Alison's journey to balance

When I created balance it was because I wanted to build a business that helped people, one that had strong values at it's core and did some good. My work has led to me meeting others who share this passion for helping people. One such lady I met recently, Alison. She runs a photography business with a real difference, it's purpose to help ladies with low self-esteem, whatever the reason and use photography as a tool to help them see the best of themselves, boost their confidence and make them a bit happier. I have to say I think it's an awesome idea and shares so much in common with what I do with clients through balance. Here's Alison's story.

I would never in a million years have believed how much my life has turned around in just over a year! 

I am a serial dieter who is ‘celebrating’ forty years of yoyo dieting this year and something I’m not remotely proud of. I consider myself to be an intelligent, well-educated woman so why do I not have the self-control to maintain a healthy weight for a relative shorty – 5’ 3”.  My excuses are legendary… I’m too tired to think about what to eat, can’t be bothered, it’s not fair that other people seem to eat what they like but not put weight on and so it goes on.

I’m an expert on every diet in the known universe, actually pretty knowledgeable about good nutrition and I’ve successfully lost weight so many times that I’ve lost count. I feel much better when I’m ‘trim’, it’s a huge confidence boost and I feel so much happier about myself which lulls me in to a false sense of security and gradually all the weight creeps back on. So I bury my head in the sand and try to ignore the ever tighter clothes, cranky joints and general dissatisfaction with everything until something flips the switch in my head and yet again I get to grips with my unhealthy eating and off we go on the roughly four to five year cycle.

What I also have to admit is that I don’t like exercise! That said, I’m not a total couch potato because we have always had Labradors, lots of them, and I’ve walked miles and miles over the years but obviously not enough to keep my weight under control and maintain a balance between eating and exercise!

So what’s happened in the last year? Well in January 2014 I offered to keep a friend company on a Breast Cancer Care Pink Ribbon Walk at Blenheim Palace. Plenty of time to get myself together as it wasn’t until May – or so I thought. At the beginning of April I panicked…the realisation that 20-miles wasn’t going to be quite as easy as I thought, despite the fact that I thought of myself as a ‘walker’. And I was probably the heaviest I had been for years.  So the humiliation of letting my friend down was worse than the humiliation of appearing at the local gym in the biggest T-shirt and jogging bottoms I could find and saying ‘I have a 20 mile charity walk to complete in six weeks time. I hate exercise…HELP!’

Thankfully, the gym owner took this as a personal challenge and worked with me over the following weeks to get me prepared! One of the first things he told me was ‘forget fat, think fit, don’t weigh yourself, and just eat well but sensibly’. So for the first time in my life I didn’t get on the scales at every opportunity and tried to stop focusing on food. Regular sessions, three to four times a week, of about 40-45 minutes under the beady eye of my gym guru did the trick and I actually did the walk and survived it remarkably well!

So I continued with my gym sessions and to my surprise I realised that my body shape was changing and I felt pretty good. By Christmas I knew I had lost a lot of weight, and felt much healthier for it, but I still couldn’t see the change when I looked in mirror. 

Over the Christmas holidays my photographer husband persuaded me to model for him so he could test some new lighting equipment. Like most women I hate having my photograph taken, so I wasn’t very gracious with my agreement. Curiosity got the better of me a couple of days after the shoot, and I took a look at the results. ‘They’re OK’ was my initial reaction, but I took another look the following day…and another, until it finally dawned on me that I actually quite liked what I was seeing. He had made me look pretty good!  Well actually getting fit and as a result becoming much trimmer was the first thing that made me look and feel better about myself. I realised that my self-esteem had been at rock bottom for years and suddenly I was feeling like a new woman. 

It occurred to me that if a few photos could work wonders for me, then why couldn’t they do the same for other women. So at 59 years old, after lots of planning and discussions with other women, we launched Esteem Visions, a new genre of portrait photography for women with self-esteem, confidence and body image issues.

As a result of my new venture I met Paul from Balance Weight Loss. If only he had been available to me years ago, it could have saved me so much angst and set me on the right track for life. Moderation has become my mantra, which in itself brings about the balance between being healthy, fit, a sensible weight and happy. I’m no stick insect, never will be, and have always felt that I was ‘built for comfort, not for speed!’ 

Paul’s guidance and motivation along with the visual images we create at Esteem Visions are powerful tools for creating a happy and balanced future and it’s now my mission to help other women feel as great as I do! I have every intention of growing old ‘very disgracefully’!

If you want to know more about Esteem Visions and speak to Alison, check out her website here:

http://www.esteemvisions.com 

The world is your playground - making outdoor exercise fun

If you’re a little bored with your current gym routine, summer is a great time of year to mix things up a little by getting outdoors. The world is a great gym and even better, membership is free. Try this little routine and get yourself a shot of vitamin D in the process:

Lamppost shuttles

Choose a fairly flat path or piece of road with no crossings that has lampposts equally spaced along it. After warming up thoroughly try the following:

·      Sprint to the first lamppost, walk back to the start

·      Sprint to the second lamppost, walk back just one

·      Sprint three lampposts, walk back

·      Rest for 30 seconds and repeat 2-6 times depending on how you feel

Park bench circuits

You can work every muscle just with a local park bench and a resistance band. Try this great little circuit for 30-60 seconds on each exercise depending on how fit you’re feeling:

·      Squats (bum to bench)

·      Press-ups (off the back is easier, off the bench is harder, feet on the bench is super-hard)

·      Step-ups (alternate legs to make it easier, do all on one leg then swap to make it harder)

·      Dynaband rows (close to your body)

·      Triceps dips (legs bent to make it easier, straight to make it tougher)

·      Dynaband rows (elbows out wide)

Hanging around

Children’s play area make for great training kit. Just be sure to let the kids use it first of course! If it’s free then try these challenging exercises:

·      Hangs – if pull-ups is too tough, just try holding the rail and hanging in mid-air. Work up until you can do 20-30 seconds.

·      Knee raises – once you’ve mastered the hang, holding your body as still as possible, draw one leg at a time up towards your chest doing 8-12 each side. You can progress by performing with both legs at the same time.

·      Swings – if you like monkeying around this is a great exercise for you. Swing from one bar to the next without letting your feet touch the floor if you can.

·      Pull-ups – there are so many variations here, close grip, wide grip, holds at the top, shifting your bodyweight left and right and many more. Aim to do 4-10 repetitions.

Here's me messing about with a few different pull-up variations;

Assisted with a band if you find pull-ups tough but want to be able to do them: http://youtu.be/mRV-vX3rh3c  

Pull-ups with a pull to one side to add some variety and work the core and upper body harder: http://youtu.be/DvUxsEvEzIk

 A more advanced version pulling to both sides in one rep: http://youtu.be/RszZO2Lj7yY

Step-climbing

Climbing stairs is a phenomenal way of keeping fit and burning calories. It’s great for toning your thighs, backside and core and keeping your heart in good shape. Try one of these options to suit you:

·      Walking up stairs – find a flight of steps with at least 20 steps. Aim to spend 5-10 minutes walking up and down with as little rest as you can.

·      Stair running – you can place both feet on each step to develop fast feet or take steps one or two at a time to develop leg power.

·      Step jumps – stand at the bottom of the steps and jump onto the first step then step back down. If you’re feeling confident you can try the second or third step.

If you'd like a simple exercise routine to tone your body, you can download my guide 'A Week in Balance'. As well as healthy recipes, you'll find a range of bodyweight exercises to tone all areas. Even better, there are three difficulty levels for each exercise so you can pick the one that feels right for you. Get your copy here for just £2, half of which goes to the Genetic Alliance UK charity. 

Bring me sunshine - how the yellow ball in the sky impacts your health

We all enjoy it when we wake up, peek through the curtains and discover that the sun is shining. Just what is it that makes catching a few rays so good for us? Here are seven great reasons:

1)   Sunlight boosts your stores of vitamin D, which works with calcium to give you healthy teeth and bones. What you may not know is that it also plays a role in keeping your eyes healthy and may help protect against heart disease, cancers, diabetes, arthritis and MS.

2)   Exposure to sun and heat improves your body’s ability to sweat efficiently, enabling you to stay cooler better. Effectively it helps you develop a better air conditioning system.

3)   Sunlight has also been shown to boost testosterone levels in men, which may help to improve muscle growth and increase your sex drive.

4)   It boosts your body’s natural defence mechanism; your immune system by improving the function of special cells whose job it is to protect your from illness.

5)   Sunshine increases levels of a substance known as Nitric Oxide within your body. This causes your blood vessels to widen and can lower blood pressure as a result.

6)   Ever wondered why you feel so happy and relaxed on sunny days? Well, one reason may be that it boosts levels of serotonin, a chemical in your brain known to elevate your mood and regulate your appetite. This may also be why we find it easier to eat lighter meals in the summer.

7)   It’ll help you remember everything you’ve just read! Exposure to sunlight has been shown to improve memory and help you get better sleep. Getting more of the latter also improves memory.

The clear message – be sure to get some sunshine as often as you can. Be sensible though; too much in one go on very hot days can lead to sunburn and may increase skin cancer risk in the long-term; as with all things it always comes back to balance. 

Balanced BBQ recipes for summer

Summer is still very much here and you might want to make the most of it with a barbecue for family and friends. Everybody loves cooking outdoors so I thought I’d put together some simple, healthy, quick, tasty recipes for barbecues and eating outdoors. All you need do is choose your favourite, invite a few friends over, get the food and drinks in and light the coals.

There’s something quite magical about cooking over a real fire, as if somehow you’re transported back in time thousands of years to an era when you hunted, scavenged and prepared your food on a daily basis. I don’t suggest you go that far these days and I certainly wouldn’t recommend barbecues on a regular basis as the process of cooking over a flame can increase cancer-causing substances in the foods. I’d also recommend using good quality meat for your outdoor meals, as there’s plenty of evidence that the cheap stuff increases health risks in the long term too. If you buy good stuff and treat yourself occasionally (which is probably all you can do given the not so great British weather), a barbecue can be a really tasty treat. Be sure to cook your meats thoroughly to manage the risks of food poisoning.

Here are three recipes you can use to make your next barbecue a balanced one:

Balance Kebabs

When imagining a kebab, most people picture some almost unidentifiable meat purchased at 3am after a night out. In truth though they can be an incredibly healthy addition to your diet. The word kebab simply means food cooked on a skewer.

Vegetarian option – load up a skewer with chunks of halloumi, red onion, courgette, cherry tomatoes and mixed peppers.

For the carnivores – either replace the halloumi or simply add cuts of lamb or beefsteak.

