The Dr Louise Newson Podcast - 41 - How small lifestyle changes can transform your health

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

In this episode, Dr Louise Newson sits down with GP and lifestyle medicine lead Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi to talk about the everyday habits that shape long-term health. Hussain shares his own story of being diagnosed with fatty liver disease and high blood pressure in his twenties, and how facing that reality pushed him to rethink movement, food, relationships and even how he coped with stress.Together, they explore what “lifestyle medicine” actually means, why weight isn’t the only measure that matters and how simple, enjoyable movement can be far more powerful than gruelling workouts. They also touch on addiction, loneliness, the role of hormones and the small but meaningful choices that protect both physical and emotional wellbeing.Want more from the podcast? Sign up to my premium offer: https://www.drlouisenewson.co.uk/premium-podcasts LET'S CONNECT  Subscribe here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@menopause_doctor Website 👉 https://www.drlouisenewson.co.uk/Instagram 👉   / @drlouisenewsonpodcast  Download balance app 👉 / https://www.balance-menopause.com/balance-app/ LinkedIn 👉     / https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlouisenewson/ TikTok 👉   / https://www.tiktok.com/@drlouisenewson Spotify 👉 https://open.spotify.com/show/7dCctfyI9bODGDaFnjfKhg LEARN MORE Download my balance app 👉 https://www.balance-menopause.com/balance-app/Get tickets for my new theatre tour, Breaking the Cycle 👉 https://www.nlp-ltd.com/dr-louise-newson-breaking-the-cycle/ 

Dr. Hussain is back on my podcast by Popular Demand. You might have seen him on my balance app. You might have listened to our podcast before. We talk about lifestyle medicine. So how we can improve all those pillars that are so important with movement, sleep, relationships, reducing addiction, nutrition, just being better versions of ourselves. But the most important thing that comes through is being honest to ourselves,

being really true what we can do to improve our future habits. and be happy as well. So enjoy it. So saying you're back, but you're back in real life. Last time we did a podcast, it was remotely, wasn't it? It was. And it's a lot better face-to-face. It is. It's really nice. Studios, you've come down. I've kept you waiting late, but you're still smiling, so that's great. And we're still being connected. I still see you because you're part of Balance Plus.

You're one of our Balance Plus people. So today we've just refreshed it actually. and we've had a great update so it's all got in different colours and everything and you're there with your open water swimming, your smiley face, which is great. So for those people that don't know you, you are a GP extraordinary and just explain a bit about what you do. Yeah, so a portfolio GP that specialises in lifestyle medicine. So as well as working part-time as a GP, I work at the Royal College of GPs as the lifestyle and physical activity lead.

Also work at Park Run, which is a health and well-being charity. People may know about the event they put on on a Saturday and Sunday morning as the health partnerships lead. Also have roles with Red Whales, so medical education and Swim England as a medical advisor supporting people with long-term conditions to access aquatic activities. So lots of things. There's probably something I've missed, but it's a small sport. Well, you have missed that you are a supreme athlete as well.

I try. This year I haven't been as good as previous years. I did. Yeah, I decided to fall off my bike. But apart from that, I'm hoping next year I can get back to form. But yeah, no, representing my country, yes. I don't want to big you up but you are an inspiration because you've not always been this lean you've not always been this fit and it's so easy I think

to look at people and go well he's got to look at him he's really slim look at him but actually I was saying to Jack before you came in but years ago when you said to your partners at work I'm going to take up running they laughed at you didn't they

because you were quite overweight and I've been diagnosed with muscle with metabolically associated to theotic liver disease which essentially fat infiltration and liver diagnosed with high blood pressure. And you were young, weren't you? Yeah, I was in mid-20s.

And it was just, and to be honest, until I got diagnosed with the fatty liver disease, I didn't even realize that I'd gained weight. Like, I never weighed myself. Yeah. I avoided taking photos. I avoided looking in the mirror. And obviously, clearly, clearly I knew on some level,

but I hadn't consciously made the realization that I'd gained weight. And yet, it was just that real, I went home after having that ultrasound scan. And I went on the scale. and I'd gain 26, 27 kilos from when I last checked. That's huge amounts. Yeah. And I asked my wife, I was like, I've gained a lot of weight.

