2010 Dancing on Ice Champion Hayley Tamaddon knows a thing or two about keeping fit and healthy. With her gruelling schedule, Hayley knows how necessary it is to keep your energy levels up and body in tip top condition. So who better to give you advice on getting into and keeping yourself in shape?

Whilst we all want to make sure we look our best in 2011, many of us can end up concentrating too much on products which cover up those late nights rather than looking after our body from the inside out. Lack of water and late nights can have an obvious impact on the quality of our skin, but piling on the slap will only serve to cover up the sins rather than getting rid of them altogether.

In fact many of us may be guilty of spending money on products which give the impression we are healthy rather than anything else. And what’s more, with so much external pressure to look good, do we place more value on our appearance rather than our health?

If you take the time to stop and prioritise your inner health –you will reap the benefits. And all it takes is a few simple steps to improve both your emotional and physical wellbeing.

If you are after some inspiration to get you started, or are in need of some advice on keeping up the motivation, Hayley has teamed up with Benenden Healthcare Society to help give you the answer.

So what are you waiting for? Log onto our live WebTV show and make sure you submit your questions to Hayley who’s now back on our screens to help present this year’s hit series of Dancing on Ice.

Hayley Tamaddon and Julie Meredith from Benenden Healthcare Society join us live online at www.studiotalk.tv on Monday 17th January at 2pm to discuss healthy lifestyles

For more information visit: www.benenden.org.uk/newyou or to join the Facebook page visit: www.facebook.com/benendenhealthcare .   You can also follow Benenden Healthcare on Twitter: @Benenden_health  

H: Vicky Letch, host
A: Julie Meredith, Benenden
B: Hayley Tamaddon

H: With so much external pressure to look good, are we perhaps guilty of placing more value on our appearance rather than our health? Stay tuned?

Titles

H: Hello and welcome to Life & Style, I’m Vicky Letch. For many of us a new year is a time to set promises and resolutions. Getting fit and healthy is often high on all our agendas. However burning the candle at both ends can have an obvious impact on our energy levels which sometimes even a little make-up can’t hide. So just how can we improve our physical health and our emotional well-being? I’m delighted to be joined by a woman who certainly knows how to get the most out of life, it’s winner of Dancing on Ice 2010 superstar Hayley Tameden and from the Benenden Healthcare Society Julie Meredith. Ladies thank you so much for coming in to the studio today. So, here’s what’s coming up on the show today. How to get fit and active, what steps to undertake to improve your emotional wellbeing and of course all of your questions will be answered live. So yes a good reminder that we are totally live today so if you do have any questions or comments for our guests, all you have to do is put them in the box on the screen, click submit and of course if you are Tweeting then you can use the # tag Studiotalk TV. So Julie let’s start with you because Benenden Healthcare Society have undertaken some really quite astonishing research, some of it’s quite shocking that a fifth of women will do crash diets, 1 in 20 will take laxatives, all in a desperate bid to look healthy. Is that right?

A: Yes that’s right and I think actually as a medical – healthcare professional it’s something that we are aware of, we do know that people do follow these diets and of course it’s very unhealthy because it’s not – if they want to lose weight it’s the worst way to try and lose weight by doing a crash diet

H: Yes

A: The body just doesn’t respond to crash diets at all, it goes into what we say is a starvation mode, you end up putting more weight on in the end anyway. So it’s really – you know it’s not effective to actually diet in that way, but I think the trouble is with a lot of women nowadays, we’re bombarded by the media, we look at what we feel we should be, and so we try and think we can do it quickly and we forget that a lot of the people we see on the screen and in magazines are doing this every day, they’re actually looking after their heath, they’re dieting the whole time, and so to do it very quickly is obviously not the way to work

H: Yes

A: And we’ve actually got to try and educate people to try and improve their health, the way they live, and through the Benenden Healthcare scheme that Hayley’s heading this year, we’re hoping to actually get people to try and change their lifestyles completely and take on a new healthy way of living

H: And I think that’s it, it’s re-educating people. We all want the quick fix don’t we and we want to wake up looking a certain way, but like you said that can have long-lasting damage

A: Well it can because if you – what we don’t realise I think is sometimes if we don’t eat properly we can be just as unhealthy regardless of the size we are. A lot of the thinner people that you see, and I’ve actually read about a model, they’re actually unhealthy inside

