The Common Cold, The Garlic Test And Placebo Effect

January 7, 2016

The Common Cold, The Garlic Test And Placebo Effect

Just because someone says so doesn’t make it true. I would like to share a story with you.

For the second half of 2015 every time I’d feel my immunity drop a little I would take garlic. Small pieces of garlic, swallowed, so it doesn’t smell. And this seemed to help.

But I was no convinced. I needed to catch a real cold, not just signs of it. When I went to my parents’ to visit for New Year I stopped drinking my lemon with water, having garlic and, because I injured my food I didn’t go running either.

Luckily my immunity dropped and I caught a cold. That was my chance to see if the garlic actually worked.

In the past colds used to last for 2 weeks, 12-15 days. I used to take paracetamol and other stuff, pills for throat and everything else we usually take. Pills taken 2-3 times a day.

I decided to take small pieces garlic 3 times a day, morning, afternoon and evening. Have it with food as well. Since it’s garlic, and it was also from the countryside, it was good for me.

“Garlic improves blood circulation, healthier cholesterol levels and lowers blood pressure, all of which reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, current evidence does not support the use of garlic supplements to improve health.” – NHS

We’re not talking about garlic supplements. Why would you do that? Seriously. Have the real thing if you have it. Going through research papers, from what I have seen the research regarding garlic is unclear.

Anyway back to our story. The actual cold lasted 2-3 days, as opposed to 2 weeks. That was it. This proved to myself that my body can heal itself with a little outside help, which I am glad was something natural, even organic.

Placebo?

Maybe. But why is that wrong? Is is bad that the body can heal itself? I’d “take” placebo effect anytime instead of all the chemicals and other ways of curing. Wouldn’t you?

Doctors did fake knee meniscus surgery and both the patients who had the real surgery and those who had face surgery healed from meniscus damage.

There are many stories about doctors giving water pills to patients, and patients recovering from serious illnesses.

Are paracetamol, ibuprofen and other pills placebo? I believe they are. The body is capable of more than we believe. But this is only my opinion.

Bottom line, I’d rather recover from colds through placebo by taking garlic, lemon with water and water than by taking chemically manufactured pills. What do you prefer to believe in is your decision.

In fact why do we even need pills, garlic or anything else?

“Is there scientific proof we can heal ourselves?”

Over 3500 cases of patients who have gotten better from seemingly incurable illnesses. All compiled in the Spontaneous Remission Project.

Spontaneous remission – the disappearance, complete or incomplete, of a disease or cancer without medical treatment or treatment that is considered inadequate to produce the resulting disappearance of disease symptoms or tumor. – Caryle Hirshberg and the late Brendan O’Regan

I will leave you with the awesome Lissa Rankin, MD who talks about scientific proof that we can heal ourselves.

January 6, 2016

How To Lose Weight Part Five

Let’s wrap this up. There are 3 reactions that take place in the body at any given time: Physical, Mental and Chemical. We talked about them in the first 4 parts of How to lose weight series.

Every body has an ideal weight. To reach that weight and keep it all the 3 systems must be in balance.

Your style of life is the way you live you life day by day. It can come in many shapes and colours, but it is your style of life. And it’s shaped by the choices you make every day. That’s not meant to scare you, but rather make you understand that you are in control.

Whether you struggle with weight to put it on or off it’s all about the lifestyle. But not your lifestyle today, or last year. No, it’s about your lifestyle in time, over the last 5, 6, 7 or more years. Your lifestyle today will impact your lifestyle years from now.

Weight gain starts inside our bodies, they are like injuries we cannot see, and they manifest at the surface a few years down the road. It is long terms habits that lead to weight gain, thus it is long term habits, of another kind, that will bring you back to your balanced weight.

Changing your lifestyle

A style of life is made up of many small elements, we call those habits. These habits are being built and they change change over the years. That’s good, every year we are different, we want and need different things so our choices and habits change. So does our style of life.

Because you have created this style of life over many years, you cannot expect now to make sustainable changes in a few weeks or even months. It may not take the same number of years it took you to put on the weight, but it won’t happen in a few months either, if you want it to be sustainable.

