How one step (class) lead to a healthier happier life.

My guest in this episode is Karie Crane from Karie's Health and Fitness who reveals her journey to becoming a super fit mum of three boys running her own business and living life to the max. It's an inspirational listen and proves we can all bring change to our lives and help ourselves to be happier and healthier everyday.

FREE fitness classes  for a week if you contact Karie and mention you heard her on The What's for Dinner Show!

Guest: Karie Crane of Karie's Health and Fitness
Host: Lynne O'Halloran

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Transcript

Hello and welcome to The What's for Dinner Show, the podcast for people who put food at the center of life. My name is Lynne and my aim ,along with my guests, is to explore how our food experiences have influenced our lives as well as our waistlines. My guest this week is a lady who made a midlife decision to change her eating and exercise habits, and she hasn't looked back. In fact, she now has a flourishing career where she inspires and supports others to get the health and fitness habit themselves.

In my teenage and early 20s, I can say my eating was not great really and I never did any exercise. I was quite big when me and a friend decided to try a class. That was after my the birth of my second child. We went to step class, in a local gym, and I loved it. I want everyone to feel how I feel about exercise.

Later, I'll be joined by Michael and together will ponder the implications of our favorite food news. Right now it's my pleasure to introduce Karie crane from Karie's, Health and Fitness. Karie, tell me a little bit about yourself.

Okay, so I am 51 years old coming up, I run an exercise class business where I teach over 20 classes a week. I'm also a qualified personal trainer who is exercise referral qualified as well. And I love my job.

You do love your job, I have to declare now that I'm a regular customer of Karie's, I have probably been going to classes for four or five years mayb and they've been fantastic for me. So yeah, I'm eternally grateful for your presence in the world! So how do you feel that your working life affects your personal health and well being?

Yeah, I mean, it certainly makes me eat well, and I just try and live, as much as I can, a healthy lifestyle really.

