Christmas time...Mistletoe and Wine!

Christmas is a time for friends, family, laughter and of course EXTREME gluttony! With the cold weather outside and the warm spread of food inside it is difficult not to resist that extra mince pie or glass of mulled wine. To help your body deal with the indulgences of Christmas try out some of my natural remedies to help kick your digestive system back into first gear:

Caffeine-free teas can reduce an uncomfortable, bloated system. They are warm and soothing making them they perfect remedy on a cold winter’s morning. Try:
* Peppermint - Used for centuries to ease the digestive system, peppermint helps ease the bloat caused by trapped wind and soothes indigestion.

* Chamomile - With anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties, the calming effects of this tea also help relieve stress, which is often linked to digestive problems.

* Hot water and lemon- a simple drink to alleviate digestive distress, support liver detoxification, normalize digestive juices, and reduce intestinal bloating. Lemon activates the liver to release toxins and helps to cleanse and move any roughage that stays behind in the intestines. Mix half of a juiced lemon with eight ounces of warm water. Drink upon waking on an empty stomach.

* Hot water and fresh ginger slices – Ginger is known for its anti-nausea properties making it a great ‘morning after the night before’ drink to soothe a food and drink hangover!

Green juices are packed with nutrition to enable the release of stored toxins throughout the system. Green juices can cleanse your digestive system, helping to move things along while providing an extra dose of readily available nutrients. Start with vegetables that are gentle on your system like celery and cucumbers, adding a little apple to sweeten things up. Introduce spinach and kale for a super powered nutritional green juice!

Natural enzymes- Pineapples contain the digestive enzyme bromelain, and papayas contain papain. These natural enzymes support the digestive system in breaking down and absorbing nutrients from the foods we eat. Consuming the fresh juice from these fruits can help relieve gas, upset stomach and occasional constipation and diarrhea.

Aloe Vera – This adaptogenic wonder plant will reduce inflammation in your gut and help to repair and soothe your digestive lining. The gelatinous properties of the Aloe Vera gel allow it to bind to the toxins in your gut and remove them from your system. These toxins are usually kept safe in your system as your body surrounds them with a layer of fat, so eliminating toxins with the gel means less fat storage! Ideal!

Spices- As well as adding ginger to your tea, try adding it to a fresh vegetable stir fry too. Not only does it add a great flavor but will also stimulate digestion by speeding up the movement of food from the stomach into the small intestine. Widely used all over the world for many digestive disturbances, ginger has been found to soothe the digestive lining and balance gastric juices, making it a great remedy for overeating.

Naturally fermented- Naturally high in probiotics, foods such as milk kefir provide beneficial enzymes that increase the digestibility of any food. This enhances lactic acid which in turn promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestines as well as preventing the growth of harmful bacteria and increasing nutrient absorption.

Now I’m not encouraging over-indulgence over the Christmas period but I pride myself on being a REALIST nutritionist who can fit healthy living around YOUR lifestyle. So, try to resist those excessive temptations but do treat yourself to the odd mince pie or smoked salmon breakfast and just make sure you KEEP ACTIVE during the festive period. Now get out there, have fun and don’t neglect your sensitive digestive system this Christmas.

Strong is the new Skinny

STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY - Bones are out, toned is in!

This is my mantra, and I am out to spread it. Before I start the main thing I need to clear up is that strong means strong, it doesn’t mean big. Many women shy away from strength training as they think it will make them big and ‘manly’. Understandable, as recent images of Jodie Marsh flexing her biceps are enough to put any woman off ducking under the squat rack and guzzling down a protein shake!

But what women don’t realise is that Jodie Marsh trained to be a body builder. Training for strength is different. It also takes a considerable amount of hard work and never faltering dedication to get a body like that. Women have lower levels of testosterone than men so we are not programmed to develop big muscles. Women also tend to follow a diet that teeters on a calorie deficit. Without force feeding yourself extra helpings of protein in an attempt to keep your body loaded with muscle building amino acids you are unlikely to gain bulky muscle mass.

If you go into a gym what do you see? A cardio area full of women and a free weights area full of men? This needs to change! How many women have you seen regularly working out in the cardio section of the gym? They are dedicated; they will be there week in week out. BUT have you ever seen their physique change shape? Excessive cardio can put your body in a stressful situation. It wears down your muscle and can lead to injury and weakness. Just look at the difference between Paula Radcliffe’s physique and that of our Olympic star Jess Ennis….who would you rather look like?

Strength training gives you shape. It creates a lean, toned looking body. A body that can take on whatever life has to throw at it.

Still need more convincing? Well, here’s a summary of the benefits of strength training:

-          A stronger skeleton. Strength training will help to maintain and boost your bone density meaning you are less at risk of developing brittle bones and osteoporosis later in life. This is particularly important for women as after the menopause the protective effects of oestrogen on our bone health is lost and we need to give our skeletal system a helping hand.

-          Increase metabolism. Muscle is metabolically active so the more you have, the greater your metabolic needs. You know what that means ladies….starter, main course AND desert anyone?

-          Helps you to lose weight and keep it off. Not only will strength training increase your metabolism but it will keep it elevated for an extended period of time even when you are not working out! This makes managing your weight a heck of a lot easier. You may have been told that cardio torches fat, but the minute you step of the treadmill this fat burning process stops. Strength train and gain muscle mass however, and your ‘after-burn’ from a workout will remain elevated while your sat at your desk in the office. Cardio can burn into muscles but strength training will burn into fat!

-          Injury prevention. By strengthening the muscles supporting your joints you can help prevent injuries by maintaining good form and posture, as well as strengthening joint integrity. No more knee ache on your morning run.

