By Shella Dabbach
Onewa Environmental Prefect

A true lockdown legend, Lisa Carrington offered me the opportunity to interview her for my PE scholarship report this year based on something I am extremely passionate about ‘Plant-based diets in athletes’.

Plant-based diets in Olympic and other athletes are rising in trend but statistics have also shown an increase in popularity of the diet in the general population. “31% of New Zealander’s have been experimenting with being plant-based,” according to scoop.co.nz.

Lisa Carrington promotes the integration of plants into the diet but is not considered entirely plant-based. Q: What are your top 3 plant foods? A: Kumara, spinach (anything green!), and nuts. It was interesting to gain her insight on why athletes may choose not to follow the trend as different options may work for them.

However some insight that I gained from Lisa which is good for our Westlake whānau were tips on general hauora care during lockdown.

Although it is good to unwind and relax during the lockdown period, it is an opportunity for us to reflect on what is going right in our lives – are we living our life by our values or someone else’s expecations?

Q: What are your top values (e.g. growth or respect?) A: I value my whānau and the environment (kaitiakitanga) highly, however, to care for myself is also a priority. A regular sleep and waking routine, a good fitness workout that works for her, stretching, and doing activities she generally enjoys are all recommended.

So Westlake Girls, are you truly using lockdown time to your advantage? Don’t give yourself to digital distraction, make time for yourself and care for yourself in these uncertain times. The morning and evening are important times of the day so make sure you have a fun routine set in place for those periods. It’s true that self-love is self-healing.

Also, make sure to stay in tuned for some of the environmental prefect lockdown challenges (a vegan recipe was this week’s offering). Enviro-group classroom code: cfvps5q