Rees Fitness Personal Training
Strength, Fitness & Behaviour Coaching
“I’ve been good, so I deserve this treat…” You ever said something like that to yourself? I have. But it doesn’t change things. I don’t want to sound harsh or anything, but just because you have made it to your first week of your weight management course, doesn’t mean you can celebrate by having a … Read more
Do you know if you have good eating habits? Good eating habits lead to greater chances of eating healthily and controlling your weight. Use this simple Healthy Eating Checklist to see how good/bad your eating habits are. Answer the questions honestly for your meals yesterday. The more points you get, the better your … Read more
I got asked a question the other day: “I just beasted it in the gym, will I undo all that good work if I go out for food tonight??” And the answer is yes and no. And here is why… Define terms. First of all, we need to define terms so we actually know what … Read more
Spin
As a follow on from my previous post about misleading food labels, this is also from the excellent NHS Behind the Headlines webpage. The bottom line is
“Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.”
My favourite example of where newspaper headlines can be misleading is the ongoing attempt by the Daily Mail to classify everything on the planet as either a cause or cure for cancer (take a look here).
Less fat, same crap.
Many people talk to me about their attempts to control their weight. So I ask them what are they doing to change their diets. A very common reply is:
“I’ve switched to the low fat version of (insert name of food here)”.
Unfortunately, this is usually a pretty rubbish way to change our diets. A few years ago I had a revelation! It was this:
This is a very common question. The short answer is:
I was asked a common question the other day. A young lad came up to me and asked if he should be having a protein drink like he sees all his friends having. He trains once or twice a week and when I asked, he said he had no specific goals. He seemed the perfect example of the average lad doing recreational exercise for general health. This was an easy one to answer…
Booze
Is a small drink good or bad for you? Does a small glass in the evening give you health benefits? Read this special report from the NHS for an analysis on “the media’s relationship with research on alcohol, the science behind it, and what all this means for us when we consider raising a glass.” The report covers:
Harvard School of Public Health – Healthy Eating Plate
The Harvard School of Public Health has just published their Healthy Eating Plate (click here). I am going to use this Healthy Eating Plate in conjunction with their Healthy Eating Pyramid (click here) and my 10 Simple Rules for healthy eating (click here) as the basis for helping people improve their diet. Click here to go to the Harvard website explaining everything, or read the following quote I shamelessly stole off them…
Weakest Link
Our bodies are very sophisticated, complex things. So complex that usually, many different things have to happen for an end result to be produced. I have talked before about walking (click here). It is an everyday task, but in spite of this it needs:
My Plate from the USDA
The USDA revamped its guide on what to eat the other day. It used to be a funny pyramid with lots of stripes on. I was never very keen on it, because it wasn’t very clear to me. But I think I like this new one. It is clear and simple. And importantly, it is very clear that half of what you eat should be made up of fruit and veggies.
Supplements
Supplements. Do you take them? Do you know what they are? Are they worth the money we spend on them and are they even actually safe for us? If you don’t know the answer to any of these, click here to find out. This NHS report gives you unbiased information from actual science studies (not from an advertising exec.) on:
One of my favorite websites I keep going back to for reliable information, is a section on the NHS site they call “Behind the Headlines” (click here). Here they take a look at some of the major health stories in the papers, and give you the facts. Take a look at just a few of the ways the papers blow a health story out of all proportion, and you will understand why one of my favorite saying at the moment is:
Swag
I stumbled across this story (click here for the story). Basically, people were paid money if they managed to lose bodyweight. And they were more successful than another group of people who were not paid money. But, when they were measured again 9 months later, they had regained most of the weight.
I just remembered a chat I had with a friend the other day. We were discussing healthy eating, and he mentioned that it is so difficult to get hold of fruit and veg these days. Pardon?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12272311 I only found out about this guy a couple of years ago, but he died on Sunday. Click on the videos below to get an idea of what he was like. Most of us can learn a lot from it…
Creamy Veggie Korma – BBC Good Food
The following recipe for creamy veggie korma came from: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1089641/creamy-veggie-korma. Take a look there for loads of other recipes for home cooked food. Serves 4.
As I may have mentioned before, I am enthusiastic, but very un-talented in the kitchen. I come from the “chuck-it-in-the-pot-and-see-what-comes-out” school of cooking (while I do own a set of kitchen scales, I have never yet actually used them when cooking). And while this is fine with me, I know that it is not good … Read more
www.foodafactoflife.org.uk
Food, a fact of life – www.foodafactoflife.org.uk I can’t remember how I stumbled on this webpage, but it is aimed at school teachers/parents trying to teach healthy nutrition to kids. Having said that, I know for a fact that most adults (myself included) can learn a lot from it. Just some of the things on the webpage include:
