Is that food good or bad for you? Maybe there's a better way of looking at what you eat and drink.

Fresh orange juice. What do you reckon, is it good or bad for you?

THE ‘GOOD’ ARGUMENT

Well, you could consider it good if you looked at the vitamin C content - that’s really important for a healthy body.

And you might say it was good if you noticed that this bottle (in the image above) was from 100% pure juice, no added sugars or additives, only the natural ones you’d find in the fruit, plus the water.

THE ‘BAD’ ARGUMENT

Of course, you could look at the research into fruit juice and see that drinking it regularly seems to be only mildly less harmful than regularly consuming fizzy drinks.

It’s high in sugar (there are 26 oranges in this carton according to the label). Say you drank all of it over a week, one glass a day. That’s over 3.5 oranges worth of sugar in every glass and you’d never eat that many in one go. The fibre content that’s still present when the fruit is whole would satisfy you much more quickly.

So, looking at it this way, we could say that it might be bad for long-term risk of health problems related to sugar consumption like weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and tooth decay.

ANOTHER WAY: BETTER OR WORSE

The problem with the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way of working is that it oversimplifies things, like a Brexit debate! There’s no nuance, no balanced view.

It confuses people and causes many arguments. Some will freeze and take no action at all because they hear one thing from one source and one from another. And that’s the worst possible outcome.

The terms ‘good’ and ‘bad’ can also become over-generalised. People will say that their diet is bad when, in reality, some parts might be whilst others might not. And, by extension, people might then start to see themselves as bad, bad at sticking to healthy habits, or worse still, bad as a personality trait, affecting their self-esteem negatively.

Let’s get back to the orange juice debate. It’s clear that there are both good and bad elements to drinking orange juice (and to almost anything related to nutrition, exercise, or wellbeing).

What if we looked at it instead from a ‘better or worse’ way of working then?

Meet Jason (as in Jason Orange). He drinks a glass of orange juice with added sugar every day with breakfast.

If he looked at this situation through the ‘good or bad’ lens, it might not go well. He likes orange juice but now he feels guilty about drinking it, so he switches to plain water. It doesn’t last long though, he doesn’t like the taste, so he quickly goes back to his orange juice every day, a bigger glass now because he’s missed it.

What if Jason used a better or worse approach? It could be worse. He might be:

• Drinking the whole carton every time!

• Combining it with a big bag of pic ‘n’ mix sweets for breakfast.

• Drinking bottles of fizzy pop throughout the day too.

• Having whiskey on his cornflakes!!!

Ok, so there are clearly worse options. But yes, there are some better ones too. He considered some ways to work towards a better habit and thought that maybe he could:

• Drink a smaller glass of orange juice each day.

• Have a glass every other day, and then maybe, in time, fewer days a week.

• Switch to a not-from-concentrate variety that at least has no added sugars.

• Mix a little of the orange juice with water so he still gets the taste he enjoys but dilutes the overall sugar content.

All are better choices and would help him move in a positive direction towards better health. These small changes may be more easily sustainable too, and might lead to other positive changes.

Or maybe the rest of his dietary habits are already bloody brilliant anyway! Because that’s another thing about the good and bad approach with nutrition. It takes each thing in isolation. ‘That’s a good food’, ‘oh no, that’s a bad one’. It doesn’t consider the overall balance to the diet. Whereas, if we say, these things are on the better end of the scale, these are towards the worse end, then we can gradually try to shift everything along a bit until we’re in a much better place.

And hey, if you look the way you want, feel the way you want, and your health test scores are coming up roses, then you’ve got a good balance. If you’ve achieved that and you’ve still got one or two ‘worse’ choices in your diet, that’s cool, it’s working for you right now.

You’ll need to keep checking your balance regularly of course. In the same way you check your bank balance, things can change over time and you might need to make tweaks here and there to make something better and keep you where you want to be.

IT’S THE HABITS THAT COUNT

One final important thought. Very few things that you eat or drink will cause you harm if you have them once. That isn’t the problem. The problem (and the solution) comes with what we do most frequently over a period of time.

If I live on chocolate bars and fruit juice for months on end, I’ll likely have issues with my weight, energy levels, and health. But if I have a chocolate bar once a week or a glass of fruit juice with my weekend breakfast, I probably won’t. It’s not the food or drink that’s good or bad, it’s the frequency and consistency with which I consume them.

Equally, fruits and vegetables aren’t magic potions. Eating them once doesn’t make us healthy. Having them consistently over time is what makes them ‘good’ foods.

Does that all make sense? It’s been a big part of my balance philosophy when working together with clients for many years and we seem to have had some great success with the approach. I’d love to know what you think. Please do get in touch and let me know your thoughts on it.

P.S. Remember, even this approach is not good or bad. It’s just a way of looking at the situation. It might be a better way for some, a worse one for others. That’s the joy of the individual things that make every human being different and make the coaching process a joy to work through with them!

"Indiana. Indiana. Let it go." The Sunk Costs Fallacy.

In his seminal work on behavioural economics, Misbehaving, Richard H. Thaler tells the story of a man named Vince who paid $1,000 for a tennis club membership. Even after developing tennis elbow, he continued to play. He didn't want to waste the money he had spent. He only gave up when the pain became literally unbearable.

Thaler calls this the Sunk Cost Fallacy, where we persevere with something in an attempt to mentally recoup that money (or time) already spent, or to get perceived value from it. As he points out, that money is gone, no matter what we do. Punishing ourselves in some way through our continuing behaviours doesn't help.

This, in essence, is what behavioural economics is all about. It blends economic analysis with psychology to offer insights into our behaviours, the values we place on things, and the decisions we make as a consequence.

How I fell foul of the Sunk Cost Fallacy

Recently, I have fallen foul of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. A few years ago, I purchased a highly respected and expensive course in a field that wasn't my home turf. I did so because it wasn't long after COVID and my work had been heavily impacted. I thought it would be beneficial to have a backup plan.

I had a year to complete the course. I did nothing. Partly because work picked up. Partly because we had a rollercoaster of a year with miscarriages, family illnesses, and then a pregnancy. Partly because every time I looked at the course, I realised I found it incredibly dull and the learning experience (and lack of any support provided) meant I just couldn't get into it.

At the end of the year, I had a choice. I could let it go, or I could try to retrieve some value from my spent cash. So, I spoke to the 'training provider' (I put that in inverted commas because the 'training' was a series of web pages to read, occasionally clicking on a box to be able to read the text in a different place - but more on that another time) and I persuaded myself that if I swapped the course for another pathway, that would motivate me to get it done.

Eleven months later, and with an 18-month-old, a very busy work schedule, and more family and life stresses, guess how much work I'd done?

I'm sure you got it right. Nada. So, I spoke to my partner, Lou, and decided to go into overdrive. I understand the language of qualifications and what assessments require very well, and I know I can learn FAST! So I started. I ploughed through an assignment, hating every second of it and feeling like I was learning nothing of value to me (that's not to say it might not be valuable to someone else, it's just not my bag).

I began the second assignment late one evening, and I spent much of the night awake with a very unwell baby, thinking about the course and whether I should continue or not. And then, the following morning, I saw an image on my web provider's homepage. It's the one below, of the city of Petra - or Raqmu as it was called by its creators - in Jordan.

It's also the scene used in the best of the Indiana Jones movies, The Last Crusade. (In my humble opinion, but having watched each at least thirty times, I feel well placed to offer up my view.) It serves as the resting place of the Holy Grail. After the Nazis attempt to remove the Grail, the place begins to fall apart and the Grail falls into a freshly opened crevasse in the floor. Indiana Jones tries to save Elsa - his double-crossing love interest in the film - as she scrambles in to attempt to retrieve the Grail, desirous of the everlasting youth and untold powers it would bring. She can’t reach it and slips out of Jones’ grasp and into the abyss below.

Indiana, though, thinks he can reach it. Jones' father (the ever-wonderful Sean Connery) clings onto Indy's hand and repeatedly tries to get his attention, calling him Junior, much to Indy’s disdain. Eventually, Connery says,

"Indiana. Indiana. Let it go."

And that was all it took. Indiana Jones lets go. He gives up on the Holy Grail and takes both of his father’s hands, Connery hauling him out of the crevasse and the pair beating a hasty retreat before the whole place collapses. With the memory of that film scene firmly in my head, I also knew what I was going to do about my course. Let it go.

What can you learn from the Sunk Cost Fallacy in relation to your health and fitness?

The key thing is to learn to let go of things that aren’t working or don’t feel right. Yes, you may have spent a lot of money on that gym membership but you’re not going, so if you know deep down that’s not going to change, let it go.

You can decide not to go back to that diet ‘one more time’, if you know in your gut (no pun intended) that you don’t really like it.

That’s not to say you should always give up. If something feels like the right path but you just need to do some tweaking and try again, that’s cool. But don’t keep going out of a sense of guilt that you’ve wasted good money or time.

Instead, imagine those smooth Scottish tones of Sean Connery. Let it go, take his hands and let him help you out of that hole that you’ve been stuck in for some time.

The hardest mindset habit of all?

I posted this weekly Facebook feature, Monday Mindset. I thought I’d also add it to a blog post so that it was available for you to look over and use any time, because it’s such an important skill to develop.

One of the hardest challenges of all in fact, something that every single one of us has failed at many times and will do so again in the future. But that doesn't mean it's not worth thinking about and trying to find some tools to help manage it when it happens.

What is it?

It's the ability to separate our actions from our emotions. To press pause when we're about to do things that we know are unhelpful for our long-term goals and ambitions.

Have you ever eaten junk food because you felt low? Skipped an exercise session because you were mentally tired? Maybe had a drink (or two, or three) because you'd had a stressful time?

Then you know what I mean. We often want to perform better, healthier habits, especially when we have goals we want to achieve, but life gets in the way and we make snap decisions that later on we wish we hadn't. 'I wish I'd not eaten that entire box of chocolates last night!' 'My head wishes I'd not drunk both of those bottles of wine!'

So can we break this cycle? Can we get our rational brain to talk to our emotional brain, just long enough to press pause, avoid doing what we don't really want to, and stick to the plan?

If yes, then how?

The answer is different for everyone, but here are a few ideas that might be helpful. Feel free of course, to adapt them or to think up some of your own.

• - POST-IT NOTES: A client of mine used to have one on the biscuit tin that simply read, 'Are you sure?'

• - PHONE AND CALENDAR REMINDERS: If you know when you're most likely to eat the wrong things, or head to the pub with colleagues, can you prepare yourself a message, a bit like our post-its above, that just asks you if you really want to do this?

• - DISTRACTORS: If a message isn't enough, can you ramp it up by setting appointments or catch-ups that mean you physically can't do the wrong thing. Many years ago, I had a man request that I train him at 9pm on a Friday in the gym. He wanted me to work him really hard so that he was too tired to go out afterwards. The plan was to save him over £100 in booze, kebabs, and taxis, plus all the health benefits that came with it. The PT session was cheap at half the price, literally!

• - SUPPORT CREW: Sometimes, we don't have the willpower to say no on our own. That's when enlisting the help of someone else makes a difference. It doesn't have to be a PT like in the case above. It can be a family member, friend, or work colleague, maybe it's someone who's working on a similar goal and needs the same assistance.

Do any of these ideas work for you? Do you have another tool, tactic, or technique you can use instead? If so, please do share it if you're willing so that others can benefit from it too.

