Becoming a mum can really take its toll on your energy levels, can’t it? And whilst it’s easy to opt for a quick fix caffeine hit or a sugar burst, you’re actually not doing yourself any favours. That initial hit is often followed by a sharper slump which coupled with a young child or baby to look after can really leave you feeling frazzled.

Celebrity mum and fitness guru Nell McAndrew knows how difficult it can be to stay energized, but with multiple marathons under her belt, if anyone can help mums of the UK boost their energy it's her. That's why she’s teamed up with B Record Plus to share her tips on how to keep energized throughout the day.

In this live web TV Nell takes you through an energy boosting workout designed especially for busy mums. She'll also give you plenty of tips to help you increase your long term energy through nutrition and hydration.

Nell McAndrew joins us live online at www.studiotalk.tv on Wednesday 8th June at 2pm.

For more information visit www.brecordplus.com

H: Vicky Letch

A: Nell McAndrew

H: We all know how exhausting being a mum can be, so stay tuned because we’ve got some top tips to help you get re-energised

Credits

H: Hello and welcome to Life and Style, I’m Vicky Letch. Now, reaching for a chocolate bar, or perhaps grabbing a quick caffeine his if often the way when we’re feeling the strains of parenthood, but this will only ever be a short-term fix. Believe it or not, staying energised throughout the day is possible with a few simple changes to your life style. A woman who knows a thing or two about this is marathon running, multi-talented mum Nell McAndrew, welcome, so lovely to have you here with us today. Let’s have a look then and see what’s coming up on the show today. Lifestyle choices and healthy eating, we’ll also be having a look at some easy exercises you can do at home, and then we’ll be taking all of your questions here live. Yes, a good time to remind you that it’s not too late to write in because we are streaming live today, so if you have any comments or perhaps some questions for Nell, all you have to do is use the box on your screen or you can tweet us using #studiotalktv. So, I understand that there’s been some research undertaken by B Record Plus and amazingly, they discovered that 40% of women felt that they weren’t performing their basic tasks how they want to be performing them, down to tiredness of lack of concentration. That’s not ideal is it?

A: No, forgetting where you’ve put the car keys, or even just driving. If you’ve got to pick the pick the kids up from school and you feel shattered, it’s not good. You need to be focusing, but you’ve got the children in the background having a tantrum. A mum’s just got to be so much and everything to so many people normally. Their children, their partner, they might have elderly parents and they’re supposed to be the ones holding it all together

H: Absolutely. And I can imagine in that situation when you suddenly realise even making breakfast at the moment is a daunting task and it’s all a bit overwhelming, that they might not feel they can necessarily admit that. We’ve also discovered through this research that lots of women don’t feel able to admit that they are finding things a little bit difficult. Why do you think that is?

A: I think it’s really hard to open up. I mean wouldn’t normally…my mum will say to me, are you OK? You look really tired, I’ve told your dad that you look really tired and I’ll say, I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m OK, you don’t want to burden them with your troubles and you don’t want to seem like you’re not coping and when I drop my son off at school I’ll look at other mums and think, they seem to have had a really calm, stress free morning, whereas I felt that just getting him dressed, my son, and getting him out of the door has been like a huge achievement, but I think it’s just not that case. It’s just that people aren’t necessarily opening up about it.

H: Absolutely, and I do think with lots of things in life, if you’re generally feeling quite frazzled, as a human being you have a tendency to look at someone else and you wouldn’t see that they were ever stressed, you’d only see the positives from that person, and you could be overlooking actually, that your friend or your neighbour is in exactly the same situation as yourself

A: I think it is and I think the more that people do open up and feel relaxed enough to open up and it’s OK to admit you’re not coping. I think the scary thing is that some women feel that – and me included in the past – to admit that I’ve been struggling looking after my son, it makes you feel like you’re a failure, or that you should be able to cope, why aren’t I coping? But it’s just normal. When you’re tired and you’re having sleepless nights, you’re breast feeding, you’re recovering from childbirth, you’ve got so much going on. You’re a human being and everybody needs to rest and trying to get that sustained energy is really difficult. To stop yourself from grabbing caffeine fixes and comfort food, it’s really hard. So it’s just about changing your lifestyle and changing bad habits

H: Absolutely. We are going to talk. We’re going to discuss all of this in great detail for you. Hopefully give you some fantastic tips on making very simple changes to really turn things around. But how do people get into that situation? We all know obviously that motherhood is exhausting, would you say it is actually getting worse with modern day living, because it’s almost as though you have to be a soccer mum. So you’re taking one off to the football, one off to ballet classes, running the household, preparing meals. Is it just that we have too much to do in our days?

