If you owned a million pound race horse that was earning you money every time it ran, you’d pretty well make sure that you trained it properly, gave it the care it required… you’d nurture your investment wouldn’t you?

Well why don’t we do this to our children?

Yes, most caring average families try to make sure their kids are well clothed, kept safe and away from harm and generally brought up with the right principles.

But what about the foods they eat?

Why is this such a casual decision that parents make. Because giving them the wrong types of foods now could very well shorten their lives substantially. Studies prove beyond doubt that the habits that our children form from an early age have a very significant bearing on their health as they get older.

Getting back to the Bentley or Jag, you’d make sure it was running on the right kind of fuel. You wouldn’t fill it up with diesel if it took premium unleaded and what about your prize race horse. Surely you would feed it the finest food you could afford.

So why don’t we do this with our children?

Yes there are a variety of factors that affect this, it isn’t just a black and white case of good or bad parenting.

For example my eldest daughter isn’t the best eater and I put that down to our misunderstanding of nutrition when she was a baby and the fact that we gave her readymade jars ( a mistake we definitely didn’t make with our younger daughter )

But you’ve got to do the best you can for your children. So if they won’t eat anything other than readymade junk, you need to try and get them on to a more balanced diet. Add in some healthier snacks, fresh fruits and vegetables etc. throughout the day.

Try not to reward all the time with sweets and crisps etc.. Make these the exception and not the rule.

A diet high in sugars and fats can lead to serious obesity related problems in later life so always look for low fat/sugar options for everything you give them. Ideally freshly prepared by you each day.

Please leave your comments below, it’s always great to hear your thoughts too…

Try to get 200-300g of carbohydrates during the 4hrs proceeding the race/competition at regular intervals-finishing with a 50g snack 15mins before the race/competition starts if possible. (Maybe in the form of a drink i.e. Lucozade)

Ensure you are fully hydrated before exercise. Consume 400-600ml within 2 hours before exercise.

Pre-competition breakfast
•    Breakfast cereal or porridge with low fat milk and fresh fruit
•    Toast or bread with ham/honey: low fat yoghurt
•    English muffin with honey
•    Meal replacement shake

Pre-competition lunch
•    Sandwiches or rolls with tuna, cottage cheese or chicken; fresh fruit
•    Pasta or rice with tomato based sauce; fresh fruit
•    Baked potato with low-fat filling; fresh fruit

Pre-competition snacks
•    Smoothie
•    Yoghurt drink
•    Fruit e.g. apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, kiwi
•    Tinned fruit
•    Meal replacement or energy bar
•    Sports Drink
•    Dried Apricots
•    Low-fat fruit yoghurt
•    Rice pudding
•    Mini or scotch pancakes

Foods suitable to eat immediately after events:

•    Sports drinks (home made or commercial)
•    Meal replacement shake
•    Bananas
•    Breakfast cereal
•    Meal replacement bars or energy bars
•    Fruit bars
•    Cereal bars or breakfast bars
•    Sandwiches or rolls filled with honey, jam or bananas
•    Oatmeal biscuits; fig rolls
•    Dried fruit
•    Home-made muffins and bars
•    Rice cakes or low fat crackers with bananas or jam
•    Smoothie
•    Yogurt drink

Also keep top up with sufficient water to replace fluid loss. Eat a carbohydrates snack (60-100g) after exercise as soon as possible (aiming for within 30-40mins). Or immediately after the race try 50g in drinks (isotonic or hypotonic) then a bigger meal within 2hrs.

Eat a protein snack/drink after exercise aiming for within 90mins.

Immediately after exercise drink 250-500ml fluid.

HOW MOTIVATED ARE YOU?

Use these tips to help improve your motivation:

•    If you find it hard to keep going during your workouts, try interval training. Short bursts between high, medium and low intensity. Doing it this way may help your brain respond better so you can work harder for longer.

•    Train with a friend. You will keep each other going, have fun and help divert the attention away from the exercise your doing.

•    Being happy and healthy makes it easier to find that motivation for the things you don’t want to do then after the boring jobs are done you can reward yourself with something nice.

•    Visualise yourself achieving something you want, you will then switch your thought pattern from negative thoughts towards positive, productive action.

•    Keep you training varied – you don’t have to walk or cycle the same route to work everyday. Try not to get stuck into a routine and you’ll look forward to the change in scenery.

•    Make a commitment to yourself, write down and keep a log of whatever you’re trying to improve on. It will help you monitor your progress and set new goals.

•    Get the music pumping-playing your favourite music or something that is uplifting can help increase your enjoyment and motivation.

•    Dress yourself for success, if you look good it’s likely that you’ll feel good too. Make an effort, look in the mirror and smile – see how much better you feel.

•    Designate activity days and hours – so you’re making the appointment with your self and making a conscious effort to exert energy. Giving yourself a break from your normal routine.

Of course one of the most effective ways of getting yourself motivated is by working with a personal or a GOOD gym buddy, someone who will always be there for you to motivate, encourage and drive you forwards on the days when you don’t feel like it.

Get in touch with us to book your first FREE consultation now!!!

Click here to find out more – personal training in Halifax

The key thing here is to strike first. Get in to good habits from the outset. Don’t procrastinate and puts things off especially if those things are whats stopping you from reaching your goals.

Setting targets and deadlines is always one of my favourite approaches to achieving anything at all in life but never more so when it comes to losing weight or getting in to shape.

I’ve just added a really good page here – www.anewimage.co.uk/motivation.html

You may not notice until later life as these changes happen slowly. Falling may become more common being a significant hazard later in life, more so if bones are weak. Falling is the result of deteriorated balance.

