As Christmas looms once again at an ever increasing speed, so will the functions, the parties, social gatherings and maybe the odd office romance/fling/grope behind the water cooler... that’s if we’re lucky this time. 

But before we break out the ‘lucky undies’ and the special box set shower n soap, let us pay honour to our most esteemed guests who will no doubt be attending most of our festive duties, and just like the illustrious romance we are looking for, will leave us in tears and as usual disappointed!

No, I’m not talking about the hot new intern, I’m here to talk about the other indulgencies in our life... Cakes, Chocolates, Sweets and the biggest evil of the lot ... Alcohol!!

Everywhere you turn, ever step you take, these indulgencies will be hot on your heels trying to tempt you, tease you and ultimately be engulfed by you.

So I am here to help you make it through this festive period with your waist line in one piece and your dignity intact.   But as for that intern ... I’ll leave you to decide.

Cakes & Muffins:

            Like Batman & Robin, these two heroes are only good at fighting one crime, and that is the Slim Waist Bandit.  They will look delicious, taste great, and be very hard to go down without another one close behind.

So nice but so evil, I just know how hard they will be to resist which is why I always make an effort to pick one of the bandits and then walk away. 

I would be crazy and a fool to expect you to completely steer clear of any of the treats but what I can do is try to minimise the damage by persuading you choose one of the little devils and one only.  This will not only make you savour and enjoy the divulgence, but it should also help satisfy your cravings enough to give you the strength to just STEP AWAY FROM THE BUFFETT!!

Sandwiches:

            Everywhere you turn, everywhere you look, you will not be able to escape the evil stares from the sandwich tray.

They will flash you some chicken, some cheese and even some tuna; they will even decorate themselves with fancy dressings and salads.  But surrounding this relatively harmless Christmas snack is an evil cereal killer waiting in the midst. 

They will inflame your gut, cause irritation and bloating and generally cause a distress to your body and immune system.  Due to their size, they will easily be engulfed in two’s and three’s adding discreet hundreds of calories to the evening’s events.

The best solution would be to try to reduce your cereal intake.  This can be done by either eating just the contents of the sandwiches, searching out the salad tray or at the very least show one side of the sandwich the door and keep score of how many you consume.

Dips & Sticks

            Another super evil combo and possibly the worst of the bunch for without one you possibly won’t use the other...  Well, I’ve not seen anyone replace the stick with their finger until well after 3am so most of you should be ok.

This is the easiest way to pack on the calories, forget the fact that each mouthful is tainted with another cereal attack but also just like the Evil Carb Lord Pringles, once you start you cannot possibly stop.

Remember that each gorgeous little pot of humus contains upward of 500 calories.

Best bet it to flick the bread stick and opt for a few carrot or cucumber sticks and dip with caution and control!

Alcohol

            The biggest nemeses of the whole festive season are these jolly little toxic friends.  They will taunt you, flirt with you and dress themselves up in voluptuous pints, pretty little bottles and the king of the killers, cocktail glasses!!

Tread with care, drink with caution, as the more you drink, the weaker your defences become. 

The worst part of drinking in excess is that ALL of your defences are down ... that means, licking the chocolate icing from the cakes, dipping your finger in the humus at 3am ... after you have polished off all the sandwiches – including the spare triangles you flicked off earlier!!  And who knows what’s gonna happen with that intern!

To help with the overload of carbs, try eating a heavy protein meal before your Christmas bash.  I’d much rather you eat something healthy before you leave the house than something greasy when you leave the party intoxicated.

So try to have yourself a great Xmas and I know that most of you will overindulge but just remember this, it’s a whole lot easier to keep the weight off than to work the excess weight off. 

Enjoy the festive activities and just keep an eye out for those evil wrong doers ... on the buffet table and not on the dance floor that is...

& Reducing the Risk of Sickness & Disease.

Firstly, I just want to send a personal thank you out to the FDA and MHRA for being so blindsided and corrupt (personal opinion) as to allow such poisonous foods into the lives of our loved ones.

From pop tarts and pot noodles to chocolate cereals and Go-Gurts- my new found favourite!!

Thanks guys – I mean seriously... No, seriously!!

So with the constant devolution of our foods and produce, it is no wonder why we are so fat and sick and full of disease.  The only way forward, in my opinion, is to make personal decisions from your heart and mind as opposed to what you read in magazines and see on the TV.

Does it not make sense that a healthy nutritious diet of meat & fish, healthy greens and smarts fats beats 2 servings of special K a day??  I’m sure I’m not alone in this mindset!!

2 bowls a day will fix everything ... great!!