-          Improve functional strength. Day to day activities will seem a lot easier. I’m all for men being gentlemen and offering to carry my heavy bag but what happens when no one else is around to help? Life is hard enough without a heavy handbag also weighing you down.

So ladies, hit the spot button on that treadmill and take a look around your free weights area next time you head to the gym. If you are unsure of how to begin speak to one of the Personal Trainers in your gym or contact one in your local area to show you how you can also strength train outside or in the home. For more help and guidance please contact me at Lindsay@purelifestyles.co.uk and follow me on Twitter @Pure_Lifestyles for more healthy tips! J

Sex or Bread?

Sex or Bread?

(well now that caught your attention!)

If you had the choice to have sex or eat bread what would you choose..?

If you just screamed "sex!":

1) Apologize to your surrounding co-workers,

2) High-five your partner, and
3) Ask yourself why so many others would choose bread, pasta, and pizza

Where am I going with this you might be wondering….well…

Gluten sensitivity is on the rise like no other food intolerance. It is not just an issue for people diagnosed with Celiac disease as a very large portion of the population still react negatively when they eat gluten (NCGS: Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitive).

For many people eating even a small amount of gluten means bloating, cramps, and diarrhea... just to name three common symptoms ( ...so sex is off the menu for now then!)

Yet you'll still hear people say "I know I'm going to pay for this later, but I can't resist," and they proceed to dig into the bread basket.

At this point we all irrefutably know that the majority of the population is addicted to food - but that addiction seems to remain prevalent even when they are medically diagnosed with a food intolerance which is linked to sensations of pain or discomfort every time they eat it.

What makes someone opt for pain for hours or days just for an immediate satisfaction that lasts a few seconds? What can we call that other than true addiction?

Food addiction: We get it. But can foods that cause pain still be better than having sex?

Leicester General Hospital carried out a study on this topic and came up with the following conclusions: "There is now substantial evidence that a gluten allergy is associated with infertility both in men and women. Hyperprolactinaemia is seen in 25% of coeliac patients, which causes impotence and loss of libido."

Another study: "... sexual dysfunction and abnormalities of semen quality was determined in 28 consecutive males with coeliac disease... Of the married coeliacs, 19% had infertile marriages, a value greater than expected in the general population."

People that know this information and are affected STILL eat gluten or as they call it: "cheat." Cheat and suffer the inevitable consequences. The worst part is that someone who is gluten sensitive and hasn't yet triggered Celiac disease can actually prevent the trigger just by making some dietary changes - and yet many people wait until it's too late; maybe because they don’t realize the true implications of what they are doing to their bodies.

 It is not just your sex life you need to be concerned about either. Each hit of gluten in your intestinal tract will produce an inflammatory response as your body fights what it detects as a ‘foreign body’. This reaction is what causes the nasty side effects such as bloating and cramps after ingestion of gluten-containing foods. Inflammation is a leading cause of many diseases and although your effects may only last for a few hours – maybe only half an hour- think of the buildup over time. A hit of inflammation after that sandwich for lunch…every day…365 days a year….that leads to CHRONIC inflammation which spells bad news for your poor digestive tract!

However – do not panic, there is a solution if it’s not too late! Gluten withdrawal and correction of deficient dietary elements can lead to a return of fertility both in men and women and a reduction in gut inflammation. Please contact me if you are experiencing negative side effects after eating gluten. A word of advice to all (my nutritional clients have heard this one before!) – ALOE VERA GEL will help to reduce inflammation in your gut and help heal the gut lining from previous abuse. Taken on a daily basis this miracle gel can help your body deal with a whole host of attacks – including those from gluten. Please speak to me if you want to start on a course of Aloe Vera and I can provide you with the best gel on the market at the moment.

So – what will it be…..sex or bread….?!  J

Re-wire your mind-set to take control over your diet

My first instruction for you today – Recognise that everything you eat is your own choice. Take responsibility for what you eat.

Now there’s a double headed sword! - On one hand, that means you have chosen to eat the things that got you to the body you have right now. If you aren’t happy with your body, that realization can be tough to handle. But on the other hand – the fact that you have the absolutely final say in what you eat is liberating. No one will pin you down and force Dairy Milk down your throat. You have the power to choose what and how much you eat, and with the right choices you can change your body.

This may seem obvious, but people often don’t accept responsibility for their food choices. People sometimes can blame others or the situation they were in. Ever said - “I had to eat _______, it’s all that was available there/I was starving/I didn’t have time to eat lunch“, etc. The truth is, you had the option to not eat _____, to make time for a real meal, or to bring food with you and not rely on someone else to provide food for you. Accepting responsibility for every bite that goes in your mouth is a big step forward.

Ok, now to the next instruction for you…You can eat anything you want. Anything.

Are you attempting to lose weight by declaring certain foods as off-limits, or telling yourself that you “should not” or “must not” eat them? You’ll want to rethink that.

By restricting yourself, you will ignite your natural, inborn resistance.

Eating a cookie on occasion does not make someone overweight. But what makes someone overeat cookies, not stopping at one or two, several times a week? Restriction. Restrict anything and you create an environment of scarcity in your mind. That’s Economics 101. A commodity which is scarce becomes more valuable. So now the forbidden item looks even better to you. This might cause you to think about it more often and creates a bad relationship – maybe even obsessive relationship- between you and this food. In addition to inflating the perceived value of the forbidden food, there’s a little rebellious streak in all of us. It’s invigorating, exhilarating even, to break a rule, even if it’s your own.