Because I know in classes sometimes you say that you you're lucky to do your job, because it means you can eat a lot.
Yes, yes, but then, saying that I do eat well, even though I eat a lot. I do eat quite well, most of the time.
So what did you do before you became a personal trainer? Is that something you have done for all of your career?
No, no, I got to about 38 or 39 and then I decided to qualify. So I've always been keen on exercise. But it wasn't till my late 30s that I decided to actually go for the qualifications really. Prior to that I was just really working around the children in schools, any job I could get whilst the children were growing up, really.
So now you're essentially self employed? And what have you learned about yourself since you became self employed?
That you can do anything really, if you put your mind to it. I never thought I would be able to run a business by myself. But yeah, anyone can do it if I can. Anyone can.
So what's most surprised you about your life as a personal trainer and fitness instructor?
I just love working with a variety of people, everybody is so different, how they work with exercise, their attitude, and food and everything. We're just all so different. And that just makes my job really enjoyable.
I'm going to ask you to cast your mind back really to when you were a child. You grew up in Taunton, which is where  you live now. Have you ever lived anywhere else? You're a Taunton girl? 
I am yes.
What was dinner time like?
We all used to sit down and have food. I wouldn't say it was great. The things we ate.
So your mom's cooking? How would you rate that?
Not good at all! I just remember us living off Smash. I don't know if they still sell that. It was awful. We used to eat a lot that with fish fingers and things. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't amazing.
So you'd all sit down? On  weeknights and weekend?
Yeah, I think life was a lot calmer  back then. I don't think we were all rushing around quite as much. You know, I think we were able 30 or 40 years ago to sit down as a family. It is something I certainly struggle with now.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I certainly remember having to be home by six o'clock on the dot to sit down for a meal. You really couldn't deviate from that. I used to get home at one minute to six and rush through the door. My poor mum!
I certainly don't recall eating like I do now. Now I cook everything from scratch. No, I don't record my parents ever doing that.
Is that because they were short of time, or just that people didn't have the same approach to food?
Yehh, I think it's very, very different now. I think we're all a little bit more knowledgeable. There's a lot more, you know, help out there isn't there. You know, internet, books and things. Maybe a bit of laziness as well from my parents?
Yeah. Well, I guess it's like today, not everyone is that interested in cooking food.
No. Sadly.
And what about going to school? Did you take a packed lunch? Or was it school dinners?
I had free school meals, which I did often sell and go down the chip shop.
Oh really? You would sell it to someone else?
Yes.
Selling your free school meal. I'm shocked!
Yeah, naughty.
So what foods did you hate as a child?
I honestly, hand on heart, cannot think of one food that I dislike.
So you would just pretty much eat what was put in front of you? And you've got three boys of your own, haven't you? Were they the same?
I kind of made sure that they weren't going to be fussy, yeah, they eat anything. Absolutely anything. So yeah.
So how do you think you pulled that off?
Almost forcing them, no not forcing them because that's not nice. But but close to it! You know, they would say, oh, I don't think I like that. Right? You haven't tried it! You try it! And then you know, I probably would give it to them more!
So this sounds like one of your exercise classes!
Yes!! I wasn't horrible, obviously. But it certainly worked. But also the children were all kind of brought up on fresh homemade food right from day, one as soon as they were, you know, able to.
Yeah, so not giving them the option really.
Yes. And then you know, they never had anything else unless the plate was cleared.
No pudding until you have finished those peas! What's your go to snacks now?
Protein, anything really high in protein, or often I have a protein bar, fruit, I snack on a lot nuts as well. I'm a big nut fan. A nice handful of almonds or cashew nuts, that sort of thing, really. So I try and keep it as healthy as I can.
Yeah, that's good. Because I often find that I still want the chocolate even after I've had the nuts, you know, but that's probably a mental thing.
It is definitely about your mindset. And often, if I'm craving something, I just need to go out for a five minute walk around the block. And I come back and it's gone. Yeah, it does help. You just need to take your mind off it. It's just all in the mind. You don't really want it. You don't need it. You just think you do.
And so are you ever tempted by the chocolate biscuit before you go to bed?
I don't have it in the house.
If you did, would you be tempted?
Yeah. And I probably wouldn't stop at one. So I don't buy that sort of stuff. I don't keep it in the house.
