Whilst strength training sets the foundation for fitness, doing so in a gym or with a personal trainer is not theonly physical activity you should do to stay healthy, but rather should be part of a wider active lifestyle. Making physical activity an easy part of your daily routine – like cycling on your commute to and from work, for example – or taking it up as a social activity – like weekend hikes or playing a social sport – should also be considered as part of this active lifestyle.
When it comes to social sport, combining fitness with socialising with friends or work colleagues has its benefits both physically and mentally. Social sport gives your training schedule variety and also promotes social health by spending time with friends and meeting new people.
On a personal note, I have been playing Touch Rugby League (TRL) for a number of years as my social sporting competition of choice. More recently, I’ve started working more closely with TRL through JS-PT on corporate health programs as an addition to group training sessions.
To speak more about the benefits of playing social sport and playing TRL in particular, we invited Chairman of TRL Tom Longworth to feature in this month’s JS-PT news:
Touch Rugby League (TRL) was founded in 2005 and has always been a social-sport at heart. Whilst we do offer very competitive and elite pathways, at the heart of our offering is providing teams the chance to exercise and get fit, but in a social context. TRL provides a great opportunity for people to meet others and has been an avenue through which thousands of Corporate teams have built upon team spirit and camaraderie.
Whilst physical health is important, so is mental health and a big part of that is maintaining healthy relationships with friends, family and work colleagues. In reality, we all spend more time with work colleagues than just about anyone so being able to relate to one another in a work context, and to have a strong bond (built on trust and respect) plays a key role in mental health.
TRL provides a great opportunity for people to engage, to develop a sense of trust, respect and teamwork on the field all whilst having fun and of course keeping fit. Strong relationships make for a better workplace.
With multiple locations across Brisbane (and Australia), it has always been straight forward finding competitions to enter, and also has helped me implement more cardiovascular training into my week! For more information on any of the above, please feel free to contact Tom directly by emailing tom@trl.com.au or by visiting the website.
Following a recommendation from a JS-PT client, we thought we would share something different this month. Homemade vegan Easter eggs, from Jamie Oliver himself:
“For most of us, Easter has become a chocolate-filled, sugar-fuelled holiday, full of chocolate eggs, bunny-shaped treats and colourful Easter baskets.
For many parents, the prospect of endless sweet treats coming their children’s way can be daunting, so to help out, we’ve got a refined sugar-free, vegan chocolate egg for you to try.
These eggs are great fun to make with the kids, and while you’re at it, you could make some Easter baskets, which you can then fill with your homemade treats! You’ll need an egg mould, which you can buy online or at some large supermarkets – depending on the size of your mould, this recipe will make around six to eight small eggs or one bigger one.
To make 1 large egg or 6 to 8 smaller eggs, you’ll need 200g coconut oil, 6 tablespoons agave syrup and 120g raw cacao powder. You could also add 2 to 3 tablespoons of peanut butter.
Method:
1. Melt the oil in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Once melted, carefully transfer the bowl to your work surface.
2. Add the agave syrup (you could use maple syrup or even honey for a non-vegan version) to the melted coconut oil and mix together.
3. Add the cacao powder and stir until you have a smooth, liquid chocolate.
4. Reserving a little of the chocolate mixture, pour the rest into your moulds of choice, tilting the moulds so the mixture covers the surface.
5. Leave the moulds in your fridge or freezer for around 20 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.
6. Take the moulds out of the fridge and carefully remove the chocolate egg halves. Spoon in the peanut butter (if using) for a surprise filling.
7. Brush the rim of each mould with the leftover liquid chocolate, then stick the egg halves together.
8. Leave to set in the fridge for a further 10 minutes, then enjoy!
9. If you’re planning on buying traditional shop-bought chocolate eggs, it’s best to get good quality, dark chocolate with a high cacao content, as these will contain less sugar.”
Are you working long hours and often hunched over a computer? Are you racing to and from back-to-back meetings whilst trying not to think about how you will manage the mass amount of emails coming in? Are you feeling stressed and rundown by the increasing demand on employees? As a fellow corporate professional I truly understand how close to home these are working in the corporate world. I have seen firsthand how gradually these detrimental work habits begin to take a toll on our bodies and minds in the form of stress, tension and sickness. Whilst a mild amount of stress can help us meet deadlines, too much or constant stress can have a significant impact on our overall wellbeing. We spend over one-third of our life at work, that’s why it’s so important that we introduce tools early to help us better handle workplace stress and improve our overall wellbeing in the corporate world.
