Fitness queen Davina McCall says daughter, 20, now teaching her health tricks

Through the years, David McCall has inspired millions, with many exercise DVDs to his credit and a fitness platform, Own Your Goals, to mention just a few of his many projects.

She has also published best-selling healthy cookbooks, spoken freely about her self-help story, and demystified menopause with her acclaimed Channel 4 documentaries

the masked singer But Judge is now getting new lessons in health, thanks to his eldest daughter, Holly, 20, who is a dietetics student at Newcastle University.

“I get secondhand information from her non-stop. It’s very helpful,” says Davina, who has two other children, Tilly, 18, and son Chester, 15.

She explains that “by osmosis” she has developed an understanding of how the food we eat affects not only our physical health, but also our feelings.

She said: “Obviously after talking to Holly a lot, I know ‘you are what you eat’. I used to think it was just a catchphrase, but the microbiome in our bellies dictates a lot about how we feel and look.”

“Gut health is really important, so I’m constantly learning about fermented foods, which I don’t really like, so I try to change my taste buds to get more good bacteria into my gut.”

Responsible for creating 90 percent of our mood-stabilizing hormone serotonin, gut bacteria also enhance vitamin and hormone production, improve sleep quality, support circadian rhythm, help control infections, and improve our mental health .

That’s why when the good and bad gut bacteria get out of balance, we feel it physically and emotionally.

For Davina, it’s especially noticeable when she eats sugar, from which bad bacteria and yeast thrive in the gut.

“I definitely know that refined sugar doesn’t sit well with me,” says Davina. “It swells me up and makes my belly hurt. It’s almost like I’m allergic and my body is refusing to eat sugar. It just doesn’t make me feel good.”

Insisting that she’s “not restrictive” with food, Davina maintains her phenomenal figure by advocating simple, sensible eating tricks, including enjoying your main meal at lunch, limiting processed foods, and meal planning.

Fortunately, your days of bikini crash diets are long gone. “When I was a kid, I was on the Atkins diet where she had horrible breath,” she recalls.

“I lost a ton of weight, it was miraculous, but the minute I came off the diet, I was right back on it. What’s the point of that?”

Even Davina’s “three or four times a week” workouts are no longer looking for an aesthetic reward.

“I stay in much less shape now to be bikini body ready,” she says, meaning she expects more weeks off than she could in the past with the holidays more about feeling mentally refreshed.

Davina, who recently stayed at the TUI BLUE Grand Azur in Turkey to sample the hotel’s new wellness menu, says that escaping her “very busy head and very busy life” requires “just being quiet.”

That meant opting for “meditative” forms of fitness like swimming, as well as making an effort to stay away from technology. “I tried an amazing Turkish hammam, which I found to be purifying for the mind and body. I loved it.”

TUI BLUE conducted research that found that 54 per cent of Britons have felt worse after trying a wellness trend. Davina believes that the key to replenishing your mind, body, and spirit is finding an activity that provides comfort, rather than a sense of pressure.

“We see wellness a bit like a punishment, but it’s not that,” she says. “Wellness is about finding your happiness. It’s not about being a gym bunny, jogging every morning, or getting up at 6am and doing a HIIT class.

“It’s not even about meditating. It’s just about stopping for a second and disconnecting from everyday life.”

Back home, walks with her dog Bo are immensely restorative and have helped her process the recent loss of her beloved father.

In March, graphic designer Andrew passed away at the age of 77, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016.

“Pain is like waves and has no respect for the right time,” says Davina. “When it comes, you just have to let it come.

“Just going out and getting some fresh air, feeling the sun on my face, leaving my phone at home and really trying to connect with my dog. Those kinds of things help me.”

According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, 74 percent of adults would like to know they have Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear, which include memory loss and concentration problems.

Long Lost Family host Davina hasn’t ruled out getting predictive genetic testing to assess the likelihood that she will one day be affected.

“Obviously it crosses my mind: if my father had it, would that put me at higher risk? Until my grandmother got vascular dementia.” [Davina’s beloved late grandmother Pippy’s progressive vascular dementia was triggered by a stroke at the age of 93] she was in good shape, so I prefer to have the mindset that I’m only going to do things that I know reduce my risk of getting it.”

In addition to exercising and eating healthy, Davina says that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could also help her.

“New research suggests that HRT taken early on can have a pretty profound effect on reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, so that’s really wonderful.

“It helps me with menopausal symptoms, but it also helps reduce my risk of getting Alzheimer’s,” says Davina.

The research she refers to looked at the health records of 400,000 women and found that those who had used or were using HRT were 58 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The study was quoted on Davina’s 2021 show Sex, Myths and the Menopause, where she revealed her experience struggling with perimenopausal symptoms.

Now “on the other side” and having “adjusted” to HRT, the former Older brother the host says that one of the biggest victories of middle age is finally learning to let go of worries.

“When you’re of childbearing age, you’re like, ‘Are you looking for a partner to have kids?’

“You can do whatever you want in life and you care a lot less about everything: what people think of you, how you look. It’s a good transition, a good place to be,” says Davina, who is dating hairstylist Michael . Douglas, with whom she co-hosts a weekly podcast, Making The Cut.

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From the outside looking in, Davina is a positive, focused and self-driven person, but she has been working towards it for almost three decades.

Her foray into wellness began 29 years ago at a £10 one-day self-esteem workshop.

“I went with a girlfriend and we laughed a lot but we took things from that workshop that 29 years later [still] we practice in our daily lives,” says Davina.

“Self-esteem can come and go during the day. You can wake up in the morning and think, ‘Look at me. I look like Heidi Klum.’ Then at lunch someone glances at you across the office and you think : ‘Everyone hates me, I hate myself’ and your self-esteem plummets.

“It’s so transient, so I’ve tried to find tools to realize that not everyone is talking or thinking about you. Now I stay in shape to live longer. I just want to be as healthy as possible for as long as I can.” “. they can.”

Davina flew to Turkey with TUI BLUE, TUI’s premium hotel brand, for the launch of their wellness menu. Find out more at tui.co.uk/findyourhappy.

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