Free fat loss supplement

A client recently asked me how much of an effect a comprehensive supplementary programme would have on their results. This question caught me off guard, because it's a fair question to ask. In order to be motivated enough to do anything (including buying supplements) your motivation to change has to outweigh the cost involved. It's a simple action formula. How can you justify the cost if you don't truly understand the benefits? 

The honest truth is that there is no quantifiable answer to this question. There simply isn't the data out there to answer such a multi-faceted and complicated question. We can give you statistics on individual supplements and their effect on single component of health, but that isn't nearly as convincing. 

What we tend to do is use our own anecdotal experience and go from there. Due to the non-scientific nature of this evidence we can't give you a cast iron guarantee of the quantitative benefit of any programme. All we can tell you is that we have had great success in the past and that those who take the supplements we recommend experience better results than those who don't. 

So with that in mind, what if I were to tell you about a free fat loss supplement? Sounds like a no brainer, according to the motivation formula zero cost means an infinite benefit ratio! The supplement I'm talking about tastes great, allows your body to function optimally and is totally free, of course it's good old water. 

Water works in a number of ways, primarily and most importantly it allows your body to do what it needs to do. That means everything is dependent upon hydration levels for efficiency. Training intensity, digestion, cardiac health, detoxing just a few incredibly broad areas which are dependent on the blue stuff. 

In appreciate that outlining that your body needs water to function is not ground breaking insight so I've lined up some more interesting reasons:

Water is less salty than your blood, when you consume it, energy is required to balance that out so it can be absorbed. A study conducted in 2003 found that drinking 500ml of water induced a 10-40 minute increase in metabolic rate. This means that for the time immediately following ingestion of water more calories are being burned than when you're thirsty, and because it is probably at rest a very high percentage of the energy used will be fat.

Water also reduces appetite, people confuse thirst with hunger and so overeat to compensate, researchers found that short term, those who consumed water before a meal would consume less food. Another win. 

Here's the best till last, maintaining hydration long term results in a change in your hormone balance. You reduce the amount of fat tissue in your body, increase your insulin sensitivity and increase the ratio of fat used in the body for energy.

Now we're talking

So, maintain hydration by ensuring that your urine is clear. Focus particularly on drinking in the morning, when you are likely most dehydrated, winding down consumption before bed so as not to interrupt sleep.

Zorad S, Dou JT, Benicky J, Hutanu D, Tybitanclova K, Zhou J, Saavedra JM.. (2006). Long-term angiotensin II AT1 receptor inhibition produces adipose tissue hypotrophy accompanied by increased expression of adiponectin and PPARgamma.. European Journal of Pharmacolgy. 552 (1-3), p112-122.

Boschmann M,. (2003). Water-Induced Thermogenesis. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 88 (12), p6015-6019.

Dennis EA, Dengo AL, Comber DL, Flack KD, Savla J, Davy KP, Davy BM.. (2010). Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults.. Obesity. 18 (2), p300-307.

Uva, E. (2011). Even When Pure, Water Is Blue. Available: http://www.science20.com/chemical_education/even_when_pure_water_blue-80566. Last accessed 27 Feb 2013.

Learning to dance in the rain

Society denounces failure; late submissions, lost sales, missed goals, they are all considered signs of weakness and inability. On the other hand, success is lauded. Success is coveted so highly that the media in the form of books, films, television, articles and seminars, have spent countless hours dissecting success in all its forms, how it comes about and how it can be obtained.  

But what is success? How can it be quantified so that it can be analysed. Those who have taken it upon themselves to perform the analysis have individual predetermined views of what success is, and only when they have outlined this arbitrary (and usually financial figure) can they begin to experiment with what works. 

Success cannot be quantified. Much like happiness, success is a subjective and individual state of mind. Goals are great, and goals are necessary, but goals are asymptotic, like the horizon; they continue to move further away the closer you get. If you define success with a number, you'll never get there, and if by some chance you do reach it and there is nothing else, then what is there left to live for?

Success in the pursuit of health is commonly littered with failures. People will commit to a programme sincerely and honestly, they will make promises and implement changes. Time passes well, but then they encounter an unexpected obstacle and they fail. 

The way a successful person will deal with this is by embracing the failure, by reflecting upon it and asking honest questions of themselves. They use it as a tool for self improvement. They experience a period of contrast to when things were going well. This comes from the acceptance that no one is perfect and only a mediocre person lives their life at their best. It also allows closure, by accepting and embracing failure the issue is put to bed. The alternative where people deliberately avoid thinking about failure leaves only one thing on the mind.

Every failure is an opportunity to grow, and by allowing the insecurity of risk into your life you allow yourself the freedom to achieve your potential. Success is when you get back up again after you fall, when you hold onto the desire to achieve, when you have the strength of conviction to start again stronger than before.

So judge yourself on your integrity, on your resolve and your ability to thrive despite the setbacks. Judge your success on your own terms and from your own experiences by thinking of failure not as a stunt on growth, but as an accelerator.

Refs
Rajneesh, B (1999). Courage (The Joy of Living Dangerously). 2nd ed. New York: St Martin's Press. foreword.

Crane, F., Crane, E.. (2007). Dispositional Optimism and Entrepreneurial Success. The Psychologist-Manager Journal. 10 (1), p13-25.