And she's like, duh. Like, have you not thought about all the new clothes that I've been buying you? And the fact that, you know, you've got a new belt and all that. And I just hadn't accepted it. I think I didn't want to because I didn't want to accept it. And I just sort of slept, walked into it. I was leading a lifestyle that was actually helping me at the time because I was overworking. I was overstressed.

and the kind of foods that I was eating helped me feel better on the day often used like a reward thing I don't know if you've ever done that but let's see you do a duty doctor and you go do you know what I've worked so hard today I deserve yeah yeah yeah yeah well I used to

I mean as you know I don't drink alcohol but years ago well 25 years ago and I just was full time GP I would deserve that half bottle my husband and I would open a bottle of wine and would share it not every night but quite a few nights but if it's been especially hard day yeah I deserve that and it's

You know, it's whereas, yeah, you can get rewards in different ways, but it's that slippery slope. And, you know, I've never put on that sort of weight. But when I was pregnant three times, you know, I've put on 10 kilograms and it's very gradual. And because it's very gradual, you almost think, oh, I'm not really that big. I mean, I've had big babies, you know, nine-pound babies, and obviously I'm tall. And I look at my pregnancy, I said, of course I had this massive bump. But you sort of get used to a different size when it's a slow thing. And I can see that how easy it is to just adjust and kid yourself.

100%. And I think often, you know, back then when I wanted to lose the weight, like the focus was all around losing the kilos. You know, I'd want to see the numbers come off. But what I've learned now from that journey was actually the weight loss was really a tiny, tiny part of the health gained. Yeah. See, that's really important because I'd just like to highlight to those listeners, you lost weight without GRP ones. You did it with your lifestyle, but I'd like to sort of focus about on lifestyle because I don't think people know what lifestyle means. It's one of those words that brandishes around a bit.

Lifestyle. Well, how to style your life? What does it really mean? It's a really good point. And I think when I talk about lifestyle, I specifically mean lifestyle medicine, which is an evidence-based way of utilizing various behaviors and actions to improve health. So we've got six pillars of lifestyle medicine. We've got physical activity, nutrition, sleep. Then we have mental well-being, healthy relationships,

and minimising harmful substances and behaviours. So when we think of that, also like gambling, if that's a problematic gambling use, or things like social media use, if it's problematic and overuse. And that's so important. And I like the way you didn't use the word exercise, actually. Yes, I never used the word exercise. I never used because when I say,

started my own personal journey, I viewed exercise like many do as a chore, as something that's good for me, but was effort and was time consuming and was painful. And that's not what real physical activity is. Physical activity should be movement that you enjoy. And I often see on social media people saying, oh, you have to sprint to do this or you have to start running marathons to do that. Or you must go into the gym. And look, there's lots of benefits to all those things. But the best movement is the one that you enjoy. Yeah. And sometimes you don't even realize you're doing. Yeah. You know, let's say if you go to a dance class and you don't even realize and you don't even love that as exercise, then that's the perfect form of physical activity. Well,

you know what, Angela Rippen is sat in that chair talking about dance and, you know, you can't dance and not smile. So the two go together. And I think you're absolutely right. People's relationship with exercise can be really complicated actually. And, you know, and I think finding some sort of movement that you enjoy means that you will do it regularly because that's part of the battle, isn't it? 100%. You know, I viewed physical activity before when I viewed it as exercise in the frame of competition. Yeah. And I was always last in school. You know, my parents always focused on academia. So I never had the opportunity to really practice or get good at it. And so therefore, whenever I did it in PE, I was obviously rubbish. And, and, you know, I was always last in school. And, you know,

And it's funny because now I compete regularly and I enjoy it and I love it and it's such a, you know, pleasurable experience for me. But when I used to always think of exercise and always think about comparing to other people and me not being as good as other people, as soon as I broke that away and I started to go, how can I find a way to move my body where I feel adventurous, where I feel like I can spend time in nature because I always loved being outside. And suddenly these things start to develop And I can get to a point where Yes, if I took up running from the get-go I don't think I'd ever have engaged with it, never. Counts a 5K for me never worked Because I do it for a few weeks

And then I get bored But when I just found a way of Let's go outside, let's spend some time with friends With family, move my body And see where this takes me Slowly I would start to find And I discovered running later on And after a long time

I've spent time walking and hiking And then I'd go, oh okay What's it like to just run a little bit And I found my own way. Because Cancer to 5K can work with lots of people. Great. But if you find that those kind of programs work and then you quit, look to discover it in your own way.

