I have a very active life, of course I do – I’m a dance teacher. I teach 24 classes a week and I also spend much of my free time being active. I get told a lot ‘you’re so lucky to be that fit and healthy and in shape’. Newsflash: that’s not luck, it’s my choice!

Why do I choose to be that way? Because it makes me happy and feel good and it allows me to have the lifestyle I choose to lead. I couldn’t do what I do if I filled my body with rubbish and didn’t remain active and I value life!

Going through ballet school and then working within the professional dance world I was exposed to a host of eating disorders and substance abuse from quite an early age. Luckily for me, and probably thanks to a liberal and grounded upbringing by my parents, I was never tempted by any of this – on the contrary – I saw the damaging (and sometimes tragic) impact this had on people’s wellbeing and lives. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a clean-eating, T-Total machine. It’s about balance; I eat cake most days (because I enjoy it), drink at least two coffees (good ones!) and I love a couple of glasses of wine with friends a couple of times a week. But I do eat a balanced wholesome diet. I don’t want to be overweight or underweight and I like to feel energised so that’s vital. I try to sleep at least seven hours (which I admit is a struggle sometimes – life is busy), I drink a lot of water all day, meditate most days, exercise a lot and I don’t over indulge in alcohol. ‘You’re missing out’ is another statement I get a lot. I don’t feel that I am. I feel good when I wake up in the morning, my mind is clear and I can manage those stressful curb balls that life throws at us with clarity. I love socialising and dancing all night and, if I’m frank, I get more joy from having the will power to know when enough is enough and respect my mind and body than I would having those ‘extra few drinks’. I have also seen the impact that making these kind of health-conscious choices has had on family and friends and it’s always the same: ‘I didn’t realise how bad I felt before until I made healthy choices and changes’ is what they say. In the UK especially, I realise this is really not easy. We are busy so fast food and little sleep is rife and the image of drunkenness is funny and normalised to the majority, despite the next morning’s inevitable blues. There’s never enough time to workout or relax the mind or floss our teeth or all the other stuff- unless we make time.

So why am I writing this? Not to preach or say I’ve got this all right, it just works for me. Recently I have realised that healthy choices are in fact more rare that I’d realised and when people chat to me about it, it seems they think it’s such a far-away and overwhelming goal. It isn’t! It’s small choices, one thing at a time that will allow you and your family to have a better quality of life. It’s simply something to consider.

As always, feedback and thoughts welcome 🙂

Lisa x