Whatever it is, see if you can use it to press pause once or twice this week. And please do let me know if you manage it, I'll be hugely impressed.

Walking Dinas Head, Pembrokeshire

A short but stunning walk around the coastline of Dinas Head following the Wales Coast Path, with great views out to sea and of nesting seabirds, before returning via a flat, tarmac path through sheltered woodland.

Activity type: Walk (but it would also make a fun trail run)

Distance: 3 miles approximately

Elevation: 169 metres (554 feet) of climbing (see Strava elevation for full profile)

Accessibility: No styles, some sections are reasonably steep and have steps (see walk notes at the end for more info.)

Route type: Circular

Start/finish point: Car park at Cwm-yr-Eglwys, Pembrokeshire.

Click View on Strava to check out the route and download the GPX file of the walk here.

The steep road narrowed as we drove down into Cwm-yr-Eglwys, meaning Valley Church. The lane felt even more claustrophobic driving in late June as the hedgerow greenery leaned inwards until it touched the van on both sides. It reminded me a little of watching those Tour de France cyclists riding through an ever-narrowing tunnel of bodies on their exhausting Alpine ascents.

It was early on a Monday morning, still term time, so the car park was almost empty except for one or two cars. As soon as we stepped outside, two things immediately came to our attention, a cold wind whipping off the sea and what looked like some sort of monument. Or was it a church or chapel of some kind?

We donned a few extra layers – a shock to the system after such a warm day the day before – and dressed Lennie in his colourful new raincoat. Wandering past the inland boatyard with its small dinghies and the odd sailboat, the wind brought the familiar sounds of rippling cloth and the gentle clanging of buoy bells.

Behind the boats, a gate led us through into a graveyard and what was obviously then the remains of a small church, now just a single wall topped with a tiny belltower and weather vane. An information board informed us that this had once been St Brynach’s, a 12th-century church, but two storms in the mid-19th century had washed away firstly much of the graveyard and then, in the great Charter Storm of 1859, most of the church as well. Just a few feet beyond the church, a small stone wall separated it from a fabulous little beach, benches offering a tranquil spot to sit and stare out to sea from the tiny, rocky cove.

The scene was beautiful but also tinged with sadness, and the cold wind whipping in was a reminder that on worse days this narrow inlet would, and clearly had, acted as a funnel through which the wild weather reached the shore.

Reading up about the village, it seems many villagers abandoned the place after the great storm. In more recent times, the desire for holiday homes in picturesque spots such as this meant that only one or two of the houses were now owned by people who lived there. For all its sadness and challenges, it remained a place of unquestionable beauty.

Ferns as high as your head.

Follow the acorns.

Secret beaches perfect for pirates and smugglers.

All that climbing was tiring!

Views up top.

The path winds on.

I see the sea!

And more sea!

On the summit of Pen y Fan.

After exploring the church ruins, it was time to get going. The route was a fairly easy one, taking the Wales Coast Path up and all the way around the headland. All we need to do was look for the familiar acorn signs that you’ll find on all national trails and walk.

The climb started instantly as we left the village, weaving our way up through a sheltered gully with ferns higher than our heads lining the path on either side. Out of the wind and climbing continuously, we were soon too warm and the extra layers were quickly shed. Through gaps in the greenery we were treated to great views out beyond the cove to tiny, inaccessible beaches, the cliffs of the coastline snaking in and out into the distance, and beyond to the rugged hilltops of the Preseli Hills.

The climb was definitely worth it though. A few minutes later, we were up on open heathland, the ferns up here a more normal height, fronds tickling your kneecaps as you brushed by. From here we had a panoramic view out to sea and along the coastline. The path clung to the side of the hills and cliffs, although it looked as if it may have been moved inland once or twice over the years as the wind and salt water had satiated its appetite for land, nibbling its way steadily into Wales.

A little way along, Needle Rock towered upwards just a few metres out to sea. The stack was inhabited by thousands of nesting gulls and black and white sea birds, possibly razorbills or guillemots. A lack of binoculars and ornithology skills means I can’t confirm which. It could well have been both. The noise was deafening, the seabirds cackling like a coven of witches as we trod the path carefully towards the rock.

The birds nesting and chatting up on Needle Rock.

Past Needle Rock, the path continued to climb until we reached the summit and the furthest point of the headland at Pen y Fan. At 142 metres it’s not quite as high as its famous mountain cousin of the same name in the Brecon Beacons (now known by their traditional Welsh name, Bannau Brycheiniog), but it still offers fantastic views eastwards back towards Needle Rock, which now, from above, looks more like a tiny pimple, and west across Fishguard Bay to its eponymous ferry port. (Pen y Fan, by the way, means something along the lines of ‘top of this place’, hence why you’ll find quite a few of them around Wales.)

The descent to Pwllgaelod began gently but became steeper as the path wore down into the earth until we were walking on the jagged bedrock. An array of flowers added colour to the journey, thrift; vetch; scabious; clover; heather; and plenty more I didn’t know.

Pwllgwaelod is another cracking little cove with a great beach, pub/cafe and toilets if you fancy some refreshments after your efforts. From here, it’s a short and easy walk back along a flat, tarmac path that tucks behind Dinas Island through an ancient wet woodland. I wondered if this marshy area was once much wetter and effectively cut off the headland, making it an island of sorts, hence its often-used alternative name.

We were soon back in Cwm-yr-Eglwys, completing the circle feeling satisfied but peckish, so we jumped in the van and headed up the coast into Cardigan to find some lunch. By the time we returned, the car park was full, proving that, even outside of holiday time, the early bird catches the parking space.

Walk notes

• The road down to Cwm-yr-Eglwys is steep and very narrow. Parking was £5 via an honesty box but there were public toilets and what looked like a little kiosk that might sell drinks and ice creams. It was closed when we were there though. Having researched a little more since our walk, it appears that the car park at Pwllgwaelod on the other side of the headland is currently free of charge. With the toilets and pub/cafe, you might find it much better to start the loop from that side and finish with some well-earned refreshments.

• The path is steep and with several steps out of Cwm-yr-Eglwys. Up on the headland, it gets narrow in sections with some big drops off the cliff edge, so care is required. Sections on the other side of the headland to/from Pwllgwaelod are also steep and uneven in parts.

Further reading

• Read more about the history of the church and its destruction by the storms of the 1850s.

• Camping on Dinas Island.

Searching for the mouth of the Frome: An adventure in 60 minutes

The choir were in full voice as we left the house in the soft morning light. Sparrows, robins, blackbirds, blue tits, and many more that I don’t (yet) have the skilful ear to pick out. One day, hopefully.

To our right, the sky lit up pink over the southern tips of the Cotswold Hills as we drove into Bristol – like a giant bowl of Angel Delight. It was 5:30 am and the sun was already peeking out over the horizon. A clear sign that British summertime has arrived, in daylight terms at least.

Increasing temperatures are sure to follow but, as I wished Lou goodbye for an hour whilst she took her final PT session before going on maternity leave, the air was crisp and chill.

---

I had already set aside those 60 minutes for a short adventure, a quest to seek out the mouth of the River Frome. Hardly an adventure to rival Livingstone or Speke’s quest for the source of the Nile, but one I’ve been keen to put to bed for some time.

I’ve walked and run the length of the Frome on a number of occasions. I’ve picnicked at the very spot where it emerges from the earth – revealing itself as a tiny stream next to an old oak tree on the western escarpment of the Cotswolds in the large Dyson country estate – the trickle of water clear enough to fill your bottle from.

I’ve followed it as it meanders Bristol-bound, at times a millpond, a swamp, or a raging whitewater as it crashes this way and that over jumbles of boulders in narrow, steep-sided gorges. I’ve hugged its contours as it rolls into suburbia and through the beauty of our old backyard, before being tamed by mankind in its later stretches. Long abandoned quarries and mills reveal its industrial past but now, foliage grows wild and free, deer quench their thirst in the early morning, herons wade slow-motion in the shallows, and a blur of orange and blue tells you that a kingfisher has just darted its way upstream.

As it enters Bristol, humankind’s attempts to tame it are evident. After the beauty of Oldbury Court Estate, Snuff Mills, and Eastville Park, the river oxbows around the edge of Tesco and Ikea before being imprisoned below the concrete pillars of the M32.

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It reappears again briefly on what was presumably once a little country lane, now a pedestrian and cycle route into the city centre just a stone’s throw from the motorway. It’s here that I pick it up, the coots calling out as they gracefully weave their way in between old trolleys and tyres. Following the route of the river with my eye, I see the office towers of the city bathed in golden light as the sun makes it mark on the world for the first time that day. Or on our bit of the world at least.

A short way along the river enters a tunnel underneath the city but the path stays above ground. After crossing the road, I pick up River Street, so I know the waters are still flowing somewhere beneath my feet, imprisoned by a wall of bricks and concrete.

At the end of River Street, I cross the usually busy main road, still quiet before the rush hour hum, and enter a deserted Cabot Circus shopping centre. It’s as if I’ve stepped into a zombie apocalypse movie, the only sound and movement from the occaional pigeon or seagull. There’s a strange beauty to this cityscape that’s amplified by the lack of activity. The sharp edges of the towering buildings. The vast quantities of plate glass, still inky black as the sun hasn’t yet penetrated this manmade gorge. The dark glass stands in stark contrast to the bright neon lights of the shop signs that do their job by drawing your eye, although I couldn’t shop if I wanted to as the world is yet to join me in this cathedral of commercialism.

---

I exit the shopping centre, the only sign of life a lone street cleaning cart, whirring away and momentarily breaking the silence. The modern buildings are occasionally interspersed with delightful titbits of history, the architectural joy that is the Klosterhaus cafe, housed in an 18th century Quaker meeting room, and the grand colonial-style almshouse that now houses Jack Wills clothing rather than those in need of shelter.

Before long, I’m in the green surroundings of Castle Park and the noise of the street cleaner has faded into the distance. I’ve been here before when I’ve started my Frome River walks and runs, but I’ve never seen its final moments of existence before it ceases to be and its molecules of water are magically transformed in an instant into the River Avon.

I wander through the ruins of St Peter’s Church, bombed during the Second World War and now surrounded by a beautifully maintained flower garden with water features and benches that serve as a great spot for quiet contemplation or just a morning coffee. Past the last remaining foundation stones that once formed part of the great castle that once stood here and give the park its name, and the more impressive vaulted chambers tucked away in a corner behind a small green knoll.

I know I’m close and I make my way down to the waterside, standing on a pontoon underneath the impressive modern architecture of the serpent-like Castle Bridge, a recent addition to lead pedestrians off into a refurbished industrial quarter now brimming with apartments, micro-breweries, and restaurants.

A few more people are appearing now, smartly dressed early starters slowly filing into the surrounding offices. I look for evidence of the river that once acted as one side of the castle moat but all I can see are a few little inlets that seem to go nowhere.

Running out of time and thinking that the final few feet of this river that I know so well will once more elude me, I start to head back. Leaving the park on the far side, my eye is drawn to what looks like the side of a bridge. I’ve walked the street many times before and never noticed it. It’s not an obvious bridge, in that it doesn’t have two sides and you can’t see under it. Like River Street, it’s now covered in tarmac and tall buildings, including an apartment block promoting its five-storey indoor climbing wall in big letters. It was probably once a bridge, but now you could miss it if you walked past it a hundred times (like I had).