Balance mushroom burgers

Cook two large flat mushrooms with their stems removed (Portobello work well) and a burger of your choice. I opt for venison but you can be traditional and use beef or go vege with a bean burger. Once cooked, place the burger between the two mushrooms and add iceberg lettuce, a slice of beef tomato, smoked cheese and a little brown sauce.

Super sides

Not everything you have at a barbecue needs to be cooked on the grill. Here are two healthy sides you can use to add flavour and variety to your gathering.

Falafel and couscous tabouleh

Add a little Mediterranean feel to your occasion with this Lebanese classic. These days you can easily buy falafel and houmous in lots of places so there’s no need to make your own. Simply follow this recipe and it’ll be ready in no time.

·      25g couscous per person

·      1 tablespoon of olive oil

·      1 lemon juiced

·      A few bunches of parsley and coriander

·      1 or 2 spring onions

·      2 beetroot

·      2 beef tomatoes

·      Half a cucumber

·      Black pepper

·      1-2 packets of falafel

·      Houmous (you can buy different flavours to give your guests a bit of variety)

Cook the couscous as per the packet instructions; normally it takes just a few minutes. Chop the onions, beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber and herbs and mix the couscous in once cooked. In a different bowl mix the lemon juice with a little black pepper and olive oil and then add the couscous mix. Cut the falafel into smaller pieces and mix in. Serve in a bowl and place the houmous separately in a small dish.

Sweet potato wedges

 I use this easy-to-prepare potato wedges recipe all of the time. They taste great served hot or cold, with a little slat and pepper or with a tzatziki dip.

Take one medium-sized sweet potato (white potatoes are in fact just as healthy so you can switch if you’d like). Cut it into wedges leaving the skin on, put in a pan and cover with water then bring to the boil.

Drain the potatoes and place back in the pan to season with sea salt, black pepper and 1 clove of grated garlic. Mix gently then, using an oil bottle with a spray nozzle, squirt a couple of sprays of oil onto a baking sheet. Place the wedges on the sheet; spray the top of them with a little more oil then pop in a hot oven and cook till brown. Mine usually take around 20 minutes in a fan-assisted oven at 180 degrees Celsius. 

If you liked these recipes you may enjoy A Week in Balance, my seven-day recipe plan for every meal of the day and snack ideas too. For just £2 you can get your copy here. Half of all proceeds goes to help Genetic Alliance UK in their work supporting people with rare conditions. 

Full of beans or running on empty?

It’s an often talked about topic in health and fitness. Many of us say ‘I’d like to have more energy’ or 'I want to feel less tired’. What actually is it that we’re asking for? How do I get more of it? Is it a real 'thing’ or some mystical force like the powers superheroes possess in the movies?

As with most things health and fitness, the answer is far from black and white. There are numerous reasons why you may feel more or less energetic. Let’s have a look at what they are.

Food energy

Your body needs calories from carbohydrates, fat and protein to live. You get these from food and drink which in turn get this energy from the sun. If you eat plants they absorb the energy directly and if you eat animal produce they’ve absorbed energy from sunlight and from the plants they’ve eaten. These foods are converted inside you to something known as ATP. This is the energy currency of your body and it’s the only one it accepts.

It’s easy then. If I just eat more I’ll have more energy! Well yes to a certain extent, if you don’t eat enough your energy levels will be lower, much like if you don’t fill your car with petrol it can’t run. However, it’s not simply about quantity but also quality. For your body to convert the food into usable energy, it needs vitamins and minerals. This means you need foods that provide these in order to best access the energy, one of the reasons why getting your five-a-day is so important.

The quality of the food also has an impact on what your body does with it. High sugar, refined foods cause your blood sugar levels to rise rapidly. Your body panics as too much sugar in your blood is harmful and so it rapidly releases a hormone known as insulin. Its job is to store away this energy to bring blood sugars back to normal and make you safe. This increases the likelihood of your body storing this food as fat, especially when your energy stores for your muscles and organs are already topped up because you haven’t done much exercise (we’ll look at that in a bit).

Because your body panics when it senses rapid rises in blood sugars, it releases lots of insulin. This often means that too much sugar is removed from your blood and you feel really weak and tired. You know that feeling mid-afternoon after a big lunch or shortly after you’ve indulged in a sizeable treat? So rather than these energy rich foods giving you more energy, they actually make you feel more tired.

Key messages for food energy:

1) Are you eating enough? Your body needs enough food to make enough energy.

2) Are you eating the right nutrients i.e. a mixture of healthy carbohydrate, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals?

3) Are you eating too many refined, processed foods? Even though they’re full of energy, they’ll leave you feeling exactly the opposite.

Fluid energy

Water plays a key role in keeping you energised too. That’s because your blood is mostly made of the stuff and it’s your blood that carries the nutrients we’ve already talked about around your body.

So how much should you drink? Multiply your weight in kilograms by the figures below to help you work it out:

Age (years)

Multiply your weight in kg by  this figure

16-30

0.035-0.04 (dependent on the  individual)

31-54

0.03-0.035 (dependent on the  individual)

55-65

0.03

65+

0.025

There are other things to consider too:

   How much exercise do you do? If you train regularly, use this guide created by the American College of Sports Medicine to work out how much extra fluid you need: https://www.acsm.org/docs/brochures/selecting-and-effectively-using-hydration-for-fitness.pdf

   Warmer climates will mean you need to drink more than normal, as will illness.

   There is water in food too. If you’re eating your five-a-day and a normal diet you’ll get around 20% of your daily fluid needs.

   Caffeinated drinks probably won’t dehydrate you like you may think. Most of what is in a cup of coffee is water so this will actually offset the dehydrating effects of caffeine.

   Alcohol on the other hand will definitely dehydrate you.

   How do you feel? If you’re dehydrated you need to drink more. You can also use urine colour as an indicator; it should be light or straw coloured.

Key messages for fluid energy:

1)   Are you drinking enough water for your needs?

2)   Are you dehydrated? Use how you feel and urine colour as an indicator.

3)   Are you getting fluids from healthy foods like fruit and vegetables?

Hormonal energy

Your body has a range of glands that produce special messengers called hormones. These perform a vast range of roles in your body, from making you feel good to ensuring your metabolism works properly. Some of the key hormones are:

   Insulin and glucagon

   Thyroxine

   Serotonin

   Adrenaline and cortisol

Between them they can play a huge part in how energetic you feel. Let’s have a little look at why.

Insulin and glucagon – this pair of hormones work together to control your blood glucose levels. This is important, as your brain needs a steady supply of glucose to enable it to function. You know that confused, weak, irritated or dizzy feeling you can get when you haven’t eaten for hours? If your blood glucose drops too low, glucagon leaps into action telling your body to release some it has stored away for emergencies like this. That’s why sometimes you can be hungry, not eat and your hunger goes away. You only have a limited supply though, so it’s important to top up with quality carbohydrate.

Insulin on the other hand goes to work when your blood glucose is too high, like after a big meal or that half packet of biscuits. When you overindulge your body can overreact, releasing too much insulin and sending blood glucose levels lower than normal. This makes you feel lethargic and sleepy, like after that big Sunday roast. So you see, get the balance of these hormones wrong and you’ll feel much less energetic. Do it too often with overeating or unhealthy foods and you can develop diabetes. This is when your body becomes resistant to the insulin it produces and will have an even more dramatic impact on energy levels.

Thyroxine – this is one of the hormones made by your thyroid gland that has a big impact on your metabolism. People with underactive thyroid will find they feel tired and can gain weight easily, whilst those with an overactive thyroid may be unusually energetic, have a racing heart, high temperature and sweating. Both obviously cause unusual fluctuations in your energy levels. If you recognise any of these symptoms and they are unusual, you should definitely visit a GP to discuss it.

Serotonin – along with other substances, this has a big role to play in your mood. Technically it’s not a hormone, it’s a neurotransmitter, meaning it creates connections in your brain but let’s not split hairs. Research is fairly clear here; low serotonin is linked to higher rates of depression with mood increasing as levels increase. Depression is often linked to a feeling of lethargy and low energy so again we have another possible explanation for how energetic we may feel.

There are some lifestyle changes we can make to boost our levels of serotonin, namely:

   Get outside – sunshine plays a big part in our levels.

   Exercise – movement also increase serotonin. And what’s better, if you link to the first point you can get a double whammy. This is one theory for why exercise makes us feeling good, often more energetic after than we were when we started which if energy were just calories would be completely illogical.

   Nutrition – your body makes serotonin from a substance called tryptophan and you can find this in certain foods. Eating them regularly may boost levels although this certainly isn’t proven yet. The foods contain plenty of other nutrients so they won’t do any harm though. Good sources include turkey, chicken, eggs, milk, bananas, corn, nuts and seeds, beans and lentils.

Adrenaline and cortisol – these are your ‘fight or flight’ hormones. They kick in when your body is faced with a stress, be it a physical or mental one and cause a chain reaction of events that supply your muscles and brain with more energy. Too little and you’ll feel lethargic, almost like having your foot constantly on the break in the car. Too much and you can burn yourself out. Imagine driving with your foot flat on the accelerator constantly. Get the balance right and your energy levels will rise. So how can you do this?

   Get the balance of exercise and rest. Don’t train hard or long every single day. Your body gets fitter whilst it recovers, not when it’s actually exercising. If you don’t give it time to recover, well it won’t recover and you’ll be left feeling more tired and less fit than before. Some think that overdoing exercise (or work) can cause your adrenal glands to struggle to produce as much as you require. This is referred to as ‘burnout’ and leaves you feeling constantly exhausted and able only to perform short, low intensity exercise before getting tired.

   Sleep – moderate exercise has been shown to improve sleep. There are lots of other things you can do to and I’ll be telling you more about these in my new ‘Balance Guide to Better Sleep’ coming soon.

   Mix light with dark – cortisol is triggered by light so if you spend too long indoors you’ll get less and may feel less energetic. Leave the lights on or expose yourself to TV’s, computer screens and even standby lights late at night and you can elevate levels when you’re trying to nod off. It all comes back to getting that balance just right.

Key messages for hormonal energy:

1)   Control both portion size and food quality to ensure balance of your insulin levels and help maintain a steadier supply of energy to your brain and organs.

2)   Boost levels of serotonin and other happy hormones by getting some sunshine, exercising and eating healthily.

3)   Moderate exercise with enough time for rest and recovery will also help keep your adrenaline and cortisol levels in balance.

Positive mental energy

Call it what you like depending on your view of the world…happiness, emotional energy, positive mental attitude, spiritual energy, chi; your mind plays a huge part in how energetic you feel.