H: Yes

A: And we can get what we call fissile fat which is the fat that sits inside us and it’s just as dangerous as the fat you can see outside, and that’s about because you’ve had a bad diet, so through the program that we’re trying to bring through Hayley we’re going to actually try and teach people what they should be eating, how they should be eating to make them healthy outside as well as inside, and of course that will stop, hopefully, all the problems that you can build up for yourself long-term with being overweight

H: Yes which Hayley I have to say, what a fantastic opportunity for you to get involved in something like this, because I think it’s a really important issue, and someone like yourself, I mean you saw it, Hayley walked into the studio and I was like you look amazing, because you do, you look really fit

B: Thank you

H: And I don’t mean that in like the “well fit” street way, you look physically fit, but you can see in your eyes, in your skin that actually inside you’re looking after yourself as well. How do you do it when you’re this busy?

B: You know I think I concentrate on it even more when I’m busy, because it’s so easy just to grab a chocolate bar or grab a packet of crisps and think oh I’ll just skip a meal. That’s where the danger is, I now have to eat my good three meals a day and breakfast is by far my favourite, and I always eat breakfast and people think oh I’ll skip breakfast, I’ll save a few calories and maybe eat a bit more later on. Doesn’t work like that

H: Yes

B: Eat breakfast, have a good lunch, eat some protein with your lunch and then if you want a lighter supper, salad, eat some meat and some vegetables, some fish, things like that – you can eat really nice, tasty stuff which before I started to do this and lose the weight and get healthy, I thought mmm fish, mmmm vegetables, but you know what, I love it now, and I’m tasting new food that I never tried before and really enjoying it, and you know everybody says you know I’m a sucker for chocolate – me too, I love chocolate and I don’t deny myself of it

H: Good

B: When I want chocolate I have chocolate. It’s most days to be honest. What I don’t do any more is gorge on it and think right I’ll have 3 bars today, you know. If I want a bit of chocolate, I’ll have a bit of chocolate, but yes I’ve had porridge for my breakfast, I’ve had soup and salad for my lunch and I’ve had fish for my dinner. I’ve had some good meals today and I’m allowed some chocolate if I want some

H: Yes I agree and I think that’s a really important fact, the minute you say to yourself, I mean you’ll know if you say to yourself I’m not allowed to do this, I’m not allowing myself you can almost obsess about that thing that you’re not allowed to do any more

B: Yes that’s where diets go wrong because instantly everybody says right Monday I’m going to start a diet, I’m going to cut out chocolate, crisps and then it comes to like 12 o’clock and you think oh I want some chocolate, I’d love some chocolate, and by 3 o’clock you’re miserable because you’re not letting yourself have a little bit of something that you want. Just give yourself a little bit of something that you’d like, some sweets – have a couple of sweets, you don’t need 20 you know

H: Yes, yes

B: Just have a couple and then you think well you’ve given yourself the treat and you’ve not gorged on it, and at the same time you’ve eaten good meals during the day and yes you’re allowed something as a treat for that day, it’s ok

H: Absolutely

A: Backing what Hayley said, I’ll give you a tip actually, if you let yourself go hungry and you skip a meal, your brain is actually programmed so when you do eat you crave sweets. You crave high energy good

H: So you go for the wrong things

A: You go for the wrong things, so if you eat like you’re saying so it does actually back it all up, you will actually go for a good meal, you’ll go for that salad and you’ll perhaps have a piece of chocolate but you won’t go for the whole thing

H: I suppose it’s the whole, everyone always says don’t do your food shopping whilst you’re hungry

B: It’s true

H: And it’s so true, if I go after breakfast I’m far more sensible about what ends up in my trolley. I mean you know when I’ve gone starving hungry because I come home and I’ve just got lots of sweets and crisps, things that I wouldn’t actually normally lean towards at all. Do you also thing there’s some importance in listening to your body? Hayley going back to you, when you were working on Dancing on Ice, by the way, amazing, but your body would have craved, I imagine far more calories than it did –

