Have we lost the full up feeling?

So here it is random blog post No 15

Here we are, it’s August and I’ve had a very heavy fewweeks. August is a tough month for me, with many instructors going on holiday, its left for those of us who are too poor to go away, to cover them.

Any gym/fitness instructor or coach will understand this annual headache.

As many of you know, I don’t just teach, I have my own training schedule and increases in classes can make me feel incredibly drained, so enter stage left food and sleep and copious amounts of it.

I’m already hitting a big Kcal ceiling but this week I’m doing that and then some, to cover the excess. It’s hard. I really do eat very clean (apart from the occasional jelly baby attack) 3000 cals of clean food is a lot, especially if you lose four hours a day training/teaching

Take that with 8 hrs sleep and then 4 hrs between meals for optimal nutrient uptake and I’m looking at 3 meals of1000 cals  or 4 meals of 750 if I want to reduce it to 3 hrs …..oooff!

Add on top of that the fact that I absolutely detest feeling full & I'm in a little bit of trouble

BUT, this lead me to thinking. I’ve always hated that “stuffed” feeling. I mean genuinely hated it. I would rather have a meal and feel comfortable, then eat an hr later, than stuff myself stupid. Have we as an “animal” lost the ability to ascertain when we are satiated?

It’s a genuine curiosity of mine. With modern foods being carbohydrate dense and containing very little else by way of nutrients, have we lost our ability to self regulate?

My opinion is yes

I’ve already addressed the issue of sugar in a previous blog. It’s in everything, it’s a fast carb and stored as fat in most people because they’re already replete in glycogen. The body, being the efficient machine that it is, stores the excess as fat for a “rainy day” and its soooooo addictive.

It also brought to mind a conversation I had with someone a few years back. They were laughing at the fact that I could never finish an Indian takeaway. My response was that I hated feeling overly full.

The reply that came back has always kind of stuck with me and probably highlights one of the problems with the modern relationship with food.

“You have to practice, overeating takes dedication”

Now I know he was joking but there is an element of truth to this statement. How many of you eat more than you want because there is food left? The old adage of not wasting food really is a very British thing. The war ended quite a few years back. We’re not rationed and guess what? leftovers can go in the fridge for later as a snack instead of a packet of crisps or a snickers bar.

Then there is the sheer cheapness of shitty food. I mean£1 microwave meals? No way are they going to contain anything good for you. Sausage rolls? Fuck me you’d be hard pressed to find anything good about those little bastards.

The government constantly go on about the increasing obesity of our nation but the price of fresh fruit vegetables and meat continues to skyrocket.

Here’s a suggestion … remove VAT from fresh produce and bang it on the crap.

Its very, very hard to overeat on fresh produce. 3000 cals is pretty much 1 ½ big mac meals. In clean terms in a very, very simplistic way, it’s around 1400g of chicken in meat or 10 kilos of broccoli in vegetables. Can you imagine eating 10 kilos of broccoli?

What would be really cool is if a genuine study could be carried out on two populations with the same general lifestyle. One could eat the modern diet as per normal & the other could eat fresh produce, or clean food as is generally becoming known as.

I really do think the results would speak for themselves.

It really is true what they say, not all calories are made equal and if we stick to nutrient dense, fresh foods, maybe one day, we will learn to become “full” again

So next time you reach for the Pringles have a think … would it be this easy to eat a kilo of broccoli?

Has body building turned into a beauty pageant

Hello peeps

Well here's another blog & I am going to touch on a subject that is probably very taboo. It will certainly upset a lot of people. This is no reason to avoid the subject though.

I would however stress that I am NOT having a go at body building as a sport & have the utmost respect for those that compete and go through what I can only describe as torturous dieting and training cycles. I have many friends who compete and have nothing but respect & admiration.

The subject of this blog is not about fact as such but more about impressions.

The thing is Bodybuilding is becoming more mainstream. Its no longer a niche sport. A lot more people are becoming interested. Up until about 8 months ago I had very little knowledge of the sport and in all honesty, very little respect. I stress, this has changed but I want to come at you from a pure lay mans point of view.

