Sitting is the New Smoking!

In the UK the average person spends nearly 9 hours a day sitting down.  Add to this 6-8 hours of sleeping and this equates to just spending one third of the time on our feet. 

This prolonged inactivity puts us all at risk of becoming obese, getting heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, DVT, brittle bones, back problems, depression and dementia. 

This threat is so bad that health experts are calling this the 'new smoking'.  The World Heath Organisation (WHO) have already classed inactivity as the fourth biggest killer in the world, even ahead of obesity. 

Inactivity costs the UK economy more than one billion pounds every year in sick days due to back, neck and muscle issues and this cost is still rising. 

Sitting down for too long also slows down the body's metabolism and the way our bodies break down  fat reserves.  However being inactive can increase our blood sugar levels and blood pressure. 

So what can we do to alleviate this?  Well even doing small amounts of regular activity throughout the day, such as just standing and moving around can help.  These small amounts do add up as scientists have suggested that doing 30 minutes of light activity in 2 - 3 minute bursts a day could be just as effective as 30 minutes of solid exercise. 

Also you can increase your activity levels by using the stairs instead of the lift, walking instead of using the car for short distances and walking to your work colleague's desk instead of sending them an e-mail.

Incorporating any or all of these into our daily lives will help reduce the risk of an early death and help us to be fitter in later life.

Creating Good Habits and Ditching the Bad

Working in the fitness industry for many years as a fitness professional I have seen a lot of people who want to get fitter and achieve their fitness goals. A lot succeeded in their goals but an equally large percent failed. Why was this? A lot of it is people like the idea of becoming more healthy and fit but when they start to move in that direction and create a new habit, obstacles can get in the way and it can get too much and they give up. When they than later try again they already have a negative experience of giving up before and they therefore have a higher chance of failing again if they don't get their mind right. Anyone can say they will do something but to put it into practice is much harder to do. Change is hard but it will be worth it in the end. Too many people sit there and say they would love to lose weight or build more muscle but than remain sitting on the sofa, only getting up occasionally to get some more food from the fridge. In order to make changes you must do more than just wish you must do. How? As I have said in previous blogs do not attempt to change everything in one go. Start with taking a 15 minute walk after lunch or dinner, or give up smoking first or cut out all fizzy drinks and sweets from your diet. Once you've got into that good habit and you do it without even thinking, move on to another change. Another tip I give to my clients is book out certain days to exercise and stick to them no matter what. For example if you have Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings for gym, stick it in your diary and on a wall calendar and if a friend or family member suggests to do something during those times, then let them know you can't because that's your 'gym time.' Obviously there will be times when there will be a family crisis or you're ill and you will have to cancel but ensure you don't cancel because you 'just don't feel like it today' or need to go shopping instead! If you keep doing that you're be creating a bad habit and you're just stop going. Set yourself a goal, that can be run a 5 K race or go to the gym twice a week for the next 12 weeks. I set myself a goal at the start of this year, that I will do a weekly blog, rather then do it when I felt like it. It's now late March and I'm still sticking to it. I'm only succeeding because I made a conscious effort and didn't let anything get in my way. Change your environment, if you are surrounded by those who are eating crap and don't exercise and criticise those that do, maybe you should move towards those who have the same goals as you and can support you better. Once you get into a good habit and you do it without thinking (takes at least 12 weeks) you stand more chance of sticking to it, even if things try to get in the way. Studies have shown that under pressure you will do more of the habit, whether good or bad. Therefore if you eat junk food and sweets, under pressure you will do more of this but if you follow a healthy diet you will still stick to the good habit and continue to eat healthy and be less inclined to eat junk! Similarly those that exercised regularly, increased their exercise when pressure increased in their lives. So next time you wish for something, start to take responsibility for it and move towards creating a good habit and breaking the bad ones. Remember time is constant in one year's time you can still be sitting on that sofa doing nothing and dreaming of getting into that new outfit or you can be the one who has got off their arse and set themselves a realistic goal, stuck to it no matter what, lost the weight and is making their dream a reality. What one do you want to be in a year's time?

