Healthy eating - Richie's blog week 3 | Hands-on Health | Exmouth ...

Richie Evans describes progress with his charity weight loss and?fitness programme?at Hands-on Health.

One of the most interesting facets of going on any sort of public health kick, particularly in these boom days of social networking, is that it can be a lot more public than you realise, and in my case, due to my multiple musical activities in and around Exmouth, this can be very public indeed. There scarcely seems to be a day now where I am not wished ?good luck? or I am stopped in the street by people that I didn?t realise were aware of what I was involved in with Hands-on Health to have a chat about how it is all progressing.

All of this, is of course, really kind and supportive, and really does help to drive me on, although I often have to explain to people (especially the surprising number I meet whilst shopping , and who feel compelled to, in a kind way, monitor what I am buying, which DOES make me smile indulgently) that I am not on some sort of crash diet, but I am, in fact, gradually changing my entire lifestyle to include regular, productive exercise, aligned with healthy, balanced eating.

Which brings me on nicely onto the subject of nutrition. Way before embarking on this mighty quest, I would often be advised on what was best for me to eat, and how to live my life, by people who were either (a) unbelievably preachy and sanctimonious, or (b) scarcely credible adverts for what they were trying to tell me to do. NOT so in the case of every single person I have had the pleasure of dealing with at Hands-on Health so far. They inspire confidence in what they are trying to achieve, not just with me, but, I?d imagine, with everyone that they work with. From the unbelievably fit and diligent Albie taking me through the TRX, to the muscle-bound John (I?m secretly very impressed with his fitness, but sssshh, don?t tell him) with the kettlebells, and to the vastly knowledgeable, realistic and very supportive Lesley with her nutritional advice, I find myself believing 100% in their guidance, because these people are quite brilliant examples? in practising what they preach.

Increasingly, I find that nutrition is going to be a massive factor in determining how I progress with Hands-on Health. By that, I mean that I could exercise all I wanted, but without making some (surprising and embarrassingly obvious) changes to the way I perceive eating and basic nutrition, I may as well not bother. With Lesley, she will attempt to ascertain the things that I do like eating and work them into the balance of my diet, because it is clear that if a person is eating things that they do not enjoy, there is every probability that they will slide back into the unhealthy pattern that they had before.

In the last two weeks, I have developed more awareness of balancing protein, appropriate carbs, sugars and fats in my diet than I had for my entire adult life before, and having established that I find wholemeal pitta, eggs, crunchy delicious vegetables such as peppers, broccoli, tomatoes and cauliflower, fish and chicken to be delicious parts of my diet, added to oatcakes, hummus, cottage cheese, tasty fruit and nuts, I am finding it so much easier to distance myself from my previous staples of bulky, sauce and red meat-laden pasta, milk and cheese (masses of it, I may add), quick microwaveable options, and the most terrible of all, IRN-BRU!

And all of this simply by taking on board advice from three very convincing and clearly very professional people ? who knew?

You can sponsor Richie at?www.justgiving.com/richie-evans

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