Green Smoothies. Why we should all have them in our lives and how to make them.

Hi All

I love a green smoothie - they're a great and easy way to start the day, packed full of nutrients and they enable you to get a healthy kickstart to the morning.  You can mix and match the fruit that you put in, and add little extras such as seeds or nuts to make sure that you get your daily dosage of micronutrients, they also boost your immune system.  With all of those benefits why wouldn't you want them in your life - they're also highly portable too!

Green smoothies are also great to have post workout - your body needs carbohydrate and protein to replenish depleted stores, so add a little bit of protein power to your smoothie as well, and voila - a perfect post workout drink.

Remember to aim for optimal health you have to replace stores of glycogen (sugar) from naturally occurring sources (I'm not talking about a chocolate bar and a high energy drink here), which will allow your liver to process them quicker and restore your muscle balance.

Green Smoothies are a great addition to your daily regime

Here's a great recipe;

1-2 cups spinach
1 cup of water (or almond milk, coconut milk - whatever liquid you choose)
Half cup of strawberries
Half cup mango
Half cup protein powder (unflavoured or vanilla depending on your taste)

You can also add some fresh mint if it's in season.

If you're new to the Green Smoothie idea, here's another recipe for you to try;

1 cup of water (or other liquid as above)
1 banana peeled or avocado (with skin and stone removed)
Half cup of strawberries or raspberries
1-2 cups spinach

Again play around with the fruit, adding an avocado or a banana will give the smoothie that smooth texture, without either of these you will get a more 'juice with bits in' texture.  If you prefer your smoothies thick then don't add as much water, if you want them a bit more watery then add more.  Just play around with the ingredients until you find a one that suits you.

Here's some other things that you can add to your smoothie for an extra health kick;

Green Smoothies are healthy and portable

*Nuts
*Seeds
*Ginger
*Turmeric

To make my smoothies, I use a Nutribullet, I've gone through various juicers and blenders in my time, but I've found the Nutribullet to be super easy to use and most importantly - super easy to clean! (I have spent hours trying to get bits of kiwi out of a juicer - frankly I have better ways to spend my life).

So here are the basics, choose one from each apart from the fruit - choose two from that column (for the green smoothies always choose spinach or kale as one of the fruit options);

Base	Liquid	Fruit	Extra
Avocado	Water	Mango	Ginger
Banana	Coconut Milk	Apple	Turmeric
	Almond Milk	Pineapple	Nuts
	Soya Milk	Kiwi	Seeds
		Strawberries	Coconut Oil
		Raspberries	Protein Powder
		Blueberries
		Spinach
		Kale
		Cucumber

I also love to add a spoon of 'healthy greens' as can be found at the below link;

Organic Green Blend

Once you've made your smoothie, drink as soon as you can, if that's not possible they'll keep in the fridge for a couple of hours (don't be surprised if they change colour a bit).

Happy juicing, let me know how you get on with yours!

Jill x

Struggling to lose weight? Why calorie counting alone will not work.

Hi All

As a fitness professional I'm always getting asked what's the best way to lose weight, or how do I get rid of fat, and over the years I've done quite a bit of research and qualifications on the subject. 

There is an ongoing debate between experts as to whether calories are the reason we store fat or if hormones are the reason.  The truth is both matter when it comes to trying to lose weight that it's a bit of both - you must have a calorie deficit (that's just pure physics - the first law of thermodynamics and energy balance); and you must also have your hormones in balance - otherwise you will always be fighting a loosing battle (something that the likes of big weight loss companies count on, as they are setting you up to fail, in my opinion).

NOT ALL CALORIES ARE THE SAME!

Just like a doughnut and a chicken breast may have the same amount of calories in them - each of those will send different signals to the brain; the chicken will send signals that give you a better sense of well being and will enable your body to function better physiologically.  The doughnut will send a signal to your body that it is not getting any nutritional value and will activate hormones that send further signals that you need to continue to eat.  

See where the difference lies, not all calories are the same and it's because they make your body react in different ways. Hormones are chemicals (we're doing chemistry now!), if you can balance your hormones you will eat less without being consciously aware of it, and the calories will take care of themselves (I hate calorie counting!) - this is the key difference between fat loss and weight loss.