B: It did

H: Before

B: It did. When I first started training for Dancing on Ice, 3 months training so I started training in October, I had previously lost weight, got my body fit, I was preparing my body for what I knew was going to be 3 months possibly of a gruelling schedule. So I did a lot of training beforehand but I cut down on a lot of carbohydrates. I didn’t need them, and I knew I didn’t need them. I did it properly, I went and saw a dietician and I did it properly and when I started training my skating partner Daniel said “what are you going to have for your lunch?” and I said “I’m going to have a bowl of soup” and he went “no you’re not, you’re going to have a jacket potato and a bowl of soup” and I was like “jacket potato, well that’s carbohydrates” and he said “yes but you are burning so much energy you can afford to eat carbohydrates, they’re good carbohydrates, you know we’re talking I’m all for carbohydrates, calories, fat, I look at everything now, but chips, are your bad carbohydrates

H: Yes

B: We don’t need to each chips, a good jacket potato, especially the skin, there’s so much goodness in the skin

H: Delicious as well

B: In a potato and you have it with something healthy, have it with a salad or some ham or some chicken and build your protein. I needed that, and I didn’t go a day without eating things like that, and do you know what, I don’t think I could have survived without those carbohydrates

H: No you would have needed that for the energy to –

B: Absolutely

H: So your body’s got something to turn into energy

B: Bananas, I snacked on bananas during the day, my breakfast was huge - cereal or porridge with bananas, dates, fruit, yoghurt, I stacked up because I knew come lunchtime I’d have done two hours skating, and I’d be starving, I was always hungry

H: Yes I bet

B: And it’s good the more you burn, the more you exercise, the more you eat good food and you want to keep your body fit you know, when you get to a point when you’ve lost some weight and your body’s looking good, you don’t want to ruin that, you know, keep going, it’s good

H: Yes absolutely. Going back to your snacking, Julie do you think that’s when people can fall down because that whole thing of being hungry again, is it all about being prepared and having the right things in your handbag?

A: It is actually and what we do sometimes with people is we say to them make a food diary, and it’s quite interesting because they don’t write down the snacks, they don’t include the snacks, they tend to think, they count their food and they reckon it’s up to 50% error when you actually write a food diary, so you’re not writing snacks down and your snacks are quite high calorie if you don’t get it right

H: Absolutely yes

A: And so all those extra calories that are going in, and you know you really must be careful of what you’re eating. If you eat properly each meal you shouldn’t really need the snacks

H: And also I have to say, myself including and lots of my girlfriends who have been on diets, I haven’t lost this week and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, and we could be having the conversation whilst enjoying a nice bottle of wine. I mean it’s those sorts of calories that you don’t really think about it, when it’s liquid it can’t be doing that much damage. So how about people that actually they enjoy their glass of wine in the evening

A: Have it

B: That’s ok

H: You can still do it?

A: Yes definitely

B: Have a glass of wine, but also you know for me I worked out if I wanted to have an alcoholic drink, what would be the best drink for me to have. Luckily it was the drink that I like the most, vodka and slim line tonic, 50 calories.

H: Brilliant

B: That’s not bad, it really isn’t compared to a large glass of Rose wine which you’re almost doubling it, you know, so think about what you’re drinking in terms like that, and it’s also the same with cordials, you know and fizzy drinks and things

H: Yes

B: Nobody thinks about the sort of sugar intake that’s in those drinks and how bad they are for your insides. You know all of that, everybody knows water’s the best thing you can possibly drink, I am a bit of a nightmare when it comes to just drinking plain water, but there’s things you can add to your water, there’s cordials out there that are not full of sugar and full of bad stuff you know

H: Yes absolutely

B: You just have to pay little bit more attention to it than you used to do.

A: I think reading your labels is right

H: Yes

A: because a lot of foods now have in them what we call corn starch, and that’s quite high in a different type of sugar

B: Yes

A: And it’s quite addictive, you get a big high from it, your blood sugar goes up very, very quickly and you crave it, and that’s what’s in the burgers –

H: So it’s just knowing these things and like you say –

A: Look at the labels

H: You’re more aware as soon as you know; you know what to look out for. We all want to look a certain way so I’m obsessed by muffin tops which at times can be horrendous. So I always think I want to get them down and then I’ll buy some new clothes and it might make me feel better but actually all of that is irrelevant for anyone doing it if you’re not happy inside, you’ve got to look after your emotional well-being.