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Are you really what you eat? Part 2

'You are what you eat' is a phrase used by health professionals constantly, the meaning behind it is self-explanatory and I’m not going to disagree. However I think it needs rewording because it doesn’t tell the whole story. 

Someone who has implemented poor habits for 20 years and changes their diet will not magically change in a fortnight, and a total turnaround in physique will take longer. Unfortunately those wanting a total body transformation tend to hit a plateau in their training. They feel fit, they have bags more energy, their diet is clean and they exercise hard, so why would their weight change not follow suit?

Most people take their digestive system for granted, they think that whatever goes into their mouths will automatically be digested and entered into their system. This is not the case because, like every other part of your body, if it is not given the correct care it will degrade and become less effective. The fact of the matter is if you aren‘t in your 20‘s, you have too much stress in your life, don't consume enough fibre, regularly suffer from digestive discomfort or you rely on antacids to cure heart burn then you could have low stomach acid secretion.

Adequate stomach acid is necessary for three main reasons
1. It is necessary to digest protein properly
2. It is required for the secretion of digestive enzymes in the intestines
3. It helps with the absorption of most essential nutrients
4. It contributes to a healthy balance of hormones
5. It regulates gut bacteria

So what can be done? The chances are that most won't have even considered this as an option, but there are some simple steps to identifying and correcting a deficiency. Firstly you need to take an HCl test, your trainer will talk you through this if you would like to. Then once you have established a dosage of HCl it needs to be taken with every meal. This increase of acidity in your stomach will allow you to absorb the nutrients in your diet. Following this your body will start to increase the amount of stomach acid produced naturally until supplementation is unnecessary.

What can you expect if you correct a deficiency? Faster results, more energy, better sleep, and without meaning to sound too grandiose, an improvement in every aspect of your health.

'You are what you eat', I think a more appropriate but altogether less catchy phrase should be 'You are what you eat, digest and absorb'. Though I doubt it will catch on.



Refs
http://chriskresser.com/what-everybody-ought-to-know-but-doesnt-about-heartburn-gerd

http://tahomaclinicblog.com/the-digestive-theory-of-aging/

http://metabolichealing.com/key-integrated-functions-of-your-body/gut/lack-of-adequate-stomach-acid-what-you-don-t-know-could-be-causing-major-distress/

Kassarjiam, Z., Russel, R. Hypochlorohydria: A factor in Nurtition. Annual Reviews of Nutrition 1989. p271-285


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Are you really what you eat? Part 1

As we get older, body parts just don’t work as well as they used to, it’s a fact of life that everyone accepts. Amongst many things, hair goes grey, skin loses elasticity and our vision becomes impaired. With that in mind, what do you think happens to our digestive system. Does it increase in activity? Does it become stronger or does it suffer the same fate as the rest of our bodies?

I imagine that most would answer that it deteriorates like the rest of our bodies. Well I agree, and here comes the issue; as we get older it is common belief that heartburn and indigestion is inevitable. It is caused by excess stomach acid and the cure is an antacid. This implies an increase in the activity of the acid pumps in the stomach. This thought process is illogical, why would the stomach increase in productivity as we increase in age?

After decades of refined sugar, caffeine, alcohol, grease and oxidised oils, fluoride and chlorine from water, chemical flavourings and colourings, pesticides, herbicides, gluten, lactose and other allergens then the stomach actually starts to fatigue. As a result the production of acid slows down. This process may to take a few decades in some, or with more acute abuse may develop in their teens

The reason that heartburn occurs is because of a malfunction of the ring of muscle at the top of the stomach, when we have low stomach acid food doesn't digest properly causing the release of gas, when this pressure builds the gas comes out of the top of the stomach and brings stomach acid with it. This acid comes into contact with the delicate lining of our oesophagus (the pipe the food goes down) and causes discomfort.



Antacids work by eliminating the symptoms not the problem. For example taking a painkiller to reduce the pain of a broken leg doesn't mean that they leg was broken due to a lack of painkiller. So, antacids exacerbate the problem by reducing stomach acid further, the lower the stomach acid the more heartburn.

Consider how many other over the counter medicines which people regularly spend money on cure the symptoms of illness without addressing the underlying issues.

‘When diet is wrong medicine is of no use. When diet is correct medicine is of no need' - Proverb

The next article will cover the effects of low stomach acid on the body, how to identify a deficiency, treat it and reap the benefits.


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The best way to get the body you want is......

Valentine’s Day is the chocolate holiday, or is that Christmas, or Easter? Inevitably unless you’re very self-disciplined you’re going to indulge on sugar during this holiday whether it’s a chocolate pudding after a romantic meal with a loved one, or whole tub of ice cream sitting on your own watching Bridget Jones. How does this short sharp hit of sugar affect your body? The answer all revolves around one hormone, insulin. 



When you eat sugars, the speed at which they get into your blood stream, i.e. how easily digestible they are, is what the glycaemic index (GI) measures. Examples of high GI sugars include table sugar and chocolate, low GI sugars include blueberries and oats. High GI sugars result in the same amount of glucose in the blood stream but in a shorter period of time and so in response the body secretes more insulin.

When released this insulin binds to the cell membranes in the body and encourages them to absorb and store the glucose, clearing it from the blood. The speed at which the cells absorb the extra glucose when stimulated by insulin is what is termed ‘insulin sensitivity’. When sensitivity gets very low, to the point where very high levels of insulin do not enable the body to clear the glucose effectively Type 2 diabetes is present. This is extreme insulin resistance.

