Category: motivation

A “food desert” is termed an area where fresh food isn’t accessible within 15 minutes of public transport, these areas are always areas full of poverty, and the only foods available are usually ultra processed foods (very low quality nutritionally) that literally over time make us sick).

It’s a prime reason why 1 in 3 kids are prone to at least one diet related disease buy the age of 11.

It’s a massive reason why so many people live with obesity and this condition directly leads to most of major diseases known to humans.

In a food desert, if we rely on ultra processed foods for the bulk of what we eat, then it’s no wonder we will get sick, it’s no wonder why we are very unlikely to feel well most of the time, and its definitely no wonder why we may have so many limitations to our lives if we do live with obesity on a long term basis, which is the by product of not eating MORE NUTRITIOUS FOOD for a long period of time, because ultra processed food is indeed “sweet and nice” AND ADDICTIVE because it makes us eat way more of it.

We are lucky mostly in our area we can still eat well if we choose, the supermarket maybe mostly full of rubbish, but we can still eat whole foods, we can still eat great energy and healing foods that will help us recuperate is from our daily exertions.

Massive fat food advertising campaigns are entrenched in our society, especially at this Christmas time of year, and encouraging us to get hooked on very sugary and chemical filled foods that are so often made in laboratories.

Celebrate you do not live in a food desert, love the fact you still have choices and you do not need to listen to “peer pressure” from your work colleagues or friends to make yourself sick, have the courage to be a dissenting voice, have the courage not to follow the crowd or fall for the heavy advertising, both haven’t got your health high on their lists that’s for sure.

Nothing wrong with a bit of what you fancy at times, but looking after yourself the RIGHT WAY has never been so important, and will literally CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

When the Christmas message gets lost

The tables of food you see in christmas adverts I have never seen in any house I have ever been in, and I have trained very wealthy people, and I have trained a LOT of people yet still have never seen that over-indulgence in food.

It’s making a lot of people feel inadequate because the parent cant afford all of that food, it’s making the child feel poor because they haven’t got huge quantities of everything in all the christmas adverts, they don’t know how unrealistic that is.

As we get older, and we see the full impact of christmas, it’s hard not to be cynical of the marketing effort alone, and the way it really makes people feel.

Then fast forward to the end of the month, look at the coop’s in Burry Port to Mumbles, it’s funny they have massive adverts in the window for cold and flu remedies in abundance, they know you will get sick from eating so much rubbish most of December, drinking more than usual and not moving so much, so the pharmaceutical companies become happier because they know their products will be in very high demand.

Then the debt management and banks to well after christmas as they get more requests for loans to cover the cost of christmas, plus banks and solicitors do well late January when they get more requests for the implications of divorce, and this reaches it’s peak from jan 15th to 31st January apparently.

This is not a all doom and gloom message though

It’s not all bad news though, I see more people depressed at this time of year than ever, due to christmas reminding them of bad times and many of them will want to join the gym as a way to overcome depressive thoughts. 

When I actually tell them not to believe the marketing people and there is another way to feel better, the stories start to become way more positive.

I see more and more of you swapping ultra processed food for REAL food that is still in it’s original form, and it’s not only making your body healthier, it’s flushing out some toxic stuff from your mind too-it’s what you tell me. 

I see more of you hitting the gym in December rather than throwing the towel in and accepting that putting on two stone is somehow a “good thing”, many of you who USED to be in poor health realise that being in a good health is NOW is nothing you should take for granted and you have worked so hard to turn it all around you won’t want to blow it all now, and you are celebrating the options/opportunities you have now in life, and well as the great gratitude now for the health you are in.

When life offers you two choices in December, there’s only one way to guarantee you lift your sprits, start feeling good about yourself again and it’s never going to be the “eat as much as you can” version, “spend as much as you can” version on stuff you never really needed in the first place.

It’s great to enjoy yourself but as long as you still eating well 80% of the time and still training at least 3 times a week, you know everything will stay in good order with your body and mind and you won’t succumb the endless lows after christmas in January which will only drag you down to a dark place you never want to be in, keep fighting and make December a great month all round.

Life is a risk, we could get knocked down later on, we could slip on a sheet of ice, we could actually “fail” at something, society will always tell us to take the “Safe Route” and not have a go.

The problem is when the “safe route” becomes really the most dangerous route and fraught with danger and ill health.

When we don’t get out and have a go every day in life, we never “fail” at anything at all and don’t have to deal with disappointment, after all we can look at our past achievements through rose tinted spectacles and wax lyrically how our life “used to be”, and no doubt recall our “daring moments” in our “younger days” which happened to fill us with pride.

