New calendar shows an easier way to health

Health does not have to be complicated. Making good healthy choices must be easy and straightforward. And it must be easy to see the benefits. So the pointed finger and lengthy instructions have been packed away and the healthy messages have been cut right to the core on the new wall calendar that SEAHEALTH Denmark is now distributing to vessels in the Danish merchant fleet.

Most people know that healthy living gives you greater well-being and fewer aches and pains. Most people also know that carrots are a healthier choice for the coffee break than muffins with chocolate icing. But how can we motivate ourselves to prefer healthy daily choices? SEAHEALTH's new wall calendar arranges and serves simple, healthy choices that are so appetizing and inspiring that they are just right to sink your teeth into and benefit from the well-being. 

Three cartoon characters figure in the SEAHEALTH wall calendar and we follow them here and there as they get tips on healthy choices in their daily lives. The drawing here is from November in the calendar.

Small tips for top trim

We often hear that healthy living means we need to make lifestyle changes. But it can be difficult to find out how to start on making changes to something so major as one's whole lifestyle. Especially if you are somewhere where you are not fully able to set the framework for your diet or the exercise you take. But in fact there are very many small things people can do in their daily lives without this meaning a difficult, gigantic upheaval. The calendar is based on the messages being simple and the gains obvious. Making healthy choices aboard does not need to be complicated. And every individual small healthy choice is a good investment in the body's machinery.

The calendar directly indicates the small things that people can do in their daily routines that can help trim their machinery and tune their engines. There are daily tips for each calendar month. 

 

Meeting point on the wall

The calendar is produced in a version with three languages: English, Danish and Filipino. Each month is divided partly into a theme with drawings and tips and partly a calendar part with room to note arrival times, departures, pilots and anchoring. There is also a space for other events such as crew birthdays and Danish and Filipino national holidays are pre-printed on the calendar.

- Being in tip-top form and feeling well is not only about what we put in our mouths. In the broadest sense, it is also about how we treat each other and the sense of community that we build up aboard. What do we talk about at meal times? We decided that the calendar should not only talk about health and provide good tips in that direction. It also needs to be a meeting point to get people talking about food, festivals, traditions, habits and plans. On a vessel with crew from several different countries, it can be difficult to find an opportunity to talk about these things amongst daily routines. Ask each other aboard about the significance of the various public holidays and celebrate each other's events, says Connie S. Gehrt, Director SEAHEALTH Denmark, on the whole idea of the calendar.

More in the internet

There is a calendar portal at www.seahealth.dk with more tips about healthy living aboard. You can for example find recipés developed in association with the Danish Heart Foundation and a guide for easy, effective exercises that do you good.
 

07/10/09