So now you’ve doubled the prize of eating the forbidden food: it’s built up in your mind to be the Best Stuff Ever and it makes you feel a little badass for doing it. I hope you see where this is going: A restrictive mind-set will not only make you fixate on and eventually eat the very items you’re trying to reduce, but when you do eat them, you’re likely to go headfirst into a massive quantity. Because after all, it’s rare and valuable and you won’t allow yourself to have it again for a long long time so you better get a lot in…

If you’ve ever had an experience with binge eating, recall it. Did it follow a time period of restriction or sticking to a very regimented diet? For many people, it does. The more drastic the restriction, the more binge-triggering it is. And the worst thing we can do after a binge is the most common response: following it up with another period of restriction to “make up for it”. If you’d like to break this cycle, it is a worthy challenge to not view any food as off limits.

What’s the alternative if nothing is off limits? What would keep me from eating junk all day?

If you think you only want to eat chocolate and chips, it may be because you aren’t allowing yourself to eat chocolate and chips.

My advice is to experiment: allow yourself to eat whatever you want, chicken or carrots or carrot cake, just eat it mindfully, and savour it. When you know you’ll still be free tomorrow to have whatever you want, you may be shocked to find you don’t in fact want the whole tub of ice cream or cake for every meal. More than 90% of the time you’ll probably want healthy food that nourishes you and tastes good, that gives you energy and not indigestion. When you aren’t attributing an artificial value to sweets by restricting them, you can let yourself discover that you actually only want them every now and then.

Think of a food right now that you know distances you from your goals, perhaps one that you have told yourself you “must not” or “cannot” eat. Could you instead accept that you are allowed to eat that food, yet you choose not to because you want your goals more? The action (not eating the food) is exactly the same as if you had just declared it off limits and stuck to it – but the mind-set is different.

When entering a restaurant do you say to yourself “Okay, no meals with no cheese and no fried stuff, no desert and no meats that aren’t organic. You’re not allowed to have any of those.” When you look at the menu it becomes an experience of limitation and restriction. Feeling like this can make you likely to fight back in some way, and sooner or later “give in” and break all of your ‘rules’.

Reminded yourself that whatever your goal is, it is your choosing, and there is a reason you have chosen it. Check in with yourself- is this still a valuable goal for you? Or would you rather choose the deep fried fish and chocolate gateaux? Because you are free to do either. Just remember the reasons you want to do both and I think you’ll find the reasons you want your goal are much more powerful than the reasons why you want the gateaux.

So implement these two pointers into your mind-set and start loving your diet rather than restricting it.

-      Take responsibility for your food choices.

-      Rather than telling yourself that you “can’t” or “shouldn’t” eat certain things, acknowledge that you could in fact eat any of them, but you CHOOSE to eat more of some and less of others.

The incredible power of nutrition

I’m not sure if any of you have ever heard of Jessica Richards’ story but it is remarkable and so I wanted to tell you all about it today. It hasn’t really been highlighted in main stream media, not in a positive light anyway, as many people turn their nose up at what she did. But I think her story is just another step forward to nutrition becoming the medicine of today and making people realize the power their nutrition has on their own health and future quality of life.

Jessica Richards is a former model. After learning that she had an unusually large tumor in one of her breasts, Richards was told by her doctors that she would need to begin an aggressive treatment protocol that involved removing the breast, having it reconstructed, and undergoing an intense series of radiation and hormone treatments to keep it at bay. Knowing a bit about the toll this would take on her body, Richards decided to take a different route – very brave!

Rather than follow in the footsteps of the millions of others who have lost their lives during the cutting, burning, and poisoning, Richards made the personal, informed decision to naturally fight breast cancer by switching to a strict metabolic diet and feed her body a plethora of cancer-fighting nutrients, and cutting out a host of cancer-causing foods and substances. In her book ‘The topic of Cancer’, she writes:

"The cancer consultant who'd done my ultrasound scans said my tumor was so large I'd need accelerated chemotherapy for several months. He said I would almost certainly need a mastectomy or at least a large lumpectomy with significant reconstruction, my lymph nodes removed, radiotherapy and five years of hormone-altering drugs after that."

After researching alternative options, Richards decided to focus on alkaline over acid foods and eliminate all dairy and sugar from her diet, including most fruits, and instead eat lots of vegetables, short grain rice, quinoa and linseeds, and take high doses of vitamin C intravenously. After just three weeks of starting this regimen scans showed that Richards' tumor had essentially "gone to sleep," and was in the process of regressing.
After several months of adhering to her strict diet, which she admits has not always been easy, Richards was told by her consultant radiologist that her tumor was effectively breaking down in the same way as it would with intensive chemotherapy, except without all the organ damage and other deadly side effects. A little over a year after first being diagnosed with cancer, Richards was able to stop her intravenous vitamin C injections and not long after that was told that she was completely healthy, and would not have to return for a checkup for another year.
WOW – just think about that for a few minutes….then reassess what you are feeding your own body.

Why can't I lose weight?

Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

Losing weight and burning fat DOES NOT have to be a losing battle! You have more control over it than you think.
Small tweaks can make a BIG difference.
Here are a few reasons why you’re not seeing the results you’d like:

You’re not strength training. Often, people who are not losing weight don’t do strength training. The more lean, sleek muscle you have, the faster your resting metabolism is because muscle is the body’s most metabolically active tissue.

You’re not exercising in a way that forces your body to adapt. The adaptive response requires energy; it raises your body’s energy needs. The body will then dig into stored fat for this energy.
If you’ve been strength training and the weight hasn’t been coming off, it may be because you’re not doing much more than merely going through the motions.

