1. YOU SKIP BREAKFAST

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Studies show that those who eat breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy body weight. Starting your day with a healthy meal gives you energy.  Miss this, and your body goes into starvation mode. 

2. YOU STARVE YOURSELF

Depriving yourself of food in an attempt to lose weight is counter-productive. If you miss meals, food tends to get stored up, therefore resting metabolism slows down, which is the total opposite of what you want to happen!
Eating small, regular meals is much more effective for most people.

3. YOU EAT IN RESPONSE TO EMOTIONS

If you get stressed by the things that go on in your life, try writing about them in a journal. Expressing your thoughts is one of the best ways to deal with them. Do you have particular trigger situations? How can you deal with this in the future without resorting to food? Write about this too.

4. YOU DON’T PLAN AHEAD

What would you like to achieve? You should note down 1 or 2 specific, realistic goals, which you display in a prominent place, and read them over frequently to help you stay focused.

5. YOUR HOME IS PACKED WITH UNHEALTHY FOODS

Is it more like temptation city, than a haven of healthy foods? If that sounds familiar, make a change! Get rid of the junk, and replace it with healthy foods you enjoy (or re-train your taste buds to enjoy).
But, remember to allow yourself a treat now and again – healthy eating isn’t about excluding all your favourite foods, it’s about getting the proportions right.

6. YOU EAT TOO FAST

Do you eat so fast your stomach barely has time to signal the need to stop?
Try chewing each bite, and putting down your fork between mouthfuls. Remember that TV watching can lead to unconscious overeating, so instead sit at the table, and try to become more familiar with your hunger state.

7. YOU’RE TOO LAZY

Come on challenge me on this one! What activities do you enjoy? What skills would you like to improve? Try putting extra effort into all of your daily activities for accelerated calorie burning, and better quality of life long-term.

8. OTHER THINGS TAKE UP YOUR TIME

What do you spend most of your day doing? Are you a full-time mum, a pro blogger, or a business exec? It’s possible that you simply don’t have enough time to get healthy. How can you change that? Is it an organisational skills problem, or something else?

9. YOU DON’T HAVE HOBBIES

What does your spare time consist of? Is it taken up with watching TV, or sitting at your computer? What can you do instead? How about taking up a new hobby, walking to your friend’s house, or perhaps taking the kids to the park more often?
It doesn’t have to be something particularly energetic, just something you enjoy, it’s better than being parked in front of the telly all evening, right?

10. YOU’RE TOO CONFIDENT

Do you drop a stone, then start thinking you’re a “Weight Loss” champion? Next thing you know, you’re back on the chips and wine, and rapidly gaining back your original weight.
How can you avoid this yo-yo scenario in the future? Well, it’s simply about goal setting. So, with each 10 pounds you drop, reassess your diet, and set new goals for the coming weeks, rather than slackening off on your new healthier habits.

11. YOU HAVE A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE

Believing that you can change is really important. If you tell yourself you can’t succeed, you won’t – simple as that! Empower yourself by thinking positively, and believing that you really can reach your goals.

12. “TOMORROW” NEVER SEEMS TO COME!

Remember, weight loss is a journey, and unfortunately it doesn’t become any easier if you wait. So, why not get the most difficult part over with right now by starting today?  It’s time to start taking care of your body! 

Campaigners rage at food inequality

“Over 80% of these individuals noticed a beneficial effect on exercise during the time they took the zeolite”

Anyone who exercises – whether it is a serious athlete or a three-times-a-week jogger – knows that both good nutrition and post-exercise recovery period are two of the most important aspects of a physical activity regimen. Exercise demands that one eat a nutritious, balanced diet to fuel the body and drink enough fluids to keep hydrated. The recovery period is when the body adapts to the stress of exercise, allowing physical changes to take place. Nutrients and fluids are replenished, fatigued muscles and depleted energy stores are recharged, and damaged tissues are repaired.

Zeolite: An exercise enhancer

Many athletes include supplements in their diet to help with both nutrition and exercise recovery.
One such supplement, a natural mineral that’s been used for health purposes for centuries, is called Zeolite. Available in liquid form, zeolite is a natural detoxifier, targeting and safely removing toxic heavy metals from the body. The human body, especially if it is regularity engaging in physical activity, is adversely affected by toxins in the environment. By removing toxins from the system, Zeolite can help the body to defend itself while also increasing strength, endurance and stamina.
 