I peer over the edge of the chest-high brick wall and there a few feet below me is a narrow channel of water leading out for thirty feet or so into the Avon. The water is still and full of branches and dog balls. It’s not a grand discovery, but my adventure feels complete. The water I can see has made it all the way here from deep inside the rocks of the Cotswold Hills or from one of the many small streams that feed in along the way. I have now shared its journey and feel a strange sense of completeness.

I wander back to the PT studio, content in the fact that I’ve been on an adventure in less than 60 minutes and before I’m normally even out of bed. The sun is far above the horizon now and Bristol has come to life with people and traffic. I wonder how many people will walk over or past this once beautiful river today and have no inkling that it continues to fulfil its destiny, flowing slowly through the darkness beneath their feet.

P.S. I’ve since discovered that the new apartment block I mentioned – Castle Park View – has made a feature of the river that flows beneath it, incorporating it into a lit path through its central courtyard. It appears that there remains a section of the river for me to explore!

To see all of the images I took on my morning walking adventure, click here.

B0**0**$ to Blue Monday

Here’s to Happy Monday instead.

You may have seen my post on Facebook last week, frustrated with the continued press coverage of Blue Monday. Every year it’s rolled out, telling us that the unhappiest day of the year is upon us. Well, I say B0**0**$ to it!

How can one day be ‘scientifically’ defined as the least happy day of the year for anyone, let alone everyone? We’ve had to suffer an endlessly negative news cycle for the past who knows how many years now, with the doom and gloom of Brexit followed by apocalyptic levels of misery heaped upon us when COVID hit.

Yes, there have been some hard times, and there’s no denying that many of us have found things tough and had plenty of reasons to feel low, but there’s no need to pre-condition people’s minds to have them believing they’ll feel low just because it’s a certain day on the calendar.

Here’s why I say let’s call Monday 17th January 2022 Happy Monday instead:

1. The power to be happy is in your hands

   I’ve posted and written about happiness many times over the years. It’s something that we place great importance on in modern society, yet we’ve got a little muddled about exactly what happiness is and how we achieve it.

   First off, we think that we need to find some sort of permanent state of happiness. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, being permanently happy would be really weird. You may have read the studies done on lottery jackpot winners that demonstrated how the initial win led to increased perceived levels of happiness but, in the long term, day-to-day happiness levels were similar to people who hadn’t picked the winning numbers.

   Whilst more cash definitely led to more financial satisfaction and fewer financial worries, everyday happiness appeared no different. And that’s because happiness, much like fitness, can’t be stored. You need to keep taking daily action to keep you feeling happy. Seeing friends and family, getting out for a walk in the countryside, playing a game, taking time for hobbies and pastimes, achieving things in your career, or learning something new are just a handful of the things that you can do to maintain decent levels of happiness.

   There have also been some fascinating studies done on happiness and smiling. We know that when we are happy, we smile, but did you know that smiling can make you happy? Curling the sides of your mouth up at the sides can trigger your brain to release those happy hormones and, as a result, make you feel like smiling even more! Just another little piece of evidence to show how the things you do can positively impact how you feel.

2. January is a beautiful month

   Blue Monday is based on some sort of misconception that January is a horrible month. I’d like to ask you to question that assertion. What about the beauty of the frosty mornings, the intense brightness of the sun so low in the sky, amazing sunrises and even more amazing sunsets, the potential chance of snoooooooooooooooooooooooow, the calm after the hectic festive period and a return to familiar routines, great new series to watch on your tellybox, the increasing feeling of wellbeing as your diet starts to improve and you get back to more regular exercise, the excitement of goals, plans, and adventures that lie ahead in the new year.

   And, if all of that doesn't whet your appetite for January, why not search out your Scottish heritage in the family tree and get ready to celebrate Burns Night on the 25th of this month.

3. There are always things to be happy about

   If you can open your mind to the possibilities, you’ll find that there are always that can put a smile on your face. Look for those tiny moments of joy and you may well find that your whole worldview starts to change. You’ll be able to let world affairs and news drift over you and discover great satisfaction in daily life. A text from a friend, the amazing patterns the ice makes on your car windscreen, the taste of your favourite food or drink, the chirp of a robin sitting by your window, happiness is all around you if you just look for it.

   I can tell you that we’ve found much joy in recent years by practising gratitude for the many great things in our lives. You can simply list things in your head, or get a journal and record the things you have been grateful for today before you go to sleep.

Some Monday mood-lifting inspiration

If you still need some help to put a little cheer in your day this Monday, why not do one of the following:

• Get in touch with a friend or, even better, catch up face-to-face for a cuppa.

• Rekindle an old hobby. Get that guitar out of the cupboard under the stairs, pick up your crafting skills, start reading that book you’ve been meaning to start, whatever it is that enables you to feel like you.

• Book yourself onto a course. If that’s too much, do a quick bit of research into a subject that fascinates you, a period from history, your family tree, or some fun facts about where you live.

• Pop your favourite tunes on. Music is well-known to be a great mood-lifter. And science says it can be absolutely anything, as long as it’s something you love.

• Fuss your pets (or go see a friend and fuss theirs if you don’t have one).

• Treat yourself to your favourite meal or drink, or maybe just something from the local bakery or coffee shop.

• Smile.
  

My own recipe for happiness

Use your time to do what you love. Spend your time with the people you love. See problems as challenges. Keep looking for solutions, there is always a way. Be curious. Never stop being childish. Focus on the positives. Be grateful for the many wonderful things your life brings. Eat well but remember that this includes room for your favourite things. Get outside. Move. Smile.

Our journey to more sustainable living: What's gone well? And what can we still improve?

Climate change has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds in the past few years and the spotlight has been on it even more this past few weeks as the governments of the world came together for the COP26 summit.

I’ve always loved being out in nature but, I’ll be honest, my awareness about the importance of living more sustainably and my drive to do so have only really developed in the past few years. For me, you won’t be surprised to learn that it began with health and wellbeing. Keeping fit and healthy, and helping you and others to do the same has been my driving force throughout my adult life. As I began to take people out on adventures in the wilder places around the UK, I noticed how refreshed, energised, relaxed, and happy they became as a result. Nature had incredible powers.

Inextricably linked

Around the same time, I also started to realise how closely bound together our own health and wellbeing was with that of our planet’s. Our food comes from the soil and from the sea. Damage those and we have a big problem. I began to understand how everything in nature lives in harmony, in balance you could say. We need bees and other insects to pollinate our food. In fact, we require all creatures to sustain the web of life and the delicately balanced food chain. It is this complex but amazing interaction between every living thing on earth that sustains the great biodiversity of our planet and ensures that we have air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, and resources for shelter, clothing and everything else we need. The loss of just one tiny element can be catastrophic to our own wellbeing.

I also began to read the research on the impact that time in nature can have on not just your physical wellbeing, but your mental wellbeing too. It blew me away!

It was at this point that I begin to think seriously about my own habits feed into this cycle that damages our soil, our seas, our natural environment and our air. I started to think about how I shopped, how I travelled, how I ate and how much I consumed. I have never been in a position to preach on this topic, and I know from experience when it comes to health and fitness that preaching tends not to help others to change anyway. Instead, I set out to see if I could l change my habits in a way that would protect the environment, to share my journey with you all, and to see if I could find out just how much a difference each of us could make through the development of tiny new habits. I knew well that tiny changes sustained over time could massively impact someone’s health for the better, so I assumed that tiny changes made by enough of us over time could help our planet for the better too.

Do tiny habits make a difference?

I really think they do and here’s why. I recently read Chris Packham and Meg McCubbin’s book, Back to Nature: How To Love Life, and Save It. In it, they explain that the total area covered by our gardens in the UK is 432,964 hectares, an area one fifth the size of Wales and bigger than the Norfolk Broads, Exmoor, Dartmoor, and Lake District National Parks put together. If each single household did something in their garden to better protect wildlife, just imagine what an imapct that could have. If each household grew just a tiny portion of food, what a banquet that would be. If each household composted their food waste, just think how big a reduction in waste that would equate to.

Let’s take another example. How about litter? The sorry stats from Keep Britain Tidy are that two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day. But there are nearly 70 million people on our island. Imagine if just one person in thirty picked up a single piece of litter each day, then 2.33 million pieces would be removed from our streets and parks. Put another way, there’d be 330,000 less pieces than there were the day before. Over two million less in a single week. The tide would start to turn.

What have we changed?

Now you know my motivations for change, I thought I’d share with you what we’ve actually tried to do to play our part and also have a look at where we can still improve in future.

Here’s what we did:

Limit waste to the bare minimum

• Get rid of the waste bins in the house so that nothing went into general waste, even by accident.

• Take plastic bags and soft plastics to our local Tesco where they can both be recycled. (This scheme was originally trialled in Bristol and then extended to the entire South-West. Hopefully it will soon be nationwide.)

• Recycle everything else, plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, tins, the usual things that we can all recycle.

• At present, the only waste that ever goes into the black bin is cat litter and anything that comes in packaging that we can’t recycle, although we try our best to purchase things where this doesn’t happen. I think we’ve only put the black bin out for collection a handful of times this year!

Eat less meat

• Stop buying meat from supermarkets for dinners at home. A simple rule that has allowed us to no if we’re sticking to the plan or not. Instead we have fish or vege options.

• Instead, we only eat meat occasionally, either when we visit local farmshops and can source local, organically farmed produce, or if we head out for a meal when we treat ourselves sometimes.

Be energy conscious

• Switch off all appliances, plugs and lights when they’re not in use.

• Keep an eye on the smart meter and set timers for the hot water tank and central heating. Done together, we’ve saved a few hundred pounds a year off our bills.

• Minimise the use of water. We use an eco-friendly spray with a dry cloth to clean the van instead of a hosepipe and make sure we don’t leave taps running. We have a water butt for the allotment and re-use water we collect from a dehumidifer for the house plants.

Choose better products

• We clean the vast majority of things in the house with hot water, distilled vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. Anything else we buy eco-friendly products from companies like Ethical Superstore and e-cover.

• The same goes for washing powder and washing up liquid, buying products without the harmful chemicals in.

• We’ve started to apply this to bathroom stuff too, including beeswax hairwax and shampoo bars.

Buy more sustainably

• Whenever we need something now, first off I’ll check for secondhand options on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or Gumtree

• For things like books, I’ll check out World of Books for secondhand options (they do free delivery)!

• If we can’t get things secondhand, we’ll look for options with sustainable credentials.

What can we do better?

There are some priority areas to work on in future to live even more sustainably:

1. Decrease our impact from car use. At present we have two vehicles. We can both be off in different places for work on the same day and we live in a rural area. Lou’s car is newer and a low emissions model but, when it’s possible, swapping the older van for a more planet-friendly model or even dropping back down to one vehicle will be a big step. In the meantime, we minimise travel by walking to the local shops and use the car more than the van.

2. Purchase litter pickers and get out there! I have my eye on some made from recycled fishing nets that have washed up on our coastlines. They’ll be in stock in the coming weeks and then we’re going to get out there like a pair of Wombles and start making a difference!

3. Buy even better. We can probably still improve on our impact with bathroom products by finding a good eco-friendly conditioner bar and we can continue to try to reduce the amount of packaged food we buy, even if it does all go back to be recycled.

4. Continue to use the fire sparingly over winter. We only lit it occasionally last winter just for the nice cosy feel it brings to the lounge, but we don’t really need to light it, the heating in the house is more than adequate.