Not all calories are the same! Calorie counting will not work alone,

What are hormones?
The word 'Hormone' come from the Greek 'horman', which means to arouse or excite.  Your hormones play a critical role in many of the bodily processes that keep you alive and healthy, such as building new muscle and bone, digesting food, and maintaining hydration and blood sugar levels.  

Here are some of the key hormones that you need to thinking about when it comes to losing weight;

Insulin - this is the storing and locking hormone, high insulin levels will assure that any excess calories will be stored as fat, whilst inhibiting the body's ability to release fat.

Ghrelin - This is the hormone that makes your stomach rumble.  It affects your body hour by hour, as ghrelin rises hunger signals are sent to the brain, the levels fall immediately after a meal.  It's cyclic during the day, so it's what makes you want to eat at regular times.

Leptin - This is the hormone that controls your hunger on a day-to-day basis.  Some people become leptin resistant - they will eat and eat as if they are starving, this is why some people become morbidly obese; their bodies never receive the message to stop eating and start burning.  

Testoerone & HGH (Human Growth Hormone) - these are hormones that send signals to the brain to be lean and muscular - we all want a bit of these ones!!  

There are a lot more hormones that influence appetite, saiety and fat storage or fat burning.  

Finding out how to stimulate the hormones that you want to work is key to getting the body  to burn fat - remember to want to burn FAT from the body, not take energy from muscle.  When you go on a low-calorie diet your body will take the sugar out of the muscles, and your hormone balance will be all wrong, this is why almost everyone who does a low-calorie diet regains their weight once it is lost within 6 months - 1 year; 66% gain even more fat than they had to begin with. 

So, if you are struggling to lose fat and feel that you are in a constant battle with your weight, then your hormones are probably the key that you're not considering. 


It's all about balance! :)

Jill x

Weight Loss v's Fat Loss

Hi

This is something that I've been meaning to write about for a while and is quite a controversial subject.  Lots of people want to lose weight for various reasons, but most of the time weight loss does not mean fat loss.  You hear lots of people saying that they've lost 10lbs in a week using various diet methods, but at the end of the day what are they actually losing?  Do you know the difference between weight loss and fat loss?

Weight Loss = Total loss of body weight as measured by weighing scales, weight is taken from all over the body including bones, organs, muscles and fat.

Fat Loss = Lowering total body fat, as measured by calipers or body shape.  Healthy goals are around 10 - 15% for a man and 15 - 20% for a woman (depending upon age).

Using only the scales as a measure of success is completely flawed and you are doomed to failure!

Why?

Your body is very complex and has lots of things going on within it - if you use only the scales then you are also including things like the contents of your stomach/intestines/bowel, the amount of water contained within your muscles as well as the amount of fat in your body.

At the end of the day you can chop off your head (it weighs about a stone by the way) and lose weight!

What most of us want to lose is fat not weight.

The below picture shows the difference between fat and muscle. Muscle is much more dense that fat - that is why you can have two people who weigh the same but look totally different.  The same weight in muscle takes up a lot less space that the same weight in fat. Therefore if you're building muscle you'll see very little change on the scales - but people will comment that you look slimmer!



How to lose fat and not muscle.

1. Eat Protein - your body needs protein to build muscle as well as for many of the other nutrients contained within.  The usual recommendation is 1g of protein per every lb of body weight.

2. Include some Weight Training - Pilates is great for this as it uses body weight.  But anything that requires resistance training is great.

3. Don't reduce your calories by too much - not only will this send your body into 'starvation mode' thereby holding onto fat, but it will also reduce your body's ability to build muscle.  A 500 calorie a day deficit is more than enough  - the daily recommended amounts are 2000 per day for a woman and 2500 per day for a man.  (Remember to adjust if you're also exercising, so for example, if you're using up 500 calories a day in exercise - then keep your dietary intake at around 2000 calories)

You should be aiming to lose no more than 2lbs in total weight per week as anything above this is water and body tissue taken from your muscles,bones and organs, not fat!  Rapid weight loss will get you into the rut of yo-yo dieting (sound familiar?) as it is unsustainable and unhealthy - the only thing that you will be losing is pounds from your pocket and not your thighs!

