How to improve your running
03 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness Tags: Charles Poliquin, diet, Eating, High-protein diet, Muscle, Physical exercise, strength training
In case you haven’t noticed I think Charles Poliquin is pretty amazing; he talks a great deal of sense. his blogs are always informative and packed full of research and as soon as I can get on one of his courses the better!
Anyway, rather than make this post in praise of him; its probably better that I let him speak for himself Charles Poliquin.
A really long article but if running is important to you, stick with it – it may just improve your time, technique, stamina etc.
Have a happy Sunday!
x
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Top tips to lose weight
02 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness, Information Tags: Charles Poliquin, diet, Eating, fitness, Health, High-protein diet, strength training, weight loss
We all want to lose weight, and a large number of my clients want to lose it from one place in particular – their waists, stomach, midsection, abs, stomach – call it what you will it amounts to the same thing. It’s the area that weight always seems to settle and the older you get the harder it seems to shift!
So reading Charles Poliquin’s Blog yesterday he was focussing on the best ways to reduce or eliminate fat from this area in particular but, lets face it, if you are eating well and moving more the benefits are going to be felt (and seen) all over your body. With all of that in mind what then are the top tips to shape up?
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The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Don’t Tell You
01 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness, Information Tags: diet, Eating, Health, Livestrong, weight loss
I love having the time and space to be able to catch up on some reading and being able to read some of the great articles and websites 
people have sent me. Here is one such interesting article from the team over at Livestrong.
I love this bit which is something that those of us who want to lose weight would all do well to remember “You need to find a plan that you can sustain. One that keeps you happy, works for your schedule and life, and is sustainable”
“….too many people are either looking for a quick 4-week fix (doesn’t exist), or the one solution that will solve everyone’s problems. Not going to happen…..”
All in all an interesting article, let me know what you think?
Instant Gratification
31 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Information Tags: diet, Health, weight loss
Why as a Society are we so obsessed with finding instant gratification? Take aways, microwave meals, drive through burger 
restaurants, lose weight overnight diets, get fit in 20 minutes, find the man/woman of your dreams online, look like a celebrity by buying this moisturiser?
Why is it so hard for us all to accept that anything good takes more than a few minutes and that all of the quick fixes and instant solutions are never going to be permanent? Most of us already know that nothing beats the flavours of a home cooked meal, made from scratch and with love so why is the ready meal market worth 
billions of pounds per year and why have fast food joints materialised on every High Street across the UK?
We all know that we don’t put weight on overnight, it creeps up on us gradually, month on month, year on year so why, oh why, do we get sucked in by the “lose pounds in 7 days” diet plans, usually back by a Z-list celebrity or reality TV “star”?
As a fitness professional (I love saying that!) the thing I get asked the most is “how can I lose xx pounds by the summer/my holiday / Christmas / my wedding?” And without exception everyone wants it to be easy, they want me to give them the magic recipe that they have been searching for their whole life; they want the pill that will mean the weight falls off overnight, they don’t have to put any effort in but miraculously get fit and for most women, get toned
.
So you sell them the dream that they can lose the weight, they can get fit, they can look great and to start with they are really keen but somewhere down the line reality sets in and they realise that eating healthily is forever whereas a diet is a temporary fix, they realise that they will have to stop drinking / eating chocolate / chips, they realise that they will have to move, do hard exercise, get hot and sweaty and for most people it all gets a bit too hard and they stop. They go back to their “nothing works” mentality, they tell themselves that they have a slow metabolism, they are just too old, its in their genes and the weight creeps back on until they are heavier than when they started and its time to try yet ANOTHER quick fix, fad diet or exercise plan.
I think we will only really get a grip of the obesity issues we have in the UK and across the western world when we start to learn that instant gratification doesn’t work – quick fixes don’t last, quick food isn’t real food, miracle exercise machines are just a marketing gimmick. And lets be honest, the only people getting anything long lasting out of all of the instant gratification markets are the marketing men and the shareholders – its certainly not devised out of any sense of altruism!
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OMG I am actually human!
27 May 2012 2 Comments
in My Training Updates Tags: diet, dieting, Eating, exhaustion, Health, Mindless Eating, relaxing, stress
Its been a really difficult week and I guess if I am honest, there has been a lot of stuff going on in my head for the last few weeks and I think things have finally got a bit too much for me. So, time to take a bit of time away from some of my self-imposed stresses, time to rest, think, sleep and cry!
Today is the first time I have posted for a week and this is the first time I could even begin to think outwards instead of inwards; I have spent so much time the last few days just resting and trying to understand what I feel and why. I have been, and still am, completely physically and mentally exhausted, it seems that despite my careful planning and all my “I’m fine” the stresses were effecting my body and my mind far more that I realised. I am glad I got all the exams, the studying done, glad I have experienced everything I have but perhaps in hindsight I should have staggered my commitments a little more and allowed myself a little more time to stay on top on family stuff.
