FITNESS HINTS, TIPS & RECIPES
Here you’ll find a few ideas or recipes that are in line with my healthy eating plans. Some of these I use for my Bootcampers! This is a course I run periodically to shape people up, inside and out. The results are amazing and long lasting. I hope to be offering it online soon. There will be other ideas put up on this page on a monthly basis.
I'm so sorry I haven't added anything here for a few months. If you have looked elsewhere on tis site you will understand it has been a difficult time. But life is about moving forwards and I am very much back on track again with a busy home and work life and plenty of exciting things planned for the future. This section will once again enjoy regular updates for your benefit.
October
Here are a selection of yoga moves that you might like to try:
1) This is a yoga type move - The Warrior. Bend the front leg, keep the rear
leg straight, reach arms to the sky, hands either together or apart, look at
the hands. Hips chest and shoulders are square to the front, back foot
remains flat. Hold as long as you like.
What does it do? Opens up the hips, nice ab stretch lengthens the back of
the thigh, tones legs.
2) This is maybe a variation of - The Power Twist - Bend the
right leg. Cross the left elbow over your right thigh, make a fist with your
right hand and close it the the left, turn chest towards the sky, the back
foot can be raised or flat. Back leg is straight.
What does it do? Rotates the spine, opens the chest, shoulders and is said
to be revitalizing!
3) Airplane. Stand on one leg keeping it straight,
the other is in the air, tip forward like a water pump, arms are alongside
the body.
Great for balance and control, feel supporting leg working well but mid
section gets a part of the work out too.
Fitness Tip
Haven't exercised in a while or been a long time out of routine? To get the muscles back into a great place to build from, go for high reps - as many as 30 for each muscle group. It seems tedious but you'll be laying down a great base to sculpt, build and develop from. Try this for two weeks. You'll be pleased you have. Skipping this phase is like not tying your new shrubs up for a heavy winter of snow... the branches will snap with the strain and be in trouble next season.
October recipe
Stuffed Tomatoes.
Preheat oven to 200*C/400*F/Gas Mark 6. Cut the tops off 2 large beef tomatoes and reserve. Scoop the tomato pulp and dice. Season the tomato shells and then turn them upside down on absorbent kitchen paper. Dice ½ courgette, ½ orange bell pepper, ½ diced onion, ¼ of a diced cucumber and add to the tomato pulp (except the cucumber), along with 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp curry powder and 1tbsp cumin seed. Meanwhile cook ½ a tray of minced beef with 100ml beef stock (using 1 tbsp of natural stock powder). Alternatively, use sardines. Add to tomato pulp and mix well. Stuff the tomatoes, finally adding the diced cucumber. Place the tops on and put in a roasting tin for 20 minutes until cooked. Drain and serve.
June
Should I train when I’m unwell?
No. Depending on how unwell you are would obviously influence your inclination to train or not. You may even start to exercise and realise that it is much too ambitious for your and wisely decide to leave it.
On the other hand you may get going and, thanks to the release of endorphins, feel a bit better… but later on that day or shortly after the session, the endorphins will wear off and the sickness will return, quite often worse than before.
Think of it like this; there is no gain to be made in training when you’re unwell. Being unwell is a sign that the body needs to rest and recharge. To train is to deny the body of its healing function and asking it to spread what little energy is left too thin. If the body is throwing out symptoms of sickness and fatigue, don’t use up its precious remaining energy on a useless and unbeneficial training session.
The body uses half, yes 50%, of its energy in digestion alone. This is why with sickness it is sometimes an idea to fast (as in stop eating!) to speed up recovery and allow the body to perform, 100% on healing itself. See how irrelevant and un-worthwhile exercising on top of this would be?
Feeling a little low emotionally is a different matter. Sometimes we can confuse this with feeling unwell. Feeling down is enough to stop an appetite for many things but in this case, exercise is obviously a great boost and healer and should be encouraged without excuse!
Energizing Summer Smoothie! This comes from my friend Emiko…
2 limes, 1 lemon, sprig of mint, 2 pears, 3 oranges
Juice the above all together or if you don’t have a juicer, blend them!
I feel totally energised with these lemon smoothies!
May
We’ve always been told that milk and dairy products are packed with calcium. Maybe, but once milk has been pasteurised (which it always is), even the cow’s own calf would die if it was reared on it.
So consider this:
8 oz of milk equals 250 measures of calcium BUT, our body doesn’t assimilate it.
8oz of carrot juice equals between 200 and 400 (depending on the quality of carrot) measures of calcium. ASSIMILATED!
New tastes and ideas - A couple of recipes I give out to my BOOTcampers!
Coriander lime pesto and salmon:
Bunch of coriander
Juice of one lime
2 cloves of garlic
ground black pepper a little sea salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flaked toasted almonds
Combine everything above. Bake salmon 200c for 10 minutes. Smooth pesto over vegetables and salmon!
Make your own fish cakes!
Mix up 4 tblsps parsley, 2 x spring onions, 2 x cloves of garlic, ½ teaspoon lime zest, 2 beaten eggs and pepper with 250 g of salmon… and fry gently!
Add a cucumber salsa – one cucumber diced, 2 tblsp coriander, 1 juice of lime, 1 red chilli and black pepper
Admittedly some of the ingredients are missing to make these stick well together so if you want to add some ground rye bread, that’ll make them more ‘solid’.
April
A quick and simple bake
Put loads of different vegetables and meat chunks in and oven proof dish,
Lightly beat some eggs with a little water and cover the vegetables etc. Bake in the oven, add some spices and herbs to it. This gives you some freedom to experiment and 'customise' and I'm sure you'll enjoy the results more often than not!
A slice of this can replace the sandwiches on picnics too.
An idea for chicken
Try mixing some organic live yoghurt with either Tandori powder or tikka powder and marinate chicken and leave in fridge overnight.
A recipe idea for either oats, millet or oatbran.
Add some shredded apple and dried fruit, ie, raisins, to a bowl of oats or oatbran.
Add some pure apple juice (not from concentrate) until the consistency becomes "sticky".
Grease several ramakin dishes and place the mixture into the ramakins.
Put into the oven for about 20 mins. Allow to cool, and serve with yogurt.
Hints and Tips.
This is my chance to share some of the top tips I’ve favoured over my years in the health and fitness industry. Ones that do make a difference – as I’m not someone for futile new habits. Everything that works does so for good reason!
Most people I’ve known and worked with who’ve always struggled losing fat (not weight) have been irregular eaters. Three times a day isn’t often enough if you’re looking to shift fat! So here goes:
Eat 5 times per day! 3 meals and 2 snacks
In each meal or snack make sure you’re mixing carbohydrate AND PROTEIN!
Why protein? Because it releases energy slowly and therefore helps stablise the blood sugar levels. Getting the blood sugar levels steady is KEY to health and fat loss.
GET MORE ADVENTUROUS WITH YOUR PROTEINS: Too much meat protein is heavy going on the liver – widen your choices, think of vegetable proteins: Humus, chickpea dishes, lentils, tofu, nuts, seeds, soya…
How much? Not much, think of a snack being something that sits in the palm of one of your hands, say a pear and some almonds or a healthy cracker with a spoonful of humus.
You’ll be amazed how eating like this keeps energy levels up throughout the day AND, BEST OF ALL, you won’t go hungry!
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