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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
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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

Monday, 31st October

Most people think about their training in terms of splitting up body parts, splitting their cardio and weights workouts, splitting up between morning and evening training sometimes.

Then we come to food, some try to split carbs from protein, some try to not eat much in their day so they can drink alcohol in the evening,

Some people split their eating into different diets through the year.

They may  do red and green days for a month (protein on one day, all carbs the next), then they may do the no carb diet just before summer, then they may do a shakes and bars diet for a while, of they are looking for very quick weight loss even if none of these are really sustainable of course!!!

When you split up all of these aspects of your health, your body will suffer because you’re confusing it too much and you’re not allowing it time to settle on a healthy diet with a good amount of nutrients it can rely on every day.

The same thing can happen with your training, if you do just running one week, then just weights the next, your progress will slip back in  both these types of workouts.

These types of workouts should always be included WITH each other in every week you train. You must do resistance/weights AND cardio (run/walk/swim/cycle for example) EVERY week to have good results.

With time seemingly a lot shorter for most these days, IT IS entirely possible to do whole body workouts in EVERY session, and the great news is that the best results are usually from this way of training!

You will burn far more calories per workout, you will break more muscle tissue down (which speeds up your metabolism), you will develop a lot more endurance and become much more of an all round athlete!

The benefits are overwhelming so give your body the best possible chance by employing these methods and your body will appreciate very much the stability you give it!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday 28th October

Being a father of three small children, i still struggle with the demands of lack of sleep and disturbed sleep in particular.

This usually sets off a chain reaction in your body of not burning fat as efficiently, increased hunger and increased lathergy. These are factors that most people can do without, especially in my job!!!

Once you realise what is going on, there are simple and tried and tested ways to get around it.

First thing you have to do, and i have seen this in many, many people of course, is to re-evaluate everything!!

Are you eating breakfast in a healthy way?

Are you eating a good lunch?

Are you eating a good evening meal?

Are all of these meals in sensible portion sizes?

Are you drinking enough water throughout the day?

Have “little snacks” creeped into your day without you noticing?

Are you drinking alcohol more than once a week?

Are you missing workouts?

Are you not training with as much intensity?

Do you have any goals?

Are your clothes not fitting you so well anymore?

Are you having comments off others that you have possibly put weight on?

Are you missing energy in your life?

Are you finishing off your kids meals sometimes?

Have your weekends become one long binge?

Has that “cheat meal” become a “cheat weekend”?

Whichever one of these or if many of these apply to you, then fear not, most of us have experienced some of them if not all!

Simply getting back on to the straight and narrow and sticking to your usual meal times will make a huge difference and cause instant fat loss!

Give it just one week and will see the big difference, give it four weeks and you have a massive difference!!!

Time to look at yourself again and realise its time to get back to your original plan.

Twitt