Sports on Saturdays: We interview Michelle Bridges...

There’s this thing about Michelle Bridges that you don’t realise until you meet her.

She has the most remarkable talent of making you ridiculously excited for whatever she’s talking about. She gets so passionate about things that you can’t help but get passionate about them as well.

I first experienced this when I did her 12WBT program. She posts these videos online and gets you so motivated to exercise that you actually look forward to going for a run or doing a bunch of burpees or whatever.

And then I interviewed her last year about the kitchen range she was launching, and ended up getting SUPER stoked about things like collapsible containers and water bottles and measuring cups. It’s hard to get someone excited about measuring cups, but she managed.

So this year, when I was offered the opportunity to chat to Michelle again about another initiative – her new collaboration with Blackmores to produce a range of vitamins and supplements – I was very keen.

I’m not a big vitamin person. I’m evangelical about probiotics and I like a bit of Vitamin C around a cold, but otherwise, I get too overwhelmed by the range of vitamins available. Do I go for a multivitamin or a fish oil tablet or some magnesium, or iron or echinacea or the herby de-stressy ones or what?

It turns out that Michelle was feeling the same as me. She was sick of going to the supermarket or the pharmacy and being overwhelmed by options, each more expensive than the next.

So she had a chat to Blackmores and struck a deal to put her own range together. The result? A multivitamin, a relax & unwind tablet, an immunity care powder, a salmon oil tablet, cherry and coconut protein bites, a protein powder, a breakfast sprinkle and two different “vitality” powder body boosts in red and green versions.

Here’s the chat we had about the range. Enjoy.

N: Why did you decide to branch out into vitamins and supplements? 

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for some time.  I approached Blackmores and they were on board. It’s been a collaboration for the last eight months and it’s been exciting and it’s kind of a little bit of a dream come true.

In my initial meetings with Blackmores, I told them – whenever I go into a chemist or a pharmacy, there’s the wall of supplements and I’m like “… are you kidding? Where does it begin and where does it end? I’d be rattling!” So I wanted to keep it very simple and each product has a specific purpose that follows a general lifestyle for most Australians.

This is all based on things that I would personally use in my daily routine. So basically, I just put the range together for myself, and if anyone else likes it… well, that’s great!

Tell me about each of the products?

You can’t go wrong with a good multivitamin – it covers most of your bases.

The relax and unwind tablet is incredible. One of our biggest problems in this country is sleep. It’s 2014, you can be lying awake in bed for hours thinking about what you need to do the next day. This is a natural blend of herbs that relaxes you – things like passionflower and magnolia.

I love the take on the supergreens and superreds. The red is a blend of berries and superfruits goji, pomegranate, acai and mangosteen. The green is a blend of reen vegetables powders, grasses, sprouts and fruits. Not everybody gets enough greens in their diet, and with the supergreens, you can put it into anything – smoothies, milkshakes, even muffins. I mix the red and green together and put them in muffins.

I’m a big fan of the protein powder. Once upon a time, protein powders were something you’d have if you were a bodybuilder. You’d have it after a workout in water or milk. Now we use protein powders in all ways! This one in particular is made from ancient grain so it’s based on plants – so it’s big news for people who are vegetarian or vegan. You don’t have to go to a health food store to find a protein powder suited for vegetarians or vegans, which is normally what you’d have to do. You can get this at the supermarket! Which just doesn’t happen.

The salmon oil is a very cool product. It’s made from sustainable Alaskan salmon and I’m still asking Blackmores to send me to Alaska so that I can see the actual salmon… I need to go! We could make it a junket! No, but it’s a really nice product, full of omega 3. I was thrilled that we could do it.

The immunity powder is designed to support your immune system with zinc and gentle Vitamin C. For me, it’s seasonal, I’ll only take it through winter. It’s buffered to be gentle on your tummy so you don’t get an upset stomach.

The protein bites are a godsend when I’m having a crazy busy day. It just means that when I’m running around and grabbing a coffee or a tea, and there are muffins and cookies and cakes there, I’m not tempted to go “okay, I’ll have one of those.” Which is SO tempting. I keep the protein bites and an apple in my handbag every day and they’re a go-to. Some days I don’t have them! But other days I need that snack. It’s not a substitute for chocolate, but it is a good snack to tide you over – it fills you up because it’s got that bit of protein in it.

The breakfast sprinkle is a blend of organic linseeds, organic sunflower kernels, organic almonds and chia seeds – it’s soooo good to put on top of your cereal, in your smoothie or even on top of a salad when you’re having lunch.

Do I have to take every product every day?

I don’t have every single product every day. I’m a massive believer in a balanced diet. I eat food. And when I said that to Blackmores, they were totally on board with that. So yes, a balanced diet is key, but this is like a back-up for when life gets in the way. You have processed foods, and holidays, and nights out, and busy days, and you know – all this stuff is a bit of an insurance plan.

I would recommend getting in the habit of taking a multi every day. For the others, if you know that one morning you’re going to be racing out the door and you don’t have time to do anything except make a quick smoothie, you can put in some body boost or some protein – and that makes it really convenient.

Say a woman walks into a supermarket and just wants to grab one or two products. Which should she pick?

I’d go for the multivitamin and the supergreens.

And how much should we expect to fork out for it all?

The range starts from $3.99 all the way up to $39.99. It’s in the supermarket – you don’t have to go to a health food store to get this quality of a product. They’re available in Big W, Target, Coles, Woolworths, IGA. We’ve brought the quality you normally find in a pharmacy or a health food store into a supermarket environment. And I wasn’t expecting it to be in Target but I’m so thrilled about that!

The other thing? I don’t like the whole “vitamins for women! vitamins for men!” thing. The pragmatic side of me is like… “Can I just buy something for the whole family that everyone can have?” So this range is for everyone and anyone.

How does all of this fit into your bigger picture about Australians and their health?

It’s all about living consciously rather than unconsciously. It’s about actually putting into consideration what you’re doing to support your quality of life, and your health, every day. Everyone does it, even I do it – we get on that treadmill of life and we keep going until we fall off. And that needs to stop.

There are also so many women out there out that put everyone before themselves and don’t look after themselves. But LOOK AT WHAT THE AIRLINES DO. The safety briefing says to put your oxygen mask on before you help other people. They take the emotion out of it and they take the guilt out of it. And we need to do the same thing. If you don’t take care of yourself, you simply can’t help anyone else properly. If you fall over, everything else falls down.

You’re being selfish by not looking after yourself. That’s what being selfish looks like.

If you’re interested, you can go here to find out more about the range and buy up big. I’m really loving the red powder for my smoothies and the protein balls – they’re actually really delicious. Enjoy.

And in sport news for the week…

– Congratulations to the Melbourne Vixens, who took out the ANZ Championship last Sunday after a score of 53-42. 9000 supporters watched the grand final, which took place in Melbourne’s HiSense Arena. Now it’s up to our Australian netballers to get ready for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which kick off at the end of July.

-The Australian Sports Commission has announced the funding packages it will award to national sporting bodies, with a significant amount of funding going to sailing – the sport which managed to get Australia three gold medals at the 2012 Olympics. They’ve won a $1.25 million bump in funding for the sport. Swimming, kayaking, water polo, rowing and taekwondo have also done well, whereas funding went down for sports such as cricket, football and rugby league.