Shadowing Practice: How to *ACTUALLY* Start a Healthy Lifestyle in 2025 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I'm guessing because you clicked on this video, you're ready to kickstart lifestyle changes to become a happier, healthier and ultimately better version of yourself.
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But it is so goddamn hard to know where to start when everything is so bloody contradictory.
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Go vegan.
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Carbs are bad.
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Fats are bad.
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Too much fruit is bad for you.
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You're not getting your five a day.
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Don't do hit.
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It raises your cortisol.
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Maybe try getting your 10 ,000 steps a day, but 10 ,000 steps a day isn't vigorous enough for your heart.
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Maybe try running, but running is going to ruin your knees.
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No wonder everyone making the changes that they know they should.
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But do not fret, I'm gonna lay out the five simple, cold, hard rules that I follow to live a healthier lifestyle whilst working full -time as a doctor.
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One, get out of an all or nothing mindset.
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I used to find myself in a constant cycle between restrictive perfection where I ate nothing from a packet,
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full stop, followed by inevitable dramatic rebellion to the rules that I'd laid out for myself.
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It doesn't work.
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Being strict and restrictive and hating your life is not the way to make sustainable positive healthy changes.
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And what's even worse is that when we set these super high unreachable standards for ourselves and inevitably fail,
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the guilt eats us up and just makes us feel
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When I have a home -cooked nutritious lunch before a fast food dinner because I am exhausted, that day is not a failure.
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Or when I feel really really tired but I still manage a walk, just not a one -hour session in the gym, again not a failure.
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The key to any healthy lifestyle
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that lasts a lifetime is not hating every single second
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and really integrating it into your day -to -day so it's actually sustainable.
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Two, I aim for most of my calories to come from unprocessed versus processed
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I think we need to address the elephant in the room.
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Calories calories are a big part of weight loss and weight gain.
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There's no two ways about it, it's a scientific truth.
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However, historically, I have had a very poor relationship with calories.
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They contributed a lot to my disordered relationship with food, and whilst they can be a really helpful tool for people who want to lose
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or gain weight with the advice of a professional, calorie counting can take up a lot of time in our day -to -day life, isn't that sustainable long -term,
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and can contribute to a disordered relationship with food.
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That being said, as much as I think that I had a bad relationship with calorie counting, I also think
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that a lot of my disordered relationship with food came from a mistrust around the information that is provided to me.
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Calories are backed by science, whereas a lot of the other fad diets that are fed to young girls through the media are not.
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And I think that when you take calories at face value as a data point and nothing more, they can be a very helpful piece
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Calories are just a small piece of a big puzzle that makes up a holistic, healthy lifestyle.
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Something that I have found is focusing on your calories coming from unprocessed foods rather than processed foods.
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More and more research is coming out about how bad processed foods are for us.
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But realistically, we don't just live in a world where processed foods exist.
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We live in a world where processed foods are almost pushed upon us
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when our lives are so busy and we crave convenience and there's marketing everywhere.
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so good so i will never restrict myself from not eating processed foods completely however acknowledging
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that they are not the best for us is something that's
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really important for us all to acknowledge processed food is designed to taste really really really good
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because it is manufactured so we buy more and we eat more
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and we crave it and we just can't get enough so
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that these companies make more money that sounds really conspiratorial but it's basic common sense the more processed food
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the more you are going to want to eat.
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I could very easily demolish a whole bar of dairy milk.
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Could I as easily demolish a whole bag of bananas?
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No. Where processed food tends to be packed with salt and sugar and other things that make it taste so damn good,
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unprocessed food as a general rule of thumb, tends to be less calorie dense, but more nutrient dense.
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So in effect, you get a little bit more bang for your buck.
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On top of that, when processed foods are packed with salt and sugar, they can change the perception of how we taste foods.
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For example, I have been eating a lot less processed foods than I did, say, in my final year of medical school,
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and I never really used to ever say anything was too salty or sweet.
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I love me some food.
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However, America with my family there was so much food
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that I was trying and I was thinking god this is too salty
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or sweet which Was a shock to me and it's definitely
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because I have been making a much more concentrated effort to not eat as much Processed food over the last year,
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but obviously when our perception of taste is changed we're constantly chasing More
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and more and more and more it's like eating an apple after a bag of haribos
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and I'm all for everything in moderation, but too much salt and and sugar is bad.
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Three, exercise you enjoy.
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The best exercise is the exercise that you can stick to.
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Do not let anyone tell you what you should or you should not be doing.
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I remember a couple of years ago the big trend was weight training.
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Then there was a lot of stuff on social media about weight training making you bulky
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and then it was pilates and then now everyone's wearing a marathon.
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Like everything else we have trends in exercise and diets but it's so important to just ignore it all
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When I started working as a doctor, I was cycling to work every day.
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It was probably the most uncool, most unsexy thing I've ever done in my entire life.
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But it meant that when I was working a 60 hour week, I was still getting in about an hour and a half of exercise every single day.
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And you could bet when I was working those 60 hour weeks, I would not have been going to the gym.
