Nov 10---How we eat!

We spoke about healthy eating and how bad we parents are at feeding our children in a manner that is actually good for their future!

Ahlaam Ali from Powereat spoke with us.

Ahlaam is the founder of Fitness Quotient – FZC and the creator of the Powwer™ Eat and Powwer™ Bhangra concepts. Ahlaam had a vision and that was to create a Fitness and Nutrition based Transformation Company that would empowwer people to get fit and healthy in a fun and sustainable way.

Today the fabulously creative and passionate team at Fitness Quotient has indeed empowered its members to drastically change their lifestyles for the better. With the introduction of Powwer™ Eat Online, the services provided by Fitness Quotient - FZC are not just restricted to within the UAE but now stretches further afield including the UK, US and the Indian subcontinent.

Ahlaam holds an International Diploma in Nutrition from the School of Natural Health Sciences in the UK. She is also a member of the International College of Holistic Medicine also based in the UK.

Ahlaam is extremely passionate about enabling members to transform their lives in a holistic and sustainable way. All the various product offerings created by Ahlaam are in direct response to market needs and have therefore proven to be extremely successful!

Message from Ahlaam:

“Living a healthy lifestyle is a mind set. It is about getting to that mindset before you hit the rocky road with various ailments. Also lets not forget leading a healthy lifestyle does not mean you can never again have that slice of pizza. It is about being healthy 80% of the time whilst allowing yourself to be naughty 20% of the time. This is, of course, once you have achieved your goal weight and eliminated any outstanding ailments!! If you have made up your mind to create a new you, the healthy way, and that Switch has Definitely Flicked then congratulations!! You have made this choice as an investment in yourself!! Give one of our team members a call and we will take over from there!!” We also spoke to Lester Owencroft of Lunchboxes and found out that there is hope here! Brought to you by two market leading organizations based right here in Dubai, LunchBoxes.ae provides a unique and exciting online culinary service specially designed to be simple and hassle-free for parents but fun and healthy for children. Citychef LLC and Janell Marketing Consultancy joined forces with a mission to make a difference to everyone's lives in the UAE and to help you create healthy, diverse and nutritious lunchboxes for you child which we then deliver direct to their classroom every day. CityChef is a five-star HACCP Certified catering company that serves the culinary needs of leading establishments, local organizations, royal & international celebrities, cruise liners and airlines. They also cater for large corporate events, mega functions and private parties across the UAE. Headed by Zouhair Harkous, his team of international chefs and state-of-the-art kitchen facilities make it possible for Citychef LLC to satisfy its clients with gastronomic delights of vast diversity. Citychef is part of the CG Group, a conglomerate of ISO certified companies that has been providing an entire spectrum of world-class services in this region since its inception in 1994. What started as a single company devoted to providing security systems has today turned into an international organisation with business interests covering as diverse areas as gourmet catering, comprehensive security solutions, selling and installing security systems, fire & gas protection, electromechanical & power generation, powered access services and facility services, security-services and many other activities in diverse industries. Citychef is a dynamic, forward thinking business entity, that is responsive to its customers needs, creative in its pursuits, leader in its markets and family to its employees. Janell Marketing Consultancy (formerly known as Blue Diamond Management Consultancies), is a specialist marketing organization based in Dubai and headed by Lester Owencroft. He and his team have more than 15 years experience working across the diverse cultures of the UK, South Africa, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and more recently the UAE. They focus on the design and delivery of specialist marketing strategies that help bridge the gap across multicultural divides.

Mar 18---ban the junk food ads

We had a great romp through the idea of selling junk food to children!

Who is responsible for what our children eat anyway?

Ban junk food advertising on internet, say campaigners

• Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
• The Guardian,
• Saturday March 15 2008
• Article history

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This article appeared in the Guardian on Saturday March 15 2008 on p10 of the UK news section. It was last updated at 11:43 on March 17 2008.

Food and drink companies should be banned from marketing unhealthy snacks and drinks to young children via new media such as social networking sites and text messaging, a coalition of international consumer groups and health bodies recommends today.

The group is urging governments to adopt a code that they say would curb the rising obesity rates among children. The code would restrict junk food marketing, including outlawing the use of cartoon characters, celebrity tie-ins, free gifts and competitions aimed at younger audiences.

The federation of consumer organisations - including the UK group Which? - wants its code to be adopted by governments as part of the World Health Organisation's broader strategy to tackle obesity and diet-related disease.

There are 177 million children worldwide threatened by obesity-related diseases. The code, which will be recommended to the WHO's decision-making body, the World Health Assembly in May, tackles the failures of the food industry to regulate itself.

Leading food, soft drink and confectionery companies spent $13bn (about £6.4bn) on advertising in 2006, the coalition says. But that excludes undisclosed sums spent on things as online games, cartoon characters and celebrity tie-ins.

Some of the world's leading food manufacturers market to children on social networking websites and internet chat programmes.

In the UK, popular brands such as McDonald's, Starburst, Haribo and Skittles have switched to the internet to target children since new rules from the media regulator Ofcom have made it difficult to advertise during children's television.

The proposed code specifically targets the marketing of foods that are poor in nutrients and high in fat, sugar and salt.

It also demands a ban on radio or TV adverts promoting unhealthy food between 6am and 9pm, any promotion of unhealthy food in schools, and the inclusion of free gifts, toys or collectable items which appeal to children to promote unhealthy foods.

Sue Davies, chief policy officer of Which? UK, said: "With rising rates of obesity and diet-related disease escalating globally, food companies need to take a more responsible approach to the way they market their foods to children, whichever part of the world they are trading in. This new code sets out the approach that we hope the WHO, national governments and the companies themselves will adopt to curb unhealthy food promotions and instead help to promote healthier messages."

The code is being launched worldwide today to mark World Consumer Rights Day. Over 50 national consumer groups will be undertaking campaign activities to highlight the damage done by junk food marketing and to urge government ministers to support the code ahead of the World Health Assembly.