Don’t lose weight to be healthy, be healthy to lose weight

One of the biggest mistake I believe people make when they try to lose weight is to focus only on that: I HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT.

The thing is weight will always go up and down. It’s a roller coaster. That is why many people give up after a few months. What’s the point, right? Over 2 months one may lose 3 kg and put on 4kg. Then lose 2kg and put on 1kg. But in there there’s 1kg less than when you started.

However, it is not fast enough for the fast paced world we live in. And so we get disappointed and frustrated, which doesn’t help with weight loss either. Focusing on health and giving the body the best fuel to work with will also lead to the weight loss you desire. And you can keep this over prolonged periods of time without feeling under pressure or a burden.

There is more to health than weight loss

If one’s focus is on health and being fit and strong physically and mentally, and less on weight loss (numbers on the scale are there as a guide and one should not put too much feelings into them) that’s when we create sustainable changes.

Counting calories, kilograms and days, waiting to see a notable change from one day to another, is not lasting change. Lansting change it taking each day at a time.

At the end of the day you go to bed with a smile on your face thinking “I gave my body the best fuel to work with. I am stronger and I feel excellent”. Rather than “The scale today showed 1 kg more than yesterday. Tomorrow. I have to eat less and run 1h to burn those calories”.

Which attitude do you think will make you stick to your new habits for years to come?

There is no perfect way

We are physically, psychologically and chemically different, and not everything will work for everyone. If you struggle to lose weight, you must patiently search until you find the way that works best for you.

The lifestyle, sustainable diet for you, the type of exercise or sport you love and gives you the results you seek, and the other activities that make you live with a positive attitude.

I wrote a lot about nutritional guidelines. If you want to read those articles give a shout and I will send you the links. Contact me.

Also read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of How to lose weight.

January 5, 2016

Confusing Comfort For Well-being

Daniel Lieberman (The Story Of The Human Body) gave me the idea for this topic, which I am very passionate about.

There is no doubt that what we have created today enables us to live longer, healthier and we have cured many diseases. And comfort is sometimes good and healthy. Tight shoes aren’t good in any way, tight clothing either, and there are many other examples.

However, we have taken comfort to extreme.

Our bodies, the stone-age bodies, are not adapted to the lifestyle, the modern world we have created. Our bodies are designed to move, walk, carry, bend, they need to eat fresh food, chew food to develop strong jaws and drink water.

Today we use the elevator instead of stairs, sit for hours to work, eat and socialize. Although we know soft mattresses are not good, the desire for comfort and short-term satisfaction takes over.

Same with cars. We know walking is better, yet we look at how fast and comfortable we travel now rather than how strong or weak our bodies will be 10 years from now. Chairs are no different. Yet I am writing this sitting on a very comfortable chair. And you are probably reading it sitting as well.

Technology is also weakening our jaw muscles and bones and changes how we look. To develop strong jaws, we need to stress the bone. Stress by chewing harder food. Not cracking walnut shells, but chewing carrots, celery, nuts, seeds, fruit etc when the skeleton develops (throughout childhood). Drinking the carrots instead of chewing them will, eventually lead to weak jaws.

Chew carrots for 5 min and you will see how your jaw muscles will start aching. They are not strong enough anymore.

Some would argue that the nutrients are best absorbed through drinking. I cannot deny that, as I haven’t done any research myself. By research I don’t mean reading what others write in research papers, but actually be in a lab and see for myself. They may be right.

However, I believe the body is capable of absorbing nutrients just fine. It’s been doing it for millions of years before modern technology. Our bodies are powerful machines, they are not as weak as we may think.

Finally, the development of strong, fit and powerful bodies doesn’t stop after you leave the gym. Everything you do throughout your life, how you use your body daily, determines how strong your body will be. Do stuff, don’t just go for comfort, walk, jump, run and do whatever kids do, they instinctively know.

Elevator vs stairs

Drinking vs chewing

Soft vs tough mattresses

Cars vs walking

Sitting vs standing

…where do you stand? Which is well-being and which is comfort? Give it a thought and look at your habits. I know I look at mine very often.