Insulin does not just affect blood sugar though, it also affects free proteins and fats, meaning that having cells which are sensitive to insulin means that muscles cells absorb more fuel from these sources resulting in more energy. They also clear dangerous fat from the blood vessels, reducing the risk of hypertension, atherosclerosis, stroke and heart disease.

Insulin suppresses the use of adipose tissue as fuel because the priority is to clear the macronutrients in the blood not add more from our tissue. When there is less insulin needed on a daily basis due to increased sensitivity fat is more likely to be used as a fuel source resulting in better body composition.

So a healthier cardiovascular system, stronger muscles, more energy and less fat are all promoted by increasing your insulin sensitivity. How do you do it?

1. Manage your carbohydrate intake; obtain all carbs from fibrous veg, the lower GI the quicker the sensitivity will change.
2. Exercise; high intensity exercise and resistance training work the best
3. Take Omega 3 fish oils*

A study (Simopoulos in 1999) compared a Palaeolithic diet which is high in fibrous carbs and omega 3 acids with a recommended American Heart association diet which gave low omega 3 fatty acids and high amounts of high GI carbohydrates. The Palaeolithic diet clearly illustrated reduced risk for heart disease as a result of increased insulin sensitivity.

*A good estimate for those wanting to improve insulin sensitivity is to take 1g of fish oil per day for every % of body fat that they have. As their body fat drops then the dosage will drop similarly.

If you enjoyed this article please like and share

Refs
Haag, M, Dippenaar, N. (2005)Dietary fats, fatty acids an insulin resistance: short review of a multifaceted connection. Med Sci Monit. 11(12) p359-367

Simopoulos, A. (1999) Evolutionary aspects of omega-3 fatty acids in the food supply. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids 60 (5-6) p421–429


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Intermittent fasts, are they worth it?

Today is Shrove Tuesday, also known as pancake day, a day where you delve into your cupboards and eek out all the best foods you have and eat them before Easter. Historically these foods were flour, eggs, sugar and milk, which is where the idea of pancakes came from. The period between now and Easter is called lent which Christians believe to be a solemn period of reflection and commonly amongst the most faithful, a period of fasting. Popular culture has left it being a time to give up cigarettes, or alcohol or chocolate, but what about fasting specifically for weight loss, what are the implications on body composition and health?



Intermittent fasting is a really trendy diet at the moment, however like all diets it has drawbacks. For most people I wouldn’t recommend it, but there are exceptions if done correctly. In this article I am going to lay out the advantages and drawbacks and then leave you the reader to think if it is a good idea.

Advantages

Firstly, irrespective of whether you choose a long fast, lots of short fasts or maybe even one a month, the mechanism which allows a fast to be effective is that when you want to lose weight you need a calorie deficit. Fasts do this very well, as the whole time you are fasting, your energy balance is negative. Exercising in this state will increase the deficit further and allow you to lose even more.

Studies on rodents have shown that it is possible that calorie restriction will help you live longer and avoid diseases.

Thirdly fasts are easy to follow, one day a week you eat nothing but tea, and then the rest of the week you eat what you like. There are no lifestyle changes or anything like that and you lose weight.

Disadvantages

My first point of this section follows straight from the last, it is too easy. Realistically the majority won’t fast one day a week for the rest of their lives. The problem with all diets which focus on just calorie deficits is that you have a stark choice, stay hungry or get fat.

Body composition is more about what you eat than when you eat. If you gave a woman a 2000 calorie diet of chocolate and another a 2000 calorie diet of lean protein and vegetables which one do you think would have a healthier body composition? This is an exaggerated analogy but people who fast feel justified in eating poorly the rest of the time.

The key to staying lean for life is in developing a method of increasing your metabolism for life and by the far the best way to do that is by increasing muscle mass. This requires regular feeding, sure you can reduce loss or even maintain muscle mass on a calorie deficient diet like fasting with resistance training, but this makes fasting very short sighted.

Fasting alters your hormone balance, leading to; lack of lean tissue, chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, inflammation, sleep problems and infertility.

So yes, fasting is a tool which can be used under the correct circumstances, and yes it does help to lose weight, but it is not a realistic change to make for the long term. I believe that you have to earn the body you live with, quick fixes are great but they need to have been achieved through discipline, hard work and sustainable principles which benefit your health for the long term.

Refs

Halberg, N, et al. Effect of intermittent fasting and refeeding on insulin action in healthy men. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2005 99(6) p2128-36

Klempel, M, et al. Intermittent fasting combined with calorie restriction is effective for weight loss and cardio-protection in obese women. Nutrition Journal. 2012 11(98)

Martin, B, et al. sex dependent metabolic, neuroendocrine and cognitive responses to dietary energy restriction and excess. Endocrinology. 2007 148(9) p4318-25


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The Zeigarnik Effect

What puts people off of joining a gym? Everybody knows that it’s a good idea, everybody knows that it will make them healthier, live longer, feel better etc. So why would people not join, what allows them to keep putting it off?



An article in Psychology today claims that around 20% of people are chronic procrastinators and that figure may well be inflated as the true procrastinators would not have even replied to the survey on time. It is a trait which is widely disapproved of and is not really welcome in many aspects of life. However, underneath its apparent simplicity it can stem from wide a variety of causes.

