Going for Goal: The Women's Health Podcast

This week’s episode of Going for Goal is a joyful January catch up between Women’s Health Editor-in-Chief Claire Sanderson and this month’s cover star, Michelle Keegan. The Brassic actress and bonafide national treasure chats about finding her groove with fitness and food - and shares her current workout formula. And while she’s in a great place with her lifestyle now, Michelle opens up about a time when she was training harder, but definitely not smarter. They also discuss the new positive habits Michelle has picked up in 2020 and how the past year has shifted her outlook when it comes to maintaining her relationships with friends and family. Oh, and there’s probably a good few minutes on her favourite snacks, too. So, if you are trying to keep a lid on the amount of between-meals morsels you’re consuming, maybe don’t listen when you’re peckish.

Join Michelle on Instagram: @michkeegan

Join Claire on Instagram: @clairesanderson

Join Women’s Health UK on Instagram: @womenshealthuk

Topics 

• Michelle’s exact workout formula 
• What Michelle used to get wrong with fitness
• The social media boundary that’s made Michelle happier
• Michelle’s favourite foods + ideal day
• How 2020 made Michelle fall for nature

Like what you’re hearing? We'd love if you could rate and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, as it really helps other people find the show. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you’ll never miss an episode. 

Got a goal in mind? Shoot us a message on Instagram putting ‘Going for Goal’ at the start of your message and our experts could be helping you achieve your health goal in an upcoming episode. Alternatively, you can email us: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! We hope you're doing okay out there. Next week’s episode of Going for Goal is a catch up between Women's Health's Editor-in-Chief Claire Sanderson and actress Michelle Keegan, who's this month's cover star. Ahead of the full thing dropping on Tuesday morning, here’s Michelle on how she'll be raising her fitness game in 2021.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s natural, at this time of year, to think about what we want to do, achieve and be. Whether in our workouts, our work lives - or just regarding our relationship with ourselves. But with so much uncertainty, national lockdowns and a news cycle that’s enough to make anyone want to retreat back under the duvet, making plans, plotting goals and actually achieving them is tougher than ever. When we polled our audience on Instagram, over half of people said the sheer mental load of 2021 had sapped their motivation to set and strive for their health goals. If you’ve got no time or energy for self-improvement right now, that’s totally understandable. But, if you do, committing to small changes in your own little world could be of real benefit during this wild moment we're living through. But how do you choose goals that you love too much bail on? What can you do to ensure you’re striving for improvement in as kind a way as possible? And how do you keep yourself focused and on-mission, in the midst of…*all this*? These are among the questions we grapple with in today’s conversation, with help from Dr Anita Aitsi-Selmi, a medical doctor and public health expert-turned-transformational coach to leaders in medicine, law and business, and author of The Success Trap. Along with Dr Heather McKee, a psychologist and behaviour change specialist who helps companies and individuals make healthy changes, and make them last, with her Bite Sized Habits course.

Topics:

Don't set goals until you've done a mental declutter 

How to do an energy audit to work out what you need

The case for setting intrinsic goals

Don’t love goals? Try rituals instead

Why self-kindness leads to more success

Like what you’re hearing? We'd love if you could rate and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, as it really helps other people find the show. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you’ll never miss an episode. 

Got a goal in mind? Shoot us a message on Instagram putting ‘Going for Goal’ at the start of your message and our experts could be helping you achieve your health goal in an upcoming episode. Alternatively, you can email us: [email protected]

