Believe me when I started to write this post I didn't think it will be this long so be prepared it takes a few minutes but it will be worth it. I am working against myself here because you will get a pretty good idea how to write yourself a health program it won't be 100% but can still kickstart your "new you" program. For more info on diet and lifestyle secure your place for my workshop that will be held on Wednesday 05/05/10  19.00 - 21.00 at Expression Studios (Highgate Rd, NW5), workshop, healthy welcome drinks, snacks, a 60 minute private consultation all for £12. Call now on 07894990655.

Mr Dave Graham asks me if I could help him lose a stone, in his opinion his diet is quite good and stress levels are mild but he considers it as normal in today’s world.

As we go through all the questionnaires and assessment we find that at the moment he is mixed type regarding his metabolic type, he has a lot of stress in his life with regards to work and finance and his flexibility is less than optimal, he eats 3 meals a day, eating mainly free range and organic food, dinner being his biggest meal and skipping breakfast once or twice a week, meaning his first meal is either lunch or some biscuits and coffee around 10 am. He does not smoke and drinks only a glass of wine at dinner or a bit more over the weekend.
His lunch is normally a sandwich with wholemeal bread, never white and a bottle of water or juice bought from the shop nearby. Together with commuting every day he is in a seated position for 9 - 10 hours / day. He started running to shift some weight but he had to replace it with cycling since his lower back started to hurt above a certain speed, and since he's started cycling his hips feel really tight and suffers from cramps. He ran out of options as he has never been good at lifting weights. He goes to bed around mid-night and often wakes up tired even when not waking up during the night.

His anxiety over work and money could be amplified by inadequate recovery and nutritional deficiencies, meaning that he goes to bed to late, doesn’t recover properly and doesn’t eat enough, that’s right, his diet does not supply enough nutrients, vitamins, minerals, secondary nutrients and his training regime doesn’t support his health even though it works for his friends who run regularly and look much fitter than him.

Now, instead of starting a weight training routine with light weights and high repetitions we start with almost no exercise, as he needs a lot of stretching and changing his diet, his first sessions will be spent on learning what stretches to do while discussing a plan for every lifestyle and diet related change to come up with ideas that work for him and are realistic.

As he craves certain carbohydrates and coffee I advise him to drink more water, eat according to his metabolic type, which in his case is 50% meat and other proteins to 50% carbohydrates such as vegetables, seasonal fruits and less bread than before and supplement with some over-the-counter pro-biotic formula that will support his immune system and improve his digestion.

Because I found his shoulders imbalanced and very tight, I send him to a sport massage therapist for soft tissue release once every two weeks to improve his flexibility.


He has so called anytime/anywhere stretches to do during the day that can be done seated or standing without any equipment, a great way to stretch in the office or at home. This allows us to do some exercise. He has problems with his breathing patterns, he cannot perform diaphragmatic breathing meaning cannot relax so we do some breathing exercises, I ask him to do these at home before going to bed creating a pattern so he can wind down sooner and go to bed around 11pm.
           *By the way, it's easy to test whether you have normal breathing patterns or not, put your hand or hands on your tummy and breath in, see what you feel, if your tummy expands pushing your hands away from you while you are breathing in then you have optimal breathing patterns. If nothing happens to your tummy when you breath put one hand on your chest and see what happens, if your chest rises while your stomach doesn't you will need to do some breathing exercises. We should breath the first two thirds into the stomach and only the last third into the chest. Join a Qi Gong or Thai Chi class or contact me to build these exercises into your program.


Back to Dave, after 4 weeks his flexibility improves and his stress levels drop, he feels more alive and balanced. He says even his colleagues have noticed the change, he hasn’t lost weight but looks happier and healthier. Because we only need to stretch 20 minutes by now and his stress levels are low to moderate we start to do more exercise focusing on the core and posture to eliminate the tension on his lower back, after a month or so session by session we progress from floor and bodyweight exercises to big compound movements using all the breathing and core stabilizing techniques we have learned with the floor exercises while further improving his diet, meaning big breakfasts, lots of water, healthy snacks and more raw food then ever, all according to his metabolic type. By now he has lost 3 kg by doing nothing but breathing, core and posture improving workouts, this is less than he first wanted but he is happy with the results because he has never felt so energetic and motivated.
His stress levels are low and its time to increase one source of stress, exercise, with circuits he really likes short but challenging cardio sessions he manages to lose 6 kilos by the end of the 4th month, so we are a month behind his original plan but he would like to tone up and maybe lose another 3 kilos, time for building some muscle, we use primal patterns using a mixture of complicated exercises that challenge balance and co-ordination and some good old body building exercises to keep workouts interesting, I asked him to eat more meat with every meal,  lots of vegetables, and very little fruits and only after training, avoid protein shakes and drink more water. After two months, so at the end of the 6 month training he weighs only 3 kg less than he did on day 1, but his body fat dropped by 10% and he changed his body shape, his wife said he looks 10 years younger and a 100 times happier.
Now he sees me every now and then for a session to spice up his routine, but he knows how to organize his diet, what’s good for his body and why, he completed the holistic lifestyle coach course and helps his family and friends out with fitness and diet, he is thinking about changing his full time position to a part time one so he can work as a lifestyle coach at his local gym.

