Getting your health back on track this autumn

Summer takes us on a holiday away from our regular lives; it’s a time to overindulge and be carefree. Counting calories is definitely the last thing you want to be doing when you’re on holiday wolfing back as much ice cream and pizza as you can. Or maybe, you’ve just been too busy to even think about being health conscious. Whatever it is, it’s fine; it happens to us all. Luckily, it’s incredibly quick and easy to jump back into a healthy lifestyle and get your health back on track.

Here are some useful tips and advice on how to recharge both your physical and mental health this autumn.

A new, refreshing diet: make the most out of seasonal good food

With the return of autumn comes the arrival of so many nutritious fruit and root veg. Try making the most out of this collection of seasonal good food and get creative with some healthy recipes. Think soups, stews, pies and risottos:

• Sweet potato – a tastier alternative to standard potatoes and they are rich in vitamin A. Try this low calorie, 3 of your 5 a day spiced chicken, spinach & sweet potato stew.
• Butternut squash – packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, butternut squash is known to help fight off diseases and reduce your chances of heart disease. This low calorie butternut squash and sage soup is a healthy way to warm up this autumn.
• Pumpkins – Pumpkins aren’t just for Halloween decorations. Like butternut squash, they’re full of vitamin A, fibre and iron and also very low in calories. Try experimenting with pumpkin, even with your children! This pumpkin risotto is quick and easy for kids to make and great for a rainy, autumn after-school family activity.

There are so many healthy autumnal recipes online for you and all the family to get tucked into. This time of year is a great time to rethink yours and your family’s eating habits, and find a new routine. Try sticking to three meals a day with a balanced mixture of fruit, vegetables, protein and healthy fats.

Quit eating out and do your own cooking!

Vacation means temptation and we all love eating out over the summer, but you might find doing your own cooking will reduce your credit card bill and your daily calorie intake. Keeping an eye on the ingredients allows you to control how much bad food you’re digesting and therefore, how many calories are entering your meals.

Get more active outdoors

Make the most out of the lasting daylight and beautiful colours around you – winter is just around the corner and these colours will disappear soon. Try exercising outside, take the bike out, go for a run in the countryside, in the park or on the beach. Being outdoors around nature’s colours can be enough motivation to get back into shape!

Staying more active and walking more will improve your health. It’s recommended that adults engage in 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, this could include a quick half hour walk per day. To meet the CDC’s (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendation, you should aim for around 7,000 to 8,000 steps per day. Most mobile phones these days will count this for you, but if you want to feel like a pro, invest in some wearable technology like a smart watch to monitor your heart rate and count your steps.

Taking up a hobby like photography to get yourself out of the house more is a great way to increase your step count as you hunt for the perfect photo. You’ll also find there are still many outdoor running groups, yoga or exercise classes you could join.

Start a new fitness class, make new goals and make new friends

We often put off our fitness and health goals until January because it seems to make sense: New Year’s resolution means a new start, a new challenge and a new lifestyle. But September also carries this ‘back to school’, ‘new start’ kind of feeling too, so why wait until January? Kick start this autumn with a new fitness goal and get back on track sooner rather than later.

Going back to your work routine is bad enough, let alone your old workout routine as well. If you find yourself demotivated and in need of a small change, maybe consider joining a new fitness class. Group training such as HIIT, body pump, spinning and yoga are the classics and having that extra motivator leading you through the class could be exactly what you need.

Watch out for these following fitness trends on the rise:

• HIIT yoga – a yoga hybrid that’s set to hit our gyms very soon. Imagine a mixture of HIIT cardio moves and yoga stretches.
• Kickbiking – in other words, adult scootering. Yes, that’s right, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Once you build confidence, these classes help strengthen your core, improve your balance and give you a well-rounded cardio workout.
• Glidefit – a combo of functional and balance training where you balance on a float on the surface of water. These classes may be hard to find now, but 2020 will be the year for Glidefit, so keep an eye out.

Consider the possibility of making new friends at classes too. Studies often show that people reach their highest potential when exercising in pairs or groups. That social support around you really goes along way.

Try AM workouts

Does the thought of working full-time and maintaining your fitness goals send you into panic mode? Trying to fit in a workout around your work schedule is tough, but have you ever considered working out before work? Studies show it has the following added benefits to your day:

• Sets the tone for a healthy day – knowing that you worked out in the morning inspires you to continue maintaining your health throughout the day. College students in the USA were studied after a morning cardio workout; the researchers found they made healthier food choices for the rest of the day.
• Increased alertness and focus – physical activity improves focus and concentration, so doing a workout in the morning could be what you need to keep you alert and focused at work. You may find it makes you more productive and therefore, improving your performance at work.
• Better mood – physical activity is a natural treatment for stress. Exercise releases endorphins, which make you feel happier and more positive.
• Control of appetite – exercise is known to regulate your appetite and control hunger- Ghrelin is a hunger hormone and this is reduced after exercise. After a morning work-out you may find you snack less during the day!

