Our Expert Answers Your Top Health And Fitness This Week

Each week our resident expert Tabitha Klausen answers your health, life, and fitness questions right here. Tabitha is a fitness model and certified trainer who helps others strike the right balance with her realistic approach to health and fitness.

How do I stay on track with my diet while eating out?

Go for the protein, fruits and veggies first. Ask for the protein and vegetables to be grilled or steamed, avoiding sauces and butter when possible. Lean proteins, like fish, chicken and lean cuts of steak, are excellent choices and are best paired with fresh local vegetables, like broccoli or asparagus. When eating carbs, limit the amount and go for something like a baked sweet potato or quinoa. Restaurants serve big portions, and when all else fails and you can’t find something healthy on the road, focus on limiting portion sizes to two fist sized clumps of food. It’ll knock out your hunger without blowing out your diet.

What are the best ways to keep fit when away from home?

Check out a gym near to where you’re staying. You can even call ahead and ask what kind of equipment they have so you can plan a workout in advance.  If your schedule is hectic and you’re lacking energy then look for a pool. Doing some laps is a great way to burn some calories and get your heart pumping while energizing you. If that fails, bring your own equipment. I’m not suggesting you jump on a plane with your own exercise ball, but taking some bands along is a great way to keep your fitness on track.

What are your favourite foods when travelling?

I always carry snacks when on the road because they stop me from getting tempted by the not so healthy options at the airport, hotel or service station. First on my list is dried fruit. My favourites are baby pineapples, apples and berries. They satisfy my sweet tooth without blowing my diet. Next in line are nuts, like almonds, cashews and peanuts.

Combine these with the dried fruit and you create your own trail-mix blend. Protein bars are also great, especially since there are so many excellent varieties. My new favourites are meat bars. While they might sound a bit off-putting, they are delicious. I like the Chicken Primal Bars from Caveman foods, and the Epic wholefood bars. They combine a protein, like chicken, bison or beef, and usually a fruit or berry, like apples and blueberries. These are definitely worth a try.

What’s the best way to get smoking-hot glutes?

Buying a glute isolator machine is like buying an industrial pancake maker because you like cinnamon: impractical. Research at the University of Wisconsin, US, found the exercise that works your glutes hardest is the simple squat, so the best thing you can do is master perfect form.

When doing bodyweight squats, try wrapping a resistance band around your knees to stop them buckling when you drop down and you’ll round off your rump beautifully by recruiting more muscles in your glutes.

My nose always runs when I train outside. Please, help!

Get a pair of running gloves with terrycloth on the thumb that acts like a mini tissue you can wipe your nose with. Alternatively you can wear a bandana. It’ll warm the air before it reaches your nose and act as a buffer between you and the cold. Just remember to take it off before you go into a shop or you might alarm the staff.

Eating healthily and exercising always fall off the edge of a cliff during the week of my period. How can I prevent it?

You lose iron during your period and it carries exercise-financing oxygen around your body. So, with less iron you have less oxygen and less energy. Low iron levels are also linked with a loss of appetite – creating even more lethargy. The fix? During and in the lead up to your period, wolf down iron-rich foods like raw baby leaf spinach, organic red meats, poultry, lentils, tuna, oats and beans.

Find expert advice and more in every issue of TRAIN for HER magazine.