5. When we do eventually get our own place again, our biggest impact will probably come from looking into heat pumps, better insulation, water butts attached to all of the drain pipes and the like.

What do you do? And do you have any tips for how we could do more?

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and learn about what you do to try to live sustainably, plus any ideas you have for us on how we can improve our lifestyle to make a difference to our planet’s wellbeing.

Self-sabotage: Why do you do it? And how can you stop?

Why do you self-sabotage? Why do you sometimes try to undo all of the hard work that you've put in with your exercise routine, eating habits, lifestyle changes, or other self-improvement goals?

It's a question that I've worked through many times with clients over the years. Very rarely do they understand why they do it. And that's one of the issues. Getting to the root cause of a behaviour, understanding what triggers us to act that way in the first place, allows us to either seek to remove the trigger from our life, or to at least recognise what's going on and come up with a plan for when it does occur.

Let's take a look at some of the most common reasons I've heard from clients over time, and some possible solutions.

Why do I press self-destruct?

1. Issues with self-worth

A number of clients I've worked with over the years have come to the realisation that they don't see themselves in a particularly positive light. This can be for a whole host of reasons but, whatever it is, in many instances it has led them to feel as if they're not worthy of achieving the goals they are after.

They see themselves as undeserving of good health or happiness or career success or whatever it is they're working on.

Action: What can you do about it?

In the first instance, you might find it helpful to talk this through with someone; a friend or family member, your trainer, or, if more appropriate, a counsellor. Understanding how you see yourself, and why, can be the first step towards changing that perception for the better.

2. Fear of, or potential drawbacks to the change

Sometimes, when I work through what went wrong with clients, they discover that they were actually harbouring some fears or concerns over the goal they had put in place.

They hadn't consciously recognised that they had legitimate concerns about the changes that would happen were they to succeed. Instead, they had let their subconscious mind sabotage their efforts so that they wouldn't have to worry about these things. Quite clever, and entirely logical if you think about it.

Action: What can you do about it?

Perform a 'Benefits & Drawbacks Analysis' on your goal. What are the potential positives for you of achieving it? What might be the negatives?

Having done this, you can analyse in more detail which of these things is most important to you and decide if the goal is right for you right now. You may find that a simple tweak is all it takes for it to work much better, or you may want to choose another goal entirely. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that it works for you.

3. Negative self-talk - 'I'll never succeed'

This can happen for many reasons. Maybe it's a self-worth thing. In which case, see Point Number One. But, sometimes it can be far simpler than that. Sometimes it's a belief that has been ingrained into your mindset over time. Let's take Newcastle United fans as an example (sorry to any Magpies amongst you). They probably go into each football season firmly believing that they're not going to win the league. Why? Because year in, year out, they don't. If you imagine their belief that they won't win the league as a tabletop, every time that belief is backed up in reality, a leg is added to the table underneath. If it happens just once, the belief is on shaky foundations and can easily be changed. But, when it happens time after time, that table (belief) has many legs and it becomes much harder to topple over.

Maybe you've tried losing weight a number of times but you haven't succeeded in keeping it off. In this instance, you can start to believe that it's never going to happen, so you say to yourself, 'it doesn't matter if I eat those biscuits, because I won't lose weight anyway.' It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Action: What can you do about it?

• Try 'I might' instead of 'I will.' Stable beliefs don't always change overnight. They may take time. I could tell you to just simply believe in yourself, tell yourself you can do it and so on and so forth. But you may just look at me and say, 'Why should I?' In this instance, it can help to start with 'I might.' I might lose weight if I didn't have those biscuits, or I might find running easier if I did 1-mile three times a week for a month. Give yourself a timescale that you're going to try it for, and see what happens. You might just notice some progress.

• Think about times where you have been successful. If you do notice that you feel negative about yourself, think back to times where you have succeeded and it made you feel good. What did you do? How did you do it? Whose help did you enlist to make it happen? What was different about that instance? And how can you use that with this goal?

• Focus on small wins. Set micro-goals. Rather than saying, I'm not going to eat biscuits this month, focus on just one day, or even just half a day. Every time you succeed with one of these little wins, you saw a negative leg off that belief table of yours and replace it with a positive one.

• Reframe. I frequently hear words like 'disaster', 'nightmare', 'failure', or 'self-destruct' from clients who struggle to maintain their goals. I even used that last one myself to title this article. But I did it because, if you're someone who experiences this, you probably use that term too. How about we try reframing it though? Maybe 'blip' or 'stumble' or 'minor setback' or 'one of those days.' Call it whatever you like that decreases its importance, because one unhealthy meal, or one day of too much alcohol, or one day of no exercise, or even a few days, or a week, isn't a disaster. It only becomes a disaster when we get ourselves into the cycle of repeating it again and again. If you had no plan to give up alcohol forever, why are you beating yourself up when you had a few drinks one night? Accept it, downplay its importance, and get back to the better habits you've been doing so well with. Do that, and it really won't make a difference at all.

P.S. Newcastle fans, has your belief about winning the league changed this week with new owners at the club? Has it sawn all of those negative legs off of your table???

4. The happiness trap - Celebrating success (a little too much)

Here's an interesting version of self-destruction. It's the one where you work really hard to achieve your goals, get exactly what you're after, and then go back to all the less healthy habits and undo it all. You get fit, then you stop training completely. You reach your weight loss goal, then go back to your comfort foods. You improve your sleep, then you start staying up late binge-watching Netflix series again!

Action: What can you do about it?

• Remember the pain. Many people come to me when they are in pain. Sometimes physical, but often emotional. The problem is, once you've reached your goal, you're not in pain anymore. You stop doing the exercises the physio gave you to make your shoulder better. You stop preparing your meals for the week and go back to snacking on the go. But, if you can give yourself a constant reminder of what it was like to be in that rubbish place, sometimes you can provide yourself with the motivation you need to not go back there. A photo of you at a weight you hated. An appointment card you had from those oh so painful physio treatment sessions stuck on your computer monitor. Anything that reminds you what it was like.

• Analyse your happiness habits and plan solutions. It might surprise you to know (or not) that many of my clients find being in a positive mood a dangerous time for them in some ways. When they are happy, they drink more, eat more of the wrong foods, stay up later, or find themselves performing less than healthy habits. If you know this is what you do, then at least you can prepare a plan of action for your danger times. If I feel like this (x)...then I will do this...(y). Preparation puts you back in control.

There are, of course, many more ways that you can find the right balance and discover a way to achieve lasting health, fitness, and happiness.

Here's something for you to think about:

Do I ever press self-destruct? If so, why? And what could be a possible solution to this in future?

Should you need any help at all with this, remember that I'm only an email, phone call, smoke signal, or carrier pigeon message away.

Paul

paul@balancehealthandfitness.co.uk

0775 200 1203

Fuel for thought: What the petrol 'crisis' can teach you about forming healthy habits.

We had to travel quite far to find some petrol last week! ;-)

Sometimes, things happen during the week that spark my brain to life. (Not very often, I'll admit, but it does happen!) And, when it does, I can instantly see a great connection between whatever it is and the important messages that I try to pass on to you in my newsletters and blogs about how to make your healthy habits stick.

Bizarrely, you might think, this week's fuel 'crisis' was one such moment. Here's how my little grey cells connected a lack of petrol and diesel with lasting weight loss, improved energy levels, better sleep, less stress, increased strength and all-round wellbeing for you.

1. URGENT ACTION REQUIRED!!!!!!!!

We take action when things are urgent. When they need our attention right away. That's why we got on board with the vast changes to life that we felt were required at the start of the virus. That's why people raided petrol station forecourts this week like packs of hungry wolves.

And, it's also why we're often so slow to react when it comes to things like the environment or our own health and wellbeing. These changes happen slowly over time. So slowly, in fact, that we barely notice them. And so, when it comes to taking action, it feels like something we can put off until tomorrow. We have time for that, but there's more urgent stuff that needs attending to first.

How can you use this to your advantage?

In reality, unless you've had a major health scare, it's difficult to make prioritising your wellbeing feel urgent. But, there are some things you can do to help bump it up the priority list:

• Set frequent short-term goals with fixed timelines/dates in which to achieve them. Yes, the big goal may be some time away, but breaking it down into more bite-size chunks helps to keep it higher on your list of priorities.

• Be accountable to someone for the progress you're making on these short-term goals. If you have to report in, this creates a sense of urgency, much like projects at work with set dates and the need for weekly updates to your boss. You get these things done!

2. DON'T PANIC BUY!

A message you've heard many times in this past week. But, what do people do? They top up their tanks, just in case. Sometimes because they are very much panic buying. Sometimes because they think, 'well, I best fill up anyway because everyone else is stupid and they definitely will.'

Our brains just don't really compute the word 'don't'.

Whatever you do, don't think about pink elephants. So what did you just do? You imagined Dumbo in a nice shade of candyfloss pink, didn't you? For your brain to process the negative 'don't', it has to imagine the very action it's being told not to perform.

As I heard those messages this week, all it brought to mind for me was Private Jones in Dad's Army saying, 'Don't panic Mr Manewaring' in that increasingly agitated manner of his, working himself up into a lather and a state of absolute panic. The irony wasn't lost on me.

How can you use this to your advantage?

When you're trying to improve your health and fitness, focus on the habits you want to form, rather than those you don't.

Instead of saying, 'I'm not going to eat biscuits', try 'This week, I'm going to snack on fruit, nuts and seeds during my breaks at work.' Rather than saying, 'I don't want to feel tired anymore', try, 'I want to have the energy to get through my day and still have time to do something fun with the kids in the evening.'

3. IT'S REALLY NOT A BIG DEAL. THAT'S WHY WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT THE FRONT PAGE HEADLINE EVERY DAY AND START EVERY NEWS BULLETIN WITH IT!

Think logically for a second. We're told that it's all fine, that there's plenty of fuel to go around if we all just fill up normally. But, at the same time, we're informed every day that it's a 'crisis'. I don't know about you, but if something is a crisis, then I imagine that it must be pretty bad.

It's always in the news. We're reminded of it constantly. Why would they keep going on about it if it wasn't a problem, right? I'm sure the media knows this, and they also know that they can essentially create a story by reporting it before it's even happened. They talk about it enough, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

How can you use this to your advantage?

You want to do something. Find a way to remind yourself of it constantly. Keep it in the forefront of your mind and you can make it happen.

Very often, people assume that they fail with their health and fitness goals because they weren't motivated enough. It obviously wasn't that important. But it probably was. It's just that every day their brain got deluged with millions of pieces of information and endless life and work and family tasks that they had to do as well, many of which were 'crises' or needed urgent attention. Their goals simply got pushed to the back of their minds.

In order to keep them at the front, you have to create constant reminders. Alarms on your phone telling you to drink some water. Meetings in your diary for gym sessions. Post-it notes on the kettle or laptop informing you to have a piece of fruit.

You can think like any good media outlet. Keep your health and fitness story front-page news in your life and you'll make the headlines you want to read.

Work and Wellbeing: Finding Your Balance

Work affects your wellbeing in a myriad of ways, both positive and negative. It’s a topic worthy of its own book, let alone a blog article. But, I wanted to get you thinking about just how it helps and hinders your own wellbeing (it can often do both at the same time), and maybe considering one small thing that you could work on now to improve your work-life balance.

NOTE: Please don’t be fooled into thinking that if you don’t currently work, that work doesn’t have an impact on your wellbeing. If your partner works, then it does (and you may wish to work through this article with them). If you don’t currently work, but you think you’d like to (paid or volunteering), then it does (it may help you to decide what you’d like to do).