One of these great tools I have found is Yoga. I’m sure you’ve heard of Yoga, but you may be wondering how turning yourself into a pretzel is going to help you in the workplace? Fair question, so let’s break this down.
Why Yoga?
Everyone has different triggers and reactions to stress and in today’s world, stress is inescapable. The good news is you can develop ways to handle stress through Yoga principles. Numerous studies have shown how Yoga can help to counterbalance the body’s physical, mental and emotional reactions to stress. Yoga is more than merely a physical practice and another element of yoga that is becoming increasingly common in the western world is meditation. Yoga not only assists in the daily pressures placed on the physical body, it can also positively affect your mental and emotional wellbeing through meditation and mindful practices.
You don’t have to be an advanced yogi to learn and apply these tools, so let’s have a look at three quick practices you can implement to better handle stress and improve your overall wellbeing in the workplace.
Desk Yoga
It’s not news that we’re all spending more time hunched over our desks creating tight hips and shoulders, a creaky neck and sore back. All the usual consequences of slouching at your desk for 8 hours a day. Sitting for prolonged periods of time can lead to imbalances in your body that cause poor posture and injury down the road. Yoga can help reduce discomfort and target areas of tension, being an effective way to counterbalance common physical ailments.
I’ve suggested 6 quick and effective stretches you can do at your desk in less than 5 minutes. If you need a visual, google these names for the image of the stretch:
Taking some time in your workday to perform these quick stretches might just save you a more expensive trip to the physio!
Mindful breaks
In a world where busyness can be perceived as success, taking a lunch break can sometimes be frowned upon. However, what you do in your lunch break can have a huge impact on your productivity for the rest of the day.
Eating at your desk or spending your break aimlessly scrolling through social media can leave you feeling not very refreshed. Productivity reduces, it’s harder to focus and you may need that extra dose of caffeine to get you through.
So maybe step away from your desk and try a few of these:
• Take a walk around the block without looking at your phone. Really notice what’s going on around you and take in the fresh air. • Eat your lunch mindfully. Take some time to appreciate the flavor and texture rather than rushing to eat while checking social media. • Practice some mindful meditation in your break, deep breathing and paying attention to how you’re feeling.
Taking a deliberate break from work with a short walk or a bit of mindful relaxation can have powerful effects on our end-of-day concentration, stress, and fatigue.
Meditation
Research on meditation has shown it has many benefits, such as easing stress and anxiety and inducing feelings of tranquility and calmness. While the body needs constant movement to be healthy, the mind thrives with regular doses of stillness.
Our minds like to be busy to help us accomplish tasks, however this can also cause us stress and lack of focus. The good news is, we can train our minds to be calmer and more focused through the practice of meditation. Spending just 5 minutes in meditation can completely change the way you approach life and how your body responds to stress.
More popularly of late, the western world has been referring to ‘Mindfulness Meditation’. Here’s some quick tools as to how you can implement a 5-minute mindfulness meditation in your day. So set an alarm, and let’s get started.
• Find a comfortable position and close your eyes • Feel which parts of your body connect to the floor • Draw your attention to your natural breath, becoming aware of the sensation of each inhale and exhale • Inevitably, your mind may wander, if it does, draw your attention back to the breath • Notice the sounds around you • Notice the temperature of the air on your skin • If your mind gets carried away in thought, return your focus again to the breath • When you’re 5 minutes concludes, gently open your eyes and notice what’s around you; colours, objects, people • Pause for a moment and notice how you feel before continuing your day
There you have it, that’s it! Simple, quick and effective.
The practice involves training your mind to focus and be in the present moment without drifting into concerns about the past or future, which is where stress and anxiety can arise. Like any exercise, consistency is key. Give it a try next time you are standing in line, before a meeting, or anytime you need to regroup and have a moment of downtime. With regular practice, mindfulness meditation may also assist you in:
• Remaining calm under pressure • Improving focus, attention and productivity • Making decisions from a calm and grounded place • Re-energise and clear your mind • Experience less stress and anxiety • A sense of connection • Improved sleep
I hope you enjoy these tips on how you can easily implement yogic principles into your corporate day to better handle stress and improve your overall wellbeing. Like everything, start small and be kind to yourself, but most importantly, make a commitment to yourself as changes don’t happen overnight.