Yeah, I mean, I always remember being astounded, you know, if I'd go around to people's houses when my children were younger, and they'd have a whole drawer or a cupboard, with a box in it that was full of sweets and snacks. And I'd be like, well, if that was in my house, I would just be dipping into it, you know, every half an hour.
Yeah.
Thinking about willpower then... you might not have the willpower to resist the chocolate bar that's in the cupboard, but you've got the willpower to go regularly to an exercise class or to a gym session. I'ts sort of the same thing, you know, it is the same discipline. But, one you can achieve and one is harder.
Yeah. I mean, I think they're both hard, especially for a newcomer going into an exercise class, you know, it is quite scary, really, isn't it? You just think everyone's super skinny and super fit. And it's not like that at all, but it's just getting people in through the door. That's often the hardest challenge for people.
Yeah, and then keep coming back through that door.
Yes, but most people that I see, once they start coming, they do maintain it. Exercise needs to be part of your daily life. Just like having a meal, cleaning your teeth, really, you know, there's so so so many different ways to exercise. You just need to find something that you enjoy. And something you will, you know, maintain.
So how long do you think it can take? I mean, obviously, like you say, everyone's different. But, you know, if you're advising someone that they're going to need to do this for x amount of time before you see any real change.
Yeah, it depends what the change is. I mean mentally, that's pretty much instant. Obviously we all know we feel good after exercise, after after any kind of exercise, so that is straightaway. Obviously changes like your weight loss, your muscle gain, that can take few weeks. So you just need to see stick with it. It will be worth it.
Yeah. I mean, I personally found that it took me a year to lose my first stone. And I didn't consciously change my diet. But I probably did change my diet just as a as a result of feeling healthier.
Yeah, yes, a stone. That's big. But I think once people start seeing, even if it's a pound or two off, and that just gives you that encouragement to keep going, doesn't it.
So as you grew up, did you find that you wanted to eat differently? Or was it not until you got into health and fitness?
it was really when I got into the exercise side of things. Yeah, as a teenager and early 20s. I wouldn't say my eating was great really. I never did any exercise. I was quite big in weight. It was really when I found exercise.
Okay, and how did that happen?
Me and a friend decided to try a class. It was after my the birth of my second child. We went to a step class at a local gym and I loved it and we used to go every week. And then I thought I'll try another one. And that was it, I went from there and joined a gym, I never looked back.
So how long do you think it took you to go from beginner, starting doing one step class to, kind of full on, you know, it being really sort of a central part of  your life?
About six months, I guess it was probably when I started going to the gym, because there's one thing going to a class with a friend, you know, and I used to pick her up, so you know, I couldn't let her down. But then I got into the gym and then it was me having to motivate myself, which I found quite easy. Yeah, I loved it. It was just a bit of me time. And you know, just that feeling after the workout. I was starting to really enjoy that. Yeah, it just grew and grew.
How much weight have you lost would you say as a result of your change in lifestyle?
It's more kind of by dress size really. I mean, I tried to slim down to get married in 1997. And I got down to a size 14 from an 18 and I weighed nine stone. But I'm now a dress size 8 to 10 but I weigh 12 stone. Yeah, yeah, it's very, very different.
So that's an important thing for people to understand, isn't it?
Oh, it really, really is. I keep telling people get off the scales, you know, you need to be going by your measurements, your body fat, that sort of thing, especially when you exercise because it becomes very, very irrelevant. As you know, as I've just told you, those stats, I weigh a hell of a lot more than I used to. But I'm an awful lot leaner.
Interesting. So I find that quite hard to believe. I'm quite shocked by what you've just said. Well, you know, how much does muscle weigh?
Well, it weighs the same obviously, a pound of muscle is the same as a pound of fat, but a pound of muscle is much smaller in size. That brings leaness in and is why people look smaller.
Did you spend much of your teenage years or young adult life dieting? Was that something that was part of your mentality towards food?
No, not until I decided to get married. Prior to that I was quite happy being overweight, really. and just got on with life. I just used to eat what I wanted, I never exercised, but I don't recall being unhappy. But then yeah, once I got the the date for the wedding, I thought: best lose some weight.
And so after you lost that weight, did it go back on? Or did you manage to keep it off?
