EUROPE WELLNESS FOR PEACE: France has the best health care in Europe!

France has the best health care in Europe, according to research from independent survey centre Numbeo. France topped the European rankings scoring with 82.58. Macedonia scored at the bottom with 35.12. The United Kingdom scored 73.88, making it the 12-ranked country on the list. British healthcare is ahead of Spain's, Switzerland's, and Finland's health systems, but lags behind Turkey and Cyprus, among other countries. According to the BBC, reform in Britain's National Health Service (NHS) has become a major focus ahead of this year's general election. A report published on Oct. 23 warned that the health service in England could face a £30 billion annual shortfall by 2020. Worldwide, Japan had the best score with 87.07. Bahrain and Taiwan precede France on the global ranking. http://www.businessinsider.in/RANKED-The-Best-Health-Care-In-Europe/articleshow/45994968.cms

On Climate Change Talks, Pope Francis advised to make "courageous" decisions to protect God's creation

"I think we have exploited nature too much," Francis said, citing deforestation and monoculture. "Thanks be to God that today there are voices, so many people who are speaking out about it." Francis, who pledged on the day of his installation as pope to make the environment a priority, said he expected his encyclical on ecology to be released by June or July. He said he wanted it out in plenty of time to be read and absorbed before the next round of climate change negotiations opens in Paris in November after the last round in Peru failed to reach an agreement. "The meetings in Peru were nothing much, I was disappointed," he said. "There was a lack of courage. They stopped at a certain point. We hope that in Paris the representatives have more courage to go forward." Source: http://www.philstar.com/world/2015/01/15/1413449/update-pope-climate-change-man-has-slapped-nature-face

WORKPLACE WELLNESS GUIDE. Read how to start doing it in your office

The first step may be to form a wellness committee of employees who care about this topic and are motivated to make some changes within the office setting. What types of changes may these be? Assessing any vending machines in the office is a good place to start. How many healthy choices, such as baked chips, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc., do you see? Contact your vendor to determine what other options you have, reduce your supply of unhealthy choices and replace them with some better-for-you snacks. You could even label these snacks as such to produce an even bigger impact. Putting a policy in place stating the need for healthy vending will make this change sustainable and make your staff aware of the changes that were made and more importantly, why they were made. Next, think about your in-office meetings and events. Are healthy choices available when meals are served to your staff or snacks brought in for special occasions? This is another area where a policy can be effective. Only allowing for approved, healthy snack options during special events or occasions and ensuring that at least one healthy option is provided when meals are served is promoting the importance of health to your staff. In no way is this an ask to remove all unhealthy food from your place of work. Simply, this is an ask to allow for employees to easily make a healthy choice — by making sure that these choices are always available. http://www.limaohio.com/news/health-home_top-news/51019879/Making-healthy-choices-at-work

Good News! Wellness now a School Policy for Students, Teachers & Parents of Newton District

Board policy 504.11 details how the battle should be fought on many fronts, from nutrition education of students and parents to meal time guidelines, providing a summer meal program and amounts of physical activity. That’s a sign of progress for schools, including the Newton Community School District, which held the first reading of an updated wellness policy at its Dec. 22 board meeting. Schools were fighting much different battles against poor nutrition 10 or 20 years ago, but at the Dec. 22 meeting, food service supervisor Cristy Croson had many positive items to report about nutrition in the district.Source: http://www.newtondailynews.com/2015/01/05/school-wellness-policy-addresses-junk-food-other-concerns/a3j1kpa/

UPDATE: New Diet Guidelines to Cut Environment Cost for Better Health of Americans

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, the government has been issuing guidelines about healthy eating choices. Now, a panel that advises the Agriculture Department is ready to recommend that you be told not only what foods are better for your own health, but for the environment as well. That means that when the latest version of the government's dietary guidelines comes out, it may push even harder than it has in recent years for people to choose more fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and other plant-based foods — at the expense of meat. The beef and agriculture industries are crying foul, saying an environmental agenda has no place in what has always been a practical blueprint for a healthy lifestyle. The advisory panel has been discussing the idea of sustainability in public meetings, indicating that its recommendations, expected early this year, may address the environment. A draft recommendation circulated last month said a sustainable diet helps ensure food access for both the current population and future generations. A dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods is "more health promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average U.S. diet," the draft said Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/02/diet-guidelines-environment_n_6409228.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

UPDATE: Giant Philippine storms show climate change threat: Greenpeace

Greenpeace global chief Kumi Naidoo said Sunday increasingly violent storms hitting the Philippines showed the world had to act on climate change, as Typhoon Hagupit barrelled across the country. Naidoo was in the Philippines to "bear witness" to the damage done by Hagupit, the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year, and planned to visit some of the worst-affected areas on Monday. "Nature does not negotiate. We actually have to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to understand that we are running out of time," he said, in a warning to UN negotiators meeting in Lima, Peru, to hammer out the broad outlines of a new world pact on global warming. Naidoo, the international executive director of the environmental group, said that the typhoon passing over the Philippines was an example of the massive damage poorer countries would experience if climate change worsens. He said the storms hitting the Southeast Asian archipelago were getting stronger and stronger, showing the urgency for world governments to act quickly.https://ph.news.yahoo.com/giant-philippine-storms-show-climate-change-threat-greenpeace-202749347.html

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