There’s the story of a heavy-set woman who was doing body weight squats. A trainer waltzed over, knelt beside her, said “Hi” with a smile, then handed her two 10 pound dumbells (one for each hand).
The woman’s mouth fell open, but the trainer said, “You’re going to do eight reps of your squats but this time you’re going to hold a 10 lb dumbbell on each side.”
“I can’t do it with that weight!”
“Oh yes you can. Trust me. You’re going to complete all eight reps.”
The woman said her goal was to lose weight, but nothing was happening despite regular workouts. She began her squats, and it wasn’t easy. She had to fight her way to the eighth rep, but she completed eight full repetitions.
The trainer said, “Now that’s the way every set should feel. Apply this effort level to all of your sets for every exercise. You won’t lose weight if you keep doing something your body is efficient at. You must do something that forces you to struggle. Struggling begets weight loss.”
A month later the woman reported having dropped an entire dress size.
Moral of this true story: Exercises that require you to push harder will burn fat and spark weight loss, especially when paired with sensible eating.

You eat mindlessly. Every little sample and nugget counts. One tablespoon of gravy is 100 calories. A “little bit here and there” adds up. Avoid eating when you’re focused on other things, such as watching TV or you’re on the computer.

You drink diet drinks. Artificial sweeteners often trigger hunger and mess up your metabolism.

Too many processed foods. These trigger hunger, and too much white sugar and high fructose corn syrup will get stored as fat.

You skip breakfast. Breakfast, even if it’s only a cup of yogurt, tends to tame later-day appetite. Skipping it can make you feel entitled to overeat later on.

You hold onto the treadmill. This has got to be one of the most weight-loss-sabotaging habits out there. The body has absolutely no reason to burn more fat in response to make-believe walking.
Instead, pump the arms and get winded to force your body to adapt. Remember, the body won’t adapt to something that it’s very efficient at doing (e.g., walking while holding onto something for support).

You don’t do HIIT: high intensity interval training. This form of cardio blasts fat.

Inconsistent exercise habits. Regular exercise means the difference between success and failure. Even if you’re doing everything right in the gym, consistency is the MOST important thing.

Poor sleeping habits. Research shows that under six hours of sleep and over nine are strongly linked to excess body fat.

Too much daytime napping. Excessive inertia means a slowed metabolism to accommodate it.

Before you give up review your lifestyle habits to find out what can be modified to promote fat loss.
Contact me today and i can help you get there!

Probiotics: part 2- the good from the bad

Just remembered my past blog on probiotics promised to give you all more information on how to wheedle out the good supps from the bad. I got highly distracted with my angry rant on the OMG diet and never followed this up…so here we go…

So the current market for probiotics is very confusing to most consumers. You can choose from a wide array of products all making claims on their different strains, species, billions counts, shelf stability and so on. And all of these products can also come in different forms - probiotic capsules, pills, yoghurts, drinks, even chewing gum and chocolate! So what do you pick? What’s actually important? Read on for some basic tips when choosing:

1. Avoid the yoghurt drinks- especially if you want to watch your waistline or if you have diabetes; as the levels of sugar in these 'health' drinks can be very high. Leading probiotic yoghurt drinks contain more sugar than fizzy drinks; and the sugar-free options contain artificial sweeteners that will mess up your metabolism.

2. Count the number of bacteria. The gut is home to roughly 100 trillion bacteria. So it’s best to go for a supplement offering at least 15 billion live microorganisms, as opposed to a few million. Look for the potency at time of expiration as the bacteria will degrade in the bottle. However, pay close attention to the strains as it will not be beneficial to take 30 billion probiotics per day if the probiotics have not met more important criteria, for example the ability to survive stomach acidity, and to bind to the gut wall lining.

3. Do not fall for the 'Time of Manufacture Guarantee.” Whilst this appears to be a good statement what this really means is that the number of billions stated on the pack is actually the number of billions that existed in the product when it was made. As bacteria are of a delicate nature, this count will certainly drop as the product sits on the shelf, or even in the fridge. So look for the numbers at the expiration date stated instead.

4. How many strains? I would recommend buying multi strain probiotics as different strains naturally reside in different areas of the gut so taking more than one will support a larger area of your gut rather than just the small intestine for example. Different strains also have different survival rates and health benefits so a mixture can provide optimal results.  On the other hand, if you are looking at a product with a huge amount of different strains, be wary that various strains can actually 'cannibalise' each other within a capsule. Make sure you are going for a reputable company with an expertise in probiotic & prebiotic supplements - they should have tested the strains to make sure they can survive together.

6. Get the correct strains for you. Research on probiotics consistently shows results that different strains will have different effects on the body. For example, Bifidobacterium infantis is a great probiotic species for children, and is thought to play a key role in immunity. It will naturally settle in the large intestine, however, so it is not an ideal probiotic to be taking for a patient on antibiotics (who will be losing vast numbers of probiotics from the small intestine.) Try to find a probiotic supplement that is tailored for your health condition, rather than a general product that is marketed to everyone – again, this situation highlights the benefits of a multi-strain probiotic.

7. Make sure there is research. Do your research and make sure they have done theirs - reliable probiotic supplements should be backed up with HUMAN clinical trials - and these trials should be available for you to read. One place to start your research is with the UK company OptiBac Probiotics. They specialize in probiotics & prebiotics and have developed a range of probiotics targeting specific health conditions by using specific probiotic strains.

Any further questions or help on finding a supplement, or just want me to check out yours before you buy, email me the details over and I’ll be happy to help.

Women!: Taking the pill and feeling lethargic?...read on.

Many people report un-wanted side effects from taking the oral contraceptive pill. One thing that quite a few women mention is that they feel tired and lacking in energy a lot of the time. Despite various other factors that can lead to this, your contraceptive pill could be one major factor.  

