Celebrity chef and businessman Levi Roots offers advice to people trying to stay healthy in prison, drawing on his own experience of serving time inside.

If you have ever wanted to look and feel amazing, both in mind, body and spirit, I am here to tell you that it is possible to achieve it. Perhaps you have had doubts, lack of confidence or simply unable to focus and maintain an exercise program until you can see and feel the true benefits.

Guys, I have been there, but thankfully I had managed to overcome my issues and now I personally think I am at that place that I had wanted to be with my body, mind and spirit.

Once I reached age 60, illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity, they were affecting a lot of my friends of the same age. And for me, that was a wake up call. To me it was clear that one of the best way to help to protect myself from all these types of illnesses and to aid and preserve my immune system, was to look closely at my diet, what I consumed and how and when I ate my chosen foods.

So I did my research and it all pointed to one thing, that I needed to feed my body with what it actually needs. Not with what it wants. And the other crucial thing I discovered; was that dieting without exercise is a waste of time, and that the two needed to be in tandem, synchronised.

Breathing well

I will come back to the food. But I really want to touch on the exercise routine. Breathing properly and freeing up my hips were the two most important areas that I wanted to start with. My mental wellbeing was also very important to me and through research I discovered that simply breathing properly that that could be the best remedy for anxiety, high blood pressure and depression, and that I could also using it as a way to enhance my physical exercises as well. And so controlled breathing became a major part of everything I did on my journey to becoming the new, healthier me.

Yoga helped

My hips, they were a problem. They desperately needed unlocking and no amount of weight lifting or bodybuilding could help there. I needed a few Yoga moves, a routine to promote circulation and healing because if I can not alleviate the pain and discomfort in that area then everything else becomes more difficult. And so I found out about the Lotus position and set myself to achieve it and in doing so became the supplest and most mobile I had ever been.

Along with 6-10 other simpler Yoga exercises I can simple say my body is at the best it is has ever been for the past 30 years.

But when I was in my 20s one of my biggest role models was an old school bodybuilder named Sergio Oliva, he was an absolute beast. I recalled that no matter how hard I trained, I could never get that ‘cut’ that he had, never anything like Sergio or any other bodybuilder. That was mainly because of not eating the right food, and to look like old Sergio I needed to gain muscle but crucially to lose a lot of fat. That was tough to achieve. Now in my 60s I no longer desire to have big muscles like my hero but I still needed to lose fat.

For years, I knew that I was a few stones overweight (hidden by smartly Savile Row suits!). I had not visited a gym or done any kind of exercise in over 20 years, it didn’t matter to me what I looked like under my suits, but deep down I knew that I was unhealthy, I had to be. So I formulated a dietary plan specifically for loosing fat fast but healthily; I cut out all processed foods, red meat, sugar, almost all dairy products, bread, reduce almost all carbohydrate intake, Salt (except natural Sea salt) and alcohol.

I hope it will inspire you to a much healthier you.

Good luck. More love