The first is a fear of the outcome, if you endeavour to achieve you may fail. What happens if you join a gym and then in three months you haven’t been once? Wasted money, embarrassment and an ego hit; not pleasant.

The second is a lack of expertise. Day 1: You walk into the gym and then what? You have never done this before, you’re looking around and everyone’s doing different things, what do you do? Also what do you eat? there’s a million diet books out there and they all seem to contradict each other.

The third option is no ‘reason why’. If you don’t have a strong personal motivation to do it then you won’t do it.

The fourth is being too tired and busy, which I suspect is a common one. If you lack focus, are constantly distracted by your external world and are fatigued then spending time improving yourself may seem unnecessarily self indulgent and a waste of time and energy.

Lastly, the fifth reason is perfectionism. Most of us like to do things 100%, give everything we've got to get a real sense of achievement. Examples include, “I can’t afford to take the supplements so I’ll start later when I can“, or once “ I've bought some new gym clothes I’ll join the gym“. Even things such as waiting until you have more time off work or something like that holds back progress.

Luckily, there is a potential cure to this problem which seems simple but the science behind it is sound. A Russian scientist called Zeigarnik performed a study on task completion. She asked people to partake in a number of simple tasks and then half way through some of them cut it short, before the participants could finish. She found that when asked to recall all the tasks they better remembered the tasks which were incomplete.

So what does this have to do with procrastination? Well if someone can be convinced to making the first step, and begin the task then their anxious brain will keep reminding them to keep going, making them more likely to make the commitment and achieve their goals.

What is that first step? Well this Saturday RWL gym is having a free seminar to get you into the gym going mood and to get your foot on the first step of the ladder to the body that you've always wanted. Come along, it might just change the way you look at yourself forever.


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Stubborn body fat need not be feared

Endocrinology is an exceptionally convoluted area of study because the interactions of hormones in the human body are seemingly infinite. As a result implications of various hormone balances on health are undecided; so this post will only consider the aesthetic implications of hormones. With that said one of the things known to be true is that oestrogens dictate where on your body you store fat. 



So where do oestrogens come from?

Oestrogens are produced naturally by both sexes, and the rate at which oestrogens are produced by the body is dependent on lifestyle. Too little sleep, too many carbohydrates, too much body fat, zinc, magnesium, vitamin D and omega 3 deficiency all contribute to increasing the amount of oestrogen in out system.

The other end of the spectrum is the stuff that goes in, chemicals in pesticides, perfumes and cosmetics are absorbed into our body. Plastics tubs in which we heat food in the microwave sneak chemical oestrogens in. The growth of cheap meat (particularly chicken) is fuelled by pumping them with oestrogens. All of these chemicals in the body mimic oestrogens and increase the amount of fat in oestrogen sensitive areas.

All of this can lead to oestrogen toxicity and stubborn fatty deposits, which are very common in the UK. Common problems include:

Women who want to lose body fat from their legs, hips and bum. They want to achieve a firmed up and shapely look which they can be proud of. However until oestrogen balance is restored, their bodies will be very resistant to change.

Men who want to reduce excessive fat around their chest. This problem is almost always accompanied by low testosterone because their bodies are literally converting testosterone into oestrogens, and too many oestrogens and not enough testosterone will make it nigh on impossible to remove the unwanted fat without a lifestyle change.

Vegetarians are those most at risk because they are forced to eat diets high in carbohydrate in order to get adequate protein, they eat a lot of legumes which reduce Zinc absorption and they often have very low amounts of Omega 3 in their bodies.

So, what can be done about it?

Thankfully, there are an enormous number of angles to target oestrogen overload. To reduce the production of oestrogens reduce carbohydrate intake/increase protein intake, reduce body fat, sleep more and take zinc, magnesium, vitamin D and omega 3 supplements.

However what I suspect most people are in need of is reducing their exposure to chemical oestrogens, they should; use natural cosmetics, natural perfumes, use glass containers for food and drink, and eat organic veg/meat, or at least free range/grass fed.

The best thing to combat chemical oestrogens, by a mile, is to increase your intake of phytoestrogens. These natural little wonders effectively block out their chemical alternatives. The easiest source of these is a greens supplement, which is packed full of concentrated super veg which inhibit the effects of and actively clear out unnecessary toxins, allowing your liver to manage oestrogens naturally.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18045137


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Top Benefits of Keeping a Food Journal

I’ve mentioned before about the contradiction of nutrition and fitness advice in the general domain. However when you want to change your body, there is one piece of advice that everybody agrees upon. Regularly keeping a journal of what you eat is the single best nutritional step you can take. The reasons are listed below:

1. Keeps you accountable to yourself
Personal responsibility is the key to achieving a goal in any situation, and health is no different. If you don’t believe that you are in control of your actions then you won’t be. The best way to keep regimented is to write down your food choices. Then when you look back you can honestly assess your diet and make educated choices for the future. A good example being if you find that you keep slipping up at the same time of day, you can plan your life so that you always have good food ready and waiting for you so you don’t have to compromise.

2. Allows others to help you better
Picture this; you’ve been hitting the gym hard four times a week, yet when it comes to measurement day nothing has changed, or the results are not as good as you would like. Where do you go from this? Five times a week? Probably not, you need to tweak your diet. However unless you have a great memory, you won’t be able to tell your trainer everything you ate in the last 14 days. What the trainer needs is a baseline to work from to tell you how to improve. If you just carry on doing what you’re doing the results will carry on in the same fashion!