Happy End But...

using the very same approach, the same person could end up with less than optimal results if he was not open for the advice on lifestyle and diet I gave him. Instead of changing his diet and certain things in his lifestyle he asks me to forget the diet as his diet is healthier than many of his colleagues and they still managed to keep trim. He wants me to increase the intensity of the workouts, I don’t agree and now he joins a boot-camp, he is confident that the regime will work, after 3 months he lost 6 kilos, but he’s back still hurts, his shoulders and hips are constantly tight and now his tendons at the back of his ankles hurt after training, he still has stomach problems and wakes up tired as always, he is happy about his weight loss but he is not satisfied with his health, during one of the boot-camp sessions he “pulls” a muscle in his back and can’t do much for 2 weeks, his motivation drops as he realises that he’s put on 2 kilos, he thinks its too early to start the regime again so he treats himself with a few night outs and a bit of restaurant food, 4 weeks after his injury he is almost back to square one, he starts training again, goes to a physio with his back, and one day while playing tennis the tendon at the back of ankle snaps….and so on and so forth.

This could of course happen over a longer period of time making it harder for him to realise the things like diet and lifestyle and the way we feel and perform physically and mentally are related to each other and that he cannot outsmart the body with a "more is be better", "no pain no gain" approach to fitness.

 
Thanks for reading our message.

Matyas Torok and Aniko Hadnagy

See you in two weeks, don't forget to book your place by calling 07894990655

OK so you do not believe in Zeitgeist and other conspiracy theories but you do not have to be Einstein to see that the way we live life in the world of capitalism is not sustainable and whether the richest of the rich people escape the second BIG BANG like they did in the recent movie 2012 or we all keep turning the wheel of monetary system until we slowly poison ourselves and our environment until we will not have anything left to eat but the money itself and the plastic we accumulated well either way we will sooner or later find ourselves at the shorter end of the stick. Enjoy the video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5934530156227758850#
By the way consuming whole foods, cooking your food, maybe even growing your own will not just help you cut down on rubbish but on your weight too. Worried about your diet? Call me for your free 45 min consultation. Contact details.

Although we know that in every can of fizzy drink there are 6+ teaspoons of sugar and a lot of other even less useful stuff, there seems to be a way to benefit from [consuming] buying fizzy drinks. I have just come across this article on Yahoo which I find funny and interesting at the same time. Interesting, for sure but why funny? I will tell you about it later.
"Daizi Zheng designed the 'greenphone', which is powered by Coca-Cola, as part of her final university project.

The Central Saint Martins graduate came up with the concept for Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia.

Ms Zheng said the prototype could run up to four times longer than a traditional lithium ion battery and has the potential to be fully biodegradable.

The greenphone's bio battery generates electricity using enzymes to catalyse sugar in the drink.

As the battery dies out, only water and oxygen are left behind.

Unfortunately, Nokia will not be developing the greenphone prototype further in the near future.

Ms Zheng told Sky News: "At the time they wanted something to bring out within the next two years and thought my design was too futuristic."

But she added that bio batteries are being developed by large electronics companies and may be on the market in the next five years."

Of course it's funny because fizzy drinks aren't just made of water and sugar so Nokia doesn't want to have customers who complain that after a while there is some suspicious stuff in the battery left behind to. The article mentions Coca Cola so let's have a look at the suspicious stuff

From Wikipedia:
"Published competitors say it contains sugar, caramel color, caffeine, phosphoric acid, coca leaf, kola nut extract, lime extract, flavoring mixture, vanilla and glycerin. Alleged syrup recipes vary greatly. The basic “cola” taste from Coca-Cola and competing cola drinks comes mainly from vanilla and cinnamon; distinctive tastes among various brands are the result of trace flavorings such as aspratame, orange, lime and lemon and spices such as nutmeg. [1]

To this day, Coca-Cola uses a United States license to purify the coca leaf for medicinal use.[2]

Because cocaine is naturally present in coca leaves, today's Coca-Cola uses "spent", or treated, coca leaves, those that have been through a cocaine extraction process, to flavor the beverage. Some contend that this process cannot extract all of the cocaine alkaloids at a molecular level, and so the drink still contains trace amounts of the stimulant.[1][3] The Coca-Cola Company currently refuses to comment on the continued presence of coca leaf in Coca-Cola.[4][5]

Do you drink sodas? I am sure you know that it's not as healthy as drinking herbal tea with ginger and lemon. At least from know you will have an excuse to why you have one in your hand when your personal trainer or dietitian bumps into you in a restaurant. "Sorry mate, just about to charge my batteries...I mean my phone's battery."