I used to say “if you wouldn’t feed it to your dog, would you feed it to yourself? Until ...

Then I revised it to “if you wouldn’t feed it to your child, would you feed it to yourself? Until ...

It was at this point I quietly weeped and gently rocked myself to sleep wondering if it would ever get better?

So all tears aside, here are 10 simple tips to increase your health, reduce sickness and maybe just maybe get yourself that oh so little bit hotter ... than you already are!!

You should by now be well aware of omega 3’s and their huge potential benefit to your health and well being (please say yes, please say yes!!).  With the same breath I am also hoping you may be aware of omega 6’s and their not so huge potential benefit to your health.

But what you may not be aware of is the importance of the ratio between omega 3 and 6.

The ratio should sit at 1:1-1:3, but thanks again to the FDA & MHRA, it currently sits at 1:15-1:50!!  Great, cheers, thanks, very much appreciated, feeling the love right here!!

So with this appalling ratio in mind, it is quite easy to see just how poor and deficient our diets are in the western world.  We consume far too much 6 and far too little 3 and if we continue eating with these distorted ratios, we will continue in our subconscious quest to be the most advanced and equally diseased race ever to exist in human kind...

I actually think this is pretty impressive; to be so intelligent and also to be so blatantly ignorant of fact.  But I am not here to tell those ‘in charge’ of what is right for our health and what is right for their wallets ... some things will just never change...

So let’s take charge of our own way of life and live it the way we believe is the best way; and the best way is to firstly correct the balance of omega 3 & 6.  By correcting these scores, you will begin to feel the health benefits and immediately start to add years to your life.

1.  Destroy ALL Hydrogenated Fats consumption.

Disguised as hydrogenated fat or even partially hydrogenated fat – they are all equal to trans-fatty acids which the body has no safe value for.  The body doesn’t even recognise what it is...  Imagine a substance consumed in your body that your body doesn’t even recognise!!

But as you can imagine, the FDA & MHRA have been extremely slow in listing foods containing trans-fat as they are more interested in making money, not making us healthy!!

Trans-fats impair insulin receptors making it difficult for the body to use sugar for energy and therefore store sugar (as fat).  Increased consumption of trans-fatty acids also increase Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL – not the good kind!!), increased abnormal development of sperm coupled with a decreased measure of testosterone to boot.  So if living a fat and sterile lifestyle is the way you wish to live the rest of your life, then please continue with the doughnuts and pasties and enjoy the peace of mind of an early burial. 

2.  Consume Omega-3-Fed Eggs
Free range eggs doesn’t necessarily mean eggs produced from chickens that have acres of space to run around in; it could simply mean a chicken that has 1 square foot of space of private land to wander around in. 

My best advice is for you to find a local farmer who has free range chickens and feeds them a diet high in omega 3.  Harder to find than you can imagine but once found, you will have a friend for life.

3.  Consume More Wild Meats.

Even harder to find than genuine free range omega 3 eggs, wild meats contain a much higher omega 3 content due to the plants and prey they eat from their environment.

Which would you rather eat, beef from a cow force fed corn or elk & buffalo living off of the land.

Grain fed animals have an incredible imbalance of omega 3:6 which we so delightfully consume ... not really setting ourselves off to a great start are we?  Try eating more wild meats or wild caught fish to ignite your taste buds and replenish your Omega 3 stores...

4.  Eliminate Foods That Cause Inflammation: Corn, Safflower, Peanut, Sesame Oils.

Lose all foods that contain corn, safflower, peanut, or sesame oil. Not only do these foods cause inflammation but they also contribute to the imbalance of omega-3:6. They may actually be healthier than trans-fats but they should most certainly be avoided (in the same sense that knives are better than guns, but both can still kill you!!).

5.   Supplement Your Diet with Fish Oil Everyday

Consume one gram of fish oil per percentage point of body fat a day (ie: if you have a bodyfat percentage of 20%, I would recommend a daily intake of 20 grams of fish oil). The greater your bodyfat, the greater the likelihood that you are deficient in omega-3.

Please try to consume Omega 3 that is free from heavy metals which is unfortunately prevalent in most high street brands.

I always try to purchase fish oil from reputable websites that have a reputation for high quality, toxic free supplements.  For further information on what sites I recommend, please contact me and I will speak with you personally.

6.  Consume Grass-Fed Beef

Easier said than done, but I assure you, grass fed animals consume a higher amount of omega 3 from the chloroplasts of green leaves.   Grass fed meat contains 2-4 times more healthy fatty acids compared to grain-fed meat, helping offset the uneven omega-6 to-3 ratio.