January 4, 2016

The Motivation Jars

I met Ruth through Obstacle Racing in 2014. She has a job, family, kids, like many of us do. And surely enough life gets in her way too. Yet she has found a way to fit Obstacle Racing, Cross Fit, Running and more in her life. She has kindly agreed to write about the “motivation jars”, which I thought is an interesting way to get those 2-3 weekly runs done.

My story to become a runner

Throughout 2015 I wanted to become a runner, same as the year before. At the end of the year I looked through my Nike + app to find that I had logged the huge number of 44 runs in 2015, that wasn’t all runs thankfully, but for someone wanting to be a runner its pitiful.

I’ve always wanted to run a reasonable 5k time, and for me under 40 mins would be reasonable, my closest being 40:19 in 2014.

Not saying I can’t run, I can run-walk for miles, and think nothing of signing up for obstacle course races of any distance, including a half marathon distance. But if you ask me to run a half marathon I will refuse as I can’t run that far. Silly, I know, but no-one cares if you walk an obstacle course race from start to finish, and that does tend to be my default pace in such a race.

The other thing about running is that I know my body responds well to it in terms of weight control, which as a lady of advancing years I struggle with it year on year.

I’ve seen challenges to run 365 miles a year, I failed when I tried. Others where you pay yourself money for every run, but that doesn’t motivate me either.

Challenges aren’t a bad thing for me, but they are often daily things I fail as my life can be a bit erratic.

You see, I am normal, I have a house, four cats and a husband that sometime works away. I have a full time job, in which I run a 5 person team that is critical to business functions, and if there is any issue/holiday/sickness that need additional support then that falls on my shoulders as well as my normal stuff. So yes life gets in the way, sometimes. It does for everyone.

The challenge

So if I am going to set a challenge or goal it has to follow some basic rules

Be achievable
Be realistic

A friend of mine ran every day during December, setting a minimum distance of 1 mile.

Could I do that during January? No, whilst it is achievable, going out the door for a minimum of 1 mile is very doable, but every day???? I have no idea what January is going to bring me at work, and I am not a runner. Plus running is not my only exercise, I do Crossfit and sometimes the DOMS from that means that walking can be a challenge in itself, so saying I will run every single day is not going to happen.

But I wanted something for 2016. At Christmas I got myself a Vivosmart HR so that I can track my heart rate and steps done each day, and I can also track runs easily. Nike + relies on my entering the details in after the fact a lot of the time.

The Motivation Jars

I saw an idea on a group of American women, two jars, one with beads in, one empty. You set something you want, and if you do it then a bead moves from the full jar to the empty one. Now that sounds a plan.

Dec 31^st shopping trip and I bought myself a bag of glass pebbles, the type used in flower decorating, for the bottom of vases. In the bag are 120 beads.

I knew I had two suitable jars at home already. One I labelled ‘To Do’ and one ‘Done’.

So how to fit 120 beads into a challenge that follows the rules.

31 would be for January – but I’ve already failed in my head at that one.
120 is 3 months – if I can’t do a single month then 3 is no chance
120 is 10 x 12 – ooooohhhh!!! Now that’s sounds interesting

So here is my challenge

A run is anytime I go out the door and run/amble over 2km (my watch is better in metric)
Any Crossfit WOD which includes running totalling over 3km counts as a run.
Every run, moves a bead from the ‘To do’ jar to the ‘Done’ jar
Any race is also moves a bead, regardless of the distance.
Also to the ‘Done’ jar I will add little post-it notes with milestones/quotes/bits of interest on them, then at the end of the year they will be nice little reminders to read back and see what I have achieved.
First post-it note – my weight at 1^st Even if that doesn’t change, the runs and the other achievements will show me how far I have come.

It works out as 10 runs a month, or 2 runs a week with the odd additional run thrown in for good measure.

That is both achievable and realistic, and to ensure maximum benefit to my well-being then the treadmill does not count, all runs are to be outdoors.

About Ruth

At 48 I work as an assistant accountant for a multi-million pound manufacturing company.

Through my life I have done some great things, including going to university to study environmental forensics at 37, getting a Masters in Water Pollution whilst working, and scuba diving some of the most amazing sites in Europe. I’m a cancer survivor and have a family history of heart disease, which I try to keep at bay with mindful choices.

