Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

Are you dreading breaking out over Christmas? Are you worried that your hard work this winter will go by the wayside and leave you feeling despondent? Fear not.This week we get some excellent advice from Performance Nutritionist and Coach Oisín O’Malley, who runs his own studio, Enhanced Nutrition & Performance, in Carnmore.

To go into the new year feeling great about ourselves, excited about the future, we need a clear guide, insists Oisín from Oranmore.

“This isn’t about restricting yourself, in fact, you’ll enjoy Christmas more than ever before.”

So, what are some of the biggest problems faced by clients over his 15 years in the fitness Industry?

Focused on the food rather than the occasion – If you focus on the food, the hype of Christmas, rather than the people there, you can often overeat, develop a high level of food focus and eat yourself sick. Enjoy great food but remember the real reason for a lot of these occasions – to connect, to spend it with loved ones, to rest. It’s easy to lose yourself on these occasions, eating a lot of food and feeling horrible.

Moderation goes out the window – You can have all the right intentions to eat in moderation and enjoy yourself but it can often fall out the window. This is because of the environment, not having a clear outline of what the plan is and also just losing focus. Then, you’re left frustrated and annoyed at yourself. Possibly even going backwards on your progress. Anything in excess no longer becomes enjoyable. It’s important to have a limit.

You go into an all-or-nothing mentality – Restricting yourself too much hinders your quality time, overdoing it and then trying to claim back calories or ‘outwork’ a poor diet. You can find yourself abandoning any baseline standard for yourself, around health, training and even personal management coming up to Christmas with the busy social calendar, work, deadlines and getting things organised in the build-up to Christmas. Leaving your food at the bottom of the priority and as a result, feeling poor for it.

Pictured: Oisin O’Malley owner of ENP