THE Operation Transformation coaches are back to help you change your life – with a new online challenge.
Supported by The Irish Sun, GP Dr Sumi Dunne, clinical psychologist Dr Eddie Murphy, personal trainer Karl Henry and dietician Sophie Pratt invite you take part in The 40 Day Health Challenge beginning in January.
Clik here to view.
Together, we’re looking for 20 readers to dedicate 40 days to improving their health by eating well, moving more and focusing on their mental wellbeing.
Each of the 40 days has a meal, exercise and mental health plan – and you can follow along too with episodes aired weekly at thesun.ie.
To get involved, visit thesun.ie/40dayhealthchallenge and tune in to Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio.
Here, we get to know our expert coaches a little bit more . . .
DR SUMI DUNNE
DR Sumi Dunne says the challenge is “not a quick fix” but it will help you set goals for 2025.
Sumi, who is a clinical lecturer and a GP in the Midlands, said it is the perfect amount of time to get started.
Clik here to view.
She said: “It’s such a great idea.
“Forty days is a nice length of time to have a look at where you want to make changes for the year ahead.
“It’s not too long but it gives enough time to start putting in the changes.
“It’s not a quick fix . . . you know we see it twice a year, we see it in January and we see it leading up to the summer holidays, ‘You can be fit and fabulous in three weeks’.
“That doesn’t happen but over the 40-day period there’s a nice time of learning, a nice time of planning, a nice time of implementing and a nice time of continuation.”
Dr Sumi said being healthy is not just about losing weight, it is about your lifestyle.
She added: “People are always invested in their health so they’re very interested in ‘How can I make overall changes?’.
“It’s not just about losing weight, it’s everything around that.
“It’s ‘How do I look after my blood pressure? How do I manage my cholesterol? How do I manage my sugar levels? How do I manage if I’ve got a diagnosis of type two diabetes?’
“There are some real basics around health that are applicable to everything.
“I can’t say enough about lifestyle, I can’t say enough about looking at how we fuel and nourish our body.
“If we eat well, we’re going to do well.”
SIGN UP TO THE CHALLENGE HERE
Dr Sumi said making simple changes such as swapping a processed meal for a homemade one can go a long way.
She said: “Instead of buying a ready-made jar of sauce, why not buy tomatoes in a tin that you can blitz up, add in a few herbs, crushed garlic then flavour it the way that you want it, and that in itself is enough.
“The tin of tomatoes is dirt cheap, the herbs are dirt cheap but you know what you’re adding.”
And the challenge is something the whole family can get involved in.
She continued: “The 40 Day Health Challenge is so inclusive, that’s what I really like.
“It’s really simple every-day stuff and you can bring the family with you.”
DR EDDIE MURPHY
Clinical Psychologist Dr. Eddie Murphy will be getting people in the right mindset for the year ahead.
The author of Becoming Your Real Self said the 40 Day Health Challenge is a “chance for a reset”.
Clik here to view.
He said: “It’s a great opportunity, it will be a new year, new opportunities, new challenges.
“It’s a chance really for a reset and for me then as I’m the mental wellbeing area I always think that you can’t progress physically unless you progress emotionally and mentally.
“That’s the sort of area that I want to focus on.
“In any population of 20, you’re going to have people with depression and anxiety but you’re also going to have people with loads of different emotional and normal life events.
“We’re going to be looking at the whole area of compassion, your relationship with yourself, how you speak to yourself because quite often people can be critical, punative, harsh and switching that to one nurturing, coaching and helpful, kindness really.”
SIGN UP TO THE CHALLENGE HERE
Dr Eddie, who is an associate professor at UCD, will also be sharing mental health tips online over the 40 days.
He’s also “really excited” about teaching people about the importance of getting out in nature and the power of the green and blue during the challenge.
Dr Eddie said: “We’ve a strong evidence base that people being out in nature reduces their blood pressure, reduces their heart rate, reduces their levels of stress… really powerful stuff so I’m really excited about that.
“For some people that’s blue spaces, it could be going out in lakes. I jump in lakes so I do.
“I swim with a group of five people on a Friday evening after work and it’s almost like you can leave the week’s work behind you.