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It got me moving my body in a way that worked around my schedule until my bike was rudely stolen.
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If you have not found an exercise, that doesn't feel like exercise which is honestly the god's tear
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of exercise then try get a membership to a gym
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that does lots of different classes try all of them
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and see what takes your fancy
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or say something like class pass where you can try a little bit of lots of different things
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or try team sports because from my experience the best way to exercise
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and it not even feel like exercise is to do it
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on a team four convenience is king in my fourth year
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of uni i was deciding between two gyms gym number one 20 pound a month bigger gym more equipment
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but it was Gym number two, £35 a month, smaller gym, less equipment, but it was below my block of flats.
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In the end, I chose gym one because I thought 15 minute walk, that's nothing.
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And of course, it was better value for money.
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Now let me tell you what happened next.
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Medical school got stressful.
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The first thing to go out the window was gym.
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And in my first two months with that membership, I went to the gym once.
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That means that my one gym session at that gym cost me a grand total of great British pounds.
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So for an extra £15, I switched to gym number two, the gym below my block of flats.
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And would you believe it, I ended up going to the gym consistently three to five times a week.
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So on average, each gym session in gym two ended up costing me £2.
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Personally, I am guilty of finding any excuse under the sun to not move my body and not eat healthily.
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It's so important that we make it as easy as possible.
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Pick the gym membership that you will actually use.
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be guilty of making decisions when we're feeling really motivated
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and energized and not necessarily empathizing with the version of us
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that has just finished a busy week is exhausted
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and does not have the motivation discipline or energy to make any decisions
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that are in line with our long -term goals so
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when you do feel motivated and energized and disciplined
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that is the time when you want to make life easier for future you
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and make everything as convenient as possible and this is the same as convenience food.
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However, when we do not pre -plan, processed food is often the most convenient food.
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Fruit is also a convenience food.
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Microwave whole grain rice is a convenience food.
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Frozen vegetables are a convenience food.
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Frozen home -cooked meals are convenience foods.
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By simply including those in your grocery shop or freezing meals that you've cooked when you have the energy to cook them,
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you are making life easier for future you and making it so much easier to just reach for the
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course on the most important point of them all number five Don't bloody complicate it.
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Drink your water, eat your fruit and veg, move your body, go see a doctor if something is wrong
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and add in any supplements that you might be missing in your diet.
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AKA everyone in gloomy Great Britain should be taking a vitamin D supplement between October
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and April minimum because we are not getting enough of it.
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Don't be fooled by these headlines
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that are meant to grab our attention by telling us something
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that contradicts everything we've ever learned about living a healthy lifestyle because they are studies that focus on tiny groups of people.
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The conclusions are often a lot less dramatic and a lot less concrete than the headlines would make out.
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Things are made to be more complicated than they need to be for a reason.
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And that reason is to sell you stuff that you do not need.
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When we feel confused, we are far more vulnerable and desperate for solutions.
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And often the easiest solution that we can see at
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that time when we're feeling vulnerable and confused lies in a shopping cart.
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recent vlog if you wanted to see a little bit more of my life.
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I hope you enjoyed this video, if you did please don't forget to leave a like, comment, subscribe.
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I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful week and I will see you in the next video.
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Mwah!
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice essential English speaking skills by shadowing a video transcript that discusses how to start a healthy lifestyle in 2025. This content is relevant for those looking to improve their conversational English and develop an understanding of health-related vocabulary and expressions. By participating in this practice, you will refine your pronunciation and fluency, boosting your confidence in discussing lifestyle topics.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Healthy lifestyle - A way of living that promotes physical and mental well-being.
- All or nothing mindset - A perspective where one believes they must do something perfectly or not at all.
- Unprocessed foods - Foods that have not been altered from their natural state.
- Processed foods - Foods that have been packaged or altered from their original form to make them ready to eat or easier to store.
- Sustainable - Practices that can be maintained over time without causing harm.
- Calorie counting - The process of tracking calories consumed, often used in weight management.
- Emotional relationship with food - How one feels about eating, which can affect choices and behavior.
- Integrate into your day - To incorporate new habits into your daily routine smoothly.
Practice Tips
For effective shadow speaking, focus on the pace of the original video. The speaker discusses complex ideas in a conversational tone, making it ideal for English speaking practice. Here are some tips to enhance your practice:
- Start by listening closely to a short segment of the video, then pause it. Repeat what you heard, mimicking the speaker's intonation and speed.
- Focus on the vocabulary highlighted above. Try to use these terms in your own sentences or discussions with others to reinforce learning.
- Use shadowspeak techniques by repeating phrases right after you hear them. This can improve your speaking fluency and help prepare you for the IELTS speaking practice.
- Practice in front of a mirror or record yourself to notice your pronunciation and emotional expression. This self-feedback can be crucial for developing a natural speaking style.
By integrating these practices into your routine, you can enhance your shadow speech skills and gain confidence in your ability to converse about lifestyle choices in English.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have been eating · have been making |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being said · is provided · are backed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have had · have found · I've ever done |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who want · sweet which Was · exercise which is |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.