It has been shown that there is a link between taking the pill and depletion of vitamin B6. Along with the rest of the B-complex vitamins, Vitamin B6 has an important role in the generation of energy in your body. It also helps immune function, protein metabolism and is involved in over 100 enzymatic reactions that take place within the body.

Long term deficiency in B6 can cause lack of energy, depression, decreased brain function and higher levels of homocysteine (linked to heart disease).

Taking oral contraceptives can stem to a whole host of negative effects on the body, depending on the individual, and nutritional supplementation becomes almost a necessity. The B-complex vitamins are water soluble so your body does not store them. This means you need a constant daily supply to keep your levels above that of deficiency. Good sources of B6 include bananas, prunes, tomatoes, avocado, cruciferous vegetables, walnuts and hazelnuts. The average person gets their daily quota of vitamin B6 from their diet but women on the pill may benefit from supplementation too due to the constant depletion of B6.

Be careful with the supplements that you by. Look for timed release vitamin B complexes so the vits are release slowly over time. This allows for maximum absorption and minimal wastage in your (expensive) urine. Also, make sure you take your supplement WITH FOOD always. Look at the list of ingredients of your supplement bottle and make sure there are no artificial ingredients, colours/dyes or preservatives. Poor quality supplements do not provide adequate nutrition. Good quality is more expensive but can you really put a price on your health?

The 6 weeks to OMG diet

I took my once in a blue moon journey on the London underground the other day and past a huge billboard advertising The 6 weeks to ‘OMG’ diet by Venice Fulton. The first thing that annoyed me about this diet was the tag line – ‘get skinnier than your friends’….well that really promotes a healthy attitude doesn’t it Mr Fulton.

                Venice Fulton has a degree in Sports science and has come up with what he classes a great diet plan for people wanting to lose weight. I, on the other hand BEG to differ and just reading about the book is irritating me, let alone even putting myself through the pain of having to read the book itself. So if you have read the book and think it’s the best thing since sliced bread then please do comment, I’d love to hear what the book offers that its explanation doesn’t.

                So to start my rant I’ll just take you through the basic principles of this diet. There are 5 key principles Fulton focuses on:

1. Lose fat

2. Get toned

3. Slim down your thighs

4. Flatten your belly

5. Keep your skin, hair and nails growing

….right so the same as everything else….

Then he also has certain ‘rules’ and ‘theories’ that he bases his diet on

                -Fulton states in his book that ‘carbs are carbs’ and that it doesn’t matter whether you get them from an apple or a slab of chocolate cake. Well, I don’t know where he studied his ‘nutrition’ but he clearly didn’t pay attention during class. I won’t bore you with the science, but take my word for it – that statement is WRONG. I’m not going to insult your intelligence either as I’m sure you didn’t need me to tell you that! Just for the icing on the cake read this other sentence of his- ‘broccoli carbs can be worse than soda carbs’…..I mean SERIOUSLY, is this guy for real!!

                -The book encourages people to take cold baths and showers to lose a few more pounds. He stresses the calorie burning benefit of cold water since your body has to use energy to keep your core body temperature at 37 degrees. Yes your body will use up energy but not anywhere near enough for it to become an effective weight loss method. You’ll find yourself slipping into hyperthermia before you’re slipping into that little black dress.

                - Fulton says that breakfast should not be eaten until you have exercised –read my past blog post on eating before exercise to see how miss guided this is. Again, I feel this statement really promotes an unhealthy attitude to diet, fitness and generally towards your own confidence and self-esteem.

-Readers are encouraged to drink black coffee because of its antioxidants (ok I’ll give you that depending on what type of coffee), zero calories (correct again….doing well…), metabolism stimulating properties (ah damn, and we’re back to the cold shower idea!). Caffeine is a stimulant and will slightly increase your heart rate, depending on how sensitive you are to it. The physiological changes from coffee are not strong enough to make a massive difference in your overall calorie expenditure.  He also promotes coffee drinking as it suppresses your appetite. Again, he steers his readers straight back into such a terrible mind-set.

                -The foods he recommends includes green leafy vegetables, chicken, nuts, lean beef, fish, beans, lentils, brown rice and other fresh vegetables.  

Ok, so in a nutshell this diet has all the makings of a FAD diet – simple food recommendations that comply with healthy eating with a list of random wacky rules that are the only thing that will distinguish it from all the other books out there that essentially offer similar ideas. FAD diets do not work, and that is why there are so many of them out there. If one worked there would be no need for more to be made. Nutrition is simple once you know the rules. There is no ‘secret trick’. It’s all very basic, and the more basic you keep it the easier it is to follow, maintain and enjoy – after all it’s going to be a part of your life, every day, for the rest of your life. Do you really want to be obsessing about the temperature of your shower being too hot or the dash of milk you like to have with your coffee?     

The author of this book has a history of helping athletes and celebrities…not really your ‘average Joe’. Athletes’ lives are ruled by their bodies and how their bodies function. With knowledge of athletes I would have expected Fulton to have a better idea of human physiology and what the body needs in order to function optimally. Maybe it was when he moved his attention to celebrities that his mind ended up in the clouds. Celebrities have to look good and they are under immense pressure to do so. They don’t have the time or the energy to think about their diet so will generally get someone else to do the thinking for them and just do what they tell them to do. So yes- if you lived on black coffee and exercised with no fuel in your body you would lose a stack of weight. But you’d feel like crap all the time and you would be a VERY unhealthy person with an ever diminishing life span to look forward to with brittle bones, illness and disease in your pension fund.

