Weight gain, hot flushes, water retention, bloating, mood crashes, poor memory, brain fog, breast pain, acne… the list goes on and it’s a familiar list to most women. Have you ever suffered with any of these symptoms?
At the same time all the Facebook updates appeared last month about winning or losing out on a space in the London marathon I was greeted with a Facebook memory about completing my Royal Parks Half Marathon. I never made it to running a marathon as the experience left me with a pair of knackered knees and some of other health issues that stopped me from running for a couple of years. I consider it a blessing now as I dread to think where I’d be if my body had allowed me to run a marathon, I often joke with Matt that I simply can't be trusted once those trainers are on.
“Are you beach body ready?” the ad asks, with a picture of a woman in a yellow bikini next to those words. You may remember this ad getting a lot of bad press about a year or so ago when a supplement company rolled out their summer campaign. I won’t be going into that but I do want to focus on the being “beach ready” part.
I posted on Facebook a while back that perhaps there's a little too much effort going on when it comes to fat loss and people might be missing some quick wins which could be achieved by kicking back a little and simplifying things. When an individual decides they want to change their body composition and focus on getting healthy it often starts off all guns blazing. There are plans to eat boat loads of steamed kale, smash HIIT sessions daily and answer to no one but the weighing scales.
We receive a lot of emails about how to lift your mood in the winter months when it all gets a bit dark and damp. It's incredibly common to experience a dip in mood health in the midst of winter as the miserable weather deprives us of sunshine and time outdoors. There are lots of things you can do from a nutrition and lifestyle perspective to keep levels of feel good brain chemicals topped up and protect yourself against any nutrient deficiencies that might kick in during the winter months.
It's been a pretty busy couple of months at Fitter Food headquarters (aka Matt's teenage bedroom since we moved back in with his Mum). We've been running on adrenalin, coffee and Quest bars for a few weeks to make sure our book is ready for Christmas and we also ran our final Fitter Food Academy this weekend. We are fully aware of the damaging effects chronic stress has on our body, so now our biggest projects are done and dusted it's time for both of us to thank our bodies for powering us through and invest back a little TLC.
This week we chat to Joslyn Thompson Rule recently voted Nike Master Trainer of the year 2015. She's been in the fitness industry for 12 years working as a personal trainer and sports therapist. In addition to this she also has a history of competing in numerous sports including rowing, dancing, triathlons, Olympic weightlifting, CrossFit and gymnastics.
This week I'm so excited to share with you an interview with the inspirational Naturopath and Iridologist Emma Mihill. Emma was one of my lecturers at the College of Naturopathic Medicine.
Call me nosey but I’m always fascinated to find out what people are eating, it often inspires me to make more positive changes within my own nutrition and offers some new, yummy ideas. Of course if it’s a trainer or nutritionist I’m even more intrigued to see how they implement the information they teach on a daily basis! I thought I would share with you what a typical menu looks like for me in the Fitter Food household, along with some details on why I make those choices. I’ve also shared my supplement regime.
Over the last few weeks we've been detailing all of the essentials you need in place to support optimal health and fat loss. This includes sound nutrition, daily exercise, stress management and soooo much sleep! We have already discussed supplements in detail but if fat loss is your main focus it might be wise to consider some of the following also. The science suggests they have the potential to support our body's biological mechanisms, responsible for achieving and maintaining a healthy body composition.