Ever noticed how certain sportspeople seem to be injured more when they’re losing? And how five minutes later when they’re winning again they seem to be able to jump higher, run further and faster.

Maybe then there are things we can do to create this mindset for more energy. I’m not saying I know all of the answers here, but in my experience the following seems to help:

   Do what you love. Having a job or a hobby that you’re passionate about increases your energy for it.

   Surround yourself with positivity. Being in an environment full of energetic people tends to lift us up with them.

   Focus on the positives. Set goals about thinks we want rather than things we don’t. See the learning to be gained in things that haven’t gone quite to plan. Be optimistic. As Monty Python once sang…’always look on the bright side of life.’

On the flip side there are things that can sap us of energy. These include pain, negative emotions, arguments, physical and mental illness. Seeking help from medical practitioners for physical ailments or counselors for psychological ones may be a great way to help manage or overcome some of these instances and move us back to a feeling of greater energy.

Key messages for positive mental energy:

1)   Control both portion size and food quality to ensure balance of your insulin levels and help maintain a steadier supply of energy to your brain and organs.

2)   Boost levels of serotonin and other happy hormones by getting some sunshine, exercising and eating healthily.

Physical energy

As mentioned earlier, logically exercise will leave you feeling more tired than when you started. If you do a very long or very hard exercise session then it certainly will, but moderate exercise seems to leave you feeling more alert, awake and energetic than before you started. Why is that?

   Chemicals – as you’ve already seen, exercise changes levels of a wide range of hormones and neurotransmitters including adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine.

   Fresh air – light and nature have both been shown to boost mood and energy, particularly green spaces and water.

   Movement – being seated causes joints and muscles to tighten, leading to aches and pains and less energy as a result. Standing or moving around can help to wake up your body leaving it moving more freely and increasing your energy levels.

   Socialising – often we exercise with others and human interaction is essential to happiness. Happiness is a big part of energy and so the two go hand in hand.

   Distraction – exercise can take our mind off of our daily stresses and as they ebb away we feel our energy levels start to rise.

Key messages for physical energy:

1)   Moderate exercise can leave us feeling more energetic than before we began for a wide range of reasons. Just 30 minutes a day getting a little breathless will make a difference.

2)   Hard exercise can work too but we’ve got to be careful to get the balance right or we’ll end up feeling more tired. Imagine it like your bank account, too many withdrawals and not enough deposits and you’ll put yourself in the red.

Summary

Why we feel more or less energetic is not as simple as we might at first think. It is a complex mix of our nutrition and fluid intake, physical and mental wellbeing and the changes these bring about to the numerous chemicals and systems in our body.

If you’ve been feeling sluggish or low on energy, have a think about what we’ve just covered and maybe choose just one thing to change to see if it makes a difference. If it does, you may have found your answer, if not simply try changing another. Change too much at once and it can be quite stressful, making you feel even less energetic! You also won’t be able to work out which of the things was the route cause of your low energy levels.

I hope you’ve found this useful. Remember you can get in touch at any time if you’d like more help.

Stay balanced,

Paul

0775 200 1203

A taste of summer

Glastonbury, Wimbledon, long evenings sat in the garden, all of these can only mean one thing, it’s mid-summer. To celebrate this here’s two simple, healthy, tasty, balanced desserts you can serve for the family or after a barbecue using the most quintessentially English fruit, the strawberry.

Strawberries are a great addition to a balanced diet because:

   They’re rich in vitamin C, with one cup providing your entire daily requirements

   They’re low Glycaemic Index and have been linked to better blood sugar regulation

   They contain a good source of dietary fibre

   Also found inside are numerous antioxidants, vitamin K, manganese, magnesium, iodine, folate, potassium, phosphorous and copper

   The richness of antioxidants means this little berry has been strongly linked to the prevention of both heart disease and a range of cancers

   They may even help to slow down the effects of ageing!

Natural Strawberry Yoghurt

Strawberries

Pumpkin or sunflower seeds

Halved walnuts

Honey

Plain natural yoghurt

1 square of dark chocolate

Slice as many strawberries as you desire (4-7 per person depending on size is normally enough) and mix in to the yoghurt with the walnuts and pumpkin seeds. Grate the dark chocolate on top and add a small spoon of honey.

The 60-Second Mini-Strawberry Cheesecake

Plain digestive biscuits

Chopped strawberries

Cream cheese or mascarpone

Natural yoghurt

Sliced almonds and mixed seeds

Honey (optional)

Roll or whack the digestive biscuit into small crumbs (you choose which but the latter is a fantastic choice for stress relief) and place into the bottom of a bowl or champagne flute. It tastes the same but the glass gives it a more arty appearance! J

Mix the cream cheese or mascarpone with a few spoons of yoghurt and if desired mix a little honey in for extra sweetness. Pour this mix on top of the biscuit base. Add the chopped strawberries, sliced almonds and mixed seeds to suit.

Fancy more recipes like this? Then download my new guide ‘A Week in Balance’, with seven days’ of breakfasts, snacks, lunches and dinners plus a home exercise routine to keep you fit, healthy and balanced. It’s only £2 with half going to charity, get your copy here: http://bit.ly/1GQEhRO

The great outdoors

With summer finally here for most of us, it’s time to take exercise outside. There’s a whole host of reasons why getting outdoors is good for you:

Sunlight – natural light increases your vitamin D levels and boosts your mood by raising levels of important hormones.

Nature – believe it or not some research has shown that being active in picturesque settings improves mood whereas the same activity in unpleasant surroundings can actually make it worse. You’ll know this feeling, there’s something about the greens of the grass and trees and (hopefully) the blue of the sky, the blaze of colours in autumn or at sunset.

Immune strength – being stuck in an air-conditioned office with fellow workers can increase the likelihood of picking up coughs and colds. As exercise boosts the immune system, a little walk outside may help strengthen your defences.

Smells good – the fragrances of nature, like fresh slowers, cut grass or the smell of rain leave us feeling relaxed and happier.

Feel energised – research has suggested that in as many as 90% of people, being in fresh air surrounded by nature increases how energetic we feel, and it’s cheaper than coffee!

Here are four exercises you can do to ensure your abs look in tiptop shape for a spot of sunbathing!

The front squat – squats actually activate your stomach muscles far more than sit-ups and adding a little weight to hold increases the challenge further.

Press-ups – another great exercise for the deep muscles of your core, as well as your chest, arms and shoulders too.

Side Plank – firm up those love handles with this simple exercise.

Back extensions – to ensure your entire middle is strong and toned and you look after your back, add this great exercise in to your workout.

Fancy exercising outdoors? Why not join our weekly balance boot camps.

Wenesday’s, 6-7pm, up on Clifton Downs (at the corner of Ivywell Road where it meets the Downs). If maps isn’t your thing, it’s about 250 yards up from where the ice cream van is always sat at the lookout point! :-) 

Want to know more? Get in touch.

Her are a few snaps from some of my own recent outdoor workouts!

What is it that makes achieving goals possible?

Last week I returned from the last of the three big fitness challenges I set myself this year. In April I ran the Rotterdam Marathon and was happy to get my PB of 3:14, still room for improvement but good progress. A month later my close friends Simon and Tom and I cycled form London to Brussels via Amsterdam, 330 miles in four days. We rode well together and felt strong at the end. That bode well for the big one, four days doing the Three Peaks of Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis and cycling the 440 miles in between them. Whilst it was definitely one of the toughest things I’ve done, we did it!

Through experiences like these and working with so many people to help them achieve their goals, here are the key things that I believe make the difference:

The vision – whilst these things appeared daunting, I never waivered in my belief that I could do them. I drew on previous experiences of similar events and knew I had the fitness and determination to get through them.

The drive – motivation is key. This event meant a lot to me, Tom and Simon. We were raising money for Genetic Alliance, a charity supporting those with rare genetic conditions. Tom’s young son Dexter has one such condition and the sense of purpose meant we were never going to let tiredness or pain get the better of us. Personally it was something I’d had in my head to do for a long time and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

The support – having the guys alongside me, and Vicky doing an amazing job driving the camper van made such a difference. Sharing experiences and having help when needed is essential for getting where you want to go.

The preparation – whilst we certainly made mistakes, we were well organised for the event with the right tools and gear. We’d planned our route and whilst at times we adapted it we always knew where we were.

The challenge – goals need to be tough enough to motivate you but not so tough that they seem unreachable. We certainly had to work to for it (10 hours of exercise a day) but we knew if we worked hard we’d get there.

 Compare your own goals against these and see where you might need to make changes. If you need any help, feel free to get in touch.

Surprisingly 'super' foods

These days the term ‘super-food’ is pretty common. You’ll hear it in relation to a berry only found growing high in the Himalayas, a bean that South American tribes have been cooking with for centuries, tribes where the average life expectancy is reported to be about 150, or a fruit that is reported to contain more Omega 3 than a school of mackerel and looks like it comes from outer space.

There’s likely nothing wrong with these foods of course, they’re fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds after all, but you’ll likely pay a fair price for them to be transported from the far reaches of the planet and packaged in recycled brown paper with pictures of snow-covered mountains and beautiful sunsets.

If you want some super foods, it is possible to look a little closer to home. There’s a range of fruit and vegetables cultivated in Britain and Europe that could easily be considered super, they just haven’t got the right agent! With a little marketing support they could easily be found in those articles in glossy magazines telling you the secret foods that Jennifer Aniston eats to stay looking so young and thin.

Here’s just a few of the foods that I’d promote from their standard 'non-league’ persona at present to stars of the 'Garden Premier League’.

1) Peas

With 40% of your daily vitamin K, a third of your manganese needs and 30% of your vitamin B requirements in just one cup of peas, I think super is a fair description. Add to this the discovery that coumestrol, a nutrient found in peas may protect against cancers and that saponins, antioxidants present in these delicious green pods could play a role in preventing and managing type 2 diabetes. Peas frozen straight from picking are easy to store, unbelievably simple to cook and they go with almost any evening meal.

2) Apples

An apple a day may actually help to keep the doctor away, or to quote the original 150-year old version of this rhyme:  

“Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread." 

Apples contain vitamins A, C and E and the nutrients quercetin and pectin. The former has been linked with everything from decreased risk of cancer to heart disease and Alzheimer’s, while the latter is a soluble fibre shown to lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

3) Potatoes

Those of you who have read my post sin recent times will know I’m a proud supporter of the humble spud. In many comparisons it beats its celebrity cosine the sweet potato and it’s so versatile, tasty and cheap that you’ll often find it in my trolley. Spuds have probably had bad press because they often get a makeover that results in them being transformed into a chip or a packet of crisps, but baked, boiled or mashed they’re a great addition to many classic meals and a good source of nutrition too.