Why Low Fat Foods can be Bad for You

When looking around your local super market you often see the food and drinks that have bold colourful labels stating them to be fat and sugar free, low fat and 'Light/lite.' These labels give products a 'halo effect', where the consumer thinks it's healthier and buys it rather than choosing another brand that doesn't feature it. However some of these products aren't as healthy as they may look, as a product that says it's low in fat can contain high levels of sugar which if not burnt off will be stored as fat on the body anyway! It's so important to look beyond the decorative front labels and check out what's actually in the ingredients list on the back, before making your final decision. The ingredients are listed in order of amount, so if the first ingredient listed is sugar than that product's largest ingredient is sugar and best avoided. People tend to over eat on these products as they are deemed healthy and unwittingly take even more calories on board than if they went for the more unhealthier option as they normally eat less of it. It can't be a coincidence that these 'healthier' foods came out shortly before the obesity epidemic started as people started to eat less fat and protein and move onto more cheaper and processed foods which were higher in sugar and salt. For a product to be called light/lite it must contain 30% less fat or calories than the standard version but this doesn't guarantee it being healthy as a packet of light/lite crisps can contain the same amount of fat or calories compared to the standard version of another brand. You also have to be careful when checking the nutritional label as the manufactures often put fat/sugar grams per 100g/100ml but the product maybe 250g or 250ml so you would have to double or even triple the amount to get the true amount of fat and sugar that's in it if you plan to consume the whole product at once. For a product to be called 'low fat' it must contain less than 3g of fat per 100g for food or 1.5g of fat per 100ml for drinks. However many of these so called 'low fat' products are loaded with sugar and therefore will be high in calories. To check if a product is high in sugar when checking the nutritional label if the sugar content is higher than 15g per 100g consider it high and if it's less than 5g per 100g you can consider it low. 'Fat-free' foods must contain less than 0.5g fat per 100g but not always will be healthy as this label can be put on foods that don't even contain fat in the first place such as sweets! So the next time you go shopping look beyond the fancy healthy looking packaging and labels and look at the ingredient label at the back for the truth. Please see below on examples of these so called 'healthy' products but are loaded with sugar. These measurements are in teaspoons:- Marks & Spencer's Peri Peri Chicken- 3.4 Marks & Spencer's Sweet and Sour Chicken -4 Blue Berry Drinking Yoghurt- 6.5 Onken Fat Free Strawberry Yoghurt per 150g serving- 4.8. Onken Fat Free Vanilla Yoghurt per 150g serving- 4.5 Yeo Valley 0% Fat Orange, Carrot and Mango Yoghurt- 4.7. Waitrose Low Fat Black Cherry Yoghurt-4.6 Muller Light Cherry Yoghurt 175g pot-2.8 Shape 0% Fat Raspberry Yogurt 120g pot-2.6. Weight Watchers Strawberry and White Chocolate Flavour Mousse-2.6. Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino 250ml bottle- 6.4. Galaxy Milk 200ml bottle- 6.3. Special K per 30g serving with milk-2.8. Special K Creamy Berry Crunch per 30g serving with milk-3.0

How much sugar is in your energy drink?

According to an article in the Daily Mail last week well known energy drinks such as 'Red Bull' and 'Monster' can contain up to 3 times the recommended daily maximum amount of sugar for an adult in just one can! A lot of people are using them to gain an edge in sport but increasingly people are using them just to get through an average working day. These products can have massive dosses of caffeine, which in small amounts can help with performance both physically and mentally but if consumed in large amounts can cause restlessness, palpitations, insomnia and anxiety. A survey of 197 energy drinks found 78% would get a red label for high sugar content when using Food Standards Agency guidelines. Due to our increasingly busy life styles, these energy drinks can be seen as an inexpensive and fast solution to this problem. However due to the high amount of sugar content such as 'Rockstar' Punched Energy + Guava Tropical Flavour which has 15.6g of sugar per 100ml, meaning if a person consumes a 500ml they would have drank 20 teaspoons of sugar and 335 calories! Others with high levels were Red Devil at 15g per 100ml and some Lucozade Energy drinks at 14g per 100ml. The worst offender was Sainsbury's own brand Orange Energy with 15.9 per 100ml. Sold in 1 litre bottles this equates to over 20 teaspoons per 500ml! With such high amounts of sugar and caffeine, there are concerns from health officials that it's contributing to the obesity epidemic as large amounts of sugar can be consumed in next to no time, leading to increased waist lines and risk of type 2 Diabetes. Not surprisingly they're being condemned as the 'new tobacco'. A cup of 170ml coffee contains approximately 71mg of caffeine. Some of these energy drinks can contain more caffeine than 2 cups of coffee per can. 'Rockstar' and 'Monster' were found to contain 160mg per 500ml can, with a 473ml can of 'Red Bull' containing 151mg. A healthy alternative would be 'Lift Off' energy drink from Herbalife. This comes in two flavours, orange and lemon and lime. Each serving is only 9 calories with all the energy coming from Vitamins C and B group. These help to fight tiredness by unlocking the energy from foods. You get your daily amount of Vitamin C in one serving and 70.5mg of caffeine to help boost your immune system and give you a pick me up. Also from Herbalife is Thermo Complete, a supplement tablet which has all the benefits of green tea and Vitamin C, with each tablet containing 71.5mg of caffeine. You take 1 or 2 tablets (I take only 1 and that's enough for me- and I'm a coffee drinker) mid morning and mid afternoon to help fight the mid morning and afternoon slump. Unlike energy drinks you don't experience the instant rush of energy and then the sudden crash, causing you to grab yet another high calorie drink, adding to that increasing waist line but is a slower process where you slowly become aware that you are more awake and concentration levels are heightened and you slowly descend, avoiding that sugar crash. So next time you feel the need to boost those energy levels maybe you should try these healthy supplement products instead. If interested in trying these or any other Herbalife products, get in touch via e-mail or mobile. For further details check out the link on my website at www.titanfreestyle.com