A: Yes, I think we do. I always make lists. Never achieve the full list and your needs are usually at the bottom, so that needs to be pushed up to the top a little bit and maybe just allowing 20 minutes even of time for yourself, where you might choose to go for a run, or you might choose to read the newspaper or something. But it’s hard…as a mum you feel guilty if you sit down, because you should be doing something, there’s always something to do, and if you’re sat down those jobs aren’t getting done. So I don’t think its worse, and I think financial pressures as well are just the added stresses for people. Relationships…if you’re partner’s not supporting you as much as you would like, that just causes so much friction. My husband, I’ve been so frustrated with him in the past, because I’ve thought, don’t talk to me about being tired, I’m exhausted, I was up 3 times last night and it’s already put a strain on your relationship. But suppose you always feel that you’re the only one going through this, but so many people are

H: Absolutely. And I know, from talking from personal experience, when I’m really tired, I’ll admit the first thing I think is that I want a huge, steaming cup of coffee and nothing else is going to hit the spot, or perhaps I want a lovely chocolate bar, because I know it’s going to give me that burst of energy, but actually I’m making bad choices, because there are ways that we can sustain our energy levels throughout the day, aren’t there

A: Yes. By increasing your physical activity, making sure you get outside, have a walk with other mums, or start jogging. Sign up to do a charity event, like a walk or a run, as well as looking after your health and fitness, and you’re supporting a charity that you’re passionate about, or changing your eating habits to make sure you’re carrying bananas and almonds, eating a good breakfast – it’s the meal not to be missed

H: And I would say there are lots of mums that do…they’re looking after everyone else, getting their lunches packed and they could be skipping what I have always said is the most important meal of the day. So what sort of tips could you give for a really quick, powerful breakfast?

A: Well, porridge is what I usually have every single day, and it’s really boring, but every day. If I don’t have porridge I start to feel hungry, more or less by the late morning I’m kind of ravenous and I want to eat something sugary and chocolate-y and now, but porridge is great, it makes you feel like you’ve got some energy, so I usually have a big bowl of that, made with half soya milk, half water, topped with bananas or berries, whatever you’ve got in the house just throw it on top and you will feel so much better in yourself. Because if you’re hungry, you’re grumpy and you’re miserable and you’re going to have mood swings, then you’re going to think I need a cup of coffee because I’m so tired

H: Yep, and then you pick at things that you shouldn’t be. I have to say, I’m on the porridge train with you. Every single day, I have porridge, honey and a banana and if you don’t want to have the same breakfast every day, you can mix up the toppings on your porridge as well and experiment just a little bit

A: Yes. I think it’s really important just to have something before you get out of the door, even if it’s just a slice of toast, make sure you’ve had something. And try and swap the coffee. Have maybe a coffee in the morning, or a couple, but don’t have more than that. Always swap it for water later on in the day. And there’s the fantastic new supplement that’s a natural supplement, the B Record Plus that I’ve been lucky enough to try out, one of the first people in the country to try it out, and it’s a natural supplement to sustain your energy, so instead of having a caffeine supplement, which is going to give you the high and then the low, this is going to sustain it. As long as you’re incorporating a good diet and you’re increasing your physical activity and trying to get a bit more sleep if you can, then all of those things combined should make you feel like a new person, really

H: Which I’m sure is going to be music to many a person’s ear out there. So what we want to avoid is this rollercoaster of energy and then absolutely feeling exhausted, so we want to get you sustained with your energy levels. What about evening meals? Because again if you’ve got the children, you want to prepare something everyone can eat. What sort of foods should we be looking at?

