Thursday, 14th February

Vaentines day and a big day for some, but the person you should be looking after the most (in a HEALTH RELATED way) is yourself!

If you look after your health, you instantly become more attractive to others and here’s why.

If you exercise regularly, then you ought to now have much more energy than when you didn’t train. This helps you to do MORE things in the day, accomplish more AND HELP OTHERS who are the most important people in your life.

If you eat well, you will be helping that energy booting process along tenfold!! If your diet if full of natural foods, then you will be more alert, ready to take any challenge on during the day, and helping yourself recover from exerting yourself all day, again making you more energetic and more ready to help others. You will be less likely to fall ill, and when you are healthy you will be considered the one that peopl can depend on, because of your seemingly endless energy.

If you drink more water, you know you will perform better and be on the top of your game. People will also find you a lot more attractive because your skin is likely to be a lot better, you will have a certain healthy glow about you, and in general if you are well hydrated, then you are very likely not to suffer from mood swings, which is VERY ATTRACTIVE!!!

If you follow these simple things every day, then you are already likely to be fit and therefore far more attractive than if you were some kind of “couch potato” who eats junk all day, and drinks too much alcohol, this is pretty much a CERTAINTY!!!

Spending all the money on flowers and chocolates wont get you that far today, compared to all that effort you have put into looking after yourself which is the best way to attract others on all sorts of levels!!

Tuesday, 12th February

We were talking yesterday about foods that can raise our moods, stop us feeling down and in general make us feel better.

That statement needs to be taken much stronger than you think.

Our moods affect EVERTHING we do, and i see that every day when i deal with people.

If we are in a good mood, we tend to undertake positive activities. We will be keen to do things that benefit us, we will be keener to take on challenges and we will be far more likely to enjoy the process that much more!

If we are in a bad mood for most of the time, then the opposite is true. We tend to go into our shell and not do anything worthwhile. We tend not to want to take on any new challenges, and things become a chore in life, meaning we are less likely to keep those things up.

Moods as you know will be only boosted if you exercise regularly, so exercising should be now an absolute must in your life!

Moods will be boosted greatly with your food selections. Eat more natural foods, fresh when possible, and avoid all of those foods that are highly processed, and you will create a natural buzz in your day, purely from what you put into your mouth!

Moods can be initially boosted by alcohol, BUT will lead to an inevitable crash and alcohol can classed as a depressant. The more you rely on alcohol, the more downward a spiral your life will become.

One forgotten element is sleep, if you do not sleep well, then bad moods are sure to come thick and fast!!

So apart from just “thinking positively”, there are many things you can do to change your mood for the better, leading to a far better result in all areas of your life!!

Friday, 8th February

A funny thing happens when you start exercising.

For example, if you went for a bike ride, a run, a weights session or just a tough hilly walk, then a funny thing happens just as you end your exercise session.

You should know by now that you feel better straight away after exercise. You have a feeling of wellbeing like never before, and this is one of the reasons why you exercise in the first place.

The funny thing that happens is when you eat or drink after exercise.

You may well feel like a big plate of fish and chips afterwards, or alcoholic drink afterwards. Have you actually tried doing this in practice?

Most people i speak to feel like absolute rubbish afterwards, due to the stodge, fat and chemicals in those products i just mentioned.

So you have just done something REALLY GOOD for you in the exercise session, and your body will soon notice that the chips or alcohol, or both rally do not agree with it! Your body is really craving GOOD food, in order to repair itself from all of your hard work!!!

You must realise by now that all of that hot and sweaty work done in your workout deserves good food afterwards, or a lot of that hard work WILL be wasted. Most of us want a good reward for our efforts so try listening to your body, don’t fight your natural instincts and really look after your body interally.

The time for having any alcohol is usually once a week and usually the weekend.

The time for having the fish and chips is a one off and again, most people choose to do it as a treat at the weekend.

This is not a piece about telling you what to do, its about allowing you to make the best choices to complement your workouts, and enable you ultimately to get your best results!!!

Tuesday, 5th February

The power of exercise can never be understated.

I hear strong anecdotal evidence of this all the time.

I was with one lady this morning who has been ill for a couple of weeks, yet today after her first session, she felt so inspired that she has already plannned the rest of the week’s workouts, and she feels fantastic purely because she feels energy coming back in her life for the first time since christmas!

Exercise clearly means a lot to her.

Without seeming like a sexist comment, how many of you have felt like doing the housework after exercising because of the abundance of energy you felt come through your body? I have met a ton of people who felt exactly like this.

How many of you have been a student of some sort, and done markedly better in exams and your studies in general after you discover exercise for the first time. There is more than anecdotal evidence on this, there is scientific evidence on this matter in schools and colleges up and down the country!

How many of you feel low in energy if YOU DO NOT do your workout?!!! I know i do for one!!!

How many of you feel a huge sense of accomplishment if you run up a hill for the first time, especially if you consider most of you probably couldnt even run 30 yards when you first started?!!! These signs and evidence of progress are huge for your self confidence and self esteem, and spur you on to go and achieve even more!!!

How many have you experienced the exercise “high” during your workout? This is very common especially when you are having a great session, and is very much part of why we train. Anything that tends to make us feel better we tend to do more of, this is why workouts should be a normal and regular part of our lives!!!

Friday, 1st February

Cereals and breakfasts in general can be a difficult subject for most, ranging from people who miss breakfasts to those who fall for the cereals to the masses that often come in pretty boxes.

Let’s get the first one out of the way, if you miss breakfast you WILL NOT BE successful in your fat loss and performance targets FULL STOP!

If you think that by missing breakfast, you will lose weight because you’re not eating any food, then that’s totally wrong. You need to eat breakfast to get your metabolism going, the rate at which your body burns calories 24 hours a day. If you miss breakfast, you are giving your metabolism every reason NOT to get going, every reason TO hold on to body fat stores, and you’re creating no incentive for your bodily functions to get going in a normal and healthy way.

Missing breakfast is the VERY worst start to your day.

Then when you go down the supermarket aisles and come to the breakfast choices, you are often faced with seemingly hundreds of cereal boxes! They hve catchy names, some have actually the words “fitness” or playson that word in the title!!

It’s a shame then that this particular one and all of the ones with catchy names or have cool characters on the front, are the ones that are loaded wth sugar and often salt. At least 80% of the cereals on offer are exactly the sugary options you do not want to take up for breakfast.

The ones you want to take notice of and buy are still the all natural ones, the weetabix, the shredded wheat, porridge in particular is wonderful, and free range eggs are fine products too, full of goodness, full of nutrients and full of energy.

Wholemeal toast is fine, just avoid the spread and try chopping a banana and using that as a spread.

You get some people who say do not eat bread, but most people are unlikely to be off it longer term. The trick is to be sensible and have a couple of slices a day, avoid the butter and margarine and eating bread in moderation will be fine.

Eating right matters so keep up the good efforts!!