‘Scotland’s Biking Heaven’ is how the Galloway tourist board describe the region, and it’s not just hyperbole. I have just spent a week in Newtown Stewart, which borders the Galloway forest, after hearing that it had been officially designated as a ‘Dark Sky Park’. (It has the lowest light pollution in Europe, which means it’s a star gazers delight).

Unfortunately star gazing in June is a waste of time because it doesn’t get dark until 11pm and even then the sky has a blue tinge to it. Dawn is 4am, so you have a very short window for star gazing. If it’s a cloudy day you can forget it.

There are still some diet gurus out there pushing low fat, and even no fat diets.  The problem with this approach to weight loss is that our bodies do need fats of all kinds to survive.

Even if you are on a completely vegetarian diet you still need these fats, as eating too many carbohydrates will make your body acidic. 

Without the right types of fats, you can have bacteria, yeasts and molds multiplying in your body.  Your body tissues become dry.  Blood will not move through your veins and cholesterol and arterial plaque are more likely to stick to your artery walls.

There are many unique aspects to running a marathon, one of them is that you don’t get a second chance.  After spending 4 to 6 months training to a peak for marathon race day, if anything goes wrong, with illness, injury, pacing, or you just have a bad day, that’s it – you can’t run it again.

It takes a month to recover from a marathon, then you need to rebuild your training to peak for another race. In practical terms that means 6 months later, so you can only race two fast marathons in a year. Many elite runnners only peak for one marathon every 12 months.

One of my ambitions is to get the Queen’s telegram. (UK nationals get a “Happy Birthday” telegram from the Queen, when reaching 100 years of age).

My favourite hobbies are; reading, music and drinking beer. Apparently one of those hobbies isn’t quite as healthy as the others.

In the UK our government recommends drinking no more than 21 ‘units’ of alcohol per week for men – that’s only 10 and a half pints of beer.   I’m sorry Mr Government Man but that’s not enough for me, I drink on average double that amount.

Most diet programs do not work because they are based on the concept of food deprivation. That’s why if you’re interested in losing weight in a healthy way, you should embark on a diet that rewards you with foods that you enjoy. 

Treating yourself to a food you like after dieting all day, is like rewarding yourself for a job well done. The snack can be the treat you get for running five miles, or going all day without eating a bag of crisps.

The idea is to eat any snack that is less than 100 calories.  Here is a list of foods that meet that requirement –

Why do some people have problems getting rid of fat, no matter how they diet or exercise? To understand this you need to distinguish between 3 types of body fat.

1) Structural Fat

Structural fat is part of the building blocks of the body. This type of fat surrounds the joints and the internal organs. This fat is like a soft cushion which facilitates movement and prevents bone grinding on bone. This is not the fat you want to lose while you are on a diet, as it is integral to the structure of your body and to accomplishing even the simplest of movements.

It was only about a decade ago that all fat was considered bad for natural weight loss. However, nowadays fat is divided into two different categories – good fats and bad fats.

The good fats are essential to heart health, brain functioning and healing. The bad fats cause all kinds of ailments including diabetes, cancer and heart attacks. 

Good fats are called unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are divided into two categories – monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Both types can help lower elevated cholesterol levels.

You can predict your marathon time based on how long it takes you to run 800 metres. Don’t believe it? The secret lies in ‘Yasso 800s’.

This year I discovered an amazing new marathon workout. Amazing, because it’s the simplest marathon workout you’ve ever heard. (And simplicity in marathon training, is much to be prized). Amazing, because I’m convinced it actually works.

Yasso 800s have been devised by Bart Yasso , race services manager at RUNNER’S WORLD magazine. Amby Burfoot, the Boston marathon champion, takes up the story….

Being overweight is a consequence of eating too much unhealthy food and not exercising enough. However there are other problems that need to be addressed in order to lose weight.

Diet’s don’t recognise the difference between how a fat person’s metabolism operates and how a thin person’s operates. In essence a thin person and a fat person could eat the same meals for a week, and the thin person would not gain weight while the fat one would.

Fat people often have abnormally low metabolisms and this means they have problems burning food as fuel.  When it is not burned the excess is converted into fat.  To correct this you need to embark on a healthy diet, and take up excercise to raise your metabolic rate.

Any European who has trouble controlling their weight, should consider emigrating to the USA where you will automatically feel skinny.

Losing weight is not something that can be bought or sold. It is not a commodity. Sometimes the problem is cultural. We become trapped in old habits that have us eating unhealthy foods for a lifetime.

The key is to adjust your lifestyle. This means eating a plant-based diet based on whole foods and embarking on an exercise program… There is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to obesity.