501 Easy Health Tips. Kellie Collins

      Introduction

      There are various definitions for health, including ‘the absence of disease’ or ‘physical, mental and social well-being’ – but my favourite is ‘a toast or a wish for someone’s well-being’. I can’t prevent disease or cure illness, but I hope that by reading this book, you will be able to take small steps towards changing your health for the better. You certainly don’t have to take on all 501 tips. There are some that won’t apply to you, and I would never expect anyone to start cycling, swimming and going to the gym all in one day. All in the one lifetime, even!

      When I tell people I’m a nutritionist, most automatically assume I’m a health freak. Okay, so I do eat a healthy diet most of the time but I am also partial to a glass of wine and a bar of chocolate. I don’t see the point in denying myself these things as long as I have them in moderation (the 80:20 rule, if you like – tip 223).

      I’m a foodie and I believe that everything I eat has got to be worth eating. There’s no point in wasting good eating time with rubbish food. So I hope you’ll be inspired to go back to basics in the Food and Drink chapter and cook some meals from scratch. You’ll see that it doesn’t take all day or a cupboard full of ingredients to put together something really tasty.

      I’m not a big fan of the word ‘diet’. People find it off-putting, and it conjures up images of something short-term. Healthy eating should be something you take on for life. You’ll see in the Weight Loss chapter that I try to use the D-word as little as possible, preferring instead to use terms like ‘way of eating’. After all, the general definition for diet is ‘what a person eats and drinks’. No mention there of weight loss or something you do to fit into a new dress! The safest and most effective way to achieve weight loss is to eat healthily, control your portions and exercise.

      Which brings me to the Fitness chapter – I don’t want anyone to sneakily skip over it! I used to be a fully paid-up member of the ‘I hate exercise’ club, complete with self-diagnosed gym phobia. Eventually the messages I was preaching on a daily basis about the importance of exercise – not only for weight loss, but for general health – started to filter into my own mind. I suppose I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. Could sweating and panting for an hour on a treadmill really make you feel good afterwards? Is exercise really one of the best ways to relieve stress? And as much as I hate to admit it, the answer to both questions is yes. Have a look through the chapter and see. You’ll probably be surprised at how easy it can be to introduce exercise into your lifestyle. You can even get fit in front of the television if you put your mind to it.

      In fact, I’m willing to bet that you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to improve your overall health by making a few small changes to your lifestyle – gradually. As you’ll see by the time you reach the end of this book, being healthy is easy when you know how!