Finding the Energy to Exercise

Are you finding it hard to find the energy to exercise? The good news is, it's not hard as you think.

Today’s face-paced lifestyle has been specifically designed to save us time and energy. In fact, if we didn’t have to go to work, there would be very little reason for us to leave the home. From doing our grocery shopping and banking online, to ordering in takeaway and speaking to our friends over the phone as we relax on the couch watching TV, life today is somewhat motionless. Sadly, too many of us think of movement as an inconvenience, when we should be thinking of it as an opportunity towards better health and happiness.

For most of us, when it comes to being active, our worst enemy is ourselves. Many of us are familiar with that voice inside our head telling us to chill out on the couch instead using up what little energy we have left on exercise. Ironically, if we just moved more we would have loads more energy, as exercise boosts endorphins and brightens up our mood. To get fit the easy way, follow my guide below.

Get motivated: Setting yourself clear fitness goals is one of the best motivational tricks you can use – goals give you a clear idea of where you want to end up. Make your goals specific and realistic, and write them down so you’re accountable and can track your progress. Reward yourself when you reach your goals. There will come times when simply starting your exercise session will be daunting. Crush those feelings by breaking down your session into to intervals. Take 10 minutes at a time and the momentum will carry you through to the end of your workout. Stay motivated by involving yourself in activities you enjoy.

Get it over and done with: Exercise first thing in the morning, so that life doesn’t get in the way of your exercise plans. You’ll be less likely to cancel if you get your exercise session over and done with. You'll also feel fabulous and and be more productive during the day.

Walk the kids to and from school: This is a great way to promote a healthy lifestyle to your children, as well as spending some quality time with them. If you can’t walk them to school, then try going for a family walk once a week or walking the dog together each night.

Partner up with a friend: Not only are friends great motivators for workouts, training with a friend has also been shown to double pain tolerance, meaning you’re more likely to workout harder.

Your iPod will get you through: Whether you’re listening to music or making your way through the latest e-book, an iPod can help make the time pass quicker.

Utilise your workday: Too many of us spend most of our day sitting in front of computers, commuting in traffic or sitting motionless in meetings. Why not be creative and identify ways to boost your activity levels. Do the office coffee run; talk to a colleague instead of emailing; sit on an exercise ball instead of a chair and go to the toilet on a different floor.

Always choose the active way: Throughout your day-to-day life, always choose the active way. For instance, regularly take the stairs over the lift and work to the printer each time your print something rather than waiting until the end of the day. Wearing comfy footwear instead of high heels will so mean you can walk more, as you won't have to jump in a cab to get 100 metres up the road because your feet are aching.

Keep up the exercise: The more you exercise, the more you’ll find it becomes a normal part of your lifestyle. Motivate yourself by creating new exercise and physical activity habits. Plan exercise into your week and if you can't exercise in the morning, take your workout gear to work with you and stop by the gym in your lunch hour or on the way home.

Healthy Christmas Fun

Tis the season to be jolly, but nobody wants to start the New Year too out of shape. Here are my eight tips to get you through the festive season somewhat healthily.

1. Sign-up for a new-year fitness event: Maintain your fitness throughout December by registering for a fitness event in January or February 2012. You may take on an open water swim, sweat it out in a 10km run or perform a mini-triathlon. Whichever you choose, the upcoming event will help you stay active during the party season.

2. Eat your favourite Christmas foods: Indulge in the mince tarts or Christmas pudding, tantalise your tastebuds with the trifle and crunch through the crackle. But leave the chocolates, lollies, candy canes and chips for someone else. These snack foods are not as special as the traditional Christmas foods, so they’re not worth the kilojoules.

3. P-A-R-T-Y wisely: The month of December is usually jam packed with catch-ups and celebrations, but you don’t always need to attend them all. Too many of us wear busyness like a badge of honour, when really it saps us of our energy. Attend only the most important events. That way, you won’t get run down and you’ll find the celebrations more enjoyable.

