5 simple things anyone can do to help them manage their weight. Click below to see the video clip explaining them:
food drink and weight control
Absolutely free healthy cook books.
One of my trainees asked me yesterday for some healthy recipes to help them lose some weight. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a very good cook (enthusiastic, yes…good, no!). I am very much a “cook by the seat of my pants” type of person in the kitchen. My idea of cooking is to lob it all in the wok, turn it up to 11, and see what happens.
Marketing magic for a healthier diet: Do try this at home!
I was shown this internet blog (click here) by a nutritionist friend of mine. It shows a few ways to “trick” yourself into eating better. I especially like it because it uses actual, real world marketing tricks that supermarkets use to make us buy the things they want us to buy. And I am a … Read more
Has the calorie had its day?
Have you noticed this story (click here)? It is asking if we should change the way calories are marked on food labels. It is an interesting read. It mentions how some foods are processed differently in the body, so this affects how many calories we get from them. There are 3 bits in it that caught my eye:
Background Activity, Active Design and New York
I’ve talked before about increasing a persons “Background Activity” (click here, and here) to help improve their health and weight. And it looks like New York city has the same idea! Click here for a BBC documentary about how architects in New York are trying to make it harder for people to get about in order to give people more exercise.
Weight loss, gain and maintainance diets.
I’ve noticed that when I talk to people about diets, we often end up talking at cross purposes, and they don’t always understand what I’m on about. To your average person, a “diet” means one thing…a short term, drastic change in their eating/drinking habits which they “go on”, in order to lose some weight. When I think about diets, I prefer to use the following definition:
Relax and don’t worry about it
Over the last couple of days I have given the same advice to 2 different people, for 2 different reasons. And none of it had anything to do with reps, sets, intensities, speed etc. Instead it was quite simply to:
Recommended reading: Feeding your kids fruit and veg – 5 a day.
I don’t have kids, so there are some problems that I have (thankfully!) never experienced. One of these problems is how to get your kids to eat enough fruit and veg. But my friend who does have children asked me this the other day…so if you have this problem, try reading the following link…
Recommended reading: The Minnesota Starvation Study
“During World War II, 36 conscientious objectors participated in a study of human starvation conducted by Ancel Keys and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment, as it was later known, was a grueling study meant to gain insight into the physical and psychologic effects of semistarvation and the problem of refeeding civilians who had been starved during the war. During the experiment, the participants were subjected to semistarvation in which most lost <25% of their weight, and many experienced anemia, fatigue, apathy, extreme weakness, irritability, neurological deficits, and lower extremity edema.”
Large waist size linked to ‘higher risk of death’
Here is another news story suggesting that your waist/hip ratio is a better assessment of your health, than your total bodyweight or your BMI.
Why do we eat?
About 2 thirds of the UK population are overweight or obese. This is because we eat/drink too much and don’t exercise enough. We all know this, but we still continue overeating. Why? Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 major reasons why we eat/drink:
NICE guidelines for managing your weight before/during/after pregnancy.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have released weight management guidelines for women before/during/after pregnancy. You can take a look by clicking here. I’m the first to admit I am no expert in this department, so if you are, let me know where I’m going wrong. But the guidelines are 60 pages long, so here are some of the bits that caught my eye, and my personal comments in brackets…
Recommended viewing – Food inc.
Just watched the film Food inc. It is a documentary about the food industry in America. I highly recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in food and where it comes from. One of my favorite quotes from the film was the very last line. It was spoken by a farmer upset by what … Read more
The Healthy Eating Pyramid
I am a firm believer in keeping things simple whenever I can.
Not only does this mean that I can keep my life nice and easy, but I also find that simple things make the biggest differences in life. Especially when it comes to food, drink and weight control. So probably the simplest thing that any of us can do to improve our health and give our bodies the resources they need to perform at a high standard, is follow this healthy eating pyramid:
Slimming pills: Do the claims add up?
News story looking at 5 slimming pills to see if their claims to help you lose weight are actually backed up by any research. Click here for the full story.
Link between inactivity and obesity queried
Researchers have challenged the assumption that a lack of exercise causes children to put on weight. Click here to read the whole news article.
From the General to the Specific – How to get good at absolutely anything.
So you want to get good at something? It could be getting good at your sport, your diet, your job, your relationship or your school subject. But there are good and bad ways to go about this. One of the best ways is to work from the general to the specific. This means you spend time getting the fundamental, foundation principles right before worrying about the minute details. Get good at the general stuff first, then move on to the specifics. For example:
Carbohydrates, proteins & fats: The basics.
Food is probably the third most important thing in our lives after oxygen and water. But hardly any of us know anything about it. Do you know what carbohydrates, proteins and fats are? What do they do? Where do we get them from?
NHS watchdog NICE calls for trans-fats ban in foods
Trans-fats should be eliminated from food in England, NHS watchdog NICE has said. Click here to read the rest of the story from BBC news.
Fat and fit
I think I depressed one of my work colleagues today. I was showing them the scales that work out your body fat percentage. Unfortunately it gave a higher percentage than they hoped (it classed them as obese). So he asked how can he be classed as obese if he does so much training? Well, fitness … Read more