This month’s lifestyle champion: Elaine

Born in the 1950's, my family were always well fed, too much so.  My mum was a good cook and we were encouraged to eat everything on our plate. I developed a sweet tooth, which has stayed with me throughout life; I was known as the Kit Kat Queen!

My saving grace, until my late teens, was that I spent nearly all of my time outside and being active.  At one time I was a county standard athlete and played in all the school sports teams.

Fast forward to college where I studied catering and onto a career which involved food.  I began to gain weight and despite enrolling in many slimming clubs over the years could not sustain the weight loss.  This affected my confidence and my health. 

This yoyo lifestyle took its toll and I needed medication for high blood pressure.

In January I was contacted by Townhead Surgery to ask if I would be interested in taking part in the Complete Health Improvement Programme.  At the time I laughed and commented to my friend that I would give it go but couldn't really see my committing to it for 10 weeks.   How wrong could I be!

Accepting that I really needed to get a grip with my health, I decided I had nothing to lose but a lot to gain.  Changing to a plant-based diet was a challenge but once I accepted this, I found that I was eating a wider variety of plant-based food, not missing meat and dairy products but really enjoying it.

I also felt the need to have sweet foods all the time was subsiding.  I started to walk almost every day and this combined with other activity was the key to help me lose over 2 stone.  I already played walking rugby but this got easier, I could recover more quickly and not feel as breathless.  I also found that regular exercise helped my joints to feel more supple and less painful.  A win-win situation really.

Most surprisingly, I have been able to sustain these changes and I feel so much better.  Don't get me wrong, I still have the occasional treat but not as often.  I am gradually losing the excess weight I had gained over the years. 

I am enjoying being more active and social now and with luck and perseverance, I hope to keep myself fit and as healthy as possible in my retirement. 

This month’s walk: Whernside

This is the most challenging, but also most rewarding, of the three peaks. There are some great views of the Lakeland hills and the Irish sea from the summit.

This 9 mile loop starts from Ribblehead viaduct and takes around 4.5 hours. Don’t forget to take water and snacks, and let me know how you get on!

This month’s recipe: Jackfruit Tagine

From: booths.co.uk

This month’s promotion: 20% off the Complete Health Improvement Programme

This month’s lifestyle fact

Using a standing desk for three hours a day burns around 30,000 extra calories per year. That’s the equivalent of running 10 marathons.

If you would like to share any of your favourite recipes/ walk ideas/ tips/ stories/ books/ podcasts please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to forward to your friends if they would like to be added to the mailing list.