4) Blackberries

The thing I really love about blackberries, apart from their nutritional content and their great taste, is that for a month every year you can pick enough of them to freeze and eat the whole year round. I’ve done this previously and it saves a couple of quid each week on my shopping. At this time of year you’ll need to buy them, but they’re worth it. The rich blue colour means you’ll find plenty of antioxidants inside with plenty of vitamins C and K to keep, amongst other things your immune system strong and blood working as it should.

5) Onions

Onions are rich in nutrients known as flavonoids, in fact pound for pound they contain more of these wonderful little things than most. They’re also high in sulphur which is essential for keeping bones, connective tissues and muscles healthy. They’re sooooo cheap and can be added to salads, stews, stir-frys and just about anything you can think of, with Michael Ruhiman describing them in his book 'The Elements of Cooking’ as 'perhaps even the most important ingredient.’ For use in stock, to add flavour, as a paste, or just to eat in their own right, add a few to your trolley and plates each week.

6) Oranges

Not that long ago, oranges, like bananas, were one of those foods considered a delicacy as they were shipped in from abroad. Getting one in your Christmas stocking was a real treat but nowadays they’ve lost out in their popularity stakes to foods equally rich in vitamin C but a little more exotic like kiwi. 

As well as vitamin C there’s a host of B-vitamins, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, selenium, copper, choline, zeaxanthin, and of course carotenoids or vitamin A that are found in red, orange and yellow foods. This wondrous combination of nutrients has been linked to better sleep, decreased risk of cancer, stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and healthier skin. Not bad eh? Super some might say.

7) Rocket

This peppery little salad leaf has been shown to have medicinal properties in the treatment of stomach ulcers. These days it’s just considered a cheap addition to a side-salad, but it’s flavour and nutrient-rich content means it should get a bigger billing. Maybe if it used one of it’s alternative names like arugula or rucola it’d get better press? Like Prince or good old Reg Dwight, aka Elton John, a name change can make such a difference.

8) Carrots

A recent Dutch study suggested that orange-coloured fruit and vegetables appear to have the strongest protective effect against heart disease. Just one portion of carrots has your body’s daily recommendation for vitamin A sorted so maybe that’s one of the reasons. Try them steamed to keep in as many of the nutrients as possible and maintain their fresh taste at the same time.

9) Mint

From experience I can say that mint is without doubt the easiest herb to grow. In fact it’s the hardest one to stop growing! Keep it in pots so that your garden doesn’t suffer from a remake of that famous B-movie 'Attack of the Mentha’ (that’s its posh Latin gardening name). Used in everything from teas to gum, soups to toothpastes, it is a great addition to peas (see number 1) or as a herb to flavour meats like lamb. Through history it has been used to soothe the stomach, to freshen breath and as an anti-bacterial agent.

10) Strawberries

OK so you may class strawberries as belonging to the 'super foods’ generation but as they’re grown in the UK and are easy to get hold of, I’ve popped them in my list too. Rich in vitamin C they have a protective effect on the immune system and have been linked with protection against cancer, eye health, lowering cholesterol, weight management due to their fibre content and even preventing wrinkles! 

How much is all this going to set you back? Well, I’ve popped onto Tesco online and priced up these 10 items compared to 10 traditional super-foods. Here are the results:

Peas £0.98 for 1kg frozen vs Mangetout £1.40 for 215g

Apples £0.79 for 5 Braeburn vs Avocados £1.75 4-pack ripen at home

Potatoes £1.75 for 2.5kg of white potatoes vs Sweet potatoes £3.00 for 2.5kg 

Blackberries £2.00 for 150g vs Blueberries £2.00 for 150g

Onions £0.16 each vs Leeks £0.44 each

Oranges £0.30 each vs Pineapple £1.50 for a large size

Rocket £1.00 for 1 bag vs Asparagus £1.65 for a bunch

Carrots £0.60 for 1kg vs Beetroot £1.00 for 300g cooked

Mint £0.70 for 30g vs £0.70 for 2 lime grass stems 

Strawberries £2.00 for 400g vs Goji berries £3.20 for 200g

With a mocked up shopping list and a quick bit of maths I reckon I could easily save about £11 every shop by choosing the everyday foods over the more exotic 'super-foods’. As I said previously the more expensive foods are good for us too, we just don’t have to spend a fortune to get a whole host of nutrients and keep us healthy. 

Maybe a nice balance of both is a good idea?

Stay healthy,

Paul

Why should your diet be like a Christmas candle?

It seems an odd combination doesn’t it; what could a candle and eating to lose weight possibly have in common. Well the answer is that to work effectively they both need the same three things.

For a candle to burn it needs:

1) Wax

2) A wick

3) A flame

The wax is the source of energy for the candle. It is the wax that when heated up begins to melt, but it can’t work on its own. The wick is essential too; as the wax of the candle melts, the liquid wax is drawn up the wick. As it does so it becomes increasingly hotter until it turns into a gas. It is this gas that is ignited by the flame and keeps it burning brightly, in turn generating more heat and melting more wax from the candle beneath.

The wick plays a vital role in keeping the melted wax in the flame long enough to turn into a gas and allow it to burn. Without the wick, heated wax would simply melt but no flame would be created and as such the wax would not vaporise (become gas). As such at the end you’d juts be left with the same amount of wax but it wouldn’t look as pretty any more.

The final piece of the jigsaw of course was the initial spark, the flame that set the wick alight and began the process. Without this the candle obviously can’t burn.

All well and good you say, but what’s this got to do with my diet? Well, in recent years there’s been a trend towards low carbohydrate diets. Why is this? Well, according to some, carbs cause diabetes, they make you fat and you don’t need them to burn fat.

However, if you take the analogy of our little Christmas Candle, you’ll see that this isn’t right at all. To burn body fat you need three things:

1) Some body fat to burn (the wax)

2) Some carbohydrates (the wick)

3) Movement (the flame)

Much like the candle, your body’s biggest energy source is its fat. In fact, even the leanest individuals store plenty of energy as fat. If we take an average, fairly ‘elfy’ individual as an example:

Buddy weighs 80 kilo’s and his body fat percentage is 20 per cent. This means that 16 kilo’s of buddy are fat, or 35 pounds. 

Knowing that a pound of fat is equivalent to around 3,500 calories, that means Buddy has around 123,200 calories of energy to draw on when needed from fat. That’s enough in theory to run around 50 marathons!

So we’ve established that we’ve got energy to burn. Now let’s see how carbohydrate is involved, time for a little trip to the chemistry lab.

When glucose is broken down, a substance known as pyruvate is produced. This in turn creates  oxaloacetate, which is a vital substance in the process of fat breakdown. If carbohydrate levels are low, less pyruvate is produced, so less oxaloacetate is produced, and therefore less fat is broken down, or rather fat is broken down inefficiently. In simple terms, remove the carbohydrates and you remove the wick that allows the fat to burn.

Finally of course, you need a spark to create the flame, ignite the wick and begin the process. This is exercise or movement. The more you move the higher your metabolism, meaning your flame burns brighter. 

So if you want to burn your wax, sorry body fat, effectively, be sure to keep some healthy carbohydrates in your diet. Examples might be whole grain rice, pasta or bread, quinoa, couscous, bulgar wheat and fruit and vegetables. And of course remember to move, aim for 30 minutes exercise every day and your flame will burn brightly.

Merry Christmas everyone,

Paul

From white stuff to right stuff: Five alternatives to sugar

Weaved throughout many of the ‘Ten Steps to a Balanced Diet’ is the importance of decreasing sugar intake. Sugar is a highly refined substance and as you already know, foods high in sugar will contain a lot of calories and soon leave us feeling hungry again and ready for more. 

In its highly processed state it offers few if any health benefits, and over time excess sugar intake can lead to weight gain, diabetes and tooth decay so we’re all told we should reduce how much we consume. Trouble is, that’s not always as easy as it sounds. Here I honestly review a few sugar alternatives that you could consider using to wean yourself off the white stuff, looking at the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Honey

Made by bees using nectar from flowers, honey has been used by various empires through the ages, including the Greeks and Romans. 

The good: Rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, there’s certainly more goodness in honey than in refined sugar. It’s been shown to contain iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium which all keep your body functioning optimally. 

Over the years it’s been proposed that it might treat wounds and infections, control allergies and manage gastrointestinal problems, although these claims need a lot more research to prove one way or the other. It has been shown in one study to ease night-time coughing in those with colds.

Drawbacks: Manuka honey is often purchased by people in an attempt to alleviate their latest bout of cold/flu. Whilst it may work as an antibacterial treatment for wounds, it’s cold-fighting properties are not yet proven, nor are the other claims made about it lowering cholesterol, treating diabetes and even cancer.

In fact, honey is around 80% sugar, half of it fructose, meaning whilst it’s probably slightly better than sugar, go easy on how much you use or you’ll be adding calories and increasing your insulin levels just as you would with refined sugar.

Panela

Pa what I hear you say? Panela….what’s that? Well it’s unrefined cane sugar, or certainly less refined than sugar. When sugarcane is cut down, it is boiled and the sap oozes out. This sap is then further refined to produce sugar, but Panela is just hardened blocks of this sap.

The good: As it is produced from the juice of the cane plant, it’s been shown to contain all of the vitamins and minerals found in the plant; everything form vitamin A to zinc, with plenty in between including calcium, copper, vitamins C and D, iron, potassium and polyphenols. It scores very highly on its levels of antioxidants too.

I use it myself, grating it into porridge to add some sweetness. It tastes good and a block lasts me a long time.

Drawbacks: It’s still over 70% sucrose, so the usual advice to consume it in moderation applies.

Carob

Carob is produced form the pods of the carob tree, found in the Middle East. They are ground and roasted to produce a chocolate-like substance.

The good: It is lower fat than cocoa powder, half as much in fact. It is also caffeine free, in fact it has no stimulants at all yet it still tastes like chocolate.

You can find it in 9bars or use it to make these very tasty cookies suitable for vegans.

Drawbacks: Yep, you guessed it. It’s still high in sugars and therefore calories too.

Maple syrup

A completely natural substance made from the sap of that maple tree, synonymous with Canada of course where the majority is produced.

The good: Another rich source of nutrients - magnesium, zinc, manganese and zinc to name a few. It’s also rich in phenols, powerful antioxidants more usually associated with grapes and berries, and wine by those who need to justify their slightly elevated intake! :-)

Drawbacks: Groundhog Day!! High in sugar and calories, say no more.