With our food choices, we can fit in with “everyone else” or least the people we know, and giggle as we say “ready meals are easier, they are only 2 minutes to warm up”, and they are all “low in fat”. That is “being safe” for most people.

If that is your “status quo” in life, or the way you have started to think just to “fit in with others”, then you need to re-check the facts and the science.

Having a go is a human need as much as fresh air is vital for us, it’s a desire to test ourselves that lets us thrive and keeps us young in all ways, are we still strong enough, do we still have enough energy, can we still walk up that hill or down those stairs just like we always did? Can we still lift heavy things off the floor?

We were brought up on home cooked food, no additives, no crazy chemical experiments that originated in the laboratory now called food, in our food shops back in the day we didn’t have rows and rows of ultra processed food now disguised as good food for us, and to be truthful we don’t have to stand for it now, we can still buy food in the natural form and with a small bit of imagination we can cook a meal with less than 5 ingredients that not only tastes amazing but is actually good for us.

I urge you to take the tiny risk but massive reward of exercising and eating natural and the right way, because that’s what’s really going to make you change, in terms of feeling better, have a much better chance of not getting ill, and finally get back your self-confidence and self-pride, which has been so easy to lose over the last couple of years.

Pain in the body is usually a disguise for whats really causing the big problems.

If you are malnourished, which means you aren’t getting the adequate amount of nutrients your body needs for proper daily function, then your body will start to break down, you will get sick much more often than normal, your body will start to creek and ache like never before, and you will feel too tired to do much, and even the thought of exercising probably feels beyond you.

If you are carrying excess weight, and most of us have experienced that in our lives, then the strain on our joints will begin to tell. It’s easy to blame our joints or we are getting old, but the cause will nearly always be excess weight we have gradually added on year by year through our inactivity and dietary choices.

If we carried a big bag of potatoes around all day for a bet, we would expect to have a really bad back, to pull a muscle maybe, and our knees would likely be in agony at the end of the day. Then imagine doing that EVERY day for YEARS, it doesn’t take a genius to work out what happens to our bodies.

Getting back to basics is the answer and most of our ailments will go away over time. If we get away from the ultra processed foods that most supermarket aisles contain (ready meals, biscuits, flavoured yoghurts, sausages etc) , our health will improve, despite those foods claiming to be “low fat”, “low sugar”, or have the latest “wonder supplement” added to it. 

Eating foods as near to their natural state is a great start. If foods have a long list of ingredients, they are no longer really that food and are not good for you anymore (ultra processed).

Once you commit to start eating better, then you naturally begin to feel better, which raises your desire to want to move more. These are the foundations that will really create a massive shift in your health over time, make those endless doctor visits disappear, and.feel as if you are taking charge with your own health once again.

No amount of wonder supplements, no amount of pharmaceutical; drugs will change the game for you and put your wellbeing on an upward trajectory COMPARED to getting your foundations right such as eating right and moving more. AND once you get this right you will start to sleep better,  which will only energise you even more and let your body heal properly too.

You are 40 and you assume you will be able to do the same things physically at 50, you are 50 and you are assume as if by magic, that at 60 everything will still be possible.

At 60, then 70 will seem a long way off but “of course” you will still be able to do a good run, still be able to lift around the same weight off the floor, and still have good flexibility.

At 70 to 80, the same thinking persists even though the truth may be much different.

We ALL secretly think this way, but most of us have ZERO plan on how to make these things happen, because it doesn’t “suddenly” happen, and we can’t turn on physical ability on and off like a tap.

Even 16 year olds who were used to playing sports even ,who have just left school, cannot jump back into a game at 21 without a LOT of training to get their conditioning back up to speed, or they will most likely seriously hurt themselves.

So fast forward 30 years and is your balance still good?

Is your left leg as strong as your right leg?

Can you handle your own bodyweight in exercises you used to take for granted?

Can you walk up and down steps no problem or is there suddenly a big doubt in your mind you may fall, and your confidence has gone?

Can you walk up hills without stopping every 5 yards and have you purposely avoided such situations?

When you have a fall, do you break bones much easier and is the recovery much longer now?

Do you insist on everything being delivered now, because you can’t walk with all those bags anymore?

What’s all of this doing for your mental health? I’m guessing it’s not making you happy or filling you with confidence!

These are all signs your body’s function is declining and you need to exercise in the right way to REVERSE all of these things, and those lofty goals at age 60, 70 or 80 will NEVER be possible unless you start taking charge of your OWN health and have a PLAN on how to do it, because those things won’t happen by accident.

Many people invest financially for their retirement and often brag about that but have ZERO plan to invest in their bodies and health, because unless you have that, retirement will only be a case of “surviving life”, instead of truly LIVING and thriving in your senior years.