I actually lost even more, I just started cycling to work instead of instead of driving, it was only a couple miles every day. And also the job, I was doing, I used to have a McDonald's milkshake every day and so I stopped doing that and started drinking water and the weight fell off me even more.
So when you do your personal training on a one to one basis is diet something that you talk about with your clients?
Yes, it is, they must go together. You cannot do one without the other.
There are obviously government guidelines nowadays on what we should and shouldn't be eating and portion size and you know, the proportion of protein to carb, and so on and so forth. Do you work on that basis? Or are there other particular sorts of diets that you think are valuable?
No, I think what I've learned over the years, is that everybody is different. How people react to different diets... I could give one to you and the next person I see could be could be completely different and it wouldn't work for them. So you know, we are all different and that is one thing that I have learned. So it's just about what goals they have, what they want to get out of it. You know for me personally, I'm very interested in gaining muscle. So that's where my protein comes in, whereas someone else might not be quite so keen on that so they wouldn't need so much protein.
Yeah, so it really comes from the individual rather than being imposed.
100% yeah.
So clearly you place a lot of value on what you eat every day.
Yes, I do.
Do you start the day with a with a breakfast?
Yeah, always. It's normally porridge with some fruit.
And is that porridge with milk or with water?
Water mainly.
And then do you, because obviously you're busy during the day and into the evening, so do you make a sandwich for lunch?
No, I normally then have if I'm, out and about, I'll probably have a banana with me, a handful nuts to keep me going til lunch and then I'm always home for lunch. And that's where I cook the main meal for me and the boys. And that's always from scratch, lots and lots of vegetables. I eat my main meal there then and the rest is there for the boys for when they come home because they all come in different times. And then often I try and leave another portion for myself for the evening so I don't have to cook again.
So your classes typically start at 5.30 right?
My main meal is about one I would say, and I do eat quite a lot then. I have  jelly as well and some yogurt so I'm quite full because I know I'm going quite a long time without food. I will have a banana and possibly a protein bar about four and then I'm not eating again till about 8.30 pm. I can't be too full going into classes. But yeah, I need enough to keep me going to do three classes back to back.
Yeah, so when people are going to an exercise class, would ou recommend that they eat a carb or a protein before they exercise?
Yes definitely, I mean never come on a complete empty tummy, you do need to fuel your body, that's really important, to give you the energy for the exercise. Obviously you don't want to be stuffed and uncomfortable, so it's kind of getting that right, maybe an hour before, a banana is always a good thing just to give you that little boost.
Because an hour before gives it time to enter your bloodstream?
Yeah.
Because I tend to eat 10 minutes before, which my son then did point out to me was totally pointless.
Yeah you want to try and do a little a little earlier if you can, but it's what works for you. There are some people who come straight from work and they might not have any other option, so you just need to work around your lifestyle the best you can.
So what's your favorite main meal?
Oh, I love a jambalaya.
A jambalaya, for those that may not know...
Okay, so it's chicken breast with prawns, rice and lots of vegetables
Red peppers in something like that?
Yes, peppers,  spring onions anything really that I've got. Mushrooms are always nice in there and just just any kind of veg.
So jambalaya then, would there be a chili in there?
Chili powder in there yes. I'm really really big on flavor.
So what are the advantages of spicy food?
Well it gives your metabolism a little boost! Burning calories a little quicker, we all need that extra bit of help!
Okay, so just two more or three more questions then. If you had to describe yourself as an item of food what would you choose?
Something brightly colored something to represent sunshine?
Oh, perhaps a mango?
Yeah, something bright. Definitely like that. Yeah.
I think a mango might be good for you then. Fairly thick skinned, I'm thinking. With a rock solid core?
Great I like that Lynne!
So who has most influenced your eating habits as an adult, anyone in particular that you'd recommend that we try?
But there's Mr. Sean T. who I love. He's from America. I love Shaun T. He's just very, very motivating, very, very encouraging.
What one piece of advice would you want to share?
What you eat will have a massive impact on your confidence, your self esteem, your mood, your energy levels, your attitude towards exercise as well. So it's really really important that you move every day and try and eat as healthy as you can. Allow some treats, but you will just feel a lot better in life and happier.
Excellent, great. Thanks very much Karie, it's been lovely talking to you.
You're very welcome. Nice chatting to you Lynne.

