Sabrina Muysken
You know her as that fitness enthusiast from arguably Australia’s most successful television series, The Biggest Loser. You might also know her from her online 12 Week Body Transformation guide that has garnered a cult-like following. Or perhaps you know her face from Woolworths’ latest Delicious Nutritious range of healthy freezer meals – an oxymoron no longer. What you might not know is that her passion for health extends far beyond the shallow waters of being a media personality.
“I have worked with countless individuals and families. So many of my clients have literally eaten fast food for three meals a day, every day of the week. To take someone from that place, whether it be on television or not, of being an absolute fast food addict and turn them into an organic eating, home cook who enjoys exercise is truly rewarding,” enthuses Michelle.
Far from Sydney’s media spotlight, Michelle was born in Newcastle, NSW and attended high school in Nelson Bay. Living along the coast inherently shaped her love of the outdoors and fitness. By the tender age of 18 she had gained her certification as a fitness instructor and set her sights on fighting Australia’s mounting obesity epidemic.
“It is an issue that has resonated with me for many years. I have worked with people from the grassroots, I have been out there in the field and I have been in many Australians’ households and their kitchens. I have seen how they eat and it is frightening!”
In her fight for a healthier nation Michelle recognises that in recent times Australia has fallen victim to paradox. Wellness blogs of unqualified individuals saturate the Internet and social media under the guise of the ‘Fitspo’ hash tag, a cringe worthy abbreviation for ‘Fitness Inspiration’. Yet their manufactured images and paid promotion of fad diets ironically present an ideal that is not only unsustainable but also quite often unhealthy.
“I have always encouraged balance, moderation and incorporating a little bit of everything. It is probably the world’s most boring conversation because all everyone want to about is ‘what should I drink instead of eat?’ or ‘what should I cut out and remove?’ Those things come and go. Yeah sure some of them do work but the principles don’t seem to be all that sustainable or healthy.
“It is not the most sexiest of causes that I have championed but I am about wholesome food in a well balanced meal and that is not necessarily about diet food either.”
Michelle has fast become Australia’s most influential health and fitness expert. Simply read her Instagram blurb, a place where she has accumulated 135+ thousand followers, as she herself declares this very statement. This declaration resembles nothing other than shear motivation and determination.
Such qualities have crafted the highly marketable ‘Michelle Bridges’ brand that extends to fitness apparel, fitness accessories, vitamins and supplements, books and DVD’s, and even kitchenware. Most recently she has teamed up with supermarket giant Woolworths to create a healthy range of convenient meals aptly named Nutritious Delicious.
“The range came about because of many different reasons that have all come from my 30 years of being in this industry. The kinds of foods that you see in these products are not the typical foods you see in other convenient style meals.
“The first ingredient listed in any product, as we all know now, is the most used. The first ingredient in any of the Nutritious Delicious meals is vegetables! One meal has three serves of vegetables out of your required five a day.”
Fronting a freezer meal range is perhaps something that Michelle’s followers would not have anticipated as convenience meals, healthy or not, have become synonymous with the word ‘lazy’. This being said the reasoning behind her latest business venture comes from a personal understanding of the struggle to maintain life balance.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I promote cooking and fresh food. That being said I live in the world of reality. Not everybody, even the most committed, is always able to cook from scratch.”
“I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say I’m one of those people. I grow my own herbs and some vegetables, I’m very conscious of what I eat and I cook from home four to five times a week. But I’m not immune to those nights when my schedule clashes or I’ve run out of groceries, ” Michelle admits.
That is when Delicious Nutritious comes into play. Michelle acknowledges the range as not designed to replace every single meal but rather in those moments when you are stretched for time and are contemplating unhealthy fast food.
Ultimately all of Michelle’s business ventures hinge around her life philosophy, the notion of positive change. Her core belief is that positive change can only come about when you keep saying yes to yourself everyday.
“This means saying YES to your goals, YES to the person you want to be and YES to all the little acts that help you get there.”
Michelle Bridges’ Delicious Nutritious range is available at Woolworths now.