3. Highlights intolerances
If you feel sluggish or tired periodically or you ever get digestive discomfort there’s a good chance that you are intolerant to a certain type of food. It’s much more common than people think and popular ones are dairy, gluten and eggs. If you keep track of your moods and foods on a journal you can identify what it is that’s causing the problems. Less food intolerances to deal with means less stress which means bigger gains!

4. Keeps you honest
If you have food journal which you have committed to filling in, the chance of you deviating is reduced. Eating the wrong food is not as difficult as writing down the wrong food on your journal. It’s no longer a secret which you can forget about. This openness and honesty will help to keep you on track.

5. Educate yourself
Ultimately you know your body better than anyone else. A food journal will help you identify how it works even more. If you’re in a great mood then note it down. Next time you’re feeling great look back at the last time, where is the common ground? The same thing can be done for times when you don’t feel so great. Food journals don’t have to just document food, they can document sleep and exercise as well so you get a whole view of your life and how best to live it.


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Quick health fixes leave long term health problems

This week a BBC article reported that the number of surgical ‘Man Boob’ reductions had fallen by 20% in 2012. What are the implications of this? It could mean that more people are opting for the natural route to improve physical appearance. It could also be that more people cannot afford what is undoubtedly a costly procedure. Maybe it’s that people are becoming more comfortable with the look. Personally I don’t know which, it may be a combination of all three, but I don’t think that’s the most important implication to consider.

In a book call ‘Secrets of the Millionaire Mind’ by T. Harv Eker, he covers an idea that everyone has a predetermined setting on a financial thermostat. The idea is that everyone, as a result of their programming, has a subconscious idea of exactly how much money they should have.

A great example is in lottery winners. It’s almost a cliché, people win the lottery and then in a matter of years they have spent all their money and return back to the financial situation which they are comfortable with. The other end of the scale is in self-made millionaires. They accrue a great deal of wealth and then a sudden market crash or media exposé loses them everything. But in a short period of time they manage to make the money back.

This principle can be applied to the human body and cosmetic procedures. The reason that someone ends up with a physique that they do not like is because they have been programmed to think and act like someone with that physique. Maybe as a child they were told by their parents, ‘People who are fit have no social life’, or ‘enjoy life while you can, you might get hit by a bus tomorrow’, or ‘Fit people have a naturally fast metabolisms’. These sorts of ideas in childhood will produce the thoughts of a person who thinks differently to fit people. As a result they will act differently and the physique that they don’t want will develop.

Then comes the surgery, because the person has never changed their underlying mind set to health they feel the only way out is to go under the knife. It works, they look and feel great, the symptom is cured but the problems are still there. After a few years of the same lifestyle they are used to living they lose their newly acquired body and return to what they are used to being.

What personal training should offer addresses the client's subconscious programming; social support, education, one to one lifestyle coaching and motivation to change. This should all come alongside the basic nutrition and fitness sessions.

You can go to a personal trainer with a short term goal, hit your target and then leave but investing long term will give you the resources to be exactly how you want to be for the rest of your life.

So I think that it is good that these operations are on the decline, because with the right coaching, the unnecessary risk of the procedure is avoided and the problem is gone for life.



Sources

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21199952


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The Chastity Belt; Boxing's biggest motivator

David Haye, Manny Pacquiao and Mohammed Ali were all world champion boxers. Competing at the highest level and training their bodies to the extreme. During the final phases of training they had one thing in common, they all abstained from sex. The theory was that for the weeks preceding a fight they would abstain in order to essentially wind themselves up. They believed the more wound up they could be, the better they would fight. It makes sense that this could work, and after all they all had huge success. But did they consider the implications of unnecessary stress on their conditioning goals?



The universe in which we live exists as a duality on every level, matter has antimatter, protons have electrons, good has evil and so on. The human body is no different and one of these dualities is in the nervous system.

The branch of your nervous system which controls your subconscious bodily functions is called the autonomic nervous system. Within this there are two parts, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is responsible for the fight or flight response, it is catabolic in that it releases energy when you need it; to wake up, to fight a lion, whatever you’re in to. The PNS is the anabolic system that rebuilds you body following stress, it encourages the preservation of tissue, absorption of nutrients, immune maintenance etc. They have a delicate balance, where Yin is equal to Yang.

Anything which stresses us causes the SNS to increase activation, and it’s not just the obvious things; alcohol, smoking, caffeine, food intolerances, mineral deficiencies, body fat, insulin intolerance and ineffective sleep all contribute.

What does this result in? Well Yin does not equal Yang any more. The SNS is overwhelming the PNS and catabolic hormones are running riot. Hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol, and thyroid hormones swamp the already diminished efforts of growth hormone, testosterone and DHEA. Resting heart rate and blood pressure increase, and even the production of enzymes in the gut is compromised, reducing the nutritional benefit from the food.

Now before I get carried away with scaremongering, it’s important that you know that there is a diurnal patterning of these systems. In the morning when you wake the SNS activity peaks and gradually drops all day until bed time, where the PNS should be strongest. What is important is that there is harmony between the two and that these rhythms are not chronically altered.

