It won’t cause too many epiphonous reactions to begin by quitting smoking, drinking more water, eating more fruit and veg, avoiding overindulgence (alcohol, fats, drugs), and exercising more often. It may surprise you to learn that inactivity will kill you quicker than those who smoke, but exercise regularly too.

So what are the other parts of our lives we can focus on, hoping that the above is a fight we are already stepping up to the plate to attack?

1. Eat more fish. I have many clients who won’t eat fish, however our palate is persuadable to almost anything.  The Chinese don’t eat spiders, locusts and household pets through proverbial and metaphoric gritted teeth. Palates are predisposed to like sugar, fat and salt, but other flavours are, like anything, practice. Start with something simple, non-offensive and, if you’re a meat eater, meaty; you’re heart will thank you. Monkfish, salmon fillets and swordfish would be my choice.

2. Drink a cup of green tea in the morning and a peppermint tea after supper. The body will appreciate the antioxidising effects of the green tea and the digestive properties of the peppermint.

3. Chiiiiill. Life can be stressful enough, eliminate or overcome the stressors we simply have become used to falling prey to. Road rage (perhaps the most futile endeavour in any road user’s life) is a great example of this. I’m not saying you have to constantly bang on about how awesome everything is and what great energy there is in a room, but if you’re British there is a balance to be struck between our innate, acerbic predisposition, and positivity. It’s easy to moan about stuff, challenge yourself to see the sunnier side. Negativity breeds negativity, and it’s offspring we don’t need!

4. Forget about the “what ifs”. Growing up we are constantly aware of our parent’s fascination with worrying about possible outcomes. This is largely based on life experience, care for their children, and reducing risk. However it can soon impregnate other areas of life needlessly. If you spend a week worrying or stressing about something that might happen, only for it not to happen, you have spent a week unable to burn fat properly, increasing your chances of heart disease and decreasing the quality of your sleep.

5. Sleep! Points 3 and 4 will aid your depth, longevity and quality of sleep leaving you refreshed, more alert and more positive about things.

6. Smile. As my grandfather would say, “worse things happen at sea”. And they do.

Apply yourself to one, to two, or to all of the above, they won’t just give you longer life, but a more enjoyable one to live.

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Well, there’s no really easy way to say this, but this month I’m cutting to the chase. 4 times out of 5 the problem with our backs is our fronts, especially in men. Excess weight around the abdomen puts a huge amount of strain on the back and often leads to postural change in the form of lordosis – lower back arching.

I will be discussing the core, smoking, correct bending and lifting, and the relationship between high heels and lower backs, but if we are overweight, if the physics of the mid-section means that the back bears too much of the load, then we have to begin to redress that balance if any head way is to be made.

Notice the change in posture as the body changes. The spine has to compensate for all of these…

If you’re more person 1 than person 6 in the silhouette above however, let’s look at some other common causes and some remedies for them.

The Core

The first place to go is to the core, the fabled group of muscles that we hear about all too often in gyms, group exercise classes, and work out DVD’s. “All you have to do is engage your core,” right? Well, that’s exactly it. If the core is weak, or worse not firing at all, the brain has forgotten that it exists. It has effectively broken up with the core, all communications have stopped and the wonderful, exciting, breath taking times they once spent together are but a distant memory. They don’t phone, they certainly don’t e-mail and, at the time of writing, the brain had deleted the core from Facebook. Bad times.

The core is actually made up of all muscles attaching to the spine between the hips and the top of the shoulders, but to make it a little easier, we’re going to look at the deep, postural muscles of the mid-section. (see below)

How do we engage these muscles? Well first we have to sit them in a room with the brain and make them discuss their issues. Try this for starters.

Lie down, the bed (or the couch).

Imagine yourself in the car, getting home from work and being desperate to go to the loo. You’re trying to get the darn key in the door and all the time your pelvic floor muscles are heavily contracted to assist you from not wetting yourself. Repeat this contraction now and hold it for 10 seconds.

Relax

This time, whilst lying down, imagine yourself getting ready to go out and trying to do the top button up of those skinny jeans you bought 3 years ago. Replicate the movement the stomach makes in drawing your lower abdomen towards the spine to allow the button to do up.

If you continue to work these muscles, engaging them, holding and relaxing, your brain will slowly wake up to them and be able to fire them both autonomously and on command.

Bending, lifting, Pulling, Pushing and Posture

Next time you are in the company of a toddler or new-to-walking baby, put something on the floor for them to pick up and see how then drop down to get it (make sure you know the child or the police will be involved). They will never bend from the hips, simply squat down and stand again. Work based health and safety drills these principals into those who need it to bend from the knees not the hips but try to take this home. When you’re loading the dishwasher, washing your face, or picking up your work bag, bend correctly and soon it will become second nature.

