Wellbeing with Lee Moroney: We are what we repeatedly do

From Tallaght, Lee Moroney has been coaching adults, teens and children for over 20 years, specialising in tutoring for DDLETB in sports, exercise and fitness QQI level 5s, along with many community education courses around wellbeing.

We are what we repeatedly do is a very true saying. If we over consume, eat only one type of food with no variety – it will make us feel unwell, “stodgy”, bloated and with very little energy.

My nanny use to say “too much of anything is not good for you” and she was right.

Do you stand on the scales each week and wonder why the scales is not going the way you want it to go or why your jeans are not feeling looser?

Do you long to get into a dress for a ummer wedding but despite being “good” your waistline is expanding?

The question is, have you been truly honest with yourself in all that you eat?

We often think we are eating a healthy and well balanced diet but forget about the odd biscuit here and there, the free half scone in the bakery, the taster sausages in stores when you’re shopping, the handful of chips you take from your husband’s plate, picking at food as you prepare it, over loading your big hearty salad with loads of dressings, the few squares of chocolate every time you open the fridge door…the list could go on and on.

So set up a food diary and record everything you have to eat – absolutely everything from the apple to the apple sponge cake and everything in between.

Record it, write it down and then before you munch it take a picture of it – this will make you more conscious before you eat, of the size of the portion and how much you eat on a daily basis!

For this exercise, please do not try and cut back or not eat the grill or fry you have on a Saturday and have porridge instead but record what you eat normally and then after 7 days look back at all you have eaten – try it and I guarantee you will look at food and more importantly food portions differently. Avoid over eating by doing the following at meals:

• Sit down for your breakfast, lunch and evening meal – YES SIT DOWN – take the time to eat.
• After every 2nd mouthful of food place what ever piece of cutlery your using down.
• Have a glass of water with your lunch and evening meal.
• Avoid any screen time, reading, mobile phones, TVs etc when you are eating.

Forget about being good and plan your treats for taste and enjoyment and for nothing else – if we plan them – we feel more in control rather than saying I had a “bad day” so I ate four Mars bars and a large packet of crisps.

Remember we are what we repeatedly do.

For more information on Lee’s next online KickStart program, visit his Facebook page HERE.

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