But what have I learnt? How has it all affected my body, my health, my mind? What lessons are there I can take from all of this?
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Weird diet plans
26 Apr 2012 4 Comments
in My Training Updates Tags: Calorie, Calorie restriction, diet, Diets, Eating, Food faddism, Health, Healthy diet, Very-low-calorie diet, weight loss
It never ceases to amaze me how many people have strange ideas of what constitutes a healthy diet or views on what they should eat to
lose weight…..the weirdest one around me at the moment is the idea that putting a sheet of gelatin in a cup of tea will provide all the nutrients needed and will help to lose weight!
Over the years I have heard so many of these from the juice only diet, the 7-in-7 diet, very low-calorie diets and the common factors in very single one is
- they didn’t work
- people lasted about three days before giving up and then hating themselves for failing
Part of the problem, as we all know, are the digitally enhanced images making the before pictures look worse and the after pictures look better. Combined with a sensationalist spin that makes people believe that they don’t need to do ANYTHING ELSE, that this diet is a magic bullet that will fix years of overeating, and people are sucked into wanting to belive it will work, that this time it will be different…. Everyone forgets that they didn’t just put the weight on overnight, it took months or years to gain the weight and it will take at least the same amount of time to lose it.
The diet and media industries have played on people’s insecurities, weakness and self-esteem issues for years and have a vested interest in maintaining the belief that fad diets work – after all its a multi million dollar industry making large corporations huge amounts of profits. The latest news in the UK is that Weight Watchers are to open a chain of high street shops – hmm are they doing that out of some altruistic thought process? I think not.
The thing that intrigues me is the thought processes people go through to convince themselves that the gelatin diet, or the cabbage soup diet etc actually work and how they equate that with what they really know and understand about food, nutrition and what they actually eat. It’s all very well convincing yourself that gelatin is the best thing ever but if you are still consuming vast quantities of processed foods and doing no exercise at all, surely somewhere deep inside there must be a recognition that it can’t possibly work?
Or are diets just a triumph of hope over experience?!
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Food Trends…..What’s In, What’s Out
21 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Diet and Nutrition, My Training Updates Tags: Beef, Charles Poliquin, Convenience food, diet, Eating, Fat, food, Free range, Meat, nutrition, Organic food
On the back of yesterday’s post on Food, Nutrition and Diets I thought I would look a bit further and came across my old favourite Charles Poliquin who has mulled over the concept of food trends
Interesting to read another voice advocating eating good quality protein etc. Having recently discovered the taste difference in grass-fed beef, on that basis alone for me, it a clear win for grass-fed but I do know and accept that the cost differential for most people is sufficient to prevent them from eating grass-fed all of the time. To be honest in these straightened times it would be difficult for me to push eating organic foods, free range, grass-fed etc as I know that despite the taste and health benefits when it comes to feeding your family some principles have to be compromised.
But where possible, eat organic, or grass-fed – the taste is so much better, the welfare of the animals is considered and the positive impact on your health and well-being shouldn’t be underestimated.
Despite everything we THINK we know, not all fats are bad and all healthy diets should include an element of fat. Fat make us feel full, a reasonable amount of good fats in a diet ensures we feel satiated after every meal and a mixed, balanced diet will provide the nutrients to ensure we don’t constantly eat or crave junk.
I agree with Poliquin’s comments about eating foods that are in season, its something I have been saying for ages. Apart from the 
health benefits we should know where our foods come from, we should be aware of the environmental impact of shipping our vegetables half way round the world and the chemicals that have to be sprayed onto them to keep them looking appetising when they land at our local supermarket.
His comments on processed foods echo my post – as far as I am concerned we should all be avoiding as much processed food as possible. How can we expect to be healthy or to lose weight when we constantly cram processed and chemically enhanced foodstuff into our bodies? There really is a link between what we eat and how we look and feel.
And as for the suggested carb revival – do people still really believe that carbs are good for you? Oh yes, I forgot even our own government promotes a healthy diet as one that is based on starchy carbs including brad ad potatoes…..and gets away with it!
To reiterate what I said yesterday; eat the best quality real food you can afford, eat a balanced varied diet, avoid processed foods, toxins and grains.
Time to get off my soap box I think….!
Related articles
- Grocery Guide: Buying meat (nathanwjackson.wordpress.com)
- Why Grass-fed Beef Costs More and is worth it! (gauchoranchgrillboutique.wordpress.com)
- Isn’t All Grass Fed Beef the Same? (livingbeyondorganicmom.wordpress.com)
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Principles of Nutrition, Diet and Food
20 Apr 2012 2 Comments
in Diet and Nutrition, My Training Updates Tags: Calorie, Calorie restriction, diet, food, Health, High-protein diet, nutrition, Vegetable, weight loss
This started out as a summary in the same way as I did in my post Principles of Movement but it got longer and longer!
