Healthy Heart Challenge
 
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Alex Bernard
Alex Bernard is one of Brisbane’s busiest radio and television presenter’s with a variety of projects always on the go.

Her family has a history of cardiovascular disease and as she approaches her forties she is aware her risks of heart disease increases and is working on improving her lifestyle to ensure a healthy heart.
Alex’s job varies each day and it can be a struggle to squeeze physical activity into her schedule but she is confident the added motivation of the Healthy Heart Challenge will help encourage her.

She is a passionate advocate for the Heart Foundation and will be the MC at each of the Go Red for Women Roadshow events and looks forward to meeting other Healthy Heart Challenge participants throughout Australia.
 
Alex has chosen the 'Be active every day' goal. 
 
Week 3 update

Being part of the Go Red for Women travelling Roadshow “family” has been great!

The Curves girls are there to encourage us to be active even if it’s just for 30mins a day and Felix Halter from V-ZUG has been terrific with showing us how quick and easy it is to make good tasty nutritious meals, and Uncle Toby’s Oats have become my staple for breakfast (I had forgotten how yummy they are!!)

I have since joined Curves, which I love because it’s fast and effective!

Because I’m on the road a lot at the moment it’s hard to ensure I don’t make poor food choices out of convenience – this is where keeping an Uncle Toby’s Bodywise Bar in my handbag is important and I always make sure I have my water bottle with me (especially doing so much flying you have to keep hydrated). I also have decided not to drink alcohol on the plane! It just stuffs up your system and takes you days to get over it.

My advice to others is that you can make a positive change that you can sustain in the long term just by doing something small, something achievable! Like using Flora pro-activ instead of butter – it can reduce your cholesterol by up to 15% in just 3 weeks, or make a date to walk around the park with a friend once a week; small ‘bite-size’ changes can really make a difference in your life.

And as we are constantly in the AMP Shopping Centres all over the country I have rewarded myself by purchasing some killer shoes in the end of financial year sales!!


Week 6 update
 
Because I’m travelling all over the country with the Go Red for Women Roadshow, I’ve been living out of a suitcase, in airports, on planes & in hotel rooms, so I take the stairs instead of the lift, walk instead of using the escalator at the airports, don’t eat rubbish or drink on the plane, when we’re in the shopping centres for the event, I get a salad or a nutritionally sound meal (i.e. not doughnuts or other junk food).

I have lost all desire for junk food – going to food courts puts you off bad food for life. I take my runners everywhere I go and to get my bearings in a new city, I go for a run (although I did get lost in Perth as the sun doesn’t come up until 7.20am!!!)

The sales are on so to reward myself this time I bought a beautiful caramel coloured leather skirt from Veronica Maine in Perth that was 70% off!!!!

I have also been off the grog for the last few weeks but did fall off the wagon when the reds beat the crusaders in the super 15 rugby grand final last Saturday night in Perth.

My advice to other challengers is that we are not robots! if you do fall off the wagon, don’t beat yourself up about it - it’s not the end of the world, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back to making good choices with your diet and exercises, and make sure you do have healthy food & snacks in the fridge and pantry and your handbag.
 
Week 9 update

Over the past three weeks I have been taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking to the shops (which are fairly close) instead of driving etc, drinking light milk instead of full cream, cutting out alcohol, cutting out sugar where I can and going to Curves gym a few times a week.
 
I went running in Canberra & Perth when I was there for the Go Red for Women Roadshow’s, however the Canberra run was quite challenging as it was only 2 degrees!!

I must admit that my coffee doesn’t taste as good without the sugar (even though it was only half a teaspoon of brown sugar) but I’ve stuck with it and I now eat more fruit and have healthy snacks like nuts handy so I don t make poor food choices.

This past week I allowed myself to have a special treat of Indian takeaway on Sunday night.

My advice to others is to find small things you can do everyday, like cutting out sugar, taking the stairs instead of the lift, drinking light milk, using yoghurt instead of cream when you re cooking and snacking on fruit & nuts. Before you know it those small changes become habit and you're doing something good for yourself every day!