovascular health a lot more than walking will though.

[jess]

At first we were stressed a bit by the huge move we'd made and ate too much. Put on a few pounds. That phase lasted about 4 or 5 months I guess...

In the year since then we have taken the weight back off and are eating healthy. Doing far more from-scratch cooking than we'd ever done before. We work out 6 times a week on the weight machine (which I'd never done) and I do a good bit of walking.

I didn't expect that when we moved here we would be healthier, so it's been a nice surprise. Part of it is that my OH works fewer hours in NZ, so there's more time. My hours are the same but I don't have the commute. The cooking mainly comes from necessity (can't afford the prepared foods we bought more often in the states) but I'm enjoying it. The walking is easy here with the gorgeous scenery that makes me want to get outside. I walk around the neighborhood and can see the sea, hear the Tuis...

[kendravixie]

I've lost about 15-20 lbs...

But mostly since I don't have a job. ._.