So eat sensibly, cut out the processed food, eat as much organic food as you can, weight train, include a bit of cardio exercise, eat more protein and less starchy carbs - the results will speak for themselves.

For anymore advice then please contact us through our Website or Facebook page. If anyone wants their actual personal Total Daily Energy Expenditure (your individual, actual total daily calorie intake - for your body based upon your lifestyle and other indicators) worked out, then we can include this in our 1-2-1 sessions.

Top 5 Diet Tips from a Fitness Instructor - that actually work!

Over the years I have been asked alot about diet and exercise and what my recommendations are for best diets. I have also tried and tested many various methods from drinking olive oil (yuk) to Dr Atkins, Weightwatchers, etc, etc.  All of them have some sort of benefits in that they make people think about what they're putting into their bodies and they are all built on some kind of scientific foundations.  However, after all my years of 'dieting' (successfully and not so successfully) I've found something that works for me.

Here are my Top 5 tips; 

1. 'Eat and Train' - not 'Diet and Exercise', it's about changing your mindset.  As soon as I think about going on a diet - I start craving biscuits and crisps (it's true - I once gave up crisps for Lent and found myself thinking about them all the time, even seeing a crisp packet in a bin made me crave them - it was awful!).  It's psychological, if you focus on eating properly rather than going 'on a diet' it's much better for your brain and you have a much greater chance for sucess in the long run. The same also goes for 'exercise', when you think about it as something that you have to do - it becomes a chore, instead think about training for a healthy body, bikini body, toned abs... whatever it is that floats your boat really!

2. Don't do diets with an expiry date - whether it be the '12lbs in 12 days', the 30-day challenge' or whatever - the very name implies after that timescale (whatever it is) you will have reached your goal and therefore you can stand-down and return to your normal eating habits.  This then leads to yo-yo dieting in the long run, I'll admit that it might be ok to do one of these for a kickstart - but understand that it is a short term solution and that if you don't continue with your healthy eating you will return back to normal.

3. Don't eat food with an advert - when was the last time you saw an advert for a carrot, egg or broccoli?  Simples!  Just don't eat processed food.

4. You cannot train away a bad diet - I hear so many people saying 'well I've burned x amount of calories so I can go home and eat cake', or 'I'm saving up all my calories for the weekend' - true that it's much better to be burning calories at a class than sitting at home, or creating a calorie deficit during the week - but do you really want to undo all your good work?  It's like saying - 'If I save up my money all year and then blow it all on one weekend in Vegas - will it affect my bank balance?' - sure you have the money there to spend - but if you think about it your bank balance remains the same as you haven't gained or lost anything (apart from a great weekend in Vegas, that is?).

It's the combination of good diet and exercise that is the key to long term health success (notice I said 'health' and not 'weight loss'?)  You can use diet alone, but without exercise your heart and muscles will not be getting toned and you'll get that saggy, hollow look; or you can exercise alone, but without diet you will just be replacing the fat lost during exercise with fat/sugar in your diet.

5. Do not cut out food groups - whether it be low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, health shakes - the fact is that the body needs fat, carb's and protein to exist - for example, people following a low-fat diet will become nutrient deficient (Vitamins A, D, E and K are all fat soluble - meaning that you need a certain amount of fat in your body for these to be processed), all diets in which you have to 'cut-out' something set off certain reactions within your body that may not be good (obviously the only things you should be cutting out is the biscuits, chocolate, crisps, cakes, pastries, alcohol, etc - unfortunately!).

Eating a balanced diet is the key as this will ensure that your body gets all of the food groups, vitamins and minerals that it needs and it is a much more varied diet that is ultimately cheaper and more effective. If you want a treat, then have one - just don't go overboard - don't deny yourself anything just think about moderation and portion control.

The only thing I would add, is wherever possible buy organic and as unprocessed as possible (e.g. brown rice, wholemeal bread) - this will ensure that your food has as few additives in it as possible.

And that's it!  Remember 'eat clean and train mean' - you won't go far wrong with that attitude.

If you have any other top tips then it would be great to hear from you.