Overweight?

Well, the Chief Medical Officer in her recent report tells us that most of us are now overweight.  We eat too much fat and sugar and don’t do enough exercise – and I guess we knew that.

But you and I don’t have to be in the majority – we can have a healthy body weight and get the recommended amount of exercise.  By keeping down the amount of processed food we eat (the report tells us that this is calorie dense and nutrient poor) and cutting out the sugary drinks we will be on the right track.  We are about to release a great cook book with some lovely recipes that help us to eat really ‘clean’.  Healthy foods made from raw ingredients but quick and simple to prepare. 

And as for exercise – 150 minutes of moderate activity a week – I feel really excited when I read that – it gives me a great excuse to work out in the gym 6 days a week!  Or to go for a walk (aiming for those 10,000 steps a day) or oil the bike and venture out. 

I’ve worked hard on building muscle in the last few weeks – knowing that muscle is great at burning calories and gives great definition.  Combining this with some cross fit training has made a big difference to my fitness levels – it could work for you too!

Don’t be one of the crowd – let us help you keep healthy and Be Your Best

Sexycise

I would like all men reading this to look away now. Us women are going to concentrate on things that really matter for a few minutes.

Right ladies – you saw it here first – Sexycise comes to a gym near you. We are putting together a women only class aimed at improving ‘down there’. This class works your abdominal muscles, strengthens your core and your pelvic floor. It includes the sort of exercises that you don’t want to do in the gym when the men are around. I can’t guarantee that it will improve your sex life – but it might help you to be more ready should the chance to shine arise. It will help with continence issues and self confidence.

Give it a go – we have soft lights, gentler music, nice smells and a great work out – what’s not to like? (and no men, sweaty or otherwise!)

Currently in Willingham on Thursday evenings for 45 minutes starting at 18.30 and soon to be relaunched at Bluntisham. Phone the gym to book your place, £3 for members and £5 for non-members - if you bring a (female ) friend.

Come along and find out what TF stands for !

Reasons to exercise

Reasons to exercise – let me remind you again why you are bothering to come to the gym!

·         Even moderate exercise during the day improves sleep.  Chronically sleep – deprived people are more at risk of heart problems . 

·         Exercise boosts your mood and self esteem (tell me that you don’t feel better about yourself after you have worked out ?)

·         Burn calories – keep your weight under control!

·         Reduce your risk of developing diabetes –

·         Help to keep your blood pressure under control – reduce your risk of strokes

·         Minimise the impact of osteoporosis

·         Keep mobile !

What’s not to like ?!

Help your brain, exercise!

Would you like to help your brain, slow down the decaying process, prevent dementia?

Latest research in today’s Times tells us that exercise such as brisk walking, can help to fight off degenerative disease – there is even some evidence to show that exercise can help with regeneration of damaged areas.

We know that the aging process is likely to be slower if we keep our minds active (yes, the crossword again!) and if we keep our weight under control. The news that exercise can even repair some of the damage done is really good to hear.

So, eating well, not smoking and only drinking in moderation, combined with brain activity and a bit of serious exercise and we have a good chance of holding on to all our marbles for a bit longer? Add in a good healthy diet and we are on a winner.

Dig out those trainers and if its just too awful outside for a walk – pop into the gym. Easy to do a quick workout and just think of all the benefits!

Fruit Juice

Do you have fruit juice for your breakfast? Do you have it because you think its really healthy – just made from fruit?

Lots of Vit C in fruit juice ? Yes, you’re right – loads – but it will cause a huge spike of Vit C in your blood stream and as we can’t store the excess – it will simply be excreted in our urine. The same is true of the sugar in fruit juice – big flood of sugar, high dose of reactive insulin and off you go again, swinging backwards and forwards. This is all enhanced by the fact that there is no fibre left in fruit juice so the juice is able to rush through without the slowing effect of the fibre on your body. Really you are much better off eating an orange than consuming full glasses of commercially produced fruit juice.

What's your BMI?

Do you know that it is reckoned that by 2050 more than half of the UK population will be obese (that’s a BMI of over 30) – OK – so that’s still 36 years away – and there is a very high probability that I won’t be one of those – however, this is in our children’s life time if not our own – and we all know about the health risks associated with being obese (diabetes, heart disease and cancer for a start). 

Should we be concerned – you bet we should – we know we are, on the whole, living longer – but being fat and ill and living longer may not be entirely joyful.

The National Obesity Forum suggests 5 key tips – see what you think;

Tip 1 – Find out if you are a healthy weight – so, so often I hear people say that they don’t know how much they weigh , but ……….

But they think they are OK

But they think they have put on a stone over Christmas

The truth may well lie somewhere in between – but it is best to know – anyone of our staff in the gym will help you to work out your Body Mass Index (BMI) – which is your height to weight ratio.  And once you know you can be on the road to getting it to where you want it to be.

Tip 2 Make Long –term changes

Make changes to your diet nad exercise regime that you can sustain.  Set yourself a goal – I want to lose a stone before I go on holiday (for example) – and hold yourself accountable for getting there

Tip 3 Make short-term goals to change your lifestyle

The Obesity Forum suggests ideas like swapping sugary drinks for water, swapping crisps for rice cakes.  And how about healthy recipes?  - home made healthy food twice a week – that could be a goal

Tip 4 Stay motivated

Keep remembering why you are doing this – ‘I want to be healthier’ – ‘I want to fit into my clothes again’ – just hold onto those ideas so if the going gets tough you can hold on tight!

And finally

Tip 5 Small steps lead to big changes

Ditch the bread, walk to the shops, take the stairs – you don’t have to drop down to under 1000 calories or run a marathon – little steps can lead to big changes as long as they are sustained.

Sugar and the Gurus

So, today we learn that some (most) of the people who are on the panel advising the government on safe sugar levels are paid or funded by the likes of Coca Cola, Unilever (owns Wall’s and Ben & Jerry’s) and Sugar Boards.  Its tempting to think this is like Foster’s helping an alcoholic to stop drinking or Benson Hedges campaigning to stop smoking.  

Its not for me to tell you who to believe or, for that matter, what to eat.  But I can pass on some advice from the NHS website on sugar consumption.

We are told that added sugars (in tea for example) shouldn’t make up more than 10% of our calorie intake on a daily basis.  About 70g for men and 50g for women so go steady on the fruit juice too.  

And check the food labels – we are looking for the ‘Carbohydrates (of which sugars)’ figure 

• more than 22.5 g of total sugars per 100g is high

• 5g of total sugars or less per 100g is low

So, I checked a few items,

• low fat yoghurt – 6.9g sugar per 100g – lowish – but the added sugar compensates for the low fat taste

• Innocent Orange juice – 8.1 g per 100ml, creeping up

• Weetabix – just 4.4g per 100 g – 

• Tesco finest muesli – 15.6g per 100g

• Tesco finest granola – 20.6g per 100g

Doesn’t take long to get to our allowance does it?

So, we are not sure if the gurus are completely objective – but we can all read the labels – and take responsibility ourselves – we did it for fats – now onto sugars!