Health is wealth - but to get it needs hard work

Posted by Caroline Innes on May 1, 2008 8:10 AM

A MAJOR study into the state of Liverpool's health is published today - and the report paints a sorry picture.

The Health is Wealth Commission found that only one in ten people in the city are active and life expectancy is more than three years less than the national average - seven years less than in the South East.

One solution to the problem, according to the experts, is to work with urban planners to design a city that encourages people to get active, to walk or cycle instead of driving around in their cars and to spend time out enjoying open spaces.

Similarly Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, says urban designers have created environments that encourage obesity by planning public spaces around automobiles.

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Smoking: The very ugly facts

Posted by me on March 12, 2008 10:44 AM

SMOKING and exercise are just not compatible. But lets be honest - smoking and life are just not compatible either.

In this day and age it still astounds me how many people smoke.

But perhaps what is more shocking is given the harsh facts about the impact of smoking on a person’s health that smokers are so defensive about their dirty habit.

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Let's talk about sex

Posted by Caroline Innes on February 13, 2008 12:09 AM

THE NHS has some new advice for people struggling to schedule a fitness routine into their daily lives - a workout between the sheets.

Yes according to the NHS Direct website, Sexercise can lower the risk of heart attacks and helps people live longer.

Forget hitting the road in your trainers and instead opt for a spot of horizontal jogging people!

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Drinking your calorie intake

Posted by Caroline Innes on February 1, 2008 3:41 PM

BAD news this week everyone with revelations that some delicious and chocolaty hot drinks contain the same amount of calories as a plate of steak and chips!

(How is life fair?)

But after the devastation that some of my favourite drinks are laden with hidden fat and calories I thought about just how many of my daily calories are consumed by drinking.

Nutritionists say that many dieters make the mistake of ignoring the calories they have drunk.

They are doing everything else right but are still not losing weight.

But when you realise that drinking that Starbucks Frappuccino is drinking three cheeseburgers worth of calories - then it becomes crystal clear where the problem lies.

(I know - it is very depressing! Even smoothies - yes smoothies- can be laden with calories).

Most people would think it was perfectly acceptable to have two Frappuccinos throughout the course of the day but would never dream of eating six cheeseburgers!

But a calorie is a calorie whether it comes from lettuce leaves, pizza or hot chocolate.

And it is only by monitoring our calorie intake to create a deficit that we can effectively lose weight.

Now I for one am not willing to give up the odd Starbucks hot chocolate but it is important that we all do recognise their calorific content.

For example if a drink has 290 calories in it then compare it to a small order of french fries from McDonald’s.

How many of those would you think it was acceptable to consume in a day/week?

It is really just about being aware about what you actually are putting in your body.

(At this point I really should go on to discuss the hidden calories contained in alcohol - but I am already depressed enough! In fact I think I might go and get myself a nice chilled glass of Rose to console myself! HA!)

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Soaper silliness

Posted by Caroline Innes on January 14, 2008 6:12 PM

AS sure is eggs is eggs, along with the New Year’s resolutions come the celebrity fitness videos!

And the onslaught of the newly honed and toned has-been soap stars’ revolutionary workout regime has well and truly started.

God help us all!

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TIPS TO AVOID OVEREATING AT CHRISTMAS

Posted by Caroline Innes on December 24, 2007 12:13 AM

Eat a decent breakfast and lunch. Don’t starve yourself until the big meal arrives.

KEEP EXERCISING - this will suppress your appetite, boost your metabolism and make you feel less like bingeing.

Drink two or three glasses of water before any big meal begins.

Avoid conflict or emotion that can stress you out to the point where you take solace in food.

Eat 3/4 of the food on your plate and don’t overload it.

Reduce your intake by refusing seconds Remember that you can always enjoy leftovers the next day. Do not eat past the point where you feel full.

Forgive yourself if you do overeat. One large meal is not a problem - many large meals and continuous bingeing is.

Keep a food diary of what you eat. Remember that one pound is equal to 3,500 calories.

Remember alcohol is packed with calories. Chose spirits with low calorie mixers as an alternative.

TIPS:

A 3.5 oz serving of roasted turkey breast has 115 calories; a 3.5 oz. piece of roasted dark meat with skin has 221 calories; a 3.5 oz. piece of roasted dark meat without skin has 187 calories.

A piece of apple pie (an 1/8 of the pie) has 347 calories.

A 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes has 111 calories.

A 1/2 cup of bread stuffing has 198 calories.

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Keep the Christmas pounds off - keep moving

Posted by Caroline Innes on December 19, 2007 6:12 PM

OVER the last two weeks I have sat down to write this blog many times.