7.  Consume More Cold Water Fish

A great source of Omega 3 are small cold water fish such as herring and Arctic char.  Although many fish will provide you with an assortment of healthy nutrients, what I would suggest is to limit or preferably to completely avoid swordfish and tuna due to their increased level of metal poisoning, especially mercury.

8.  Consume an Abundance of Green Leafy Vegetables, Beans and Nuts
We are all aware of the importance of vegetables in our diet especially leafy greens, such as kale, chard and bok choy.  Also beans in the form of black, kidney, and navy beans.   Beans are slow releasing carbs, meaning that they will keep you full for longer and when you do eat again, you will be less inclined to consume high carb snacks, keeping the doughnuts at bay!!

Nuts are a great addition to any diet (apart from those with nut allergies of course – wouldn’t be a wise start to the day!) due to their high yield of smart fats.  Walnuts are particularly good as they contain larger quantities of alpha-lipoic acid, which is a very healthy component of omega-3s.

9.  Supplement Your Diet with Flax Seeds
Another great source of Omega 3 is flax seed.  The best preparation is to soak them overnight to soften them and to also make them more digestible.  They are also an awesome addition to shakes before and after your workout.  Flax seeds are quite delicate in that they easily become rancid if not contained properly.  Ensure that you have a vacuum sealed (resealable) container or bag to store them in and keep them locked away in your fridge when not in use to maintain maximum freshness.

10.  Move Your Butt    
You cannot out exercise a bad diet so fix your nutrition first and foremost.  Fixing your diet and complimenting your food with regular exercise is the most effective way to stave off sickness and disease.  I am a personal fan of using resistance training as I strongly believe you will attain greater success and results compared to studios classes, outdoors activities and cardio.  That’s not to say these other options are bad – any exercise is better than no exercise - I just think there are better options to increasing your health.

On a final note, if you were the one I saw feeding your baby that cheeky McDonalds I can only pray to the gods that your child desperately wants to become the greatest and youngest sumo wrestler the world has ever seen ... against your dying but accepting wishes.

With so much ill advice so readily available on the internet where it seems everyone with a connection and a keyboard is an instant expert!  Diets and cleanses have spiralled out of control to the point where more damage is being made than good.  Just because one person lost a few kgs on the latest celeb starvation detox diet, doesnt mean it will save the obesity pandemic.

So before we start, it’s important to understand what a proper detox is.  No, it’s not an alcohol and caffeine free week.  Neither is it cabbage soup and goats urine 4 times a day.

So put down the celebrity mag, grab a pen and take note, this is something that has been proven time and again and won’t leave you starving for mocha choca blocka rocka with ice, soy, cinnamon, cream, vanilla essence and a little shake of fairy dust...

It is a wonderful combination of ideas from two experts in the field of nutrition.

Charles Poliquin, a leading strength and conditioning coach to just about everyone at the very ... very top of their game and creator of the Biosignature Modulation combined his thoughts with that of Dr Bob Rakowski, a Chiropractor, Kinesiologist, Certified Clinical Nutrition and current clinical director of the natural medicine centre in Houston, Texas. These two brilliant minds independently developed an environment cleanse that will not only reduce the amount of toxins coming into the body but will also increase the amount of toxins leaving the body.  What is more important to note here is that another vital component of the cleanse, is to reduce the amount of toxins your body creates, which requires substantial nutritional support.  Something that is quite often lacking in the Hollywood detoxes of the world...  but then again malnutrition and misery are part and parcel with life as a stick thin Hollywood celeb... allegedly!

It is also important to note that you should not go hungry through this detox.  It is a great weight loss and detox protocol, not a starvation aid.  The idea is for you to lose weight, drop body fat, look healthier and feel better.  This cleanse is usually adhered to for a week, but can be done for up to 3, depending on how overweight or sick you are.

For 7 days, follow the instructions to the letter.  If you cannot commit, wait until you have a window of 7 days that you can give it 100%. 

STEP 1:

Choosing your Medical Food.

Poliquin and Rakowski both have a variety of Medical Food products aimed to reduce Inflammation, control Blood Sugar, balancing pH, and to clear out Estrogens or Heavy Metals.  I would recommend choosing two products and rotate between the two.  Not only will this help you focus on healing different systems but it will also prevent taste fatigue which occurs from consuming the same foods repeatedly which can leave you feeling nauseous.

The good news is that you can consume unlimited quantities of each medical Food (just keep swopping each and every time).  Using 1-3 scoops in ¾l of water and fortify with 10-20g of glutamine.  Glutamine is the primary building block in the intestinal lining, helping plug the holes in the intestinal wall developed by food intolerances and inflammation.  Glutamine also boosts your immune system which is perfect especially through this week.