Keep active at work

This is important. If you work in an office, you may be sat down for hours every day! On average, people who work in offices are sat down for 11 hours per day and you’re awake for a total of 16. Office workers, who make up over half of the UK workforce, are at increased risk of chronic health problems related to inactivity. This sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of heart disease, diabetesand some cancers. It’s also not good for your mental health. In fact, physical inactivity is the second cause of cancer, behind smoking.

Luckily, most offices nowadays are beginning to introduce high tables so people can choose to stand while they work, a position in which the human body functions better. People who have sitting jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular diseases than those who have standing jobs.

These quick tips can help you keep active:

• Before and after work – walk or cycle to the office, use the stairs instead of the lift, get off the bus stop one stop earlier so you have to walk the rest of the way or simply park further away from work so you get some more steps in your day.
• Whilst at work – walk over and talk to your colleagues instead of emailing them, try small leg exercises at the desk, organise walking meetings or leave the office for lunch and go for a walk.

Re-think your motivation to get healthy

In our pursuit of getting healthier, we often forget the main reason why we were doing it in the first place. Some of us have a tendency to lose focus eventually leading to depression and frustration (in extreme cases).

Why do you want to improve your health? This is the main question we need to ask ourselves. Improving your overall health might not be a small adjustment for some of us, it could be a complete lifestyle change which at first will seem like an impossible task.

Make a list of the reasons why you want to better your health and be specific. If you’re not motivated to get healthy then this list can help. You may also need to address your mental health too – let’s take a look.

Care for your mental health

Maintaining your physical health is important, but mental health is often overlooked. Both go hand in hand and when trying to improve your physical health, don’t neglect your mental wellbeing – you need to stay positive otherwise meeting your goals will seem much harder.

When summer ends, for some people, it can be depressing and we go through post-summer blues. It can mean fewer social activities, more time indoors, less light during the day, cold weather, etc.

Finding a way to transfer that summer feeling to autumn is the best way to get rid of those post-summer blues.

Keep the celebrations going

There are so many things to look forward to after summer! September and October are full of fresh starts. You have the ‘back-to-school’ vibes and lots of new and joyful celebrations.

Summer is usually full of parties, and seeing an end to this can be boring for some people. But remember Halloween and bonfire night are just around the corner. Expect to see pumpkin flavoured everything, Halloween parties and fancy dress costumes, topped off with lots and lots of fireworks.

Don’t forget all the other celebrations that are yet to come: Oktoberfest, harvest festival and the build up to Christmas.

Colder nights equal more cuddles

When the nights start drawing in, it can be difficult. The days start to shorten and the nights get colder. But, these days don’t have to be all doom and gloom. Colder nights mean cute jumpers and blankets, scarves and hats, mulled cider, log fires and more cuddles from your significant other. It’s a more intimate, and also very social time of year, where you can make the most with the people important to you.

Stay social

That being said, for some the start of autumn can mean more solitude. If you’re working alone or you work from home, maybe focusing on your social life can help alleviate any depressive feelings. Social interactions are important for your mental health. It’s well known that having friends can reduce depression, and an unhealthy body mass index. Social interaction is essential to every aspect of our overall health and having a strong network of support is an important part of adult life.

Encourage fun activities with your friends after work and be the one to suggest things. Build hobbies with friends and share experiences. Even having something to look forward to can be enough to keep you motivated and reduce the feeling of loneliness.

If you’re naturally an introverted person, it can be difficult for you to build and maintain relationships. Introverted people are more prone to feelings of loneliness and solitude. Read this introvert’s guide on how to be more social for some tips and advice.

Find a healthy lifestyle balance

Don’t beat yourself up for neglecting your health or personal goals over the summer. Try to focus on right now and how you can move forward.

The first step is to take time to reflect. Think what you’re lacking and what you’re doing too much of. Exercise? Junk food? Socialising? After reading this, maybe you’ve already found the solution or maybe not, in which case I suggest writing down and building a plan for yourself. Don’t be afraid to share your plans with peers – social support is an invaluable tool and can help you see things from a fresh perspective.

Whether you want to focus on your mental health, physical health or bits of both, remember to focus on yourself, do exercises that you enjoy, nurture important and loving relationships, stay motivated and take every day as it comes, but most importantly, have some fun!