Now it's time for Nugget of Knowledge and I'm joined by Michael who you will have met in Episode 1 of The What's for Dinner Show. On the table for discussion is future foods - what we might be eating in 2050.
2050? I think this is going to blow my mind.
I think it will, Michael. I've got into this by looking at an article from Eco Watch, who are one of the leaders in environmental news. They're saying that many of the staple foods we rely on today could become hard to find and even more expensive in the future due to, guess what, climate change, and current farming methods being unsustainable. Scientists and foodie people the world over are on the search for alternative sources of proteins, carbs, fats, minerals, and vitamins. So if you were thinking ahead, Michael, what might you think we would be eating in the coming decade?
Well, one of my favorites, I suppose, has always been a banana. Yeah. I'd like to think that bananas are going to be with us forever. Maybe straight bananas?
Bananas are on the list, but they're headed up as false bananas.
What? Not fake bananas?
So Michael, do you want to know exactly what a false banana is?
Absolutely.
Well, looking at the Kew Gardens website, they've got quite a bit of information on the false banana and it's called an Enset which is a wild African banana domesticated in the Ethiopian highlands. So the domesticated form is staple food for 20 million people, around a fifth of the entire Ethiopian population. They're a kind of a stubbier looking item than the regular banana, they look a little bit more pear shaped to me. And they've got a sort of a wrinkly red-y orange skin rather than the bright yellow banana skin that we're used to, but the yield is much higher, and it will tolerate different climate scenarios. So it's predicted to be the banana replacement of the future.
What other nuggets do we have on the future?
Seaweed, which would be one that you might be interested in since in your podcast with me you mentioned foraging for dillisk. Seaweed apparently, is something that will become more prominent in the grocery store. I like this one: wild grains and cereals, which obviously a lot of people are eating already, but it will dramatically increase in future decades. I mean, really, they're saying that the consumption of red meat needs to reduce by a minimum of 50% by the year 2050 and our consumption of vegetables, cereals, legumes and beans needs to increase 100%. The wheat that we know and love and  obviously contributes towards  a lot of products in the Western diet, is likely to be swapped for more abundant grains, cereals and pseudo cereals. What do you think pseudo cereals are Michael?
I have no idea what a pseudo cereal is. But I would be very suspicious of it.
You needn't be because we're eating a lot of them already; quiona, buckwheat Chai seeds. They're basically things that can be eaten like grains, but are technically neither a grain nor a grass. They're on the market currently, but we need to be eating a lot more of them. The wheat we use regularly has undergone selective breeding over the years, you know, to increase crop yield and quality and goodness knows what else. So there's very little genetic variation which makes it vulnerable to climate changes. So wheat is likely to be on the way out and will be replaced by pseudo cereals, and other grains.
And of course, with all the other stuff that's going on in the world at the moment, wheat production is undergoing quite a lot of strain.
That's true, absolutely. The sort of difficulties brought about by the war in Ukraine and the exporting of wheat could be a little taster of what might be in the future by 2050. We'll be seeing more quinoia, buckwheat, Chai seeds, and other varieties that I've not heard of actually,  amaranth and finio.
Do you think there'll be an issue around the pronunciation of these things?
Well, I've managed to learn how to say quinoa. So anything is possible.
You say quinoa, I say 'quin-o-a.. lets call the whole thing off!
Well, you are wrong! I also just wanted to give a quick shout out to insects because they are obviously already being touted as one of the sources of protein of the future. ~They are already consumed by people around the world. I think we had them when we were somewhere in Thailand. They will become a very important source of protein and I don't know how they're going to make those palatable, but I'm sure some clever person somewhere will find a way.
When we've had them, you know, they're pretty...
Horrible? I'm thinking dipped in chocolate?
Well, yeah, well..
Or smothered in yogurt?
With a good dip, they'd be fine.
Exactly. You've gotta get the dip right.
Yeah, make sure you get all the eggs in.
Yeah, hum, delicious.

Now remember, you can find out more about Karis health and fitness at www.kariecrane.co.uk  There you'll be able to see the weekly list of classes and memberships starting at £12.50 per month. And if you mentioned you heard Karie on The What's for Dinner Show, your first week of classes will be absolutely free. Hey, well thank you for listening to the The Whats for Dinner Show. If you enjoyed it, why not check out my other episodes available from whoever provides your podcasts, usually Apple, Spotify or Google but other providers are out there. You can also like and follow the What's for Dinner Show on Facebook or find me as Lynnesfood on Instagram. Please recommend the What's for Dinner Show to your friends, your family, your work colleagues. Really I'd love it if you told anyone and everyone.Those you bump into on the street, meet down the pub, sit next to on the bus, you get the idea. And finally a shout out to Rick Simmons at Verbu for his ongoing advice and support. And a thank you to Pixelby for the jazz music.