Sending calming vibes your way.
Diane Jeays
From Corporate Yogini (@coporate.yogini on Instagram)
Mindful Eating – I’m sure you’ve heard the term, but do you feel like you’ve really grasped the concept? These days the term ‘Mindful Eating’ has somehow found its way into diet and weight loss programs around the world. Yet using mindful eating as as weight loss tool actually goes against what the practice of what mindful eating is truly about. Let’s break this down. So what is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is all about deliberately paying attention, non – judgmentally to your thoughts, emotions and physical sensations in the present moment. It’is purpose is to help free yourself of reactive, habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and acting. It is about balance, choice, wisdom and acceptance of what is. Ok, so how does Mindful Eating fit in?
Mindful eating involves the act of non-judgmentally acknowledging your hunger and fullness cues to guide your decisions of when to begin and finish eating foods, and eating with awareness of all of your senses – sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. It helps to develop non-judgemental responses to food (likes, dislikes, neutral) while allowing yourself to become aware of the positive and nurturing opportunities available through food selection and preparation. It is a tool to learn which foods will best satisfy your hunger. Why is it not for weight loss?
As you can see, the core purpose of mindful eating is to eat without judgement guided by your internal hunger and fullness cues. Practicing mindful eating with the intention to lose weight means that you are entering the eating occasion with expectation and judgement – to lose weight. If those expectations aren’t met, generally feelings of failure arise – which more often than not lead back to partaking in another behaviour for weight loss – which is a classic example of the diet cycle. So how can Mindful eating help?
Eating is a behaviour and behaviour change is hard! You can follow a meal plan or pay someone to dictate to you what to eat until they are blue in the face, but at the end of day you have to learn to eat for YOU. Improving your eating behaviours is not about weighing less for a moment in time, but about learning to eat well for the rest of your life. Mindful eating can assist this in this in a number of ways:
• Reconnecting with internal physical hunger and fullness cues: We were all born with the ability to regulate our hunger and fullness internally, but as we get older and life gets busier these cues get interrupted by our environment (i.e. increased stress, working shift work, designated eating times, being preoccupied with work,). By bringing awareness to your body’s sensations around hunger and fullness, mindful eating can help you reconnect with this innate ability we are all born with.
• Reduce Non – Hungry Eating: As natural cues to hunger and fullness are explored mindful eating can help you to identify any instances of non hungry eating (i.e. eating because you are bored, stressed, depressed, lonely, procrastinating or just because it is there). Recognising these occasions is the first step to behaviour change and allows you to explore other remedies for non-hungry eating than food.
• Reduce Overeating: Awareness during eating is also key to mindfulness practice. Combined with hunger-fullness awareness this allows us to notice when a food ceases to be as palatable or as enjoyable, helping to determine when satisfaction has been reached. This is called the ‘Law of Diminishing Pleasure’.
• Increase confidence around foods we feel powerless around: We all have them, those foods that we don’t keep in the house because we don’t trust ourselves around them. Avoidance is a short term solution but long term it’s important to feel confident that you can be around certain foods without going crazy. When eating for ‘pleasure’ over ‘fuel’ – which is totally ok to do, practicing mindful eating can help us to determine when our pleasure/sensory needs have been fulfilled. For example you may buy a chocolate bar because you genuinely feel like it – in the past you might eat the whole bar because it is there, using mindful eating you may find that just half the bar satisfies you – or you may not! Only you can determine this.
How can I be a more a mindful eater? Here are 5 ways you can start with now:
Write a definition of your hunger as if you were to put it in a dictionary- i.e. I feel… an empty feeling, gnawing and… fatigued, moody.
Keep a hunger diary- Note down times you get hungry and any relevant circumstances around your hunger. Are you hungrier on days you exercise? Or perhaps days you have a larger workload? Less hungry on days you are stressed? Identifying patterns can help you to pack, prepare and choose foods that are more likely to satisfy your hunger.
Give your hunger and fullness a score / 10- this is best practiced around meals you feel your overeat at (See scale below). Try to identify how much you need to stay in the comfort zone (i.e not getting so hungry you bite someone’s head off, and not getting so full that you feel unwell).
Eat without distractions- Turn off the TV and put down the phone. Save your attention for the eating experience!