Please read! Life is hard for many right now. We love sharing ways that you can make yourself feel and function better, but if you're struggling with your mental health please seek support from a GP, therapist or other professional. Charities such as Mind (mind.org.uk) and Rethink (rethink.org) can provide more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! We hope you're doing okay out there. Next week's episode of Going for Goal is all about how to set health goals in a compassionate, pandemic-friendly manner. Ahead of the full thing dropping on Tuesday morning, here's what clinical psychologist and behaviour change specialist, Dr Heather McKee, believes is the crucial ingredient for setting - and smashing - your health goals amidst *all this*.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed the Christmas break, in whatever shape yours took this year. Hopefully there was plenty of resting and you’re feeling ready to support yourself - in mind and body - through what looks set to be a few more challenging months*. We thought we’d kick off the year talking about food and, specifically, why in 2021 it might be worth ripping up the healthy eating rulebook. That’s according to Professor Tim Spector OBE, a genetic epidemiologist at King’s College London, co-founder of personalised nutrition app ZOE and author of Spoon Fed: Why Everything We’ve Been Told about Food is Wrong. As that book title would suggest, Professor Spector has a reputation for being one of the most formidable myth busters in the world of nutritional science and he certainly lives up to his rep in today’s conversation. He argues against placing too much emphasis on counting calories and he’s not a fan of counting macros either: he thinks both are a bit boring, reductive and unlikely to help you achieve your health goals in any meaningful or lasting way. Professor Spector believes letting go of tired dietary rules, replacing them with a few core principles, and then - on the specifics - working out what works for your body should be your new M.O. Eat for yourself, he argues, and you'll experience fewer energy crashes and be able to reach a healthy, sustainable weight (if that's a goal for you this year) without excess restriction, calorie cutting or unnecessary misery. While Professor Tim's reasoning and evidence may be highly scientific, his solutions are pretty simple: in essence ‘don’t count your foods, change your mindset’. Sounds good, right? 

Follow Professor Tim Spector on Twitter: twitter.com/timspector

Follow Roisín Dervish-O'Kane on Instagram: @roisin.dervishokane

Follow Women's Health on Instagram: @womenshealthuk

Topics: 

Why nutrition science has been oversimplified

Why you should make 30-plants-a-day your nutrition target

The case for being playful with your diet

How calories can be useful - and really not 

The benefits of experimenting with meal timing

*Please note: we recorded this episode before the latest national lockdown - stay home and stay safe, everyone.

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Well, we did it! We made it to the end of 2020 - one of the most tough, unsettling and disappointing years, going. But while we lavish due praise on our medics, carers, scientists and other key workers, we think it’s worth you taking some time to big yourself up, too. Going for Goal has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times in 2020. That’s hundreds of thousands of times that you – collectively - have taken around half-an-hour out of being a worker, a parent, a partner - a busy person – to focus on you. Now there are more than 50 episodes ready to tune into whenever and wherever you fancy. Enter our end-of-year gift to you: today’s bumper episode in which we’ve enlisted 50 of our favourite experts (many of whom you’ll recognise from this year’s episodes) to share a little nugget of health advice. The intention is not for these tips to be actioned all in one go (um, hello, December!) but to be planted in your mind, then digested slowly, before providing a little inspiration for the goals you decide to shoot for in 2021 and beyond.

A special thanks to our 50 guests (in order of appearance)...

Laura Tilt (@nutrility), Dr Megan Rossi (@theguthealthdoctor), Catherine Rabess (@caffdietitian), Rhiannon Lambert (@rhitritian), Dr Hazel Wallace (@thefoodmedic), Joe Wicks (@thebodycoach), Dr Emilia Thompson (@emiliathompsonphd), Renee McGregor (@r_mcgregor), Dr Rosemary Green, Dr Rupy Aujla (@doctors_kitchen), Dr Haya Al-Khatib (@sleepnutritionist ), Adrienne Herbert (@adrienne_ldn), Nesrine Dally (@nez__healthhub), Amy Lane (@wellness_ed), Alice Liveing (@aliceliveing), Laura Hoggins (@laurabiceps), Dr Rangan Chatterjee (@drchatterjee), Joslyn Thompson Rule (@joslynthompsonrule), Dr Josie Perry (

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For our penultimate episode of the year (see ya never, 2020) we’re tackling the topic of fertility - and handing the reins over to you. More than one hundred of you sent in your questions on the subject and you covered a lot of ground. Expect information on everything from understanding the timeline fundamentals and how bodyweight affects fertility to facts about interventions like egg freezing and the lifestyle tweaks that can optimise your chances of having a successful IVF cycle. The first expert answering your questions is Dr Larisa Corda, an NHS obstetrician and gynaecologist who also works in private practice. If you spend weekday mornings with Holly and Phil on the regular, you might remember her from The Conception Plan, a mini-feature on This Morning, which followed several couples struggling with infertility on their journeys to fall pregnant and foregrounded her holistic, lifestyle-focused approach to improving fertility. The second is Melanie Brown, a nutritionist who uses food and lifestyle-based interventions to help couples overcome infertility and has worked alongside gynaecologists, urologists, midwives and IVF specialists for over two decades. While the questions we received were skewed towards the experience of heterosexual couples, much of the advice given is useful for all women - regardless of their partner’s gender. There are, of course, many routes to motherhood.

