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Day 71 Start of week 11!!

The feeling of helping individuals improve their lives is a fantastic one, and one that keeps me getting up at 4am every day.

I do rely on a certain amount of effort on the individual’s part though, and i am glad to say that everyone improves, even if some do better than others at times. Up in Cardiff today was fantastic, as i know every single one of the girls at Arthur Llewellyn Jenkins has made substantial progress, and are still excited about their improvements and their potential to do more than they ever thought possible!

I think the real secret throughout this challenge has been everyone learning that they must carry on even when they don’t feel like it. Isn’t it the same during exam time? We all have taken exams at some time in our lives, and a lot of us taken exams after we left school, i was one of them and remain commited to life-long learning.

I have trained so many people who have taken such after school exams, and they were glad they persevered when they felt like throwing the towel in many times. I felt like catching the train straight back from london when i did my exams, but glad i stuck it out or i wouldn’t be here writing this here tonight!

To get up and do your workouts each day does take more thought and effort than most people appreciate. This week for instance there is heavy rain around, there is icy weather back wednesday and the chances to workout will be more limited. Some of you may well make excuses, but you will know by now that’s its not going to cut any ice with me, if you parden the pun!!

Some people always ask me do i lose work through bad weather? The reality is that i do an awful lot of inside workouts when the weather is rough, and the quality of the workouts doesn’t have to suffer, sometimes it is even better! The only time i lose work is if i can’t get in because of the snow, and even then i always give it a good go, foolishly sometimes!

 This is why a proper structure in your exercise programme is vital, or you will become a “weekend warrior”. This means someone who only trains the weekend because of “lack of time”. This is still good for you but a very inefficient way of training. What happened to the other 5 days?!!! Time to get with the programme!

Three days strength work is great along with a maximum of 3 days cardio work (running/walking/cycling/swimming etc). You always need one day rest minimum, no matter who you are, the body’s need for recovery cannot be understated so let’s keep everything in proper balance.

It’s like your food, keeping everything in proper balance is vital. Don’t cut out food groups although some are tempted for short term gains. Food and natural food at that, were put on this earth for a reason, to nourish your body properly and to be enjoyed in all its full natural glory. Ready meals and low calorie chocolate bars weren’t exactly part of nature’s master plan!!!

Hope you are having a solid start to the week and welcome to week 11!!!!!!

Twitt
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Day 69 Stand up for what you believe!

Eating a healthy way makes us hungry sometimes…………………..and in a good way.

When you try and deny yourself of food, you are doomed for failure. Eating every 3-4 hours is not only good for your energy levels, but will keep your metabolism going too. It’s all about how many calories your body burns 24 hours a day when it comes to optimum fat-loss. Our way of eating supports the healthy way of life fully.

Some diets will tell you that you can eat anything you want, every day!!!! All you have to do is cut down!

So, if i’m understanding this correctly, there is not much room for proper food and proper nutrients. One member on here previously told me that she could have her chicken nuggets, her chicken Mcsandwich etc, as long as she saved up her “points” until the end of the day, when she could “cheat” again!

If something seems to be good to be true, then it always is!

How many of you have been on that road to nowhere?

The other thing i hear is that many on these faddy diets make you stop going to the toilet so often,  your internal workings don’t work so well,  theydon’t seem to “work” as well anymore. The last thing i would want is have all that chemically-enhanced “meat” inside me wrecking my insides and staying there far longer than it should!

The biggest problem is that there is more and more information out there all the time, more and more people looking to make a “fast buck” out of you. The funny thing is that these people don’t last more than a year or two (at the most), as their principles (if they have any) don’t stack up. Anytime anyone promises you the earth telling you CAN eat whatever you want, they ought to be locked up where they would less dangerous!

I have been up since 5am this morning, two young children for you! Still managed a good coastal run with the dogs this morning, and had some scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, so i feel pretty fantastic writing this, with an abundance of energy ready to face a great saturday hopefully!

Have a great saturday and you can be sure i will be here every day standing up for what is right, no matter how many people try to sell you a lifestyle that is filled with false promises and bad science!

Standing up for what you believe is right will always be the right thing to do, and thanks for your support. We currently have people viewing from Sydney to the Ukraine, so thank you for all for viewing and supporting this message!

Twitt
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Day 66 Exposing the fakes and the charlatans!

As we went through some essentials yesterday, we all know my opinion of faddy diets, but what really happens to your body and what is the “cost” to your body? Please consult with a respected doctor if you doubt any of this!

Most “diets” are low in calories so WHAT do they say that they are going to do for you?

These faddy diets encourage you to eat a diet entirely based on calories, and if you eat fewer calories than you use, you will somehow use fat as energy and that’s how you lose weight. Your body is a bit more clever than that according to scientists, and doesn’t just respond to counting calories. How many of you out there have been on kind of a starvation mode and still couldn’t lose weight, it does happen to many after a few weeks of eating like this you tell me!

The nasty effects of eating this way!

