Keeping brokers fit in winter

Short days and long hours can lead brokers to neglect their health during the winter months. Australian Broker's Luke Cornish takes a look at what steps brokers can take to survive the winter months with their health in tact.

At the start of the year with the summer in full swing many people make a resolution to get in shape and stay in shape for the New Year but by the time winter comes many cannot resist the temptation to slip into old habits and let their fitness levels slide.

The onset of the cold weather, coupled with less daylight hours, makes the prospect of going out for a jog an uninviting one. Alternatively, that healthy snack might be shunned in favour of some comfort food, perhaps a pie with an unidentifiable meat filling.

However, there is no need to despair. Staying in shape - or even getting into shape - can be easily achieved during the dark days of winter if you are just a little bit mindful of your daily routine and what you are putting into your body.

Winter worries

Winter weather brings with it a host of worries that are unthinkable in the sunny summer months. This is the cold and flu season and people who have a tendency to get stiff joints or suffer from inflammation will find the cold weather will do them no favours.

Since food is the fuel your body runs on, it is important to make sure you are putting only the highest octane fuel into your engine. Caz Cozens, nutritionist and lecturer at the Nature Care College in Sydney, says that people that eat properly are more likely to avoid suffering from the seasonal ailments.

"One thing that people stop doing is eating fruit in winter," she says. "Fruit is the thing that offers the highest vitamin C content and this is the one thing we need to keep our immune system up to stop the colds and flu from occurring."

You should be eating five to seven servings of fruit and vegetables every day in order to fill up with the vitamins and antioxidants that will help your body achieve optimal performance. Cozens says that, even if you are unable to eat that much, you should drink fruit juice to make up the difference.

Most important meal

It is true - breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. According to Cozens, the body does not properly wake up until it has been fed and people can put on weight because their bodies are in virtual 'starvation mode'.

"Office workers often skip breakfast which is really bad, that's one of the worst things that they do because they're in a hurry," Cozens says. "If you don't eat from 8 o'clock the night before until say 11 o'clock when the sandwich trolley comes around the office the next morning you put your body in an actual sleeping state, it slows everything down."

So what should you be eating before heading out the door on a winter morning? Cozens says the best thing to get you going in the morning is a healthy portion of porridge.

"Especially in winter the best thing you can have for breakfast is porridge or rolled oats," she says. "Porridge is very warming so you feel good on a cold winter morning and it actually lowers your cholesterol level which is absolutely fantastic."

Covens, who is also a naturopath, says that she uses oats as a herbal remedy that can help relieve anxiety and keep people calm. However, for people that prefer not to eat the same breakfast as the three bears, Cozens says yoghurt with nuts and seeds or a fruit salad are acceptable alternatives.

"If you don't eat breakfast your brain is just not working at the right level that it would be if you had had breakfast and as a broker that's quite important I would imagine."

Eat less more often

Covens says that the ideally you should be eating five meals each day. That is not to say you should be consuming 4,000 calories - just that the body and mind work better if given a constant supply of energy.

"When we start to get that feeling that people get mid morning and mid afternoon and they are tired and can't focus that is actually because they haven't eaten enough," she says. "One of the things people have to do is eat often and in little snacks."

She suggests having a bowl of dried fruit and nuts on your desk or keeping some yoghurts in the fridge for a mid morning snack. Also she advises people to have an apple or a chicken avocado salad sandwich on grain bread as a healthy afternoon snack.

The brain needs a constant source of food, Cozen says, so it is important to eat whole grain and unprocessed foods, which break down more slowly than their refined counterparts. She says even making little changes like having a whole grain roll as opposed to a white roll in the morning can make a big difference to energy levels.

Something extra

Cozens thinks most people over the age of 30 should be taking a daily multivitamin. Even people eating a well-balanced diet can benefit from the extra vitamins, especially ones that are in high demand or are hard to obtain from everyday foods.

"Multivitamins contain a lot of B vitamins and B vitamins are what give us a lot of energy," she says. "Plus when we're stressed we go through a lot of vitamin B."

However, there are other supplements that specifically support the operations of the grey matter making sure you stay on top of your game.

"If people are using their brains consistently things like fish oil are very good," Cozens says. "Our brain is actually 60% fat and that's what keeps everything firing."

Last orders

While there have been many studies showing the beneficial effects that wine can have as an antioxidant, Cozens emphasised that it was vital that people abstain from alcohol consumption for at least two consecutive days each week. The liver is very important in protecting your health and this allows the liver adequate time to rejuvenate.

She is less condemning of caffeine saying having a couple of cups of coffee a day is okay but any more just puts your body into a stress mode. A healthy alternative is tea, she says.

"Green tea is better than black tea but black tea still has the antioxidant effect," Cozens says. "Caffeine is a good stimulation but once you go over those two cups it actually puts your body into stress mode."

Being active

Now that you are eating properly, you need to make sure you use your new found energy in a productive and healthy way. Exercising at the best of times can seem like a drain on your time but in the winter when there are less hours in the day, it can seem doubly so.

Do not underestimate the benefit you will get from being active. As well as feeling and looking better, your cognitive abilities will increase and you will find you have more energy throughout the day.

The Australian Government's department of health and ageing says regular exercise helps prevent heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure and reduces the risk of developing type II diabetes and some cancers. Other benefits include building and maintaining healthy bones, muscles and joins and reducing the risk of injury as well as promoting psychological well being.

Matthew Pine, assistant conditioning coach of the AFL's Sydney Swans, suggests three ways of getting active and managing to stay active.

• Find exercise that you enjoy
• Mix up the type, intensity, duration and location of exercise
• Find an exercise partner or group

"The 'team' mentality makes you accountable to turn up to exercise sessions," Pine says. "The extra encouragement and challenge within a group setting helps you push yourself harder."

Getting started

Michael Cunico who heads up physical trainer department at 18 Fitness First clubs in NSW says it is important to set some clear and measurable goals to make sure that you stick with any exercise regime that you start.

"If you don't have much focus or direction with your training, especially during winter when the weather starts to get a bit cooler, then I find a lot of people do lose their motivation," he says.

Cunico recommends a bare minimum of exercising for 30 minutes three times a week although ideally you should be aiming for five days a week exercise. The important thing, he says, is to make sure the goal is achievable.

"For me it's all about what's right for the individual person," he says. "If I'm your average Joe and I set myself the goal of working out everyday before work but I know deep down that I'm not going to do that, then I'm setting myself up to fail."

For people who find the idea of going to the gym daunting, Cunico recommends looking into increasing incidental exercise - simple things that fit into their lifestyle and increase the amount of energy they expend in a day.

"It might be taking the dog for a walk twice a week as a starting point or taking the stairs at work," he says. "It might be if you're catching the bus, getting off the stop before you would normally and walking the extra kilometer."

Beating the blues

Eating properly and exercising regularly is a surefire way to have you emerge from the winter hibernation ready to hit the beach and survive whatever the business world has to throw at you.

With only a bit of consideration for your wellbeing and some foresight in planning your days and weeks, you can turn an unhealthy lifestyle into a healthy one and be reaping the benefits.

Instead of falling into the traditional trappings of the cold weather months, why not buck the trend and emerge from winter healthier and happier?

Train like the pros

Sydney Swans training regime

• Short repeated sprints up to 30m
• Interval running - 12 x 150m sprints
• 8 x 3minute runs for aerobic power-based training
• Weights sessions 2-3 times per week

Note: Recovery from sessions is also vital for injury prevention. In order to boost fitness while putting less load on the body, the players do a variety of fitness sessions such as boxing, bike riding, swimming, rowing etc.