So lets start at the beginning

As you fitpros are all aware, the BodyPower expo was on this weekend. I, like many of my colleagues, decided to attend. Its the first time I have and boy was it not, what I expected!

Now don't get me wrong there was a lot of great stuff there but bloody hell did it show the baser side of our industry too. Many sports were represented but the most prominent was bodybuilding.

So now I'm going to come at you from a layman's point of view. Amongst other things there was a Body building show on at BodyPower & I was very much looking forward to seeing the girls & boys who were tweeting about their training & diets, getting up & showing their stuff.

It was a complete shock, not what I was expecting at all!

The standard of condition was so varied it was hard to tell what I was watching. I had no idea if I was watching body fitness, bikini or just a beauty pageant.

Some of the guys & girls had worked their asses off! literally but some of them looked like they had just sauntered off the street.

My heart bled for some of them. The fake boobs, hair & dodgy orange tans were not disguising the lack of conditioning and in some cases, we weren't looking at lean, we were looking at emaciated. How could any self respecting coach let a girl or guy get into that sort of state, where is the love, or is it really just all about the £'s?

I know many will disagree but I urge you to look at it from joe publics point of view not an insider. Think about what impression it would have given them of what body building is about. Girls walking around with their tits and asses hanging out. Heavy makeup & tans. Guys barging through the crowd with their "entourage" just reinforcing the age old cliches that are still associated with the sport. They won't see whether the competition is a nationally recognised show or not. They won't see that there are truly good comps out there. They will only see whats in front of them.

If 40,000 people saw what I saw, then thats 40,000 people walking away with totally the wrong impression about Body building.

For those of you that saw my little mini rants on twitter yesterday, It was this that I was getting at. I felt awful for the sport and really it reinforced in many, the wrong impression

I know the difference, I know that body building is not like that. Joe public doesn't and its body buildings responsibility to clean it up. Be proud enough of your sport that, rather than getting defensive, make a change!.

I apologise in advance for any offence caused to the Body Building community

Mindset

MINDSET

Hello again, and welcome to yet another of my musings

This one?

Mindset….

People have often talked with me about a variety of topics concerning fitness, training and diet. Some of these questions I’ve even been able to answer lol

The one topic that never seems to crop up, however, is mindset.

To me this is everything.

In my opinion, without the correct mindset you will never achieve anything you set out to do.

This applies to everything in life, not just exercise but, as this is me, I will be mostly aiming it at this field.

Why do most people fail at what they do? Is it because they have set their bar to high? (no pun intended) Well, maybe sometimes but, more often than not, I think it’s because they give up!

One of my favourite quotes by Bruce Lee is this…

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

Mindset!!

You can do anything you set your mind to.

If you want it bad enough you will stop at nothing.

Quitters never win & winners never quit

All cliché’s but all true. The serial dieter, never holds off the weight because they have no self discipline. The old “just one cake won’t hurt” would be fine if it was just the one. It’s never just the one though is it?

It would involve far too much discipline to eat clean and healthy every day and then just have the odd treat. So they diet like a crazy thing for short periods of time and then because the diet they’ve put themselves on is impossible, they give up.

The “I’m too tired to go to the gym” excuse… are you really, or is it because it’s actually going to take a bit of effort on your part?

If you really want something bad enough, you will find a way. If you don’t, you will find excuses.

People often say to me

“It’s ok for you, it’s easy” or

              “You must have a really fast metabolism”

Here’s some news for you my friends, neither of these statements are true

I have autoimmunity and a shit metabolism as a result. I take medication so that shit metabolism doesn’t slowly kill me. It’s not an excuse and I will never use it as such.

So I say to you … it’s not easy. It’s fucking hard work. Some days I feel like just saying “fuck it” but I never do because my end goal is always worth more to me that that one treat, going out and getting shitfaced or skipping that training session because I can’t be arsed or it hurts.

It takes determination and I’m not just talking about for a couple of weeks. I’m talking about the rest of your life.

