School's (nearly) out for summer . . .Emma Cullinan asks five experts how to build fitness and good nutrition into the holidays.
JO WOOD, Weight management coach
The diet industry can play on people's insecurities. "We all know what we should be eating and that we must exercise a few times a week but that doesn't mean we follow the advice. I look at why we sabotage our best efforts," says weight management coach Jo Wood.
"It's often because of a deeper problem: it could be because of relationships, or not being happy at work; people may eat for comfort, because they're feeling lonely, because they're bored, or for entertainment." By this she doesn't mean the pleasure of having food with friends, but eating on the couch in front of the TV all evening.
"Most people eat mindlessly so I make clients aware about when they have food and why they eat," says Wood, who counsels people on a one-to-one basis or in groups of eight to 10.
When you eat you should do it properly, she says: "You wouldn't invite a friend or your mother-in-law over and stand and eat out of the fridge, so you should treat yourself with the same respect. Set the table, light a candle and put down your knife and fork between mouthfuls.
"If you want to eat chocolate cake, get the best piece of chocolate cake you can, even if you have to drive across town for it. Clients have been surprised that they just have two mouthfuls and feel that's enough, whereas those who have been dieting for years, and depriving themselves, may end up eating the whole cake."
Wood takes clients to the stage where they just have food for nourishment: "People come to me saying that they don't want food to occupy their head all of the time. They want to be freed from counting points at night, questioning what they ate that was 'wrong' and how 'good' they have been."
There are three main goals: to eat well and exercise, set some targets in life, and value yourself more. Clients are given homework which could include asserting themselves more at work, stealing time for themselves and taking action in certain areas.
"When everything starts to click, after about six weeks, clients come in to me looking great and much more confident, saying that their husband is convinced that they are having an affair."
During those six weeks clients will have learned to treat themselves with kindness, and challenge their limiting beliefs. They will have taken up an exercise that they enjoy and will be aware of when they start and stop eating. "If you are eating until you are stuffed all the time then something is wrong," says Wood.
If you've had a bad day, food is not the only solace, she says. "We live in a society that puts on the kettle and has a chocolate biscuit for comfort. People need to try to find alternative ways of nourishing themselves. For one client it was wandering around a bookshop - which she loved. You could also phone a friend or go for a walk."
Wood has found that even changing just one thing can make a huge difference: "If your danger time is after dinner then maybe you could go for a walk around the block and not put the kettle on or turn the TV on for a while."
She is also against weighing scales: "You can't define yourself by a number. The wrong number on the scales can ruin your whole day yet water retention and hormones can cause weight fluctuations. We all know if we've put on weight by the feel of our clothes."
Once people have broken free from emotional eating then food should just become a normal part of their lives, says Wood. "When people care for themselves properly they start loving going to the gym and eating spinach salad."
GWEN BOLGER, Swimming pool manager and coach
You can do practically anything active in the water and come out fitter. "Water has between four and 42 times more resistance than air, depending on how hard you push at it, so whatever movement you make in the water will involve at least four times more resistance than it does on land," says Gwen Bolger, swimming coach and manager of the pool in Marian College, Dublin. You don't even have to swim; parents playing in the water with their babies or children will benefit, without realising it, she says.
You should think of the water as your own liquid weight machine, says Bolger. "It can be soft, flowing, supportive and forgiving or it can be hard and energetic. The harder you push the water the harder it pushes back. If you start getting tired you just slightly open your fingers and the water will be kinder to your muscles." Swimming and aqua aerobics are cardiovascular exercises that benefit the heart, lungs and circulatory system. "Working out in water puts less stress on joints because of the buoyancy. This means people with disabilities or restrictions on land find it easier to work out in the water," says Bolger, whose mum first took her swimming when she was eight weeks old.
