The Australian Bite
Junk food teens & the work of invisible women
17 February 2011
Listen and download: MP3
One in four Australian teenagers is overweight or obese, and experts have described the situation as a chronic disease time bomb. But some young people just don’t care – as we find out on this week’s Australian Bite. We also look at the difficulties faced by the many thousands of Australian women who are caring for elderly, sick or disabled family members, and hear the charming story of Nellie – the cow who’s escaped the butcher’s knife twice.
One in four teens “a chronic disease time-bomb”
A survey of 12,000 students in years eight to 11 across 237 schools has found that one in four teenagers are overweight or obese. This national survey, compiled by the Cancer Council and the Heart Foundation, is the first of its kind since 1895, also found 85 per cent of students don’t do enough exercise, and more than 75 per cent don’t eat enough vegetables. These factors, combined with high consumption of soft drinks and junk food, have experts describing the situation as a ticking time bomb of chronic disease. The CEO of the Cancer Council Professor Peter Olver warned that if the situation isn’t dealt with, today’s teenagers may die at a younger age than their parents’ generation for the first time in history. But are they worried? Irene Scott from the ABC’s youth network Triple J hit the streets of Melbourne to chew the fat with some young junk food addicts
Australia’s “invisible” women carers
According to the advisory and counselling service Carers Australia, more than one in Australians provides unpaid care and support to family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness or who are frail. That’s 2.6 million unpaid carers providing services estimated at more than $30.5 billion annually. But research shows that a large number of these carers are both economically and socially disadvantaged. And the majority of carers are women. The story of these so-called invisible women, is highlighted by the writer and commentator Emily Maguire in the latest issue of the journal Kill Your Darlings. Emily Maguire talks through some of the issues with Angela Catterns.
You can read Emily Maguire’s article at the Kill Your Darlings website
The charmed life of Nellie – Tasmania’s luckiest cow!
There’s an old saying that a cat has nine lives – you know, the way they always seem to land on their feet, no matter what the danger? No such saying exists for cows, but there’s a cow in Tasmania who has certainly lived a charmed life – and escaped the butcher’s knife twice. Nellie the cow is 32 years old, and she’s already lived to twice the age of the average cow by softening the hearts of the men who could have turned her into hamburgers. She’s now living happy in her old age, being well looked after on a small property at Montumana in Tasmania’s far north-west. Eliza Wood has the story.
More pictures of Nellie and friends at the ABC rural website
Music: (Not in podcast)
Based in the laid back, slightly hippyish coastal resort town of Byron Bay in new South Wales, Red Bantoo play a great combo of soul, jazz , electronic and hip hop sounds.
Artist: Red Bantoo
Track: Green Honey
Album: Strip Club Etiquette (2010)
Comments