“Georgie’s birth was, frankly, terrifying”
We are lucky enough to have many expat mums share their pregnancy and birth stories with us, but this time we asked for a father’s perspective. Mike Stuart, a British chef now living in Australia is the proud dad of Georgina, born in October last year.
Mike’s story
Having grown up in Manchester, UK, I went on to study French & business management at Manchester University. While studying, I found myself learning to love fine food, and I made the decision before I graduated that I wanted to own a restaurant one day.
In 2009 I planned to travel around the world for about 18 months, however, having arrived in Australia I immediately began to fall in love with the place. The culture is a tapestry of every corner of the globe, although, obviously, there is a large British influence here. After seeing some of the country, I got a temporary job in Sydney over Christmas. However, my temporary job ended becoming much more permanent, and almost three years later, when the restaurant I was working in closed down, I was already living with my partner, Melinda, and firmly attached to Sydney.
Now, nearly two years further down the track, we have a daughter, Georgina, who was born on Halloween last year, and a clumsy, excitable and thoroughly lovable dog, Elsa.
Drug companies are slow to engage clients on social media.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently drafted guidelines for drug companies wanting to engage on social media. Currently only around half of the 50 largest pharmaceutical companies have a social media presence.
The reasons many drug companies shy away from engaging users and patients on social media are well-known. From anxiety over compliance regulations, privacy concerns, lack of familiarity with social media, to difficulty quantifying return on time invested in maintaining social media account.
The Netherlands tops the global food index with the best diet.
The Netherlands is the number one country in the world for having a nutritious, affordable, and plentiful diet. According to a new food database from Oxfam International, the Dutch diet beats Swiss and French food into second place, partly thanks to its emphasis on dairy produce and vegetables.
European countries make up the top 20, aside from Australia, which is in joint eighth place. The U.S., New Zealand, and Canada all come outside the top 20, due to the high rates of obesity and diabetes.
Scandinavian countries are among the happiest in the world.
The second annual World Happiness Report was released towards the end of last year, identifies the happiest countries in the world by looking at a range of criteria. Leading experts in several fields – economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be used to assess the progress of a nation.
The 2013 report highlighted the following countries as being the happiest:
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, dieting always tops the list. Weeks of festive over-indulgence means that fad diets see a massive spike in January, only for them to fade away somewhere around mid-February. Here are five to avoid this new year if you’re looking to stay healthy in the long term.
The 5:2 Diet
So called because of the how the diet is broken down over a week, the 5:2 diet recommends five days of ordinary eating and two days of ‘fasting’ (500 calories or less). The jury is still out on whether the diet is either damaging or beneficial to your health, though some early studies suggest it can help ward off certain cancers, as well as other diseases such as diabetes.
It’s pretty impractical however, as concentration and energy are sapped enormously on fasting days, meaning lower productivity and almost no desire to exercise. Aside from this, if you don’t improve your diet on those 5 ‘ordinary’ days, getting healthy is always going to be an uphill struggle.
Companies need to refine their expat packages to match individual requirements in different regions.
Employees sent abroad with their families are the most likely expatriate group to access healthcare abroad, according to a new survey from the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC). Over 90% of families on assignment access care, compared with 64% of single expats.
Unsurprisingly, expats with families who either move with them or stay at home make different choices to single expats. The Expatriate Trends Study 2013 revealed expat assignees with partners, spouses, or children back home are more likely to seek routine treatment in their home country rather than locally.
“Older mothers” are classed as over 35, but women over 30 face the same risks.
A study from Sweden and Norway suggests being pregnant over the age of 30 may be riskier than previously thought. The results could change medical thinking about the definition of “older mothers”, report the Guardian
The study of almost 1 million new mothers showed women aged 30 or older are at higher risk of having a stillbirth, a smaller baby, or a premature birth than younger mothers. Women giving birth for the first time between the ages of 30-34 are equally as likely to see their baby die as women between 35-40.
A recent survey revealed that the world’s unhappiest school children are found in South Korea. The country topped the list in the OECD’s PISA 2012 study, with fewer than 60% of children polled saying that they ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with the statement ‘I feel happy at school’.
This is despite the fact that they are also heralded by the OECD as being among the highest achievers academically. Korea’s consistent academic success has arguably been responsible for fuelling its economic revolution over recent decades; but it would appear that this has been to the detriment of the country’s young people.
The intense pressure that is put on Korea’s school children to achieve academic success is considered a major contributing factor to the low levels of happiness they experience. When looking at parental expectation, Korea also tops the list; with nearly 90% of parents expecting their children to go on to gain a university education.
Huge challenges faced by expat families with children with special needs.
Raising kids with special needs can be a huge challenge whatever country you’re in. But it’s often made that much harder by a big move abroad. The strains every expat faces – a new language, an unfamiliar culture, a lack of support – are all made worse by the additional stresses involved with finding the support services your child needs. Add to this the fact that many countries around the world are simply not equipped to cope with the physically and mentally disabled, and it’s understandable why families are reluctant to throw themselves into such a testing environment of unfamiliarity.
Flying home for the holidays? How healthy is your flight food?
Now is the time of year many expats will be thinking about travelling to see family for the holidays. Travelling even relatively short distances can play havoc with your body-clock, eating habits (airport food at 5am anyone?), and your overall well-being.
If you’re flying long-haul then, unless you bring your own meals, you are at the mercy of airline food. A lot of emphasis is put on staying healthy in the air; avoid sitting for long periods, stay hydrated, and reset your body clock, but how healthy are the in-flight meals?