Do your own journey that you've designed, rather than it being free sessions a week for nine weeks. Yeah. That's not going to work for everyone. No. And I think all these pillars are so important. And they are the foundation of so much. They're almost the non-negotiable things, I think.

And, you know, I think, you know, People are quite surprised when I say, I don't drink alcohol, I don't eat chocolate, I don't have caffeine, I don't eat processed foods. And I have to be like this because I have such bad migraines that if I didn't, it would trigger migraines. So I'm almost blessed and cursed, but I'm lucky because I can't cheat. You know, if I was hungry and I just went and bought a packet of crisps, I would get a migraine later. So I have to hunt out the nuts and the fruits, which is quite hard sometimes. We always have to have something in my bag. but it's so easy to do it wrong and it has such an impact

and all these pillars work very closely together but you have to work at it but then it becomes part of routine and I think getting to that stage can be quite hard for a lot of people come to. For sure and I love what you've done there because it's something that I try to encourage patients to do which is you have a barrier for example migraine or a condition you could see that negatively or you can see it as that drive Like for me, it was the massled.

It was the liver disease. Because I got that with a BMI of 28. And there's lots of reasons why that happened. And we know that there's ethnic and genetic variations, which means that your complications from increased weight varies. It's not equal across society. And instead of thinking, oh, my God, I'm so unlucky that I got high blood pressure and metabolically associated liver disease at only a BMI of 28,

I instead think of it, oh, that's a blessing. Yes. That means that I'm going to target lower. You know, I'm going to really focus on making. making sure that I don't get to that because I don't want those implications. So, no, you're right. Like, if we can switch that narrative can help. But the interconnection of those pillars are so important.

Yeah. You know, let's just take, for example, going to Park Run, okay? Whatever form that may be. Let's see you want to walk at Park Run. Yes, you get the physical activity. But you also get the healthy relationships in building a community. When you go regularly, you go to your local one, you get to know people. You also get the green social prescribing of being around natural spaces.

you also get that regularity of seeing light in the morning and waking at 9 o'clock starting your weekend right. So these things, they rarely just have one benefit. You see compound benefits when we talk about lifestyle medicine. Yeah, and that's so important. And the other thing is, I know it sounds a bit weird as us as doctors, but I don't actually like prescribing drugs other than hormones, which I think are probably the seventh pillar actually for men and women.

Hormones are so important because they're natural. But we don't want to be prescribed. Every medication has side effects. risks and, you know, they can interact with each other as well. And, you know, if I didn't exercise, if I didn't eat healthily, I mean, I'm 55 now, I probably would have hypertension. I know that my, I'm sure I've got ADHD. It's not to be formally diagnosed, but it's just the way I am. And I know if I didn't do yoga most mornings ending in a headstand, that would really affect my mental health because I would be so fragmented. I just know the way that I

am, I would probably be lower in my mood. I wouldn't sleep well. I probably would be overweight, you know. And so it catches up with us, all these things. And any ways that we can demedicalise and deprescribe, but actually not even start those prescriptions is actually really important, isn't it? 100%. Because people are suffering. You know, when it's not just a label of getting a long-term condition. It's all the symptoms and the impact on people's quality of life that those things bring. And we know from estimates that the WHO has done in terms of long-term condition rates

that 60 to 70% would be eradicated if people were supported to live a lifestyle which included healthy food and regular movement. You know, that is astonishing. It's massive, isn't it? I mean, if you could prescribe a pill of exercise, I mean,

it must really frustrate you. But I feel as healthcare professionals we have a responsibility. And I know, like you and me, we're on at the public more than a lot of doctors, but I've always tried really hard as a doctor to be an example for my patients. And I'm not perfect.

I could always do more exercise. I could do a lot better in all sorts of things. But I do think it's important, and I think it's a shame when I see doctors like, you were many years ago, you know, because it's not a good example, is it? But it's so easy in medicine, especially in hospitals,

because you can't access good food often, You're working long hours. It's very stressful. So I'm not criticising medical professionals here. But I do feel we have to have a bit more maybe responsibility for our patients. Definitely. And the thing is the challenge is we're just living within an environment where there's various social determinants,

which means it's really challenging. It's challenging for everyone. But it's even more challenging for certain groups, often underserved in lots of other areas. and it makes gaining weight actually kind of the default. Like you have to do so much. And as you just said, you know, so many elements in our own lifestyles to do it. So I kind of think of it as, do you know what, it's not your fault, but it is your problem.