If you’re ever dragging something along the floor, push it, don’t pull it. It will use the muscles at the front of your body rather than risk those at the back.

Posture is a huge concern in 21st century western society. Computers, cars, desk work and alike are all factors in promoting rounded shoulders and a hunched back. In a nut shell:

Stand up as tall as you were meant to be, lift the crown of your head to the sky and tuck your chin in.

Remember those core muscles above, engage them, not 100%, just enough to know they’re there.

Outer spiral (rotate) your arms so the inside of your elbows are facing away from each other, this will flatten your shoulders.

Inner spiral (rotate) your hands so the forefinger is facing forwards and the  little finger backwards, your palms now facing each other. Hold this pose and begin to move.

High Heels
Only when you must, not as a rule. Think of the above, the whole mechanics are put out when the heel is so much higher than the toes as the shoe aims to push you forwards and you have to lean back to compensate.

Smoking
More and more studies are beginning to show the correlation between smoking and degenerative discs in the back. You may also get healthier by stopping but am unsure about such outlandish claims.

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The logic is that if you eat fat, you’ll be fat, or if you eat healthily, you’ll be healthy, but that rationale falls down in the lightest of questioning breezes. For example, 30% of our diets, give or take, should come from essential fats. Avocado, seeds and nuts, and sardines are all jam packed with fat (and calories too) but all are known and thought of as healthy. The reason is that these fats are ESSENTIAL fats, literally, hence the name essential fatty acids, and we must have these to maintain a myriad of necessary functions in the body.

If you eat the protein, the whole protein, and nothing but the protein you won’t turn into Mr Universe, you will however smell strongly of ammonia, the main ingredient in smelling salts, as the protein is broken down into amino acids and the excess leaves your body through sweat, breath and urine. Nice. Renal (kidney) failure is another desirable side effect of excessive protein intake over a long period…

And carbs. What happens if you eat predominantly carbs? Well there’s no fat in them, so it couldn’t make you fat, right? Perhaps if you eat pasta and pasta alone you’ll become Italian – tempestuous, a dab hand in the kitchen, and no mug with the ladies – or if you focus solely on potatoes perhaps you’ll become Irish – legendary on the sauce but you may want to steer clear of investing money in the housing market (given the plethora of borderline racist stereotypes I could have used I had to think long and hard on that one).

So what’s the answer? Well not one that fits into a pithy strap line, alas. Eat healthy, treat yourself to a little sinning once in a while, stay (nutritionally) balanced…
Now I think about it, if you do it right, maybe you should be what you eat – healthy, a little sinful, and balanced.

Those old wives, I’ve always admired their wisdom…

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“I think I just have a slow metabolism”

Well, why is that?

Blessed

Of course, our metabolic rate, like pretty much everything else we have to work with, is genetically predisposed to sit within a particular range.

Paramount to all of this is how much muscle you have. Logically, how much muscle you (naturally) have is also down to genetics…and gender. Men have a higher metabolic rate because they tend to have more muscle. If you’re naturally broad shouldered, you have a great coat hanger with which to hang your muscles on. If you’re cursed with “wine bottle” shoulders, well, it’s understandable why them muskles (sic) fall off at every opportunity.

Your metabolic rate is the rate at which your body burns calories. A fast metabolism burns calories like a Range Rover Sport burns fuel. A slow metabolism is like a Prius, in neutral, on a downhill slope. So what can we do? How can you keep your metabolic rate high, or as high as your genetic template will allow? Here’s my 7 top tips

How many times should I push the lift button to equal taking the stairs?

7.

Exercise. No need for too much explanation. Exercise boosts your metabolism, work as hard as your body and mind will allow. The harder you train the fitter you get, the fitter you get the more calories you burn.

6.

Lift weights. Whether you’re trying to gain muscle or just trying to firm and tone, lifting weights is a must when visiting the gym. Weight training builds muscle, and increased muscle mass means more calories burnt when you’re sat on your bum doing nothing. Please just be aware of those scales however – muscle weighs more than fat and many people obsessive with weighing scales find that they are not losing weight as they should be. Get yourself bodyfat tested, you can then determine how much fat you’re losing, not weight per se.

5.

Get Up! Remaining stationary sat at your desk, on the couch, or in a car for long periods really does send the metabolism into a lull. Next time you’re arguing with the missus as to who’s turn it is to make the tea, think that by getting up you’re sparking the metabolic rate a little and going someway to burning off the calories in the tea even before you’ve drunk it.