There are three key parts of life that I’ll discuss with clients trying to improve their health, fitness, and wellbeing. They are:

1. Family time

2. Work time

3. Me time

If we can work together to create the ideal balance between these three parts of life, whatever that might look like for them, then we’re well on the way to helping them find a lasting balance. And, more than ever recently, people have been recognising that, if they haven’t got this balance right, they can change it. A recent study in the UK by Workhuman suggested that 46 per cent of people were considering quitting their jobs within the next year, with the desire for increased flexibility cited as the number one reason.

The various lockdowns provided people with the chance to re-evaluate their priorities, and it seems that striking a better balance between work-time, family time, and me time, and improving their wellbeing as a result, is now much higher on the agenda for lots of people .

With this in mind, let’s have a look at some of the major ways in which work impacts your wellbeing, and get you considering if any of them might be things you’d like to change by posing you a range of questions about each. I’ll offer the odd suggestion too, but my intention is more to get you thinking about what’s right for you.

You might decide to read through them all before choosing one area to focus on, or you may instinctively know straight away what you need to change and just home in on that.

1. Time

Time is one of the most valuable, if not the most valuable commodity there is. Given the nature of life, we all have a finite amount and so we must use it wisely. Some questions for you to consider…

• Do you think that the amount of hours you work is healthy for you?

• Does the amount of hours you spend working provide you with the time you would like for yourself and your family?

• And do you have the energy left after work to ensure that this time is quality time?

• Do your work shift patterns enable you to balance your day well with family and personal commitments?

• If no, is there a possibility of discussing flexible hours? Or flexible working to allow you more time at home?

2. Money

As the song famously said, money can’t buy you love, and it isn’t necessarily the route to happiness either (research often finds that lottery winners are no happier than the less lucky ones a short time after the initial excitement has worn off).

That said, financial wellbeing is an important part of the mix when it comes to overall health. Here are some questions for you to consider:

• Does your work enable you to pay for the essentials?

• Is there enough spare to spend on family and me time?

• Is there enough left to save for the future?

• Do you feel fairly paid for your time, efforts, and skills?

• Do you feel in control of your finances? Do you have a good understanding of the amounts coming in and going out?

• Is there any way to decrease your living costs? Is there any non-essential spending that can go?

• Are there any ways in which you can increase the value of your time? Training courses or a secondary income that still provides you with enough time for life too?

3. Physical health

There’s no point working hard and earning money if you’re not around to spend it. Or if you’re not in good enough health to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Historically, work was a physical task but, these days more and more of us spend it sat in one place for hours on end. Here are some things to consider about your work and your physical health and fitness:

• Does your work affect your physical health and fitness positively, negatively, or have no influence?

• If you feel it has a negative impact, is there anything you could do in and around your current work day routine to improve it?

• If not, what other solutions might help you to improve your health? How could you help yourself? How might someone else help you? Who might that be?

• When did you feel like your physical health and fitness was at its best? What was different then?

4. Mental health

One of the positives of the last few years has been the increased focus on people’s mental wellbeing. Your mental health is just as important as your physical and, in much the same way, there are always habits that you can work on to improve it.

Work can impact your mental wellbeing positively and negatively in a whole host of ways. And it’s not as simple as just trying to remove stress from your life completely. We often need a bit of stress to thrive. If things are too easy, we get bored but, if things are too hard, we get overwhelmed. We need to find the right level of stress for us. And that’s different for everyone. Here are some things to consider about your work and mental wellbeing:

• Is your job stressful/challenging enough for you? Or, is your job too stressful/challenging for you? Or is it just right?

• If the balance isn’t right, what’s the cause? Can that be changed in your current role, or would you need to go elsewhere/do something else for that to happen?

• Do you feel that you cope well physically and mentally with the challenges of your work?

• Does your work provide you with enough opportunities to lead a full social life? Does your job ever lead to you feeling lonely or isolated?

• IMPORTANT NOTE: If any of the questions here have triggered any concerns for you, please reach out to someone to talk this through. A medical professional if you are comfortable or, in the first instance, just someone you trust to listen and understand.

5. Opportunities for growth, development, and learning

An often overlooked aspect of your wellbeing is learning new things and developing yourself. As I mentioned in the mental health section, if a job is under-challenging then it can be stressful. You get bored. The human brain craves new things, and learning has been shown to keep you physically and mentally fit as you age.

With that in mind, consider the following:

• Are you regularly challenged in your role?

• Do you frequently feel like you are learning new things? Are there good opportunities for you to develop with formal training and qualifications?

• Can you see opportunities for you to progress from your current role?

6. Purpose and values

I’ve left this point until last but, in all honesty, it’s often the single most important thing. Having a sense of purpose in life and living in line with your values, the things that are most important to you at the deepest level, is arguably the best way to find true wellbeing.

As the famous speaker, Brian Tracy once said,

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

Here are some questions to help you consider how well your work reflects your values:

• Does your work align closely with the things that are important to you? (If you’re not sure what’s most important to you, get in touch and I can send you a great little task on discovering your values.)

• If there is some alignment but it’s not perfect, are there any small tweaks you could make (maybe to the time, money or health elements mentioned already) that would improve this?

• If there’s a large discrepancy between your values and your work, is this big enough for you to consider a more substantial change?

Your work-life balance is in your hands

I know it might not always seem like it, but you ultimately have the power. As you’ve seen this year, people can talk to their employers about making changes that provide them with a better balance. And, failing that, you can vote with your feet.

What should I do with all of the information above?

1. Keep it simple. Pick one thing, the quickest and easiest thing to change now, and work on that. Get that snowball rolling down the hill and it will pick up pace as it goes.

2. If you know you want to change something to improve your balance between work and your wellbeing, but you just don’t know what, then get in touch. I’d be more than happy to have a chat with you and see if I can help. You can email me on paul@balancehealthandfitness.co.uk, or text/call on 0775 200 1203.

Here’s to finding that ideal balance between time for work, family, and you!

7 'health' foods that aren't as healthy as they may appear

Many foods and drinks we purchase these days are portrayed as being healthy, or at least much better for us than they probably are. Clever labelling, with pictures of natural scenes, and naming and colours that immediately bring to mind healthy lifestyles all serve to make us think that we’re making better choices.

I thought I’d compile a shortlist of some of the common culprits that I talk through with clients when they’re looking to make improvements to their diet for weight loss, better health, and improved energy. Let’s take a look at my top seven.

Fruit juice

It was a bottle of fruit juice that inspired me to write this piece actually. We’d just bought it whilst on our way back from our walking adventure last week. On the front, the small bottle explained that it contained the juice of four whole oranges. Not just the tiny little satsumas, four large, ripe oranges. I thought to myself, when would you ever eat four oranges in one go?

When fruit is juiced, most if not all of the fibre content is stripped away, but the sugar content remains remarkably high. Higher, in fact, than some heavily criticised fizzy drinks brands. Why does this matter? Because it’s the fibre that helps to slow the release of the sugars into your body. Without it, and with the sugar from numerous fruits all piled into one little bottle, you get a huge rush of the white stuff and, in the long term, that increases your risk of tooth decay, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes.

Tip for better balance: if you do buy or blend fruit juice, mix it with water to help dilute it and decrease the concentration of water in any one drink.

Cereal bars

In much the same way as fruit juice, cereal bars are often portrayed as healthy, energy-giving snacks. And some of them can be, but many are jam-packed (pun intended) with refined sugars.

Tip for better balance: try making your own bars using a recipe like this one. You’ll find sugars in most foods, but you can minimise the amount by keeping refined produce to a minimum.

Cereal

Just like fruit juice and cereal bars, many breakfast cereals are quite heavily processed and higher in sugars than you might imagine. Even ‘healthy’ options like granola and muesli are big culprits.

Tip for better balance: go for plain porridge oats and natural yoghurt, fruit, nuts, seeds, or peanut butter for flavour.

Tinned and ready-made soups

You’d be surprised to know that you can find a lot of sugar in these too. It’s a preservative. But, more often than not, it’s the higher salt levels that are the biggest concerns. High levels of salt can increase your blood pressure over time and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease as a result.

Tip for better balance: make your own. Here’s a blog I posted last year with a few tasty recipe ideas, perfect as the nights begin to draw in.

Flavoured yoghurts

It’s that pesky sugar thing again!

Tip for better balance: Buy natural yoghurt and add your own fresh fruit or nuts and seeds for flavour.

Vegetable crisps

Of the two words here, the crisps bit is the bigger clue. Yes, there are pictures of a range of fresh allotment goodies on the front, but they’ve been cooked and processed to the point that they’re now pretty high in fats and salts.

Tip for better balance: Get your crunch from crudites instead. Carrot sticks, cucumber, and peppers can all provide some bite without the less balanced bits.

Breakfast muffins

You know when you head into the coffee shop for breakfast when you’re on the way to work or off on your holidays, and you see a range of pastries and delicacies offered up as breakfast choices? English breakfast muffins, all-butter croissants, and the like. Well, they’re not really ideal breakfasts. They’re cakes.

I’m not saying don’t ever treat yourself. That’s not the balance way. But don’t get fooled into thinking they provide a regular, healthy start to your day. They’re rich in sugars and fats, and calories too!

Tip for better balance: If it’s a work thing, pick a day when you allow yourself a tasty but less healthy option. If it’s a one-off because you’re on holiday or off somewhere different for the day, well then make sure you enjoy it! :-)

Going roamin' with Romans: Preparations and our equipment list for walking Hadrian's Wall

With just a few days to go until we’re off on our coast to coast walking adventure, following the 84-mile long Hadrian’s Wall, I thought I’d share a little bit about our planning for the trip.

The former defensive stronghold and customs post runs from its eastern limit at Wallsend (no prizes for guessing where that name originated) in Newcastle upon Tyne, to Bowness-on-Solway in the west.

Decisions

Before anything else, we had to decide how we were going to travel and sleep. Were we going to head west to east, or east to west? Would we camp or use hotels and B&Bs? And, how long did we want to take?

Looking through various web pages and guidebooks, starting at Newcastle and heading west seemed the favoured route. Why? Because the Newcastle section is fairly built up and it seems, understandably, some people find finishing in a city a bit of an anti-climax. It feels more adventurous to leave civilisation and head off into the wilds. We also know from experience that it can be quite hard to adjust back to a life surrounded by other humans after being out on the trails for a while. So we knew where we would begin and end. Now to work out how to travel between those two points.

Camping would probably always be our preference. It’s more adventurous, you’re much better connected with nature and the environment around you, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper too! That said, we knew we were going to be setting off fairly late season and camping means carrying a lot more weight in your bags. We also knew that whilst this was supposed to be an adventure, it was also our main holiday of the year and we had to strike the right balance between challenge and relaxation.

In the end, we went for a mix of traditional B&Bs and AirBnB. Less grandiose than some of the lovely hotels we’d seen along the way, but considerably closer to our preferred budget, whilst providing the comfort that would enable us to make it a holiday and not simply a test of physical endurance. Please forgive us if you feel that our decision isn’t in keeping with the spirit of true adventurers. We believe that adventure can and should be for everyone and that it’s up to each person to decide how far they want to push themselves.