Calories
For too many years we have all concentrated solely on calories – anyone wanting to lose weight is familiar with the concept that in order to lose weight the equation must be ‘energy in < energy out’. How many people out there (me included) can rattle of the calorie content of half a dozen items? Everyone knows that in order to lose weight we must have a low-calorie diet, right?
Wrong.
It is so much more than calories in versus energy out – the quality of the food we eat is incredibly important, more so than I think we generally realise.
If we clean up our diets and eat healthily our bodies won’t be craving starches, chocolate, caffeine; if we ate healthily the amount of energy we consume (calories) would, in general, take care of itself; if we eliminated the junk from our diets and ate REAL food (i.e. not processed) we wouldn’t need to worry about counting calories.
Let me give you an example; we are all familiar with the concept of eating a low-calorie yoghurt, something that has had the fat removed or at least drastically reduced. In order to make it palatable and therefore something people will buy, they have to replace the fat with something else – that something is usually sugar or a sugar substitute. So although the low-calorie yoghurt may be low-fat and fall under a defined calorie figure, the carb content from sugar will be much higher than if it had been unadulterated.
And lets just say, I would much rather know what I am eating rather than consume quantities of chemically engineered sweetener whose long-term impact on the human body has still to be determined.
So, in simple terms stop counting calories; improve the QUALITY of the food you eat long before you adjust the quantity.
Gluten Grain
In my opinion, grains are bad. Put very simply, from an evolutionary point of view we did not evolve to eat grain; in terms of human evolution the cultivating of grain and the processes thereafter are a relatively recent phenomenon and it is no small coincidence that we cannot digest grain in its purest form, it has to be processed in some way to allow us to digest it.
In more recent history we worked out how to mill grain into much finer flour and the ability to create large quantities of white bread was born; today grain is processed and stripped of any nutritional benefit such that we have to fortify it to gain any real benefit.
Apart from my reluctance to eat such processed food stuffs that are a million miles away from real foods the body treats all such starches as sugar and the resulting impact on blood sugar levels and potential fat storage gives me even more reason to stay away from all sources of grain. There is, in short, no nutritional benefit in gluten grains apart from as a source of energy – we can find much better, more nutritious sources than that in a varied, healthy diet.
So, in short if I was to sum up my diet/nutrition principle for grains it would be;
- Dont eat any bread
- No bread products
- No pasta
- No products made from flour
Fruit and Vegetables
Fruit and vegetables are good aren’t they? We can all eat as much as we want of fruit and veg can’t we? Umm no, we can’t. Unfortunately not all fruit and vegetables are created equal and some are definitely much better than others.
Starchy vegetables – tubers, stuff that grows underground. These are converted by the body as sugar and where there is a source of sugar the body will use that as a source of energy, which is fine if you are at a healthy weight but no good for the majority of the population that could do with losing a pound or ten! Simple rule, no starchy veg.
Green leafy veg are good, a healthy source of vitamins, minerals and fibre but we shouldn’t limit our vegetable intake to only green leafy veg. Make sure your diet comprises a wide variety of different coloured vegetables to be sure to get the full complement of vitamins and minerals. A mixture of different coloured vegetables as part of a healthy diet will provide a good nutritional intake and will help stop cravings.
Fruit – everyone assumes that fruit is an unlimited product, that we can eat as much as we want with no real impact but why do we think fruit tastes so good? Could it be any chance be the natural sugars? Theres the clue to why we should limit our intake of fruit – SUGAR!
Eat some real fruit by all means but not six oranges at a time and make sure you eat some protein too – a banana with some almonds or an apple and some walnuts. Both are yummy and make an appearance as part of my snack regime from time to time.
Protein
Protein, one of my favourite subjects! I am a complete convert to the idea of eating more protein and I love my meat, eggs and fish. Most people don’t eat anywhere near enough good protein and as far as I am concerned all meals or snacks should comprise an element of carbs (veg, fruit etc) and protein (meat, fish, eggs, nuts).
We eat breakfast cereal (hello grain again!) not because it’s some essential nutrient for our bodies but because we have become socialised to believe that it is an acceptable thing to do – the socialisation has happened because of the power of advertising and the power / money the grain and breakfast cereal companies have.
Breakfast should, as far as I am concerned, be protein based. It will set you up for the rest of the morning, make you feel full, avoid cravings and is full of all round yumminess. But to be honest we should all be eating good sources of lean protein every day – and a carb and salt/sugar heavy Big Mac really doesn’t count!
There have been so many studies that show that all the scare stories about high protein diets are simply that – scare stories. This is one that I came across today Higher Protein Diets that confirms that and also addresses the influence of large companies whose income is derived from carb based products and who influence the media position on protein.
