Harvey Norman Reveals Survey Results to Crown Australia's Healthiest States

SYDNEY, October 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Supporting National Nutrition week, Harvey Norman's Connected Fitness team  conducted a nationwide survey to find Australia's healthiest state. Pitching state against state, they found that Tasmania and South Australia can jointly claim to be Australia's healthiest states.

The survey discovered that 88% of respondents correctly identified the number of portions of fruit and vegetables recommended for a healthy diet (two of fruit, five of veg), with 70% of respondents snacking on fruit in preference to junk food. When thirsty, 86% of respondents choose a glass of water over a carbonated drink.

Overall, 83% of respondents plan a healthy, varied weekly menu, ensuring their fridge is stocked with healthy choices, so they don't reach for the takeaway menu. In Western Australia, this figure rises to 91%, while an honest 20% of Australian Capital Territory residents admitted they would microwave a readymeal instead.

A healthy 45% exercise three or more times weekly; South Australians came out top here; an impressive 57% work up a sweat three or more times weekly compared to 33% of Tasmanians. The most popular exercise was walking (19%), followed by running (15%) and weight training (11%), ahead of swimming, cycling and team sports.

46% of respondents walk more than two kilometres in a typical day with a further 30% walking one to two kilometres daily.

Overall, Tasmanians are most comfortable with their levels of health and fitness (33% answering they're 'pretty happy' with how things are), but as a nation, 55% of Australians would like to be fitter and healthier, with 22% admitting they need to improve their health and fitness levels, but struggle to find the necessary time or motivation.

Harvey Norman's Daniel Hosford, says: "Harvey Norman is completely behind the aims of National Nutrition Week in promoting healthy nutrition and increased activity levels. We know it's important that Australians take charge of their own health and fitness, but no one likes being lectured to, so we pitched state against state in the survey as a fun way of highlighting these issues. We'd encourage anyone who wants to get more active to check out our fitness section for ideas on how to reach their fitness goals."

Methodology

View full survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/harveynormanfitness

Low responses from the Northern Territory mean it has been excluded from results to prevent dataskew.