Notable personal sporting achievements representing the country at 47 in the OCR World Championships, taking part in a 24hr running race and toeing the line at an Ironman.

I am an active contributor to the UK Mudd Queens, an online female group based around support and encouragement, I am also blessed with a supportive husband who also strives to be healthy and fit, so when I want to do things there is an automatic support system.

Current desires are to keep healthy, enjoy running, have another go at a 24 hr race and do better, get my weight and hormone responses under control.

And most of all to live and enjoy life.

January 3, 2016

How To Lose Weight Part Four

Chemical reactions are one of the three reactions taking place in your body at any given time, together with physical and psychological. Although I wrote about them in separate articles they are part of a system. None of them stand on their own and each of them influence and are influenced by the other 2.

Chemical reactions keep the body alive. There are trillions of reactions taking place in the body and, collectively they are known as metabolism.

Chemical compounds can be breathed in or swallowed, sometimes absorbed through the skin. While we need some of them to be able to live, others harm us. There are situations we cannot control, others we can control to a certain degree and others we can control more to reduce the quantity of chemicals we ingest and breath in.

Toxins are absorbed by the body and can affect hormones, digestion and other chemical reactions in the body, while helping our bodies store more and more fat. It is important to minimize the toxins we welcome in our bodies. And here are a few ways to do that, think about each of them and whether you can even improve them.

I do believe that nutrition, which we have more control over, is the first thing to address. By tackling eating habits we can lose weight by reducing the amount of calories, toxins we ingest, give the body what it needs to be and stay healthy and have a healthy digestion. While in other articles I talk more about nutrition habits, here I will not go into detail but remind you about a few of them:

nutrition – eat organic when possible
know the source of your food – the more local the better as they are not treated to last days of transportation
less processed food – particularly if it’s not cooked by yourself
digestion – this is an important part of weight loss, these are chemical reactions. By eating less processed food (steamed instead of fried or boiled, raw instead of cooked, local instead of overseas) we can significantly improve our digestion and lose weight
no fast food (not just less) – at all, they might taste nice but what’s in them is not what you want in your body…..I don’t what to know more than I already do to be honest, but if you do want to know more there are thousands of resources out there, James Oliver has done a great job in his batter with fast food chains, check out his website and google about him and fast food battle.
workout – while I encourage the outdoors, I do not encourage the city; your workouts, walks and runs are a great way to invite pollution into your body; we now also train (classes and personal training) in Oxted, South of London, about 35 min with the train. It is not close for many but society has made it difficult for us to breathe cleaner air so we adapt, will you? Check out our coaching programs, click here.
air in your house – now this is more difficult to clean, unless you are willing and have the financial possibility to invest in devices to purify the air, otherwise you can reduce the chemicals in the air you breath by, for example, reducing the amount of sprays you use (all those good smelling sprays are not natural, you can’t “buy” nature with a few quid, stop putting money in their pockets and use things like citrus fruits to make your house smell nice, buy some flowers, use essential oils and if you are outside the city open the windows!!)

Digestion plays an important part in weight loss, so the key is to balance the physical (exercise), mental (reduce stress) and chemical (digestion and quality of food). Digestion and quality of food we can control to lose weight and reduce toxins in our bodies as well.

This is the 3rd of the three reactions taking place in the body. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 as well. There’s one more coming so keep an eye out for it.

January 2, 2016

How To Wake Up For An Early Morning Run

Throughout University and Masters studies I used to wake up at 5-5:30 am for my runs. When I got a job I did the same. Once you get into a routine is difficult to get out of it, whether that routines is to sleep in or jump out of bed, put the kit on and get out the door.

If you find it difficult to get up in the morning but you would like to, remember it’s about building momentum and then it gets easier to wake up early in the morning for your workout or run.

Now that I have my own business my running times are different. Sometimes I have clients from 7 am so I don’t do my own run as well, other time I do them. I don’t need to wake up very early. However, between 2012-2014, I used to wake up at 4:30 am to go training with my coach. I still have early morning runs though, they are the best.

The truth is that if you really want to do something you will, no matter how difficult you find it. Then you build momentum and it gets easier.