A: Pastas…usually the foods that are lot of women are saying oh I’m a diet, I’m not eating carbs, I’m not eating pasta, I’m not eating potatoes, I’m not eating bread, but to me that’s the biggest part of my diet. I wouldn’t be able to go and run a marathon or a 5k Race of Life without it. I certainly don’t feel that I would have enough energy to get through my days without a lot of carbohydrates, so I think it’s just about getting it in the right balance and if you’ve got an allergy to different foods, there’s spelt pastas, just try different forms of that pasta, so you maybe you don’t feel as bloated if that’s something that effects you. Just be more sensible and eating lots of fresh foods. A lot of it is just common sense, but it’s hard to swap eating the kid’s leftovers and rushing about. It’s trying to allow 10 more minutes to just chop up some broccoli and steam that up, it takes no time at all

H: And portion control. I think lots of people who say they can’t eat wheat and pasta are quite often just eating too much of that pasta, so just making less and not filling your plate with the pasta, just having more sauce, more greens or your plate as well

A: Yes and pitta bread, I eat a lot of pitta bread if you don’t want to have ordinary bread. You can get spelt breads, rye breads, there are so many different things, so there is something there, it’s just about finding it, just taking a little bit of time to make sure you’ve stocked your cupboards and your fridge with the right things. And if you’re exercising more then you can allow yourself treats. I’m a chocoholic completely, but I feel like I’ve earned it. I’m constantly dashing about and I feel like I’ve got to have some form of treat, but I don’t drink alcohol really. It’s very rare I drink alcohol and I think that’s usually a big thing that some people associate with unwinding of a evening, a big glass of wine and then that’s it, you’re going to bed and it’s just full of sugar, so it’s not doing you any favours at all and you don’t sleep as well after you’ve drunk alcohol.

H: Absolutely. And I think that there was research recently that said 2 glasses of wine is equal to a burger, which is scary news! I have a lot of burgers every week! This one is from Emma, I just wanted to read out Emma’s question because it ties in with what we’re talking about now. She says; “Help! I’m addicted to an energy drink and I know it’s not good but I just can’t kick the habit”. And I suppose lots of people fall into that trap, where they become reliant on their caffeine, on their energy drink and without it they’re just tired, so how on earth does she break that?

A: She’s just got to do it. She’s got to stop having that completely and maybe swap it for making sure she has lots of water, the odd coffee maybe instead of the energy drink, because that’s got a lot of ingredients in there that aren’t good for you and obviously topping it up with a natural supplement like B Record Plus. So hopefully, the first few days will probably be really hard and she’ll probably have headaches and different withdrawal symptoms and feel probably a bit strange maybe, if she’s really that addicted to something that’s so heavily caffeine laden, but hopefully it should start to ease and then she’ll feel better

H: So stick with it, and if you do feel that you’re getting headache-y or tired, actually it’s just your body getting itself rebalanced

A: Flushing out the toxins really. You know you need to be really drinking lots of water. It’s like when people…when you go and have a wee your urine should be straw coloured, it shouldn’t be right bright yellow, it should be more or less clear and that’s a good sign to show how your body’s working and how healthy it is

H: But it’s not all about the physical side of things, we have to look after how do we feed our souls, so if we’re feeling really stressed, what sort of things can we do to de-stress?

A: I go for a run. Everybody always thinks it’s easy for you, you’ve run the marathon, but it’s never that easy because you’re always really challenging yourself to whatever it is that you’re setting your sights on, so somebody might think well I just want to run 5K, so it’s just getting out there for 15, 20 minutes, brisk walking or a jog or just something will make people feel so much better, trying to get more sleep and a good way is trying to make sure that the room is pitch black, if you’ve got blackout blinds, because if you’ve got lots of light coming in there that’s going to disrupt your sleep as well. I never used to have blackout blinds, and everyone used to say to me, you must get them, your son will sleep much better when he’s got them, and now I’ve got them it does make a massive difference

H: And also when we started the show, we were saying about people not feeling that they could talk about things if they were struggling or finding things tough, so perhaps another way to distress would be sharing your problems, talking to other mums who are in your situation could help just by offloading things

A: Making sure you go to a playgroup or…I used to go to Monkey Music with my son one morning, playgroup another time. I’ve been in tears in playgroup with other mums, because you’re trying to make sure you’re doing everything OK, you’re shattered, you’ve been up in the night 3 times and another mum came up to me and said don’t worry, it’s fine we all feel the same, and it’s OK to feel tearful, you do feel quite tearful at times, or even now that my son’s older and his first few months at school he was really clingy and crying and I’d have to walk out of the school gates and burst into tears and feel really bad even though I knew that he was fine. It’s just a drain on your emotions all the time. So just getting yourself out to different places where there are other mums who are going through similar things, because hopefully as you get to know each other you might start to open up and share stories of your experiences and not the pleasant experiences as well. The more open you can be, I think usually that triggers somebody else off to say oh yes, I feel exactly the same and then it can feel OK, that it’s alright to offload your problems