Our final decision. How much yomping to do each day? We’ve done a fair number of hikes between 10 and 13 miles this year with Lou’s mum whilst ticking off legs of the Cotswold or Mendip Ways, so we figured pushing up to an average of 14 miles wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. 84 miles, the total distance of the wall, divided beautifully evenly into six days of 14 miles (although some will be around 10 or 11, whilst others will be more like 15).

What to take with us?

With no camping on route, we could obviously ditch the tent, sleeping bags, inflatable roll mats and pillows (much to the gratitude of our shoulders). Having never done more than a couple of days of hiking back-to-back before though, we thought we’d check out a few blogs and websites to see what was suggested. Here’s a link to a blog post I came across with a fairly thorough kit list:

What To Take On A Day Hike In The UK? (+ What NOT To Take) - Becky the Traveller

And, after much consideration, here’s our final list of essentials for the trip:

• Hiking boots - good quality, waterproof ones that combine comfort with decent ankle support.

• Rucksacks - we had to head out and get some new gear for this. I had a rucksack that is perfect for day hikes, but just too small for multiple days on the trail, whilst Lou had a giant rucksack that we just didn’t need (unless she was intending on carrying me)! In the end, I opted for this 35-45-litre one from Go Outdoors.

• Walking poles - for a little extra power.

• A pair of shorts and a pair of trousers. I have the ones that zip off at the knee for added flexibility and to lighten the load.

• 2 x technical t-shirts to reduce sweating.

• A long-sleeved top (one of my many ‘you didn’t get into the London Marathon this year’ ones.

• Waterproof jackets and trousers - being wet and cold is miserable and, as we’re headed to the north of England, we are taking no chances!

• Smartwatches - partly to track the distances, but also because they give us portable compasses if needed too.

• Smartphones with the OS maps app - I pay £24 a year to get access to OS maps for the whole of Britain on my app. I can add the app to multiple devices and, best of all, pre-plan routes and download them to use offline in case there’s no signal. An absolute bargain!!! Plus, the phones are our cameras for the trip so that we can share our beautiful adventure with you.

• First aid kit - just one of the little portable ones with bandages, plasters and scissors.

• Emergency bivvy bag and a whistle - because it’s always best to be prepared.

• Suntan lotion, after sun, and chaff cream - comfort is everything.

• Baseball cap and woolly hat - welcome to Britain!

• Thin gloves and waterproof gloves - cold, wet hands aren’t fun.

• Pants and socks, including waterproof socks - and neither are cold, wet feet!

• Snacks - flapjacks, Trek bars, fruit, crisps, or whatever takes our fancy for the day ahead.

• One outfit for evening wear with a light pair of shoes - because tonight’s pub won’t know I wore it yesterday too! ;-)

• Roman Centurion outfit - too much???

I considered taking head torches and a portable charging kit but, when I checked out the route, I could see that we’re never too far from a road and the lengths of the days mean we should be done long before darkness. I’ll probably pop them in anyway because I’d rather carry a few more pounds worth of kit and be prepared for any eventuality.

If you think we’re missing anything vital, feel free to pop a comment below. It’s always good to have a little reminder. :-) Wish us luck!!!

Four simple habits to boost your energy levels

One of the most common goals I work on with clients, and something that will definitely have its own page on the new-look website, is boosting energy levels.

Feeling tired, lethargic, and lacking that spark for life is something that is all too common these days, and it's often down to a host of factors.

Here are four healthy habits, one each from the think, eat, live, move elements that form the balance method, to provide you with a truly holistic approach to putting that spark back in your life and a spring in your step:

1. Think: Get checked out

If you've been feeling low on energy for some time, before you do anything else, have a chat with your GP. It's important to rule out common medical causes of fatigue or, in some instances, to diagnose the issue and begin to take appropriate actions.

2. Eat: Small and often (and healthily)

Nutrition can play a powerful part in boosting (or crashing) your energy levels. Food contains calories after all, and it's that energy that you need to make every aspect of your body function optimally.

But it's not just calories that are important. Many nutrients play a role in providing and delivering energy to your body and mind, whilst refined foods and stimulants can have a negative impact.

Before you get overwhelmed by what to focus on though, try this simple technique first:

Eat smaller healthy meals with a good source of protein (think chicken, fish, nuts, seeds, peas, beans, or legumes) more often.

This advice comes straight from the Harvard Medical School, and it's based on the knowledge that smaller meals can prevent you from getting those big energy spikes after eating, followed by that even bigger slump.

Eating small and often, including a good source of protein, can help to better regulate your blood sugar levels. It also prevents too much blood from being diverted away from your brain and muscles to your stomach (to digest the large meal you've just eaten), keeping you more alert as a result.

3. Live: Establish a sleep routine

If there's one thing you can do quickly to improve your sleep, it's to practice going to bed and getting up at the same time EVERY DAY. Yep, that means weekends too.

It helps to reset your body clock (fancy name, Circadian Rhythm), which manages your energy levels, alertness, and all of your major bodily functions throughout the day on a set timer.

Do the same things each day and you help it to literally get into its rhythm, leaving you tired when you should be, and full of beans when you need it too!

4. Move: Feeling tired? Go for a walk

Research has suggested that a short, gentle walk outside (just 20-30 minutes) may be more effective for boosting your energy levels than a nap, using stimulant substances like caffeine, or even stimulant medications.

Why? It doesn't seem to make sense, does it? When you're tired, doing exercise should surely make you even more fatigued. But, much of how energetic you feel is to do with your hormones, and gentle exercise is brilliant for balancing them.

Being stressed all day can lead to constantly high levels of adrenaline and cortisol, but moderate activity can help to bring these down, whilst at the same time boosting levels of feel-good hormones. The result: more energy. Oh, and better sleep too, which will give you even more energy. And better blood sugar control, which...you get the idea! More energy!!!

Getting outside and active early in the day seems particularly effective but, as long as you're not pushing yourself hard too late in the day (when it can delay sleep), being active at any time can help you to feel more lively.

Make a change the balanced way

If increasing energy is your goal, pick just one of the four tips above to work on this week.

Start small. Be consistent and don't be afraid to ask me for help if you need it. I’ll be happy to chat and offer advice to help you find your balance.

Eight of my favourite cycling adventure authors

More often than not, you’ll find me with my nose in a great book! And I love nothing more than reading about self-powered adventures on two wheels. Whether it’s taking on the challenges and seeing the sights that Great Britain has to offer, or pedalling off to the far-flung corners of the world, I just can’t get enough. The books are a great way to escape and relax, to enjoy adventures from the comfort of my own armchair and, most importantly for me, to inspire me when planning my next challenge.

Here are eight of my favourite cycling adventure book authors so that you can add some fantastic reads to your bookshelf. I’ve separated them out into different categories to help you find exactly what you’re looking for. There are British adventures, world journeys, and even a suggestion for those of you who aren’t too bothered by cycling but love travel and animals! You don’t need to be a cycling enthusiast to love any of these books. They are not technical and are far more about travels, adventures, seeing new places and meeting new people.

Great British adventures

Mike Carter

In One Man and His Bike: A Life-Changing Journey All the Way Around the Coast of Britain, Carter tries to do just that, cycling as close to the coastline as he possibly can for 5,000 miles from London, all the way back around.

He mixes humour with fascinating stories of people he meets along the way, providing you with a real sense of some of the quirks of British life. Unlike many ‘funny’ travel books, his humour is never cruel or degrading, and I promise that you’ll finish the book wanting to get on your bike and head for the seaside!

George Mahood

Years ago, when I was preparing for our John o’ Groats to Land’s End ride, I read a blog about two men who decided to cycle it too. They began at Land’s End, wearing just their boxer shorts, with no money and, most bizarrely of all, no bikes. Their plan was simply to rely on the kindness of people to help them out along the way.

Will they make it to John o’ Groats? Will they even make it out of Land’s End Car Park? Will they find bikes to ride? Will they find some clothes? Or get arrested before they have the chance?

Find out in George Mahood’s lighthearted and kindhearted read, Free Country.

Riding the Rest of the World

Anna McNuff

Winner of the 2020 Amazon Kindle Storyteller Literary Award, Llama Drama tells Anna’s tale as she, and her friend Faye attempt to ride top to bottom of South America, looking for llamas, nature, the very best of human beings, and adventure.

She writes in a friendly, positive style but isn’t afraid to share the downsides, challenges and human frailties that come with a journey like this.

There’s plenty more from Anna too, but I haven’t gotten round to reading these yet. As soon as I do, they’ll be reviewed and on the list!

Tim Moore

I was recommended Moore’s first book, French Revolutions, by a friend and, from the moment I picked it up, I was hooked! It describes his attempt to go from amateur (and very occasional) cyclist to a man who takes on the entire route of a Tour de France, albeit not quite as speedily as the pros.

It’s extremely funny, but you also find yourself really rooting for him as he goes from someone who, in the early stages of the ride, misses out the bits he feels are a little pointless and spends much of his time pushing his bike up big mountains, to someone who can proudly say that he has conquered some of the Tour de France’s biggest challenges.

His subsequent books, Gironimo, about his attempt to ride arguably the hardest Grand Tour race ever, the 1914 Giro D’Italia, on a bike from the same period, and The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold, that details his bonkers 5,500-mile ride along the border of the Iron Curtain, the border of the former USSR, on a Soviet-era, East German shopping bike, are just as good, if not better.

I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing more inspiring than a story where a seemingly ordinary person takes on the extraordinary. It leaves me desperate to get planning my next big challenge!

Chris Pountney

I just love this guy!! His zest for life, child-like exuberance and energy for adventure, ability to show us all how to live simply and his kind, gentle nature make for wonderful story-telling.

His writing style and humour are less nuanced than Moore or Carter’s, who could both be termed ‘professional travel writers’, but that’s what is so endearing about Chris Pountney’s books. You get a real sense of his personality and character, and it draws you beautifully into his world and the challenges of cycling such huge distances, being far from home in foreign lands, the desire many of us have to live a life that is not just ordinary, and the quest to find someone to share that life with.

His book series will take you all over the world, from seas to summits, Europe to Asia, Australia to South America. If you want to get a feel for how to live life on two wheels, you just can’t go wrong with his three books, No Wrong Turns, Into the Sunrise, and Different Parts of Everywhere.

Mark Beaumont

Mark Beuamont’s cycling book series stand apart from the rest of the books here. If you’re after someone trying to push themselves to the limit and set crazy records, Mark is your guy.

I remember watching the TV series about his first around the world journey. It was captivating, seeing him ride through what are often considered some of the most dangerous places on Earth, yet being met with friendship and kindness at every turn. I was also fascinated by his Ranulph Fiennes-like approach. He aggressively goes after his goals and struggles at times to contain his emotions because of the fatigue he faces.

So, when I found his book, The Man Who Cycled the World, for sale in my local bike shop, I bought it and went on to devour it and every subsequent book he has written back-to-back. Here’s a summary of the different challenges:

The Man Who Cycled the World: His first around the world attempt.

The Man Who Cyled the Americas: 15,000 miles top to bottom of continental America, climbing the two highest mountains at either end.

Africa Solo: His Cairo to Cape Town world record attempt. There’s something about cycling through Africa that seems even wilder and more remote than his other attempts, so this was truly fascinated me.

Around the World in 80 Days: This one, his second around the world ride, is truly mind-bending! Having lost his record to various riders since his first attempt, he goes all out to try to win it back and post a time few could ever contemplate. He just needs to ride 225 miles a day, for 80 days to achieve it!