Here are a few of my tips and tricks to wake yourself up in the morning and get out that door:

have your kit ready, even the shoes, next to your bed – if you have to look for your shorts at 5 am chances are you will just go back to bed, wake up and put the kit on
have you water and bar ready – have them ready the evening before, next to your kit
alarm – if you are a heavy sleeper, have an alarm that could wake the neighbors, not one that will put you back to sleep
far far away – if you can, put your alarm far from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off
move – if you find it difficult to wake/get up, start jumping around, do 5 press ups, anything to get your body moving and wake you up, you don’t need to do a full workout, just to move – it works wonders
the evening before – it would be best to prepare your work clothes and bag before you go to sleep so you don’t feel under pressure in the morning, sometimes this can put us off running
weather – know the weather the evening before so you know what to prepare for

To have a quality sleep the most important advice I can give you is to avoid stimulating your brain 1-2 hrs before going to bed. No tv, computer, social media, phone movies etc, your quality of sleep will significantly improve just by avoiding this.

January 1, 2016

How To Lose Weight Part Three

After we talked about the 3 reaction that take place in our bodies at any given time: physical, psychological and chemical, in Part I, and about how to keep the physical side in balance, or strive to keep it in balance, in Part II, we will now talk about psychological aspects of weight gain and weight loss.

Read Part I and Part II before continuing.
Psychological reactions means stress, depression, frustration, worry, anxiety and so on. We already know that stress causes imbalance at a hormonal level. we talked a bit about cortisol hormone in Part II.

A bit of stress is alright, but excessive stress can also affect thyroid function. And when hormones are out of balance we may experience excessive weight gain, even if we exercise and eat healthy. You can’t have 2 and not the 3rd, all three reactions have to be in balance, or as close to it at possible.

No need to explain more about the negative impact of stress on your health. I’d rather give you a list of bullet point ideas of how to actually reduce stress. You may have already done some and didn’t work, try others.
For example meditation doesn’t always work with me, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s why I have many other ways to relax. And here are some of them for you to try as well:

Breathing – stress and anxiety? Do some breathing exercises and you will be like new. To download a FREE ebook I wrote on breathing exercises click here.
Meditate – just close your eyes and focus on your breath, the sounds around you or parts of your body you want to relax, no need for fancy stuff, just do nothing for a while
Run – go for a run if you are a runner, and go for a run even if you are not a runner, put some gym shoes on and run…outdoors where you have space and room to breathe
Martial Arts – chose a martial art and be consistent with your training, it’s great stress releaver even if you don’t punch pads (Martial Arts are not always about punching bag and pads, not until you actually learn how to punch)
Sleep – take a power nap; when I am stressed I also feel tired, sometimes a nap is all I need so I can get back to work and be very productive
Eat – have a nice, healthy and satisfying meal, not comfort food, rather food with healthy fats, unprocessed carbs and protein, all you need and crave from comfort food but healthier and in another form
Walk – go for a walk, sometimes this is all we need to clear our mind
Social media and email? – no, no, this is not what you need, this will stress you even more, disconnect, you are not addicted to it. If you believe you are turn off internet on your phone when you are out for that walk, turn off the phone even

So here they are, a few suggestions to keep the mental part calm and happy.

Remember exercising and eating healthy are just part of your weight loss journey. If you want to do this, do it right, quick fixes will get you short lasting results.
Look at your style of life, make the necessary changes and you will see how, little by little, your whole life will change.

Read Part I and Part II of How to lose weight

December 31, 2015March 12, 2022

How To Breathe When Running – Breathing Exercises And Techniques For Runners

I believe breathing techniques while running are one of the most important aspects and runners should learn how to breathe correctly. I coach on technique but knowing about correct breathing patterns while running makes the whole experience more enjoyable.

I work with a lot of clients who haven’t exercised in years, and they tell me they want to run but they cannot. Everyone can run. We were born to run. How you run, that is a different story. My clients usually experience breathing problems when running, knowing they are not related to any health conditions.

One of the reasons we experience breathing problems when running is because we haven’t found a breathing pattern to get the body, the lungs, the heart in a rhythm. We sometimes breathe faster, then slower, taking in more air, sometimes less and it’s confusing, and so we run out of breath.

