Month: July 2013

Recovery shake

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Post workout: providing the perfect balance of protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and electrolytes.Photo on 2013-07-02 at 14.02

Put the following ingredients in a blender and whizz up!

200ml milk

2 tablespoon natural yoghurt

handful frozen berries

1 banana

tablespoon honey

pinch of salt

In the fridge today……

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Yesterday morning, a mum at the school gates dared me to post my fridge contents (she didn’t think I’d do it, so haha Ye Of Little Faith!) I promise that I’ve not removed or added anything. From the top…..

Photo on 2013-07-02 at 07.15

  • Boots Omega 3 Children’s supplement
  • Natural Yoghurt (full fat)
  • Kinetica Omega 3s – these ones for the grown ups
  • BBQ left overs (chicken, lamb)
  • Gatorade Ultimate Hydration (6% carbs, for exercise > 1hr)
  • Heinz Tomato Ketchup – lycopene & flavour!
  • Cherry Diet Coke – errrr, 2 bottles, a glass few times a week 😉
  • Butter – a little saturated fat ok
  • Bacon – processed meat 😦
  • Cheese – calcium
  • Left over Super Food Salad
  • Eggs – amazing nutrition powerhouses (don’t raise blood cholesterol)
  • Lavazza Coffee
  • Variety of veg: spring onions, broccoli, pepper, red cabbage, lettuce
  • Alpro Almond Milk – just for variety and to use in this and this
  • Kinetica High Protein Shake – used as quick snack or to bump up protein in these
  • Semi Skimmed Milk – good for protein, carbs, calcium – great post exercise refuelling.

Not a bad selection, plenty of nutritious things, some not so good. But like I always say, everything in moderation. Any comments gratefully received!

The Exercist: Mind the (Thigh) Gap

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The following question and response is from an interesting website The Exercist, which is a site focusing on health and body positivity, and strives to myth bust within the fitness community……….

Question from a teenage girl:

Why is a thigh gap attractive? Why is being sickly skinny hot? What is wrong with society, making every one of us teenage girls think that to be beautiful, we must starve ourselves. Some of us aren’t even built to have a god damn thigh gap or have our ribs poking out.

What happened to hot women with curves, not angles?

Please remember that a woman can have a thigh gap without starving herself or being “sickly.” Everyone is built differently – Some people are healthy at a lower weight with wide set hips, while others are healthy at a higher weight with narrow set hips. There is no reason to insult or demean one body type in order to praise another.

There are certainly a lot of problems with the way that society currently promotes one “ideal” body type for women, forcing many people to hurt themselves in an effort to attain that form of beauty. But when preaching for body acceptance and body positive thinking, it’s important to remember that the “ideal” isn’t just a mystical concept – Some people look like that and that’s cool too.

Women can have curves, angles and everything in between.

I fully understand that people can be perfectly healthy and have a thigh gap… Or “sickly skinny”.

But my point is to be happy with WHO YOU ARE.
Not to feel pressured into being skinny or unhealthy. Or a thigh gap.

That’s an awesome mentality to take on – Being happy with who you are is a huge step forward in self-love.

Just be careful with the sort of language that you use – When discussing different body types, it’s important not to associate negative terms and descriptions with certain characteristics. Inherently linking “sickly” with “skinny” is a problem, for example, as is making unfavorable implications about “angles” and “ribs poking out.” Keep in mind that these are not necessarily bad things.

It’s the idealization of thinness that presents a problem, not the body types and physical characteristics themselves.

Be good to yourself…..food demons BOG OFF!!

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We all know the benefits of being ‘healthy’. But if living a healthy lifestyle was easy, then everyone would be doing it, right? On paper, eating nutritious food and taking regular exercise is a no brainer. So what’s the problem?

I hate the thought of food being categorised as ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’. I believe no food should be demonised, however it’s an unavoidable fact  that some foods nourish our bodies more than others. Nobody is obliged to be healthy all the time. We all have unhealthy habits, and these are up to us as individuals with minds of our own. Happiness is what matters, not a social standard of what is deemed as healthy.

If you really do feel content with your diet, whether you live on burgers and chips or have a nutritionally brilliant diet, then that’s nobody’s business but your own. If you feel that you would be happier by making changes to what you eat, but find it difficult, then here are some motivation ideas that you might find helpful…..

  • You’ll never regret choosing the more positive option eg. yoghurt and strawberries over a bar of chocolate. Before making a choice, ask how you will feel in an hour. Think of how great you will feel psychologically and physically after a whole week or month of making daily positive choices.
  • “I deserve this, I’ve had a hard day”. Try not to use food as a reward, to relieve stress or to make you happy. Food is primarily fuel for our bodies. Once again think longer term….how will you feel in an hour after eating half (or a whole) tub of ice cream? How much better would you feel rewarding yourself in other ways eg. walk to the shop after dinner to buy yourself a magazine or a tub of cherries to munch on the way home.
  • We often tell ourselves that we can’t do without something that we have regularly. A common thing to hear is “I’m addicted to chocolate” or “I’m addicted to bread”. Your mind is powerful in both positive and negative ways. If you want to change your habit, turn the negative in to the positive. By saying: “I’m addicted, therefore I can’t do anything about it”, you are essentially removing your responsibility for what you feed yourself.  Tell yourself, “I am in control of my thoughts, I am in control of what I buy, and I am in control of what I feed my body.”
  • Sometimes, it’s as if the biscuit tin is calling you, drawing your hand towards it like a magnet. If it helps, imagine a little demon on your shoulder. It is telling you to have another biscuit and, go on just one more, and, well, you may as well finish the lot. Tell it in the strongest possible way (!) to bog off and to stop sabotaging your efforts.
  • If you can’t resist temptation, then make things easier on yourself by not having the foods you are trying to avoid in the cupboard or fridge. Get. Rid. Of. It. People often tell me, ‘but it’s for the kids/ visitors’. Too much of it is not good for you and it’s not good for them either. Replace with healthier alternatives.

Ultimately, we have to take responsibility for ourselves. Isn’t it a great thing that we can!?