Dried fruit

Ok so you know what this is. There are lots of different types of course; apricots, figs, dates, prunes, raisins and sultanas, pineapple and many more.

The good: Dried fruits are actually higher in fibre than fresh alternatives and fibre is essential in the diet to keep your digestive system healthy, fill you up and keep cholesterol levels low. Some dried fruits seem to be higher in nutrients than their freshly picked counterparts too, check out this interesting article on the Livestrong website to find out more.

The drawbacks: Dried fruit has lost all of its water and so may have a higher sugar content and higher glycaemic index. They’ve also been shown to have a laxative effect in some people so eating them before a run is not advised!

In summary, all of these may offer a little more nutritional benefit than plain old refined sugar, but as the first and arguably most important step of the balance 'ten steps to a healthy diet’ says, go easy on the quantity. As the old saying goes:

                           'Everything in moderation’

Or to put it another way, you need to find your balance. :-)

How to have yourself a balanced little Christmas: five festive coping strategies

It’s that time of year again. Parties, work nights out, seeing friends, three course meals, mince pies, wine, mulled wine, hot wine, more wine, beer, cheese, hot dogs at the German market, Christmas cake, biscuits, chocolate, oh and maybe a bit more wine!

How do you, and more to the point your scales, survive all of this? To help you through the festive minefield I’ve included below five ways to fight the festive flab.

1) Don’t!

I bet that surprised you!? The key question you need to ask yourself is do you want to be conscious of your eating, drinking and exercise for the next few weeks? If the answer is yes, read on for the next tips. If it’s no, then why beat yourself up about it or go through the pretense of saying “oh I won’t eat this” or “I’ll just go and have one or two drinks”?

If you’re well balanced for 11 months of the year, and you want to lose balance just for one, then so be it, accept it and get planning to get back on it in January. Alternatively, ask yourself, is it really worth potentially giving up all of those valuable improvements you’ve made this year for the sake of a few weeks?

2) Use a buddy

Friends, work colleagues and partners can be extremely valuable. In fact, everybody can benefit from having a “Santa’s Little Helper”. Get them to remind you of your goals at the office Christmas party, plan your meals with you or help in any way that you agree with them.

3) Get an advent calendar

No not the chocolate type, but use a proper calendar to plan your Christmas schedule. Plan in your Christmas parties, evenings with friends, shopping expeditions etc and then make sure you plan in some exercise sessions around it. If it’s in the calendar it’s far more likely to get done.

4) Choose your own presents

Not the ones from Santa obviously, they’re made by the Elves at the North Pole so you can’t change what you get, that depends on whether you’ve been naughty or nice this year of course.

You can choose which of the festive treats you will indulge in though and which you will say no to. Select a couple of your absolute favourites and plan to have these as your treats. I’ll be choosing mince pies with Baileys clotted cream and Lindt chocolates. I’ll be saying no to Christmas Pud and Christmas Cake as I don’t really like either that much.

5) Write to Santa

Instead of writing your present wish list, write out your goals for the holiday period. It might be to maintain weight, exercise a certain number of times, consume 5 portions of fruit and vegetables each day to balance off the festive goodies, or even to set a realistic goal for weight gain, whatever works for you.

However you choose to do it, may your days be merry and bright….and balanced of course.

Paul

Detox.......debunked

I’ve been asked to put this blog piece together by a good friend of mine Emma. She’s a very good runner who works in an office and regularly sees colleagues go on juice detox diets, losing a substantial amount of weight in a short space of time, only to put it all back on again and more in the following weeks.

She’s not alone in being frustrated by the ‘detox’ industry. There are numerous detox diets out there that claim to guarantee weight loss, rid your body of harmful toxins, revitalise you and improve your health. They vary in their structure but generally advocate the complete removal of unhealthy foods from the diet alongside a large increase in water, fruit and vegetables whilst at the same time cutting calories quite dramatically. So what is the truth behind all of this?

The evidence 

Well, in reality, there’s a very limited amount of data on the benefits of a detox diet. Searching through the journals I came across one study from 2012 that asked 31 volunteers to go on a 4-week detox plan. At the end of the period the participants had lost an average of 9 pounds each, which in fairness is not far above the recommended guidelines of 2 pounds per week.

So what’s the issue here you might ask? It works doesn’t it? Well yes, but it most likely worked because participants consumed between 850 and 1000 calories per day. There was likely no miracle detoxification process going on inside the body; it was simply a reduction in calories. And as you’ll know if you’ve read my previous pieces, decreasing calories below what your body needs to function normally will:

1) Lead to rapid decreases in weight loss as your energy stores and the water that binds to them are used up.

2) Leave your body with too little energy for what it needs, forcing it to go into a kind of 'starvation mode’.

3) Make you very hungry and likely to crave foods in the long term that are less healthy and will lead to weight gain above the point where you started.

4) Possibly cause your body to turn to itself to provide energy. This can lead to a decrease in muscle mass, lowering your overall metabolic rate and making it even harder to lose weight and keep it off in future.

Let’s take a balanced look at detox diets in general then and see what we can learn and use from them.

What’s good and bad about detox?

1) It encourages an increase in water intake. This is not a bad thing for most of us. Water is essential to make our bodies work properly and many don’t get enough. It’s all about balance though; too much water can also be harmful so stick to the sensible guidelines of 1.5-2 litres per day alongside a healthy diet, increasing of course if you exercise a lot or live in a warm environment (not the UK)!

2) It emphasises the need for fruit and vegetables. We all know they’re packed full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants so getting our 5-a-day or possibly even slightly more is going to help keep us healthy. Again though, too much can be a bad thing; raw food diets and too much sugar from large amounts of fruit can cause health problems. Emphasise vegetables over fruit and be sensible on the quantities.

3) It helps us to minimise processed foods. Of course, detox diets will demonise things that come in packages, telling you they’re the reason the world is in the state it’s in. They’ll also tell you that we are all allergic to these foods, but whilst some can be, this 'fact’ is certainly yet to be ascertained by science. So whilst there’s some truth to this, there’s room for a more balanced approach. If cutting processed foods completely is what you feel you need to do to lose weight and get healthy, then there is nothing wrong with that. As long as you get enough calories and of course can sustain your new eating routine in the long run, go for it. For many though this is seen as too extreme, and so after a short spell avoiding certain aisles in the supermarket and hiding behind a pillow when that chocolate advert comes on, they give in to temptation and binge, hiding the evidence by putting the wrappers in next door’s wheelie bin. If this is you, then find a middle ground, choosing the more processed foods as occasional treats to be enjoyed instead of making yourself feel like you’ve committed some sort of crime just by peeling open the packaging.

4) It prays on our weaknesses. Yes it took us five years to gain that weight steadily, but we can get rid of it all in just four weeks, can’t we? Well, sadly no we can’t. The old saying 'slow and steady wins the race’ applies to weight loss more than almost anything else. To avoid impacting the functioning of your body, you need to fuel it right. Over time it can then start to bring itself back into balance, decreasing weight and improving health. I’ve borrowed a few quotes here from a very good article I found online by Kathleen Zelman, director of nutrition for WebMD. She spoke to some nutrition experts and here’s what Connie Diekman, a registered dietician said.

“Detox diets prey on the vulnerability of dieters with fear tactics while gaining financially by selling products that are not necessary and potentially dangerous.”

5) There’s an over-reliance on juicing. If using lots of fruits, the sugar content here can actually be very high. Recent studies have suggested that consuming too much fruit juice regularly may be as harmful as using fizzy drinks. Some do emphasise vegetables instead which do have a lower sugar content.

6) It implies that we need to drastically change the way we eat and drink regularly to 'detoxify’ our systems. This is a myth. Our bodies are designed to detoxify themselves on a daily basis, as Frank Sacks from Harvard Medical School points out.

“Your body is designed to remove toxins efficiently, with organs such as the kidneys, liver and colon. You don’t need detox diets, pills, or potions to help your body do its job.”

What are the alternatives?

You can take some of the principles of the detox diets and apply them to a more balanced approach. In fact, you’ll find them all in the balance weight loss 'ten steps to a balanced diet’.

1) Drink plenty of fluids; water, milk, a little diluted fruit juice and even sensible amounts of tea and coffee (the caffeine content in a few cups will not kill you, in fact there’s quite a few antioxidants in there).

2) Get your 5-a-day, 7 if you can. Emphasise vegetables and berries with some other fruits, making sure to vary them regularly and get a wide range of colours.

3) Use whole grains; apart from the small amount of people who are truly wheat allergic, using whole grains alongside fruit and vegetables will give you adequate fibre to help you remove waste products (your body detoxing itself again). Vary the grains used to get the most nutrients; wild rice, spelt, rye, oats, barley, couscous and quinoa can all add taste to your diet as well as giving you the energy you need to function.

4) Limit processed foods, fizzy drinks and alcohol. We all know it; we know what’s really healthy and what we shouldn’t eat as much. All you need to do is work out how; it might mean choosing certain days for treats, limiting the number per week, not putting them in your shopping basket, avoiding times and places where you consume them, coming up with alternative foods and drinks to eat instead. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s sustainable and it works for you.

There’s one other advantage to all of this of course; your blender should last longer! ;-)

Start finding your balance today.

Paul :-)

The 5 best websites containing the 3 best magazines with the 7 best articles on the 10 best foods to eat and 5 best exercises to do to lose weight

Do you know what the 5 best exercises are for weight loss? Do you know which 3 foods will boost your energy levels more than any other food on the planet? What about the 10 best workout DVD’s? 6 most effective cellulite busting tips? 7 most effective running workouts to improve your marathon time? 

No, I didn’t think so. And I suspect and hope that this is because you realise that there aren’t 5 best exercises for weight loss, or 3 miracle energy-giving foods. There’s nothing wrong at all with the media highlighting effective exercises to help you stay fit and healthy, or to promote foods that you may not have tried or that have possible health benefits identified in scientific research.

The problem comes when you’re led to believe in these things as miracles and cure-alls. Stocking up your cupboards with acai berries will not mean you never get a cold again, drinking endless litres of grape juice will not mean you’re guaranteed not to suffer from heart disease and eating a grapefruit a day is the not answer to all of your weight loss goals.