Something For Everyone

Dean Nicholson

Nala’s World can be enjoyed by anyone: cyclists, non-cyclists, animal lovers, travel and adventure lovers, and anyone who likes kind people!

Dean’s story begins as a round-the-world cycling adventure with his friend, but they don’t get on so well and he ends up carrying on alone. Alone, that is, until he bumps into a four-legged friend high in the mountains of Eastern Europe. Not wanting to leave the cat to starve, he rescues her and the rest, as they say, is history.

Dean’s Instagram page goes made with feline-friendly followers and Nala, as he names her, becomes the star of the show. A book that will make you grin like a Cheshire Cat!!!

And Something Especially For Children

Alastair Humphreys

This wonderful chap has all sorts of books, about all sorts of adventures! But, one of his real gems, The Boy Who Biked the World, is designed especially for youngsters. It’s fun and engaging with plenty of pictures and activities to break up the reading. That makes it really easy to read in bitesize chunks and keep kids engaged, entertained, and inspired to get out and be more active themselves. A winning formula by my reckoning!

Plus, there are more books in the series if you find your kids really love them!

Summer running, had me a blast!

There’s something truly joyous about a run on a beautiful summer’s day. The world seems open, the long days provide you with the opportunity to run anywhere your imagination (and legs) will take you, and nature is full of endless wonders to keep you entertained along the way!

The rainbow of colours from the flowers in the meadows and hedgerows, the sweet smells of the nectar and the plants growing taller and wilder each day, the warmth of the sun on your skin, the small birds flitting and flying playfully from branch to branch, whilst larger birds of prey soar high on the wing overhead. And, down on the ground, farm animals graze peacefully, pausing momentarily to watch the strange, sweaty individual with only two legs trundling by.

Ok, so sometimes the paths can get a bit wild and you’re left with that prickly, itching sensation on your legs after jogging through long grass and stingers. Sometimes you have to slow to a walk the path is so narrow. Sometimes you feel like you’re leaping over the obstacles that line your way like a graceful deer, when in truth, the reality may be a little different! At times, you have to watch your feet constantly because the hard, cracked, uneven ground means there is an imminent risk of rolling your ankle.

But, all the challenges aside, the warmth, the light, and the chance to escape, to be free, to go on an adventure, more than make up for it!

Here are some of the highlights from a sunny 7.5-mile-run I went on this morning, from home to the edge of the Cotswolds and back. We’re so blessed to live where we do!!!

And I'm off

Out of the village and straight onto the old Roman road.

Getting straight to it!

Pretty soon, it gets steep and, in typical Roman style, there’s no respite whatsoever!

Up, up, up.

Still going. At least it’s in the shade, and it’s so peaceful.

Reward

It’s worth it when I get to the top though and am greeted with views that stretch for miles over summer meadows.

Sweaty but smiling!

Obligatory selfie!!!

Bloomin' marvellous

Hello summer!

A varied colour palette

Pinks, purples, yellows, and, of course, plenty of green!!

Shade

A little respite from the heat as the path winds through the woods.

Panorama

More breathtaking views.

Down I go

Picking up speed as I go.

Britain in bloom

The locals have been busy planting.

Into the Cotswolds

Just!

A damsel that's definitely not in distress

Beautiful

Blurry flight shot

Need more practice with the camera!

Build me up!

Buttercups line the way as I turn onto the Limestone Link path and along the brook that follows the valley home.

More blooms

The colours of fire.

Into the long grass

The fields are wild now, and it means itchy legs!!

Pompoms

I loved these little pink flowers. These, and all the thrift I saw along the way reminded me of pompoms or Bassett’s All Sorts.

Dunkerton Church

Nearly home now.

In the shade of the brook

Just me, a million damsel flies, a few cows, and one rather large bull. No photos of him, I was busy running away.

Back at the bridge

The lovely old stone bridge at the bottom of our lane. It’s all uphill from here!! One mile up the road and I’m home.

In case you’re local, or just fancy exploring a part of Britain you’ve never visited, here’s the route for you.

X reasons why herbs are great for your health

One of our sage plants in full bloom on our allotment.

The term ‘herb’ describes a huge range of plants. A herb can be described as any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers that are used for flavouring, as a food, in perfume, or as a medicine.

In botanical terms, a herb is any seed-bearing plant that does not have a woody stem and that dies down to the ground after flowering.

They’ve been a huge part of human medicine, diet, and culture for millennia, but many of their wonderful benefits have been forgotten in our modern world of heavily processed foods.

Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits of growing herbs and/or adding more of them into your diet:

Some flat-leaf parsley given to us by a lovely neighbour.

Nutrients

Probably the most obvious benefit of adding herbs into your diet is the vast abundance of health-giving nutrients that they provide. Herbs are amongst the highest antioxidant-containing foodstuffs on the planet. They’re also rich in other phytonutrients (plant goodies)!

Rosemary, for example, is a good source of ursolic acid, which has been shown in studies to shut down a substance in your body that increases inflammation and cell damage. Ginger and turmeric contain similarly helpful nutrients.

And it’s not just decreasing inflammation that herbs are helpful for. Here are some other great benefits that they can boast on their CV:

1. The high antioxidant levels can help to protect against ageing and heart disease.

2. Antioxidants and other nutrients like phytoestrogens may play a powerful role in your body’s ability to prevent cancers.

3. They help to keep your immune system strong and healthy.

4. They also have antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, meaning they can help to prevent infection and aid healing.

I’d say those were some pretty good reasons to add more herbs into your diet. But what else can they do?

Taste without the calories

When we want to add taste to our meals, it’s easy to reach for sauces, mayonnaise, and other dressings. And, whilst they can make your meals tasty, they’re often high in calories. Cooking with herbs or sprinkling them onto meat, fish, vegetables, and salads can give you powerful flavour with a lot fewer calories.

Herbs do, of course, still contain some calories (all foods do), but opting for herbs that are nutrient-rich without being energy-dense is a much healthier choice.

Taste without the salt

One of our other favourite go-to’s when it comes to flavour is salt. There’s nothing wrong with salt of course. It’s a good source of nutrients including sodium, which is essential in your body. But, too much sodium can increase the volume of water in your bloodstream and, over time, raise your blood pressure.

Herbs like rosemary, thyme, or spices like paprika (more on these another time) make great seasonings for meals and improve your health at the same time.

Aromatherapy

Herbs smell good. Wandering through your herb garden, or even just growing a few in pots on the windowsill, is a great way to give your nostrils a hug! The strong aroma of peppermint may help to fight nausea, and lavender is well known for its ability to help you relax and sleep better. Garlic can help in all sorts of ways, not least in fighting off vampires! ;-)

Recipes

Maybe I’ve got you thinking that you might want a few more herbs in your diet. If so, here are a few great recipes I’ve found on the web.

Allrecipes.com - a wide range of salads, sauces, pestos, and chutneys all made with herbs.

10 great herb recipes - something for everyone with mains, snacks, desserts and teas made from herbs.

Making the most of fresh herbs - I love the herbs in ice cubes idea here for extra flavour in your cool summer drinks!

How has the easing of lockdown improved your wellbeing?

You might think that a picture of a group of people drinking has no place on a website dedicated to your wellbeing and, in some ways, it doesn't. It's certainly not the alcohol that's the most important element of the picture. Far from it. It's the fact that the people are together, socialising, and enjoying themselves.

Our lives have been changed in so many ways over the past 15 months. We've had many of our freedoms taken away and realised the importance of many things that we simply took for granted.

So what is it about the recent easing of lockdown that's been most helpful in improving your wellbeing? Maybe it's:

Getting to see family and friends.

Studies have suggested that the strength of a person's social circle might be a better predictor of stress, happiness and wellbeing than some fitness tracker data. So, going to the pub for a drink with friends could actually be just as important as going for your morning run! Who knew???

I can't find the reference, but one of my all-time favourite research studies was done on a group of elderly folk who were suffering from mild depression. During the study, half of the participants took part in regular exercise sessions, whilst the others got together for regular tea and biscuit mornings. The results? Both groups saw equal improvements in their mood (and in other markers of wellbeing too)! It seemed just the act of being with others was enough to improve wellbeing. Wonderful news to my ears, as that means not only can I go to the pub, I can have biscuits too!!! ;-)

NOTE: All in moderation of course. It's all about balance.

Freedom

Human beings have been fighting to protect their freedoms for millennia, and no doubt will continue to do so for thousands more years to come. Being able to choose, to do what we want, when we want to, is an essential element of our wellbeing.

Autonomy is well recognised as being vital in so many aspects of our lives. As a child, we grow up wanting the freedom to be able to do the things we want, and this certainly causes a few arguments with our parents along the way! In the workplace, autonomy is recognised as one of the key elements that help workers to feel valued and, consequently, increases the loyalty someone feels towards an organisation, and the productivity of their work.

Many of our simplest freedoms have been missing this past year. The freedom to go where we want to, see who we like, partake in many of our favourite hobbies and pastimes. Maybe getting this back, even just a little, has been the thing you've treasured most in recent weeks?

Spontaneity

'Shall we go out for dinner tonight?' When was the last time you said that? These days, it's more like 'I best book a table at the pub for two weeks Tuesday, just in case they get full.'

I know this is one of the things I've missed hugely. When we did our ride last year, I was hoping that we'd be able to just take each day as it comes, see how far we could go, and then, late afternoon pop into a campsite or B&B that we were passing to see if they had any space. The reality was much different. We had to plan every stay a week or more in advance and stick rigidly to our schedule.

I guess spontaneity is all part of freedom. To be able to go where the wind blows us, to drift on the tide, enjoy the ride, and see where we end up.

Variety

'What day is it?' How many times have you asked that question in recent times? When all days feel the same, it really is hard to tell!

Weirdly, having some structure in our lives also provides us with variety. We know that we do specific things on certain days and at certain times, work being the obvious example. But it's the structure of a working week that allows evenings and weekends to feel like such a wonderful change.

As a self-employed person, I've had to work hard for years to ensure I kept variety in my week. To limit myself to working on certain days between certain times, and even in specific places in the house. It's a vital part of wellbeing. It allows us to compartmentalise our lives into work time, family time, me time, and any other time that's important.

Variety really is the spice of life, so it's quite understandable that many people have found the monotony of lockdowns such a challenge. Hopefully, now your freedoms are beginning to return, you've started to feel like your life has both more structure and more variety again?

How has the easing of lockdown improved your wellbeing?

I’d love to know, so please do reply and tell me in the comments box below. And whatever your reasons, long may it continue!

Be a collector of healthy habits

When I was a kid, I loved collecting all sorts of things. I had collections of stickers, playing cards, beer mats, small china animals (the type you get from gift shops in seaside resorts), and Liverpool FC badges. Each time we went to a game at Anfield, my dad would buy me one from the stalls that lined the streets on the way into the ground. And yes, I was also a rather avid collector of stamps! But, to be fair to me, they were special ones - the First Day Covers that commemorated the release of a new set of stamps or that marked special occasions like the anniversary of D-Day or the Queen's birthday.

OK, that's probably too much information about stamps. But there is a reason why I'm telling you about my geeky childhood - healthy habits.

As I'm sure you know by now, I'm a big believer in developing healthy habits. Why? Because of the principle of 'Reversibility'. Or put more simply, the 'if you don't use it, you lose it' principle. Mostly you hear about this principle in relation to exercise. If you stop being active, then you lose your hard-earned fitness gains. But, the truth is it applies to every single healthy habit going. You cannot store physical or mental health, fitness, and wellbeing for very long. It's a bit like looking after a plant. You must feed and water it regularly to ensure it survives and grows. In the same way, you must keep feeding and watering your body and mind with healthy habits. Only that way can you thrive.

