Dr Udo Erasmus, creator of Udo's Oil, tells Patricia Westonthat it's important to keep your body in shape, but he does it in a fun way and by eating a healthy diet
Are you a fitness fanatic?No, I'm not a fanatic about keeping fit, I'm only a fanatic about keeping body and soul together. I like to keep fit, if I'm not active I feel sloppy. There's a tightness to the body when it's in shape, so when you let it go and don't exercise you feel sloppy.
What's your workout?I work out on a trampoline and when I'm travelling and staying in hotels, I race from the elevator to my room in the hotel hallway.
I also take along a rubber hose and do toning exercises in my room. I like to exercise like a kid and jump on the bed. I like to jump because I feel airborne. I don't think we ever get past childhood and I don't see any reason why we should grow up.
So you're fit?I think I'm in pretty good shape for a 64-year-old.
Do you focus on a healthy diet?Yes, I pay a lot of attention to my diet. I eat lots of veg, fish, eggs and dairy and not so much red meat. I think for men, red meat is difficult to get rid of. I also frequently give my body an oil change. I use oils containing essential fatty acids. I also eat seeds and nuts and I limit carbohydrates in my diet. I can be as wide as I am high, so I can't eat so many carbohydrates; you either burn them or wear them.
Any bad food habits?I don't like sweets very much. I have dessert sometimes and I drink wine, but I'm fairly disciplined. I think you have to be very health conscious.
What supplements do you take?When I travel, I eat in restaurants and you don't get all the nutrients you require, so I have to add them back in. I take a high dose multivitamin and I take oils. I take zinc for immune function and pro-biotics because when you cook foods you destroy them.
I brush my teeth with pro-biotics before I go to bed. I also take fibre and selenium because it's a powerful anti-oxidant. I take magnesium because if you're stressed your body dumps magnesium. I also take vitamin C, as it's good for the heart and vitamin E because it's also a good anti-oxidant.
Dr Udo Erasmus will host a series of seminars on essential fatty acids this month at: The Radisson SAS Hotel, Letterkenny on April 26th; Breaffy House Hotel, Castlebar on the 27th; and The Osprey Hotel, Naas on the 28th.
Patricia Weston's exercise prescription:
• Take advice from Udo and "exercise like a kid". You'll have so much fun you'll forget you're even exercising.
• Jumping on a trampoline, rebounder or even on the bed is a low impact high intensity activity, so the risk of injury to your joints is not high.
• Skipping is also a great way to get fit and burn lots of calories, fast skipping can burn up to 100 calories per ten minutes.
• Draw hopscotch with chalk on the pavement and play hopscotch for 30 minutes, you'll burn 150 calories.
• Hark back to the 1960s and take out your old hula-hoop for a spin. It's a great way to tone your waistline and thighs and is a great calorie burner too.
Patricia Weston is an NCEHS fitness instructor, personal trainer and Pilates teacher.