So what can you take from these articles? Think of yourself as a plumber, your aim should be to expand the number of tools you possess. You may learn that there are one or two exercises you’ve never done before and you can add them into your weekly exercise routine. Or you’ll see a food that you’ve just discovered might support your goals in doe way, so you think you could add that to your weekly shop occasionally. No single exercise or food will provide the answer or everybody would have done it a long time ago and somebody would have earned a lot of money in the process. Similarly, there is no one tool that a plumber can carry to provide a solution for all jobs they do. The best and most effective plumbers are the ones that literally have a tool for every job. 

When I teach Personal Trainer courses, one of the most important pieces of advice I give to any budding PT is to build up their toolkit as much as possible. Know a wide range of exercises and methods and different ways of helping people to change. Many business in health and fitness these days have been built on the notion that their way, or their piece of exercise kit is the best, the one for you, the answer to everybody’s problems. As a public we believe in this, probably for a few reasons:

1) It is a quick fix - it looks pretty easy. I just stand on that wobbly thing three times a week and I’ll look just like I want to.

2) It doesn’t take me much effort - I don’t need to think. I just eat add water to those powders twice a day and then eat dinner and I’ll be the weight I want to be in no time.

3) It might work - i’ve tried so many things and I’m desperate to get back to the weight and size I used to be so I’ll give it a go.

And of course it may work, but it also may not. People are different and some respond better to certain types of exercise than others. Equally, one diet may make a real difference to one individual whilst at the same time having no effect on another, or even worse cause another to gain weight. Unfortunately there is no ‘wonder test’ that tells you which eating pattern works best and which exercise routine is right for you. And of course what is right for you can change over time as your life changes. Age, stress levels, sleep patterns and a whole host of other factors can affect your energy levels, metabolism and hormones, which in turn change how much physical exertion you can cope with and which foods will help you.

Over time a personal trainer gets a good 'feel’ for how these factors work together, and can advise you on what may well be the best options for you, but cannot say with 100% certainty that it will definitely work. It often does, but even then your life situation may change and things will again need adapting to best suit you. Even without a PT to support you, it’s important to remember:

1) There is no such thing as failure, only learning. Trying a new exercise routine and eating pattern may not work in its entirety for you but you’re bound to learn something, even if it’s what not to do in future. I read a wonderful quote this week from Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players of all time. It encapsulates this idea wonderfully:

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

2) The best way to achieve long-term success in health and fitness goals is to become attuned to your body and its needs. It will always tell you what it wants and you can learn from its reactions what the '5 best exercises’ and '3 best foods’ are for you. 

So, remember to take any 'x best’ lists with a pinch of salt, learn from them and use them to try changes in your own lifestyle but whatever you do, don’t rely on them as gospel and don’t be disheartened if these miracle cures don’t work for you. Note what you’ve learned form your attempts and then adapt, maybe make a small tweak if you think that will work better or try something completely different.

Over time you can make your own 'x best’ and 'x worst’ lists for you. Here’s a few examples of things I’ve learned about my own body through my journey through health and fitness:

• If I try to train hard without getting enough sleep (8 hours for me), I am likely to pick up a cold, especially if I train in the mornings.

• Whilst I know they’re good for me, apples and nuts don’t fill me up when having a snack, oranges and bananas on the other hand do the job nicely.

• I work best on a reasonable amount of carbohydrates. If I don’t eat enough wholemeal bread, rice, quinoa etc I find it harder to concentrate, feel hungry more quickly and don’t perform as well in the gym and in any races I take part in.

• Cheap muesli tends to give me stomach ache after eating it.

• I work best on low to moderate volume training at a good intensity as opposed to doing lots and lots of exercise.

Take time to learn about you and it will pay dividends, helping to keep you fit and healthy, and looking and feeling like you want. If you don’t know where to start, please get in touch, I’ve designed lots of ways to help you through my company balance weight loss and I’ll always answer any questions you may have.

Be happy and healthy,

Paul

info@balanceweightloss.co.uk

0775 200 1203

Stressed? Here's how to find some balance.

Do you often feel stressed? How do you know? What do you feel? How do you feel? What do you see and hear?

The word stress is one that you’ll probably hear many times these days, but its meaning is probably more complex and controversial than you may imagine.

The word stress comes from the Latin word stringere, meaning to draw tight. This is a good analogy, as it’s true meaning is to put strain on something. When thinking of it in relation to you, it relates to anything that challenges your body and takes it out of its comfort zone. This could be a mental stress, challenging your brain, a physical stress challenging your body, or both.

When most people think of and use the word stress these days, it generally carries a negative meaning, yet that does not always have to be the case. There are in fact two distinct types of stress:

Eustress

This is good stress. What’s that you say? How can stress be good? Well let’s look at a few examples.

Exercise - you know it’s good for you, or you do if you’ve been reading the balance blog and Facebook posts! Exercise involves physical exertion, placing stress upon your body. In fact, one of the key principles of exercise that any fitness professional can tell you about is called overload. In simple terms, your body will not adapt and get fitter unless you challenge it. Why would it? If you’ve ever taken up exercise, you’ll know that feeling of discomfort in the first few sessions, then after a while you don’t find it so hard. You have stressed your body enough that it’s decided to change, primarily because it’s quite lazy and doesn’t want to have to work hard. Suddenly you find the same exercise session pretty easy, and the only way to get more changes from your body is, you guessed it, to work harder still. Of course, you need to do this sensibly and gradually or you place your body under too much stress and increase the likelihood of overtraining and injury.

Challenge - ever had a job that was just too easy and you were bored? Many of you will have experienced this and will have spent time trying to get promoted or looking for a career change. You’re basically trying deliberately to add more stress to yourself, but that’s because you need it and want it. Imagine if there was no challenge to life, what would be the motivation to continue? It could easily be argued that stress is actually what keeps you alive.

However, as with all things in life, it’s all about balance. Too much stress, or unwanted stresses can have a negative impact.

Distress

This is the term for bad stress, any stressor that puts your body under too much strain or has a negative effect. This is what most people think of when they use the term stress.

What causes distress?

• Work - being overworked, not enjoying your job, demanding deadlines, pressure passed on by your boss or by targets set for your team, bonus schemes, long hours, there’s a whole host of reasons why work can stress people both mentally and physically.

• Money - life these days can be expensive and throws up unexpected costs when the car breaks down or a utility bill is bigger than you thought.

• Family life - it’s hard to get on with the people you love all the time. Even when you do, you want to look after them and time apart, exam pressure for children, job interviews, university placements, holidays, illness and a million other things can make life feel complicated and stressful.

• Lack of sleep, too much exercise, exposure to electrical and chemical radiation, taking exams, and even sitting down place stresses on your body, the latter putting your knee joint under strain by tightening the muscles that attach around it.

Whether you are affected by stress (I mean distress) depends on a number of things:

1) Your balance of eustress and distress.

2) The coping mechanisms you have in place.

Let’s have a look at these and see what can be done. Firstly, it can be useful for you to identify all of the things that create good stress and bad stress in your life.

Make a list like the one below.

Eustress

• My gym visits

• Taking exams for my courses

• Rehearsing for a play that you’re going to be appearing in

• Preparing to go self-employed

Distress

• Lack of sleep

• Work pressures

• Getting the kids to school on time in the morning

• Flying on holiday next week and hate flying

• Fitting in visits to the family around after-school clubs, visits to the doctors, going shopping, picking up a prescription, posting your tax return on time and a million other things you struggle to make time for

• Spending 10 hours a day sat in front of a computer

Now you’ve got your list, don’t get stressed if you think you’ve missed something, you can add it at another time, it’s worth looking at the balance of good and bad and asking yourself two questions:

1) Can I add more things that will give me eustress to my life?

• Take up yoga or meditate

• Go for a walk outside at lunchtimes or at least get away from my desk more often

• Book a race to raise money for charity

• Spend time playing sports with my children

• Go to sleep half an hour earlier

These are just a few examples, you’ll have plenty of your own.

2) How can I manage or remove the things that cause me distress?

Some would call this stress management or stress reduction, you can call it distress disposal, Fred or whatever you like that makes most sense to you. Let’s choose one possible cause of distress and look at ways to reduce it; in this case the fear or hatred of flying. Hate is a strong word so it must be pretty stressful. What can you do to manage this stress?

1) Avoidance - in this case don’t fly. Go on holiday in the UK? Nah, no sunshine! Drive and take the ferry? Too far and would take up half the holiday.

2) Drink - many choose this as a way to remove stress as it makes them feel relaxed. You need to ask yourself though, is it a good method? One or two drinks may supply an instant feeling of relaxation as the alcohol acts on the nervous system, any more though and guess what, you’re actually placing your body under distress as it then has to cope with the increased level of toxins in the body and the dehydration. Your liver and other organs end up stressed and long-term this won’t be a good solution for removal of stress, you simply replace one stress with another. Some go even further in times of stress and take drugs, the consequences of which are much the same if not even more severe. Getting out of it is not a great way to get over it.

3) Distraction - I know, I’ll read a book, listen to music, do a puzzle, plan a presentation, schedule my exercise for the next 12 weeks before my race. This is a great option if it works, as it uses eustress methods to overcome distress.

4) Rationalise - I could read up about the statistical likelihood of being involved in a plane crash, and reassure myself that I’m far more at risk statistically when going for a walk than I am when flying.

5) Mind tricks - I could use hypnosis, have counselling, practice meditation or anything else that I thought may help me to overcome or allay my fears.

As you can see, I have options open to me and this is a good thing, as it means I can take action and do something. Try it for yourself, pick one of the things that cause you distress and make  list of methods you could use to remove or manage this. You can try them all or even use just one of them, it really is up to you. The key thing you need to ask yourself though is, will the things I have written down have a positive impact on the health of my mind and body, or will they cause me further distress? Opt for the ones that have a positive impact. Smoking, alcohol and junk foods are common ‘stress relief’ methods employed by millions of people across the world, but they’re not effective because they end up loading different and equally harmful stresses onto the body.

The advice above serves only to help you manage stresses you feel you are able to control without seeking further help. What you may have discovered by doing this task is that there are some stresses in your life that you feel are deep-seated, that you can’t think of a way to remove or that you feel are causing you real harm. If this is the case, you should seek medical advice in the first instance and then work with your GP to find suitable solutions to balance your stresses and improve your health. 

Let’s have a quick re-cap:

• Stress can be both good and bad for you. You need good stresses in your life to motivate you, but too much stress or negative stresses can affect you both physically and mentally.

• Spend time considering the balance of your good stress (eustress) and bad stress (distress). Do you need to take action to redress this?

• Add as many things to your life as you can that cause eustress - exercise, get outside, listen to music, dance, paint, read, have a bath, spend time with friends, go for promotion, set yourself a challenge, whatever it is that you personally find challenging but enjoyable.