Owning a gym membership shouldn't be seen as a luxury

We live in a time when our wages have either only increased a little over the last few years or not at all but the price of everything has steadily gone up! During these trying times we may need to revaluate our finances in order to make ends meet but unfortunately a gym membership often is one of the first causalities to be hit, as more often than not it is seen as a luxury, rather than an necessity. This is a bit short sighted as if you think about it, it's a form of insurance that if you exercise regularly you can reduce the risk of getting certain diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and certain cancers. A gym membership can help lay down the foundations of a strong body both in mind and spirit, helping you cope with stress better and reduce the risk of getting depression and anxiety or controlling it better if you already have these, as during exercise the body produces hormones that make you feel better in yourself and during exercise you're focused on the task at hand rather than dwelling on more negative thoughts sitting at home. You are strengthening your body to be able to cope better as you age and reduce the risk of falls and continue to enjoy a good quality of life. Also the social side can be great and all that support from your fitness instructors and fellow class/gym buddies shouldn't be underestimated. So if you're thinking of ditching that gym membership to save a bit of money, maybe it's time to reconsider as you maybe losing out more than you will be gaining in the long run.

Avoid the Snakes and use the Ladders

I was playing that classic children's board game the other day with my 6 year old daughter, Snakes and Ladders and it got me thinking. The game was designed back in the Medieval times to teach children about the highs and lows of life and enjoy the good times but be prepared that life can take unexpected turns and one should have the patience and perseverance to carry on regardless when it happens. So this is similar when people start a new healthy routine, whether that's starting to exercise, give up smoking or go on a diet. They start off so well and start moving along nicely, going up those ladders of life and starting to feel better for it than bam- something happens, they get ill, a family crisis occurs, have that cigarette after a few too many or have that greasy burger and chips and they go down that snake of life. But unfortunately too many people believe once they 'fall off the wagon' that's it and they give up. The different stages of change that a person goes through from before starting a new behaviour and finally doing it without even being aware of it is called The Stages of Change Model. The 6 stages of change are not being aware you need to change, being aware of the need to change, preparing to change, the action of change, then maintenance of that change and finally Termination, where the person has gotten into such a habit that they do the behaviour without thinking, it becomes natural for them. The other component that completes this model but is shown outside of these stages is relapse. Relapse can occur during any stage of these changes but should never be seen as the final stage. It should be seen as a snake and after you go down it you should dust yourself down and go find another ladder and get back up again. A person only truly fails if they finally give up, so before giving up for good, think about the game of Snakes and Ladders and try using patience and perseverance and keep on going and never give up until you have achieved your goal and finish that game.

Love your Heart for Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is this Saturday and so it's an ideal time to talk about the heart and how we can look after it better, helping to reduce heart disease that can occur in later life. Heart disease is the leading killer in this country, with 1 in 5 men and 1 in 8 women dying. It's responsible for 82,000 deaths each year in the UK, that equates to 224 people dying from heart disease each day! So here's my top 5 tips on how to keep your heart healthy and help reduce your risk of getting heart disease 1.) Stop Smoking- Quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do for the health of your heart. Smokers are almost twice as likely to have a heart attack compared to someone who has never smoked. The good news is that the risk of heart disease is dramatically reduced soon after you quit. The NHS has many ways to help you quit from nicotine replacement patches to support groups-contact www.nhs.uk/livewell/smoking for more details. 2.) Exercise- If you do moderate exercise or activity for 150 minutes a week, then you reduce your risk of heart disease by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by 30%. Inactivity increases the risk of death and developing a lot of diseases that can reduce your life expectancy and quality of life such as heat attacks, stroke, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis and mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Government guidelines suggest we should be active for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week to get our 150 minutes. The good news is that 10 minute bouts can contribute to your daily 30 minutes if you're strapped for time. Ensure you are slightly out of breath and perspiring in order for it to count as moderate exercise. 3.) Have a healthy BMI and waist circumference- by keeping to a healthy weight and having a BMI (Body Mass Index) of between 18.5-25 and not having a larger waist circumference than you should for your gender, no more than 102 cm for males and 88 cm for women, you greatly reduce the risk of getting heart disease in the future. 4.) Go Mediterranean - research has shown that following a diet like this can help reduce the risk of heart disease. The Mediterranean diet consists of plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, peas and beans, with moderate portions of chicken, fish and red meat. Most of the fats come from unsaturated, such as fish and olive oil rather than saturated that is found in meats and other animal products, which are not so healthy for the heart. 5.) Get married- since it's Valentine's and it's good for your heart, you have the perfect excuse. A study of nearly 15,000 people who had a spouse, had a strong social network of friends and family and socialized regularly had significantly lower BP and other heart disease factors than those who lived alone. So on this Valentine's Day love your heart and try to adopt some if not all these tips(if you're not doing them already of course) to help reduce the risk of getting heart disease and increasing the chances of living a long and healthy life. Have a very happy St Valentine's Day and see you next time x.