So you have to make a choice and live with it. Don’t complain if you decide to give up because it’s too hard. You have to live with the consequences of choices you make. Laying blame or making excuses won’t change those consequences. It just means one thing … you gave up

Sound hard?, well yes, it is. That is the difference between success and failure my friends.

You’ve only failed once you give up, if you never give up, one day you will find you have succeeded

And then you will have to set yourself a new goal

So it’s been a while but hey all good things come to those who wait ha ha

Another rant...... this one has been about 5 years in the making

It’s about preconception, judgement and prejudice.

This is something that we all have to deal with in some way or another and to be fair we are all guilty of in some way or another.

This particular rant is triggered initially by a remark made to me by a lovely older gentleman in the gym this week

“You don’t look strong enough to lift that up”

Now he meant it as a compliment but it took me back to a not so lovely statement made by my then boss

“I am fed up with fluffy headed, overly emotional women trying to bully me into changing my mind”

This remark has a bit of history behind it but the long and the short of it was the company had broken employment law, in more ways that I care to mention and he got confronted about it. I’m not going into the gory details as this is not what the rant is about, Rather it is the assumption that he made about his female Gym/fitness Instructors.

That we are all fluffy headed and emotional

Now when it comes to our livelihood and working environment, everyone gets emotional. It plays a large part of our lives. So this is not an exclusive female reaction.

Fluffy headed?

Hmmmmmm

Now we come to the crux of my rant

We can all say that there are a lot of professionals out there who quite frankly a bloody waste of valuable oxygen.

It doesn’t mean they are fluffy headed! More often it means they are lazy or have no interest in what they do.

How many of us have seen a big muscular guy in the gym and just made the assumption he’s a bit thick

Or a pretty girl teaching an aerobics class and thought “bimbo”

These assumptions seem almost ingrained and don’t even get me started on the “woman! get out of the weights area” attitude that some gyms have

This is what my boss was guilty of … an assumption. When confronted he responded in the most juvenile manner possible. He resorted to prejudice.

When told that some of us have degrees, or are professionals in other fields in their own right he was truly shocked. He had no idea

He had just assumed we were all stay at home mums who just taught classes for a bit of pocket money. He had no idea about the level of work and training some of us have to put in to produce these classes.

In fairness many Fitness instructors, PT’s and gym Instructors, never go beyond their initial training and they are the ones that usually have the bad attitude toward newcomers, believe their own hype, have outdated ideas and generally give the industry a bad name.

I even know some coaches that refuse to use the term PT because of the bad name that many have given the industry

Many, however have pride in what they do, love to learn and are open to new ways of thinking, training and diet. They are happy to share information and love to help each other out

These people are our treasures. They are the ones we should be proud of. Yes they may have big muscles but they may also hold a doctorate, yes they may be pretty & blonde but they may also have a degree, brains, drive and determination.

So to drive a point home here's a couple of facts about one of my hero's that may make you reassess you're way of thinking

Sylvester Stallone, best known for his action movies & sufferer of facial nerve damage and a speech impediment 

He has an IQ Of 160

He wrote the original screen play for Rocky & refused to sell it until he got the lead role despite being broke & offered a large amount of money for the script.

It went on to win several oscars

For Rambo 3 he got down to 3% body fat... Less than Bruce Lee. This is recorded in the Guinness book of records 

Plus ...he can actually act ... 

A truly remarkable man 

Food for thought

Don't be judgemental

I’M GOING TO RANT …. AGAIN!!

Hold onto your hats people.

This one is about exercise snobbery. Yes! exercise snobbery. It does exist and it bloody winds me up.

How many of you can stand there and genuinely say you have not ridiculed or been derisive of an exercise orsport?

I’m holding my hand up here. I’m guilty of this and so are most of you

Many of the fitness fraternity have been involved with exercise in one form or another for most of our lives. But take a step back for a moment and see things from a new perspective.

Imagine you have been overweight and never exercised in your entire life and now look at yourself through fresh eyes. You’re a bit bloody awesome aren’t you?

You’re also a bit scary.

Many of the classes I teach can be proper hard core. I’m talking vomiting into the bin hard (I have done this by the way).