Yeah. So until we can look for real policy change to support more people to access healthy lifestyles that are affordable, that are achievable, an environment that promotes health, brilliant. But until that point, we do need to take some personal response. because no one else is coming, unfortunately, to help us out. I wish it could. And clinicians, yes, we need to lead by example because we are a better place. Often, let's say if we think about our fellow doctors, like we are well placed to understand the information and to not just communicate to a patient, but communicate it by living it. Active healthcare professionals are more likely to encourage patients to be physically active. So it's really important that we make sure that as a workforce, we are. enabled to support that because for many as you know it can be really challenging even to get a toilet break let alone have time to stretch and to keep our bodies moving and to eat well yeah and sometimes when someone who works in our practice teachers yoga so we've got her to just teach some

of our and it's very basic 15 minutes that's all people come away from their desk they're moving and they're laughing because they're watching everyone else and it's just a really lovely uniting thing. And it doesn't cost me much money, only the company. It doesn't take much time away from people's duties or work. And little things can make a really big difference, can't they. Exactly. Exactly. And if you guys are doing it, you know, you're private and you're doing that for your staff. It shows that there's a good reason to do it. So, you know, the argument often is that we have no funding, etc. But I think the reason we have limited funding is why we should be doing these things. So we need to get the most out of our staff and our staff will only deliver the best if

the healthiest. I've got something really exciting to share with you. Every Thursday I'm going to be releasing an extra episode for those of you that sign up. It's an opportunity that I can have more guests, share more information, dig deeper into the research that I can share with you. And when you subscribe,

this money is going to be used to help with research, much-needed research that's away from pharmaceutical companies. So information is down in their show notes. So have a look and subscribe and enjoy. Because of migraines, I'm always taking my food to work. And it's a bit of a constant, you know, if I have a lunchtime meeting, I will eat in front of people because if I don't, I just don't want the consequences.

And having fridges at work is really interesting. So when people first start, they are bringing in their ready-made sandwiches, their low-fat yogurt, thinking they're doing really well. And over time, I don't actually say anything, But you can see how people change. We have fruit delivered at work as well on a Monday. We just have a local supermarket just delivers some fruit. Brilliant.

So there's less crisps around. And when I'm walking around and people have a kind of whatever on their desk, they're hiding it from me. And it's just quite funny. But what I have noticed also is a lot of my work colleagues have lost weight. They're exercising more. And now I've been talking more about Vivo Barefoot, which I know you're an ambassador for as well.

We've both got our V-Vos Burfits on. Yes, we do. We do. And people initially, because I've worn them for quite a few years, they're like, what are those, Louise, you know. But now, like, in fact, one of my colleagues has just gone and bought one. And he's like, oh, it feels a bit weird, but I can get into this. And I love that sort of passive influence. I'm not going around lecturing people.

Yes. But they're sort of watching and they're like, oh, okay. The zero-minute consultation, I call it. And I do it, let's say, yeah. with the footwear I've got, or with my, I leave my cycling helmet on the back of the door. Or I leave my trainers, because I often do a run after work. I'll leave the trainers just visible in the corner of the room. And I don't mention it, but patients will often mention it.

Oh, you like to run or, oh, you've cycled into work, you know, things like that helps to open the conversation. It's great, isn't it? Because I never want to just be telling people what to do. No, because it's also, you know, I've got three children. If you tell them what to do, they'll do the opposite. It is funny. And I think I told you story before, but before I left general practice, one of my favorite, well, I've got quite a few favorite patients, but one of my real favorite patients was in her 70s.

And she'd recently lost her husband, who, again, was a lovely patient of mine. But about 10 years before I left, I had pancreatitis and was really ill. And she used to come in morbidly overweight, and she'd say, ha, Dr. News, all these seeds that you eat, look at you. It hasn't done you any favours. You've been really ill because I was off work, obviously, trying to. It's a little harsh. And it was a bit harsh.

And I was like, hang on a minute, you know, because I spent a long time trying to help her to lose weight, really, talking about her lifestyle and everything else. And then obviously when her husband died, things went and she was comfort eating a lot. But then the last two years, she quietly, she didn't tell me she was doing it. She just changed her eating. And all the little things I'd said to her over the years before had sort of just fall into place. And she lost about five stone.