STEP 2:

Choose a Super Food

I like to mix up the medical foods with a powdered super food (Red, Green or a mixture of the two, Phyto Px).  This diverse supply of phytonutrients is a great addition to the medical foods. Consume 15-30g and fortify with glutamine again.

STEP 3:

Choose your Veggie

Each day you are allowed an unlimited consumption of one green organic vegetable, eliminating all other food sources on the face of the planet.  I say it like this as I’m always asked about tomatoes or blueberries!!  You just need to change your veg each and every day. 

So for those of you who cannot get past Broccoli and Spinach without running out of ideas, here is a simple list which you can feel free to add to.  Remember, just pick 7 and eat them in abundance, 1 each day.

• Spinach
• Asparagus
• Leek
• Swiss Chard
• Broccoli
• Dandelion Greens
• Loose Leaf
• Bok Choy
• Green Pepper
• Kohlrabi
• Lollo Rosso
• Imperial
• Romaine Lettuce
• Chicory
• Summer Crisp
• Butterhead
• Arugula
• Kale
• Red Leaf
• Cyclone Spinach
• Mustard Greens
• Collard Greens
• Spring Greens
• Turnip Greens

STEP 4:

Choose your Macro & Micronutrients

Although not essential I would highly recommend high grade amino acids, multi-vitamins, extra fibre and essential fatty acids (10-15g of Omega 3) to compliment your detoxification.  No real need to explain why

STEP 5:

Choose a physical detox

• Coffee enemas (not my idea of a fun night in)
• Steam Sauna
• Infrared Sauna
• Skin brushing
• Castor oil packs
• Massage

Will all aid in the process of eliminating toxins through the skin and out of the body.

STEP 6:

Choose your form of exercise

It is very important that you do not produce any lactate when you exercise, so you need to be careful with your exercise selection. Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Stretching are great ways to workout.  If you prefer to still hit the weights, then keep your rep range down to 3 and under.

This means that you will have to lift some pretty heavy weights if you are only doing 3 reps (do not pick your 12 reps Kg and perform only 3 reps...).

Make sure you are very confident with your technique and execute with good form and the correct tempo.  If you start to feel a burning sensation, stop the exercise, reduce the movement or reduce the time under tension.

This detox is designed with 1-3 weeks in mind, depending on your state of health.  It is very hard to maintain so before you decide to jump into 3 weeks of discipline, make sure your diary permits.  The last thing you want is your brother’s neighbour’s fiancé’s sister to have a surprise B’day and all you can do is eat the spinach.

Do this cleanse for 1-3 weeks depending on how overweight or sick you are and watch the weight drop off and your health significantly improve.

After the cleanse – maintain 2 serving of the medical food per day and now eat an elimination diet for 2 weeks. Eliminate:

• Gluten
• Caffeine
• Dairy
• Grains
• Alcohol
• Processed foods
• Sugar
• Stimulants

During the 2 week cleanse, try to buy as much organic produce as you can afford as this will help reduce the burden on your liver.

Once you have finished the cleanse slowly reintroduce foods back into your diet.  I will discuss this in more detail at a later date.

But whatever you do, please do not go out and celebrate your fantastic accomplishment by drinking a dozen vodka redbulls with chocolate cake chasers... 

Be good to your body – you only get one of them... and they cannot be traded in for new ones once your smash em up!!

For more information or to order your complete detox package, please kindly contact me via the contact page and I will return your email at the earliest opportunity.

Just like our beloved planet, our bodies are composed of about 70% water (give or take 5%) with our brain requiring substantially more, and just like every nutrient in your body, both need to be replenished and flushed through our system on a daily basis, to optimise performance.

Insufficient water intake can result in many symptoms of disease and stress and therefore increase the chance of disease and illness being established.

With the constant (and never ceasing) escalation in chemicals and pollutants, we need to upgrade our recommendations for hydration to reflect today’s modern day environment.

From the toxins pumped into our foods and onto our crops, not to mention the poisons in our creams and shampoos, we are slowly contaminating and poisoning our bodies.  We live in a fast food nation, with water being pushed aside for the more flavoursome fizzy drinks, coffees and everyone’s favourite, alcohol!

Even beverages that we are led to believe are beneficial to our health are either processed or high in sugar.  Most juices have a high sodium content which can actually make the body even more dehydrated, thus requiring even more water.

Even with a clean living lifestyle, body size, body weight, sex, and genetics play a crucial role especially if performance is involved.  Exercise frequency and intensity of the individual or the climate in which they live also need to be considered.  

The formula to working out your quantity is pretty simply.