Any one who has joined me for an Advanced RPM class will know that it is a distinct possibility that you will see the contents of your stomach at some point.

I don’t turn dials up & I don’t force people to work beyond their limits. I take you on a journey. I shout,encourage (sometimes sing) and joke. I carry people with me through an intense workout that most would not be able to do by themselves.

This doesn’t mean I don’t cater for the unfit but most people who are new to exercise are frightened of these high energy style classes

Does this mean that I think hardcore classes are the only way to go? …. No

So from this point of view now look at the exercises you’re so quick to disparage.

I will use Zumba as an example, not because it’s any good but because most people have heard of it.

Those of you that know me are now going to say

“But you hate Zumba”

I know …..but I teach it any way. Why?

Well this is an interesting question. I really don’t approve of the marketing monster that Zumba has become. It’s an Unregulated, Fashion, fad driven monster but I teach it for one reason and one reason only.

It gets unfit people off their arses & moving.

I have lost track of how many overweight, unfit people with low self esteem and confidence that have come to my classes and thoroughly enjoyed them. I’m notblowing my own trumpet here. Any group exercise instructor worth their salt can claim this. What I am saying is that, if people who have previously never exercised in their lives, can enjoy a fitness class, it’s got to be a good thing. I’m not worried if they go home & reward themselves with a piece of cake. They probably would have done that anyway. What they are reallydoing is breaking bad habits. Zumba is an incrediblysocial group exercise class. Its fun and also, if done correctly, a good, low impact exercise. It doesn’t matter if I despise it and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t build muscle, burn fat or burn calories to any large extent. What it does do, is get people into exercise. It’s a stepping stone and that’s all good

One lady in particular, will always stand out as a shining example of this for me. She was a size twenty two,mother of eight who had incredibly low self esteem and no confidence. Because of stepping stones, she was brave enough to step through the door and has never looked back.

She competed in her first natural bodybuilding competition last year and did bloody well. I am immensely proud of her

This is not because of me, I might add. This is because of having those stepping stones. The classes or exercises that you workout snobs disparage, can have a real effect on people.

I am proud to say many of the people who started their journey with me, using these stepping stones, are now doing more intense classes. Many of them are now using weights. Many of them are now hooked on exercise and eating properly for the first time in their lives. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of and makes me feel very humble.

So before you deride and judge, remember it’s not all about strength, calories, fat or muscle.

Sometimes it’s about changing the habit of a lifetime.

Meditation

I have been asked to write a blog on Meditation. So here goes

Meditation is not something that many people are familiar with but it is a very good way to ease both stress and reduce tension in the body.

Unfortunately, to the western world, meditation still remains a somewhat ridiculed pass time. Most people think of hippies’ or yogis’ when they think of meditation but actually, you may already have entered meditative states without even realising it.

How many of you have had that ‘thousand yard stare’, or got lost in ‘thought’ staring into a fire? This is a meditative state. It’s a state of total relaxation where the mind switches off and you almost become detached from yourself. Meditation involves silencing the mind. It is not an intellectual activity, it’s an attempt to expand your consciousness and be aware of yourself. Meditation can be a practical tool for relaxation, concentration and better health, as well as a tool for self discovery. If practiced correctly, meditation can be a powerful antidote to depressive thoughts.

It is hard to pick up meditation without actually having done it and many people find it easier to be ‘guided’ the first few times. There are a few basic pointers though, if you want to try it for yourself. No matter what form of meditation you choose follow, the basic principle is to quieten your thoughts and mind. This is a skill and at first, you may find it difficult to master. I think, personally it’s best to use some kind of outside influence to help calm the mind when you initially start. As I have said before, open fires are good, or a candle flame. Something you can focus on but doesn’t provide a mental stimulus. The whole concept of stopping thoughts can be very difficult. If you tell someone not to think of something their mind will instantly focus on it

Try it… I’m going to tell you to purposely NOT think of a donkey

See what I mean?

So when you first try sitting silence for a while, you will probably be inundated with thoughts. Difficulty controlling those thoughts, at first, is a common experience. However, if you sincerely try, you can learn to reduce the power of your thoughts over yourself.