But each time I have been distracted by either another box of festive chocolates being opened in the office, the anxiety of getting out and beating the Christmas rush and the nagging reminder that those Christmas cards have still not been written - not even the one that needs sending to Portugal! Oh heck!

Yet at the same time my instructor friends and I have been lamenting the drop in numbers in our classes as all those participants who have worked so tirelessly throughout the year jack it all in to celebrate their fitness gains by sitting on their backsides and stuffing their faces with junk.

Every year the same sorry cycle presents itself across every health club across the entire country.

Come December the gym and studio are desolate - occupied solely by a few die-hard exercisers and weary instructors who are faced with teaching their usually packed class to just three members.

But I will bet my bottom dollar that come January those classes will be rammed.

Old members full of New Year resolutions stand lycra clad shoulder-to-shoulder with new exercisers who have been treated to a gym membership as a Christmas present.

The latter group tend to fall by the wayside by say the end of February - bar but a few.

The others will continue on that annual fitness treadmill to lose that Christmas bulge until their seasonal “let it all go to pot” abandonment kicks in again late Novermber/early December.

I began wondering why we let this happen.

Why a routine that we have stuck too throughout 11months of the year goes out of the window as soon as the mince pies, Christmas pudding and endless boxes of chocolate come in.

It makes me feel sad that exercise is not more an integral part of everyone’s daily life. It is something that is viewed as a chore - as the first thing that is expendable when we are busy or
stressed.

And then I thought about how complicated we sometimes make this job of exercise.

By joining gyms, searching for weight loss short cuts provided by unscrupulous marketers and being led astray by every new all singing all dancing fitness regime - are we trying to be too clever by half?

Bamboozled by all the above, is it any wonder that we look to the excuse of Christmas to take a break from exercise?

Getting and staying fit doesn’t have to be complicated, time consuming or difficult.

All you have to do is follow some simple basics - eat sensibly, keep active - and there you have it.

Sure enjoy Christmas and all the festive fayre that comes with it.

But keep active at the same time and rather than end up as the Christmas Pudding, you will face 2008 fit, fresh and feeling as fabulous as ever.

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Stress - time to beat it

Posted by Caroline Innes on October 15, 2007 5:29 PM

YOU are eating the same food, doing the same exercise but for some reason the jeans are getting slightly snugger and the scales show a few extra pounds are to blame.

Where on earth did this muffin top come from when you have been training as much as ever and have been watching what you eat?

Life sucks. But before you reach for that comforting chocolate cookie in despair, have you thought that it could be that you are stressed?

Now I know stress is blamed for most of life’s troubles these days but experts have found that it does have an impact on our ability to control weight.

The main negative effects of the stress are caused by cortisol which is produced in moments of tension.

Back in the day when Neanderthal man had to roam the wild hunting for food, stress was needed to prepare our bodies to respond to danger and decide whether to fight or flight.

(Faced with an angry sabre tooth tiger you have just speared in the backside I personally would always recommend the latter!)

But now we are put under dozens of stressful situations daily which exhaust the body.

Around 20% of the population say they experience severe stress at work everyday and without daily exercise to combat the effects of cortisol, stress may begin to take its toll on our health - and our waistlines.

Studies have shown that stressed men and women deposit fat inside the abdomen - this is the most harmful area for the heart disease.

Cortisol directs more fat towards this area and the only way to combat this is to get out and exercise.

Stress also causes insomnia.

Stressed people cannot sleep and the lack of sleep induces more stress. (Talk about a vicious circle!)

Moreover, lack of sleep alters the circulating levels of the hormones that regulate hunger, causing an increase in appetite and a preference for calorie-dense, high-carbohydrate foods.

We produce a hormone called leptin while we sleep which regulates appetite and tells our body that there is no need for more food.

In studies research subjects who slept only four hours a night for two nights had an 18 percent decrease in leptin and a 28 percent increase in ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger.

So there is no escaping it I’m afraid.

It is time for all of us to get active so we can bust that stress, rid our bodies of cortisol and burn those calories.

And exhausted from all that exercise at least we will all get a good night’s sleep!

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I'll start with an apology...

Posted by Caroline Innes on September 7, 2007 2:43 PM

IT would appear that my weekly blog has somehow recently turned into a monthly blog and I am shocked and ashamed to see my last post was at the beginning of August!

Now here come the excuses...

This is partly due to the fact that I have been out of the country twice in the last four weeks and have simply not had a chance to update it but it has also been due to a lack of inspiration.

The summer is over, the beach holidays have been taken and with them I am afraid a degree of motivation has also been lost.