Bodyweight in Kgs x 0.033 = Litres required per day.

For example, an 85kg man needs 2.8 litres a day whereas a 55kgs female would need 1.8 litres a day.

Not taking into account all the above information.

If this is a figure you are close to, awesome!  If this is something that is going to need work to get to, then I would suggest to go slow and take your time over 2-4 weeks to get there.  It would also pay no harm to visit your GP if you are on any medication, especially if you have any trouble with your kidneys – that filter the fluids in your body.  Your body is going to need time to adjust to this increased volume. 

One of the most beneficial sides to full hydration is weight loss!  HOWEVER, the body, having not been used to consuming this amount of water will try to retain it thinking you will soon go back to dehydration.  Bear with your body as it acclimatises to this new level of hydration.  Once the fat cells are sufficiently hydrated, they will be more prone to being utilized as fuel.

Thirst and hunger are controlled by the peripheral nervous system, and often when the body is thirsty, we may misinterpret this as hunger and go eat instead of drink.  As water can act as an appetite suppressant, try drinking a large glass of water next time you feel hungry.  Wait about 10m and if still hungry, grab a healthy bite to eat.

Try to keep your consumption of water clean, filtered and never directly from the tap!  Ideally at room temp and preferably not from a plastic bottle which can leach chemicals into the bottle... Not to mention the effect on our environment.  Happy Hydrating!!

Many females struggle with the thought of gaining muscle, thinking that just one workout with Deadlifts, Squats, Pressing & Pulling with leave them looking like a female Schwarzenegger.

What they don’t realise is that to look like this takes years of dedication, highly focussed and precision nutrition, perfect genes, hours upon hours in the gym and to top it off, a cabinet of supplements and drugs.

It really is an achievement to look like this, regardless of opinion.

So for a female, looking to lose weight, training 3-4 hours a week, with a family and job to boot, would find it pretty tough to be up there on the podium next year.

So with a huge sigh of relief, here are some interesting facts about gaining a few kilos of muscle mass.

• Live Longer

According to research at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts), the more lean muscle mass you carry, the greater your potential to live longer.  It is the number one biomarker for longevity of life, and a much better predictor to longer living than total cholesterol and blood pressure.

• More Muscle – More Strength

Another study at Tufts University found having more muscle equated to having more strength and was the number two biomarker in predicting longevity.  For most females, strength is empowering.

• Bone Density

We all know how we become more fragile as we age and therefore are more pre-disposed to accidents and breaks if we take a tumble.  Having more muscle mass, will increase bone density making our body more resistant to falls.  Having greater bone density and muscle mass will also help us to prevent accidents by giving us greater reactive awareness and motor control should we take a slip.

• Beating Cancer

Cancer thrives in an acidic body, so it makes sense to create a slightly more alkalising environment for your cells to live in.  Having more muscle (and bone mass), you now have more protein, potassium, calcium and magnesium which helps increase the body’s ability to buffer the acid that is created through certain foods and exercise. 

The more alkaline your body:

The greater your endurance potential

The greater your immune system is and thus the greater your chances of surviving cancer.

 

• Insulin Sensitive

The body’s ability to utilise sugar within the muscle calls all depends on just how sensitive your muscles are to

insulin.  Having more muscle, you increase the insulin receptor sits and thus increase sensitivity.  Increased Insulin Sensitivity helps reduce the likelihood of diabetes and metabolic syndrome and the easier it is to lower your body fat.

• Calorie Burning

The more muscle you have, the more mass you effectively have to carry around all day and therefore the more calories you burn – even when you are sat down resting and sleeping.  It is estimated that for every kilo of muscle you gain, your body can burn up and to and over 100 calories per day.  I don’t see anybody complaining about this one.

• Kilos Gained = Body Fat Lost

Accordingly to Charles Poliquin, with over 30yrs experience as a Strength Coach, he found that for every kilo of lean tissue gained, there was an equal loss of weight in body fat, thus dramatically changing body shape.  If a female executive, with a bodyweight of 60 kg has 20% bodyfat, she will be carrying a total of 12kgs in fat alone. With a Strength and Conditioning programme for 10 weeks, this female can potentially gain 4 kg of muscle mass and lose 4 kg of fat, with her weight being the same; her body fat will now be 13%. Burning close to an extra 3,000 calories a week, not only will she have transformed her body shape, but she look fantastic, feel more empowered too and live longer to tell the tale.

 

 

 

Your body is beautiful.  It’s a beautiful representation of how you live your life.  If you eat excessively, your body rewards you by storing the excess calories on your hips and butt, if you eat poor quality or fatty foods, your body rewards you with bad skin and hair (not to mention that halitosis!). 

