Shotokan Karate Blogs » food

Going to get fitter/stronger in the new year? Avoid these pitfalls…

Cerin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:17:01 +0000

Happy New Year!

The new year is here, and statistics show that most of us plan to get fitter, stronger or lose weight in 2012. But statistics also show that only a fraction of us will actually succeed. If you are working out your new year resolutions, make sure you don’t fall into any of these exercise and diet pitfalls…

Doing waaay too much.

Often people overestimate themselves and go:

Gym 5-7 days a week!
At least 2 hours while in the gym!
An exercise class every weekday!
Eat nothing but 1 apple a day!

This is unsustainable and will lead to either injury or frustration, but defiantly failure. Be realistic and practical.

Doing waaay too little.

People often underestimate themselves too. They have spent their whole lives being told this, that and the other is dangerous, or they can get something for nothing, and have no actual experience of hard, physical work.

So as soon as someone does something that slightly nudges their comfort zone, they back away and decide that is more than enough for this week. After all, if they have been in the gym for half an hour, they have sat on the bike for a bit and waved the little pink dumbells around…surely they deserve to sit down, have a rest and “recover” with that cake!

Not having a goal or target to aim for.

Many people have a vague idea that they should do something and they want to change their bodies in some vague way. But unless you have a clear idea what you are aiming for, how do you know if you are getting it or not? How do yo know if you are improving, staying the same or getting worse? And if you don’t know if you are improving, it is all too easy to simply assume you are doing fine and slip back into bad, old ways.

Setting an outcome as a goal or target.

And while we are on the subject of setting goals or targets, make sure you choose the right ones. Don’t set your goal as an outcome, or end result. Make your target an actual, consistent action to perform. For example, instead of saying:

“I aim to lose weight”, say “I will eat no more than 1 piece of junk food per week”.
“I am going to get fitter”, say “I am going to do something that gets me out of breath for 1 hour, 3 times a week”.

Each of the above “outcome” based goals have many different and sometimes conflicting ways of achieving it. This breeds confusion in most people. Instead, choosing the “method” based goal is far simpler, better for long term adherence (consistency) and is a direct route to your desired body change.

Over complicating things.

Keep It Simple should be one of your mantras. Don’t be one of the people who starts the year with a training programme of 2 dozen exercises per body part, or a diet that reads like a mobile phone instruction manual.

The more complicated something is, more things can go wrong, more loopholes can be found in it and the harder it is to follow consistently. Start with the basics and don’t complicate things unless you absolutely, positively have to, or your life is at stake! A good starting point is my “Holy Trinity”. Click here for more details.

Relying on your memory.

It has been proven time and again that we are rubbish at remembering things when it comes to exercise and food. We forget what we did in the last training session, we forget what junk food we have had, we forget that we havent done any exercise for a month, we forget that we should not be having that chocolate “treat” 4 times a day.

Write it down! Write down targets, write down deadlines, write down what days we can/cannot treat ourselves. If it is written down in black and white and stuck up somewhere prominent (eg on our kitchen fridge), then it is harder for us to cheat.

If you want to control your weight, then writing a food diary is almost a must! Click here for more details.

Doing it alone.

Humans are social animals, even me, and I’m an antisocial bugger! When we are alone, it is easy to fall off the wagon, to wimp out or even quietly convince ourselves that we never really meant it in the first place. If we are in a group of people with similar aims, we can make it so much easier on ourselves and make use of the peer pressure that comes in such a group. If everyone around us is doing something, it is much easier to do it ourselves.

In fact, a good training partner, social group or coach is worth their weight in gold. And of course, if you are looking for a coach to help you, contact me today!

Doing it at home.

Every year, people buy home gym equipment (workout DVDs, exercise bikes, ab crunch frames etc), use them once, then never use them again (except maybe as a clothes rack). For most people, our homes are a place to relax, unwind and have fun with family/friends. And most of us have developed an almost Pavlovian conditioning to not doing strenuous work or exercise there.

There are so many distractions in our homes that most people find it almost impossible to exercise effectively in their own homes. So get out side, go to a gym, go to a village hall or even go to your training partners house. Your presence will help them train properly in their home, and they can return the favour at a later date. In fact, you will almost certainly find it easier to train properly virtually anywhere other than by yourself in your own home!

If any of this has made sense to you, please feel free to share it with your friends, or even find me on Facebook.

Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle, says review

Cerin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:46:45 +0000

Cancer

You may have noticed this story in the news:

Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle.

