Posted on

May 5th 2011

So from yesterday, you should have identified the damaging habits that are putting weight on you, making your tired all the time, giving you bad skin, making you have poor sleep, and in general, not helping you at all get in the shape you know you really want to be.

It may be quite a statement to say that sugary and fatty food can cause all of those things to happen but it happens to be a fact.

Once you substitute all the rubbish in your life, or most of it for fresher more natural food, then your life becomes of a much higher quality across the board.

So if you have changed a least one potentially damaging habit for a good habit that will benefit you, give it a couple of weeks and then you will have momentum to change another one, in fact you will WANT to change another bad habit because you will be so encouraged by the success of the last change.

So if this week’s habit was to change the cake/biscuit with the coffee or tea, then how about making an even greater change. You’re not going to get a bigger change than swapping terrible breakfast choices with far more beneficial choices.

For example, if breakfast at the moment is something like a piece of white toast full of butter or margarine, then you can easily change that to wholemeal toast, VERY LITTLE butter on it (butter is a far more natural product than margarine), and maybe a bananas mashed on it, this is an easy choice you make right now and will instantly benefit you.

What about if you are having one of the typical cereals, usually sugar laden and full of additives and chemicals that are going to be destructive for your body?

Its time to change to a natural product such as porridge, which will be full of 100% rolled oats and nothing else! Chop some dried fruit up for flavourings, and a natural flavour at that, no need to add sugar at all!

 This will give you up to 4 hours of steady energy that won’t crash your blood sugar levels at any time, you couldn’t wish for a more solid start to the day!!!

These are simple tried and tested choices that are going to benefit you in the short and long term. Don’t overcomplicate things, its all about making easy but life-changing choices so lets give it a go today!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

May 4th

Bad habits have become so normal in our lives, they are exactly that-normal everyday life and tough to break.

To break them, we have to realise why they have become “normal” in the first place!

If a behaviour makes us feel good, then its natural that we are going to want to do it an awful lot, even if its not for our own good in the short term or long term. We all know of such habits, and its a question of how many times we do them.

Pleasure from everyday habits means your brain wants more and more, and if that habit is destructive, such as over eating, over drinking or smoking, then its not going to be a pretty path! The more you repeat these habits, the more they become ingrained and deep rooted in your brain, therefore significantly harder to break!

There is a very close link to these types of habit forming and full blown addiction, an addiction is of course the extreme version but addiction in over eating and over drinking alcohol are not uncommon at all.

To get rid of these habits, you have to replace the old destructive habit with a good one, and then keep on replacing it until it becomes permanent, this can take 2-3 months research says but it does work. If you usually have a coffee and always have a cake with it, then trying one day to just have the coffee without the cake will be hard, a week without a cake will be very hard, but i will bet you that the longer it goes on, the likelyhood is that you will never go back to that every day poor choice, and get rid of your sugar addiction in one go!!

Keep sugar in your life and you will never lose your sweet tooth, the sooner you get used to real food the better, that means food more in its natural state. Bad habits are there to be broken so lets have a good go today!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

May 3rd

May 3rd means you should be in the shape you promised yourself way back in January in your new year resolutions! The sad reality for most people is that never happens, and may instead signifies panic instead of satisfaction at the shape you could have been in.

We have also had two big bank holidays in a row, with two Fridays off too, which have made the job of staying in shape that much harder!

So if today means blowing off some cobwebs, then so be it, it has to be done and a process you have to go through to feel as if you’re back to life again!

The way you treat your body every day determines what kind of shape you’re in full stop. If you tell everyone you’re on fish salads all the time and never drink, yet go home and eat fish and chips every night as well as having a couple of glasses of wine every night, then the only person you will be fooling is yourself. Lying to yourself is common and doing it more and more is never going to get you magically in shape.

If a chicken salad is really fried chicken with salad drenched in mayonnaise and heavy dressing, then you may well have had a burger and chips, there really is no excuse for those kind of calories going into your body and you know it. This is one way to get fat, it works every time!

For example, if you went mad and had a good sized easter egg over the holiday, you would need to swim for around 3-4 hours just to work it off! This is heck of a task when you think about it and might deter you next time you have a treat as rich in calories as that.

These are the types of scenarios that stop individuals getting into the kind of shape they REALLY want, its these times when you really need to avoid constant streams of high calories that are so important to being in shape.

The bank holidays are done (at least until the end of may), so now is the perfect time to get your head down and really work hard again, starting right now!!