So my advice to you is probably pretty clear –Don’t buy this book! If you’re after healthy eating advice and want a nutrition plan that fits around YOUR lifestyle that you can maintain day-in, day-out then please get in touch and I would be happy to help. I am starting my own experiment to show how a very simple diet plan and training program can get desired results – no airy fairy mumbo jumbo – back to basics. I’ve teamed up with Protégé London’s managing director Lewis Thorneycroft. He’s a top class personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach. With the plans in place the trial will be starting soon. I’ll keep you updated with the results!

Look after yourself with Probiotics

There are hundreds of different species of bacteria living in our gastrointestinal tracts. Your gut bacteria have many more functions than just aiding digestion. They are responsible for triggering immune system reactions throughout the body and will greatly affect overall physical AND mental health. The ‘good’ bacteria in the gut should make up 85% of your intestinal flora, which allows for the remaining 15% to be pathogenic. Over two-thirds of your immune system relies on this make-up. So let me take you through why your body can benefit from adding probiotics into the mix:

-          Enhance immunity.  This is an important point to consider during pregnancy and breast feeding. A mother passes on her intestinal flora to the baby during the birthing process which essentially sets up the baby’s immune system. During breast feeding the mother’s milk will also contain bacteria from the mother. The immune protection of a mother’s milk is greatly enhanced if the mother is taking probiotics to support her own gut flora.

-          Probiotics can help to reverse and ease gut inflammation which is a leading cause of many ailments such as Ulcers, IBS, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and IBD.

-          Celiac Disease or Gluten Sensitivity symptoms can be eased by adding probiotics.

-          The increase in processed foods and low fibre diets in the modern world allows for an increase in pathogenic bacteria, over taking the good bacteria, which can diminish colon function. Firstly, CUT the processed food and UP the intake of fresh, fibrous fruit and veg, but secondly, add a probiotic to help your stomach recover.

-          If you repeatedly suffer from yeast infections such as Candida, this could be caused by an imbalance in your intestinal flora. Supplementing with probiotics can help to restore your levels of good: bad bacteria.

-          A healthy gut flora could help to prevent cancer by nourishing the enzymes responsible for inhibiting tumour production throughout the body.

-          Modern-day food processing methods such as the use of Genetically Modified Organisms and antibiotics found in non-organic meat and dairy products can strip the gut of its healthy intestinal flora. It is necessary to add probiotics back to your gut if your diet contains food of this nature.

So where do you get your probiotics from?

You can supplement with probiotics in capsule form. Always be prepared to pay higher end for all of your supplements. This particularly applies to probiotics. You need to ensure the protective capsule is strong enough to withstand the acids in your stomach in order for it to reach your intestinal tract where it is needed.

Do not spend countless money on daily probiotic drinks and yogurts. For my research project during my undergraduate degree I worked on the research for Yakult products. I was looking into the effects the product had on the immune response, as the product was making claims that Yakult could help support your immune defences. Well, I found NO significant difference….needless to say the adverts for these products soon changed and now they just use wishy-washy  claims such as, ‘lots inside’ or ‘billions of bacteria in each little bottle’…..well yes, but it goes no further than the bottle!  

Look out for my next blog post where I’ll be going into more detail on how to sort through the millions of probiotics available to find the best product.

An alternative method of taking in probiotics is through fermented foods such as milk kefir and water kefir which can be consumed daily. You can make your own kefir, just order ‘starter grains’ online or check your nearest health food store and then check out YouTube videos that can take through the process every step of the way.

A healthy gut is vitally important to a healthy body. Support yours with a balanced and varied wholefoods diet, regular exercise and a well-planned supplementation routine.

To find out more on supplementation and discuss what YOUR body requires please contact me for a complimentary half hour consultation.

Hit the weights women

A gym is separated into two very distinct areas – the cardio area and the weights area. This also appears to separate the sexes too – the cardio area is always swarming with women and the weights section is always full of men. Day in, day out, I see the same women walking into the gym, they head straight to a cardio machine, sweat profusely on it for half an hour, maybe do a few crunches, then leave. Sound familiar? And day by day these women’s body shapes do not change…at all. Not surprising really.

Weight training is an incredibly important part of any training program. Its benefits extend to many aspects of health including increasing lean body mass and bone density, improved body composition, strength, biomechanical health, hormonal effects, psychological effects, cardiac health benefits…and let’s not forget the pure satisfaction of a toned and shapely body.

On initial introduction with most of my female clients I need to spend time to explain these benefits as it seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to associate weights with a huge body building physique (which hasn’t been helped by recent pictures of Jodie Marsh!). This leaves most people running away from me as I approach them with a set of dumbbells! But I cannot stress enough how important weight training is for anyone seeking health and aesthetic benefits. Women who train naturally have a very limited potential to develop a large increase of muscle bulk. Body composition will certainly change with increases in muscle mass with a corresponding reduction in fat mass and overall girth reduction…and who doesn’t want that?

 A paper published in the NSCA Journal showed the results of multiple studies that clearly highlighted that weight training in women causes “a reduction in fat weight, an increase in lean weight and either no change or only a slight increase in total body weight. All demonstrated significant increases in strength and in most cases these changes were associated with no change or a decrease in lower body girths and only minimal increases in upper-body limb girth.”

Weight training also has the potential to improve your life expectancy….what more do you need to know really! Based on almost a decade of research, professors at Tuffs University have reported that the top two markers to predict life expectancy were muscle mass and strength.

And on a vanity note – for every 1lb of muscle you gain, you will burn around 50 extra calories a day!

So, the take home message here ladies is get in that weights area, get strong and get lean!

