Colgate Winners

And the three winners of the Colgate toothpaste are… fd, Clare, and Mary! E-mail me your mailing addresses and I’ll send you some toothpaste 🙂

This comment has also made me excited to start a brand-new challenge of raising awareness about cosmetics and household products. If there are any brands or particular types of products that you would be interested in learning more about, let me know and we’ll see if we can cover it.

Geocaching Interview

I recently spoke with Eric, a social media specialist at Geocaching, to learn more about what Geocaching is all about. Although I haven’t tried it for myself yet, it sounds like a lot of fun! Here are some of the highlights from our interview:

What exactly is Geocaching?

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt using GPS to locate hidden items. The items vary as to what you might find. There is a log with each item for you to sign your name so that other people in the Geocaching community know that the item has been found. You take something and leave behind something else of equal or greater value. These items are constantly being moved around the world; each one has an ultimate goal – for example, to get to Paris – and so the person’s job is to fulfill that mission as best they can.

So everyone can do it?

As long as you have a GPS. With the advent of smart phones, people are getting out there even without GPS systems. Sometimes there are keychains or stickers to be found, which makes it exciting for kids. There are about four to five million people around the world involved in Geocaching; it is popular worldwide.

How can people use Geocaching as a part of a healthy lifestyle?

Geocaching is about using technology to enable us to get outdoors, and part of that is about respect for nature and healthier living. Some people have even tried using Geocaching as a form of weight loss – not only to get outside, but to get healthier overall.

What do you think the future of Geocaching is?

<long pause> Geocaching is a constant evolution; the future is wide open. (Editor’s note: I take that to mean that there hasn’t been much thought behind further development of Geocaching – but I suppose with four million people involved, it doesn’t exactly need more development at this point in time!)

Are you planning on sharing information about nutrition and fitness on the Geocaching website? Maybe getting a registered dietitian on the site to encourage people to use Geocaching for health purposes?

<another long pause> Wow, that’s a really great idea! (Editor’s note: If Geocaching starts up as a healthy living program, I want part of the profits for my fabulously innovative idea ;))

Thanks so much for speaking with me, Eric!

Weight loss with Geocaching

I also had the opportunity to correspond with Martin Pederson, a fellow Canadian whose original goal was “to lose 100 lbs while walking 2,500 km and finding 1,000 geocaches in one year” (did someone say “walking”? Yes please!). He completely transformed his way of living to adopt a healthier attitude and lifestyle. Part of that involves Geocaching:

There are caches hidden in easy parks for a quiet stroll and caches that require hours, if not days, of hiking to get to… On average I need to hike 7km and find around 2 ½ geocaches a day.

Now I must admit that I am not losing weight at the pace I hoped. I am eating better but I still have too many weak moments when family life gets a bit hectic. I will still say that this challenge has been a success and I am not going to stop even when I reach my goal. Through Geocaching I have rekindled my passion for the outdoors and I have discovered so many hidden treasures I would not have known about unless someone was kind enough to hide a geocache there. The Geocaching community is very friendly and open to new cachers and it has been a nice way to meet people in our new town.

Thank you, Martin for sharing your story with us!

Have you tried geocaching? Is this something you would be interested in trying out? How do you try to make healthy living an enjoyable experience for the whole family?