When you first attempt meditation there are a few things that I think are essential.

Number one is comfort. You have to be comfortable or you will not be able to relax. Some people like to have soft music. This is fine, but make sure its calm and there are no distracting lyrics. Natural sounds or soft piano music works well.

Secondly make sure there are no distractions. TV and radio off and put the phone away and make sure you have plenty of time. It’s very easy to lose track of time whilst in the meditative state.

Thirdly, concentrate on something. It is hard to control your thoughts through the power of the mind alone and requires a great deal of practice. To achieve inner silence it is advisable to choose something to focus your attention on. This may be the use of a simple mantra or prayer or it may be concentrating on a candle or a simple object. Or you can try listening to your own heart beat. This last one is a simple method and is very inwardly focused plus it has the advantage of always being handy.

Lastly, don’t try and force it. Don’t expect a calm or silent mind straight away or after the first few attempts. Meditation, like any worthwhile activity requires dedication and practice. The Chinese call the state of random uncontrolled thoughts, the ‘monkey mind’ because the mind jumps from thought to thought, like a monkey through the trees. In order to calm the monkey, you must train it.

Meditation is often regarded as a tool for helping with depression. When you are depressed, a powerful stream of negative thoughts runs through your mind. You become very insular and almost selfish within your negativity. Often when depression hits, everything seems hopeless. However, if you can learn to meditate you can go beyond these negative thoughts and quieten the mind. It really can have a dramatic change on your frame of mind and how unhappy you feel.

I will however, lay out a hand of caution. Be careful. In a state of depression or anger, if you sit down to meditate but can’t stop the thoughts endlessly going round, it is better to give up and try something else. Meditation is tremendously intense. If you can only focus on negative thoughts you make them more powerful and it will amplify the depressive state. Therefore, when meditating to overcome depression, it is even more important to detach from your negative thoughts. If you can’t, it’s better to leave it for another time.

So in short, Meditation is a fantastic tool and very much underestimated. Used with things like aromatherapy it can have amazing affects on your mood and sense of well being. So next time you react with anger when someone interrupts your ‘thousand yard stare’ you will know why.

Someone has just broken your peace of mind

Women get in the weights room

This blog is about women & their terror of the weights room

It's like a taboo, it's never talked about except by women who already use weights

I'm guilty of this too. For years the only weight training I did was body weight resistance. So why are we so terrified of weights?
Well partly because it's a kind of male dominated area. Look at the free weights area in any gym and it's mostly men.
The other reason is women don't want to get bulky. So we have become cardio queens & the men have the eggy smelling heaven of hypertrophy

This is sad because there are very good reasons why women should use weights.

For example ; As your lean muscle increases so does your metabolism, this means you will be burning extra calories just through normal living. If , for each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35 to 50 more calories each day, as has been generally found, that is a potential of 245-350 calories per week just existing

Women, unlike men, women typically don't gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy (growth). You will, however, develop muscle tone and definition.

So why is it men get hench and women don’t?

In order to look at this we need to look at what hormones promote muscular growth in the human body

You trigger hormone production in your body by practically everything you do. Hormones are the chemical messengers the endocrine system secretes in order for your body to stay healthy. In order for to understand how muscle growth works we need to understand how they influence fat loss and muscle growth. Rather than a lesson on how the whole endocrine system works, which is complex and unnecessary, It is probably easier to focus on the specific hormones related to our subject in hand

Some hormones build muscle while others actually breakdown muscle. Some hormones burn fat, while otherhormones can actually cause you to store more of it. In understanding these hormones and how they interact with each other we can, through diet & exercise influence our body shape.

There are 6 major hormones that will affect muscular growth

Testosterone, Insulin, Glucagon, IGF-1 (Insulin like growth factor), Cortisol, Growth Hormone (GH)

Because I’m aiming this at women I am only really going to touch on testosterone but if you want more info then by all means research the other ones for yourself

This is probably the first hormone that people will think of when it comes to muscle hypertrophy (growth) and you would be right. Its primary role is muscle growth. It also helps to burn fat and establish your sexual identity. Men have significantly higher levels of testosterone than women.Testosterone causes muscle growth by directly stimulating protein synthesis and is the primary reason why men can get hench and women can’t. This is also why women should train with weights. We can build strength at a similar rate as men but we can never build muscle at the same rate. So unless you are crap with your diet you can’t get ‘big’. It doesn’t matter how heavy you lift you will never get hench.