4. Wear tight clothing: Tight clothes like skinny jeans can work as an unpleasant reminder not to overeat. Feeling your stomach to the limits can make sitting and moving in tight clothes extremely uncomfortable. So, going easy on the portion sizes will seem like the better option at the time, as well as help you manage your weight in the longer term.

5. Succeed with salad: Before heading to your Christmas party, eat a low-kilojoule salad. According to Barbara Rolls in her volumetric plan, filling up on salads prior to your main meal eases hunger pangs and helps to fill you up. In fact, eating a low-kilojoule salad can help reduce your intake at your next meal by 20 per cent.

6. Reflect and re-evaluate: As you approach the end of another year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on your achievements and re-evaluate your goals for 2012. Reflection and re-evaluation will give you a sense of achievement and self-fulfilment, which are both important for a happy and healthy mind.

7. Downsize your plates: Be like Goldilocks and eat off the smallest plate at the party. Research shows, the larger the plate, the more food dished up and the more food eaten. Serving utensils can also increase the amount of food you eat. A larger spoon can see you dish up 14.5 per cent more food than if you used a smaller spoon. So bear this in mind when you’re at a buffet-style function.

8. Schedule me time: Remain sane throughout December by taking time out to relax. Running yourself into the ground during this hectic time is going to see you start the New Year worse for ware. Enjoy some alone time each week and revitalise yourself.

Tackling Obesity in Young Women

When it comes to successful weight loss strategies, most of research to date predominantly looks at middle-aged men and women, while young women are often forgotten about. However, with 21 per cent of Australian women aged 18-24 years being overweight and 15 per cent being obese, this group is quickly becoming more prone to obesity than any other age group. A lack of food skills, heavy alcohol consumption, regular meals eaten away from home and fad diets are just some of the reasons to blame for weight challenges in young women.

Effective weight loss in young women requires an understanding of their lifestyle, expectations and motivations. This generation wants quick results and expects weight loss to be fast and dramatic. They prefer to mix in groups of a similar age and enjoying a night out with the girls is a high priority. How young women manage their body goes a long way in predicting their weight and fat status throughout the rest of adulthood. To help young women tackle obesity, follow these tips:

Develop realistic strategies: Socialising is a big part of young women's lives therefore providing advice that excludes takeaway options from their menu is not going to get the desired results. For young women, eating out is a regular part of the week, not a treat. Educating young women on making better food choices by selecting a meal that provides low-GI carbohydrates, lean proteins and plenty of vegetables are a must.

Manage expectations: The media and celebrity diets create a false image that effective weight loss happens quickly. As a result, young women expect speedy weight loss results, when in actual fact slow and steady wins the weight loss war. Addressing the misinformation surrounding weight loss, as well as managing expectations for instant weight loss results can help women become more realistic with the goals

Teach cooking skills: Young women tend to dial for takeaway or eat out instead of cooking their own evening meal, as many lack the skills and knowledge required to plan, shop, prepare and cook a healthy meal. Educating women on essential kitchen appliances, grocery shopping and stocking a pantry is essential for this age group. Providing them with the skills to cook a range of quick and easy meals is also beneficial.

Be realistic about alcohol: Despite the extra kilojoules and poor food choices that accompany drinking, alcohol consumption is an important part of the social life of young women. Banning alcohol intake in young women merely isolates them from their social scene and is also an unrealistic strategy. Empower young women to adjust their drinking habits by educating them on the best choices and kilojoule content of popular beverages.

Treat emotional eating: Overeating among this age group is often in response to an emotional or psychological issue. Low self-esteem, loneliness, perfectionism and body dissatisfaction are associated with emotional eating, however using food as the main strategy to cope with managing emotions can develop into an "unhealthy food addiction". Emotional eating doesn't solve the problem and instead can further entrench self-loathing and negative thoughts and behaviours. Determining and addressing the cause of the emotional eating is recommended for weight management.

