Eat Yourself Healthy

This month, the Club kicks off two programs to help Members stick to their New Year resolutions.

Fitness fads and diet trends come and go with alarming regularity. One week carbs are out, the next they’re in. One day protein is king, and then dairy is the devil. And more often than not, each new diet promises the kind of quick results that can be hard to resist if you want to drop a few (or a couple dozen) pounds before your next beach vacation.

The Club’s nutrition expert Dan Mullaney, who launches a new nutrition course this month, says we need to give the fast-fix diet approach a major rethink. You can make simple changes to your lifestyle and diet that, in time, could make a profound difference to your health and appearance, he says, but you can’t rectify a decade of poor nutrition or inactivity with two weeks on a cabbage soup diet. He urges people to think health gain, not weight loss.

“There are somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 diet books on the market at the moment and the advice we are typically given with these diets and fitness plans is that one size fits all. But we are individual. What works for one person doesn’t always work on others,” Mullaney says.

“My background began in sports education and training, initially as a PE teacher in the UK, and I noticed over the years that by focusing on exercise and conventional dietary advice, for example, some people would make progress and some people not. This led me toward functional nutrition and, with it, tools like metabolic typing, a system of finding what might be the best foods for each individual and, in particular, the balance of macro nutrients, carbs, fats and proteins.”

Debunking Food Myths
During the eight-week program, Members will examine what, why and how they eat and learn ways to achieve better health. Mullaney, who will also offer advice to participants in the annual I Lost It at the Club Weight-Loss Challenge, will cover a number of nutrition-related areas, including food myths, allergies and why they’re seemingly increasing, the impact of stress on eating habits, metabolic typing and healthy eating strategies.

“Of course, we want to enjoy the food we eat, but for many people food choices have become driven by emotions and cravings. There are many potential underlying reasons for these. For some people, for example, it might be that they don’t have enough fat in their diet, so they end up craving something sweet,” Mullaney says. “With an issue like stress, we know how stress can affect our health, but we tend to think of stress as worrying about work or money. Stress also comes from environmental and lifestyle factors, such as artificial lighting, late nights and over-exercise, and our body and mind are stressed by the things we eat and drink.”

Mullaney stresses that his course isn’t a nutrition-preaching exercise, nor is it about discovering a fast track to a slimmer waistline. Instead, the sessions are designed to equip Members to attain better health and well-being through responsibility.

“By making simple nutrition and lifestyle changes, common health challenges can be addressed with great success. Fatigue, lack of sleep, digestive issues, sexual dysfunction, joint and back pain, obesity and weight problems, mood swings and skin complaints; these are so prevalent it’s as if we now see them as somehow normal. They are all things you might go and see the doctor about but will probably be told that you are normal and not to worry, because they haven’t yet manifested themselves as recognizable diseases,” he says.

“The course goals are to be able to make more of an educated choice about what you and your family consume and, if you want, to take practical steps towards better nutrition and well-being on a weekly basis, with the support of the group. Success isn’t body shape; it’s getting up in the morning feeling healthy and energetic and looking forward to the day.”

Words by Rob Goss
Photo by Enrique Balducci

I Lost It at the Club Weight-Loss Challenge
February 2–April 13

Good Nutrition Guide
February 14–April 4/February 19–April 9