Welcome to 2019 – from the AYOSC team

A lot has happened since the AYOSC website went live in October. It’s been fun, stressful, motivating, humbling, refreshing and, we all agree, one of the most positive things we have all done.

Our vision remains the same, that is to give everyone who wants and needs health, well-being and lifestyle advice at any level easy access to the evidence based information that they deserve, and that more often than not we just don’t have time to share properly in our day jobs.

The information we’re talking about is not relating to drugs with their doses and side effects, it’s the other stuff – the “soft” stuff that is all too often neglected, maybe because it’s not seen to be “medical” and therefore not glamorous, expensive or high-tech enough. But despite that it has great potential to prevent or treat many of the common modern conditions we are familiar with. In many cases it’s more important than the drugs and free from any harmful side effects! More often than not, the small changes we are referring to come with a healthy dose of feel good factor, positivity and an increased sense of self worth, a great start to anyone’s journey towards improving their health and well-being.

The team:

Izzy Howat – a consultant in diabetes and endocrinology, with a special interest in weight related problems. She runs a specialist weight clinic with strong links to local leisure and dietetic services and the local NHS bariatric team. She is also working with the public health team to improve weight management and diabetes prevention services locally and has recently started a project linking in with primary care to optimise type 2 diabetes care in the community. She has two kids aged 9 and 7, enjoys running, cycling and being outdoors (and forcing them to join in). She likes eating food and drinking wine, and does her best not to do too much of it, not always successfully!

Laura Coia – a GP based in Glasgow, Laura has previously worked across various health boards training, initially starting her training in General Medicine and Gastroenterology before making the move to General Practice. She has experience in working in wealthy areas we well as areas with high levels of social deprivation. Along the way, she has been involved in, and continues to be involved in the local Addiction Service and has specific interest in the areas of Addiction and Mental Health. Years of personal experience, and an ever increasing wealth of scientific research, has led her to become one the strongest local advocates of the importance of life change, diet, activity and stress management on health at both a personal and population level. Her aim for 2019 is to increase awareness of these issues in her local area and shape services for her patients.

Laura has 3 kids aged 9,7 and 5. She is, like many mums, performing a constant juggling act of work, school, housework, afterschool clubs, family time and time for self care and is well aware of the difficulties in finding the balance.

Grant Yuill-

Grant Yuill – A Personal Trainer for Nuffield Health in Milngavie. Grant specialises in Mobility and Strength training at all levels. He has had tremendous success working with a wide spectrum of people from athletes to individuals who have chronic health problems. After working for years in the fitness industry, he has devoted himself to improving the quality of life of everyone through exercise. By coaching people on both the mental and physical sides of training, he has seen some amazing results in very short periods of time.

Grant enjoys skiing , competing in Powerlifting and a good Scottish Malt!

In 2019 , his goals are to keep helping people of all backgrounds on a much bigger scale to improve their health and wellbeing.

The Plan for January

We thought it would be a good idea in January to focus our blog posts on the whole concept of small, manageable change:

• Why this, for most people, gives a higher chance of achieving their goal and maintaining it in the long term
• How to get started, beginning by identifying what your goals are and how to break them down into small manageable changes.
• We’ll look at creating new habits and getting rid of old habits that are holding you back.
• We hope to create a sense of community whereby you feel a sense of support and comradery. Loads of us are on this same journey so lets try and get there together!