And this was just with her lifestyle. wasn't with any medication. And she was so happy and so proud to show me at what she'd done. And I thought, wow, because it's so easy to think, well, I'm too old now. You know, my metabolism change. I'm not going to be able to lose weight. But the whole thing really for her was she had to admit to herself. And I think honesty to yourself is quite a hard thing to do often.

Yeah. It is so important to do. And it is the biggest barrier that often people aren't even visualising. because they're focusing on all the other, yes, important barriers, whether it be various long-term condition symptoms, financial barriers, time barriers, yes, they are all genuine. But it's so important. Like, for me, I had to realise that I was addicted to certain types of food.

Do you know what I mean? Like, I used to. Oh, man, don't get me started on those. Louise, I could on days easily have consumed more than 13, 14 packets of crisps. I can't even imagine you holding a packet of crisps now. And the thing is, like, oh yeah, I have. had a crisp for I don't know how long like maybe three four years you know

and before like even just looking at them like I would just be driven to just consume them and I would always go with the intention of having one packet don't get me wrong yeah I never used to start a day going to I'm going to have like 13 packs and one go I used to have to hide it Louise because if I put it in the bin my wife would see and she'd get upset with me so I used to take it to the outside wheelie bin

and like lift up a bag and put the packets there because otherwise she'd see and then she'd awful isn't it It's crazy. But that's, you weren't honest with yourself, you see. I wasn't honest. I used to say that I had no time, that was distressed for. And reality, I was using food as a way to make me feel better. And it did.

And it did a great job at that, but it was having unwanted side effects. And so until I realized that I needed to work on my relationship with food and what I was actually using it for, what were the wounds that I was trying to heal with it, only then did I. I start to actually see some benefits and to start to make shifts towards a healthier lifestyle. It's so important. And one of the other pillars, if you like, you were talking about was addictions. And I've recently done a survey looking how addictions change in perimenopause and menopause and with any hormonal change. Because a lot of people, as you know, those hormones, progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, have effects on dopamine, especially.

So if your levels are low or fluctuating, you don't get that dopamine hit. So a lot of people are trying to get pleasure elsewhere. And I see it a lot in patients. They drink more to numb their symptoms, trying to help them sleep. But I also see patients who take harder drugs. And one lady who's very posh told me recently how she'd been using a local dealer to get some cocaine. And I thought, oh my gosh, what about hormones? Well, her GP refused to prescribe them.

She wanted to feel better. And a lot of people actually, certainly in our survey that we did, in the free text comments, they were taking them to try and improve their confidence because they first. felt being perimenopausal, menopausal, their confidence had gone, their self-esteem had gone. They wanted confidence or they wanted to help sleep as well. So some of them were smoking cannabis to help them sleep. Some of them were taking class A drugs. Some of them, one lady just said, I want to escape this cage of doom. And we had over 1,300 responses in a very short space of time. And it made me weep literally reading these comments. We're letting down

people. But think, and also, you know, 5% of them had increased gambling as well. Yeah, yeah. So, and it's so easy now to gamble on your phone. It's, you don't have to go and make an effort going on. You know, there's 33 million active online gambling users. Doesn't surprise me. It's huge. It's huge. It's so shocking. So we're doing some more research with the charity Gordon Moody about the role of hormones and hormone changes with gambling. But it's, that's a bit that people almost just think, That's just for down and out people. That's just a small proportion.

But I think it's a big hidden epidemic, actually, the gambling, the addiction. Because it doesn't just affect the individual. No, of course it doesn't. It really affects the nuclear family and also workplace and the community. So it ripples through. So you have to look beyond just purely the gambler. I saw one stat which showed that 7% of the UK population is either directly or indirectly affected by someone who's gambling or they are themselves have problematic gambling use. So it is an area that needs to be explored.

And it's just one of those other ways of looking for that dopamine hit, as you say, trying to either manage or treat in some way if you can use that word, an other underlying issue, which isn't being addressed. Absolutely. And I think that goes into one of your other pillars is about relationships with people. Yeah. Because people think lonelier probably than they have been before. And partners' relationships can really change.

And I think if you haven't got that, it's so important, you know, that oxytocin, just from having a hug, the social connections. And, you know, I'm quite socially awkward. I don't really enjoy going out. The thought of going to a pub and talking to people, just I can't stand because I'm much fair to go home and read. Oh, yeah. But I'm very lucky. I meet lots of people with my job and my work and I have a very social job. Yeah, I was going to sound quite surprised that you get awkward.