Without the fear of scaring young children by baring all in a bikini, the inclination to get to the gym and hone that beach body has all but disappeared.

The nights are drawing in, its getting darker and colder by the day and the shops are beginning to stock flab-hiding chunky sweaters.

How easy would it be to embrace the woolly knits and stay at home under a duvet with a big bowl of apple pie and custard then get out in the cold and dark for a run?

You don’t need to answer that. (I am still thinking about the apple pie now.....)

HOWEVER, as cliched as it sounds Energy breeds Energy and the more exercise you do the more inclined you will be to want to do more.

It is all about getting into and keeping up a routine.

Last night I got home from work tired and fed up.

It was cold, drizzling and going dark and I had to drag my lazy backside kicking and screaming out for a run.

At that point it was the last thing in the world that I wanted to do.

THEN A MIRACLE HAPPENED....

Ten minutes in I was flying round my usual route and enjoying my run so much that I went further than I had planned.

(Believe me - nobody was more shocked than me!)

I was wide awake by the time I got home and committed to doing the same again tonight.

It felt good and I felt proud of myself for not giving into temptation.

Keeping fit and healthy is not a seasonal past time. It is just harder at some times of the year than others.

As an incentive I have signed up again with my friend Ian Winstanley to do the Bob Graham Round next year so I have something to aim for and a goal to achieve.

I have also done my first pole aerobics class (Pole dancing to you and me ... but in workout gear rather than knickers and high heels!) in a bid to do something new.

(But I have given up on the Hula Aerobics - too many injuries due to not enough skill).

When we are busy and tired and it is cold and wet, our training regime is the first thing that flies out of the window.

But it shouldn’t.

Looking after our health and longevity should be a priority for us all .... Always.

So not only have I renewed my commitment to update my blog weekly, I have also decided that now is the time to really get on top of my training.

No matter how cold and dark and dreary it gets I am determined to keep my resolve and basically keep on keeping on.

Unfortunately fitness is not something you can store.

You either use it or lose it and I for one am not going to see all the summer’s hard work go down the drain.

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From burning on the beach to burning the fat again

Posted by Caroline Innes on August 1, 2007 3:54 PM

SO after weeks of being sensible about what I eat and upping my training in preparation for baring all beachside in a bikini, I am now back from my jollies and my motivation has disappeared.

What has appeared in its place is a small paunch created by too much sangria, San Miguel and sitting on my backside.

It would seem that I have a unique ( and rather impressive) capacity to rapidly gain weight and this week after giving myself a stern talking to have decided to shake myself out of holiday mode and take matters into hand...... before it is too late!

Like many I too will struggle to get back into that healthy eating and exercise regime and mentality after enjoying doing nothing but lie in the sunshine and eat out night-after-night.

It is tough to get back on track but I know the longer that I leave it the tougher it will get.

I would rather be faced with losing a couple of pounds now than a couple of stones in six months time so those excuses of starting next week or after Saturday night’s barbecue are just not going to wash with my conscience.

I have seen clients who after weeks and weeks of hard work and commitment to getting fit, spend two weeks eating and drinking on holiday and give up.

They never get back on track and it breaks my heart.

They put off getting back to the gym because lets face it it is not - and never is going to be - as much fun as eating and drinking with friends in the sunshine!

However, exercise should not be something that we just do in the run up to our holidays or a special occasion - it should be something that is as much a part of our daily routine as cleaning our teeth.

As readers of this blog know I believe exercise is key to maintaining a healthy weight.

I believe we should all be able to enjoy that pool side ice cream or beach bar burger guilt free, knowing that we will burn calories and get our hearts pumping later on.

The real issue in battling the bulge is that we are not doing enough physical activity.

Although we consume 750 calories less a day than previous generations, we burn 800 less as well, and this lack of activity is why our waistlines are expanding.

In recognition of the valuable role physical activity plays in combating obesity and increasing life expectancy, England’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has recommended that adults take 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week, with children and young people taking 60 minutes.

On the surface, this seems simple enough, but it does not represent the whole picture.

Indeed, Sir Donaldson acknowledged this when he pointed out that most people would need to exercise for between 45 and 60 minutes a day to prevent obesity.

People who have been obese and lost weight may have to increase this to between 60 and 90 minutes exercise each day, simply to maintain their weight!

Sounds depressing doesn’t it?

But what is more depressing is the thought of losing all that new found fitness, energy and self esteem that training can create after just a week in the sun.

So if like me you are dealing with the post holiday blues ....and bulge, go for damage limitation. Ditch the excuses, grab the bull by the horns and get active. DO IT NOW!

The sooner you start the easier it will be..... and you will still have that sun tan to show off too!

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