H: Absolutely. And that discovery that you’re not the only person suffering from mum guilt, because I think that’s a universal feeling that most of the time, women actually feel awful about the decisions that they’re making, because they feel guilty, but once they realise and they look at in perspective they think no, everything’s fine actually, I’m doing a good job. Once you realise, once you talk it through….We have to talk about the physical side of things, and I know that there will be 100s of people listening to this thinking, well it’s well and good sat there talking about all of this. You look amazing, I don’t think I can I can exercise. I’ve got my house to run, I’ve got all the kids running around. But there are ways, aren’t there, that people can incorporate exercise into their daily routine, and I understand that you’ve done some filming for us, showing us some simple exercises we can all do at home, so we’re going to take a look at that right now

VT

A: Why not try these 3 simple exercises at home. The first exercise is squats. If you stand with your feet just over shoulder width apart, relax your shoulders and pull them back, try and pull your belly button towards your spine to keep your abs pulled in, put your arms out in front of you and just lower down. And when you come back up, squeeze your bottom. Don’t lock out your knees on the way up, just relax. Think about sitting in a chair so stick that bottom out

The second exercise is press-ups. So you need to be kneeling down on the floor with your weight balanced between your hands, which are one and a half shoulder widths apart and your knees, your back nice and straight, abs pulled in and you’re going to lower down and push back up. Lower down, and push back up. Always remember to breathe. Don’t hold your breath

Third exercise is abs, so you’re going to lay on the floor with your feet shoulder width apart and your knees bent, place your hands on your thighs and you’re just going to squeeze your abs and push your hands up towards your knees, using your abs to pull you up. Pulling your belly button towards the floor

End VT

Break

H: And then hopefully we’ll all look like Nell McAndrew! I love that so much because we all know that you’re an athlete. We know that exercise is huge in your life, but actually it’s a tailored thing, it’s bespoke so you can do as much or as little as you want, but the important thing is just to do it, and everything we have just seen on that film is something that I think that absolutely everyone could do at some point, once a day

A: Yes, if you do some simple exercises at home, like the ones we’ve shown you and you get out walking and try and push yourself, walk that bit faster, or if there’s a hill nearby walk up and down the hill and especially with a pushchair or a pram it’s great, it’s giving you more resistance. That’s going to work all your muscles even more and up and down the hill will work your bottom more. As long as you’re always trying to pull your abs in, pulling your belly button towards your spine. I think that’s what you always forget, me included. After you’ve had a baby you just forget to do it because you’re so busy doing everything else, but anything that you can do. Rather than get the bus or drive, just try and walk or…I used to have a running chariot and I used to run round the park with my son in a running pushchair and that was the only way I would be able to do exercise because I was on my own looking after him so it’s just about making it work for you. Or get a friend to look after your children for half an hour, or play a game in the park with the kids. Run around, do races with them. Anything to get your heart pumping

H: Actually, one of the ladies here was saying when she was younger, she really remembers quite vividly being taken to the park and her dad would push her on the swing and then as she would swing on the swing, he would run around the swing set, getting fit, getting energised and then just about when she would slow down, do it again, then run around again. So there really is no excuse, we can all incorporate it into our routine. It is probably just rethinking, redefining your day to day life, actually, and as you were saying before, prioritise, make lists so you’re not feeling so stressed about all the little things building up, and actually focus on the important things which is your well-being, because if you’re a stressed parent, then there is a chance that you could pass that stressed-ness onto your child

A: Yes, I’m sure it’s true and I’m sure I’m guilty of that myself. Sometimes there’s just no escaping it, you’re trying to be so much and juggling everything, but you just try and do your best that’s all. But I think the more that there are different products available, any natural supplement that is going to help you feel better I think is worth it. It’s worth far more than buying a bottle of wine to me. I would far rather spend my money on something that I felt was doing benefits to my body, than something that wasn’t, so if you need to justify it like that, that’s a good way to think about, and just be more kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve not achieved to go out for a run or something, it’s OK, just do it tomorrow. It’s easier said than done. The hardest thing about being a parent I’m learning, I’m learning every single way is patience and when you’re tired, the patience span just gets shorter and shorter, so really anything that’s going to make you feel a bit more relaxed is good

H: Excellent. It is time for your questions, so thank you to all of you that have sent questions in. This one’s from Maria Holidng, and Maria says; “I’m looking forward to becoming a mum. I know it’s never easy, but you seem pretty happy. What’s your secret to having such a positive outlook?”