B: Yes, we need to be as a nation of mostly women, but yes a lot of guys as well, love yourself a little bit more

H: Yes, yes

B: Because whatever you look like, if you don’t love yourself and feel good, you’re not going to really want to bother trying – oh there’s no point in trying to lose weight or you know, why not, have a new you? It’s a new year, start something fresh, you know, and if you’ve got a bit of a muffin top, that’s ok. Do a few extra sit-ups along with your healthy eating that you’re doing, and you can do these exercise things, you know I’m not a great one for going to the gym, I look in a gym and look around and I think oh this is you know, I like to put the telly on, I jog on the spot, I do my sit-ups while watching Friends on the telly, I run up and down the stairs 10 times, I’m shattered, you know and I’ve burned a few calories. Go for a stroll with your dog, walk around the park for 20 minutes, have a little run, you know things in the fresh air that you can do, it doesn’t have to be all about well I’ve got to go to the gym and you know, there’s millions of things you can do, loads

H: And also –

A: Exercise is such a good thing, it boosts how you feel

H: Yes

A: And actually it keeps on working

H: Yes

A: You can do your exercise one day and 24 hours later you’re still burning the calories from doing your exercise

H: I love that! I love that idea

A: It’s an easy way isn’t it?

H: So I’m sat here and it’s still working, that’s brilliant!

A: You could be asleep and it’s still working

H: Which is even nicer. Also I think it’s the attitude, change your attitude about it, like you were saying, it’s not a duty, you’re actually doing something really good for yourself

B: The minute you start to put pressure on yourself to lose weight you’re not going to do it

H: Yes

B: You know just stay calm about it, it’s not a big deal if you don’t lose 2 pounds in a week, if you lose a pound you know great. For me, it - I don’t know I was really excited when I lost a few pounds, if I didn’t lose a pound or two I didn’t worry too much, maybe I just needed to just do a bit more exercise that week or you know maybe not eat as much chocolate as I ate one night – it doesn’t matter, don’t put that pressure on yourself to lose loads straight away. Take your time, let it happen gradually and that way you can guarantee it will stay off

H: Yes

A: And that’s the problem with some of these set diets people break it and then think oh I’ve ruined it, I’ll come off it

H: Yes

A: If you understand we’re trying to teach people how to eat healthily, if you have a bar of chocolate it’s not the end of the world

B: Yes I don’t class what I do as a diet, it’s never been a diet since day one really in theory, we all call it – oh I’m on a diet, I don’t think I said that. I just eat well, I eat properly now and it shows, and I’ve cut things out that I don’t really need to eat, you know and if I want to go for dinner and I fancy steak and chips one night then I’ll have it. But I don’t have it every day, you know and I don’t eat that sort of thing all the time. I eat well and there’s a difference between saying “I’m on a diet, I’m on a strict diet and I’m not going to eat this, this, this” – I don’t call it that, I just call it a change of lifestyle and just eating better than I used to

H: Yes which I think is exactly how you should look at it

A: Yes

H: it’s about being good for yourself, and we’re going to be good to you in the next part because we’re going to have a look at your questions here live. See you in a mo

Break

H: If you’ve just joined us today I’m talking with Julie Meredith from Benenden Healthcare society and actress and Dancing on Ice Superstar – I like saying Superstar, does it feel good?

B: It does, no one ever calls me that

H: It’s Hayley Tamaddon. It’s now time of have a look at your questions but we are still live so if you’ve got any questions keep them coming in and we’ll squeeze in as many as we possibly can. The first one is from Pauline in Salford, thank you Pauline, and she says “I want to get in shape this year, but I just don’t have the will power. Think I’ll be back to eating junk food and spending my evenings by the TV come February for sure. Do you have any advice?”

A: Keep moving, that’s the thing. They’ve shown actually you can lose quite a lot of weight, use quite a lot of calories and lose weight just by moving. Use the stairs rather than the lift, start small if you don’t want to go and start doing any major exercises, and also do the things you like doing. I mean we’re talking about anything that you go for a walk

H: Yes

A: Take up a sport, if you want to, if you don’t want to do it don’t do it. Dance, in fact through Benenden Healthcare at the moment we’re actually offering free dance lessons for the first 10,000 people that actually register an interest with this

H: Amazing, great

A: Dancing is brilliant, you could dance round the kitchen, you don’t even have to go for lessons, you can do what you want as long as you’re still moving and I think that’s probably – that’s the message to get to people

