Nutritional tips

Hey guys, after a busy week I'm back again, and what a week its been some great sessions done in the fabulous sun in my little office that is the great outdoors.

I hope you are all making the most of these wonderful days and getting as much sunlight as you can.

The last week has thrown up some good discussions about nutrition and weight loss with my clients. I have a real interest in nutrition and as so I'm currently studying it with the Open University. My take on eating for weight loss and indeed eating for a healthier you is simple. Quality not Quantity comes first every time. Think of your body as a highly tuned sports car, if you feed that car on low grade fuel it wont perform well, so if you are eating copious amounts of refined, processed foods then guess what, you will become slow and lethargic.

My studies have uncovered a fact presented by the National Food Survey in 2000 that on average people in Britain spend only 9.5% of their budget on food, the very thing that keeps us alive and enables us to carryout our daily tasks.

So here are my easy points to quality nutrition.

Where possible eat Organic or Free range, this does not have to be expensive, check out local farm shops or box delivery (see www.woodslandsfarm.com)

If you have to venture into a supermarket only shop around the outside, as most of the processed foods are located towards the center.

Pretend you are shopping with your great great grandparents and only buy what they would consider to be food.

Try to grow some of your own , you don't need much room hanging baskets are great for tomatoes and some small pots and a window sill will go a long way.

At meal times try to keep your carbohydrates (pasta, potatoes etc) to handful size portions and protein to the size of a deck of cards.

Remembers guys your body is only made up of what you put into your mouths and you only get one body, so make it a healthy one.

Stay Healthy Stay Strong

Lee

Keys to Achieving your Goal

Everyone has their own personal ultimate goal they want to achieve and strive towards, but during my experience of talking to my clients a pattern has started to emerge. However big someones personal goal is they always seem to draw a straight line to it. One of the best tools to help you to achieve your goal is to break it down into smaller parts.

Aim for small more achievable targets, aim to loose 2lbs a week instead of a stone. Run for 10 Min's instead of a marathon straight away.

Now were getting into the better weather aim to get an event entered and into your diary, that way you have to do some training. It can be a fun run or a charity event. I speak from personal experience as i have just entered my 1st open bike race in 7 years, hence i have to go out and train, but it gives me an aim, something which is so important and takes your mind off the ultimate goal but goes a long away to getting you towards it.

Most important of all exercise should to be fun and enjoyable. So get your trainers on or get your bike out and go into the great outdoors with a smile on your face.

Stay Happy Stay Strong

Lee

Sleep and Sunlight the overlooked factors.

On our life long quest to lose weight and look good we seem to overlook two vital factors. We all know the importance of exercise and diet but losing weight and increasing our fitness levels goes way beyond these initial factors.

Ever since we graced this planet our bodies have had a very interment relationship with the sun and moon. Our bodies work on a Circadian Cycle, a natural physiological cycle of about 24 hours. When we go to sleep it takes time for the stress hormone Cortisol to be released from our systems, it is only then that our bodies can start the repair process both physically and psychologically. If we don't get enough sleep then these repair cycles get shorter, hence our bodies stay stressed and we don't lose weight.

Aim to get to sleep between 10-10.30 and wake up approx 06.30 to get the most from your bodies.

I'm also very lucky to work with my clients on a daily basis outdoors. As soon as the sun comes out we all feel so much better. The sun powers every living thing on this planet including our bodies. During the winter months as soon as you see the sun get out of the office and let it grace your skin, you will instantly feel amazing.

Sleep well and enjoy the outdoors,

Lee Wigginton

The Steam Train of Nutrition

Hey guys,  how many of you have been on any number of fad diets and wondered why they just don't seem to work in the long term !!. Our bodies are very clever machines, so if we start restricting calorie input that is well below our own individual needs, then we start to put on more fat stores. This is often referred to as the "starvation mode".

As a human being we are roughly 2% different from when we lived in caves and were hunter gatherer's, so food was at a premium hence our bodies stored food as fat because we were unsure of when our next meal was coming from.

Think of yourself as a Steam Train, if you only have 1 meal a day you are slowing your metabolic rate down hence the train gets slower and slower and more sluggish, so you store more fat.

However if you keep regular intervals of food going in you will raise your metabolic rate and become a more efficient fat burning machine, hence the steam train gets faster and faster and more productive.

Remember we have teeth for a reason, and we need fuel to operate at our optium levels, so eat small regular meals every couple of hours, always aiming for organic or freerange where possible, and start to feel youself becoming healthier, happier and more alert.

Keep Healthy Keep Strong

Lee Wigginton