The Time has Come to get your Body Back

Magic diet pills and promising shapely shakes are not the answer. Choosing natural, wholesome foods and water is your best bet in beating the bulge.

1. Make time to move, and then have breakfast! If you want to make fat loss easy then make sure you start your metabolism off on the right foot. Move a little first thing in the morning and make sure you devote time for breakfast afterwards. 
2. Stop drinking sugars. Soft drinks, flavoured waters and fruit juices are loaded with hidden sugars we just don't need. Best to avoid these beverages if you are concerned about your waist line expanding. 
3. Eat protein with every meal. Organic free range eggs, lean beef, venison, chicken, turkey, sea food, and fish. Aim to rotate your protein choices. 
4. Eat more vegetables. When it comes to your five a day lean further towards vegetables. Mix and match colour and think about local and seasonal produce. 
5. Avoid eating processed foods. Fresh whole foods are always your best choice and will nourish your body with all the vitamins and minerals it needs to keep you in tip top condition. 

There are two essential macronutrients the body requires - fats and proteins. If we don’t have enough of either of these in our diet we will have dire problems.

Essential Fats: 

Named so because our body cannot produce them itself but we need them. These can be obtained from nuts, seeds and all their derivatives, so almonds, almond butter and almond oil as an example. Other examples include: certain fruits, namely olives and avocado, and the jury is still out on whether or not coconut is a fruit or nut, and finally oily fish. Any fat that is solid at room temperature is one we should keep in very low levels e.g. butter, animal fats etc. The most important thing to consider here are its origins. We need a small amount of cholesterol and saturated fat in our diet so these are important.

A note on the quality of fats... If we are to get good quality fats from animal or fish sources including dairy, a large consideration is that when any living creature comes into contact with anything toxic and absorbs it, the residue is stored in fat cells (part of the reason behind cellulite ladies). Let's use farmed salmon as an example. The fish comes from a large cordoned off area of water. If one fish gets ill an epidemic will soon start that will soon wipe out the stock. By filling the water with pesticides and chemicals these chances are minimised…..sadly the fish absorb a lot of this. We are what we eat as they say. A good fat instantly becomes questionable. Buy fish, meat and dairy as good as your budget will permit and more than anything ask the question where it is from, good butchers and fishmongers will be able to tell you this.

Essential Amino Acids: 

A complicated way of describing protein. The term Essential Amino Acids are a group of the components of protein that are critical to human life. Our best source of them is in wholefood proteins. For vegetarians this becomes a tough one as within their diets there is very little besides soy beans and a small selection of grains that provide all of these.

The word protein itself is greek and means quite literally ‘of primary importance’. Now the ancient greeks knew a little about health, performance and looking good so it might be worth taking note.

Every cellular tissue in the human body is made up of protein - even our DNA. Skin, hair nails, internal organs and of course muscle tissue. Dietary protein allows all of this when damaged to repair. Now we’re talking about sun damage, scratches, brittle hair, broken nails and if you choose to break it down, muscle tissue.

Every moment of every day, cellular components are getting used and damaged. For them to heal and repair protein must be drip fed to the body.

Carbohydrates

Now we come to the BIG one when it comes to myth and speculation. When we look at a typical western diet the average carbohydrate intake is around about 70% of total calories. The smart thing is when we condition the body well enough especially to something that has a physical response (tiredness and hunger) we amazingly crave just that.

Supermarkets are typically made up of 70%+ carbohydrate food types. The calories in most commercial snack bars are typically 70% carbohydrate. This is irrelevant of if they are a chocolate bar or a ‘health’ bar. Most packaged meals are 70%+ carbohydrate.

Most westerners have both a mild addiction to sugars and it is speculated that over ½ the population is at a high risk of diabetes. Carbohydrates are an energy requirement for the body and we must have them if we’re to operate properly. The people that don’t fall into the ‘70%’ population either get it about right or go to the other end of the spectrum and go to having nothing. BIG mistake and often once done causes more weight gain long term.

Some key points:

• Put energy where you need it. For most it’s in the earlier hours of the day and post workout. The rest of the time a low density carbohydrate such as vegetables is suitable. 
• Be wary of fruit. Fructose, the carbohydrate source we get from fruit isn’t a great energy source unless we are a) exercising at the time and performance is our goal or b) coming out of a prolonged period of no food (breakfast). Health organisations recommend 5 pieces of fruit OR veg per day. Stick to the veg mostly and save the fruit for breakfast or during and after your workout. 
• Also be wary of milk. Milk despite all the presumptions is mostly carbohydrates and a very poor form of energy in lactose. We will get more useable calcium from a portion of broccoli than a pint of milk. Milk is not a very good source. (Sure, it's loaded with calcium, but it's not as easy for the body to absorb it as the calcium in kale or Swiss chard, and the presence of protein, fats, and other products can cause the body to lose calcium from bones). The most healthful calcium sources are green leafy vegetables and legumes, or "greens and beans" for short. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, mustard greens, Swiss chard, and other greens are loaded with highly absorbable calcium and a host of other healthful nutrients. 1-½ cups of broccoli contains the same amount of usable calcium found in one cup of milk. 
• ‘Healthy’ carbohydrates are still energy and still either get burned or stored. Carbohydrates are not essential. Our body does not to require them to survive however if we want a good array of vitamins and minerals, a healthy digestive system and energy to live life do NOT avoid them. BE SMART with them! 
• Try eating breakfast without carbohydrates………your body have an excessively low blood sugar after the night time fast and you will be fighting a battle of will the rest of the day.