Agriland Media Group is delighted to collaborate with Agri Aware to bring you the ‘Sowing Wellbeing in Every Field Series’.
Farming under the nose of the Galtee Mountains in Co. Tipperary is beef and sheep farmer Nicholas King.
Nicholas has been farming all his life and spent time at Kildalton Agricultural College completing his Green Cert and worked for a local agricultural contractor for 10 years.
Speaking to Agri Aware about his early life, the Tipperary native said:
“My weight was a bit on the higher side in school, but being out on the farm working hard, it was never cause of too much concern during my school years.”
However, a breakdown in his five-year relationship and in his role working for an agricultural contractor, where long days would be spent sitting up on a tractor, Nicholas’ weight starting to ‘come up a bit’.
Nicholas said: “I started working full-time for a local contractor in 2012, long hours, sitting down all day the weight started to come up a bit and my fitness levels were going down.
“Eating big dinners and going out sitting up on the tractor, it wasn’t ideal for my health. That continued up to 2020 and at that time I came out of a five-year relationship.
“At this time things went really downhill for me, spending a lot of time on my own in the cab of a tractor overthinking, it was only for seeing two local people I knew, David and Michael Kennedy, who helped me gave me the help I needed to get to where I am today.”
Simple things such as getting steps in before going to work and understanding his nutrition and what he was eating to fuel himself, were the first steps Nicholas took in turning his physical health around.
Nicholas added: “Making simple changes such as cutting back what I was eating, reducing the portion size. For example, instead of having four potatoes, I’d have two as well as eating more vegetables and cutting out the desert altogether.”
Nicholas said that he was an emotional eater before but now, when stress would come on, instead of turning to food, he turns to exercise.
He said: “Now instead of turning to food, I like to get out into nature and go for a walk or go to the gym. You feel incredible after it and that stress that was building just melts away.”
The change in Nicholas’ physical health and his confidence has been emphatic.
Nicholas added: “At my heaviest, I wouldn’t have dreamed of telling my story. If you find yourself in my shoes four years ago, all I’d say is don’t wait, get started.
“If you are feeling down in the dumps, reach out and ask for help. There is help there. I know it, because I got it.”