Choose to Change

To round out this season, we're hitting you today with our take on the many fitness fads, nutrition trends and hot health topics that fill our feeds, particularly at this time of year! We weigh in with our opinion on whether to give them a shot or say nah! Should you take supplements, aim for PBs at every training session, include cheat meals/days?! Listen in to hear where we stand on how these various topics fit into the C2C lifestyle!

What is happiness to you? Have you even thought about how you define it? Do you attach happiness to your size, your self worth, your appearance or your health? Do you measure it by success, wealth or performance? Have you ever thought to yourself “I’ll be happy when… “. In today’s episode, Geoff & Niamh talk about happiness - what happiness is to them, how that view has evolved over time and continues to do so and why many people struggle to be happy. As emotional beings, we tend to put conditions on happiness, not allowing ourselves to feel happy until we reach a goal. Although often done subconsciously, the practice of doing this may inhibit progress, prevent us from the real happiness of learning on the path and ultimately make the goal ever more difficult to reach!

Geoff & Niamh chat about a sensitive & important topic on today’s episode - when to have a difficult conversation about health, who should own that responsibility and if they should even take place at all. Coming at this topic with personal experience from both sides allows them to share their thoughts about this pretty tricky area - what they learned from being at the giving and receiving end, how challenging it is to navigate the emotions that surround it, when these conversations don’t go well and identifying the learning opportunities that arise from them. There are many ways to approach these conversations and even more opinions about whether they should place at all but the crux of it comes down to who owns responsibility for our health and this is an area that we are deeply invested in with our clients. Enjoy, listen & share!

Geoff and Niamh are back for Season 2! To kick things off, in this episode we begin the journey of dissecting the concept of ‘Health at Every Size’. We chat through our views on this topic, the issues surrounding the perceived definition of health and how the value of our health evolves as we age. Through light hearted discussion, we talk about this polarising movement, our own personal experience, our differing opinions on it and what we feel is the real intent behind it!

On this episode, we had a fantastic chat to Niall Munnelly about mental health. Niall is a Counsellor & Psychotherapist and has also almost a decade of experience in the gym & fitness industry in Ireland. We loved this opportunity to chat about Niall's own incredibly inspiring story as well as many other topics including the important relationship between exercise & mental health, how our diet is about more than what we physically eat, the importance of taking action over procrastination, the value of making mistakes and of course, the impact of 2020 on our mental & physical health. Holistic behaviour change is at the core of nutrition coaching with C2C and this conversation highlights the impact of making positive changes to your health & wellbeing and offers guidance on how to manage this safely, effectively & sustainably. This time of year is often a difficult time for many people, this year in particular may be even more challenging. If you feel you are experiencing any of the signs mentioned in this episode, please reach out to a doctor, psychotherapist or even a friend - the sooner you seek help, the better! Remember our mental health is our most important asset! Resources: Book referred to during the conversation - Lost Connections by Johann Hari Niall’s documentary about his own story can be found here: https://youtu.be/bLkn8vMqnSI Niall can be found on IG @niall_munnelly_counselling

On this episode, we host our first guest which was not only a big thrill but also hugely educational & informative. Dr Andy Hogan is an Immunologist & Assistant Professor who's main area of research focuses on the effects of obesity on the immune system. Chronic inflammation is a key contributory factor in obesity and our modern lifestyles are one of the biggest areas that influence this. If left untreated, chronic inflammation can lead to many of the lifestyle diseases that are prevalent in todays' society such as cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure. We wanted to talk to Andy to understand more about this and learn about how small changes in our daily lives can have a significant positive impact on inflammation, our immune system and our overall health! You can find Andy on twitter @OSheaHoganLab

On this episode, Geoff and Niamh chat about the various lifestyle factors that impact our ability to sustain results - whether weight loss, muscle gain, performance improvement or simply a better relationship with food. Everything from sleep, stress management, mindset, relationships, environment, exercise, self care and purpose all impact our body and mind. Developing awareness of our current strategies in each area helps to understand whether they are useful behaviours or harmful ones on the path towards reaching and sustaining our goals. Building a better system throughout the coaching process, along with improved food choices, helps to achieve sustainable results through daily practices that develop a healthier and happier you!

In this first episode we introduce you to who we are. We talk a little bit about our backgrounds, our own individual journeys with health, fitness and nutrition. We talk about our experience with everything from “quick fix diets” to eating for performance and how our views on both of these have changed over the last few years. We discuss what we have found to be the biggest challenges in changing our approach to Nutrition and what you can expect from us as your Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaches! Making sustainable changes to your health and wellness means ultimately changing your relationship with food and arming yourself with the knowledge and support to do just that! Making the choice to change is the hard part - once you do that, we will help you every step of the way! For more information about our upcoming intake of clients email us at [email protected] or find us on IG @choose.2.change

A short intro to our podcast and a sneak peak of what is in store!