Pre-workout nutrition can cause a lot of confusion. One question that I get asked on a very regular basis is “What should I eat before training?” And the very clear, unambiguous answer is: It depends. There are 2 important factors…
At Body & Mind Fitness, approximately 90% of our clients are working towards improved Body Composition/Weight Loss. As I’ve mentioned previously, this is a fairly simple process. At its most basic level it’s a case of “Eat Less, Move More.”…
We’ve gone over the basics off a good diet on numerous occasions and they’ll still get the best results: Lots of good quality, lean protein, tons of vegetables lots of clean water, some fruit, nuts and seeds and little or…
Today we’ll look at possibly one of the most confusing aspects of nutrition in general – and “weight-loss diets” in particular- calorie control.
As you’re probably aware, there are dozens if not hundreds of different diets that are promoted as being the ultimate weight-loss plan. Although they may be different in content, the one thing that they will all have in common is that they’ll encourage you to “reduce calories”. In other words, eat less.
Some will give general guidelines while others may be specific enough to require that you have your kitchen scales and calculator nearby in order to weigh and measure your meals.
So what exactly are calories, and how much do we need to focus on them? We can start by understanding that a Calorie – also known as a Kilocalorie- is simply a unit of measurement of energy. It’s actually the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of I kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius.
Therefore we can measure the food we eat in terms of the amount of calories -or energy – that it will provide. Likewise, physical activity is rated in terms of how much energy or calories we use up while doing it. As mentioned earlier, all successful weight- loss diets rely, to some degree, on creating a calorie deficit, which means that you’ll be using up more calories in daily activity than you’ll take in through your food and drink.
“You are what you eat” is a phrase that you’ll hear and read quite often from trainers, nutritionists and in health magazines and articles.
Like many widely-quoted phrases, it contains a large element of truth. The suggestion is that as long as you’re eating a healthy diet, you will be healthy. However this is not quite accurate.
The inaccuracy lies in the fact that this phrase assumes that you will receive all the proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals from your food, and that they will go to the parts of your body that require them to give you abundant health and energy.
In other words, it assumes a digestive system that works correctly. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. According to leading Functional Medicine Expert Dr. Bryan Walsh of Fatisnotyourfault.com, it would be much more accurate (although probably not as catchy) to say “You are what you eat, digest, absorb and don’t excrete!”
To understand this a little better we can take a brief look at how the digestive system works, what can go wrong and how we can prevent or else repair the malfunction.
Weight loss, or more specifically fat loss, can be a minefield of seemingly contradictory ideas. There are thousands of “diet” books and eating plans out there, and for the average individual it can be a little bit overwhelming.
The thing to remember is that almost all of those eating plans have worked for somebody at some time and achieved the desired results. In my opinion, problems arise when the people who are pushing a particular “diet” insist that their way is the only way to look good and be healthy.
So then, which eating plan/system is actually the best?
From my experience a healthy eating plan will meet the following criteria:
Today we’ll talk about a subject that tends to lead to very strong and much divided opinion: supplements. When it comes to supplementation, people tend to fall into one of two categories: a) they’re the answer to all of life’s health issues or, b) they’re a complete waste of money and a total scam. As is the case in many debates, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Hopefully this article can shed some light on the subject.
The word supplement has been defined as something that “adds to or makes complete”. Therefore nutritional and sports supplementation should be in addition to your regular food or should complete your nutrition if there is something lacking.
And that’s a very important point that’s lost on many people, because they treat their supplements as their main source of nutrition and their regular meals as top-ups to their supplements! A situation like this is likely to lead to all types of health and digestion issues that will reduce any benefits that the supplements may have been offering in the first place.
In order to survive and thrive, your body needs macronutrients in the form of Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat. If these nutrients are of a sufficient quantity, quality and proportion you should get all of the vitamins and minerals that your body requires.
But, here lies the problem: while those in the anti-supplement corner will argue that a healthy diet removes all need for supplements, what exactly is a healthy diet?
“You are what you eat” is a common enough phrase that’s used to encourage people to eat healthy food in order to become healthy and energetic. It’s not 100% accurate because you need to be able to digest and absorb the nutrients in order to gain those health benefits. But that’s a story for another article. Today we’ll focus on eating the good stuff.
Your body is made up of a variety of tissues that make up muscles, bones and various organs. And each of these tissues is made up of cells. So, in order for the entire system (you) to be healthy, the cells need to be healthy.
OK, so what has this boring science lecture got to do with you fitting into that little black dress at Christmas? It’s very simple, because if your body is healthy at a basic, cellular level, it’s going to be in a much better position to provide you with the energy to perform your daily tasks and also have some left over to do a meaningful training session. It will also allow you to burn more body fat.
It’s a little known fact that the more toxic you are (i.e. your cells are unhealthy), the less you will be able to burn body fat. Regardless of the amount of training you do.
Therefore the obvious solution is to fix things at a cellular level before you waste your time and frustrate yourself by training while still eating a crappy diet. Thankfully, your cells are un-demanding little creatures and all they want from life is a good supply of vitamins, minerals, oxygen and water. And all of these are available in abundance in a healthy, well-balanced diet.
The following 3 very basic nutrition tips will help you to support cellular function which in turn will improve your energy levels and increase your fat-burning potential.
Last week’s article was intended to get you thinking about your ideal health and body shape goals, and to translate those thoughts into a S.M.A.R.T. goal.
If you are one of the many people who trains regularly but has not seen any significant change in body shape as a result, this week’s article will be of interest to you.
Numerous research studies have confirmed that You Cannot Out-Train A Bad Diet. It may surprise you to hear (coming from a Personal Trainer), that exercise, without proper nutrition and lifestyle support, is almost useless when it comes to long-term weight loss.
Of course, many people drop body fat when they go from doing no exercise to walking or jogging a few times a week. But unless they also address their diet and lifestyle, these gains are minimal and very short term. There are numerous reasons why this happens. The main one is that they rarely have a good nutritional strategy to support this extra activity. So then, what exactly is Good Nutrition? As a Precision Nutrition Certified Level 1 Coach, these are the guidelines that I give to my clients.
It’s been a bit of a hairy week for me and even though I only had 2 days left on my detox, I decided to eat solid protein on Sunday, Day 12. Now that didn’t mean that I could go out and have a full blown dinner, it just meant that I could start introducing some fish or meat back into my diet. So, for 2 days I had some salmon along with the green veg and now I’m on turkey for these 2 days and then onto steak, and so on, slowly reintroducing a little bit of different veg as I go along. I will be keeping a diary and watching for any changes, or bad reactions that I might have to any food eaten.
