The next morning started off with a breakfast sponsored by Kellogg's, complete with a speaker on fiber and sugar in breakfast cereals. The food was good, and I actually liked how these tasted. I guess they are good for putting on top of yogurt.
They also served this cereal.
Here I am with Charmain. They had flags up in the main auditorium to show all the countries represented at the Congress.
I loved this poster from Nestle. I spoke with the Nestle rep for a bit about their promotion of breastfeeding as the best choice. I found it interesting because they are a huge maker of infant formula. In Australia, based on their laws and beliefs, they encourage breast feeding first and help encourage moms to make that choice. I think this is great because this support (could) automatically gets them a loyal customer down the road, whether for formula if they decide later that is a better choice for them, or other products. Also, they can't market it to parents and have to go through physicians and clinicians. It is not kept out in hospitals, as they have a baby friendly initiative, and parents must bring their own formulas if they wish to formula feed in the first few days. They are really trying to get new moms to at least start by trying breast feeding. I was impressed! Even the formula information had a "warning" label that breast feeding is the best option (unless contraindicated) and supplementing may interfere with successful breastfeeding. Come on USA, you could learn a thing from Australia!
I enjoyed this tasty sample of sparkling apple juice. It is a product of *gasp* the Coca Cola company.
Can't go wrong with a sample of almonds!
The rest of my morning was filled with information on web based weight loss. Here are some takeaway messages from this study on web based weight loss.
Here is some more information taken from the slides during this session. There were a few speakers that shared about their experiences using web based practices and programs for weight loss interventions. It was a really good session.
Lunch time! I made sure to pick up a sample of Chobani. It has just launched in Australia. This made me so happy because I was able to enjoy some samples.
Lunch was a boxed meal. I had the vegetarian box. It had some lentil salad, vegetable sushi, noodles and strawberries.
Charmain had the regular meal. It was a sandwich, sweet potatoes and strawberries.
Here I am enjoying lunch with Charmain. The weather was superb!
Here I am at the fun fountain.
Some pics of Darling Harbour as sunset was approaching. We went for a quick stroll before I headed to the social even that night, called the Australian Food Festival.
We decided to walk over and look at these famous steps, which are used by locals as a meeting place.
Then we headed to the Queen Victoria Building, which is known as the QVB. It was a Thursday night, so this meant a late shopping night. Here is the statue of Queen Victoria that stands outside this historical building turned shopping mall.
I love the elevator inside.
The whole inside of the building was very neat actually.
Crazy chandelier!
Whoa! Look at that view down.
Funky lighting inside. I liked it!
Not sure the significance of this, but it was a clock and the scenes depicted where of the new settlers taking away the children of the Aborigines.
Not sure why, but the tiles make a lovely Jewish star.
Cupcakes? Sure! Can you believe this was from a Coach store?
They even had live music going on.
Then we headed back over to the harbour area, and I met up with the group to head to the Doltone House, which I guess is a famous or well known hot spot for events.
There was a kangaroo statue outside to greet us.
So, here is the deal with the food. It was basically stations around a very large room with limited tables and really you just had to stand. Unfortunately, some of the foods were not very conducive to standing, especially the dessert. The food was pretty good, but the inconveniences of eating won over, at least in my opinion. Plus, there were wait times of 20 minutes in some lines for food, like the fish and chips. I still waited and just chatted with those nearby, but it was not the easiest to mingle with many people while you were stuck in line. The lighting was also so dim that taking pictures was nearly impossible. But, of course, I gave it a try.
This was the dessert. It was a meringue cookie that is apparently a well known speciality here. I can't remember what it is called, but I was told it is something they are known for. It was good, but hard to eat standing up while holding a glass of wine. I topped mine with kiwi.
This was a shrimp cocktail. Like I said, the pics were hard to take.
Before I knew it, 2 hours passed and I needed to head back and get some rest. It was a long day, but a very good day. I really enjoyed everything I was learning at the conference, especially about the usefulness of online weight loss programs where dietitians gave feedback to electronically kept journals.
QUESTIONS: Have you ever used an online tool for weight loss/weight management? What is your favorite cereal?
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