Be curious with food, even if you have had it a million times- Before taking the first bite, ask yourself; What is the colour, texture and shape of your food like? Does it feel warm, cold or neutral? What does it smell like? Does it smell as you expected? Do different parts of it look, feel or smell different? Take a bite, but don’t chew yet! Is it cold, warm or hot on your tongue? How does the texture feel? Is it soft, smooth, dry or hard? Is it a combination? Chew slowly…How does it taste? Is is sweet, salty, or a mixture of both? Does the texture change as you chew? Does the flavour change as you chew? How does it feel on your tongue as you move it around your mouth? Now swallow…Has the taste changed again? Are there bits in your teeth? What is the aftertaste like? How is it similar or different from your first chew? Do you need more or are you satisfied?
I hope you enjoy these tips on mindful eating and remember – mindful eating is about eating without judgement and is a skill that takes practice. Start small – if you can only practise mindfulness at one meal this week that’s ok, be patient with yourself – remember behaviour change is hard.
For more on mindful eating, why not visit the Centre for Mindful Eating at www.tcme.org
Serena Sullivan
I: @gathernutrition
F: Gather Nutrition and Dietetics
W: www.gathernutritionaustralia.com
Improving your health requires changes that are sustainable for the long term. As a Precision Nutrition coach, we often provide guidance to our clients that are interested in fat loss on how to master certain food habits which will naturally lead to improved calorie control and food selection. These habits are:
1. Eat slowly and stop at 80% full
Most people (including myself) can often tend to eat their meals far too quickly, which lessens our ability to feel our hunger and appetite cues. Did you know it takes 20 minutes for our satiety mechanisms to kick in? The communication between our stomach and our brain is slow, and because of this, if we eat quickly we are far more likely to eat too much before our brain notifies us that we’re content. An excellent goal would be to aim to spend 15-20 minutes each meal. I realise this may be difficult for some so slowing down by even a few minutes will still have it’s benefits. This way, you will be able to properly gauge your fullness, which will enable you to eat until you’re ‘80% full’ which is defined as eating until you are no longer hungry, rather than eating until you’re full. This may take some practice but overall will be beneficial for your digestion, performance during your exercise, and better sleep if you’re eating before bed.
2. Eat protein dense foods with each meal
Research has shown that not only is a diet higher in protein completely safe, it may actually be important for achieving the best health, body composition (body fat % and muscle mass), and performance. The fact of the matter is, it’s hard to achieve these things with a suboptimal protein intake. By incorporating decent amounts of protein (20-30g for women, 40-60g for men) per meal, you will not only ensure you consume an adequate amount of protein, but you’ll also stimulate your metabolism, improve your muscle mass and recovery, and reduce body fat.
3. Eat vegetables with each meal
Science has demonstrated that in addition to the fibre and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) packed into vegetables, there are also important plant chemicals called phytochemicals which are essential for optimal functioning inside our bodies. Unfortunately an inadequate vegetable intake is something I see all too often, which was reflected in Australia’s new food pyramid released earlier this year which placed vegetables (as well as fruit and legumes) as the food group we should consume the most. Given only an estimated 7% of all Australians reach their recommended intake of vegetables per day, it is something we should all aim to improve on. Including two servings of vegetables/and or fruit during each meal, not only will you regulate your overall food intake but you will also be receiving the many disease fighting benefits that vegetables provide.
4. Eat healthy fats daily
As a general rule of thumb, about 30% of your diet should come from fat, although this can change between each individual. Whilst you should focus on adding monounsaturated (extra virgin olive oil, some nuts, avocados, red meats, eggs) and polyunsaturated (some nuts, some vegetable oils, fish/fish oil) fats, including some saturated fats is ok too as a balance of all 3 types of fat is optimal. The benefits of dietary fat include the balancing of hormones, increased brain and nervous system health, and improved metabolism.
Mastering these four habits are simple and sustainable ways to improve your overall health, body composition, and performance, as your calorie control and food selection will be greatly improved.
(Inspired by the Precision Nutrition Certification Manual)
Health is our greatest asset – we’ve all heard it before, and deep down we all know it. Taking care of ourselves physically and mentally through exercise should be one of our highest priorities given all the health benefits it brings, but often prioritising exercise can be a challenging one when the calendar is full. Sure, we all have businesses to run, children to pick up, meetings to attend, but I guarantee you someone who is much busier than you is still scheduling time to exercise. As Arnie says below, if Barrack Obama and The Pope can make time, so can you!
Finding that optimal work/life balance can be challenging, but if you follow the following few tips, that balance may be easier to find than you think.