Heavy metals and toxins are attracting fat cells in the body, your body need the fat to keep these away from healthy cells. Do you want to know more? Call or drop me an e-mail. Click on the contact page! 

This is a very hard and good workout. If you think you fit and strong than test yourself out!

Amazing :)

1. Have 6 small meals every 2-4 hours. This would boost your body metabolism. It is strongly recommended to combine your small meals with lean protein and green leafy vegetables. A good amount of carbohydrates, good fats and good timing, would super-charge your metabolism and ensure the efficiency in your weight loss plan.

2. Have breakfast in the morning. It is imperative to do so. This will also prevent you from eating a big lunch.

3. Refrain from eating junk foods, processed foods, high calorie foods, and deep fried foods.

4. Plan your meals in advance. The diet plan that you get from the internet could be just a reference. Plan your meals for your weight loss plan. It will only take a few hours to sit down and plan for it.

5. Consume at least 8 glasses of plain water daily. Since our body are made from 70% water content, drinking water is essential to ensure you stay healthy. Other than that, it helps in your weight loss plan as it could flush out harmful toxins.

6. Do not think that foods without sugar are totally good for you. It is a myth. Foods that do not contain sugar may content high artificial ingredients to make them taste good! You are advised to know better about the ingredients of non-sugar foods before making a decision.

7. Take multi-vitamins. Usually we could not obtain a complete set of vitamin from our foods. Therefore, you may consider to have multi-vitamin consumption. It helps in your weight loss plan, as it maintains your body in good condition as a fat furnace.

8. Develop your training session for your weight loss plan in a smart way, instead of difficult way. You have to concentrate, and seek the best way with your weight loss plan. Try to make your workout interesting or you may discuss alternate methods with a personal trainer or your coach.

9. Cardiovascular training. This would involve running, jogging, step classes, boxercise,  kickboxing 4 fitness, medicine ball core conditioning etc.
 

A Diet For All Reasons is a lecture by Doctor Micheal Klaper MD, who had 30 years of experience as an anesthetic surgeon. After spending years watching patients undergo heart bypass surgery, Doctor Klaper finally came to realise that diet was so important in the cause and prevention in so many modern day diseases, such as cancer and heart disease to name a few. To view the original source site for this video,

visit:http://www.feelgoodagain.co.uk

Personal trainers aren't for everyone, but a trainer provides certain benefits that you can't find when working out on your own. This is so true. Even someone as knowledgeable as me when it comes to personal training, I can benefit from someone giving me guidance and a second opinion, or even just push me over my limits a little bit.

You are new to exercise

If you are an absolute beginner, a personal trainer is the ultimate fitness coach. A good trainer will introduce you to a very simple, effective routine and build efficiently so before you know it, you have the confidence and knowledge to decide what is right for you. This is not quite right here. A good trainer should know what is right for you, although you need to give feedback and information about how your body feels after every training session - that's how we get it right and ensure the training is relevant to you. A good trainer will actually teach you about your body and how to exercise so you can then make your own decision later about what is good for you!

Motivation

One of the main reasons people benefit from a personal trainer is that they lose motivation to stick with a consistent exercise program. Certified personal trainers can provide structure and accountability, and help you develop a lifestyle that encourages health.

Individualized program

If you have any chronic health conditions, injuries or training goals (running a marathon, for example) a trainer will work with you and your health care provider to plan a safe, efficient program that considers these needs and enable you to reach your health goals. Yes - we can provide a safe plan if the client has good posture, basic co-ordination and muscle awareness.

Efficiency

Personal Trainers help you focus on results and stop wasting your time doing inefficient workouts. A personal trainer has a plan and will help you get maximum results in minimum time.

Improve technical skills

If you play a particular sport, the right personal trainer will help you improve your skill by showing you new training techniques specific to your sport. The Trainer will incorporate skills training into your program so you improve not only your strength and endurance, but your agility and mental focus as well. Yep! With the right personal trainer.

Break through plateaus

Ok, you are already in pretty decent shape, but you've been there for years. If you are stuck in the same routine and want to break out of a rut, a personal trainer is the perfect solution. A trainer will jump start not only your motivation, but your routine as well. I say there is always a next level!