So how can you tell if you’re out of balance? Stubborn abdominal fat is an obvious one, inadequate sleep is another, digestive discomfort and inability to gain muscle are both related too. Realistically though, you know if your stressed, and by now you should want to know what to do about it.

I will skip the obvious ones, eating well, supplements (particularly magnesium) and exercise. What will make a difference is taking time out every day to chill, meditate, do yoga, read rather than watching TV, laugh, don’t allow yourself to become worried or anxious most importantly invest a little time in yourself. If you do, you’ll have the mind and the body to tackle all of those issues with ease. 


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Aristotle was a weightlifter

The internet is saturated with fitness advice. Too many people with too many opinions are giving their two cents worth and the quality of the information is incredibly hit and miss. There are some very high quality bloggers out there who give great advice for free. To balance them out there are some really misinformed people who, unintentionally or not, are hindering progress in the industry by confusing people and bringing us all down. Thankfully it is becoming more common for people to reference their opinions so their advice comes with context. What is important to remember is that even though opinions are referenced and qualifications are boasted, it is only ever an opinion. I guarantee that whatever advice you have heard there will be a qualified someone out there who disagrees. Some of it is down to ulterior motives, but for the most part it is simply honest debate.

Which I am all for.



What I would like to do is to simply promote exercise. I am not referencing weightlifting, intervals or endurance training . I also am not going to mention the tremendous health benefits it provides, it has been done to death.

I am a firm believer that health is equally weighted into two qualities; mental and physical. These are both equally important and exercise offers so much more than simply looking good. I believe it gives a solid base on which to train your mind, allowing you to achieve your potential.

Aristotle theorised that for a person to be truly happy they needed to fulfil their potential, be successful in life, be valued in society but also they needed to value themselves. They would achieve these things through virtuous behaviour.

He said virtues are not innate, they need to be worked on . First we were encouraged by our parents not to tell lies/steal/cheat etc. and so we didn’t. But as we grew we realised the intrinsic value of these behaviours and only then truly understood our own morality. I think what qualifies someone as virtuous does somewhat vary. For me a non exhaustive list includes: diligence, honesty, self control, self esteem, patience, ambition and focus.

I believe these are tested in the pursuit of physical fitness. Working against an extrinsic force such as exercise encourages people to be virtuous. Fitness training forces you to constantly reassess your core values to continue improving. This state of mind and constant focus on improvement builds the confidence necessary to achieve your full potential in every aspect of life. Which ultimately leads to the greatest good, true happiness and the sense of being all that you can be.

Happiness through achieving your potential is the ultimate reason for action. All other activities have a motivation leading us to this greatest goal. Choosing activities in which you develop yourself will result in the greatest return and fulfilment. I personally believe that there is no better activity to choose than exercise for self improvement. Whether it be sport, gym work or going walking on weekends. As long as there is some quantifiable means of improvement to judge yourself against, you can’t really go wrong.


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Give in to your primal urges, sometimes they're there for a reason

Our bodies are pretty consistent at telling us when things are good for us. We get that innate feeling of satisfaction from things like sex, food when we're hungry and water when we're thirsty. Another thing on this list is sleep; we all know that getting an early night and having an uninterrupted 7-9 hours sleep is a great feeling. It leaves us feeling re-energised and optimistic. But the society in which we live demonises sleep as something for those who are lazy and devoid of ambition. The phrases 'sleep is for the weak' or 'you can sleep when you're dead' have been glorified in the media. But is it really a good idea to ignore the basic need for sleep in order to pursue our dreams, or is it even necessary?

It is thought that over 70% of the population do not get enough good quality sleep. Think of that as 7-9 hours uninterrupted (not even for the toilet) sleep. Some people have trouble getting to sleep, some have trouble staying asleep and some simply organise their lives so they don't stand a chance. For those who cannot stay asleep, different times of waking indicate different problems, for example waking in the first few hours indicates a mismanagement of macro-nutrients in the body. However waking prematurely indicates too much of the stress hormone cortisol.



For those who believe sleep is an option:

Sleep is a hugely underrated healing tool and the reduction of sleep leads to low testosterone, growth hormone and DHEA, vital hormones for repairing tissue. Lack of sleep also increases inflammation, insulin resistance and cortisol levels. For those who are not hormone specialists, the combined effect of these changes would result in increased fat, reduced muscle, increased risk of metabolic diseases, lack of energy and motivation and a weakened immune system. Consider this, if you went for a week without food, you would probably be fine, if you went for a week without sleep, you'd probably dead.

What about those who attempt to sleep but sleep ineffectively:

Magnesium is a wonderful mineral, or you can look at it the other way and say magnesium deficiency is very bad for you. Almost everyone can benefit from a magnesium supplement, it has great effects as an antioxidant (for those who wake up 3-7hrs into sleep), as an insulin regulator (for those who wake up 1-3hrs into sleep) and it reduces cortisol levels (those who can't fall asleep or wake prematurely). There are other specific supplements which your coach will advise you on but magnesium is a great start.

But there is so much more to this mineral. People who train often find that although their sleep was good before they actually start to struggle more and more with sleep. This is because resistance training depletes your body of magnesium, so those who work out need it even more!

Magnesium deficiency play havoc with hormones, meaning that the way you use fuel is compromised and your ability to create new muscle is also diminished.