Schedule time to exercise. Enter it in your calendar and make time rather than find time to exercise. Schedule 30 minutes for a workout and some time to shower and change afterwards. Everyone is busy, but let’s face it, if your child needed picking up because no one else could, you could get out of the office. If you had a dinner you needed to attend to which meant you had to leave work by a certain time, you’d make it happen. That same commitment should be made to meeting your exercise needs.
Work out efficiently. You don’t need to spend hours on an activity to see results or to receive the health benefits that exercise delivers. You can do plenty in 30 minutes. Pick something you can do at home, when traveling, or in the gym. High intensity interval training, bodyweight exercises, running, and cycling are all good options. Hire a personal trainer if you need help with consistency and intensity, and therefore the time you do spend exercising is beneficial.
Enjoy what you do. One of the most important points – find something that fits your lifestyle and personal preference, because you are more likely to make time for something you enjoy. Not everyone is a runner or a yoga enthusiast, so don’t do it because you feel as though you have to. If you’re not sure of what you may or may not enjoy, experiment with different activities until you find something. This could mean social sporting competitions, boxing for fitness, dance classes; there’s no right or wrong.
Make it social. Don’t want to exercise alone? Get together a group of friends or work colleagues and join a group activity. Whether it be organising fitness boot camp for your workplace, starting a yoga or pilates class, or joining a social sporting competition such as TRL (touch rugby league) or indoor football, there are plenty of group activities out there to try. Training with friends means you are held accountable if you don’t show, and you won’t want to let the team down will you?
Choose something over nothing. Even if you start by doing the minimum, if it’s more than what you were doing initially, it’s a start. Starting small on little things such as going for walks, or catching public transport every so often is better than doing nothing at all. From there you can build to any of the suggestions in this post .
Once you prioritise your health and start making time to exercise each week, not only will you improve your energy and physique, but you are greatly decreasing the risk of a number of health conditions such as heart disease/stroke, certain cancers, and depression/anxiety. Despite everything that we face each day, it’s easy to forget what our biggest asset is, and that is living a life with good health, because without that we can’t achieve much!
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Making sense of what exactly is good and bad nutrition is a tough gig for most people. You could bet your bottom dollar that for every piece of information you find on what you should do, there will be a counter argument somewhere as to why you shouldn’t do it. Thankfully, Nutrition Australia finally released it’s new and revised food pyramid last month which aims to clear things up. Let’s take a closer look:
1. Vegetables take centre stage
The bottom layer of the food pyramid is now predominantly vegetables as well as legumes and fruit. With the high amounts of vitamins and minerals present in these foods, they have been linked to a reduced risk of a number of serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.. Vegetables and fruit are also high in fibre which helps with weight control. Given an estimated (and shocking) 7% of Australians reach the recommended daily intake of vegetables, this is a good start to the new pyramid.
On a side note, while both are good options, still aim to eat more vegetables than fruit.
2. Include healthy grains
The renamed carbohydrates group has shifted up from the bottom of the pyramid to put more emphasis on Australians eating more vegetables. Carbohydrates, even with their bad reputation these days, are essential in a healthy diet and the new pyramid encourages (whole)grains such as quinoa, brown rice, multigrain breads, and oats which are also all rich in fibre. That being said, other carbohydrate options such as white rice are not poor options and can easily be included in a well balanced diet.
3. Have a mix of different sources of protein
The second top layer emphasises consuming a variety of protein sources from dairy, meat, and non meat products. While red and white meats are the obvious choices of protein, people often forget dairy products (such as cottage cheese and greek yoghurt; whey protein powder also falls in this category) are also rich in protein as well as being high in calcium.
Consuming a mixture of fish, nuts, and seeds will not only give you variety in your protein, but will also help you reach your recommended intake of healthy fats.
4. Fat is good
Fats are often neglected but they have major roles in the body which include manufacturing and balancing hormones and improving brain and nervous system health. A mix of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are ideal for optimal health. They can be found in oils, avocados, nuts and seeds, fish, and eggs.
5. Junk food has been canned
The previous food pyramids had junk food at the top in the ‘eat in small amounts’ category, and whilst I think the amended food pyramid is much better, I will say that eating a small percentage (under 10% of your daily intake) on whatever you wish will not have an effect on your overall body composition and will also help you control cravings. For the average person though, not having the junk food option on the pyramid is the correct stance.
