Top Tips To Get Fit - Part 1

The following blog entry will look into some top tips for us to incorporate into our lives in order to get fit. This is to the first part of two, so be sure to come back again for more great tips.

Make keeping fit a part of your routine

If we make fitness and exercise an intrinsic part of our lives it will be far easier for us to stick to our regimes and far less likely for us to miss sessions. In keeping it as an 'optional extra', we are likely to fall short in our fitness quest.

Set Goals

Setting goals is a fantastic tip for keeping fit. With goals to aim for we are more likely to stick to our regimes and also have something to measure our progress by. It is important that the goals we set stretch and challenge us, but are also achievable. If we set unrealistic targets we are likely to fall flat!

Be Flexible

This is very important. It is important not to be too regimented, as our lives require us to flexible. If we miss a session, it is important not to worry about it, just put more into the next session.

Do Not Overdo It

Over training is a common mistake that people make. All sorts of problems can come from this. Injuries, fatigue and ill feeling towards training can all stem from over doing it. In turn, each of these factors can contribute to us not wanting to train.

Do Not Expect An Overnight Change

This is another key thing. Often people expect to see major results after three sessions! This is simply not reality. Patience is the key, and if we stick to our diet and exercise plans, results will come.

These are five key tips that should be used when looking to get fit. Make sure to check back next week for part two of 'Top Tips To Get Fit'. 

Easy Salad Dressings - Part 1

When buying foods from the supermarket it is very important to look at what ingredients are in them. Many foods contain things that should not be in them, preservatives and the like, as well as other ingredients that just add to the calories.  With that in mind, this blog entry will show two different recipes for easy and cheap, but healthier, salad dressings. Another two recipes will follow next week in the second part of my Easy Salad Dressings. 

Note: These recipes were not created by me, but are adapted from Jamie’s Ministry of Food

French Dressing

This is an easy French dressing recipe.

Ingredients:

• ¼ of a clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons of white or red wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Seas salt and black pepper

To create the dressing, we peel and finely chop the garlic. Then, we put the garlic, mustard, vinegar and oil into a jar with a pinch of salt and the black pepper. Simply mix this together for a tasty salad accompaniment.

Yoghurt Dressing

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons of white or red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

As with the French dressing, all we need to do is put all the ingredients into a jar and mix well.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the dressings. 

Walk-To-Burn-Calories – Diet Aid

A US study suggests that a menu that displays the amount of exercise required to burn off the calories contained in the food may help people to consume fewer calories.

A team at the Texan Christian University found that when the menu displayed the amount of exercise required, the diners ordered lower calories. The trials were conducted with a group of 18-30 year olds, who were split into three groups. Some were given menus with no calorie information, some with the amount of calories displayed, and the final group had both the calories and the amount of exercise needed to burn the calories off. The results showed that the group with extra information consumed around 100 calories less.

The test is now to be taken further, and onto a bigger scale in order to confirm the findings.

This could be a very interesting find if it proves to be useful. It may just help a good number of people to eat that little bit less and to get in better shape. A lot of people are unaware of how hard it is to actually burn off the calories we consume so this could be very useful. It is also important to remember though, that just eating fewer calories does not necessarily mean that we are eating healthily.

To read the full article, click here.

Five A Day

It is no secret, most people already know it, but getting more fruits and vegetables into our diets is key to a healthier lifestyle. This blog entry will look into why eating more fruits and vegetables is important,  and will offer some tips of how we can get more fruits and vegetables into our daily lives.

Why Five a Day is Important

There are a number of reasons as to why eating more fruits and vegetables is important.

Firstly, fruits and vegetables are generally low in fat and calories, and therefore we are able to be in more control of our weight when eating them as opposed to other foods that often contain high levels of fats and extra sugars and calories.

Secondly, eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables helps us to get plenty of vitamins and minerals that we need into our body. They are also a good source of other substances, such as anti-oxidants. All these nutrients are valuable to our health.

Finally, eating fruits and vegetables helps to reduce the risk of many diseases and some cancers.

Tips to getting Five a Day

Now that we know why it is so valuable to get five a  day into our diet, we can look at some simple ways of getting extra portions into our daily routine.

• We can add a piece of fruit, or a glass of unsweetened fruit juice, to our regular breakfast. This will also help us feel fuller for longer.
• Make sure that we have a piece of fruit available for a mid-morning snack
• With each meal we can try adding an extra portion of vegetables to it
• We can make each portion of fruit of vegetables slightly bigger than normal to get even more goodness in each meal

What Counts Towards Our Five a Day?

Knowing what actually counts towards one of our five a day can often be tricky. Here are some examples of what does count towards our Five a Day:

• An apple
• 2 broccoli florets
• 3 heaped tablespoons of mixed vegetables
• 1 glass of 100% unsweetened fruit juice
• 1 medium banana
• 3 heaped tablespoons of peas
• 7 Strawberries
• 2 medium plums
• 1 medium pear
• a handful of grapes
• 3 heaped tablespoons of sweetcorn

Each type of fruit and vegetables contains different properties so it is important to make sure that we eat a wide variety of them. A good tip is to make our meals as colorful as possible!

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave your feedback, I am interested in your views and will look to respond as soon as possible. 

Is Chocolate Good For You?

We all want chocolate to be good for us right? Well, this blog will examine what, if any, health benefits we can get from consuming chocolate.