Learn how to go it alone

If you ultimately want to learn all the facets of designing your own routines so you don't need to use a personal trainer, going for a few months may be all you need. All good personal trainers will teach you the basics of building and modifying a fitness program to achieve maximum results. Designing your own routines can be a problem. To learn how to go it alone takes time! I have clients who see me once or twice a month and their training plan is tailor-made and designed by me. To train by yourself, you need to learn more than just the basics.

Workout Safely

A personal trainer watches your form, monitors your vitals and can provide objective feedback about your limits and strengths. Most of us tend to ignore some of the subtle signals our body provides. We either push through pain or give up too soon. Because a personal trainer can watch what you are doing while you are doing it, they can help push you or slow you down as necessary. Today, newly qualified personal trainers, with their qualification gained in only 5 weeks, have no idea how to look out for the significant signs of overload or underload. Over the years, I have met a lot of people who didn't want to go back to work with a personal trainer after only one session. This is because afterwards they could not walk for days or it was too painful to sit down for example. To hurt people and train people are two completely different things!

Workout at home

Many personal trainers make house calls. If you are don't have the type or interest in going to a gym, but have a hard time knowing what to do on your own at home, a personal trainer can bring fitness into your living room.

Lose Weight

There is a good reason that the number one reason people hire personal trainers is to lose weight and get into shape -- it works. If you made a resolution to lose the fat and build the muscle, a trainer can keep you on track and help you realize that goal. Before you hire a personal trainer you should ask the following questions:

@ What are your qualifications and certification?

A qualified personal trainer has an education in physiology, health promotion, athletic training, kinesiology or a similar field. They should have first aide and CPR certification as well as certification from a reputable organization such as ACSM, ACE, IDEA, YMCA, NSCA or similar.

@ Do you have liability insurance? They should answer yes.

@What are your policies and procedures?

A personal trainer should have a documented policy explaining their services, costs, cancellations, length of contract, and emergency procedures. They should also require a medical clearance form to be completed before they work with you.

@Finally, you should feel comfortable with the trainer, his/her style of communication and the expectations of your time together. This is the most important part of your training and why I don’t understand some people in Bristol - they don't shop around.

When you buy a new TV or some kind of equipment, you always look around regarding the price, quality etc. The same time and care should be taken when looking for a personal trainer. You need to find out about the trainer’s attitude, their duty of care, their qualifications etc. 

Food as medicine? You bet. In fact, the right diet is such powerful medicine that, for people with type 2 diabetes, it could actually reverse the course of your disease. If you take insulin or other medication, it could help you reduce your dose or even eliminate your medication. For people with type 1 diabetes, the right diet can help you better manage your condition.

Fortunately, your food prescription doesn't have to taste like medicine. If you think having diabetes means a no-fun "diabetic diet" of flavorless meals, and all your favorite foods forbidden, think again. The truth is, a healthful diet for a person with diabetes isn't very different from a healthful diet for anybody else. Although for many years the medical establishment recommended restricted diet for people with diabetes--especially when it came to sugar--research has shown that sugar is not the villain it was once thought to be. In 1994 the American Diabetes Association (ADA) loosened its dietary recommendations and expanded the options for healthful eating. The emphasis now is on choices--and some choices are better than others, whether you have diabetes or not.

from the exercise point of you:

Physical activity helps to prevent type 2 diabetes and manage the condition of those with diabetes, along with a healthy diet and weight maintenance. That's what the experts like the American Diabetes Association confirm. Weight training and strength training is an important part of the exercise mix in this prevention strategy.

Weight Training Helps Reduce Blood Glucose

Exercise helps reduce abnormal blood glucose by using it from the blood and muscle as fuel and by making insulin more sensitive and efficient at storing glucose in a form called glycogen in muscle and liver.

Strength training has a particular role to play because when we lift or push weights the main fuel used is that stored as muscle glucose. Building extra muscle also provides us with a larger storage area for glucose, so the combination of these two factors -- increased muscle and regular emptying of these muscle stores -- improves the body's glucose processing, a factor crucial in preventing and managing type 2 diabetes.

