Winter means woolly socks, hearty soups, cold, crisps days and a variety of amazing fruit and vegies. To find out what seasonal goodies are best to buy print off the Live Lighter’s fruit and vegetable seasonal guide and head down to a local farmer’s market.

Baby, it was cold outside but it sure was warm inside at our special TeamUp pop-up classes!

A big thanks to the stretching yogis and zumba dancing queens who attended the classes, especially the brave ones who were trying the activities for the first time. We hope you had as much fun as we did.

If you missed out, you can attend one of Korinne’s normal yoga classes at The Green Room in Wodonga. Her classes can be found on TeamUp.

Charli’s uptown funk zumba classes in Wodonga are also on the app.

TeamUp is available to download for Android and iOS or to use online at teamup.com.au.

Last month’s collaboration between Healthy Together Wodonga and North East Catchment Management Authority’s Building a Local Food Future forum has had significant political implications at a local and federal level with Federal Member for Indi Cathy McGowan calling the community to action to support local food producers and to develop local food policy.

This forum has been the catalyst for our growing presence in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Ms McGowan invited health promotion officer Brydie Foran to represent the Local Food Network North East and Riverina to participate in the Australian Manufacturing and Farming Program Position Perfect event in late May. 

Ms McGowan has continued to raise issues surrounding local food production including a speech in the House of Representatives about the Building a Local Food Future form and questions to Minister McFarlane regarding Country of Origin labelling. This was a topic raised at the forum as having a very significant impact on our health.

Have you conquered Huon Hill? How about McFarlane’s Hill?

Find a new walk to explore in our beautiful area with VicWalk’s Walking Maps. Walking Maps is a mobile website that makes discovering walks easier and fun. This week we were lucky to hold a workshop with VicWalks and share this exciting new website with local schools and walking groups.

But you don’t need to be part of a school or walking group to get walking. You can also upload your favourite walk and share it with the online world.

Do you have a project idea for children aged 12 years and under?

Whole Kids Small Seeds seeks to provide funds to organisations and groups that work at developing creative and innovative solutions to root-cause problems at the local community level.

Whole Kids Small Seeds will provide a one-off grant up to $5,000 for an individual project. Round 1 closes 30th June. For further information go to their website.

Winter is here and more than half of Australian men and 38% of Australian women expect to pile on up to 5kg during winter.
That’s a lot of extra weight in just a few months!

But with a little forward planning and some consideration for your waistline, it is possible to avoid gaining weight during the cooler months.

Here are our top five tips for stopping winter weight gain in its tracks.

After all, not gaining weight in winter is much easier than trying to lose it when summer arrives!

1. Cut back on takeaway and eating out
2. Watch your portion size
3. Pace your drinks
4. Be active every day
5. Embrace winter produce

• Saturdays, June 27, July 11 – Murray Rivers Farmers Market
• Wednesday, June 17 and June 24 – Meditation for Children
• Wednesday, June 17 - Modern Cloth Nappies Information Session   
• Sunday June 21 – Riverina Endurance Huon Hill Trail Run
• Sunday, June 29 - Jarvis Creek Jaunt or Touring Tallangatta
• Tuesday July 7 to Thursday July 9 – Holiday Program: Kid’s Cooking Club

We asked the team at Mad4Hair to road test fitness tracking devices and the Headspace meditation app for a week.

The FitBit Flex

To FitBit or to not FitBit? They are all the rage at the moment but at $105 a pop, are they all they are cracked up to be?

Ryan gave the FitBit Flex the thumb’s up. “It kept me accountable. It made me walk more and more aware of my sleep patterns. It was very easy to use and easy to navigate.”

But the downside? “It has a short battery life with a maximum of five days before needing to recharge.”

Ryan gave the device 4.5 out of 5 Healthy Together Wodonga stars.

Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit

Matt tested out a similar device to the FitBit, the Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit, a combined fitness tracker with smartwatch which will set you back about $150.

But as Matt says, you may get a little more bang for your buck.

“It has a whole range of functions from physical activity tracking, heart rate, sleep tracker and pedometer and provides me with an up to date summary of my activity. In addition it syncs with my mobile and emails so I can check my messages from these devices. I only need to wear one device as the Samsung also acts as a watch. The device is easy to use, comfortable and better than the FitBit.”

But like a FitBit it does need to be charged regularly.

Matt highly recommends the device, giving it 4.5 Healthy Together Wodonga stars.

“People who use a lot of technology don’t would still find this device great to use. It helps with motivation.”

Headspace app

Tash opted for having a mental break and tested the Headspace meditation app, available to download on iOS or Android, the first 10 meditations are free. It’s described as a gym membership for your mind and guides you through mediation sessions.

Tash said: “The app is simple and easy to use. It’s very easy to find 10 minutes out of you day to do these meditation sessions. I really enjoyed using the app.”

But it was maybe a little too relaxing. “The voice of the presenter at times relaxed me too much as I started to get sleepy. I also would have liked to be able to previews some of the sessions and be able to move between stages.

Overall Tash gave the app 4 stars and encourages others to use it as a starting point for meditation.

Ingredients

• One medium whole JAP pumpkin
• One cup of water

Preparation:

Heat oven to 180 degrees. Place whole pumpkin in the oven to roast until the outside is darkened. This will usually take about two hours.

Remove from oven and peel back skin with a spoon. It should just scrape off easily. The pumpkin will almost be caramelised.

Scoop the whole pumpkin into a blender with one cup of water.

Blend. Serve.

Source: That Sugar Film Facebook page