H: Yes. That probably ties in with Gemma, your question, this is Gemma in Carlisle – “I really want to learn a new skill this year like ice skating. Hayley was it really difficult to pick up and did you find it difficult to master?” It certainly didn’t look like you found it difficult to master

B: Yes it is, it is so difficult you know, ice skating is a difficult skill, but when I first started training there was women skating around the rink 50 plus. In fact there was a 78 year old lady skating on the ice a lot

H: Wow

B: And I asked her one day “why do you do this?” and she said “it keeps me fit, it keeps me moving, and it’s good for my body” and do you know honestly it burns – ice skating burns 600 calories an hour

H: Yes

B: You know, something crazy like that

H: Yes mad

B: And at the same time you’re toning your legs, you’re using your stomach, you’re holding your arms so you’re using your muscles in your arms, it works every part of the body and you can take the whole family, so it’s not just something you’ve got to do on your own, take the kids, take the family skating,

H: Yes

B: It’s a good, family day out you know

H: So have you kept the skating up?

B: Yes I still do it yes, I went a couple of days ago and had a lesson, and I love it, I’m addicted, absolutely addicted

H: I was going to say once you do something like that I imagine you just always want to get back out there on the ice

B: Yes of course when you first start learning anything it’s scary, and you don’t’ want to leave the barrier and you’re scared of falling over. You’re going to fall over, don’t be scared of it – fall a couple of times and think oh that didn’t hurt as much as I thought it was going to hurt. Get back up, brush yourself off and start again, you know

H: Ok moving on then, Jenny – thank you Jenny. She says “I enjoy getting fit but how can I keep up the motivation beyond January?”

A: Well I think that’s a classic, that people do find it hard to just keep going – peer support, go join some friends, make each other go out. I joined a couple of things that I go to – I go to the gym occasionally, I go walking, I go walking with friends, walk the dog. I used to do a lot of running, not so much now but just try and find something you like. And there’s lots of sort of chat rooms and things like that people can go in – go on now, Facebook, Twitter – get someone to nag you

H: Yes – yes

A: It can be in another part of the country but just say, so you’ve still got to do something and you’ve got to actually prove to somebody that you’ve done something, done some exercise that day. But again if you don’t do it that day it’s not the end of the world. You’re not on a training program for anything, apart from the rest of your life really

H: Oh if that was the outro, if that was the end of the show that would have been beautiful

A: That was a good one! It is

H: We might do that a bit later on, that was good! This is from Charlie in Birmingham, time for one more question so Charlie this is your moment – “what’s the secret to being happy and healthy?” that’s nice

B: Wow that’s a good question

H: We’ll go with both of you, let’s start with you Hayley, what’s your –

B: The secret to be happy is that you have to be happy and there’s a lot in this world to be happy and to be grateful for and I think we forget it sometimes. Just take a look around you and realise that we’re ok, we’re living, we’re standing, we’re breathing, you know, and then you do the rest. You eat the healthy food, you look after your body and look after yourself and when you do see the results, that makes you even happier, you know so then you want to keep it up and you want to keep going

H: Lovely. How about you Julie?

A: And to find things that are important to you, there’s no point comparing yourself to other people, and think oh the things that are important to me are nothing compared to what they’ve got, it’s about finding what you want to do and what makes you happy

H Yes

A: Write down 3 things every day that have been positive in your life if you feel you really can’t get going. Go for a walk if that’s all it is, but it’s made you feel much better, that’s a good thing to do

H: Yes absolutely and I have to say if you are feeling a little glum, right now maybe, then go onto the internet and see if you can find Hayley performing with Vanilla Ice, it’s possibly one of the best things I have seen, definitely this year and I would say the latter part of last year as well

B: I don’t think I’m going to live this down

H: Oh my gosh and so you shouldn’t, it is brilliant, it is absolutely brilliant, as has this been. Thank you both so much, I’m feeling quite motivated after this chat because I was a little bit naughty this weekend so I’m going to get back on track as of now. So thank you for your time and of course thank you for you joining us at home. If you want to find out more about how to kick start a healthy new you you can go to the website which is benenden.org.uk/newyou and do remember of course the first 10,000 people to go onto that website could be walking away with some fantastic dance lessons, and if you’re logged into Facebook you can search for Benenden Healthcare there and you can also follow them on Twitter. Until next time bye bye

Still got a question or comment?

Name

Your question Question

Enter code