I know, I know it was not funny but at least you have read the whole article.

unbelievable but true, if you have skin problems, head ache, foggy brain, low vitality and/or cannot shift weight even with a healthy diet, low stress levels and exercise then watch this video and maybe you will need to contact a holistic dentist, NHS ones don't normally do it and you need special equipment, imagine azbest being removed from a house :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylnQ-T7oiA

Stop looking for the magic bullet, the achieve optimum weight AND TO MAINTAIN it one has to get healthy first, but what is true health?
The media and the fat cats don't want the masses to become healthy otherwise too many would live for too long and pensions must be paid!
The fat cats with their big corporations want you to rely on supplements, drugs, their cheap and addictive food and toxins to make money IN 25 years drinking water will be more expensive than petrol, imagine how much money there is to make by selling bottled water. Why is that when doctors prescribe a course of anti-biotics most of the time they don't suggest you taking probiotics after you got better?

  

Anti-biotics wipe out bad and GOOD bacteria in the gut so you are left with an even weaker immune system, probiotic supplements and foods recolonize the gut with good bacteria so again why are we not advised to eat buttermilk (kefir), sauerkraut and other fermented products?
Maybe without a strong immune system chances are bigger you stay sick and buy more drugs. Stomach problems, depression, headache, flu and stuff that can be treated (not healed) with over-the-counter drugs are fairly cheap and heavily advertised on TV and other media and of course if you are not 100% healthy you are not 100% happy either, mood swings can be nicely treated (not healed) with things like shopping for clothes and gadgets, entertainment, anything that gives you a kick will do because your body can't produce happiness hormones meanwhile stress, cheap sugary and fatty food and the lack of physical activity makes many ill and fat and unhappy.
 If you think you want to start fresh in the new decade, make a change for yourself then its time to get selfish and do what is good for you, plenty of information is out there, self-help books, websites and even organizations so you can start your journey. I personally recommend the following sources :

  

Book: How To Eat, Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek, Why Zebras don't get ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky,  CD's:You are what you eat Website: www.chekconnect.com and www.mercola.com video: http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ don't entirely agree with everything but interesting thoughts there.
Feel free to contact me if you don't know where to start your journey to fitness and well-being. http://www.everfit.co.uk/contact-us.html

           This time of year everyone is making New Year resolution plans, whether these plans are fitness related or not the most important element of planning is setting realistic goals, without them you are more likely to fail and thus more likely to be put off next time you think its time for a change.
           For example you know you would look 10 years younger by dropping 2 stones so you think if you went to the gym 4 times a week and lost 1 kilo every week by Easter you could achieve this goal, this sounds good though deep down you know 4 times a week 1 hour plus 1 hour with changing, taking a shower, get to the gym and then home would not fit into your schedule, so after a month or so when you start to see results you ease off a bit and decide that if you only went 3 times a week for the next two months you could still lose 1 and 1/2 stones and still would look much better then before. Plus you haven't had take away and pizza for 5 weeks now so you think you deserve it and believe me next thing you know at the end of the second month you didn't lose any weight, with only 4 weeks to go you decide to forget about the whole thing and promise to yourself to start fresh after Easter and will get in shape for the summer.
          It is very easy to set goals but even easier to fail if you were too strict with yourself. Plus the thing is there are many factors that could slow down or even inhibit fat loss, food sensitivity, inflammation of the gut, impaired detoxification health, higher than optimal total GI levels of meals, Dehydration, Inadequate sleep and recovery and the physical stress being put on your body by any or a combination of these. If fat loss was as easy as running 1 hour 4 times a week there would not be such places as gyms and health clubs.
          To minimize the chance of making similar mistakes sit down and write down you goals on a peace of paper, then imagine you have achieved this goals and now write down how do you feel, how do you look, what compliments do you friends make about your new look, what clothes do you wear and how did your life change after all your hard work.
          Feels good, doesn't it, now imagine you failed to achieve your goal and write down how you feel, look, what people think about you going to the gym and not achieving what you wanted and how you would feel about that. Also write a list, an action plan, things you have to do in order to achieve your goal, for example drink nothing else but water, pack my lunch, cook 4 times a week, write my grocery list and stick to it, go to bed before midnight, train 3 times a week, cycle to work etc. It is a good idea to create a list of things that surely contributed to your current weight or well-being and reassess your action plan whether or not you have to add anything.
          Now that you have all these lists you can read them a few times and take time to adjust them, see whether any part of the action plan needs adjusting or  are the any other things that could get in your way such as spouse's negative attitude towards your plans, your favourite tv show, your favourite 9 o'clock snack and make extra notes, discuss them with your partner or family if you think it would help. These might sound pointless but we do need to see things clearly, you might read your lists and say there is to much to sacrifice and wait until you are ready and it might be a much better decision than not planning at all and failing half way through it.
          Have you ever failed to achieve your fitness goal, despite the fact that you did your best and there might be some other factors that you have never considered before and could get into your way this time too? Are you not completely sure what your diet should look like or what exercises are most suitable for you? Do you have any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact me or any other Chek practitioner through ChekConnect!
        I hope you had a wonderful time during the Hol

