Posted on

Eating on holidays

Just got back in the snow having travelled over 6 hours from somerset, never seem to get the weather forecast bang on do they? Impossible i suppose, and a shame to see so many crashed and broken cars on the motorway today.

The weekend brought the usual challenges of eating well on holiday, and fortunately it wasn’t that hard as the portions were well controlled and most of us don’t really want to make pigs out of ourselves when we eat in front of others! Some of us have done the old thing in the past of eating smaller portions in front of a crowd, but more than made up for it when behind closed doors again!

The added sugar in foods which i touched upon in friday’s post was a little more scary than i thought! When i looked in the in house supermarket, it was quite scary how many foods went over the 40g added sugar limit in just one serving. If you have started having a look at some of the foods yourself with excess refined sugar, then you’re in for a big surprise!!

The excellent news i have too is that a leading expert on this matter is going to be providing me with some breaking data on this subject which i will post as soon as i get it. It’s always great to be keeping up with the latest science on foods and i want to share it with you as soon as possible.

Congratulations to all of you who have been keeping your workouts up, even in the snow and ice, as well as those contemplating a big start in the new year, you’re all most welcome to join in and share your thoughts.

Congrats too on rage against the machine getting to number one!

See you tomorrow and totally on health!!

Keri

Twitt
Posted on

Sugar and excess refined sugar

Just a quick post, i am going shortly on a santa and bob the builder themed weekend so won’t be back until monday!

Did you know that in the 1800’s, the average human consumed 13g of  sugar per day.

In the early 1900’s, it went up to 30g or thereabouts per day.

Then have a guess at what it is now for many people? 285g PER DAY!!!!! No wonder people are in a mess and excess refined sugar is linked to all sorts of diseases and even new diseases. The pure refined nasty stuff that majority of people consume can be 80g alone. Did you know that cardiovascular disease wan’t around until 1910, when scientists started to investigate it, now it is a huge problem with modern diets, lack of exercise and excess sugars and bad fats.

The daily recommended rate of refined/added sugar is 40g per day, one  can of pop can be that or even a little bit more than that!! Drinking excess calories is a quick way of putting on tons of weight, as well as sports drinks believe it or not, as these are definitely not needed unless you are doing more than 60 minutes of exercise each time you workout at high intensity, i like gold old fashioned water to hydrate during exercise myself.

To identify added sugar is easy, just look on the back of a product and under the sugar part, it will tell you if and how much sugar is in per serving. If you hitting around 25-30g a day, then you are doing very well and your body fat will be healthy, if you’re overweight, try and reach this or definitely under 40g.

Homework, as i’m away all weekend, try and find out how much sugar you consume most days, just pick up the product you are eating and it will tell you, remember to look for the sugar section and it may allow you to find out where you are going wrong, and where you are being very good.

Let me know your figures, should be fun!

Keri

Twitt
Posted on

Inspiration and desperation!

Most people will actually get off their backsides for one of two reasons. It will be either be out of inspiration or out of desperation! How many of you have never applied for a job because  although you knew you had the ability to do the job, it would be “easier” to ignore it and stay in your “comfort zone”, even if being in that comfort zone didn’t make you particularly happy, you were worse off financially and emotionally.

You may be inspired to do things sometimes by seeing others battle and win against all the odds, and you will be encouraged to follow suit. It’s always great when others have shown you the way to do it, and will often give you the nudge to lift your game a level or two.

I certainly followed the desperation route, I remember working in a fairly mundane office job, having already passed my health and fitness qualifications, I saw an opening for a job in a new health club. Someone in the office questioned me loudly and doubted my ability to get that job (although secretly I was not prepared to settle for that job anyway, I wanted to work for myself). I was already fitness instructing 4 hours a day and decided I needed to do something big with my new qualifications.

My response was out of desperation and I wanted massive change in my life, the next step was I phoned the local paper to put myself on trial and train the chief reporter, and if she found me not that good-report it, if she found it good-report it, the results thankfully turned out very well and my one act of desperation allowed me to get real momentum in my career and encouraged me to keep taking action. I didn’t listen to the “you’ll never do it” brigade (and there were plenty), I just kept my head down and did it, and momentum became very powerful indeed, so much so that it became like second nature.

This piece is not to “big myself up”, its to encourage you to take action as it can become a habit, a very good one, and it was desperately hard for me to take the first step too!

If you keep on working hard, keep on doing good things often without receiving any credit, do things because you want to and help others, and you will be on the road to being more successful in your chosen field.

Twitt
Posted on

Staying on course

So how’s it all going? Have you managed to stay on course, and if you have, does it feel better? Have you avoided getting blitzed in the Christmas party? Have you managed to train the day after consuming all those goodies?

Have you hidden behind the excuse of “I have no time”? What about training before work, even one set of everything will make a difference, anything is better than not doing a thing? What doing even something means is that you are still keeping your hand in, you are still keeping your metabolism going, you are still helping your mood stay high even with the upcoming or ongoing stresses, you are still in the “game” of exercise, and that means you are not going to give in that easily.

I started a workplace class off today in Llantrisant, and the great thing about it, they were all keen to get going as they were either new to exercise, or hadn’t exercised for a long time. There’s nothing like that enthusiasm of getting going for the first time, and real sense of excitement and wonder of how exactly how far you can take yourself. This is one example of a group determined not to slip back over Christmas, and I actually think they will improve, and hit the ground running in 2010, which is always a great situation.

Your choice, you either collapse under all the rubbish food and booze, or you still have a bit of what you fancy, put some good food in there too, and get a couple of fresh air workouts in and really feel energised about the big start to the new year!

Twitt
Posted on

Sunday lazing

If you’re laying around, feeling in a coma like state after a big night out, then a huge sunday lunch, then maybe a workout or two/three and some good eating will give you this starting monday;

Reduced stress levels

More control of appetite

Increased confidence

Put you in a better mood

Make you look younger!

More confidence

Shiny skin, hair and nails

More protection from osteoporosis

Improve your attiude to EVERYTHING in your life!

Give you better sleep

Increase your co-ordination

Improve your posture

Help you burn more calories at rest

Give you lots more energy

Give you increased lung capacity

Increase muscle tone

Protect your bones and jonts

A fimer body in every area

Give you more control of your life

Help you with any sports you play

Make you actually want to do things!

Give you a sense of wellbeing

Don’t reach for the headache tablets, get out there and do something, it’s not too cold honestly!

Start monday off well and you won’t regret it!

Keri

Twitt