• Identify ways in which you can manage or overcome things causing you distress. Sense check these to ensure that they themselves will not cause you further physical or mental distress. Choose realistic changes that will help bring you back into balance.

• Accept that 'stress’ is a part of your life, now and forever but recognise it is essential to your life. It will come and go, rise and fall, but you need to find the stress management techniques that work best for you.

• Always seek medical advice if you feel a stress is having a negative consequence on your mental or physical wellbeing. Your GP can discuss a range of options available to you that best suit your needs and circumstances.

The hare and the tortoise….on a weight loss programme

Once upon a time there was a hare and a tortoise, and they were good friends. They had once had a race and surprisingly the tortoise had won! The hare was much faster but when he was far ahead he’d become cocky and decided to have a rest. He dozed off to sleep and the tortoise had sneaked by and ended up winning.

Image courtesy of digitalart at freedigitalphotos.net

After the race, both lost their motivation to exercise. They had trained hard for their event, the tortoise, victorious and pleased with himself became complacent and lazed around all day eating chocolate and chips instead of lettuce. The hare felt down after his loss and consoled himself with beer and takeaways in front of the TV.

A few months went by and one day and Mr Fox came to visit. He couldn’t help but notice how much weight both had gained and felt he should say something. He was in fact a doctor, he didn’t use the title as there had been an unfortunate incident when he had been confused with a radio DJ and followed by the paparazzi on holiday in Turkey. He offered to help the hare and the tortoise to lose weight, and although surprised at first, they agreed. The tortoise did say that his shell had been feeling a little tight recently and the hare had noticed he could no longer see his big paws.

Mr Fox started the pair off on a healthy eating routine, carrots and lettuce leaves, as well as a sensible amount of daily activity. They both had to go for a walk in the park for half an hour every day which they could do together so they had some moral support and to make it a sociable task. Both felt motivated by having a new challenge and encouraged each other by preparing healthy evening meals, taking it in turns to cook.

A week passed by and Mr Fox came to carry out his weekly weigh in with the pair as he had promised. Both had lost 2 pounds and were on the right track. Tortoise felt pleased with himself and could feel that his shell was already a little looser and easier for him to curl up into at night. Hare was less happy; he wanted to lose one and a half stone, and he thought that at this rate it was going to take him forever. He decided that he would cut back on his food and do more exercise, but he didn’t tell tortoise as he wanted to lose more weight than him to impress Mr Fox.

Next week the pair continued to do their walks together, but tortoise became frustrated as hare would speed off and he would struggle to keep up. Hare started to run off into the distance and then run back to tortoise, jogging on the spot next to him. This annoyed tortoise, but he didn’t say anything as he was focused on his own goals and he knew what he could and couldn’t do.

Hare found that if he skipped breakfast in the morning and got out for a quick run he could be back before tortoise woke up and then still be able to do their exercise session together. At the next weigh in tortoise had lost another 2 pounds. Fox congratulated him for continuing to work hard. Hare though had lost 4 pounds and Fox praised his hard work but warned him that losing too much weight too quickly could be unhealthy. Anything more than 2 pounds a week was likely to mean that hare was not just losing fat but probably not eating enough. This meant his glycogen stores (carbohydrate supply) were being depleted and with it he would be losing water. His body may also start to break down his muscles to supply him with energy if he continued for a long period of time at this rate.

Hare though was pleased that he had lost more weight, and determined to reach his goal as quickly as he could he decided to ignore Mr Fox’s advice. He continued on his strict diet and did as much running as he could. He stopped exercising with tortoise as he felt he was not fit enough to keep up with him. Tortoise decided to add a little weights routine into his program as he did not want to get bored of doing the same thing and had heard that weights training could build lean muscles, which in turn would increase his rate of calorie burn and help him reach his goals.

At the next weigh-in hare had lost another 4 pounds and tortoise another pound. Fox was now concerned that hare wasn’t eating enough to fuel his body properly and had a chat with him after the session. Hare reacted angrily and was confused; why was Fox not pleased that he had done so well? He told Fox that he no longer needed his help and that he would carry on alone. Fox, not wanting to argue, asked hare to reconsider his weight loss methods but wished him good luck.

Another week went by and tortoise lost another pound. Hare was now weighing himself and was surprised and upset when he fund he had gained two pounds when he was so close to his goal. How could this have happened? He had barely eaten all week and he had exercised very hard! But he had been starving and gorged most of that cake the one day. And he had treated himself on Friday night with pizza and ice cream as he had been good and only eaten one lettuce leaf all day.

Hare decided to up his training so he joined the gym and spent hours on the cardio kit and went in the sauna as he though he might be able to sweat out more of the weight. Tortoise joined too and took up Body Combat, although it didn’t work as every time the instructor told them to kick or punch he automatically hid in his shell! Instead he tried Yoga which he found more to his pace.

Each weighed themselves again as scheduled and tortoise had lost another pound; he was now 7 pounds lighter than when he’d started 5 weeks ago and very pleased. Hare had gained another two pounds, how could this be? He had noticed he’d been starving after all that exercise and feeling weak so he’d been eating sugary foods to stop himself feeling dizzy. Tortoise had now lost more weight than him which was ridiculous as far as he was concerned.

Tortoise continued with the small changes he’d made to his life and went on to return to his race weight. He now competes in marathons, OK it takes him a while but he gets there. Hare joined a slimming club and drinks shakes for breakfast and takes tablets to help him burn fat. His weight has fluctuated up and down over the last few months and he is currently one pound heavier than when he started his programme. Mr Fox has changed his title back to Dr Fox and has a regular slot on morning TV advising animals about weight loss, exercise and health.

The moral of the story? Slow and steady doesn’t just win the race, it wins hands down for weight loss too. Weight gain will happen slowly over a number of months or even years, expecting to lose it all in a matter of weeks is unlikely to be realistic and can have many effects on the body that make it harder to maintain weight throughout life. Aim to lose one to two pounds a week through sensible changes to diet and an exercise programme combining cardiovascular and resistance training.

Super foods: fact or fiction?

You can’t have failed to escape the press coverage over the last few years about ‘super foods’ and all of the good things that they contain. The idea is simple; these foods are supposedly healthier than their counterparts because they contain high levels of a wide variety of substances, including:

    •   Vitamins

    •   Minerals

    •   Isoflavones and flavonoids

    •   Phytoestrogens

    •   Polyphenols

    •   Antioxidants

You’re probably thinking, they all sound very fancy, but what are they and what do they do for me? Well, without getting too complicated, here’s a brief description of each and their importance.

Vitamins

These are a diverse range of organic compounds that the body needs to get from diet to be able to work properly. They help your body do everything from grow and repair to producing energy and boosting your defences against disease.

Minerals

These are different to vitamins as they are inorganic, that is they have never been alive. The body still needs them to function and stay healthy though. They are always solids and made up a range of chemical elements. Sodium and potassium are examples of minerals, and roles include maintaining fluid balance in your body, ensuring your heart pumps effectively and building strong bones and teeth.

Isoflavones, flavonoids phytoestrogens and polyphenols

A range of compounds that you get from things that were alive, namely plants and animals, the latter containing them because they have eaten plants. These compounds have a lot in common with vitamins; in fact flavonoids up until the 1950s were often referred to as vitamin P. Today you’d probably only use that term in relation to the colour of your wee when you've taken your effervescent vitamin c tablets! 

Collectively, any nutrient that comes from a plant is called a phytonutrient.

Antioxidants

Have you ever watched Star Wars? It's the classic battle of good versus evil, light versus dark. Inside your body there’s an interstellar war going on every day to keep you in balance. An army of Antioxidants, think of them as Jedi Knights, defend you against Free Radicals, or Darth Vader’s army, hell bent on destruction. 

As you know, your body needs oxygen to survive, that’s why we have to breathe to live. Unfortunately, oxygen is a highly reactive substance. We know this as we can see the effects it has on cars and boats over the years. As they are exposed to air and water, they begin to rust, and there is a process that occurs in your body every day known as oxidation, which is effectively internal rusting. It is one of the things that causes you to age.

This process occurs as a result of using oxygen to produce energy for life. As a consequence, free radicals are produced. These are atoms that have effectively lost an electron and as a consequence go a little bit haywire, or to use our earlier analogy, have gone over to the dark side. They search around the body looking for another electron to get back into balance and back to the light. In their efforts though they can leave behind a path of destruction.

Your antioxidant defence system come armed with spare electrons, which they donate to any free radicals that they meet, turning them back into stable atoms that function normally. Remember when Darth Vader becomes good again in Return of the Jedi? This happens in your body every day, as long as you have the right amount of antioxidants available to defend you. And this is where the notion of 'super foods' comes from, with some things that you can find on the supermarket shelves containing a wide range of these healthy substances.

It certainly cannot be argued that some foods contain a massive amount of these health-promoting goodies and it is worth having them in your diet. The truth is though that your body needs a wide range of these nutrients to function at its best; as with everything it’s about balance. You can eat tonnes of blueberries, knowing that they’re packed full of antioxidants, but if this is all you eat you won’t be getting many of the other substances that you need. Instead of thinking about super foods, focus instead on Super Diets, consuming a wide range of plant substances to give your body everything it could possibly need to stay healthy, grow and function at its best. Remember here that the word diet simply means the foods that you eat; it has absolutely nothing to do with restricting foods or calories.

How are super foods measured?

One helpful measurement is the ORAC value of a food, or the Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity. This tells you how many free radicals a food can turn back from the dark side, stabilising them and decreasing the risk of damage to your body. So which food is the Yoda or Luke Skywalker of your diet? Learn about the ORAC values of different foods here.

Below I’ve provided you with ten foods that can contribute effectively towards a Super Diet. You’ll notice that there a wide range of colours on show here and a great little rule to remember is the 'Rainbow Rule’, ensuring that your shopping trolley always contains foods that are a wide range of colours. Sorry to disappoint you here, but Skittles don’t count!

Image courtesy of Kangshutters/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1) Broccoli

Extremely rich in vitamin C, as well as good amounts of vitamin A, B6 and calcium. All dark green vegetables are a superb source of folic acid too, particularly essential for women during pregnancy

Perfect with stir-fries or traditional roast dinners

2) Blueberries

Rich in flavonoids called anthocyanins, blueberries have been shown to be   effective in reducing blood pressure and managing blood sugars to help control diabetes

Perfect as a healthy snack or in yoghurts or porridge

3) Tomatoes

High in levels of lycopene, an antioxidant that has been strongly linked with cancer prevention. Also a good source of vitamin C

A food that pretty much goes with anything, from salads to sandwiches, or even roasted and served with fish

4) Kale

Just 50 grams will give you your daily requirements of vitamin A and C, helping with your immune system, eye health and a host of other benefits

Perfect steamed with meat or fish, or as part of a warm casserole on a cold night

5) Ground cloves

Spices and herbs are packed full of antioxidants, in fact they contain more than any other food on earth. Cloves are particularly rich in manganese, a mineral important for healthy bones and skin

Perfect in game  recipes, try one of these instead of the usual Sunday roast.