So it kinda makes sense that if you don’t like the way you look, then by altering your lifestyle, you should be able to change the way your body represents you!

(For the life of me I cannot change your bone structure so I’ll try to do my best without enlisting in the help of a surgeon!).

We all know that with a balanced workout, we can lose Ibs of fat and gain some muscle tone and I will be covering that in another issue.

Today I am going to provide you with 10 Rules to Great Nutrition.  Adhering to these principles will not only change your body shape, but it will also put you one step ahead of the rest.

 

Here Are The 10 Rules to Great Nutrition:

 

1. Eat every 2-3 hours.

I believe that if you eat every 2-3 hours, you will maintain an elevated metabolism, provide your body with a steady influx of energy and by maintaining a steady blood sugar balance will also utilise energy from your fat stores. 

Now I am not talking about a meal at every turn, just small simple snacks.  Keep your breakfast as the biggest meal of the day, and by snacking, you can maintain small meals throughout the rest of the day.  You should always eat for what you are about to do.  So if you are about to go to bed, then you want to keep your last meal small and light.  If you are about to go to work, then you will need to adjust your meals accordingly. 

Keep it simple, keep it smart and try to conform to the rules below.

 

2. Eat complete, lean protein each time you eat.

You need to eat from a protein source, every time you feed yourself.  Regardless of whether you are a vegan, vegetarian or meat feaster, slow to digest, greater calories burned to digest proteins far outweigh muffins, pastries and other light sugar infested carbs sources.

 

3. Eat greens every time you eat.

In addition to a good quality, lean protein source, you need to eat some type of green every time you eat. A handful of nuts or berries, or a ¼ of an avocado will help you out but try to get some sort of green vegetable or salad into your snack as well.

 

4. You need to deserve your carbs.

Not all carbs are created equal!  Green veg and berries are great and a healthy source of nutrition.   The carbs I’m referring to here are: rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, etc.  You need to deserve these carbs.  Ideally I would prefer you ate them once a week and even more ideally I would prefer you ate them after exercise.

These are poor dietry choices for people who are overweight and looking to transform their body shape.  Once you achieved your desired body shape, you can start to eat them ... but be warned ... it may not take very long before your body shape switches back to what it is today ... Best to just stay clear and eat one a week and after training, when your body is more able to tolerate them.

 

5. Stop being Fat Phobic.

Fat does not make you fat!! 

Sugar makes you fat.  Healthy smart fat choices will not only improve your health, but they will also help you lose weight.

How long have we been a fat free/low fat nation?  Has that made any change to heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diseases or could I say that we are probably even worse now that we were 10 years ago ... Hmmm, let me think on this one... ITS NOT FAT THAT’S MAKING YOU FAT!!

The 3 types of fat, which should be eaten in equal portions, are

Saturated: Lean (ideally organic) animal products; organic butter and organic coconut oil – both perfect for cooking in.

Monounsaturated: Nuts, Olives and Olive Oil (perfect for salads – NOT for high temperature cooking).

Polyunsaturated: Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Nuts.

 

6. Liquid Nutrition

Best choices of fluid intake is water and green tea, both healthy non-calorie containing drinks.

You need to remove all fizzy drinks (inc diet), alcoholic and certainly fruit juices from your daily diet.

I understand the social need for alcohol, so this should be kept to a minimum and pick lighter drinks, such as Gin & Tonic, Vodka, Lime & Soda, Red Wine.  Alternating between alcohol and water on a night out is a great way to help the hangover in the morning.

Absolutely no lager or beer, if you are looking to drop inches around your waist, you need to change your poison.

Aim to drink a third of your body weight (kg) in water (ml).

Eg:  90kg guy should aim for 3 litres a day, a 60kg women should aim for 2 litres a day.  This does not include training days, when your water intake should be substantially more. 

 

7. Avoid Meal Replacement Drinks.

The sugar intake in most of these are abusive.  I would recommend a high quality protein shake after training (and even at times when you cannot fit in a proper snack) but try to limit these to one a day or two on training days maximum. I would prefer if most of your dietary intake came from whole unprocessed foods.

 

8. Stick to the 80/20% Rule.

Try to eat well 80% of the time and then you can justifiably have a cheat meal 20% of the time.  I like to start everyone off like this, stick to 100% good for 2 weeks and then have one whole day off!  That’s right chips and ice cream if you like from the moment your head lifts from the pillow!  HOWEVER, you will feel so lousy the day after this day, that you should hopefully understand the importance of good nutrition.  Then you can stick to a 4 days on, one day off routine.  But rather than a whole day, let’s try to stick to a cheat meal. So really its eat 100% for 5 days and then in the evening of your 5^th day, you can eat your cheat – just make sure that you eat your protein source first and as soon as your butt leaves the seat, you stop your cheat.  It’s a cheat meal, not a cheat evening.