You can prevent the loss of balance as it is a skill that can be trained.

It all comes back to the centre point of leading a healthy lifestyle by increasing your activity levels.

Variety is the key incorporating stretching, balance and strength training, keeping legs strong enough to prevent a stumble turning into a fall.

A strong joint is a more stable joint, and a stable joint is better at protecting against a fall.

Almost any activity that keeps you on your feet and moving is helpful for maintaining good balance.

One of the simplest activities for better balance is walking, either outdoors or on a treadmill, the less you walk, the more you begin to ‘unlearn’ the basic skill of balance.

Do you have a tendency to slouch forward and round your shoulders?

If it’s a yes you could make changes to improve your posture as poor posture can cause unsteadiness and balance problems. If you want to achieve a good posture, imagine you have a vertical line running through you ears, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle. Following this checklist to see if you have the perfect posture:

• Head is held erect
• Chin is parallel to the floor
• Shoulders in line with your ears
• Upper back is straight
• Stomach is flat
• Lower back has a slight forward curve
• Knee caps are looking straight ahead

Stability balls (fit balls) are also a useful tool for challenging and improving your balance. There are many exercises you can incorporate into current routine, ask your trainer to show you.

Top Tip – Practice doing daily chores such as washing dishes, talking on the telephone, brushing teeth while standing on one leg.

•    Think you have a well balanced diet?

Write down everything you eat for a week and see if you can see any patterns appearing.

Make small changes and see the results.

•    If you get a craving for a bad habit – such as smoking or filling up on cakes and sweets. Set a timer for five minutes, and then see if you still have the craving when the alarm goes off. The time lapse can help pass the craving by.

•    If you find yourself snacking on high-sugar, high calorie sweets for a treat. Try switching to a piece of fruit or low sugar yogurt.

•    Procrastinating – putting everything off until tomorrow can cause more stress the longer you hold onto them. Make an achievable daily list to work through.

•    Are you a late night snacker or do you eat a big meal late at night? If you are, it can impair sleep quality giving the body heavy work making it more difficult to get to sleep. Eat earlier in the evening to avoid this.

•    Eat breakfast to stay slim – People who eat breakfast tend to consume more vitamins and minerals throughout the day than those who don’t eat breakfast. The breakfast eaters are also less likely to be overweight.

•    Eat a high sugar breakfast or drink a carbonated drink at breakfast and you are likely to feel hungrier and crave more sugar throughout the day.

•    Make sure you take a break during the day at work; people who work straight through tend to be less efficient than those with healthier practices. Leave your workplace and go for a work, meditate, eat your lunch/snack consciously – switch off from work.

•    Limit coffee to 3 cups or less a day, coffee drinkers tend to have more of the stress hormone circulating in their system making them more prone to stress. Drink more water or herbal teas.

•    Want to see the benefits of giving up your bad habits?

Making a clear list of the pros and cons makes it easier to measure up the benefits of giving up your bad habit.

The inflammation may also affect other internal organs such as heart, lungs and eyes.

The body’s immune system attacks healthy joints causing inflammation which can be very painful.

If the disease is not treated and controlled it can lead to permanent damage. Severe damage can lead to permanent joint deformity and disability causing so much pain and swelling that you may have difficulty walking.

Go here to find out more – Rheumatoid Arthritis

For example someone who is very stressed may well eat all the wrong types of foods to gain some sort of control over their situation. As another example a person may be depressed and may eat for comfort.

The following article deals with these issues…

•    Coping with stress
•    Liking Yourself
•    Feeling bad things as well as good

Stress is something we all have in our lives in which we have to learn how to cope with it without reaching for ‘your thing’ be it cigarettes, chocolate or shouting at someone.

Go here to find out more… mental health

The difference is that cellulite is small lumps of fat cells grouped together which give the uneven and unattractive appearance rather like orange peel.

However you CAN do something about it, although this does mean reducing calories or burning more off pretty much as you would if you felt you needed to lose some weight.

You need to make changes to your diet and become more active generally, but do this over a longer period of time than just a few weeks and you’ll see a big difference.

Go here to find out some great tips and advice for getting rid of cellulite wherever it is on your body – how to get rid of cellulite

Taking a holiday abroad at the darkest time of the year could be the key to alleviating SAD. Just a week of sunlight can warn off the symptoms for up to a month afterwards. As holidays are not the cheapest option with the recession, an alternative would be exposure to light boxes as these have been found to help sufferers of SAD by safely mimicking the effects of the summer sun.

Let’s look at the angle of health and fitness as there are many ways to help improve the symptoms of SAD.

Regular exercise, inside or outside could be almost as effective as light therapy for sufferers of the winter blues due to the release of the mood boosting endorphins into the body following any type of strenuous exercise.

Walking outdoors for 15 minutes everyday can help relieve sad because the sunlight and natural light enables the body to produce vitamin D, raising mood boosting brain chemicals and aiding circulation.

Then maybe a little relaxation afterwards such as Tai Chi, Meditation, yoga and massage to continue. 

Choose protein to boost your mood and to avoid blood sugar surges which can negatively affect mood. Stick to protein rich foods that release sugar slowly such as turkey, chicken, salmon, kidney beans, lentils and also slow release complex carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread and brown rice.

As we’re now approaching the party season it’s probably the last thing you’ll want to be doing if you’re suffering from SAD but it could be the best thing for you.

Generally people who make themselves socialize when they’re low feel happier sooner than staying at home.

If you suffer from SAD or think you may do, try one of the above suggestions see how you feel.

You’ve nothing to lose only gain!