6) Dark chocolate

The cocoa, or cacao plant is packed full of antioxidants and linked to heart health, blood sugar control and brain function

Opt for 70% dark chocolate and have one or two squares as a snack

7) Raspberries

Another food that provides lots of vitamin C and manganese, they are also rich in fibre for bowel health

Mix into a salad with sunflower seeds to add extra flavour, or add to porridge for additional sweetness

8) Raw ginger

Another spice packed with a massively high ORAC score, reported to help with digestive health and as an anti-inflammatory

Add one or two slices of raw ginger to hot water with lemon and honey

9) Walnuts

Rich in Omega-3 fats that are vital for energy production, brain health and in preventing inflammation

Mix with berries and take to work in small Tupperwear pots for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks

10) Turmeric

A rich yellow-orange spice related to Ginger, rich in curcumin, an antioxidant linked to relief from stomach problems and arthritis

A great addition to curries to add vibrant colour and flavour

Hopefully this has given you some thoughts and ideas about what to put in your shopping basket next time you’re in the supermarket. Remember the rainbow rule and you’ll go a long way towards boosting your health. Also bear in mind that a healthy body is much better to able to process energy, build lean muscle to boost metabolism, and remove waste.

Focus on a healthy diet and a healthy weight is far more likely.

Balance your life, balance your scales

Paul

PS, if you’re keen to know more you can now follow me on Twitter @paulw_fitness 

Eat…..Ten Steps to Healthy Eating

The balance weight loss programme is made up of four easy-to-follow stages:

• think

• eat

• live

• move       

Of these, one that many people want to know more about is eat.

We believe in educating you to understand about healthy eating and empowering you to make your own choices in your diet. After all, you’re going to eat every day for the rest of your life so it’s vital that you don’t have to rely on us or someone else to tell you what to put in your mouth.

Instead we help you to make simple changes, one at a time if you wish, to your eating habits in order to help your body function better, improve your health and energy levels, and as a result, reach a healthy weight too.

We do this through our 

‘Ten Steps to Healthy Eating’

, taking the ten most important aspects of any healthy diet, giving you a simple questionnaire to assess how you’re doing in each, and then providing you with the tools and support to make changes to any of the steps that you wish. It really is a case of 'one step at a time.’

Image courtesy of pakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To give you an idea of what our Ten Steps look like, we’ve included a short extract from our book, due out soon that works alongside the questionnaire to help you identify what you need to change, why it is important, and most importantly how you can make the changes in a way that you can stick to forever. We hope you like it and find it helpful.

Step 1: Timing is everything – when to eat

This is a good place to start. It helps you to realise that healthy eating is not only about how much you eat, when you consume food is also important.

You’ll have heard many things about when to eat foods, possibly including:

                          Never eat carb’s after 4pm.

                          Don’t consume carbohydrates and fat together.

                          Make sure that you every three hours on the dot regardless of the type of food that you eat!

To date science doesn’t strongly back up any of the above statements. Whilst they may work for some people, this is most likely because the first two will restrict the amount of food that can be consumed, limiting calorie intake and leading to weight loss. The diet that the latter point is based on also limits the calorie intake allowed.

So what evidence and common sense advice is there out there for when to eat?

Start the day right

The number one message from the scientific literature at present appears to be to eat breakfast. Various studies have reported benefits of consuming breakfast (Wyatt et all, 2002, Berkey et al, 2003, Elfhag and Rössner, 2005, Schlundt et al, 1992). Eating breakfast is likely to:

   Balance blood sugars.

   Prevent unhealthy snacking later in the day.

   Regulate mood, which can affect eating choice.

   Be part of a set eating routine, which has been shown to be effective for weight loss and maintenance.

   Increase metabolic activity, increasing the rate of calorie burn.

So what is a ‘good’ breakfast? This is a great time to get rid of the idea of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods. A food that may be good for one person may well be bad for another, and a food that might be bad at one time may be great at another, even for the same person. Take a Mars Bar for example, sat on the couch in the evening having done no exercise all day and having just had a big dinner, a Mars Bar may be considered a bad food. If you’ve just run 20 miles though in training for a marathon and are feeling a little shaky from low blood sugars, a Mars Bar becomes a good food. It’s all about balance! Finding the right foods at the right time for the right purpose.

Of course, in general terms, some foods may be considered better balanced and healthier than others, so rather than tell you a food is good or bad, we prefer to use a balanced scale to show you examples of foods that may well help you lose weight and be healthy, and others that most likely will not. Everyone is different so you may need to play around to find your balance but hopefully this serves as a handy tool for you. Generally, the least healthy foods are ones that some would argue aren’t even foods at all, heavily processed and full of refined ingredients, whilst the healthiest tend to be closer to their natural state.

Have a look at this

table

showing you how to make breakfast choices healthier and more balanced.

If you want to know more, or find out about the other nine steps, please do get in touch, we’re always happy to answer questions and you can have a free face-to-face, telephone or Skype consultation.

info@balanceweightloss.co.uk

0775 200 1203

balance on...barriers

                                              Image courtesy of ddpavumba at Freedigitalphotos.net

Barriers, obstacles, challenges, problems, hurdles, difficulties, road blocks, impediments, hitches, snags or drawbacks. Whatever you call them, we all face them in many aspects of life and they often appear when we attempt to achieve our weight loss, health and fitness goals.

So what can you do about them? How do you get over them? Or round them, through them or even under them! What happens if you moved them out of the way instead, or got someone else to help you push them to one side? 

The truth is, there are many ways to overcome the challenges you face and achieve your goals. Hopefully this blog will provide you with a few ideas to help you get past yours and onwards to what you want.

First things first, you need to identify what the challenges will be, or may be when working towards your goals. How can you know this? You’re not psychic, you don’t have a crystal ball or a time machine, well it’s unlikely you do! So how do you identify these barriers?

          1) Think about things that have got in the way if you have tried to achieve the same or similar        goals in the past, what were they?

          2) Think about your life, what things take up your time? This doesn’t make them bad things, it just means that they may limit your ability to focus all of your efforts on you and what you want.

          3) Look forwards. Imagine yourself doing your new exercise routine, eating more healthily, getting to bed early, drinking plenty of water. What situations, scenarios, times and places might make it challenging to do these things?

Hopefully now you have a list of at least a couple of things that may get in the way. These may be common barriers like lack of time, work or family commitments, financial constraints, motivation and times of temptation or something more personal to you.

Failing to plan is planning to fail

Now you have your list of likely barriers, you’ve taken the first step towards overcoming them already! Just knowing that they might happen means that when they do you can say ‘I knew that was going to happen.’ Maybe you are psychic after all?

But the best thing about knowing what could go wrong is that you can plan in advance some methods for getting around, over, under or through these obstacles and challenges. And now is as good a time as any to start planning so you will need:

• A piece of paper and a pen (or an iPad, laptop or you’re phone if you’re more technologically minded).

• Lots of positivity and creativity!

• A cup of tea.

The three things method

For each of the barriers that you have identified, write down at least three ideas for how you can overcome them. They can be absolutely anything at all, it really doesn’t matter. If you have more than three ideas then fantastic. If you struggle to think of anything, ask yourself if you have ever had a problem. What did you do to overcome it? What skills or tactics can you take from it that you may be able to use here?

Once you have your methods, number them in order of preference as to which you think is best. If you have more than three that’s fine, just keep numbering them from favourite to least favourite.

You are now armed with a raft of solutions, so when those challenges come this is exactly what they will be, not problems, as you already have solutions. You have the ladder to get over the wall or the sledgehammer to knock it down. You have the raft to get across the river and you have the rope to climb your mountain.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net

It’s important that your perception of challenges changes to. You can see it as a threat, something that will come along and defeat you or you can see it as an opportunity, something that will make you rise to the very best you can be, performing amazingly in the face of adversity. A sportsperson may see a big event as a scary thing where they could get beaten, or they can see it as the chance for them to show just how good they are on the biggest stage. It’s time to find your very best you!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net

Enjoy the journey.

balance your life, balance your scales

balance on…..Brussels Sprouts

Love them or loathe them, there’s no denying that Brussels Sprouts are an incredibly healthy addition to any plate. At balance, we’re determined to get them on the dinner plates of Great Britain in less than two weeks’ time, and also controversially, on days other than Christmas Day!

So why do we want to ‘shout about the sprout’? There are so many reasons!

Image courtesy of -Marcus- at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1) They may prevent against cancer.

Sprouts contain Glucosinolates, organic compounds containing sulphur and nitrogen which may offer protection against carcinogens, those substances that cause cancers. It appears they may be particularly effective in protecting the organs in the body but more research is being carried out to find out why. All of the Brassica vegetables, broccoli, cabbage and sprouts convey these benefits so be kind to the sprout and don’t leave it out.

2) They lower cholesterol.

Because they are high in fibre they are an excellent foodstuff for controlling cholesterol levels in the body. Given that Christmas tends to bring with it a lot of substances that do the opposite like alcohol, cake, milk chocolate etc, the sprout is definitely worth adding to those Christmas dinners.

3) They’re anti-inflammatory.

Sprouts contain Omega-3 and other specialist Glucosinolates that help decrease inflammation in the blood vessels, whilst other research has shown that they may even protect our DNA from damage. All this means in the long-run they may form part of a great team of foods that’ll help you to enjoy even more Christmas dinners!

4) Special K.

Sprouts are rich in Vitamin K which has numerous important roles in the body, helping blood to clot properly when required, looking after bones and acting as a strong antioxidant.

5) They taste great!

If you’re not a fan of the sprout on his own, then get inventive this Christmas. Steam enough sprouts for a handful per person, chop them finely and add them into a pan with your choice of chopped walnuts, roast chestnuts, cubed pancetta or bacon, and even grapes or slices of satsuma orange. Cook in a little bit of butter or duck fat to get the pancetta nice and crispy and then serve with your Christmas dinner and for the rest of the winter.

Hopefully we’ve persuaded you that this little green fellow is worth adding to your shopping basket, so we’d politely ask you to:

SHOUT ABOUT THE SPROUT!!!