Is chocolate good for you?

It has been strongly suggested that the answer to this question is yes. There are, according to research, health benefits associated with eating chocolate, particularly dark chocolate. Dark chocolate contains the most amount of cocoa and this is where the good stuff is found.

What are the health benefits of dark chocolate? Why is dark chocolate good for you?

Research indicates that there may be a number of health benefits to consuming dark chocolate. It is good for our heart; eating dark chocolate two or three times a week can help to lower blood pressure and in turn will help our heart! It can also impact our brain; research indicates that a healthy blood flow, helped by consuming dark chocolate, can improve cognitive function. Dark chocolate can help to control our blood sugar level and this can help to prevent type 2 diabetes. Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants, which help to fight free radicals in the body. It can help with tooth enamel as it contains theobramine and this has been shown to harden our tooth enamel. Finally, it contains high levels of vitamins and minerals; potassium, copper, magnesium and iron in particular.

Avoid Milk

Research suggests that drinking milk with our chocolate may neutralise some of the health benefits that we can gain from consuming chocolate.

Can I Eat Lots of Chocolate?

Unfortunately, this does not mean that we can just eat endless amounts of chocolate. There are still calories to think about! However, we can certainly eat chocolate, relatively guilt free as part of our calorie intake for the day.

Why Diet and Nutrition is so important - Part 2

Why Diet and Nutrition is so important

This is the second part of the blog entry examining why diet and nutrition is so important to us, and why we must be aware of what we are consuming. This entry will look at water, vitamins and minerals in particular. 

Water

Water is crucial to our body functioning correctly. When we are even slightly dehydrated our body is not working as it should be. Water carries oxygen and nutrients around the body, allowing the body to function. It also clears out waste and dissipates body heat. It is important to note that we should not wait until we feel thirsty to drink water, as by then we are already slightly dehydrated.

Vitamins

We should aim to get our vitamins from food, not pills. This is something that a lot of research appears to agree on. Vitamins are vital for the body to function correctly, as they ensure that a lot of complicated actions happen. Vitamins help to allow the body to make energy from other nutrients, help the bones and muscles to grow, help with our cells and many other functions that we need just to live!

Minerals

As with vitamins it is important that we get our minerals from food rather than a tablet. We do not actually need large amounts of minerals but they are still vital for our body. Bone structure, heartbeat and cell activity are all impacted by our mineral intake.

Another thought

An important point to remember is that our diet plan will vary on what our goals are. For example, if we want to bulk up then it is important to increase the number of calories we consume during the day, focussing on increases in protein and carbohydrates.

Why Diet and Nutrition is so important - Part 1

Why diet and nutrition is so important

Not only is the food and drink we intake important for fuelling our workout it is vital in the way we look. If we want our perfect body then our diet will have a massive say in achieving it. This post is the first of two parts that will examine why what we eat is so important to us.

Why eat right?

If we are eating right our body runs much more efficiently; with our muscles being fuelled better, bulked faster and repaired easier. Basically, eating right will lead to us getting stronger and more resilient. There are a variety of classes of nutrients that are important to us; carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water, vitamins and minerals. Each type of nutrient is important for different reasons.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates (like fats) get a bad press and there is often anti-carbohydrate press out there. The Atkins diet has been a big fad over recent years, which involves eating very few carbohydrates. Carbs do not deserve this bad reputation. Sure, sugar and other sweeteners should not be over consumer. However, fruits, vegetables and whole grains contain carbohydrates that are vital to our health. Generally, carbohydrates should make up around 30-50% of our diet.

Protein

Protein is pretty much the building block of muscle. If we want to build muscle then protein is vital. Studies have shown that protein from animals builds muscle much better than protein from soya and vegetables. The most widely accepted pieces of research would lead us to believe that we should aim to eat between 0.27 to 0.37 grams of protein per kilo of body weight daily.

Fats

Like carbohydrates fats have a really bad press. The nutritional value of some fats has been seriously underrated, whilst the drawbacks have been grossly exaggerated. Basically, we need fat. We should aim to avoid trans fats, and saturated fats to a degree, but should aim to get the other fats into our diet.

An Interesting Healthy Snack

Apple and Peanut Butter?!

Eating Healthy and Snacks

Eating healthy is often a very hard thing to achieve. We are told different information from different sources. However, it is generally considered that eating little and often is a good method of eating right. This means that we need to snack throughout the day, around three larger meals. With that in mind it seems very easy to fall into the trap of snacking on foods like crisps (potato chips) and other foods that lack any real nutritional value.

Carbs plus Protein or Fat

It is also important to note that when we snack on sugary foods we get hungry an hour or so later, meaning we eat again and the calories begin to pile up. The reason for this is that carbohydrates are fast burning, so when we snack it is important that we combine some good carbs with some protein or fat, or both for that matter. This brings us to an interesting healthy snack that is packed with nutrition and should keep you full that little bit long – apple with peanut butter.

Apple and Peanut Butter – Yum

Apple and peanut butter did not sound that appetising to me, however, once I had tried it I became hooked. This is now a standard snack for me to have because it is tasty as well as simple and quick to make. I tend to slice my apple up and spread some peanut butter on it, but it could easily be chopped into sticks and dipped into peanut butter for the same effect!

This really is an interesting snack to try out and one that should give enough nutrients to be worthwhile.