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If you feel life is passing you by, then you had better get used to the “now” society.

Everything is quicker now, everything is online and everbody wants everything NOW!!!

So to get back into the flow of things, you had better simplify things.

You need to get your eating simplified.

Buy good lean proteins with added extras. For example, if you are buying fish, choose wisely wih salmon, trout and mackerel, tuna is good too as well as a whole host of fish. They are low in saturated fats but high in oils and the types of fats YOU NEED in your body to function better full stop every day!!!

White meats are good but will not contain the added good fats for your body.

Have you changed to wholegrains and slow release carbs yet?

Its a complete myth that carbs are bad for you, just make sure you eat them in moderation (portion size should be the size of your fist). Wholegrain pasta, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, brown rice are all great examples on how to get it right on the kinds of carbs you should be eating.

Are you eating enough fruit and veg? If you’re not, then you are doing yourself a bit dis-service!!

Healthy amounts and a variety of fruit and veg will again make your body work BETTER, SIMPLE AS THAT! Your body will function better, you will burn fat quicker and your immune system will strengthen significantly.

What about water? Are you drinking enough, something like 1.5-2 litres a day? If you are not, then again you are letting yourself down in a big way! Your performances will suffer in exercise terms, you will feel far more tired and you are giving yourself too much of an obstacle if you are living on tea/coffee/diet drinks.

The NOW society can be achieved if you get these basics right first!!

Here’s some ideas to make you feel really “up for it” in February, traditionally still a tough month in terms of weather and light, but food can make a big difference to you.

Oranges and papaya

Both these fruits are high in vitamin B6 and folic acid, both of these have been found to be lacking in people who have felt continuously down.

A lot of people like the tangy scents of these fruits, and have been proven to wake up your senses quicker than most foods.

Fish oils

It has been well documented how important fish oils from oily fish are for your body. What hasn’t been so well known is the effect it has on your mood. Fish such as salmon and mackerel have been proven to work at raising individuals moods, as well performance and general health.

Saffron

Saffron is a herb that is popular with middle eastern, Spanish and indian cuisine. This is another big help in mood elevation and powering you on to achieve greater things. Saffron is a main spice used with the famous Spanish dish of paella, which gives it the famous yellow colour and spicey taste.
Paella can be very health when made properly and from scratch.

Chocolate

Most people eat chocolate from time to time, but if you’re wise then it has to be dark chocolate. There is a higher degree of cocoa beans in the darker stuff and will usually mean its better for you in terms of less saturated fat and less overall calories.

Dark chocolate will usually deliver a rise in your performance levels and give you another mood boost at usually your least energetic times of the day!

These are handy little tips that will help you along February and in general times that you will need a boost, and none of us are immune to this!

One little thing have recommended for years and years is using no spread on anything.

Typically, this will be butter and margarine.

Theres a big piece in the papers today about non butter products, in other words butter “substitutes”. You know the ones, the heavily marketed ones, advertised all the time as being in some way healthy.

These products have turned out to be associated with heart attacks, as well as other diseases.

Butter is not wonderful for you, but is a far more natural product!!!

There is the old study regarding butter and margarine left out in a field overnight. The animals scoffed the butter no problem, but totally left the margarine!!!

The margarine contains hydrogenated fats, which is a total enemy for your body, and can really speed up ill health unless you take steps to avoid this terrible product!!!

The other side of eating spreads on food, apart from the ill health angle is avoiding needless empty calories, which ultimately will also lead to health problems!!!!

Each bit of spread you scrape on will have around 150 calories of needless rubbish for your body, almost pure fat going into your arteries speeding up the process of piling on weight!!!

This 150 calories, and often more will be the silent killer for your diet and when you’re wondering where the excess weight is coming from, just when you have eliminated a lot of high calorie foods, then THIS is the one area you really need to go after!!!

It only takes a couple of weeks and you will soon get used to being without spread forever! This will affect your diet and overall shape you eventually get in FAR MORE than you could ever imagine.

No time to waste so throw any spread out of your fridge right now!!!

Following on from yesterday, we move on to treadmills.

As soon as you are able to jog for 20 minutes without a break, its time to break that up because you are going to get very bored, very soon!

Plus the following way is better, much better!

Start off with one minute steady, one minute fast, one minute slow, one minute fat, one minute as slow as you want to get your breath back, one minute fast and so on until you can’t do this sequence anymore!

This will improve as the weeks go by.

Then you need to try the elevation button.

Try one minute elevated at a level you fee you can handle, possibly two minutes you can handle it, then 3 minutes at a steady pace on flat (bring treadmill back down), then back up to an elevation you can handle for 2 minutes, back down for 3 minutes, and see how you get on from there on that sequence.

The Ultraslide is a great device we use at the gym, and is amazing for speed and agility. It is great for thighs, hamstrings, stomach and hips, and will definitely give you a great workout in 5 mins!!

Apart from side to side, you have sliding in the same place which is very tough, and one of my favourites is alternate squat thrust on it, it is much harder even than normal ones and hits your core far harder than the normal version.

The ropes we use are fantastic too in terms of workout intensity too! They work your core like you wouldn’t believe, and you shoulders, chest and arms in a brand new way!!

These workouts have to be seen to be believed and anyone who has tried them will never stop doing them once they experience them!!!

The drug scandal that has rocked the world the last few weeks has reached a crescendo this week, with the Lance Armstrong scandal reaching a climax with the two part Oprah Winfrey interviews on thursday night (friday morning our time).

The discussion means that no athlete from now on is immune from suspicion and the double standards shown by the authorities have been staggering.

The big case i have been banging on about for years is the spanish doctor Fuentes doping scandal back in 2007. To cut a long story short, he had around 400 blood bags ready for transfusion with athletes from many sports.

Just before the tour de france in 2007, dr fuentes was arrested and raided by the police.

The whole house and underground building was cleared out, and each of the blood bags had secret coded names. Ivan basso, the italian rider had a blood bag names “brillo”, which was the name of his dog.

Jan Ullrich had his name on the blood bag ready for transfusion, and he was promptly banned and immediately had to pull out of the race.

The cyclists in that case ALL got banned from cycling for two years, WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

Alberto contador was implicated, but got off with it as it was unclear evidence about him. One year later he won the tour de france before being caught two years later for doping, which he kept on denying, he is now free to do this year’s tour de france!!!

The most interesting part about the 2007 dr fuentes case was that TENNIS and FOOTBALL players were implicated in that case, including 6 barcelona players AND prominent spanish and french tennis players!!!

They DID NOT PROSECUTE the footballers and tennis players-FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON!!!

One very famous spanish grand slam tennis player has been suspected for taking drugs for years, especially by the french press. Somehow though, he was never investigated?!!!!

Double standards and corruption is rife in all sports it seems, at least cycling IS TRYING to get its house in order!!!

The scandals in other sports are waiting to come out, give it time!!