If you’ve traveled on the London Underground or picked up a UK paper in the last four weeks, you’ll surely recognise this advertisement. It is the controversial campaign by Protein World that has provoked not one but two armies clashing over contrasting values about feminism and female body image. Verbal spears fly from one side believing companies like Protein World are irresponsibly promoting unrealistic physical ideals and alienating the vast majority of ‘normal’ women in the process. Defending against their blows is another group that complains we’ve grown too sensitive and ought to do more to discourage obesity in Britain.

But throughout the whole debate, I believe both parties have missed the most important point: self-satisfaction.

To me, the biggest thing missing from this Protein World poster is a smiling face. Behind the scenes, the now infamous model-in-the-yellow-bikini Renee Somerfield has stepped up to say she trains hard and eats well (and amply) to achieve her impressive physique. Admittedly, I would question if she’s ever touched the supplements from Protein World. Powders and pills will never deliver the benefits that real food can, and Renee comes across as too smart to trade proper meals for liquid substitutes. Shortcuts don’t work, people! But the merits of the product and the definition of false advertising are a whole different debate. Still, I credit Protein World at least for sparking a much-needed debate about body image.

Let me be quick to say there are plenty of beautiful bodies out there, and not all of them look like Renee’s. Among my own body icons are Jessica Alba, Cameron Diaz, Jessica Ennis and Anya Lahiri (the face of Barry’s Bootcamp UK). Each of these inspiring women looks different from the next, but what unites them in my mind is their hard work and commitment to health. Jessica Alba’s Instagram feed is full of evidence of tough daily workouts. Jess Ennis’s achievements need no explanation. Cameron Diaz authored The Body Book because she believed in promoting the benefits of a healthier lifestyle. And Anya is the very motivational devil on my shoulder when it comes to squeezing out an extra few seconds on my treadmill sprints. It is that dedication I try to channel in my own training – and every time I think about reaching for a sugary biscuit over a nutrient-rich snack.

It’s less about emulating their appearances than their capabilities. I don’t want to look like anyone else, simply the healthiest and fittest version of myself. And that comes down to the same principles that any fitness icon has employed: discipline, maximum effort, a balanced diet and a positive attitude. And anyone worthy of the increasingly prevalent hashtag ‘fitspo’ should also be seen sporting a giant smile – because it is only when by knowing you’ve done your very best that you can reap the rewards of self-satisfaction.

So which team do I support in the Protein World debate? Honestly, I can empathise with both sides. With well over half the UK population weighing in as ‘obese’ (67% of men and 58% of women) and putting themselves at risk of diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related illnesses, I can’t just sit still and say everything is fine the way it is. Just as we criticise too-skinny role models, choosing overweight heroes is every bit as dangerous. We can’t do right by balancing the scales with the opposite extreme of unhealthy. Likewise, I believe that if we all looked the same we’d have a pretty robotic and uninspiring society, and there’s no ‘one size fits all’.

But I do believe we can do better. And I believe the best measure of success comes from deep down inside. Could you exercise more? Could you eat healthier? Could you treat your body with more respect? Let that be what determines your self-satisfaction. And by all means, be happy when you’ve achieved your best. Because that’s a success story worth smiling about.

The seasoned experts among you may have read this post title with one eyebrow firmly raised, thinking ‘you don’t do yoga, you practise yoga’. But I will be the first to admit I’m not an expert yogi. I am the girl who relies on the wall for balance whenever the headstand comes around, looking enviously back at the pros staying effortlessly still as their feet shoot unsupported into the air. And then they lower their legs to 90 degrees and back again, surely just to show off. But I am persevering.

That’s why I like yoga. I admire the perseverance required to move that little bit deeper into a pose or (eventually) to kick off the wall and hold that headstand with nothing but your core to support you. And in that drive to progress in my practice, there is a form of psychological escape I struggle to find in any other form of exercise. Well-practised now in HIIT intervals and conditioning circuits, my brain will still be running through feature or blog ideas as I’m hitting 16kph on the treadmill. But tell me to ‘relax’ into pigeon pose and I can think of nothing but the tightness in my hips and the ever-so-slight easing as I take another deep breath.

Like most of my friends in my generation, I work long hours and set my career and personal expectations high. Switching off can be a challenge, and sometimes even the simple act of sleep can be difficult to achieve. As much a sport of the mind as it is of the body, yoga channels those stresses or frustrations and systematically focuses your attention on different parts of your body. At the end of a practice, you feel noticeably lighter as a whole; savasana is one of the rare occasions when my mind is fully in the moment.

For me, my weekly yoga class is non-negotiable. Ashtanga and Vinyasa are my preferred practices. Look for these or anything with the word ‘Dynamic’ in the name if you enjoy a more athletic workout and like to break a sweat. Meanwhile, Hatha, Iyengar and even Bikram are slower in movement, with the challenge being to hold the poses for longer. Bikram is a different beast altogether, with the heated rooms causing you to sweat buckets no matter what you do – great for detoxing and relaxing your muscles just an inch further. And these hardly scratch the surface of the yoga styles available to try. Below I’ll list the five benefits I feel yoga offers me, and encourage you to experiment with different classes or videos to find the practice that makes the most positive addition to your life.