For more advice or to book a training session with me to learn how to incorporate weight training into your routine please call or email using the contact info on the other page. J

Start your day the right way.

 For many people breakfast is a rushed inconvenience that they rarely put much thought into and will often grab and eat as they race out the door. I won’t use the age old cliché that breakfast is the most important meal of the day as all meals and any food you eat during the day is important. However, breakfast definitely warrants more consideration than many people give it. If you start your day badly, the chances are it will continue on that path.

            First and foremost, you must always make sure you make time to eat breakfast in the morning. As soon as you can after waking up is ideal. Whilst I know that some people struggle to eat during the early hours it is important that you fuel up as soon as you can. For many people the typical regime at breakfast time involves pouring some cereal out of a box, adding some milk and washing it down with a hot cup of coffee. Whilst I’m certainly not adverse to a delicious cup of coffee  I am definitely not an advocate for the cereal brigade that seems to have taken over many kitchen cupboards. The ‘food’ marketed to us all as breakfast foods are some of the most nutritionally devoid foods available. Many cereals are laden with sugar and the average breakfast pastry packs a massive 15grams of sugar per portion.

 If you want to take preventative action for mood swings, increased appetite and mid-afternoon brain fog, ensure you start your day with a low glycaemic breakfast. The Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism recently published a study showing that eating a protein rich, low carb breakfast of almonds left subjects feeling fuller for longer with lower blood glucose concentrations well into the afternoon compared to subjects who started the day with a breakfast of medium glycaemic index carbohydrates. Regulating appetite and controlling blood glucose concentration is the key to preventing weight gain, mood swings and mental fog.

Start your day on the right track

Avoid simple carbohydrates in the morning and opt for protein rich foods to provide you with a brain boosting hit of amino acids. New research published in the journal Neuron has shown that amino acids play a key role in helping us wake up. When subjects were given foods containing amino acids the neurons in their brains responsible for regulating wakefulness and energy balance in the body were stimulated and activated. On the other hand, high blood glucose has been shown to inhibit the activation of these neurons, which will explain why you may feel sleepy after eating a high carbohydrate meal or a sugary treat in the afternoon. By simply adding a protein source you will activate these neurons and start your day feeling energised and ready for action! Eggs are the perfect provider of these amino acids. They are packed with health benefits including providing a good source of choline, protein and the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin. Eggs make a great start to the day and can be made in many ways to keep things interesting.

For some examples on breakfast foods that really fit the bill see the list below:

• Hard boiled eggs – perfect if your excuse for missing breakfast is due to time constraints as they are portable and can be eaten on the go – although for the sake of others please avoid tucking in on a busy train!
• Nuts or nut butter – also very portable and quick and easy to eat on the go.
• Scrambled egg with cheese and veggies – delicious and feels very decadent for breakfast yet healthy, satisfying and quick to make in the microwave or on the hob.
• Protein shake, and I don’t mean the flavoured, sweetened, heat-treated protein drinks you see many men sipping on in the gym. Opt for unflavoured whey protein powder to avoid consuming any nasty chemicals that your body will struggle to metabolise. Blend it with a variety of frozen berries and some nut milk for a nutritionally loaded delicious drink to get you going.
• Fruit and Nut ‘cereal’ – Playing on the theme of a bowl of cereal but with different characters….add a handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts and brazils for the best nutritional status) and a handful of berries to a bowl and top with organic dairy milk or nut milk and a sprinkling of cinnamon – simple yet effective! Why not also add some seeds to really boost the nutritional value of this cereal – I would recommend a few tablespoons of Chia seeds for an added hit of essential Omega 3s.
• Poached eggs with grilled tomato and mushrooms. This is a really good choice for a lazy Sunday morning when you have time to prepare breakfast and enjoy it over the Sunday papers with a steaming mug of good quality, fresh, organic coffee.

The list could go on! There are numerous options available so get creative. And who says breakfast needs to be limited to what we all see as ‘traditional’ breakfast foods. If you fancy grilled chicken and salad or stuffed peppers for breakfast then go for it! Just stick to low glycaemic carbs and good quality protein options and you can’t go too far wrong.

Work hard, Play harder, Train the hardest.

Some people love to work out while others (the majority!) find it a drag and can’t wait to hit the showers and head home. Well wouldn’t it be great to spend as little time as possible working out whilst receiving maximum benefits? Sounds too good to be true..?

Whether you’re an avid gym user or not I’m sure you have been made aware of the recent surge of interest in HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. A recent TV program looked into the effects of short sharp bursts of intense exercise and found it to be beneficial to health status. People are going mad for high intensity training and great results are being seen from shorter workouts at maximum effort.

            Most of my clients only see me for half an hour – they all say they couldn’t survive a longer session! – Needless to say I am a massive fan of HIIT for my own, and my clients training. Despite the benefits seen in speed, strength, power and body comp I also save loads of time training this way. Whether you want to set your alarm that bit later in the morning or get home earlier to enjoy your evening, HIIT may be for you if you want to maximize results without spending hours slogging away in the gym.

I’m going to take Sprinting as my example exercise. Sprint training is favored by many athletes as it builds fast twitch muscle fibers and is highly effective for fat burning. Replacing long cardiovascular workouts on treadmills and cross trainers with sprint training a few times a week could result in huge benefits for you. You just have to remember one rule – you must perform at 100% intensity.  

The Sciencey bit

When the body performs any explosive movement at a high intensity it releases growth hormone (HGH) in the days to follow to aid recovery. It has been shown that a 30 second all-out sprint increased HGH 530% over baseline levels. High growth hormone levels are ideal for keeping body fat low and building lean muscle, thus increasing your metabolic rate.