A: Because I’m one of those people from the survey that when I’m asked are you OK, I always say yes, I’m fine. I don’t openly always admit it so really doing this interview gives me the opportunity to say yes, I have been in tears at playgroups, I have been in tears at school and just bursting in tears in front of a school teacher, you just feel so silly, but when your emotions are so wrapped up in somebody so close to you, your children, your child, they just brim to the surface, so I think it’s just about the more that you can look after yourself, the more your emotions can just stay a bit balanced. And just to think, it’s OK, it’s normal to be emotional, it’s OK to release it sometimes and you shouldn’t have to feel that you’ve got to bottle it up

H: And actually that release will make you feel so much better. Once all of those…they’re there at the surface anyway, so actually just let them out and then you can feel more relaxed. Moving on then, this one’s from Jade. Actually, I’m going to do these 2 questions together, so Jade says; “Nell, you’re looking great. Just how much effort goes into looking as good as you?” and then Jackie says; “How often in a week do you incorporate fartlek training into your running schedule?” Now for those of you that don’t know, fartlek training is a Swedish term for interval training, so interval training when you’re running

A: For me, training is just about trying to vary it as much as possible, so I personally aim on trying to get out to do a run about 4 times a week. If I can do more then that’s great, but if I can’t that’s OK too and I try to break it up. So one run might be slightly longer, maybe about miles. One run might be just a short run, and then just running up and down a hill, so I can compact that into 35 minutes or something and another one might be more interval training, just short bursts, sprints something like that in a local park. So it’s just a case of trying to make sure you’ve just felt that…there’s nothing better I think than just feeling you’ve just…you’re feeling sweaty, you’re bright red, but it doesn’t matter. So I tend to drop my son off at school in my running kit, and then dash off to do a run and then I can go back to do housework, or emails or dash off to do a job and I try an incorporate it into my day like that. Or I’ll set off half an hour early to go and pick him up from school and run the long way round so I don’t feel like it’s taken too much time out of my day, but I just think varying your work outs is really good. Otherwise you don’t really see a benefit, you just plateau, you don’t really get any fitter or any faster

H: And also, you just do what you can do. Don’t measure yourself against other people. You fit it into the time that you have

A: That’s it. Ideally, I’d be able to run as fast as Paula Radcliffe, but you forget that people like that are training maybe 2 or 3 times a day or least, they’ve got masseurs, they’ve got physios, they’ve got this whole team of people and you haven’t got that, you’re just trying to balance it in everything else. So you’ve really just got to be kind to yourself and just do what you can do

H: OK. Time for one more question. This is from Johnny, he says; “I used to run probably 1 and ½ K in the morning from the train station, but now I take a casual ride on a Boris bike. I trust I’m not doing myself any favours in this?”

A: Well, he’s braver than me, especially being on a bike in central London, so I think I would personally rather be on foot, but it’s great. Any form of exercise is good, cycling is great, although it’s all flat so I suppose he’s not having to exert himself too much. It’s more the danger aspect I’d be scared of, other vehicles. But I certainly think if he feels that he’s working up more of a sweat with his brisk walk, and his heart’s beating that much faster, then he needs to go back to that really

H: He needs to go back. Although, I will say this, it’s still good that you’re not getting bus. If you’re getting a bike that’s still better than getting the bus. So let’s just round up then, for mums and of course dads watching who feel like they need to de-stress, some simple tips to keep them slightly more relaxed in their day to day routine

A: Well, just try and cut back on your caffeine. Try and cut back on alcohol. Try and get more sleep. Try and eat better foods. Try and give yourself a pack up, be a bit more organised, do some pitta breads in the morning, chuck in some avocado, tomatoes, take a couple of bananas with you, almonds. Make sure you eat a good breakfast, if you haven’t got time to eat at home take it to work with you and make sure you have it there. I’m forever taking a bowl of something with me, put it in a plastic bag afterwards, but anything like that will just help you feel…you’ll feel so much better.

H: I’ve just got this lovely visual of Nell walking down the road in the morning with her steaming hot bowl of porridge with her. I’m just off to work everyone! Bye! Thank you so much for joining us today, it’s been really insightful and very interesting, so thank you. If you want to find out more about the food supplements we discussed earlier, all you have to do is go to brecordplus.com. I’ll see you all next time. Bye bye.