Aerobic exercise helps by burning glucose and fats and assisting with fat loss, while strength training also assists with weight management by expending energy and building muscle. Weight reduction is particularly important in preventing pre-diabetes from progressing to a full-blown diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, which is generally not reversible.

This video doesn't really have anything to do with fitness or personal training.... or ... just wait a second... actually it does! How many times did you say to yourself, ok; I will change my life around, get back in shape and never turn back! Probably every January? Yep, New year's resolutions! I think every month is the same under a year! It doesn't metter when you start to change or where in your time scale! Start doing it! Keep doing it and never give up! I have trained a lot of people in Bristol, personal training, group sessions, coaching, giving advices and motivational talks. I think people moan to much, I don't have the time for this and that and some people expecting for exchange to their money to deliver a miracle! Now here, at this point I have to say that a personal trainer is just a guide, a tool, a voice! The miracle is not something around you. The miracle is you! You can do it! Like Nick

Nick Vujicic says, you can fail hundred thousand times than give up again and again, you never going to achieve your goal. You can't give up! You can do everything what you want! I say; when you on the road and not giving up, you are hardly going to fall again because you will respect all the effort. Turning back is an easy choice, but down on the road when you learn to be a fighter than...  are you going to like to take it easy? No!!! Then happiness and here is your Miracle which you deserve with hard work!

This is a great article from "The Times". Since I started my business in England, I have tried to explain to people and personal trainers in Bristol that there is a wrong approach regarding core strength and functional core training. Somehow, some textbook trainers are not able to think outside of the box and truly believe what they read.

I think it is common-sense to say that the body is a whole with separate units and that you have to treat and train units together or in a partial functional form. I think Pilates is great and there is nothing wrong with the routine that trainers and personal trainers are delivering, as long as they understand the fact that to exercise on all fours or in a laying position is not how the body functions in everyday situations. Your extremities support your core and you exercise the core in an isolated way so your arms and legs mainly work in an isotonic way and then you wonder why you hurt your back when you hoover or pick up a car key quickly from the floor.

On a daily basis, how much time do you spend on the floor or working in a laying position? I always say you need a little bit of everything. Some of my personal training clients go to a Pilates group session once a week, have a massage, learn the Alexander technique once a month, physio and/or chiropractor sessions a couple of months later.

I actually don't wonder any more why other health and fitness professionals avoid working with personal trainers in Bristol. As far as I am concerned, lack of communication and thinking that "I know everything" pushes the chance away to start to communicate and learn from each other.

I would like to highlight in the articles where a writer mentions the medicine ball training. I grew up training with medicine balls and I can say I was pretty lucky to master how to use them but I would like very much to learn more. It is a great way to get core function and also you don't need to have a heavy ball as there are endless combinations using a medicine ball with other fitness tools.

The core stability myth

It’s taken ten years to discover that the founding principles of Pilates are flawed
If there is a Holy Grail of fitness to have emerged over the past decade, then it has to be the pursuit of core stability, the strengthening, toning and honing of the muscles that wrap around our midriffs like a corset. Celebrities including Kate Winslet, Sharon Stone, Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyoncé have swarmed to classes such as Pilates, in which the central message is that the deeply embedded muscles in our trunk must be strong if we are to look good, stand up straight and have bodies that move freely and without pain. They hold the spine in place, we are told, and prevent back pain by allowing us to move as nature intended. Few gym workouts are conducted without the instruction to “engage” the core by pulling in the belly button and sucking in the stomach; we ignore the core at our peril.
But among exercise scientists there is growing dissent about whether the pursuit of a strong core is worthwhile or even safe. Pilates and other classes that concentrate on core strength had been favourites of dancers and gymnasts for years. But they were not to become a fitness phenomenon until the mid-1990s, when a study by Australian scientists researching the causes of back pain produced a groundbreaking discovery.

Professor Paul Hodges, head of human neurosciences at Queensland University, attached electrodes to two groups of subjects — one with healthy backs and another with persistent back pain — and got them to do a series of rapid arm raises. His results showed that the brains of the healthy subjects appeared to send signals to a deeply embedded muscle called the transversus abdominis, triggering it to contract and support the spine just before the arms moved.