So what? That sounds fairly obvious.

It does. And it is. But that doesn't mean that we humans are very good at following the principle. On the contrary - we often find ourselves trying hard to take up one healthy habit or another, only to give it as soon as something goes wrong.

If you want to find lasting wellbeing, you have to find another way. I believe that way lies in thinking of yourself as a collector. Your challenge in life is to collect as many healthy habits as you can along the way. You might review how you're doing in the same way that children compare their sticker collections in the playground: 

    'Got, got, got, need.' (Children of the 80s and 90s will know what this means).

Take a moment to look at your lifestyle - highlight the healthy habits you already have in place, and then pick a new one, a 'shiny one', that you want to collect next. I say a 'shiny one' because those were the stickers we desperately wanted for our albums when we were kids. It was always football stickers that I collected. The shiny ones were usually the club badges, and I thought they looked amazing!

As kids, we never gave up until every gap in our sticker album was filled. And that's the way you have to see collecting healthy habits. It's a lifelong quest to collect more and more. And unlike stickers, you can also refine the ones you have already collected. If there are no new habits that you want or feel able to work on right now, is there anything you can do to improve an existing one just one per cent more?

Working on healthy habits has to be a lifelong quest because, as I've already mentioned - if you stop practising any one of them, you lose the benefits. Yes, you have the choice to give up, to stop one healthy habit or another, or even all of them. But are you sure you want to? Or do you know that in a few weeks, you'll regret it and want to start again? Only with even more work to do to get back to where you were - like a real-life game of snakes and ladders.

In reality, your wellbeing is one giant game of snakes and ladders. Sometimes you're doing well, climbing the rungs each day, and feeling great. At other times things are tough, and you're sliding down the back of that slippery serpent. When that happens, you have to learn to go again. Winning comes from being determined, stubborn, never giving up, trying with everything you have, forever. 

What will you collect next?

That's my question for you today. And I don't mean stamps! What's next on your healthy habits list?

Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder. Or does it?

Is it a good idea to give things up when you’re trying to be healthier?

There’s often a view that abstaining from things is bad - and can end up making you crave them more. People are told that if they give up chocolate, or caffeine, or sugar, that they may end up desiring it so much that the urge becomes uncontrollable and they end up gorging on it in huge excess. But, is that true?

I guess my answer is the same one that I would frequently give to new Personal Trainers when I was taking them through their courses and they’d have a question they wanted answering about some aspect of health and fitness…

‘It depends.’

Giving things up - foods, drinks, or other unhealthy habits can be both extremely helpful, and also a very bad idea. Let’s have a look at when it might be good to abstain completely, and when it might not.

Addiction

For people struggling with addictions - to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, or gambling, giving up can be the only way to break the cycle. They have to adopt a zero tolerance policy, because for any of a number of reasons - some related to their personal circumstances, and others to the way their brain is wired, they are not able to exert any control over that particular habit. They cannot judge sensible levels, and so abstaining completely is the only safe way for them.

Whilst many of us will talk of being addicted to things - coffee, or sugar for example - unless it has exerted a terribly negative influence on our life, then we may not feel that total abstinence is the right choice for us.

Values

The most common example I can give of how values impact health behaviours is that of having children. Instantly, many mothers will go without all sorts of foods and drinks in an effort to ensure that their unborn baby is healthy. And you’ll frequently see both mums and dads packing up smoking completely once they learn they have a child on the way. They may have tried to quit a number of times before but, for some reason, they’ve never managed to make it stick. Until now.

Why? Because they suddenly have something that is vastly more important to them. Now it matters. The same sometimes happens when people are diagnosed with an illness, or a close friend or family member is. It doesn’t always work like this, but it’s still a powerful influencer.

That doesn’t mean that when people try to abstain from things they deem unhealthy, but fail, that they don’t think it’s important. The very fact that they’ve tried to give up means they must see the benefits of doing it to some degree. The challenge often lies in the fact that things aren’t black and white - we can see both benefits and drawbacks in a habit at the same time, and we can get stuck in the middle - giving up, starting again, giving up, relapsing, and so on. Here’s an example:

John wants to give up chocolate. He feels it would help him to have more energy in the long run, and there is a family history of type 2 diabetes, so he’s concerned for his long-term health. But, he works hard and a chocolate bar sometimes gives him a quick boost of energy when he needs it. He also loves the taste, and he sometimes has some chocolate in the evening as a reward after a hard day at work in a demanding job.

It’s easy to see here how John might decide to give up, but then slip back into old habits because he feels that chocolate gives him some important things.

Swaps

For people like John, a swap is often the best option, to ensure that he gets the benefits of giving up, whilst finding a healthier way to retain the benefits of the chocolate bar. Here’s how he might do it:

• Discover other ways to increase his energy levels during the day - maybe swapping chocolate for a quick 5-minute walk outside. Or he might choose to drink some water, or have a piece of fruit, or do some meditation, or have a cup of tea. T

• He might also make a list of things he really loves the taste of that he feels are healthier - natural yoghurt with raspberries, maybe even a simple swap to darker chocolate, or a homemade healthy energy bar.

It doesn’t have to be like for like i.e. food for food - just something that gives you the same feelings/benefits/rewards. The choices are endless, and it’s up to John to choose what’s best for him to feel like he’s moving in the right direction towards better health.

The swap is such a powerful choice because you’re still getting the thing you ultimately desired - energy. comfort, social interaction. I’ve frequently heard the latter as the reason people go out with colleagues for a fag break, or to the pub. If you can find a way to still get what you want, without resorting to the healthy habit, your brain will likely be very satisfied and refrain from trying to tempt you into old ways.

Your mindset

Finally, choosing to abstain or not will depend very much on how you view things. For example, I’ve worked with a number of clients who said they wouldn’t be able to reduce the amount of a certain food. If they were going to have a biscuit, they knew they’d end up eating the entire pack. Some people might choose to take a packet and split it into smaller portions, or share them with a friend. But this person knew they wouldn’t do that - so zero tolerance was the only way for them.

And it can work. In the same way that it works for the smokers and drinkers that we talked about earlier on. With foods, some clients find that they just stop thinking about them when they don’t have them, or sometimes that their taste preferences change completely, and when they do have some, they find it too sweet, or too strong, or just don’t like it anymore.

In summary

• Abstinence is a great tool if you feel you have an unhealthy addiction to something. In fact, with addiction, it’s frequently the only option.

• For most people, taking the time to work out what they like about the thing they’re trying to give up, and swapping it for something healthier that gives them the same, is a very good idea.

• Everyone is different. Don’t be afraid to try giving something up. If you find that you can’t, don’t worry about it - you’ve learned that it’s probably just not the right method for you. Try a swap instead. Whatever happens, keep trying. Remember , there is no failure, only feedback.

Why is you sleep worse in Lockdown? And what can you do about it?

A study conducted last summer suggested that over half of the UK population had struggled with their sleep since the pandemic began. But just why is that? And more importantly, what can you do to snooze more soundly? Luckily, as with all health and wellbeing challenges, there’s plenty you can do to take back control and improve your sleep-wake balance.

Let’s take a look at the big problems and some powerful tools to help you overcome them.

1. Increased stress and anxiety

The last year has give us all sorts of things to be stressed or anxious about, and that can lead to difficulty sleeping, and poor quality sleep. You may get the hours you need, but still wake feeling groggy or unrefreshed.

Stress increases the activity of your Sympathetic Nervous System - the one responsible for speeding you up by increasing levels of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These are useful when you need to get things done during daylight hours, but not so helpful when you’re trying to switch off and fall asleep at night.

What can you do about it?

There’s no single solution for reducing stress and anxiety, and improving sleep, but here are my top 3 tips you can try:

1) Get help. Above all else, if you’re struggling, speak to your GP or get in touch with a counsellor to talk through your problems. It’s ok not to be ok.

2) Write down your troubles before bedtime. It helps to get your anxieties out of your head. You can then give yourself permission not to worry about things overnight, as they’re down on paper and you can look to start addressing them tomorrow.

3) Try breathing techniques or meditation. You can use apps like Headpsace, listen to the sounds of nature, or have a go at this simple breathing technique:

• Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds

• Hold your breath for 7 seconds

• Exhale through pursed lips (making a whooshing noise like the wind) for 8 seconds.

• Repeat 4 times.

Funnily enough, it’s called the 4-7-8 technique and was invented by Dr Andrew Weil.

2.More time indoors

We’ve all been cooped up a lot more than we’re used to - adults and children alike. And that’s not good for our sleep. In fact, The Sleep Foundation says that exposure to light is the most important external factor affecting your sleep. In the daytime, you need to be exposed to the bright light of the sun. Even if you are sat by a window or in a car, it’s just not a s good. It’s that direct exposure to daylight, and then the subsequent lack of light after dark, that helps your body to fine-tune your Circadian Rhythm - your body clock. In one scientific study, it was shown that office workers who were exposed to more natural light during the day, had 46 minutes more sleep than those who weren’t.

What can you do about it?

It seems that the very best thing you can do is to get outside early in the morning for at least 30 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight. That’s awesome news, as you can coincide it with your daily exercise and get a double-whammy of benefits!!!

And hey, if your daily schedule doesn’t allow for early exercise, just get out at some point during the day - go for a walk, take the dog out, do some gardening, do your stretching or strength exercises, have a ‘walking meeting’ on Skype, or anything else that gets you out the front door.

3. Increased screen time

Whilst natural light is wonderful for your sleep, the bright lights of laptops, tablets, and phones can wreak havoc on your body clock. Your brain interprets the bright light as coming from the only natural source of light it knows - the big ball in the sky. As it thinks it’s daytime, it starts sending out signals to boost the levels of ‘action’ hormones like adrenaline. If you stay on your screens too long past nightfall, your sleep can be significantly delayed.

What can you do about it?

1) Switch off in the evenings. Finish work on time, put your screens to one side, and use the evenings to spend time with your loved ones, talk to friends and family on the phone, read a book, or enjoy your hobbies.

2) Set your screens to night-time mode. Even just a little less bright light can make a difference,

3) Stop watching TV at least an hour before bed. Whilst the tele isn’t quite as bright as many modern devices, any form of light can have an impact on your sleep cycles.

4. The loss of daily routines

We are creatures of habit. We like to get up at the same time each day, and go to bed at the same time each night. As I’ve already mentioned, we’re ruled by an internal body clock. But in our weird world, many of us don’t have the need to get up and get out of the house like we once did, or to go to bed early knowing we’d have to do it all over again tomorrow. Whilst we’ve probably enjoyed this new-found freedom, it’s thrown us out of sync.

What can you do about it?

If you want to help your night-time rest, one of the best things you can do is to set yourself times for going to bed and rising. They don’t have to be as extreme as they used to be - you can still enjoy a few extra minutes if you know you don’t have to sit in traffic, but be rigorous with it. Get yourself into a routine, and your body will thanks for it.

Summary

It’s a strange time. Be kind to yourself, but remember that you can take control. Pick just one habit to work on, and focus on making it a lasting change rather than worrying about the impact it has in the first few days or weeks. Once it’s embedded into your daily life, work on another, and keep collecting good habits until you find that, more often than not, you’re sleeping like a baby.