My five favourite yoga perks

1. Dynamic stretches that lengthen and ease out my sore muscles after contracting them through running, HIIT or conditioning.
2. Those moments of elation when a pose finally just ‘clicks’ and I know that I will do it with precision and confidence forever more.
3. The thigh-burning effort required to hold poses and maintain my balance, and the noticeable strength gains as I progress these poses with every practice.
4. 60 minutes away from my email inbox and deadlines. Just me, my practice and my journey to savasana.
5. The aforementioned weightlessness that accompanies a hard-earned savasana, every inch of my body melting into the floor. I often simulate savasana when I can’t sleep, and 80% of the time it does the trick.

Yoga is a personal practice and while I have a few favourite London studios, I want to keep this post as general as possible and simply encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t already. In future posts I plan to review select studios and share my practice in more detail, but I want to take this opportunity to discuss a side of fitness that’s not all burning lungs and aching post-workout muscles. Remember to exercise for holistic wellbeing and think beyond that much sought-after six-pack from time to time. (Though I challenge you to find an expert yogi with a stomach that’s anything less than sculpted.)

As it happens, yoga is a great way to stay fit over the Christmas holidays because it requires zero equipment and also delivers a dose of much-needed zen away from the festive buzz. If that sounds up your street, try one of the yoga classics featured in my 5 favourite YouTube workouts. And, as always, feel free to share your experiences below.

Thanks for reading everyone. Until next time, I wish you a very happy and healthy Christmas!

Last week the news of Robin Williams’ depression-induced suicide swept the world and left his millions of fans feeling numb. There have been few Hollywood comics as big or as influential as Robin. I first met his acquaintance in the form of the Genie and I proceeded to dedicate many hours of my childhood to watching Mrs Doubtfire again and again. Later in life, I saw a more serious side of the hilarious actor in the eerily foretelling film Dreams Come True and what is now one of my favourite ways to spend 120 minutes: Good Will Hunting.

So now that a legend has left us and stirred up some inspiring conversations about depression in the process, I want to take this opportunity to confess that I’m among the surprising majority of people who have struggled in one form or another with severe anxiety or depression. During some pretty dark days at university, my energy levels plummeted and I started losing weight rapidly due to a combination of high stress and low appetite.

Do the symptoms ring a bell? According to mentalhealthorg.co.uk, I’m not alone. One in four people will experience depression in the course of a year alone. Add up all the years in the average lifespan and you can bet that most people will come face to face with the often debilitating effects of depression at least once in their lives.

A healthier self-prescription

But that’s not to say there’s no solution – and the fix doesn’t always mean a trip to the GP and a hormone-packed prescription. There is one entirely organic means of replacing stress-inducing hormones like cortisol with the much more positive epinephrine (adrenaline) hormone and feel-good chemicals  like endorphins: Exercise.

I can speak from personal experience. Through sheer stubborn determination (and frankly fear of where my thoughts were turning), I looked to fitness to restore both my energy levels and my confidence. Each workout made me feel more and more in control of my life. And as I got fitter my metabolism increased, I took a renewed interest in food, started cooking and dining out with friends, and feeling more enthusiastic all around. Exercise is a powerful feedback cycle with exponential benefits you’ll continue to realise as you progress.

The community at my gym did loads of good, too. You can always rely on a spin instructor (and their pop classics of choice) to transport you from your inner thoughts for 45 minutes of thigh-aching lung-burning intervals. You can’t not smile when you survive that!

So if you’re familiar with any form of angst, doubt, anxiety or depression, why not prescribe yourself a healthy dose of exercise?

My five favourite endorphin highs

These are my favourite ways to blast away the shadows of depression…

1. Running. The runner’s high isn’t just a myth. How many runners have you met that complete just one marathon? Most become addicts, and in terms of addiction it’s certainly not the worst option.

2. Spinning. As I said – cheesy tunes and HIIT make a very happy combination.

3. Bootcamp. Especially outdoor ones. A blast of fresh air, high-energy circuits and the motivational company of others. It’s a cocktail of joy.

4. Step. Try remembering a choreography that requires jumping on and off a step without pulling an embarrassing face-plant. Now try to remember what made you feel blue in the first place.

5. Swimming. In colour psychology, blue is associated with calm and tranquility. Surround yourself with a few thousand litres of azure water (your local pool will do if the Aegean sea is nowhere to hand) and start swimming towards a worthy target of happiness and self-satisfaction.

It isn’t easy to say goodbye to heroes like Robin, but hopefully his tragedy will inspire others to search for joy in all possible sources. To channel Robin’s oft-cited quote – Exercise is the right idea. Now spread the word. And change the world.

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