Fitness and Nutrition Advice from Alison Mowbray ? Zaggora

We?re back with our second round of questions with former Olympic rower Alison Mowbray. Part of her post-rowing career involves running nutrition and exercise workshops, and here she gives us some keen and detailed insight into how to approach food and fitness in a healthy way.

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Alison Mowbray

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1. In your current role as a motivational speaker around issues of health and fitness, what do you find most surprising about people?s attitudes towards these areas?

That so many people consider not doing any exercise at all to be somehow ?normal? and people like me who exercise more days to be a bit strange.? I think it?s the other way round.? Our bodies evolved as hunter/gatherers and we would have been very active just to feed ourselves.? That?s normal for our bodies.

Also, I find it surprising that everyone knows ?5 a Day? but so few people do it. I ask people to write down everything they ate yesterday and it?s not uncommon for people to have eaten no fruit and veg at all. Again, people seem to think eating fruit and veg is just something the government is telling us to do without making any connection to the fact that they are essential to the way our bodies operate. I actually advocate ?8-10 a day? because they are so important. You basically won?t get ill if you eat 8-10 portions of fruit and veg a day?and you won?t be overweight either.

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2. What advice do you have for women who want to become active but find it difficult to make time for exercise every day?

Exercise gives you time back.? And not just a little bit of time.? The most shifting fact I quote around exercise is the results of a long term study with 15,000 men in the States (but I don?t see that it?s any different for women).? Half the group did no exercise at all and the other half just WALKED for 30 MINUTES A DAY.? During the course of the study the group that walked for half an hour a day had a 50% lower mortality rate (they were 50% less likely to die) than the group that did no exercise at all.? If we eat well and exercise then our generation can expect to live well into our 90s, 30 years longer than a few generations ago.? If we look after ourselves we actually have plenty of time in life; if we don?t it may well be quite short.? Getting out for half an hour?s walk a day may well give you 30 extra years to do all that other stuff.? Still think you can?t fit it in?

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3.You say that??What you eat is more important than what you don?t eat.? What for you is essential to eat?

Eat more:

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Fish
• Nuts & seeds
• Beans & pulses

I can talk a lot about nutrition but actually it doesn?t get any more complicated than that.

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4. Do you think that our culture?s fixation on low-carb or low-calorie diets sends the wrong message, especially to women?

My first healthy eating philosophy is ?you?ve got to eat a lot to eat healthily?. Good food contains essential nutrients that our bodies cannot function without. People very often come up to me (in my self-styled role as Nutrition Guru) and say, ?I?ve been really good today. I?ve ONLY eaten?..? We?ve somehow got ourselves into a situation where we think that eating nothing or as close to nothing as possible is ideal and healthy. And that?s because we focus on weight rather than health. On calories rather than nutrition.

I have a view on low-carb and low-calorie that?s not exactly mainstream.

I do think it?s important to be careful with calories, but ONLY in certain foods.? My guiding principle to myself is that when I?m eating essential foods like fruit, vegetables, fish, nuts & seeds, etc., then I don?t count calories because:

1. Getting the nutrition they contain into my body is the most important thing

2. They generally have low calorie density anyway

3. The calories quoted on the back of the packet for most of these foods are way higher than the energy your body can actually extract from this type of food (they burn the food to work out its calorie content and our body doesn?t do that).

However, when I?m eating more processed carbohydrates?what I call brown/white carbs (bread, pasta, cake, chocolate, crisps, alcohol, etc,)?then I do watch the calories because these foods have very little nutrition and are calorie dense, and because most of the energy is stored as sugar or starch our bodies can?t get to it and the calorie count on the back of the packet is actually pretty accurate. ?I do eat and enjoy all of these but only really good-quality ones and in very small portions (unless I?m exercising a lot)

And it?s the same for ?low-carb?.? People don?t realise that fruit and veg have loads of carbohydrates.? There is as much carbohydrate in an apple as in a slice of bread.? However, there are about 120 things in an apple that do you good and maybe 2 or 3 in bread if it?s very good bread.? I try and get most of my carbohydrates from fruit and vegetables rather than brown/white carbs, but they are not banned.

However, my final controversial point on this is that it?s not ok to be overweight.? It?s not a cultural issue, it?s a health issue.? But again, we shouldn?t focus on the weight.? Being overweight is a SYMPTOM of a poor diet and lack of exercise and this is why it?s linked with a lot of health problems.? 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.? If people eat healthily and exercise it won?t necessarily make them model skinny (I wish!) but they won?t be unhealthily overweight.

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5. What do you think are the most important nutritional facts for women to keep in mind?

All of the above and THINK POSITIVELY ABOUT FOOD AND OUR BODIES. They are not our enemies.? Our bodies are amazing and will do anything for us without breaking down if we feed them enough nutrients. Healthy, colourful food is so delicious that it?s enjoyable to eat once we get into the habit.

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6. What do you snack on to stay energised?

Apples: I never leave the house without a couple in my bag.? They are a sustainable energy source, full of nutrients, and it?s scientifically proven that people who snack on apples eat fewer calories at meal times.

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Stay tuned for next week?s installment when Alison talks Olympics!

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Read more about Alison at http://www.alisonmowbray.co.uk/.

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