If not, click here for the story, and click here for an explanation of the story from the excellent NHS “behind the headlines” website (I love this place, it explains the millions of health related stories you read in the papers and helps you decide which ones you can totally ignore!).

If you want to change your lifestyle for the better, click here to download my very simple guide to help you.

The USA’s new “My Plate” food guide.

Cerin — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 05:30:11 +0000

My Plate from the USDA

The USDA revamped its guide on what to eat the other day. It used to be a funny pyramid with lots of stripes on. I was never very keen on it, because it wasn’t very clear to me.

But I think I like this new one. It is clear and simple. And importantly, it is very clear that half of what you eat should be made up of fruit and veggies.

I think I might use this to help absolute beginners with their diets. But as soon as I can, I think I will still try to get people to use the Harvard School of Public Healths Healthy Eating Pyramid.

While not as blindingly simple as the “My Plate”, it is still easy to understand, and has a great deal more info on it. Information such as:

the difference between whole grains and reined grains.

the difference between plant and animal based fats/oils.

restricting sugary sweets/drinks treats etc.

getting some exercise every day.

I am a firm believer in the principle of Keep It Simple. And when I have a problem that is not getting fixed, I try to simplify it, get the basics sorted, then gradually add more detail and complexity as and when appropriate.

And I know a lot of people out there (myself included) can be overwhelmed by all the millions of facts, figures and stories about weight control (you should/shouldn’t eat carbohydrates, you should/shouldn’t eat after 6pm, dietary fat is good/bad for us). So I like anything that starts at square one but lets me move onwards from there.

This is square one. If in doubt, make sure your dinner plate looks something like the above. When this has become a second nature habit to you, move on to something like the Harvard Healthy Eating Pyramid or my 10 simple rules for healthy eating.

As always, you can subscribe to this blog using the RSS or email thingy near the top right of this page, or you can “share” it with your friends by clicking the buttons below. Ta!

Superfoods! Discover what foods will kill you dead, and save your life!

Cerin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 06:17:42 +0000

One of my favorite websites I keep going back to for reliable information, is a section on the NHS site they call “Behind the Headlines” (click here). Here they take a look at some of the major health stories in the papers, and give you the facts.

Take a look at just a few of the ways the papers blow a health story out of all proportion, and you will understand why one of my favorite saying at the moment is:

Never believe the headlines!

Superfoods?

So I want to direct you to a document you can download for free. It is called “Miracle foods: Myths and the media”. It is only 11 pages long and a very easy, but eye-opening read.

Click here to download it from the NHS website.

Click here to download it from me.

The bits I liked best were:

The list of 14 foods that the newspapers had said were both healthy and dangerous.
The explanations of why we should not worry about most of these news stories.

But by far my favorites were the very simple conclusions they round up with. And here are some of those conclusions (with my comments in brackets):

Drinking alcohol increases cancer risk (so stop kidding yourself that the bottle of wine you just downed is “medicinal”).
Eating your greens reduces your cancer risk (probably the single, simplest thing all of us can do to improve our health/weight, is to at least double the amount of veggies we are currently eating).
A Mediterranean diet increases your chances of living to a healthy old age (this diet consists of relatively high proportions of fish, olive oil, fruit and veg, while relatively low proportions of meat and processed food).

And the final paragraph sums it all up:

“When it comes to keeping healthy, it’s best not to concentrate on any one food in the hope it will work miracles. Current advice is to eat a balanced diet with a range of foods, to ensure you get enough of the nutrients your body needs. Limiting your intake of alcohol and high fat, high sugar, salty and processed foods, keeping to a healthy weight and regular physical activity are also important.”

Or put another way, follow the 10 simple rules of healthy eating (click here).

So I guess my take-home message is quite simple:

Relax, stop worrying that your food is about to kill you and your whole family, and just eat a damn carrot/mushroom/melon/cabbage/leak/turnip/pepper!

Killer food will kill you!!!!!

(I know I have already posted this video…but I have a very simple sense of humour and it still makes me giggle!)

If you know anyone who might benefit from reading this, please “share” it using the buttons available.

Thanks!

It is SO difficult to get hold of fruit and veg here!

Cerin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 06:30:26 +0000

I just remembered a chat I had with a friend the other day. We were discussing healthy eating, and he mentioned that it is so difficult to get hold of fruit and veg these days.

Pardon?

Fruit – more available now than ever before.

Here in Skipton, a small rural town, we have a Tescos, Morrisons, Marks & Spencers all within a 5 minute walk of each other. We have a market right in the centre of town 3 days a week selling fresh produce from the local farmers. In the town next door we have Asda and Sainsbury.

