Regardless of your fitness routine and your fitness goals, it’s important to understand the need to fuel and hydrate appropriately before, during and after your exercise regime. For example, if building up muscle is your goal, then protein is important to support muscle repair after strength training. If endurance sports are your game, then refuelling with easily digested carbohydrates is key to keep you going to the finish line.   

Water retention is a common ailment that can occur to anyone and at any time; it can be an uncomfortable issue. However, it can be alleviated by changing to a low-salt diet and eating certain foods that reduce water retention. Here are five foods that do just that:

She worked diligently in the corporate world for decades and crossed business paths with some of the world's best. Yet in her 40s she decided to change direction, and so she attained a degree specialising in Food and Wine Marketing. Isabelle comes from a culture with a love for good food and drink; it's in her blood, and it became her business.

Let's talk about what happens when life (read: work) seems overwhelming, and you're struggling to find air to breathe. I have been there many times myself … from those years when I was a caregiver to my first husband, to later in my life when I was running multiple businesses at the same time, to my current situation where I am mastering the job with no real name: “kids-husband-business-parents-friends-self”.

Business executives and career-driven individuals are constantly reeling under the pressures of targets and deadlines. Some of us are also known to put in over 50 hours a week at work. And such sedentary work style, frequent travel, lack of exercise or physical exertion, and over-dependency on processed food often results in excess weight gain.