Variety isn't always the spice of life

Variety is meant to be the spice of life, but in reality variety may make healthy eating and weight loss harder. According to new research published in the American Journal of Nutrition, less variety means less kilojoules throughout the week. For the study, researchers put 32 obese and non-obese women aged 20-50 years of age on an unhealthy diet of macaroni and cheese. The women were randomly assigned to eating macaroni and cheese five times, either daily for one week or once a week for five weeks. At the end of the study, both the obese and non-obese women who had eaten macaroni and cheese daily consumed fewer kilojoules than the women who ate it only once a week. In fact, the women who ate macaroni and cheese once a week ate more kilojoules.

Eating the same thing day after day may sound dull but it's a winning formula for weight loss. Monotony with eating eventually leads to a decrease response or habituation to that food. In other words, over exposure to food makes us lose interest in it and consequently reduce the amount we eat. This isn't the only research that believes variety to be an issue for weight loss, with research published in the journal Obesity Research finding people who have successfully maintained major weight loss for several years had less variety from all food groups and consumed fewer kilojoules than those who recently lost weight. While the people that succeeded in weight loss still ate foods from each category, they ate less variety within categories.

While our national nutrition guidelines recommend eating a wide variety of foods, this isn't always practical and it can contribute unnecessary waste. For many people our fast-paced lifestyle makes it hard enough to find the time to prepare healthy meals let alone making each one different. That's why creating a regular routine in which your breakfast, lunch and snacks are similar, if not the same, makes healthy eating easier. The grocery shopping is easier and meal preparation is easier. Too many different foods in the fridge means you need to come up with a range of recipes in order to use them all up. Otherwise these foods become part of the $5.2 billion worth of food wasted each year.

For overall health and well-being it's important to include a certain amount of variety in your diet, but you don't have to make every meal or snack you eat different. Instead aim to enjoy foods from each of the five food groups - fruit, vegetable, cereals and grains, meat and meat alternatives, and dairy products and non-dairy alternatives. Dish up a variety of non-starchy vegetables, while offer one option of carbohydrates and one option of protein at each meal. Keep your snack choices to a few different options and avoid a buffet style of eating. Controlling the variety of foods on offer isn't boring, it makes healthy eating easier.

Looking at Diabetes & Eye Health

Did you know that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in Australians under the age of 60? Yet few people realise the connection between diabetes and eye health. This year's Diabetes Awareness Week aims to highlight the link between diabetes and the eyes. With more than 3 million or one in four Australian adults over the age of 25 having either diabetes or pre-diabetes (impaired glucose intolerance), diabetes impact on eye health could do with a closer look.

How does diabetes affect eye health

High blood glucose levels changes the shape of the lens in the eyes, temporarily causing blurred vision. This blurred vision is common before diabetes is diagnosed or when diabetes is poorly controlled. When blood glucose levels are reduced though diet, exercise and/or medications, the blurriness usually disappears. Persistently high blood glucose levels can increase the risk of developing the following eye conditions:

• Cataracts: result from changes to the lens that produce clouding, which decreases visual acuity. People with diabetes are more likely to develop cataracts at a younger age.
• Retinopathy: High blood glucose levels affect the blood vessels supplying the retina, a light sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. These blood vessels weaken and narrow, causing blood and fluid to leak into the eye, a condition called retinopathy. Over the longer term, major haemorrhage can occur leading to retinal detachment and even permanent loss of eyesight. The development of retinopathy is strongly related to the length of time diabetes has been present and the degree of blood glucose control.
• Glaucoma: an eye disease in which the optic nerve (which transmits electrical impulses from the retina to the brain) is damaged. While glaucoma can affect anybody, it appears to be more common in people with diabetes. In people with diabetes, glaucoma can develop as a result of severe diabetic retinopathy.