Oh and just in case you are wondering about the manly muscle women in the pictures you see in muscle magazines, they are assisted.

Testosterone levels can be controlled by to some extent by our diet and exercise.

Plenty of the B vitamins, vitamin C, zinc and manganese as well as a higher fat intake will stimulate higher levels oftestosterone production. Fat provides cholesterol, which is needed for testosterone synthesis.

Testosterone will decrease the higher your stress levels go. Alcohol will also decrease testosterone levels plus the sugar will get turned into body fat, something we want to avoid

Another thing to remember is that although intense training causes an increase in testosterone, post work out, it will drop. It will stay low for a day or so, before rising again areason why recovery is important.

So good news for us ladies eh? We can pump Iron like Arnold but still look feminine. So aside from the fact we are going to look damned hot on the beach in our swimwear (I cant think of a better reason to be honest) why else should we weight train?

Weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density. This, coupled with an adequate amount of dietary calcium, can be a women's best defense against osteoporosis.Strengthening the lower back muscles can eliminate or alleviate lower back pain. Other studies have indicated that weight training can ease the pain of osteoarthritis and strengthen joints

Over and over research concludes that strength training improves athletic ability in all but the very elite athletes. Golfers can significantly increase their driving power.Cyclists are able to continue for longer periods of time with less fatigue.Whatever sport you play, strength training has been shown to improve overall performance as well as decrease the risk of injury

Strength training not only builds stronger muscles, but also builds stronger connective tissues and increases joint stability. This acts as reinforcement for the joints and helps prevent injury.

Increasing your strength will make you far less dependent upon others for assistance in daily living. Chores will be easier, lifting kids, groceries and laundry will no longer push you to the max.

If your maximum strength is increased, daily tasks and routine exercise will be far less likely to cause injury. Research studies conclude that even moderate weight training can increase a woman's strength by 30 to 50 percent. Research also shows that women can develop their strength at the same rate as men.

When cardiovascular exercise is added to all of this, these benefits are maximized.

The No. 1 benefit of following an aerobic exercise plan is the change in your cardiovascular fitness that results from this kind of training regimen. Regular aerobic exercise causes your lungs to process more oxygen with less effort; your heart to pump more blood with fewer beats; and the blood supply directed to your muscles to increase. As a result, by performing cardiovascular exercises, you are increasing your body's endurance and efficiency. An important thing to remember though is that once the exercise is finished calorie burn is over

.

Resistance training (weight training) can play an important role in the development of self-confidence and body satisfaction by increasing strength, sculpting muscles and increasing muscular endurance. It can also help maintain lean body mass (important for individuals attempting weight loss), decrease the risk of osteoporosis, develop coordination and balance, and prevent injuries resulting from weak muscles. The nice thing with this work out is that the fat burn can continue up to 12 hrs after the workout. Providing the intensity is high enough.

So in short ladies, cardio gets your heart and vascular system fit, weights burn fat and make you look fit

Get in the weights room girls, show the boys how we can do it and look fit, hot & sexy

Meal replacements rant

I am going to rant!

It’s as simple as that.

For the third time this week I have been contacted by a rather well known ‘health food’ company asking whether I would like to try their products. Now I am going to get on my soap box and have a proper rant!

Today’s blog is about diet again but not about what foods to eat. Rather it’s more about meal replacement products

Now I’m sorry, I know for many of you out there, meal replacement products seem to be the answer to all your problems.

They take the thinking out of a diet for you and are nutritionally sound right? ….

WRONG

These products are not nutritionally sound. Yeah sure, you could live off them but they are not sound.

I’m not going to name this company because that would be unfair but what I am going to do is explain why I think this kind of ‘dieting’ in my opinion, is wrong.