Swimming can also improve flexibility, balance and posture and make you look lithe and lean. "Having looked at people who swim, over the years, you do notice that they tend to have long lean bodies," says Bolger. "The male competition swimmers have nice broad shoulders, wash-board stomachs and slim waists, while the women are very lean and long." Those who want to go the same route should do a variety of things in the water rather than sticking to the same stroke, says Gwen. "The worst thing is when people do the same thing over and over. The body needs change, otherwise it adapts and you won't progress beyond a certain level. If you do 20 lengths a day in the same stroke then, after a while, you will plateau. To gain more, you need to do something different or do it for longer or faster. At a recent lecture on cellulite we were told that the best thing is to surprise the body when doing a workout. If you change your exercises you keep the body on alert and responding quicker.
"An awful lot of people do the breaststroke, which isn't great for the back although it does use a lot of muscles and it tones the inner and outer thighs which are weak areas for many people." You don't even have to do specific strokes, says Bolger. "When you change to different strokes, they don't have to be perfect, you can do breast stroke legs and front crawl arms. Or you can use a float and kick the legs, which is a brilliant workout. Changing strokes also prevents repetitive strain injury. Front crawlers who only breathe on one side can get shoulder problems; we're forever trying to get people to do bilateral breathing."
Marian College swimming pool offers lessons for all ages and abilities, including on a one-to-one basis for beginners. 01-6689539
DR MARY FLYNN, Nutritionist
Families need to plan for the summer holidays, says Dr Mary Flynn, a consultant public health nutritionist based in Ireland. "The kids will be at home more and will eat whatever's in your house. If you have a lot of treat foods they will be consumed first." To up everyone's fruit intake, Flynn suggests cutting up pieces of fruit after dinner. "People don't tend to eat fruit while it's just sitting there in a bowl but if you cut it up straight after a meal they will sit and pick at it. Water is good for your kids, too, but if they don't like water, then add still or sparkling water to fruit juice.
"If you are a couch potato then your diet will be more boring and rigid than it is for those who are active," she says. "Those who exercise regularly will have a more interesting time with food." Expert groups who have studied the US food pyramid (similar to that in Ireland) and the Canadian food "rainbow" have found that it is very difficult to get all of your dietary needs without eating too much. When the food pyramids were devised the emphasis was on disease prevention, but now we are looking to optimise health through diet, says Flynn, who is adjunct professor at the University of Calgary and a member of a committee that is revising the dietary guidelines in Canada. "If you are going to be as sedentary as many people are now, then you need to be very prescriptive with your diet."
The US government has come up with a website (www.mypyramid.org) that gives detailed diet advice. You tap in your age, sex and general exercise patterns, and in return you get a suggested list of foods from each group (for example, six ounces of grains, two cups of fruit, and so on), with recommended colours of fruit and amounts of wholegrains. "It's a great idea because, in my experience, when I talk to people about the pyramid they say: 'Please just tell me what I can eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.' I tell them that once they get to know the pyramid they can work out their own diet, but this website is much more specific about what you can eat," says Flynn. "I do think the food intake suggested seems low. When we ask people what they eat, they often say that they eat less than they do - although the website has allowed for that to some extent.
"On the site they have discretionary foods that you can have once you've eaten all the good stuff. This might amount to 150 calories - or a glass of wine - which is probably less than people think if they've been used to a bit of chocolate here, a biscuit there and a few glasses of wine. So it's a big wake-up call.
"Summer is a great time for salads, which can supplement what you are eating. You can even make pizza a healthy meal by not eating a nine-inch all by yourself but by having a slice of pizza with lots of salad."
DEBBIE ALLEN, Ballet teacher
You can look fitter and thinner just by standing taller, although to maintain such a posture does require strong stomach and lower back muscles, something that comes from ballet, pilates and yoga. "It can make you feel better too," says ballet teacher Debbie Allen. "If you're feeling tired and begin to slump, just pull your body back up and it will give you a lift." Ballet is an art form that gives you strength and flexibility, she says, and has a greater variety of movements than aerobics, although the latter is a cardiovascular form of exercise whereas ballet is more gentle (until you get to an advanced level and start leaping around).
Ballet starts with work at the barre, which gives you stability. Then you move into the centre of the dance floor and do a couple of the exercises you did at the barre and add in the arms. "Ballet uses the whole body," says Allen. Having mastered the basic grounding techniques, you graduate to jumps.
