It’s Christmas Eve! This week’s episode is another in my Life Lessons series and it is with one of my favourite radio presenters and someone I’ve been wanting to interview for a long time.

John Creedon has been a mainstay on RTE Radio 1 for the last thirty years with his mix of music and chat and he has also presented TV shows and written books during his long career.

He is a favourite of Irish people up and down the country and with his new book called ‘That Place We Call Home’ out now, John joined me on the show to chat about needing a sense of belonging, how he made it from factory worker to RTE presenter, plus why spirituality is so important to him and just what he’ll be doing on Christmas Day.

As for the advice he would give to his younger self, he says he is where he always wanted to be and one should never give up.

“It won’t stop you worrying,” he tells me. “But I can tell you there will be a few blows along the way. Just be yourself.”

Stay healthy and safe and have a wonderful Christmas and do keep in touch with me for more postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So, Christmas has been and gone and I hope you’ve had plenty – but not too much – turkey, ham and stuffing and been able to put your feet up and enjoy some downtime.

We’re nearly done with 2020 and can put it all behind us but before we do, I’m joined by someone who has a very particular challenge for 2021.,

From the Den to TodayFM and back to RTE on the radio and TV on Saturday nights and with a re-launched Den as well, Ray D’Arcy is someone I grew up with and still love watching the Den since its return.

I talk to Ray about his life growing up in Kildare – including a stint in the FCA (!), find out how he got his big break in presenting and we discuss re-finding sport and fitness in his 40s when he discovered a love of running.

As it’s New Year’s Eve, we also discuss plans and resolutions for 2021 and one of the challenges that Ray has set himself and which he’s looking for 1,000 people to join him in is Ray’s Marathon Challenge in aid of LauraLynn’s Children’s Hospice.

Clock up 26.2 miles – be it running or walking – every week for 52 weeks, can you do it? A marathon a week for the entire year during 2021, that is the challenge and to register and find out more go to RaysMarathonChallenge.ie

I want to wish you all a happy and healthy 2021 and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With a week to go before Christmas, I thought, we could either do a show on fitness tips, getting healthy or how to work on your mental health but then I decided why not just have some craic and enjoy ourselves in the festive run-up?

Who better to interview than two Tipp lads who have taken over the Irish podcast charts by storm and with TV shows, books, merchandise and whatever else you’re having, they’ve become something of an Irish institution - Johnny McMahon and Johnny O’Brien, aka the hugely successful 2 Johnnies join me on this week’s Real Health to tell me about their plans for Christmas, why they miss their live shows so much and discuss the pressures and criticism from social media.

And body image for men, they tell me, is becoming more of an issue.
“A lot of people don't talk about body image, you know it's a thing that is kind of associated with girls and Instagram and that kind of stuff and there is a pressure to look good and that pressure is equally as much for men as well.”

As for Christmas? For once they’ll actually be turning off their phones and putting the feet up.
“Christmas Day is going to be nice, it's going to be spent with the family. We'll probably re-watch our show ten times the next day and we'll chill out and turn off the phone and just relax, it's going to be nice to spend it with people who put up with us at our worst and at our best.”

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between Covid, lockdowns, Christmas and what 2021 has in store for us all, it can be hard to keep your spirits up and focus on the positive that is still out there.

In the same way that you have to build good exercise habits and good food habits, you also need to build a positive mindset habit as well.

Just how can you do this and how will it expand and benefit your life even more?

Well, this week’s guest on Real Health, Fiona Brennan, is a clinical hypnotherapist, a best-selling author, TedX speaker and the mental health expert on Today FM and she joins me with lots of great tips and advice on developing your positive habit.

Fiona talks about the importance of self-love and acceptance, she explains the Positive Pause technique and how it can help deal with everyday stress, and she even tells me why feeling negative emotions are an important part of our coping mechanism.

“It's essential for us to be able to go through the very uncomfortable feeling of whether it's anxiety, stress, sadness, grief,” she says. “We're able to see that when we get closer to an emotion, it starts to happen itself naturally as it dissolves and eases through our own loving attention.”

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He’s the world’s fastest-growing online, personal trainer, is a global fitness sensation known for his no-nonsense approach to health and fitness training and I’m delighted to say that James Smith is this week’s guest on Real Health.

His book in 2019, Not a Diet Book, was a huge best-seller and James is back with another hit called Not a Life Coach in which he challenges everything you thought you knew about the path to fulfilment and happiness.

James is honest, unapologetic and outspoken and shares with me some of the key areas he believes you need to focus on to succeed in life.

From the importance of small steps for exponential growth to building your foundation, working on your motivation and creating the right environment to succeed, there’s a huge amount of advice you can glean from this interview.

“When we want to build muscle it's about creating the stimulus and then creating an environment to host your body,” James explains to me. “Good sleep, good nutrition, good meal frequency, good rest and in that right environment, similar to a plant, muscles grow, plants grow.

“But when it comes to lifestyle, it's something that a lot of people overlook, they don't respect how important everything around them is. They think 'oh job, this is how much I get paid', they think 'oh relationship, this is how many times I'm having sex', that's fine and they can neglect the bigger picture of all of the encompassing parts that play a role.”

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s guest is maybe not one you would normally associate with Real Health, but I’m delighted to be joined by Lyra, the Cork singer-songwriter who is making serious waves in Ireland, the UK, and America.

Lyra’s song Falling was featured in Grey’s Anatomy and nominated for Single of the Year at the RTE Choice Music Awards, while her hit single Mother featured on Spotify’s Viral Daily 50.