4.

Eat more protein. Protein is brill; not only does it make your hair, skin, and nails all healthy and pretty but it also improves mood, reduces wrinkling (and thus ageing), and slows down the rate that calories are absorbed by the body. This stabilises your blood sugar allowing the calories ingested to be used productively, and not just sent to the fat deposits.

Meals can be well rounded too

3.

Eat! Not like that. Take your day of food and break the whole thing up into smaller pieces. Eat five, six…to heck with it, eat 8 times a day. But make it smaller amounts. A hearty breakfast followed by regular, small, top up bites is a perfect way to keep your metabolic rate bubbling. 3 square meals are a thing of the past, and not just because meals shouldn’t be pigeonholed. Square meals are meals the same as all the rest. Yes they may be good at science; yes they might cower when you throw a tennis ball to them to catch; yes they do sit at the front of the class; yes they will earn far more money than the sports meals later in life. Karma’s a beautiful thing, unless you’re in fitness. Damn.

2.

DRINK! Not like that. Having finally written a blog without using the word, “evolution” in it, I now need to set myself a new challenge – Can I write a nutritional blog without mentioning water? Probably not. But I will try at a later date. Water intake picks your metabolism up and dusts it down, cold water will burn even more calories as the body needs to warm it up first.

1.

Breakfast.

Yes sir-ee, when mum said that breakfast was the most important meal of the day it was one of the few truths that she told. The tooth fairy doesn’t come for your teeth; watching too much TV won’t make your eyes go square; if the wind changes when you’re pulling a face, fret not, your face will go back to how it was; and she won’t turn the car around if you don’t behave so, kids, tear it up in the backseat. But breakfast? Breakfast, it turns out, is the most important meal of the day after all.

Joined up writing here I come

I have turned away a new personal training client at the consultation stage because they told me that they “couldn’t” eat breakfast. I had 2 major issues with this. Firstly, weight loss is tough enough as it is. If you’re looking to pay someone to help you train then it’s probably even tougher. Skipping breakfast, therefore, makes it nigh on impossible. The second issue is obviously the word “couldn’t”. The first week of personal trainer school teaches us to stop looking at ourselves in the mirror. The second week works on our clichés – number one on the list, “there ain’t no such thing as can’t”. Third week is the language of English, how to speak it, and not have write it with a crayon.

Breakfast tells your body that you’re awake, that you will be giving it sustenance and calories today, and that it is perfectly ok for it to start the engine and get burning fuel. If you skip it, if you wait an hour until you get into work, then your body’s metabolic rate slips, just a little, and you stay in neutral instead, idling along and never getting above 1000 revs. Skip it over a number of months, of years, and your metabolic rate will have dipped considerably from where it once was.

Eat breakfast as soon as you get up. Some complex carbs, some protein where possible, and a glass of water should all be included.

Nb.
Please, please, don’t utter the words, “I just don’t feel hungry in the morning” to your trainer. It’s up there with men pretending their 5’10” when they’re clearly 5’7” plus change, and a lady saying they don’t want to do weights because, “I don’t want to bulk up”. Aaaaaarrrggghhhhhh.

Not hungry in the morning you say…

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7.          Spinach

Yams, weirdly, are also a superfood

Seasonal right now and half price (or BOGOF) in many supermarkets, spinach’s relationship to the lovable, bicep-heavy Popeye is no happy coincidence. Ultra low calorie, packed to the rafters with minerals and proteins, and fabulous in so many meals from salads to curry, you have to look at this leafy deity with new found affection. I have seen friends drink spinach juice as a post exercise shot for its protein synthesis properties, but a little of them died in me that day.

Salad, yes.
Curry, yes.
Ricotta’s mate, yes.
Juice, nooooooo.

6.          Walnuts

The king of nuttiness. So good that the American FDA has them classed as heart healthy and, depending on the report you read, they have been lauded as reducing the chance of heart attack by as little as 15% or as much as a whopping 51%. Walnuts also pitch in vigorously fighting cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. More protein than its peers, laden with Omega 3’s, brimming with antioxidants to police those hoodied, looting free radicals, walnuts are great for your brain, not for your Brian.

An Apple A Day…

5. Apples

Apples are quintessentially English, but you shouldn’t hold that against these nutritional knights of the fruit plate. Low calorie and, with a lower GI than most fruits, the energy that is in them is taken up more slowly by the body. An apple’s CV boasts toxin reduction and increased alertness to its digesting employer, making them great as a pre-workout snack.

