I can't believe it's almost October!

We have had an amazingly dry summer here in the UK with lots of sunshine. We have enjoyed it but now it is well and truly autumn and the leaves are turning golden and the conkers are ready for gathering. The harvest is in and the fields have been ploughed ready for a new crop next year.

As we get older we realise how fast the months pass by and as I was sitting with my mum-in-law yesterday in the outpatients department as she awaited her blood test, it struck me so strongly how immobile some folk are just because they are carrying a load of excess weight. My mum-in-law is not one of them. She is very slim – always has been – but she has eaten carefully and healthily and has remained active all her life. As I watched men and women walk in to the hospital with their sticks and frames, manoeuvring to sit down, obviously with aching hips and painful knees, I realised the immense benefit of losing our excess weight, exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet.

We cannot buy health but we can invest in an account of common sense and responsibility. We have choices and we need to make wise ones if we want to live beyond our three score years and ten. Being a healthy weight, being fit and independent is priceless and yet we just assume it is how life will be for us. If you are very overweight, smoke, drink to excess and do no exercise and also don’t bother about what you eat, you could be in for a shock that will profoundly affect your life in years to come. Make a choice today to take a few small steps towards a healthier and happier future. You can find some help from our website: www.rosemaryconley.com. I hope we can help you on your journey to a long and healthier life.

Temptation! Just don’t allow it near you!

Yesterday I was sitting at my desk alongside my PA, two of my fellow Directors and their PA when some sample snack pots arrived. These were little containers with a variety of delicious snacks from nuts, dried fruit, baked wheat, mustard-coated nuts – you name it they were there. Initially I resisted seeing them as nothing more than food I didn’t need that, once I’d eaten one, I would want more!

As my colleagues munched away contentedly, making various comments on the good or bad qualities of each individual product, I ended up not being able to resist joining in the tasting party. I didn’t eat a lot but I ate more than if they hadn’t been there!

I then got a bit cross. These products were being marketed as being ‘healthy’ but I suggest that the fat and calorie value of them probably amounted to those contained in a Mars bar by the time you had eaten the whole pot – or two!

I wouldn’t mind having a £1 for every time a dieter has said to me ‘but nuts are healthy aren’t they?’ and ‘dried fruit is good for you, isn’t it!’. The answer is yes to both questions but they are HIGH IN CALORIES! The fact remains that if you eat something – whatever it is – extra, it is putting more calories in to your body which will prevent you from losing weight if that is what you are trying to achieve. Food producers want you to buy their products and we have to be aware that if we are to buy it, it must have a place within our healthy eating campaign.

So, remove temptation. Realise that if you have something around you that you basically like, you will probably eat it. Don’t put yourself to the test as you will almost certainly fail. I know I would.

Make sensible choices and you will be a winner in the long run. It really is worth the effort and resisting the temptation to buy them in the first place.