In those with back pain, no such reaction took place, leaving the spine unsupported and vulnerable. Hodges then showed that the same muscle could be strengthened by “sucking in” or “hollowing out” (pulling navel to spine) the stomach during exercises and that the effects seemed to provide some protection against sore backs.
It was neither a clear link, nor was the evidence conclusive, but the concept quickly spread beyond physiology laboratories into the gym world, spawning a rapid rise in classes based entirely on this principle. Before long a stable core was lauded as a prerequisite in the fight against back pain and postural problems, as well as a washboard stomach. Without a strong foundation, proponents of core strength argued, our limbs cannot move freely and efficiently, our breathing is hampered and, what’s more, we look awful. But experts now claim that personal trainers and gym instructors have based an entire industry of exercise classes on evidence that has been grossly misconstrued. “The fitness industry took a piece of information and ran with it,” says Thomas Nesser, assistant professor of physical education at Indiana State University who has been researching the effect of the boom in Pilates-style activities. “The assumption of ‘if a little is good, then more must be better’ was applied to core training and it was completely blown out of proportion.”

What is overwhelmingly accepted among critics is that too many workouts are entirely dedicated to strengthening the deeply embedded muscles of the core, an approach that can prove futile, particularly when it comes to preventing back pain. Two years ago, a controversial paper in the British Journal of Sports Medicinesuggested that the importance of core strength has been overplayed and that, even if there were some truth in the notion put forward by Hodges and his team that a strong transversus abdominis muscle eased a sore back, the likelihood is that attempts to strengthen trunk muscles in the otherwise fit and healthy would probably have little benefit and may even backfire with disastrous consequences.

Stuart McGill, professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, says: “Too much emphasis is placed on working the transversus abdominis and if people follow that advice they are misguided and will not achieve better movement or less pain.” McGill’s particular concern is the widespread instruction in Pilates, some types of yoga and other classes to “draw in” or “hollow out” the stomach during moves, something he has shown can destabilise the spine by upsetting its alignment. “In studies we have done, the amount of load the spine could bear was greatly reduced when subjects sucked in their belly buttons,” he says. “What happens is that the muscles are brought closer to the spine, which reduces the stability in the back. It becomes weak and wobbly as you try to move.”

Physiotherapists have reported seeing a growing number of people who have suffered back problems as a result of poor Pilates technique. They tighten their lower backs, stop breathing or drop the pelvic muscles when attempting to “engage the core”, all of which can potentially make back pain worse. Pete Gladwell, a specialist physiotherapist with the Bristol NHS pain management service, says many physiotherapists as well as personal trainers embraced the “core stability” theory and the concept of Pilates helping back pain, without considering it might be flawed. “The early research compared core stability intervention with GP-led care rather than assessing the best available approaches,” Gladwell says. “Almost any type of movement will compare well in that scenario.”

There is doubt, too, that Pilates leads to a more efficient body that moves freely and is less prone to the mechanical ravages of ageing. Professor Nesser recently tried to establish a positive link between good core stability and functional movement — the ability to perform ordinary daily tasks — but failed. He says that “despite the emphasis fitness professionals have placed on functional movement and core training for increased performance, our results suggest otherwise — they should not be the primary emphasis of an exercise programme.” Even in sport, the tide is turning against the view that core strength is essential for improvement. For several years, elite athletes — including David Beckham and Zara Phillips — have devoted huge chunks of their training to developing core stability. But some researchers investigating the benefits of a strong midsection to sports performance have drawn a blank. When Professor Nesser looked at the top footballers, he found that those with a strong core played no better than those without. “It appears there is no performance benefit in sport from having a stronger core,” he says.

What about those who devote hours to Pilates and improving core strength not to ease their backs or to correct postural imbalance, but to get the lean, toned limbs and torso of the A-listers? Will hours on the Reformer equipment or in mat-based classes provide the body they hanker after? Not unless you do it in addition to the fitness basics of resistance training and endurance activities such as running, cycling and swimming.

According to the American Council on Exercise, a consumer watchdog that commissioned research on the fitness effects of Pilates, a beginner’s class did not meet the recommended levels of exertion for improving even basic cardio- respiratory fitness, burning only 174 calories. Even advanced Pilates only entailed the same amount of effort required for a steady walk and used up fewer calories (254) than most aerobic activities of the same duration. “Do not give in to the temptation to dedicate entire workouts to the core,” urges Professor Nesser. If you enjoy doing core stability exercise, keep it up. “But don’t expect to become immune to injury and don’t expect to improve your fitness if that’s all you do,” says Professor Eyal Lederman, an osteopath and director of the Centre for Professional Development in Osteopathy and Manual Therapy in London and the author of a paper entitled The Myth of Core Stability.