I'm very socially awkward. Yeah, it's really interesting. I'm quite a complicated person. But we have a very people job, whereas if I was sitting behind a screen, working from home all the time and didn't have good social connection, and I have a very solid relationship with my lovely husband,

and I'm very fortunate with my family. But, you know, you can see how it's different to maybe it was 20, 30 years ago for a lot of people. Yeah, yeah. Because it's more than just being connected to people and having sort of friends, because it's deeper than that because actually if you look at the highest rates of loneliness, it's in young people. It is.

And they have lots of technically social connections. Like if you add it up, you can draw out a really nice map. But they report highest levels of loneliness. And so we're talking about quality of relationships. And for me, actually, I have all the pillars in my own lifestyle journey. I know we've talked about physical activity, etc. It was the healthy relationship one that was the first one I did. because in order to really combat that addiction to food that I had,

I really leaned in on my relationship with my wife, my relationship with close friends. I needed people to help me to see things. I couldn't see. I was clouded. And they really supported me on that and kind of gave me advice and helped to sort of shift my decision making and realize other things.

And so I think healthy relationships gets ignored. It does. And I think relationships are very different, you know, I even, I apologise to you before we came on air because this is about social media. You know, I see that you had an awful injury, you fell off your bike. And I was like, oh, poor saying, that's really awful. And did I reach out to you the first few weeks? No, I didn't because I just, no, but it just shows that we're very, it's very different.

Like in years gone by, you probably would have phoned me or written me a letter and said, oh, I've been, you know, I had this awful injury. And I would have gone, oh, my goodness, are you okay? Can I do anything? Yeah, yeah. But it's that sort of thing. And then when you get so many likes on your social media, it's like, oh, I'm really popular.

Like, it means nothing really. I mean, of course, don't get me wrong. My social media is a very important way of educating people. But I don't have friends. I don't know these people. And I know when I do a public-facing event and afterwards if I do book signing and I can feel the energy of those people,

it's the most amazing feeling ever to have real people. And that's where change happens as well. And I can see you when you're running with other people. Yeah. It's this camaraderie. It's changing together. And I think that's what we need to focus on a lot as healthcare professionals as well.

Yeah. Like generally when you do things together, the perceived effort drops. Yeah. If we just talk about fiscal activity, we know from the evidence that group exercise really improves motivation. It improves the sort of longevity that you do the particular activity. And it also reduces the perception of effort. Like, that's brilliant.

Yeah. You can do that. And that's one of the reasons why the practice that I'm based at, we do community physical activity sessions. We don't even call exercise. We frame it as a support group, as a place for people to come and chat and to move outside. We're very lucky in Leamington.

We've got beautiful parks, beautiful places to move. And it just makes it so much more effortless. The number one thing that patients tell me, they go, firstly, I've never walked or ran five kilometres before my life. And I did that. And I didn't even find it that difficult. I didn't even realize to the end when I showed them on my watch that we'd done this distance. Like, really?

We've done that. Just because they were just tatting and having fun and just enjoying people's company. And so like look to see how can you develop more of those closer relationships, maybe work on some of the relationships you already have. It's also the inverse. There may be toxic relationships going on in your life that you need to manage. Some of them you can't cut off for various reasons. but you can look to manage and control to limit the impact that it has on me as well.

And I think, you know, we learned that quite early on in general practice. It's how you feel with other people. And I was very lucky when I was trained as a GP. My trainer was really good at the consultation models and everything else. But, you know, if you're with someone and you're feeling a bit nervous, it's taken me while to realize it's actually because they're nervous. Yes. And the same if someone's sad, you feel that sadness and happy is great.

Isn't it, you know? But the same with negativity. It can really affect you. And I feel very strongly that you've got to be positive. And this sounds a bit cheesy, I think. But it's true. And I have an affirmation diary that I write in every day. And my husband goes through for my birthday. And every morning I have to write three things that I'm grateful for, three things that are going to make my day good. And one thing. that I just need to remind myself about. And then in the evening, I write three things that have made my day good. And it's really like, I'm quite an overthinker, so I was like, oh, I've got to get this right. And actually, yesterday was in a bit of a hurry, and I thought, so I was just happy to be alive.

I'm happy to, you know, live in a peaceful country and I'm happy to not have a migraine, you know, because they've just come out of having a really awful spell. It's quite, and I'm happy to have love and kindness. And, you know, it becomes very, very simple. It's not that I've got a new dress or I've got this or I've got that. It's not material things.