Her new song is called New Day and for anyone that saw her perform it on the Late, Late Show a few weeks ago you can’t help but agree with the title of ‘Beyoncé with a Cork accent’ that has been given to her.

Like so many artists, the Covid lockdown put a stumbling block in her career path and she speaks to me about those problems.

“I really struggled for the first two weeks of it,” she tells me. “And I just ate and drank myself into a mind of craziness and I gave myself that time to be like that because I feel like I had to go through that process. I said then 'right, cope yourself on now, get back on saddle, there's nothing you can do, everyone's on the same side’ and I was just like feck this, I need to get myself out of my sweats, I need to put on some more see-through flouncy kind of clothes, go back into myself, start howling at my computer and just write songs as much as I can.”

Plus Lyra also talks about the pressures of performing, body confidence, and why she is a firm believer in natural health remedies, even going so far as fermenting her own natural antibiotics.

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this week’s show I wanted to focus on your gut. Not your gut instinct or going with your gut, but gut health. It’s a topic I’ve covered before on Real Health but for this episode I wanted to focus the 10 myths around gut health.

There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation around the issue, so to find out more and to get some advice on how to best deal with your gut health, I spoke to Lorraine Maher a Specialist Gastroenterology Dietitian with the Blackrock Clinic.

Lorraine gives some great practical advice backed up with scientific study and amongst the ten myths, we discuss bloating, what causes it and how to help it, gluten-free and why it’s not necessarily healthier, plus she explains the gut-brain axis and why it’s so important, especially when it comes to Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS.

“Think of it like a super-highway of traffic going up and down and there's a traffic jam or roadworks and the messages aren't going up and down as they normally would,” she tells me. “So it's nobody's fault that they have IBS or they didn't cause IBS or what they're eating didn't cause IBS, so there's no guilt needed. It's just a functional issue in that the function of your gut isn't working.

“But I think that for people who have IBS, know that there's a whole raft of evidence-based interventions you can use to manage it and you don't have to put all your eggs in the diet basket. There's lots of things that you can do so you don't feel that you're on your own and you don't have to put up with it.”

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this week’s episode of Real Health I’m delighted to welcome Dr. Jason Fung back to the show.

Dr. Fung is a Toronto-based nephrologist and a world leading expert in intermittent fasting and low-carb diets and when he spoke to me a few weeks ago his insights into the truth about calories in-calories out were a huge hit with our listeners and so he agreed to come back on to really delve into the details and benefits of intermittent fasting.

Dr Fung explains what intermittent fasting is, why our constant snacking and eating is only a development of recent decades, and he highlights how normal it was for people to go 12-14 hours between dinner and breakfast the next day.

Dr. Fung is a strong advocate in intermittent fasting for obesity and weight loss especially and he also espouses its overall health benefits when done correctly and safely.

“The point is that it's a natural cycle, there's nothing wrong with it,” he tells me. “It's something that people should be doing every day, but it has been sort of lost in the mists of time. It's not something I just made up, it's been around for thousands and thousands of years and it's what allowed us to survive as a species when there were some food shortages which happens periodically, usually during a winter.”

“So, what we're talking about is: if you don't eat, your body is going to use stored energy. So, if you are overweight, or if you have Type 2 diabetes, where your sugar is very high, your blood sugar is very high, then simply let your body use it. If you have too much body fat, that is the disease of obesity, then, what is simpler than letting your body use that body fat because that is precisely the reason you carry it.”

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this week’s Real Health I’m joined by gym owner and fitness instructor Leeanne Moore to get some winter fitness tips to help in the coming weeks and months.

The cold, dark evenings can make it hard to get motivated to go for a run or work out, but by keeping active in some small way every day, it will do wonders for your physical and mental well-being.

Leeanne also talks about diet and nutrition and the food choices she believes we should make.
“I personally don't count calories and I don't track macros and things like that but I do just try to make the best possible choices I can make every single day,” she says. “And you know why that's good? Because it doesn't take anything off the table. I'll have a pizza at the weekend and I'll have chocolate nearly every single day. But I also have fruit and vegetable juices every day, we have portions of veg with our dinner, we have salads for lunch, we have homemade soups. We all know the foods that are good for us.”

Plus she explains her career change that saw her make the leap into personal training,
“It made sense to what my kind of morals for my life, my goals for my life and the happiness of my life,” she tells me. “I was so ready to change my day-to-day and to do something that I knew would give me fulfilment.”

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the clocks going back, winter and the dark nights are closing in, and as we prepare for six weeks of Level 5 lockdown, I thought this would be a good time to find out how we can help boost our immunity and increase Vitamin D levels or the ‘sunshine vitamin’ as we spend more time indoors.

This week’s guest is Helena Scully a registered nutritionist and first author of a five year study from Trinity College and the MISA Unit at St. James’s Hospital that has looked into vitamin D deficiencies in Irish people.

Helena has some really interesting insights into those parts of the population that are showing deficiencies in vitamin D and reasons why and she also explains how we can all ensure we boost our levels of this important vitamin to help in our battle against Covid.

“We currently do know that vitamin D is associated with immune health,” she tells me. “It's involved in upregulation of the immune system and it also has anti-inflammatory effects and then taken together, this has been looked at in respect of respiratory conditions or respiratory infections and asthma, and vitamin D has been associated with improved outcomes in these kind of conditions. So it does make sense that vitamin D will be associated with conditions such as Covid. There is a basis in physiology as how it would make sense that vitamin D is having an effect on Covid infection.”

To read more about the study that was partially funded by Avonmore, the paper is available in the journal ‘Nutrients’ here:
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/9/2663/html

Stay healthy and safe and do keep in touch with me for daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT.

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.