  According to The Times we should all give up meat saying: people will need to consider turning vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change. Lord Stern of Brentford said: Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better."
It also suggests that direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas.
In the second half of the article there are diagrams showing the cost of a meat eater's diet comparing it to the vegan diet. Of course it does not mention the cost of organic farming. Humans are designed to eat meat, otherwise we would have five stomachs and teeth like a cow. If early humans did not start to eat meat we would not be here today, not in this form at least, our brain got bigger after we started to hunt, eat meat and fat, we had to because our climate has changed and vegetation was limited throughout the winter months.
Stern says meat creates a lot of greenhouse gases, well what we are talking about is the animal farting its way through his life and it does it because its a natural bodily function on the other hand how much kettle farts depends on its diet, commercially raised cows and pigs are fed grains (which is not what they are designed to eat, cows should be grassing and pigs should be running around in the forest looking for fruits, mushrooms, roots, small animals, dead animals basically everything they can find) so a diet based on grains results in loads of methane. Another reason why organic farming is better for the planet.
Another issue here is that 1 pound of meat has a nutritional value of ca. 6 pounds of vegetables so multiply the cost of vegetarian diet by 6 but at least 3 or four and you will see that the numbers aren't so different.
Of course organic food is slow, profits, I mean the governments profits are much smaller, so it does not make sense to say eat organic and you will be reducing your carbon foot print. Instead become a vegetarian, eat a lot of grains and fruits, feel happy about being doing the right thing for the planet, but don’t be surprised if you start to gain weight, experience low immunity and be tired. Some people do quite well on a vegetarian diet, some do not. There is only one of you, as much as we look different from the outside we are different from the inside, the way you metabolize food is individual, even the shape of your stomach is different from everyone else's.
healthy soil->healthy plants->healthy animals (farting less)->healthy people->healthy thinking, speaking and living->healthy planet.

Welcome to our blog. In the first couple of posts I would like to share some interesting facts about myths regarding health and fitness.
On the Home page you might have read the first striking "news":
Cholesterol is essential for survival, salt is good, egg yolk is not evil, cereal is, sugar is addictive and it serves a purpose in increasing sales, milk and dairy are not the primary source of calcium, the most polluted environment for people is often their home.
Surprised?
Here is the first one, Cholesterol is essential for survival, now many would agree that it cannot be true because their doctor said it clogs up the arteries so we should stay away from fat especially saturated fat as its the most evil one. But we are never told that actually long term stress coupled with an inactive lifestyle is what clogs up the arteries. How? Here is what happens when you realize you overslept, missed the last bus and will be late or find out you lost your wallet. Your symphatetic nervous system switches your body fight or flight mode, your blood pressure increases as blood rushes to the muscles, fat, protein and sugar is mobilized to give you maximal strength and energy to prepare you for fight or flight the same way as it did 10 000 years ago, our genetic make up has changed very little since then, but our lifestyle did a lot, back then we would run or fight for our life when we had to survive and the physiological changes are the same we are under stress, but what happens today is that all that fat that is mobilized when you realize you have lost your wallet is not being used so it keeps circulating in your system, now the other thing what happens is that cholesterol has its role, it has to repair certain tissues if they got damaged, one of these bodily tissues is the wall of the arteries, when you are stressed and your blood pressure is elevated the blood rushing through your veins with a much bigger force damages the arteries, first of all at places where arteries branches split into smaller arteries, cholesterol repairs the damage and everyone is happy.
So why do you think the same physiological response kills us today?
Today most of us live in constant low level stress coupled with short periods of very stressful everyday things considered to be normal in our society. That means our blood pressure is constantly higher than it would have been average thousands of years ago, plus we don't use up the mobilized energy sources and there if "food" around 24/7/365.
I said "food" because today most people eat meat from commercially raised kettle that is high in toxins and low in nutrients but it is going to be explained at another time. Bottom line is fat and thus cholesterol is as healthy as the animal was, fat stores toxins so unless you buy organic meat stay away from the fat. Eat organic, learn how to balance stress and recovery and you can stop worrying about cholesterol.