Sprinting will increase the size of the mitochondria in your cells which is the part of the cell that stores energy. This makes the body more efficient at releasing energy so it has a reduced tendency to store body fat. Therefore, sprinting not only oxidizes fat, it also prevents the body from storing new fat.

When compared to low intensity exercise, sprinting and other high intensity training burns far more fat and calories. A 20-minute workout doing high-intensity sprints is roughly comparable to an hour-long cardio workout at a lower intensity.

So are you convinced? If you want to start HIIT on your next gym visit start with caution as your body needs time to adjust to such high intensities. If you want to try out some sprint training for the first time start out by stretching and doing a little jogging and then work up to moderate intensity sprints, to avoid injuring yourself. After completing moderate intensity sprints for your first few sessions you can start doing full intensity sprints. If you are already a keen sprinter, try your sprints uphill next time.

Combine your HIIT with good dietary practice and you can achieve a lean, strong and powerful body….and have the time to get out and show it off!  

-          For ideas on how to train in this way or to book in your HIIT session with me please get in contact. Lx

Program your body to burn fat

Most people want to lead a healthy lifestyle and follow a good diet pattern and training program to make them feel better and provide a sense of wellness. But ultimately people also do these things to look good. Achieving a slim, toned and strong body is the underlying aim of most people’s efforts. But, despite this desire to look and feel great, the body fat percentages of many of the population are steadily on the rise. People are more interested in their health now than ever before and millions of pounds a year is spent on diet books and different diet products. So with all this hype and all these products and fool proof plans available why do obesity levels continue to rise at such a dramatic rate?

Simple answer….what people are trying clearly DOES NOT WORK. There is no quick fix to healthy living; it requires the correct lifestyle choices to be made continuously for as long as you want to feel fit, healthy and well.

So put down the diet books, stop reading about the latest celebrity fads and start programming your body to burn that excess fat in a healthy, natural way.

Learn to love fat

After years of being told that a low fat diet is best, I am going to need you to completely alter your opinion on this essential nutrient. Fat will not make you fat. It will not directly cause heart disease and will not cause you to suffer a sudden heart attack. Change your relationship with fat and you’re already on the path to reprogramming your body and providing it with the essential nutrients it needs to function correctly.

You need to look a lot closer at the body to understand what causes accumulation of unwanted fat….and by closer I mean microscopically close….to hormones! To save boring you with too much confusing information I will briefly summarise as much as I feel you need to know in order to reprogram your bodies.

Insulin

The key hormone i’m talking about is insulin. Managing your insulin levels is key as if done correctly insulin can help you maintain lean muscle mass (great for metabolism) but if insulin levels are allowed to go haywire so will your waist line (along with your mood and energy levels!). Insulin encourages your body to store fat and inhibits it from utilising your fat stores for energy.

Control your blood sugar

Controlling your insulin response requires control of blood sugar levels. This relates not only to what you are eating but when and how often you are eating. You should never allow your body to be hungry, as the hunger signal is a sign that your blood sugar has dropped too low. Eat to prevent hunger rather than eating because you are already hungry. This will also help you to make good food choices when it comes to eating.

Tip: Keep a small hunger diary so you can pin point times in the day that you have your slump and can prepare to avoid it by carrying small snacks with you or ensuring you have a meal prepared in time.

Eating nutrient poor refined carbohydrates will play havoc with your insulin levels. Protein and fat have a much less insulin stimulating effect than carbohydrate does so ensure all meals and snacks contain a protein and/or healthy fat source to keep insulin levels steady. Foods with high fibre content will also help to release energy slowly to avoid highs and lows.

Reintroduce fat

Following a low fat diet causes a form of eating that stimulates excessive insulin release which I hope you now understand is counter productive and why low fat diets don’t work. Despite the fact you are going to be lacking in essential nutrients from a low fat diet you are also going to struggle to lose weight, maintain a healthy body composition and feel good.

People tend to shy away from fat when they see that it contains more than twice as many calories per gram than carbohydrate (7kcal/g and 4kcal/g, respectively). However, fat has a very strong satiating effect and will keep you feeling full for 3 times longer than carbohydrate. Snacking on processed carbohydrate foods (cereal bar ring any bells..?) may mean you are eating fewer calories in that one snack, but over the day you’re likely to eat more due to a greater frequency of hunger pangs. This type of food will also be stored in a way you don’t want….as excess fat!

By introducing more healthy fat sources into your diet you are going to help to reprogram your body to use fat as a source of fuel. To put it simply, your metabolism will either be set to ‘sugar burn’ or to ‘fat burn’ depending on whether you decide to feed it refined, processed carbohydrate foods or give it what it really needs. A fat burning metabolism is more sustainable, seeing as there is enough fat stored on the average human body to fuel 3.5 days of constant running at marathon pace. It is also healthier for your body, as blood sugar highs and lows that cause excessive insulin secretion are inevitably linked to type 2 diabetes and the numerous health concerns that come hand in hand with this increasingly prevalent disease.

So to avoid myself going off on a tangent and overloading everyone with far too much information I will quickly summarise the key things you should consider to reprogram you metabolism from sugar burner to fat burner. Ensure to keep your blood sugar levels maintained by avoiding refined carbohydrates and including plenty of protein, healthy fats and fibre rich foods in your diet. Avoid hunger and ensure you always have a snack to hand – that isn’t a sugar-laced cereal bar disguised as a ‘diet food’. And finally, get rid of the mentality that ‘low fat is best’. 

I hope you enjoy your next meal, which with the reintroduction of fat will undoubtedly taste great! J