Follow Women’s Health on Instagram: @womenshealthuk

Follow Dr Larisa Corda on Instagram: @drlarisacorda

Follow Melanie Brown on Instagram: @melaniebrownnutrition 

Follow Roisín on Instagram: @roisin.dervishokane

Topics: 

Tips for futureproofing fertility in your early 30s

Eating for fertile health: the case for carbs and dairy

Fertility MOT’s: what happens and are they worth it?

Lifestyle tweaks for boosting IVF cycle success

What happens after an ‘unexplained infertility’ diagnosis

Like what you’re hearing? We'd love if you could rate and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, as it really helps other people find the show. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you’ll never miss an episode. 

Got a goal in mind? Shoot us a message on Instagram putting ‘Going for Goal’ at the start of your message and our experts could be helping you achieve your health goal in an upcoming episode. Alternatively, you can email us: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! Ahead of our weekly episode drop on Thursday, here’s what's coming up on this week’s show. We’re tackling the topic of fertility; putting your questions direct to a doctor and a nutritionist, who both specialise in helping couples conceive. Here’s what one of our experts, obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Larisa Corda, wants women considering egg freezing - now or in the future - to know.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you feeling lonely at the moment? That was just one of the questions we set out to answer when we surveyed over 2,000 WH readers, followers and listeners this autumn. The findings were stark: 79% of you told us you feel lonelier now than you did before the pandemic - a number that rises to 87% among single people. For a community formed around a shared passion for health, this is troubling news. Loneliness is about as destructive a force for mental and physical health as you can get. So, rather than spend our weekly slot chatting to you about all the ways loneliness can harm you, we want to talk you through something we hope can help - regardless of your age, relationship status or living set up. It’s our new campaign, The Loneliness Remedy, and it hinges on a simple concept: that just as you plan your at-home workouts and take time out for self-care, it’s essential to work on your social nutrition (lessening the burden of loneliness via cultivating connections and caring for others) too. And much like you aim to eat at least five fruit and vegetables a day - per NHS advice - we’re encouraging all of you listening to seek out five socially nutritious interactions every day, too. So, how can you tell if you are lonely? And how, practically, can you go about getting your other five-a-day alongside all the very many things on your to-do list? Joining host Roisín Dervish O'Kane to discuss this and more is Jeffrey Hall, professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas and Dr Sophie Mort, a clinical psychologist who made the move from working in the NHS to running remote online therapy appointments with clients worldwide.

Follow Dr Sophie Mort on Instagram: @_drsoph

Follow Roisin Dervish-O'Kane on Instagram: @roisin.dervishokane

Follow Women's Health on Instagram: @womenshealthuk

Topics:

Why loneliness has affected so many during the pandemic

The difference between interactions on social media and in real life

How to tell if you are lonely

Why Women's Health's The Loneliness Remedy may help

How to deal with isolation if you're feeling alone

Like what you’re hearing? We'd love if you could rate and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, as it really helps other people find the show. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you’ll never miss an episode. 

Got a goal in mind? Shoot us a message on Instagram putting ‘Going for Goal’ at the start of your message and our experts could be helping you achieve your health goal in an upcoming episode. Alternatively, you can email us: [email protected].

Please read! If loneliness is seriously adversely affecting your mental health please seek support from your GP, a therapist or other professional. Charities such as Mind and Rethink can provide more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi there! On this week's show we introduce WH's latest campaign - The Loneliness Remedy - and explain why we're encouraging you to think about your 'social nutrition' and getting your other five-a-day. Ahead of the full episode dropping on Thursday, here's Jeff Hall, professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, explaining why, if you're struggling with loneliness right now, it's probably best to limit your social media use...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.