You avoid the essential fats that we talk about a lot on here that are vital for great health. Faddy diets encourage you to avoid these foods as they are somehow “fattening”! How wrong can you get! This advice should be banned!

You measure food just as a calorie, and therefore healthy food doesn’t really matter. Poor food choices which are harmful to your health in the long term count the same as far more healthy choices, very poor education again by the faddy diet “experts”.

When you keep denying yourself food, your rate of calorie burning (metabolism) slows down, and that’s what makes your diet eventually crash and burn. And when you return to eating your normal food, your body is still in starvation mode so will not only put your weight back on, but will more on more than when you first started, a nightmare scenario!

What about the very high protein diet?

This diet that severely limits your carbs always encourages you to eat all fat and all protein for a while. Then, a little carbs come in later. Let me say that weight loss can be very big in the first couple of weeks of this programme, which encourages people to stay in the all protein all fat stage!

The nasty side effects and negatives!

If you stay on this diet for the long term, you will be avoiding fibre, which leads to constipation and increased the risk of colon cancer.

If you don’t take in your fruit and veg, the risk of cancer, heart disease and arthritis goes up significantly.

When you take in all fats, and in particular saturated fats, you can develop cholesterol problems and heart disease.

Limiting carbs also discourages you eating your five a day of fruit and veg, always a bad idea!

An eating for life plan that discourages starvation methods, going without food for long periods, and counting calories works every time. You don’t cut out whole food groups and you have a healthy balance of foods in your life. Common sense actually works, so don’t be fooled by the charlatans ripping you off with the latest faddy diets that are all around us each day!

The benefits!!

You will be developing great health because you have balanced nutrition.

Eating little and often every 3-4 hours keeps your metabolism revved and stops you from going hungry, and stops willpower becoming the all important factor!

Eating enough fruit and veg makes sure you are in great health, fibre and energy to live the life you want to.

This is a simple plan for life  that works, there is no deadline and it doesn’t encourage you to avoid your treats completely, a bit of what you fancy is good for you now and again and keeps you sane!

Eating healthy and essential fats is actually GOOD for you, fish, nuts etc work for you every time if you let them!

I keep giving you choices every day, mine are actually based on science. The rest you hear are often “heresay” or “made up” to take your money and sound different or just plain dangerous.

Let’s have a great day and make the most of your body this week!

Twitt
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Day 65 Eating essentials

Seems to me that we have been ignoring eating essentials lately, and that some of you have come off the rails a bit, and that you need to get in your head why you felt so good in those initial few weeks!

When I start with anyone, I always stress the importance of eating well, to do this effectively though, you have to get the right shopping in, and that means keeping your cupboards and fridge stocked well.

 To me, the idea of eating lots of weight-loss clubs branded foods is sickening, full of chemical enhanced foods designed to take even more of your hard earned money out of your pockets, then allow you lose weight, but long term you are destined to put back on (97% OF PEOPLE IT HAPPENS TO according to latest studies). Then, they want your money all over again, what a scam so are you going to fall for it again!

Here’s a list of things to stock to make sure you are never without good, nutritious food. Some of these are used more sparingly than others.

Tins

Low sugar and low salt baked beans, tinned sweetcorn, tomatoes, tinned fruit (no sugar in their own juice), chick peas, kidney beans, cannelloni beans, tinned tuna, mackerel, salmon, sardines.

For your freezer

Chicken portions and fillets, lower fat beef, pork, lamb, frozen herbs, stir fry vegetables,  frozen blueberries, strawberries, summer fruits, frozen sweetcorn, carrots, mixed veg, broccoli, frozen peas, green beans, real fish fingers, salmon, tuna, cod, tofu

For your fridge

Milk, eggs, cottage cheese, low fat cheese, yoghurt, orange juice, apple juice, hummus, Cooked chicken, turkey pieces, lean beef

Bottles

Vinegar, olive oil, tomato puree, long-life milk, low sugar jam

Flavourings

Cous cous, pesto, balsamic vinegar,  soy sauce, Worcester sauce, curry paste, garlic puree, stock cubes.

Dried items

Wholemeal bread, wholemeal wraps, wholemeal pitta bread. Pasta, wholemeal flour, brown rice, porridge, dried fruit, dried pulses.

Okay, that is out of the way so you can see how important it is to shop properly in the first place.

To get organised for the actual cooking, let’s try the following ways to get your healthy eating actually happening in practice!

Number one

It’s been in the news over the last few months that we throw away an horrendous amount of food every week, which adds up to around £700 a year, so try these ideas to sort that out!

Keep fruit and vegetables in the fridge or freezer so they last longer for example.

Number two

Crush the myth that it’s too expensive to eat healthy. Recent studies show that that a weekly shop of healthy food compared to a weekly shop of processed, fatty and sugary foods varies by JUST 40 PENCE!!

Number three

If you start cooking from scratch, you will save money and make meals you can be sure that will be healthy. You can make simple meals out of only 4 ingredients, in fact there’s many books on the subject.

Number four

We do it in my house now we have two kids, planning your meals for the week is highly important and let’s you plan for what you shop for better.