To tackle breathing problems when running we must practice some basic diaphragmatic breathing exercises and learn basic breathing techniques for runners to focus on,

Let’s begin with the basic diaphragmatic breathing exercises:

Step 1. Make sure you breathe correctly, that means when you breathe in you make your stomach big, when you breathe out you pull your stomach in.

Step 2. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth

Step 3. The breathing exercise. Let’s take 4 seconds as count for breathing in, out and holds. You can adjust them to fit your level:

Linear breathing technique

I use this as a warm up for the others.

– BREATHE IN through your nose on a count of 4
– BREATHE OUT through your nose on a count of 4.
– Repeat

Triangle breathing technique

Imagine an equilateral triangle. It has 3 equal sides

– BREATHE IN through your nose on a count of 4.
– HOLD on a count of 4.
– BREATHE OUT through your nose on a count of 4.
– No hold after this one. Repeat

Adjust the in breathe, out breathe and holds according to your level. More advanced diaphragmatic breathing exercises are square, rectangle, therapeutic breathing. Contact me if you’d like to know more about them. Click here to contact me.

These breathing exercises should be practiced at rest, not while training. Practice these daily for a month. You will see improvements in your lung capacity after the first 1-2 weeks.

Breathing techniques for running are about rhythm.

Find the rhythm and you are on your way to solving your breathing problems when running.

There are mainly two breathing techniques for running efficiently:

1. Two In – Two Out

This is a one of the breathing techniques for runners to begin with. It’s straight forward:

on Step One – Breathe In (as the foot lands)
on Step Two – Breathe In (as the foot lands)
on Step Three – Breathe Out (as the foot lands)
on Step Four – Breathe Out (as the foot lands)

Once you get comfortable with this style of breathing when running you can go to step 2 and keep this style from now on.

2. Two In – Three Out

on Step One – Breathe In (as the foot lands)
on Step Two – Breathe In (as the foot lands)
on Step Three – Breathe Out (as the foot lands)
on Step Four – Breathe Out (as the foot lands)
on Step Five – Breathe Out (as the foot lands)

This style of breathing while running means that you will not stress one leg more than the other. On the first breathing technique the first out breath is on the same leg all the time. While with this type of breathing the first out breath lands on the other leg every time you breathe out. You will see when you practice both breathing techniques.

There you have it, 2 breathing exercises to increase lung capacity and 2 breathing techniques for runners to find the rhythm and run stronger and for longer. Remember to train yourself to breathe into the stomach and not into your lungs.

If you want even more advice on breath work check out The Ultimate Breathwork Guide by carnivouraurelius.com

Contact me if you need advice.

If you experience problems breathing when running but are unsure of the cause do talk to your GP. There care be other breathing problems.

December 30, 2015

How To Lose Weight Part Two

In Part 1 of how to lose weight we talked about the three reactions that take place in the body at any given time: physical, psychological and chemical. If you haven’t read part 1 read that first, click here.

The 3 reactions influence each other. And when one is out of balance the other 2 will be as well. If you are very stressed out (psychological), the brain will send resources to deal with the problem. However it will take resources from the other 2 system and so hormones are affected. With hormones out of balance, because we know too much stress affects hormones, many people easily gain weight.

Stress can be psychological and physical as well. For example, too much exercise, I mean really too much, causes the body to release more of the cortisol hormone, and so does mental stress. Cortisol is a double edge sword, it’s always there and we need it, but too much of it can cause weight gain and other problems.

Today I only want to talk about how you can keep the physical reactions in balance.

Your style of life

Whether skinny or not, healthy or not, fit or not, you have a style of life. A way you live your life day by day.

We are all a bundle of habits. This is not a bad thing, if we didn’t have habits there will be no consistency and no progress. On the other hand if the habits are not the best ones, being consistent with them is not what we want.

Now it is time to look at your style of life. So here are a few questions for you to ask yourself and answer honestly:

Do I walk at least 30 min every day?
Do I exercise and move in proportion to what I eat?
Am I using the energy (calories) I ingest throughout the day?
Am I training and conditioning my body to develop muscles which keep my metabolism up and running? (walking and running alone are not enough)
Within the week, do I walk, run and move in proportion to the amount of time I sit?
Do I always keep a good posture, even when no one is looking?
Do I stretch enough so I never feel my body stiff or muscles tight?

