​The French have always known it.

The scientists have long doubted it.

Nutritionists have gone for the latest political correctness.

People just kept doing what they wanted.

Although democracy often shows that the people can be wrong, in this case, they were right.

​I've been training now for 20+ years, since I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at 50.

I take it seriously.

Diabetes doesn't just kill you; it does it cruelly - slowly destroying your circulation. Amputations, kidney failure, blindness and dementia result from your capillaries slowly clagging up with excess sugar.

That's why I take exercise seriously as a means of managing my diabetes.

If you're wanting to share some of the results of your gym time with your kids, and do it outside, I have some simple but challenging exercises for you.

My ten-year-old daughter announced that she was going to enter the school cross-country, and asked me to train her.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do something outside with her and something physically challenging.

Here's the little program I made for our training. You'll find it fun to do outside with your kids, or just to do something different outside, which will challenge you. These exercises are simple, require no equipment, but give you a whole-body workout, and a good burst of cardio. 

Last night was an unusual one for me. My usually painful right knee wasn't painful.

I've been scratching my head all day as to what I had changed, and I've only come up with one thing.

The results seem too immediate. Could this simple change be associated with my pain relief?

​Hate stretching after a workout, here's a smoother alternative.

I get it, you're tired from the workout, and you don't feel like spending the extra time, and anyway, stretching isn't all that comfortable.

I'm a bit the opposite, as in before running I think "oh I guess I better spend the time warming up or I will regret it" - and I do the thing. After running, I'm OK with stretching as I appreciate the benefits it brings.

No doubt stretching after a workout is a good thing. But let's face it, people don't do it.

I have some good news for you. I can't give you back the time you will need to spend, but doing this will ease your muscle aches and its not discomforting - as stretching can be.

We all get old, but we can make choices about how we age.

Our muscles and tendons stiffen and shorten as we get older. This tightening of our musculoskeletal system causes pain and also tautens us into an older-looking posture -- before our time. 

You might be as surprised as I was to learn that our hip flexor muscles play a significant role in making us appear older and more fragile.

You can postpone the onset of an aged posture, and its associated pain, with just a few simple exercises each day.

Muscle strength is one of the strongest predictors of future health status. Strength is most often measured via the grip strength test, which is a proxy for overall skeletal muscle.

Regular exercise is the obvious way to improve muscular strength. But is it possible that supplements might promote muscle strength? 

The supplement industry would have us believe so. What is the evidence?​

Recent research (December 2019 - a metastudy), concluded:

​The demonising of sugar has led to so much #nutribabble that it is hard to know what to do. 

The answer is straightforward. Just stop all added sugar in your diet and food choices - especially if you are over 50. If you don't stop, you are adding additional risk to everything that is going to happen to your health as you age.

Added sugar is going to make you fatter, and lead to a higher risk of diabetes and in turn, a higher risk of limb amputations, blindness, kidney failure and dementia.

Running hasn't ever been one of my favourite activities, but I have been doing 3km every morning for 3 weeks. It's the first time I've run every day. I did it more out of curiosity, and I learnt a few things.

​Before Xmas 2017 - just over 2 years ago - I did not run at all. In fact, I hated it when some of my gym classes would end with us having to line up for sprints across the room. However, I had a conversion!

My goal is to help you live longer better, but how would you measure your progress towards that objective?

You could wait, and see if you do indeed survive longer than your less active friends. Or, you could try some simple tests now, which will give you early signs of your progress.

​Poor results on these tests correlate with earlier death, and more probable hospitalisation as well. You will live longer better if you take action to improve the underlying causes of poor results.

The common causative factor for getting improved results is ... exercise! Did you guess?