Anyone who is undergoing physical training to improve body composition should be certain that they have optimal magnesium levels as this mineral can make all that hard work and dieting less effective than it could have been.

Lastly those who need magnesium supplementation most are vegans and vegetarians.

Get the magnesium in and after restoring your magnesium levels to where they should be, allow yourself to get the sleep and the body you deserve.

Treadmills; they leave you on the road nowhere

Gym weight rooms can be very daunting places for women, in fact you very rarely see any women in there at all. Occasionally a lady will walk in and start setting up weights, and the guys around the place will look at each other thinking exactly the same thing. There’s a stigma attached to weightlifting with women which I would like to address, and I’ll start with toning. 

Toning is a word used to describe a situation where fat is less evident and muscles appear more prominent and it is most commonly sought after by women. Examples include things like squats, lunges, press ups and shoulder and arms exercises using weights, body weight and resistance bands. It is very feminine and designed to make women slimmer but keeping a shapely look.
On the most part women will either supplement their toning with endurance exercise, treadmill, cross trainer etc. to burn more calories, or stick to the cardio machines entirely.

How do men differ, what do they need?

Mostly men want to increase muscle mass (hypertrophy) and reduce fat mass. They want to be faster, stronger and fitter. So what is recommended is exercise such as squats, lunges, bench press and things like shoulder presses and biceps curls for the arms. They use weights and body weight for different exercises. It is super macho and involves lots of shouting and throwing weights around but it is effective.

What I’m getting at, if you haven’t got there already, is that toning is hypertrophy for women. It’s as simple as that. Women can become terrified when weights are suggested because they believe they will become bulky and unattractive. The weird thing is that even though they perform a great deal of endurance training they never worry about looking like a marathon runner. Women have a physiology which means they can’t become excessively muscular without taking some kind of anabolic drugs. They don’t have anywhere near the same amount of testosterone in their system.



It’s common for women to reduce the calories in their diet and undertake a endurance training programme. Women who do this will lose both fat and lean mass from their body (which looks great on the scales). However their fat to muscle ratio doesn’t change much; they don’t ‘tone’ how they would like to and their metabolism stagnates or even slows down. Women who undertake the same calorie restriction and perform hypertrophy training keep their muscle but lose fat, this means they do ‘tone’ how they would like to and their metabolism gets faster. Meaning 24hrs a day women who do weights are burning more calories than women doing endurance training, with the main source being fat.

So what happens if you pair weights, with endurance for a balanced physique? Well that’s not really how it works, because endurance training blunts the positive effects of weight training, making it less effective. So for best results, and a great body, ditch the endurance training all together and hit the weights room.


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January Detox Time!

This month Cancer research UK is promoting an event for January called the Dryathlon. The idea of it is for people to give up alcohol and raise money for charity, but also to benefit people’s health. 

Reducing or eliminating alcohol from the human diet is highly recommended by all healthcare professionals and has a seemingly endless list of potential benefits to health and wellbeing. With all of those reasons considered, one of the most important reasons to jump on the wagon is to aid your body’s detoxification efforts.



Toxins come from everywhere in our world. There is no sanctuary, not even in the arctic hundreds of miles from civilisation, or deep in the amazon rainforest. The only reason why we’re still alive is because our body has a sophisticated detoxification system that prevents these toxins from getting to our vital tissues. This system served the original purpose of removing the toxins in our body which are naturally produced by metabolism, hormonal fluctuations and diet. But in the modern world our bodies are running at capacity, there is an overwhelming amount of work for it to do and it can’t keep up. So as a result, because our bodies are incredibly resilient, the toxins are stored into inert fat mass.

When we are healthy, natural detoxification occurs in three phases;

Phase 1 – Retox
This is the phase where toxins are pulled out of our fat mass and enter the blood stream. This has to happen for the toxin to be metabolised, because the necessary detox molecules are not fat soluble.

Phase 2 – Detox
In this phase, molecules bind to the toxins altering their structure making them easier to be removed from the system, a process called conjugation. The resulting toxin conjugates are often more volatile than original toxins and many produce free radicals. The master molecule in this case is glutathione, which is primarily an antioxidant derived from the amino acid glutamine. This molecule helps conjugate the toxins and clear the free radicals. During a detox it is vital that glutathione is in ample supply, which is why I recommend a glutamine supplement along with a high protein diet.

Phase 3 – Freetox
The toxin conjugates are now removed from the blood stream by the kidneys provided hydration levels are good and lots of veg is being eaten.

Poorly constructed detox diets, such as juice diets, have low a calorie and protein intake which reduces the effectiveness of phase 2, which is energy and amino acid dependent. Often the necessary amino acids have to be drawn from lean tissue, which is exactly what we don’t want.

The reason to go through all of this bother other than to reduce the chance of chronic illness, is that toxins within the body encourage fat to stay. As fat is mobilised the toxins within are mobilised too, if toxicity within adipose tissue is too high then to avoid the toxic load the body will alternate its source of energy from fat to protein and carbohydrate.

References
Rogers, S (2002). Detoxify or Die. Sarasota: Sandy Key Inc.
Poliquin, C. (2011). The Three-Step Approach to Complete Detoxification.


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How to beat the January blues and galvanise your health and fitness

21st of January 2013, statistically speaking will be the saddest day of the year. The holiday cheer is long gone, sunlight is still a distant memory and for the most part New Year’s resolutions have been forgotten completely. Whether that’s a pseudoscientific headline grabber, or the truth, it seems that in January everyone could do with cheering up.



