Posted on

Monday, 7th November

The very cold weather has finally arrived and its a big wake up call to your body today!

The first reaction is to stay indoors as much as possible and do your best to “hibernate” until april!!! Just like many animals do in the wild!

Then we have to get real and go about our daily lives the best we can.

So now we have got over the fact that we are not going to curl and freeze for the winter, its time to set out a plan!!

Most of you won’t be on salads for the winter, and you may be already switching to hotter, more filling foods already.

The great news is that you can easily stay fit and healthy in the winter and all of this cold weather is no excuse to go into your shell, or “pig out” on fatty and sugary food!

Take soups for example. Are you the type to make your own version of soup full of natural ingredients or the type to rely on tins of soup? The difference can be startling!

For one, the soup you make naturally has the opportunity to be full of vegetables and a good nourishing meat if you fancy meat.

The soup in a tin is absolutely loaded with salt and usually sugar which is seriously bad news for your health. Salt and excess salt is the best way to develop problems with blood pressure and water retention, so if you want to feel horrid and bloated, go ahead and stick to the tins!!!!

If you’re into feeling and looking healthy, then this winter you STILL need to make fresh natural food your absolute priority!!! Without eating well, you won’t get anywhere near your goals in health terms so its important right now NOT to fall into the trap of tinned toup and other high salt and sigar products. There are lots of winter vegetables you can use to make soups and broths that will nourish your body in a first class way!!

The ideal time to commit yourself to a whole winter of healthy eating is today so lets give it your best!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 3rd November

Alarming figures today regarding our dietary habits in wales.

It turns out that we consume a lot more sugar and saturated fat than our English counterparts.

This leads of course due to serious health worries such as diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease and certain cancers.

The NHS is a ticking timebomb and unless we change our habits now or at least very soon, the NHS really wont be able to fund the massive increase in money its going to need from the government.

The biggest problem is the lack of genuine solutions.

They try to encourage kids to eat better in schools, yet are cutting budgets in school canteens to impossible levels, meaning the lowest quality of food is going to be served every break time and lunch time in schools.

I have worked previously in two large comprehensives in the area, and was appalled at what they were serving our future generation. I interviewed the canteen manager and she was desperate to be able to serve more nutritious food, but was stopped doing so by the local authority manager for school budgets.

I then met the local authority manager in charge of this, and she flat out denied that there was rubbish being served every day. I tried arguing my point, AND the canteen manager’s point, but she tried unsuccessfully to shout me down. The person concerned in charge hadn’t the first clue about proper nutrition, she was much more concerned with her figures, which was in my book disgraceful and I told her so!!!!

Then one large comprehensive school near trostre shopping area we all know, actually HAD A SWEET VAN ALLOWED TO COME INTO SCHOOL EVERY DAY!!!

I wanted to meet the headmaster on this point and he refused, or at least try to put me off 6 weeks until he retired!!! What a coward and an example of a public service official more interested in his gold plated pension!!!

With leadership like this in schools, our future and our kids future, AND THE NHS FUTURE is definitely NOT SAFE!!!!

Unless we get kids educated and their parents educated, then we are not going to get fitter and healthier as a nation, that’s for sure!

These high profile campaigns always lack substance and are always just photo opportunities!!! To be honest, seeing ministers trying to fake joining in exercise turns my stomach, the leadership if you can call it that stinks from right from the top, and if that happens, what hope have we got!

Fortunately, there are some good teachers out there still trying to carry the message in the right way, its about time our so called “leaders”  start walking the talk!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday 2nd November

One of the biggest misconceptions about exercise is what you need to do, and what is considered enough!

There are a lot of people who dont do ANY exercise at all, and unfortunately never will, perhaps because they think that they “know better” somehow??!!

Then there’s the people who think that just walking is enough, they think that walking is the ultimate exercise, is the most enjoyable exercise and you would be a lunatic to do anything more than this!!! I agree that walking is a very good exercise indeed, but to say it covers all your body and health needs is at best misguided and to be frank, downright wrong!!!