 

9. Prepare your food for the next 4 days.

If you have not prepared your foods for the next few days – how are you expected to maintain strict eating habits?  If you do not have something prepared, stocked up in a tupperware box or in a freezer bag, it will be all too easy to steer off course and snack on something sweet or processed from the local 7-11.

NEVER shop when you are hungry!!

 

10. Balance daily food choices with healthy variety.

Let’s face it, when you’re busy during the week, you’re not going to be spending

a ton of time whipping up gourmet meals. During these times you’re going to

need a set of tasty, easy to make foods that you can eat day in and day out.

However, once every day or a few times a week, you need to eat something different,

something unique and tasty to stave off boredom and stagnation.

Bacteria and disease thrive in acidic environments!

Change your environment and you will thrive, not the bacteria inside.

It was Nobel Prize Winner Dr Otto Warburg who noted that if the body is living in an alkaline state, it can absorb up to 20 times more oxygen than if the body was in an acidic state.  If you cannot absorb oxygen, you don't need a rocket scientist to tell you that you will feel more tired and fatigued!  Does this sound like you?

If you constantly feel lethargic and tired, then it is highly likely that your cells are living in an acidic environment and are not getting enough oxygen to feed your cells.

This valuable element is not sticking to your bloods cells and no matter how hard you breathe you will still not be maxing out your absorption of O2. 

Even if you are exercising, you will still not be maxing out your absorption of O2!!  Until you sort out your nutrition and start consuming more alkalising foods and fluids into your system. 

In an acidic environment, fungus, mould, parasites, bad bacteria, and viral infections begin to thrive at the cellular level and this is the downward spiral of your health and energy.

Eliminating acidic foods and eating more plant based alkalizing foods will change the body's acidic environment to one that is more alkaline, thus lowering your pH levels and reverse this downward spiral of degeneration.

Animal proteins, diary, and grains are acidic in nature and for the course of this cleanse it would be a wise choice to simply minimise or eliminate these foods from your daily diet.  Now I am not suggesting going vegetarian or vegan or living like a bird, but what I would like to recommend for a short duration of 6 weeks is to cut your animal proteins to once a day.  You can still eat protein vegetables such as chick peas, legumes, beans and lentils as well as nuts and seeds.  Especially if you are in training as you will need to maintain your high protein intake.

Below is a list of foods and illustrating their acidic/alkaline content.  The idea is to eat 80% of your foods from the alkalizing list.

Cancer cells cannot live at pH of 8.5 and remain dormant at 7.4 with the ideal pH being between 7.35-7.45. 

One of the reasons for the rate at which we age is due to the acidic fluids that our cells bathe in.  Clean your foods and you can change your bath water so to speak and thus slow down the ageing effect on your body.

You can only be as healthy as the fluid in which your cells bathe in.

Protein Based Plants

High protein diets from animal and dairy products can cause a while series of trouble to the human body.  Excess animal protein creates the perfect environment for cancer to grow, high acidity and low oxygen levels.  Include adequate sources of plant proteins in each meal by ensuring you eat either beans, lentils, chick peas, legumes, quinoa, spirulina, tofu, tempe or a combination of them.  This will help you ensure you get enough protein in your diet to help your muscles grow and repair from your training.

Follow these nutrition guidelines and you will feel amazing after just a few days.  Your body will pick up as your oxygen levels hit a new found high and you will reap the benefits by the extraordinary levels of energy and well being.

The Guidelines

Eat salads, fresh, alkaline vegetables and healthy nuts and oils.

Avoid processed foods including bread & pasta.

Drink 0.033 litres per Kg of body weight of water a day (80Kg Guy - 2.64L / 60 kg Gal - 1.98L).  Try to enhance with lemon or mix with a greens drink.

Animal protein once a day.  No red meat though.  Only fish and white meat.

Reduce alcohol, caffeine, soda, sugary drinks to the absolute minimum.  Preferably eliminate, but I know some of you out there are addicted to that morning soy cap!!

Add extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil to your meals to increase your quality fats.

Plenty of green leafy vegetables and foods from the alkaline list.

Supplements

Sodium bicarbonate

Drinking a large glass of clean filtered water with half a squeezed lemon and half to a full teaspoon of Sodium Bicarbonate will set up your alkaline blood stream for the day.  Wait 15m before eating a healthy clean breakfast.

Almonds

This alkalizing super nut provides the best sna

ck throughout the day.