Now I’m not suggesting that we legalise cocaine but it seems a bit of alteration in the nation’s brain chemistry might do the trick. Zinc has long been associated with mood; specifically those who are deficient are more likely to suffer from depression, especially women. Due to the intensely complicated nature of the human mind, the exact mechanism remains unclear. However the leading idea so far is that Zinc deficiency speeds up the clearing process of dopamine in the brain and reduces the overall production. Dopamine is a feel good neurotransmitter and is usually partly responsible for the feeling of euphoria when recreational drugs are taken.

Zinc is no one trick pony though; it plays a massive role in immune system health and tissue maintenance. It is an antioxidant, it is necessary for insulin sensitivity; it supports reproductive health and is vital if you are looking to get maximum gains for training.
Zinc supplementation increases circulating anabolic hormones after exercise. In males zinc inhibits enzymes which convert androgens into oestrogen, reducing which increases muscle mass, and reduces the female patterning of body fat. It also contributes to the conversion of testosterone precursors into free testosterone. Human Growth Hormone and IGF-1 are also up regulated in both men and women. These hormones stimulate greater response to training and faster recovery, which ultimately lead to better body composition and performance.

Severe deficiency is rare in the UK but those who are most at risk are vegetarians, those who eat a diet high in cereals and alcoholics. However moderate deficiency is common as the sources of zinc in our diet really aren’t that good. Due to intensive farming techniques the food we eat does not have enough nutrients in it to sustain us optimally.

Zinc can be found in meat, sea food and dairy. It can also be found in plant based foods but compounds called phytates which are bound to Zinc in plants limit the bioavailability of the zinc reducing the absorption. The easiest way to ensure you have adequate zinc is to take a zinc supplement; the dosage will depend on your individual circumstances.

References
Meinild, A. (2004). Zinc Potentiates an Uncoupled Anion Conductance Associated with the Dopamine Transporter. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 279 (1), p49671-49679.

Maserejian, N. (2012). Low dietary or supplemental zinc is associated with depression symptoms among women, but not men, in a population-based epidemiological surve. Journal of Affective Disorders. 136 (3), p781-788.

Prasad, A. (2008). Zinc in Human Health: Effect of Zinc on Immune Cells. Molecular Medicine. 14 (5-6), p353-357.


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Why Eskimos don’t get heart disease and why you should consider tucking into a narwhal

In 1978, Dyerberg and Bang performed a study which found out some startling information about Eskimos. They found that although these people had a diet which was very high in animal fat, narwhal skin being a particular delicacy, they had a very low incidence of heart disease. In the 1970’s where fat was the enemy and carbohydrates were king, this was a very significant find. The studies that followed all came to the same conclusion, that eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) prevented heart disease. These, along with alpha linoleic acid (ALA) were later named as omega 3 fatty acids.

Unlike Eskimos, we in the UK we have an unjustified fear of animal fat, and as a result of that we tend to make choices which mean we avoid it all costs. We have used technology to replace animal fats with vegetable fats. We use margarine instead of butter and vegetable oil instead of lard.

As humans we need to have an even level of omega 6 and omega 3. Omega 6 is pro-inflammatory and omega 3 is anti-inflammatory. If these are in equal quantities they balance themselves out rather well, however in a western diet we get roughly 15 times as much omega 6 as omega 3. One example of the reason why is sunflower oil, it has 160 times as much omega 6 as omega 3.

Eskimos eat a diet which is almost completely composed of protein and fat derived from wild animals. Like humans, animals require a balanced fat intake. Narwhals eat lots of fish, which eat algae and plankton; they’re brimming with omega 3. So if you were to eat them you would end up in a similarly healthy balance, you are what you eat.



However, in the real world, if we copied them and avoided grains and ate a large amount of protein and fat then we would not end up the same way. This is because we don’t eat narwhals; we eat cows, pigs and chickens, which are fed on grains rather than being fed naturally.

So what can you do to boost your omega 3 intake? Eat wild fish, grass fed beef, organic chicken and outdoor bred pork. These will have a significantly higher ratio of omega 3 fats. Don’t use sunflower oil, use coconut oil. But by far the best thing to do in this case is to take fish oil supplements, they are cheap and the benefits are enourmous.

A corrected omega 3 deficiency will make every process in your body more effective, as omega 3 fatty acids affect the way in which our cells communicate with each other. 

Reported benefits include improved mood, better skin, reduced hunger cravings, fat loss, muscle gain and clearer thinking. 


As a result of this all of our clients take some sort of omega 3 supplement. 

The last consideration is to ensure you buy a high quality fish oil capsule. Lower quality cheaper capsules will not offer the same benefit as they are often filled with more omega 6 fats. Each capsule should contain at least 50% omega 3's and these should be at least 80% EPA and DHA. Fish oils which only contain ALA are very poorly absorbed but are still the best choice for vegetarians. 

Given all of this free information, and especially are improving your diet, it really is a no brainer.

1. Harris, W. (2004). Fish oil supplementation:Evidence for health benefits.Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. (71) p208-210

2. Dyerberg, J, Bang, H. (1978). Eicosapentaenoic Acid and prevention of thrombosis and atherosclerosis. Lancet. (2) p117-119


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