“It’s just a lake and you can just go in and leave it all behind you and out you go. It’s like getting a cleanse really.”
KARL HENRY
Personal trainer Karl Henry will be keeping people on their toes over the course of the 40 days.
The fitness expert said those who take part should start to see results “very quickly” with his plan.
Clik here to view.
He said: “From an exercise perspective we’re trying to get them to live healthier, live better and live stronger.
“I want people to age better over the course of their health span and their life span and any platform I get a chance to do that is huge.
“It’s taking people from all walks of life, all fitness levels and showing what you can do over that 40 day timeframe and with people seeing that they’ll get involved.
“Over the space of 20 days, 30 days, the improvements are huge, they’re very quick. Once you start moving, once you start the strength work life just gets easier so they will see results very quickly.”
Karl, @karlhenrypt on Instagram, said people think they need to train for hours a day “but it doesn’t have to be that”.
He added: “We work on Government guidelines on about 180 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise.
“They key thing there is it has to be moderate so slightly challenging, strolling doesn’t cut it, it’s going to be a little bit more than that.”
SIGN UP TO THE CHALLENGE HERE
And Karl said there’s no “magic” exercise when it comes to losing weight.
He said: “What are the best exercises for weight loss is the magic question. Is there one? There isn’t is the answer.
“The politician’s answer is whatever one you like.
“From an exercise perspective, the body doesn’t really care what it does, whether it’s cycling or running.
“The key thing is, and we know that very few people do it, is that it’s weight-bearing movements so it’s squats, lunges that kind of thing.
“One in ten in Ireland is the normal stat for the amount of people who do that kind of work that’s the one that will deliver the most health benefits not from just a weight loss perspective.”
Karl said challengers will be kept updated on their progress to keep them motivated.
He added: “When things get easier, going up the stairs gets a little bit easier, lifting your child gets easier, you’re then motivated because you can see the progress.
“We build a plan to show people progress quickly so that keeps you going, along with tracking and measuring is really important too.”
SOPHIE PRATT
CORU Registered Dietician Sophie Pratt will be sharing simple recipes that are packed full of nutrients – without making a meal of it.
She said: “It’s 40 days to improve your nutritional habits, your diet, your lifestyle.
Clik here to view.
“We all know it takes longer than one day to improve the habits so the 40 days gives you that time to get used to it, make it realistic and make it part of your daily routine.
“And then by the end of it you can keep making small little changes and keep them consistent. It’s the perfect timeframe it’s not too short and it’s not too long.
“After a month’s worth of doing the recipes and exercise it will become second nature to everyone and those extra couple of days to make it the 40 Day Health Challenge is just exactly what we need.”
Sophie said the meal plans will start off “very simple” with more variety added as the challenge progresses.
The dietitian, @sophiepratt_rd on Instagram, said: “The aim of the plan is that we start off very simple with food that we would be very familiar with.
“We don’t have to have a huge amount of cooking skills and then as we progress through the 40 days we’re adding more variety, using other cooking skills that we maybe haven’t been doing before.
“By the end of it we should be having a really varied diet but it’s not anything more difficult that we started out with.”
Sophie, who is a a member of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, said people who follow the meal plans should see an overall improvement in their health and wellbeing.
She said: “We’re talking about improvements in sleep, we’re talking about mood, behaviour – all the things we don’t generally think we should be focusing on when it comes to our food. It’s incredibly important.”
SIGN UP TO THE CHALLENGE HERE
And she will be sharing loads of tips and tricks for the whole family along the way.
She said: “If you have little ones in the house we’re looking after their bones and stuff like that, their teeth.
“We’re thinking what foods do we have that provide calcium, maybe they don’t like dairy so we are thinking outside the box.”
IRELAND LIGHTS UP
THE 40 Day Health Challenge is also teaming up with the GAA and Get Ireland Walking for Ireland Light's Up.
The biggest community initiative in the history of the GAA which began on Operation Transformation will be a big part of the 40 Day Health Challenge.
GAA clubs across the country will once again be switching on their flood lights to allow people walk safely together on dark winter nights.
The 40 Day Health Challenge will guide you to your nearest participating club and we’ll have cameras there to capture inspirational stories on people who walk together.