All in all, Nutrition Australia has done well with the updated version of the food pyramid. For the average person, it is a good starting point to refer to and if followed consistently would definitely improve the current eating habits of Australians unfamiliar with good nutrition practices. Putting more emphasis on vegetable intake is a much needed addition to the pyramid, and is definitely one aspect of nutrition which is hard to disagree on, regardless of what your good and bad nutrition stance is.
You can have the best nutrition plan in the world, but if your compliance to the plan is low, your results will be minimal. Those that travel for work often know all about the challenge of remaining compliant with their plan, and even those that travel occasionally can relate. If you fall into this category, then the following strategies will help you increase your adherence to a nutrition plan.
Choosing the best location
Whether you’re away for a conference for a couple of nights or working in an interstate office for the week, your first priority should be location. Not just in relation to where your work commitments are, but how close are you to supermarkets/gyms/restaurants from your hotel? Are you within walking distance? Without these type of places being close, it’s easy to make poor selections.
Choosing a room with kitchenette
Price is an obvious factor here, but a room with a kitchenette or even just a fridge, you can stock the room with healthy snacks/meals such as fresh fruit and vegetables, yoghurts, breads, sliced chicken/turkey, milk, bottled water etc.
Research restaurant menus in advance
If you intend on eating out, hop onto the websites of the possible restaurants where you intend on eating so you know what could potentially fit into your plan.
Bring protein supplements
Often the biggest challenge for people who travel often (even those who don’t) is maintaining adequate amounts of protein. If you are using the above strategies then you should be doing well to maintain sensible eating patterns, but bringing your own protein powder down is a good and quick fall back option if you aren’t able to eat as well as you would like.
While these are pretty simple steps to take when travelling, sometimes it is easier said than done to be compliant with a good eating plan. Put into place these strategies and help increase the likelihood of you remaining on track with your nutrition goals.
Step 1: Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the coconut milk and water and bring to the boil.
Step 2: Reduce heat to low. Add the chicken, pumpkin and lime leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. Add the beans, peas, lime juice, sugar and fish sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until the beans are bright green and tender crisp.
Step 3: Serve with rice. Top with Thai basil leaves.
Kebabs, couscous, haloumi, and chilli. Four things I love! An easy recipe with a good amount of protein and flavour which doesn’t keep you in the kitchen for very long. Check it out below.
—
For the Couscous salad:
Method:
1. Bring stock to boil in a saucepan over high heat. Place couscous in a large bowl and pour the boiling stock over. Stir through with a fork. Leave covered for 5 minutes and stir through with a fork again to separate the grains.
2. Cut up haloumi into smaller pieces. Heat saucepan with oil over medium heat, and add haloumi. Cook for approximately 1-2 minutes each side or until golden brown.
3. Add haloumi to couscous along with spring onions, chilli, and chickpeas.
4. Make the dressing: whisk lemon rind, 1/4 cup lemon juice, paprika and oil in a bowl until properly combined.
5. Pour dressing over salad. Serve!
For the chicken kebabs:
Method:
1. Preheat a BBQ or pan on medium high, cook the kebabs while turning until properly cooked through.
It’s all the craze lately isn’t it? 30 Day cleanses, celebrity endorsements, sugar free this, paleo that. It’s hard not to be a little curious and question whether one diet is right for you. The question of which one is best for weight loss is certainly something that has been brought up in conversation with me in the last month or so. My answer has remained the same though: whichever diet or plan you can sustain for the long term is the diet that is right for you.
Those who follow the Facebook page must think I sound like a broken record, but the fact of the matter is, all health related goals should be made with a long term view. It should fit your lifestyle, and it definitely should take into account your personal preferences if you want to succeed, because what Pete Evans (Chef from My Kitchen Rules) may eat may not be what you want on your plate every day. Each person’s individual needs are different.
Be consistent with your plan, be flexible enough to enjoy a variety of foods, and be patient! I can’t stress that last point enough. Ups and downs are inevitable, so don’t beat yourself up and instead remain focus on the overall goal.
Whilst strength training sets the foundation for fitness, doing so in a gym or with a personal trainer is not the only physical activity you should do to stay healthy, but rather should be part of a wider active lifestyle. Making physical activity an easy part of your daily routine – like cycling on your commute to and from work, for example – or taking it up as a social activity – like weekend hikes or playing a social sport – should also be considered as part of this active lifestyle. 