For example, you can cook a whole chicken instead of using the ready cooked parts already split up for you, much cheaper this way.

With the chicken, you can easily do the following.

This is pasta bake recipe, you can use with chicken, meat, fish, whatever you like tins of any beans of you want for vegetarians (haricot, cannelloni etc) !

Fill two mugs of dried pasta, place it in water and boil pasta as per instructions on pack, whilst the pasta is boiling, place olive oil in a frying pan, chop an onion and one garlic clove into the pan , once that softens, add a tin of chopped tomatoes, and teaspoon of dried mixed herbs, simmer for 5-10 mins and when the pasta is ready, drain the pasta and tip it into the sauce. You can add cooked chicken, tin of tuna, tin of any beans, just mix it up and add black pepper.

You can serve just like this, or place in a baking dish, grate a little cheddar on the top or thin slices of mozzarella and place in an oven for 20 mins at 180 degrees, until cheese is bubbling and golden.

Number 5

If you eat the supermarket brands, they have been shown to have not suffered the price increases that bigger brands have. I’m not bigging up their own brands, but it can save a lot on your weekly shop.

Number 6

Eat seasonal foods. Once you eat foods in season, they are always cheaper and usually have less chemicals added to them, you win all round plus they actually taste nicer!!

Number 7

If you shop later in the day, there are always more bargains on the shelves, the big supermarkets often have scandalous deals on even the most nutritious, and valuable food for your week.

Number 8

Since I started using my freezer, I have saved an awful of money on my shop. Studies have shown that vegetables frozen lose little of their nutritional value, plus you won’t be throwing all that food away all the time!

Number 9

Check your consume by dates. If you buy something today and you have to eat it tomorrow, you’re less likely to actually eat it, which is really a waste of money. Supermarkets are very clever pushing foods to the front of the shelf.

Number 10

Online shopping may not sound like cost-cutting, but it can make sense all round. You are not tempted to eat the rubbish that sometimes confronts you in supermarkets, online offers you the best value that particular day, your shopping remains consistent and you always get the basics/essentials you actually need! I use it all the time now and find it very handy indeed!

Give all of this a go and see how you get on!

Keri

Twitt
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Day 61

I was particularly struck by a speech by president Obama today on health care in Amercia, or the lack of it for the poorest people, and even some middle class people had to now go without it due to the spiralling costs.

This he said, was totally unacceptable to the american people, the land of the free as he said, and that had paid taxes to get enough health care for them and their family. They pay directly for health care out there of course, and it is very much a case of the have’s and the have not’s.

The part that struck me the most was when he stuck to his principle of getting this bill through congress. He said that many, many presidents since Roosevelt had tried to get this bill through, and the idea of it through of health care for all, but had failed miserably each time.

You have the seemingly “evil” health insurance companies slamming up their premiums so that many cannot afford health care, and the “lobbyists” who are trying to “coax” the senator’s not to vote for it. The whole thing has become corrupt of course and a case of big business winning every time. It’s time for chance and i SINCERELY hope the american public get a health service that works for EVERYBODY. Obama is sitcking bravely to his principles, and you have to admire and love that!

We don’t have such issues over here in the UK of course, and we often take the NHS for granted too much for my liking. However, we do have big business trying to hurt us in a different kind of way over here and it’s sugar addiction!

From previous posts on here, you know i have banged on about how much sugar is in everyday foods, and how it is destroying a lot of people’s lives over a period of years! Diabetes, certain cancer’s, heart disease, obesity etc, the list is pretty long!!

Before you think i am over-reacting, ask your doctor next time how many of his patients come in every day due to improper diet and excess sugar consumption. Ask him then how many end up with long term problems that requite our NHS to help them for many years. The answer will stagger you!!

I have banged on here about how cardiovascular disease didn’t even exist until 1912, which coincided with sugar being added to everyday foods in a big way. Big business carried this one in a big way over the last century, particularly the last 40 years WHEN THEY realised sugar was REALLY addictive! Over 40g of refined sugar each day can lead to serious health problems over a longer period of time, let’s cut it back now please for your own good, and hope i didn’t sound too patronising there, i didn’t try i promise you.

There are also studies coming out saying that fast food outlets make your food with less meat these days because they want you to chew less. Chewing less as we all know by now causing us NOT to recognise when we are full, therefore making us eat even MORE food. A clever tactic by them that makes you spend more with them each year.

The fast food people also know that the more sugar they put in your food, the more you are likely to come back due to its addictive nature. An awful lot of money has gone into researching this, and the report appeared in this week’s Guardian under the heading, “HOW THE FAST FOOD COMPANIES ARE GETTING YOU ADDICTED”!

The choices are yours, its a free country after all, but we also have the right to know what choices are out there, and you should be well aware by now that excess refined sugar will ultimately have a seriously negative effect on your health! So what are you going to do about it?!! Or are you going to let all those soulless big companies ruin yours and your family’s health?!!!

Let’s make the right choice and don’t up with all their lies!!

Twitt