The list can go on. These are questions you can answer yourself and you can start changing them one by one.

To summarize here are ways you can ensure your body is fit and strong:

within the week move more than you sit, or at least the same amount of time – your body was no designed to sit for hours
train your whole body, not just upper and lower body, full body training is essential for a full system development
train your heart (cardiovascular) but also your muscles (strength)
walk, run, lift, carry, throw, catch etc move in as many ways as possible
balance exercises – don’t underestimate the power of balance for strong foot muscles, ankles, knees and core
have a strong core as that is where every movement starts from
develop your core through a many different exercises – never limit yourself to just a few you like
stretch your body daily or whenever you have time – here is a full body stretch for you

See what changes you can make. You don’t need to change everything. Identify the most important areas and start working on them.

Remember that progress is made through small changes and not the most complicated processes.

And always bear in my that no matter what you strive for, if you are not out of your comfort zone you are not making much progress.

Need advice? I can schedule you for a FREE coaching call. To book straight into my calendar click here, , alternatively contact me.

December 29, 2015

How To Lose Weight Part One

I would first like to look at how we gain weight. What are some of the most common factors of weight gain. Once we understand how we gain weight, we can then tackle the root cause I go the other way, losing weight.

No one gains weight over night, it doesn’t just happen all of a sudden. And there is always more than one cause. In fact everything we do, the way we live our lives, or the way we were taught we should live it impacts the chemical, physical and psychological reactions taking place in the body at any given time.

Weight gain is not your fault. It is the environment around you. The environment affects you at all levels, and often leads to imbalances in the system. Within the environment surrounding us there are things we cannot directly and personally control, but then there are the things we can.

The 3 reactions

Let’s clarify the 3 reactions I will write a separate article as well, in more detail. But for now remember there are 3 reactions present in your body at all times: physical, psychological and chemical.

1. Physical – everything that has to do with mechanics, any injuries, strains, pulled muscles, any kind of tension in the body or relaxation.

2. Psychological – the mental activity, such as happiness, calmness, or stress, anxiety, depression etc

3. Chemical – all the chemical processes taking place in your body, digestion for example

When there is an imbalance in any of the 3 sections, such as too much stress or a fracture, the body sends more resources there to fix the problem. It does this at the expense of the other 2 systems, as it takes some of the resources from there, for example it might take from digestion.

Swimming. If you have a large meal more blood is sent to the digestive system to break down the food. If you go for a swim straight away, some of the blood busy with digestion is quickly directed to the muscles needed for swimming, and so some people experience cramps.

Thus, an imbalance in one of the 3 systems causes imbalances in the remaining 2. If this happens on a regular basis then digestion and metabolism is affected and the body slowly begins to put on weight.

Let’s not forget that hormones are affected as well. And hormones regulate everything in the body. A hormonal imbalance can lead to a lot of weight gain

And so, to tackle weight gain we must strive for balance within all 3 systems. We must also focus more on the aspects of our life and environment that we can personally control rather then the ones we don’t have much control over.

Finally, all 3 reactions and our environment are influenced by our lifestyle and the choices we make. The 3 reactions are the root, the causes are in there. In the following articles of How To Lose Weight we will be talking about each reaction, some of the imbalances and ways to bring them back to balance.

As I said before it is not your fault, even if your choices are not the ones you believe to be the best for you. However, it doesn’t matter who’s fault is it, what matters is to tackle the general style of life, change the environment and restore balance between the physical, psychological and chemical reactions.

This is a very difficult thing to do. It is always easier to take a pill, go on a diet and get it over with. Then what? What did you learn? If learning is not something you want then my method is no the one for you.

If instead you want to learn about how the body and mind function, what and how to what to eat to feel satisfied for longer and maintain your energy levels, how to reduce the risks of injuries, aches and pain and much more then make sure you come back to read Part 2 of How To Lose Weight.

In Part 2 of this I will list a few ways to re balance the 3 reactions taking place in the body, starting with the Physical reactions.