As I have said before in previous blogs, the common misconception for the word diet is lack of eating.

Meal replacement gets people into very bad habits in regard to eating. Plus what happens when you go back to eating ‘normal’ food?

So here is the Dictionary definition of the word Diet and not the restriction of food and drink intake to lose weight definition

Diet; One’s daily normal food and drink …. BOOM!!!

This is going to be the basis of my rant. Diet should be your daily NORMAL food and drink intake. Everything you base your eating and drinking habits on should have this thought firmly in mind. It has to be sustainable for the rest of your life.

This is partially why ‘diets’ don’t work. Yeah they’re great for that initial weight loss but seriously, how many of you serial dieters actually give thought to or plan your post diet strategy?....

I’m going to let you have a moment to let that thought sink in.

Now I have explained about how weight loss diets can affect the body before but if meal replacements are supposed to be good, then surely that won’t be an issue?

Well I’m going to have to have some foundation or evidence for my argument so let’s have a look at two meal replacement shakes. These are by two different companies. One is a company that prides itself producing ‘healthy’ products. The other is a leading brand in ‘diet’ products.

I’m going to list the first 10 ingredients of each shake

SHAKE 1                                                        SHAKE 2

Soy protein isolate                                          Skimmed milk powder

Fructose                                                          Sugar

Cellulose powder                                            Maltodextrin

Corn bran                                                        Vegetable Oil

Artificial French vanilla flavour                      Inulin

Guar Gum                                                       Thickeners (Gum Arabic, Xanthan Gum, Potassium chloride                                                           Guar Gum)

Calcium caseinate                                            Lactose

Casein                                                             Cellulose

Calcium phosphate                                         Milk Protein

Stabilisers (Sodium Carboxy Methyl Cellulose, Dipotassium Phosphate)

Already just by looking at these ingredients you can see where I’m going to go with this.

Ingredient No 1

If you read yesterdays blog (should we eat soy), you will already know my opinion on unfermented soya products and this is the No 1 ingredient of our first shake.

The second shake uses skimmed milk powder. The nutritional benefits of skimmed milk are minimal. You may as well drink water. If you want the calcium eat more calcium rich foods or take calcium supplements. Otherwise full fat milk all the way.

So, on our first ingredient we have a fail on both counts.

Ingredient No 2

Shake 1: Fructose or fruit sugar. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a good sugar. It’s still sugar, pure and simple.  

Shake 2: Sugar

Really, in a health food or diet shake? What the hell?

This isn’t looking good already

Maltodextrin is also a form of sugar as is inulin. Cellulose powder, corn bran and the various types of gums are all used as thickening and bulking agents to make you feel full.

Lactose is a milk sugar

Potassium chloride is a salt, so it does have nutritional benefits but most people have far too much salt in their diet already.

At last we have found a ‘good’ ingredient, kind of.

Casein is a dairy derived protein so actually, unless you have a dairy intolerance, this is the first ingredient in this list that we have that has a nutritional benefit

Calcium Phosphate is a mineral salt that is beneficial to the digestive system, including the assimilation of food

So That’s it! In the first 10 ingredients we have only two that have any nutritional benefit. Ironically they are both in the first shake, which consists mostly of Soya protein isolate

In fairness I will mention that both these shakes have various vitamins, minerals and trace elements that are very good for you but lets face it, you can get those from multi vit & mineral tablets.

Or try this…. How about from your diet?

I know shakes are easier than planning out food but once you get into the habit and learn about the nutritional values of food its easy. Plus, its lifetime sustainable.

So have a think about your weight loss in a sensible manner. Eat clean & by that I mean minimal processed foods. If it comes in a packet & has ingredients its processed). Be careful of health and diet foods and have a look at the ingredients. If the list is longer that 5 ( other than vitamins & minerals) and any of them are sugar, it is not a health food. It is processed junk.

Above all think more about what you put in your body. Food manufacturers will mislead you with phrases like low fat or low calorie. It doesn’t mean its good for you.

HAPPY HEALTHY EATING MY FRIENDS