There could be many reasons why you might find mixing virtual with ‘real’ appointments convenient from time to time, so I’m going to trial working virtually with clients and see how much interest there is.

Some of the reasons you might prefer to catch up by phone/email or Zoom are:

• You or someone in your family is unwell and you need to stay home

• You might feel it is less confronting to speak over the phone, or to put your thoughts in an email when you feel that you are struggling

• You are back in the office more often and can’t slip out to get to an appointment

• The cost of petrol puts you off driving around more than you need to

• It’s wet and cold and you’d rather stay snug inside

• The kids are on holiday and you can’t leave them home alone

I don’t have many spare appointments available each week, but if you are interested, contact me and we can go from there. I’m happy to work in with whatever you feel would work best for you, for support and advice and we can tailor your appointments to suit. You might just want a one off from time to time too and find it easier to do the appointment remotely.

Please contact me now and we can find a solution that works for you.

Winter meal ideas

The winter weather has finally hit, after an amazing summer and autumn and it’s the time of year when we are looking for hot food. It’s also the time of year when I receive the most questions about ‘what am I going to eat’. You want something hot, but you also don’t want to have to spend too much time preparing food.

Here’s a quick sample of hot, healthy meals.

Breakfast –

Porridge (have you tried the new Vogel’s creamy porridge 5 grain sachets, no added sugar?), or eggs on toast, or an omelette, or banana pancakes.

Lunch –

Soup - my go to is thick veggie soup or frittatas. With the soup and the frittata you can vary the veggies to suit, just be sure to add protein when serving the soup, otherwise it is all carbs.

Dinner –

Get the slow cooker out and throw protein and veggies in, add stock and flavours (I like balsamic vinegar + low sugar ketchup with beef or venison). A super quick easy pizza recipe that all the family are sure to like is crustless chicken pizza.

You can cook extra pizzas for lunches too. Or make the thick veggie soup and add chicken for an easy dinner. A tasty vegetarian meal is Shakshuka, or another vegetarian dish is Vegetarian Chilli Beans.

Mince dishes are great too and you can make a large pot of spag bol type mince, or curried mince, chilli mince etc and just add lots of veggies.

Have you lost your motivation?

It’s really easy to lose motivation over winter, motivation to exercise regularly, motivation to eat healthily and often the prevailing thought is to hunker down and wait for spring! But, with only (officially anyway) 11 weeks until spring, can you really afford to take your foot off the pedal?

Exercising in winter might include hiring a piece of cardio equipment for three months, there are no weather related excuses then. Or maybe you could sign up for a virtual exercise class and jump around in your own lounge. PJ’s are acceptable, but do wear sports shoes! Swimming, gym classes, yoga or Pilates, there really are plenty of options available if you want to stay active.

The really important part of success with healthy eating over winter is that you need to make time to plan/organise and prep your food. Try writing a menu of weekly dinners and then shop accordingly. Time spent prepping meals saves a lot of time later in the week.

So, there you have it, yes it is winter, yes it isn’t as easy to manage weight loss as it is in summer, but think of it as perseverance, not perfection. Small steps lead to long term successes.

Let me know if you are interested in virtual appointments and we can work out the best way to add value for you