4.          Broccoli

There are many that loathe this green giant, but I think I know why. For years grandmothers boiled it to death, adding baking soda by way of tricking you into thinking it was still fresh and firm. Broccoli should crunch, not only for texture and taste but for nutritional benefits too. I have included broccoli not just for its vitamin content (C, B and potassium too), but for it’s altruistic volunteering in the fight against cancer.

Studies show that not only does broccoli contain chemicals that actually destroy cancer causing substances, but also assist the body in producing anti-oxidant enzymes that prevent the substances setting up residence in the body in the first place. The female of the species (hey ladies) benefit further as other chemicals in the plant assist the metabolisation of oestrogen that, in turn, positively impacts upon the development of breast cancer.

In case that’s all too nerdy, broccoli also makes your eyes stay healthy, and look pretty.

3.          Garlic

You Too Could Be This Happy

I am unsure what life would be like without garlic. I’m sure we’d cope, I just can’t see how…or why. Yes, I adore the harshly coined, “stinking rose”, so take a deep breath whilst I go through the health benefits alone…

Garlic is – Anti-biotic, anti-fungal, anti-parasitical, anti-bacterial, high in antioxidants, increases circulation, lowers blood pressure (by thinning the blood a little), reduces chances of stroke / heart attack, reduces bad (LDL) cholesterol, fights tumors, supports recovery from cancer, kills certain intestinal parasites, fights athlete’s foot and thrush; damn, garlic even helps repel mosquitos.

If you don’t care for the smell of garlic, if you can easily notice when others have been eating it, then you’re not eating enough. At this point I’d like to ask why, why aren’t you eating enough? One plausible reason is that you’re actually a vampire, one of Satan’s minions. At worst you’re careering through life poisoning others with your herbal ignorance, at best you’re starring in a trilogy of tragically awful teen movies – but you have good abs and the author would like to commend you on these.

2.         Salmon

Salmon comes in quite a few forms, all of which are goooood. Whether it be tinned salmon, farmed salmon, smoked salmon or wild salmon, all varieties are high in protein, that’s a given, but a decent serving also provides you with all the omega 3 fatty acids you need for the day as well as your full, daily requirement of Vitamin D; few foods can claim to possess the latter. Add to all of this vitamin B (12 and 6), magnesium, niacin and more, even the cheapest form of this meaty fish (tinned) comes with extras as there’s a huge hit of calcium from the bones within.

Salmon Gets All The Gals

One reminder on Omega 3 fatty acids, just in case you’re still wondering if they’re really that necessary. They

• Reduce inflammation
• Fight heart disease
• Combat diabetes
• Reduce chances or delay onset of cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s
• Improve mood and decrease risk of depression or aggression

Not bad for a fish.

Where bok choy fails at arm wrestling (see part one in this series), Salmon steps up. Salmon’s your Jamie Roberts, your Tim Tebow, your Jessica Ennis – intellectually bright, conversationally engaging, physically dominant and, the less they wear, the better they look.

Yes, wild salmon is better than farmed; yes, fresh (farmed) salmon is better than canned (even though most canned salmon is wild); yes, it’s all good for you wherever it’s from; yes, you should be eating more of it.

1.          Water

We all know the part it plays in survival, we should know that without it we would die within 3-5 days, but all too many of us also neglect its fabulousness. The problem is that there’s far too many drink alternatives. If your brain tells us we are thirsty we drink, but we don’t necessarily choose water. We obediently drink as instructed, however your sugary, carbonated drinks or milk based, diuretic teas and coffees simply do not cut the mustard.

If you drink more water you’ll stop retaining water because the body doesn’t need to hoard what it is consistently saturated with. If it’s raining men and you’re hanging onto dear old Brian, the guy you settled with because there was no other suitors at the time, then you need to get outside, girlfriend, and leave the brolly behind ya hear.

If you drink more water you’ll dilute and flush out toxins that are guilty of causing cellulite and bad breath, both of which are going to result in you marrying Brian.

If you drink more water you’ll improve your digestion AND allow the body to transport the now heightened nutrient content to the muscles more efficiently. Your health increases as your hunger decreases.

If you drink more water you’ll reduce the impact on joints and tissues and so reduce the chance of injury. Injury = rest. Rest = less calories burnt. Less calories burnt = more weight gained. More weight gained = married to Brian.

If you drink more water you’ll look younger and fitter. Hydrated skin has more elasticity and therefore wrinkles less; you will be more attractive and can date men at their peak, 35 years of age, forever (Source: M. Powell: age 35). The body is 65% water and can be likened to a plant – if you fail to water it, it will wither, but feed it with water and it flourishes.

Water is calorie free. 10 glasses a day is your challenge. Nuff said.

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