Fitness is about so much more than having a walk, walking is part of it no doubt because its a great activity, but isn’t there so much more?!!!

Of course there is more and what about resistance training? Weight training of all kinds strengthens your joints, bones, tendons and ligaments, it tones your body and in particular muscle tone, it speeds up your metabolism because lean muscle tissue burns far more calories per 24 hours, for instance one pound of fat burns around 2 calories a day, one pound of lean muscle tissue can burn up to 50 calories a day.

Then there is walking as we have previously mentioned here and there are great walks all around us.

You can also take part in running on many of the great coastal paths around the county, and cycling gives you an opportunity to do the same routes, but a lot quicker and no strain on your joints! Swimming is a favourite for many and again doesn’t stress your joints and can become a serious part of an individual’s day, i know many whpo participate daily and absolutely love it.

Then there is stability, balance and endurance work which anyone who has ever trained with me, will know an awful lot about!!! This will solve any back trouble, hip weakness and most joints problems if done cautiously, and can apply to a pro athlete or an absolute beginner!!!

There are a million and one options so please don’t restrict yourself just to walking please!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 27th October

Hows your week of portion control and food selection going this week?

  1. Has it been plenty of fruit and vegetables, white meats, oily fish, good carbs, healthy nut selections and whole grains in relation to your supermarket shop?

2 or has it been no fruit and vegetables, white meats and fish but heavily coated with batter and butter, has it been white flour products, and have there been plenty of treats thrown in, even boxes of sweets thrown in?

3 and how is your alcohol intake? Are you thoroughly taking advantage of the mega deals on alcohol in the supermarket or do you drink just once a week and when you do, the volume is quite light?

These three points will provide big clues in the way you look and feel.

Whether your clothes are fitting a little better this week, or are they getting a little tighter again? Your food selections have the answer!

Have you plenty of energy and you have already put 3-4 workouts in already this week?

Or have you wrote off another week and have consigned yourself to just “treading water” for the next 8 weeks. One thing’s for sure, if you do try to somehow tread water, you are definitely destined to put on weight before Christmas, no matter HOW many baggy jumpers and black clothes you wear!!!!

So to avoid all of this happening, try making the right choices NOW you will probably do anyway in January, and avoid all the pain you were going to have then!!!

Nobody I know wants to feel sluggish and horrible now and up to Christmas should be a time of celebration and fun, being in your best shape and having compliments, and not of wearing baggy dark jumpers to hide all the abuse you have given your body all year in food and exercise terms, and everyone asking you “have you put on weight”!!!

Lets get it together!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 26th October

Halloween coming up and traditionally a big time for sweets and this means lots of sugar of course.

Most of us consumed lots of sweets as children and some of us are still consuming sweets on a regular basis now, but its when we become adults that the problems usually begin to hit home!!!

First of all, if we continue to get sugar from refined sources such as sweets, we can soon enough develop cardiovascular trouble and thats really bad news, especially when you start thinking about heart disease.

Eating a lot of sugar can increase the levels of “fluffy” fat that is between our arteries. This can form plaque and globules of fat that can lead to big trouble for us anytime.

When these forms of plaque break up, they travel to the heart, brain or kidney and can cause heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure.

The added sugars are just as bad if not worse, all of those names such as corn syrup, white sugar, brown sugar, dextrose, crystal dextrose etc etc are really devastating for your whole system if you continue to base your diet high in sugars!!

Sugar itself will not give you the heart attack, its just the sorts of conditions it brings with it. If you eat sugary foods every day then it doesnt take a genius to work out you will become overweight!! And from being overweight, diabetes, certain cancers and many other diseases become a lot more likely according to numerous studies!

A startling fact is that 36% of most overweight people’s sugar intake comes from liquid sources, pop, sports drinks, energy drinks are heavy contributors to ill health, and if most people just drunk water instead of sugary drinks, the obesity problem would be substantially decreased!!!

The bottom line is that a little sugar is needed by everyone, but fruits and grains are the preferred sources for good health and if you take this route, you are likely to regulate your health very successfully!

Twitt