Where does that leave a generation devoted to honing their midsections? Experts say we have spent too long focusing on a few select muscles. Core strength is important, but only if the rest of your body is in good shape, and it’s time for trainers to stand back and view the body as a whole. Professor Lederman says the fitness industry seized on the idea of core stability as a simple solution, a silver bullet to improved function and fitness. The past ten years, he says, have been “a lost decade” in that we have wasted time and effort on workouts that needlessly concentrate on the area surrounding our navels. “Someone once told me that it takes 75 years for a medical myth to be erased from public thinking,” he says. “We’ve had the core stability myth for ten years. There’s a long way to go.”

So what should we do instead?

1 Workouts need to focus on exercises that require balance, strength and stability, so squats, dead lifts and standing overhead press moves using weights are ideal, says Thomas Nesser.

2 “Quit doing core exercises and pick up a medicine ball instead,” Nesser suggests. The heavy, weighted balls allow the body to move in different directions and at different levels so that the core and other muscles are strengthened.

3 If you stick with Pilates or core-strengthening classes, make it only once or twice a week. For the rest of the time “do a variety of exercise that you enjoy,” Professor Eyal Lederman says. “If you have back pain, it’s important to understand that core classes are not the route to recovery. You need to see a specialist and they will tell you that most forms of activity are equally effective in alleviating the condition.”

Peta Bee, August 10 2010

Fast food is fast, easy, and relatively cheap.

Probably you know it's not the best for your family. In fact, fast food is some of the worst stuff you can
feed your spouse and kids - especially if it's on a regular basis.

In the Fries
Excessive salt, trans-fats and saturated fats, the kind of fats that don't do the body good. Fries should be avoided if you want to sidestep one of the largest pools of unhealthy food in a fast-food restaurant.

In the Burgers

In order to keep fast food as cheap as possible, some fast-food restaurants lower the quality of meat used in hamburgers. That means fatty ham

burgers (and chicken sandwiches) that are more likely to taste great but result in food poisoning. More likely than food poisoning is simply winding up with extra calories that will go straight to your waist, belly, or whatever other area of your body you'd rather keep trim.

In the Healthy Sides

Some of the healthy sides offered at fast food restaurants aren't all they're cut out to be. Chili made with fatty beef and filled with cheese and baked potatoes loaded with bacon, cheese, and other unhealthy condiments turn would could be a healthy alternative into an equally unhealthy choice.

In the Desserts

One of the most obvious places to find dangers in fast-food restaurants is on the dessert menu. From soft serve ice cream topped with caramel, chocolate, and strawberry syrup to post-meal frozen coffee. In fact, your best chance for finding a healthy option on fast-food dessert menus is

In the Drinks

Since you can get as many refills as you want without paying extra, it can be tempting to fill your cup to the rim time and again. Unfortunately, filling your bladder and urinary tract with soda or sweet tea isn't a good idea. These drinks make you need to urinate more frequently and have enough calories in each 12-ounce serving to make it hard to eat anything without consuming an unhealthy amount of calories. As if that isn't bad enough, sodas and sweet tea offer no nutritional value besides a quick energy boost, which usually comes at the cost of a crash.

The Hidden Good News

No matter how hard you try, you're not going to be able to stay away from fast-food restaurants every day of your life.

Going to these quick-and-easy eateries doesn't mean you're a bad person or have to resign yourself to chowing down on extra calories you may never shed. What it does mean is that you'll have to work a little harder to avoid those extra calories. But it can be done.A great first step is to avoid fried foods that are in such great quantity in fast-food establishments. You should also opt for the healthier side items, and help them stay healthy by not adding on fatty toppings. And if you must have dessert, look for a yogurt parfait or a low-fat frozen yogurt in a cup. When you're done eating, smile and pat yourself on the back for doing what was once thought impossible. You've just eaten a relatively healthy meal at a fast-food restaurant.