Water
Surely by now we all know that we should drink more water? Can there be anyone left who doesn’t know that we don’t drink enough water – not cola, not squash, tea or coffee but water? Water is a fundamental building block of our bodies after all what is it that we are all comprised of?
Yet many many people don’t drink anywhere near enough and supplement their lack of fluids with chemically processed and sweetened drinks – the answer I always get is ‘I don’t like plain water’. Hello, it’s not as if we came out of the womb with an inbuilt taste for cappuccino, tea or Cola – they are products we grew to like because again we have been socialised that they are acceptable beverages. The power of marketing yet again.
It’s quite simple – drink more WATER. Add lemon or lime but drink more water and consume less toxins – which means less coffee, tea, caffeinated drinks, chemically sweetened drinks and definitely less alcohol
Toxins and Processed Foods
Which brings me neatly onto the subject of toxins and processed foods. There is absolutely nothing good to be found in processed food. End of.
The nutritional value is limited, the salt, sugar and additives ratio is beyond belief and at the end of the day I would rather know what I was putting into my body and have some control over it than hand responsibility over to a multi national with a questionable view of what is healthy.
Lets be honest, large supermarkets or manufacturers do not have a vested interest in getting you healthy – their interest is solely down to the bottom line and if they can persuade you that what you are eating is ‘healthy’ by using dubious logics or statistics they will do so.
Cut out processed foods completely. Eat real food, prepared yourself at home, using real ingredients. Source real, local ingredients that havent been treated to keep them green, use foods that are in season and not flown half way round the world in some chemical artificially induced stagnation.
Real food, local, in season ingredients. Know where your food comes from – and I dont mean which branch of Tesco!
Eat regularly – don’t let yourself get hungry
Anyone on a “diet” knows that the worst thing is that you (a) obsess over what you can’t eat and (b) are either worried about being hungry or ARE constantly hungry. If we all ate a healthy balanced diet, rich in natural sources of protein, fats, good carbs and got plenty of vitamins and minerals we wouldn’t BE hungry!
Dont skip breakfast (how many people think it doesn’t matter?), your body needs a good healthy breakfast to kick-start your metabolism; eat regular meals of real food and notice how your cravings diminish.
Eat well, eat real food and notice how much better your body feels, how much sharper you are mentally. And the weird thing is that the weight will drop off as well!
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Primal / Paleo – a revolution or a passing fad?!
13 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in My Training Updates Tags: diet, Dietary Options, Health, Lifestyle, nutrition, Paleo, weight loss
The more I have read in recent months the more times I have come across Primal or Paleo and whilst I am intrigued by the simplistic evolutionary logic behind it, the sceptic in me cannot help but wonder is this just another passing fitness/health/diet/nutrition craze?
We have all seen the news stories about how eating red meat “kills”, how increased levels of meat and fats causes CHD and that despite all the evidence to suggest otherwise, Government advice continues to suggest we should base our diet on starchy carbs. All it will take is one persistent scare story or statistic to scare the horses and being Primal or Paleo will suddenly be seen as the worst possible diet choice you can make and heaven forbid anyone should fee their children like that!!
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When one size doesn’t fit all!
11 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness Tags: diet, fitness, Health, Metabolic Effect, Personal trainer, Personal Training, weight loss
Over the last few months I have been reading voraciously (I love that word!) about diet, health and fitness and have begun to develop my own really strong opinions about the advice given to the general public, about what makes a good, healthy diet and about the shocking state of the foods we routinely feed our families, old and young.
Working with clients has made me think again about the advice I give out to people and how my own view on what is healthy colours what I tell clients, so it was interesting to read this article Why One-Size-Fits-All Diets Do Not Work » Metabolic Effect Blog. The whole concept of ”one size fits all” is something I feel really strongly about especially in relation to health and fitness; one size fits all diet plans, one size fits all exercise plans or one size fits all resistance machines – they all assume everyone has the same range of movement, is the same size, has the same needs and the same goals and we all know that that simply isn’t true.
I have felt for some time now that part of the reason people get so disheartened when they diet or decide to change their life is that their decision is usually based on something they read or something a friend or family member told them; they decide to try whatever plan is the next craze and then wonder why it didn’t work for them. One size really doesn’t fit all and for me, that goes for Personal Training too.
Not all clients are the same, not all bodies react the same way so why do so many trainers persist in dishing out the same fitness plans, the same diet plans and even, worst of all, the same exercises to all clients? There has to be a better way to help our clients get fit, be healthy, eat well, lose weight and any of the million other goals they all have - I read something earlier today about PTs thinking outside the box and I think now I have a little clear space in my life I need to work on what type of trainer I really want to be. Do I want to be the same as every other PT, getting as many one on one clients a day as I can, taking the money, delivering an ok-ish service or do I want to offer more? Better service, more bespoke, more results driven?
I think the answer is pretty obvious – how to do all of that is the tricky part!