Twitt
Posted on

April 28th

As booze will be such a big part of the weekend coming up, its time to realise what it means to you in real terms. Nothing wrong at all with a drink, i will have one myself but all im saying is the reprecussions could be worth considering.

Booze has a massive effect on blood pressure, and can really set about ramping it up to levels you don’t really want over a period.

Alcohol is packed with calories and WILL lead to weight gain, there is no doubting this.

You dont even have to drink a lot, just 3-4 units per day will DOUBLE your chance of suffering blood pressure problems according to the health authorities!

If you are a woman though, just 2-3 units can increase your blood pressure risk by a third, anyone who has suffered from blood pressure will know that this risk is not worth taking.

Theres a good site at www.drinkaware.co.uk

Caffeine used to be seen as a big problem for blood pressure, but as long as its in moderation, this is no longer true.

Lifestyle factors are far more relevant when it comes to blood pressure issues.

If you’re a smoker for instance, thats flat out the worst thing you can do and will bring you a whole lot of trouble over time.

If you drink less alcohol, you will benefit immensely.

If you have a diet rich in nutrients full of fresh natural foods, you are very unlikely to suffer blood pressure issues.

And of course, if you exercise with purpose on a regular basis, you are very likely not to suffer from blood pressure issues especially if you combine it with the lifestyle choices already mentioned.

So this weekend, its fine to go out and have a drink or two, AS LONG as your general lifestyle is good, then there is no problem at all!

It makes me laugh when i see the everyday drinkers out on bank holiday claiming its a one off day for them, THIS IS everyday life for them and unfortunately they will be likely suffering from many ailments brought on by a life of alcohol abuse. When you add smoking and an unhealthy diet to all of this, its a grim picture!!

Time for everyone to change their lifestyle surely!!! If you are having a few drinks, get out the next morning and exercise!!!

Twitt
Posted on

April 27th Catch up

Two bank holidays in a row so we are right in the middle of it right now!!

Im was guilty myself of waking up very tired today, and the weekend has made me feel very sluggish, although I got through two good runs early on Sunday and Monday.

The great news now though is that I have had a massive morning of exercise and somehow my body feels very energetic once again!

Human beings like routine and depending on what yours is, the way you feel today will definitely be dependent on that routine.

How many people do you know who come back from holiday full of life first day into the exercise programme? The fact is that everyone struggles to get back into things after a short period of inactivity, so our routines become more and more important depending on what type of lifestyle we want to lead.

If you want to be sloth like in your lifestyle, expect to put on weight and feel very low in energy most of the time. Expect this because if you consume foods low in nutrients and foods high in saturated fat and high in sugars, this is the results you WILL get every time.

As a society, hopefully we are moving further and further away from this example and healthy food is becoming more and more fashionable at last!

People are becoming much more aware of the importance of fresh  fruit and vegetables, that they need to be consuming more fish and white meats, and they shouldn’t overdo their carbohydrate portions (size of your fist in terms of portion size and not the whole plate if possible!).

So to get your life back on track this week right in between the bank holidays, there’s only one way to go in terms of looking and feeling your best, a life high in energy means you are going to get a lot more done, and you will achieve far more.

Give yourself a fighting chance and life the lifestyle, the one big thing you can do today is consume much more water, instead of teas and coffees all day, instantly you will feel A LOT better and you will actually feel like DOING something.

Have a great start to the week!

April 27th

You may I have noticed I have been offline, but this has been down to my BT home hub for my broadband not working and waiting for its replacement!! Its finally here now and its times like these you wonder what you did before you had a 24/7 internet connection!!

Its quite funny how most people reported the sluggishness of the bank holiday yesterday and were struggling to get going.

I am really thankful that yesterday was a very tough physical day for me, so I have well and truly got the cobwebs out the way and I feel 100% more refreshed, PURELY down to great workouts, eating very well and drinking lots of water, which is always underrated!!!

The minute you don’t think that living this lifestyle is not important is the day your health will go downhill. Anyone who has been in great shape or at least their best version of being in great shape, it is impossible to forget how fantastic this feels and the desire to get back there must be huge in everyone who has perhaps let it slide over the years.

With modern train methods, it is entirely possible to get in great shape again, safely and relatively quickly is done with a well thought out plan, and realising that a good natural nutritious eating plan will make as much difference as the training will.

This always needs to be a 50/50 effort with the training and eating, anything less and you will fall short, its Wednesday 27th april and we are nearly in may, if its not time to do it now, then I don’t know what is, so let’s get out of bed and get some work done and finally get into the shape you really want!!!

Twitt