Tips for looking after your eyes:

1. Manage your blood sugar levels: Make a commitment to managing your diabetes by finding the time for healthy eating and physical activity each day. Take oral medications or insulin as directed and check and record your blood sugar levels several times each day. Regular monitoring is the only way to make sure that your blood sugar levels remain within your target range. Your GP can help you determine how often to test your blood sugar levels.
2. Control blood pressure: While most of us know that controlling our blood pressure is good for our heart, few realise how important it is for protecting our eyesight. High blood pressure can increase your risk of diabetic retinopathy in people with diabetes.
3. Quit smoking: Giving up cigarettes can improve the health of your eyes, reducing your risk of developing cataracts and retinopathy in people with diabetes. To help you quit smoking today call the Quitline today on 137848.
4. Get your eyes checked: Make sure you schedule for your yearly eye check up. If you experience any sudden vision changes or if your vision becomes hazy, blurry or spotty, contact your doctor straight away.

Is work making you fat?

When it comes to the obesity epidemic, poor eating habits and inadequate exercise are the lifestyle factors that receive most of the blame. However, new research suggests there might be a new kid on the block to blame for our expanding waistlines....and it's our jobs!

Over the last 50 years, there has been a shift away from occupations that require moderate intensity physical activity to occupations that are largely composed of sitting and sedentary behaviour. In fact, according to research published in the journal PLoS ONE our daily occupation-related energy expenditure has decreased by more than 420 kilojoules in both men and women. The US researchers also speculate that this reduction in occupational energy expenditure accounts for a large portion of the observed increase in mean weight in the US over the last five decades.

While this is the first detailed study to look at the impact work has on our waistlines, the results don't come as a surprise to me. Over the years, physical activity has been engineered out of our lives and few of us think about the effect this is having on our health. Sure we think about working out in the gym or going for a run, but few of us think about the incidental stuff like taking the stairs instead of the elevator even to go up a single level. Few of us get off a few bus stops early and walk the rest of the way to work, nor will we get up to talk to a colleague instead of emailing. All of these scenarios get us moving more at work, yet they're often thought of as inconveniences rather than opportunities.

While it's unlikely that the lost occupational-related energy expenditure can ever be completely restored to the workplace, we can increase the opportunities for movement. Employers can subsidize gym memberships or provide group personal training sessions for employees at lunch time. Employees can go outside each lunch break for a run or walk, or exercise before or after work everyday. Offices can be designed to encourage walking and promote face-to-face communication instead of emails.

Moving at work is a good thing, so make sure you include it as much as possible, without rewarding yourself with food or letting your emotions tempt you with large amounts of comfort food when stressed at work. However, it's important to remember that moving more at work is just one of the things you can do to keep your waistline down. Eating a healthy balanced diet, controlling stress levels and getting adequate sleep are also important, so make time for these also.

Why is it so hard to change?

If change is as good as a holiday, then why do so many of us struggle with it? Even when we know that making a particular change is for the best, it's still hard to commit to the process. For many of us, change is an inconvenience - we need to put in the effort to get the results. Even when we understand the benefits of making a change though, there still seems to be something standing in our way. This something is the fear of the unknown and our ability to cope with this unknown in the future. When we're not sure of how we're going to get from the old habit to the new habit, we become concerned and doubt our ability, particularly if there is a strong chance of failure.

Working as a health professional, I motivate and empower people to make changes every day. I assess their readiness to change, help them weigh up the pros and cons for changing, assist them in setting achievable goals and help them overcome barriers along the way. With so much of my work focused on empowering people to make positive changes, you would think I would excel at making my own changes. Yet knowing the theory and actually putting it into practice doesn't always seem to correlate. The change I need to make isn't about health and wellbeing (that I haven't any problem with), it's about taking the steps to create my business.

Just like many of my clients, I know want needs to be done, but the gap between knowing and putting the wheels into motion, just doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. Even when I know what needs to be done, I still find myself struggling to commit the time to do the things I know need to be done. This happens to more people than just me. So why?

From my point of view, I believe that one of the biggest reasons people choose not to change is because they fall victim to the temptation of instant gratification, which blurbs their bigger picture. Instead of making the choices that make our day-to-day lives more enjoyable, we need to commit the time and effort to working towards our long-term goals that have more meaning. We need to spend more time planning what we really want to achieve in life, commit to the process and then make it happen. Change may make you feel uncomfortable, but if you embrace it, your dreams just may come true. Even if they don't, you're bound to achieve something just as rewarding.