Almond Milk

The best form of milk on the market as it alkalises the body and packed full of enzymes that haven’t been stripped from pasteurisation.  It’s also lactose free, gluten free and no soy so GM free...

Herbal Teas

Green and lemon are great and also alkaline so would be a great start to the day of you could replace that acidic coffee with an alkaline tea.

Oils

Cook with Coconut Oil, Drizzle Olive Oil on your salads, and supplement with fish oil just to keep the cells flushed with a healthy combination of essential fatty acids.

Remember Fat is your friend, its sugar that is the enemy.

 

Glycemic Index

When trying to figure out what is the best type of foods to eat, it is too easy to say meat, fruit and veg; and in the wrong portions can still leave you out of balance and out of shape.

All foods provide you with energy as I am sure you are aware – however, some foods provide more energy than others and some release their energy faster than others.

This energy is measured in calories, and the energy usually comes in the form if sugar.

So you may be able to guess that muffins and cakes and chocolate will carry a lot more sugar than lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes.  This one is easy; but how can we figure which foods release sugar faster than others!!

Well back in 1980, Dr David Jenkins developed the concept of Glycemic Index, a system in which Carbohydrates are ranked from 0-100 according to how quickly 50g of the specific food raises the sugar levels in the blood.  High scores are given to foods that are rapidly digested and absorbed whilst lower scores are awarded by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption – producing a gradual rise in blood sugar and insulin levels; thus having proven health benefits. 

Low GI foods help control weight as they help control appetite and delay hunger. 

 

Thanks to science, we now have foods that have a GI of more than 100.  That’s right; we have now developed foods that raise sugar in the blood FASTER than actually consuming sugar.  Awesome!!  Lets increase obesity and diabetes just that little bit further!

It’s amazing how we cannot recycle card and paper in the same box but we can destroy the lives of millions of people by creating foods that will kill us.  Thanks guys.

So here is a list of common foods that you can eat in abundance and other foods you should leave just for your cheat days.

GI: All You Can Eat Foods

Alfalfa Sprouts Bamboo Shoots Carrots, Raw Chard, Swiss Eggplant Green Beans Kale Okra Pea Pods Radishes Scallions Squash, Summer Turnip Greens Watercress

Artichokes Broccoli Celery Collards Endive Hearts of Palms Mushrooms Onions Peppers Sauerkraut Spinach Tomatillos Turnips

Asparagus Cabbage Celery Root Cucumber Fennel Jicama Mustard Greens Parsley Radicchio Salad Greens Squash, Zucchini Tomatoes Water Chestnuts

The above foods are so low on GI, that they will not raise blood sugar high enough or fast enough to become an issue.  Even on a low carb diet for those with high Subscap & Supra Illiac readings, the above foods contain so much fibre that the stomach isn’t big enough for them to be an issue.

6 Servings A Day

¼ Avocado

Chayote

Nuts & Seeds

Foods That Will Lower Your GI by 30%

Chutney Horseradish Marinated Vegetables Pickled Legumes Sauerkraut Vinegar

Dills & Sweet Pickles Lemon Juice Pickled Beets Pickled Peppers Sourdough Bread Oil Dressings

Green Olives Lime Juice Pickled Garlic Sauerbraten Tangy Salsas

For a full and comprehensive list of Glycemic Index foods, please press here.

Final Notes:

• Plan ahead, prepare in advance and try to keep the sugar content of your foods low.
• Eat small and often and learn to distinguish the difference between a handful and a shovel!
• Stop when you are full, not when you have a licked the plate dry.
• If you can’t help but finish your plate – use a smaller plate.
• ENJOY!! You need to enjoy your foods – you’re gonna be eating them for the rest of your life so it needs to fit in with your life. 
• Eat smart, eat healthy and exercise 2-4 times a week. .. 4 being better than 2!
• You cannot out-exercise a bad diet.  Nutrition plays an 80% role.

Good Luck & Happy Feasting!

 

I am finally on the home straight and if it wasnt for a lot of help and patience from Mike at denialdesign.co.uk i think i would still be rubbing two sticks together ...

So welcome to my site 2.0, and i will be slowly uploading my articles from the previous site and adding them here.  If you missed them the first time, well you can start from the beginning.

Of course if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me and fire away.

Your in good health.

Dc

So with my new site in development and the expert guidance from Mike at Denial Design, i am slowly getting myself together to provide you with informative, up to date news, reviews, exercise clips, recipes and even the odd rant.

So bare with me as the site unfolds and eventually your patience will be rewarded.

Can't wait!

 

http://www.denialdesign.co.uk/