Often it is friends and family and having a job. And we have to be intentional about identifying those positive things because we're naturally geared to want to look for negative things because it's going to help us survive. You know, those that survived were those that picked out the dangers in their environment. But in how we live at the moment, luckily our environment isn't filled with that many direct dangers. Yes, lots of lifestyle elements that means long term. we need to sometimes be able to be intentional to go, do you know what, actually, what are the positive things happening?

I had to do that big time in the accident because my brain went straight into negative mode. Oh my God, the whole 48 hours afterwards, I was just telling my wife all the negative things and why this was the worst time that it could happen. And she told me a very important thing. She goes, okay, when would be the best time for this to happen? And I was struggling to find the best time. And so it took me a bit of time. And I don't write it down, but for me, like, I often will start, if I'm going to be sort of starting the day, I'll just think of, okay, what was I most proud of yesterday? And what am I most looking forward to today?

And so it can mean it's different things to different people, but just be intentional in trying to pick out the positive elements. Because no matter who you are, there are always positive things going on. And I love to speak to those that have gone through some incredible adversity. And often when you hear them, they still speak about. the positive elements and the things that they're grateful for. And I'm thinking, goodness, like, how can you pick that out in an experience like that? It's so important. So, gosh, we've covered a lot.

There's so much, but you will come back, I'm sure. Three things, like it's a new year now, new beginning. We all have these great new attentions, what we're going to do. And they often don't last beyond January. And I'm really keen for this conversation to be continued, to be thinking positive, to be thinking about your six pillars plus one hormones. and to be thinking about being true to yourself, to really being completely honest

and thinking, what else can I do to improve my lifestyle, my movement, my sleep, my nutrition, everything else as well. So what three tips for people, I don't want to say New Year's resolutions, I don't want to say things for the new year, three things that you think should be able to last throughout the year and beyond that people could do? Okay. So tip number one, that is measure your goals correctly. So what I mean by that is don't always measure your changes in lifestyle from weight lost. I actually hate that as a measure because it doesn't give you a good picture of the work that you've put in. So many people will say, I do so many things and I don't lose the way. And they get demotivated. They stop doing those things. But then I go, well, all those things were helping your cardiovascular health. They were improving your longevity.

they were helping your mental health, et cetera, et cetera. So find various different ways of assessing the thing that you're going to do. Maybe you're going to measure it on how it makes you feel or your anxiety levels or maybe you're going to measure how many people you're going to spend time with each week that you enjoy. So find measurements that are personal to you that you can use to track, whatever it is that you want to do. Number two is I want you to draw a circle on a piece of paper. I want you to split it up into those pillars that we spend.

spoken about. And I want you to fill in amount of that particular slice that you feel confident that it's a strong pillar. So if you feel it's really strong, colour it all in. And then I want you to look at that pie chart and see which ones are currently deficient in. And then target what you want to do to the pillar that you feel. One, has progress to make. But two, you can feel it's low hanging through. You go, do you know what, I can make some changes here that's going to make a difference early on. Start there. Before you tackle some of the bigger things that you're going to need to, eventually, start with small wins, build up that confidence. Because as we talked about, it's interconnected. So if you can improve the other areas of the pie chart, it will make

improving the other slice that maybe is really low down, easier to do. If you focus on where the fire is, then unless you have the whole systems in place elsewhere, you're going to find it really hard to control of difficult area. Third and finally, and I really, really mean this, look to just bring more fun into your life. Because when I look back, yes, I was overweight,

yes, I had high blood pressure, yes, my liver was a mess. But I just wasn't enjoying life. I just wasn't having fun. I was constantly tired. I was constantly anxious. I had like self-esteem that was non-existent. And I just moved

to go, let me just enjoy my life more. Let me have things in my day that made me laugh, things in that day that made me smile or made me, you know, feel, you know, shocked with surprise. Do that because that I promise you, whatever activity you find that makes you feel like that, I can nearly always guarantee it's going to be healthy for you. Yeah. Okay. So just have more fun because often people are struggling. They then take on a lifestyle change that's quite difficult and that causes even more struggle and yes it may be bringing some health benefits but you're finding it really challenging and boring and difficult start with the fun okay if you're having loads of fun already good for you

then maybe take on some of the more difficult things but start with fun love it thank you so much it's been brilliant thanks thank you