"An awful lot of people have rolling feet," says Allen, "and ballet can correct this by strengthening the feet, ankles and whole leg." Then there are those stomach muscles. "Ballet gives you core stability by requiring that you lift your stomach and lower back muscles. If you arch your back during dance movements you get into trouble, so you are always conscious of your stomach muscles and lengthening the spine." A lot of people with back problems don't have good posture, she says, they have no tone in their stomach muscles and a weakness in their lower back.
Good posture can be achieved by countering our tendency to lean back. Allen suggests you stand with your feet parallel and concentrate on feeling as if you are leaning slightly forward. "Think about putting your weight on the balls of your feet. Your hips should be over your knees and your shoulders over your hips.Then lift your stomach muscles and lengthen down your lower back." To get a sense of how your body should feel when standing, you can lie on the floor - in what is known as the neutral position in pilates. You bend your knees up, sink your lower spine into the floor, relax your shoulders and pull in your stomach muscles. "I have a couple of teenagers in my classes who are very tall and they stand really well," says Allen. "They really make the most of their height and it looks great. So many tall people tend to hunch their shoulders which is such a shame. Standing tall can give you a huge amount of confidence."
Debbie Allen School of Ballet, Dundrum, Dublin 14, 01-2954610
DAMIAN MEDNIS, Munster rugby team fitness coach
When it comes to exercise, you need to keep it simple, do something you enjoy and monitor your progress, says Damian Mednis, who trains the Munster rugby team. "People look for magic potions and are bombarded with all sorts of information in magazines," he says. "My advice is, if you can't say it and can't spell it then don't take it." While the Munster players train for up to 17 hours a week, Mednis says that exercise regimes should start slowly. If you go at it too hard you may be put off.
It's not necessary to sign up for a gym, says Mednis, who comes from Queensland, Australia, and trained the Queensland Reds rugby team. "The best things in life are free: try walking, running, cycling or swimming. You've got to pick something that you are going to enjoy; it makes it so much easier. You need to be in a good frame of mind about it and want to do it.
"Not everyone can afford the €500 or so for 12 months' gym membership. Also, it puts pressure on you. You feel that you have to wear the right clothes and you look at what other people are doing and worry that you're not as good as them. If you do go to the gym, remember that you are there for yourself - don't worry about other people."
"People love feedback so use the fact that we live in a computer age by making yourself an Excel exercise spreadsheet and see how you're improving. You should notice results after as little as three to four weeks, as your tolerance level goes up." If you're walking, for instance, you can start with a three to four kilometre (1.85 to 2.5 mile) walk (Mednis suggests you map out a good course in your car). You can then build up to, say, seven kilometres and add in a hill, and, later, another one. "You should be doing a minimum of about 40 minutes, three times a week" he says, and you need to make time. "If you think you don't have time then write out a schedule of your day - we all have dead time. Fitness is like reading a book - the first page is the hardest and then you really get into it. Establishing a routine is important because it is too easy to say that you don't have the time."
While we all know of the health benefits, exercise has a social side too, and he suggests teaming up with a pal, who will motivate you when you don't feel like going for a walk, and vice versa. "Exercise is a form of therapy for the mind and body, you can see that in people who go fishing or do bowls. It's a chance for social interaction and to escape." Compared to his native Queensland, where people often play midweek football matches and other games in the neighbourhood, Mednis has noticed that people in Ireland don't go out as much. "People stay in their houses a lot more so I think you should do your exercise on the way home from work because once you're home it's very difficult to go out again. The weather in Ireland does make it harder to exercise but you can't use that as an excuse."
Despite training very fit men, and being an advert for a fitness regime himself, Mednis says that more is not better, moderation is the key and you shouldn't even get hung-up on food. "Women often say that they can't have a piece of chocolate cake but you shouldn't deprive yourself. Of course you can have it, it won't make any difference to your weight unless you have chocolate cake every day. Don't become fanatical, keep a good balance.The best compliment you can get is, 'you're looking well' and that's what people will say to you after you've exercised for a while," he says.