With all these supermarkets, the second you step through the front door you are in the fruit and veg section! It is not possible to get to any other part of the store without walking through isles head high full for fruit and veg! Not only that, but there are so many different types of fruit and veg, that I simply do not know what half of them are. The variety is simply amazing!

Coming home from training last night, I walked into Tescos at 10pm and bought a coconut! Last week me and my Sarah got some Lychee (I’ve never had any before, but GOD it was nice and juicy!). We have never had such a wide variety and abundance of fruit and veg available on our doorstep 24 hours a day.

So I have this advice to anyone out there having trouble getting hold of fruit and veg…

Walk into your local supermarket.
Take 10 paces then stop.
Open your eyes and look around you.

How central heating is making you fat(?)

Cerin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:47:25 +0000

I read this story in the Daily Mail (click here for story). It suggests that the reason 2 thirds of the UK population is overweight or obese, is because of central heating.

The thinking goes, if we are in a warm cosy environment (like a centrally heated room) our bodies don’t have to burn so many calories to keep us warm.

Now that is a very good theory, and it sounds totally plausible to me. It is true, the colder your body, the more calories it burns to maintain your body temperature…BUT GET REAL!

The reason more than half of us are overweight has nothing to do with the temperature, it is to do with eating too many pies!

Masai tribesmen – These guys are so fat because they live in a warm climate(!)

I dare you to go to Kenya and tell the Masai tribesmen (pictured on the right), that the reason you are fat is because you spend most of your time in a temperature of 20 -25 degrees! The climate there is a hell of a lot hotter, but you don’t see too many obese Masai.

I’m sorry. I just got a bit pissed off when I read that story. It just struck me as another thing that can prevent people from improving their health by losing some excess weight. Please don’t over-complicate things any more than they already seem to be.

The reason so many of us are over weight has nothing to do with:

Central heating
Big bones
Glands
Fruit(?)
Genetics
“Muscle weighing more than fat”
Water retention
Alien abduction
Pixies/fairies/goblins

It is because

we consume more calories than we burn.

And the sooner we accept that and stop trying to find scape-goats, the sooner we can all help each other deal with it.

For basic info on weight control, follow the links below:

An absolute beginners guide to losing weight

10 simple rules to healthy eating

The healthy eating pyramid

Influence on weight

Recipes: Creamy Veggie Korma

Cerin — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 06:39:50 +0000

Creamy Veggie Korma – BBC Good Food

The following recipe for creamy veggie korma came from:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1089641/creamy-veggie-korma.

Take a look there for loads of other recipes for home cooked food.

Serves 4.

Ingredients.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion , finely chopped
3 cardamom pods , bashed
2 tsp each ground cumin and coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 green chilli , finely chopped
1 garlic clove , crushed
thumb-size piece ginger , finely chopped
800g mixed vegetables , such as carrots, cauliflower, potato and courgette, chopped
300-500ml hot vegetable stock
200g frozen peas
200ml yogurt
2 tbsp ground almonds (optional)

Method.

Heat the oil in a large pan. Cook onion with the dry spices over a low heat for 5-6 mins until the onion is light golden. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 min, then throw in the mixed vegetables and cook for a further 5 mins.
Divide the mixture appropriately between two pans if serving vegetarians and meat eaters. Chop the chicken into small chunks and stir into one pan. Add the stock, dividing between the pans appropriately, and simmer for 10 mins (if only cooking the veggie version in one pan, use 300ml stock; if dividing between two pans, add 250ml to each). Divide the peas, if necessary, and add, cooking for 3 mins more until the veg are tender and the chicken is cooked through.
Remove from the heat and stir through the yogurt and ground almonds, if using. Serve sprinkled with the toasted almonds and coriander, with basmati rice or naan bread on the side.

Nutrition per serving.

257 kcalories
protein 10g
carbohydrate 31g
fat 11 g
saturated fat 5g
fibre 7g
sugar 16g
salt 0.42 g

Healthy recipes from a rubbish cook.

Cerin — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 12:26:44 +0000

As I may have mentioned before, I am enthusiastic, but very un-talented in the kitchen. I come from the “chuck-it-in-the-pot-and-see-what-comes-out” school of cooking (while I do own a set of kitchen scales, I have never yet actually used them when cooking). And while this is fine with me, I know that it is not good enough for most normal people.

But this is the internet, and there are millions of people out there who can cook. So I am going to start posting (simple) recipes that I have found during my wasted wanderings around the web. If you know of any places where I and others can find simple, healthy recipes…leave a comment below!