Shop yourself thinner?

Yes it’s true you can shop yourself thinner. Don’t think this means by running between shops, wearing fancy trainers, taking the stairs or carrying you’re shopping and doing squats every fifty meters with it.   Some simple shopping advice to help you find the healthier options, four easy steps that could help you stop choosing the unhealthy options.

We all know about whole wheat, sugars, brown rice, fats, five a day, three whole grains a day, friendly bacteria yoghurt’s yes it’s on the television, in magazines, billboards, and radio all day everyday. 

When you are at the supermarket, ever suddenly felt hungry, owing to the smell of the so called fresh baked bread, yes some supermarkets do cook fresh bread on the premises, however recent television articles have confirmed that a smelling solution is added to the air blowers in the entrance of supermarkets, so that your sense of smell picks it up and triggers of a chemical reaction, RESULT! For them as you head off to get bread, which is next to the cakes and from there they have you close to the inner sanctum, the unhealthy money making, fat building foods.

So how do we counter act this fact, some people say eat before you go to the supermarket it stops you wanting the unhealthy options, this may work for some, but if possible follow the four rules below and healthier options you shall find.

 

Label, ensure you read the nutritional food labels and on packaging, ingredients are all listed in order of their quantity.

 

Avoid just turning up and buying from memory, have a shopping list to hand and stick with it, you will save money as well by not buying any unnecessary items.

 

Manoeuvre, stick to the perimeter of the shop, here is where you will find mainly fresh ingredients, lean meats, poultry, fish, whole grain breads. After you have visited these areas stay at one end as you shop along the aisles look down them ask yourself, Do I really need to go down this aisle?

 

Buy it fresh and check the use and best before labels on packaging, try and only buy what your family needs quantity wise and try and eat your purchases before they go out of date or spoil.

Sugar, sweet or sour?

Our bodies are not developed to handle (despite thousands of years of evolution) sugars, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated fats etc. Our bodies in fact can just about handle the sugar and carbohydrate intake from natural foods such as fruits, vegetables and honey.

 

Refined Sugar is bad for us because it raises the insulin level in our blood.

Raised blood insulin levels depress the immune system. If your immune system is depressed then your ability to fight disease is weakened.

Raised blood insulin levels can cause weight gain. Insulin promotes the storage of fat; so, when you eat foods high in refined sugar, you increase fat storage. Obviously, the result is rapid weight gain.

Refined Sugar contains no vitamins or minerals so in order for sugar to be metabolized it must draw on the body’s reserve of vitamins and minerals.

 

In summary here are some ways that refined sugar can affect your health:

• Sugar can suppress the immune system.
• Sugar can upset the body’s mineral balance.
• Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.
• Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
• Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
• Sugar can reduce helpful high density cholesterol (HDLs).
• Sugar can promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDLs).
• Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
• Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.
• Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
• Sugar may lead to chromium deficiency.
• Sugar can cause copper deficiency.
• Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
• Sugar can increase fasting levels of blood glucose.
• Sugar can promote tooth decay. • Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
• Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity.
• High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis

 

The cons in this case far out way the advantages as can be seen from the extensive list above.
So in whole if you need to take sugar try the natural approach e.g. honey or at least cut down on the sugar and try and avoid sugar substitutes that contain Aspartame. Aspartame is a chemical found in most sweeteners and is a big substitute in foods to replace sugar, this includes so called healthy drinks. The Aspartame debate is a whole other topic in itself.

Running sessions

You have permission to publish this article in websites, electronic publications. Ezines and any media format, as long as the article is published in its entirety, including the resource box, all hyperlinks, (HTML clickable), references and copyright information.

RUNNING SESSIONS

Much has been written about running over the years and many forms and types have been developed, the most and common types being Interval, resistance and distance. The following is to give you different ideas regarding types of run training in order to progress you as an individual and ensure that running does not become a set route, time or type. The list is by no means exhaustive and many forms can be mixed together in order to progress and challenge yourself.

Running is a suitable activity for most people. This form of long continuous exercise increases your oxygen uptake and allows your metabolism to function more efficiently. Regular running makes the lungs work more efficiently allowing more air to reach the blood as it is pumped through the lungs. It also increases the number of red blood cells in the blood and muscles allowing more oxygen to be extracted from the air which enters the lungs. Other effects of running training are:

1. drop in pulse rate
2. increase in working capacity of the heart
3. increased pressure on circulatory system will open up underdeveloped arteries
4. new capillary beds will develop (small blood vessels)
5. more efficient blood circulation to and from muscles 

TYPES OF RUNNING TRAINING

FARTLEK TRAINING (SPEED PLAY OR ALTERNATE PACE TRAINING)

The Swedish coach Gosta Holmer introduced this form of training in the early 1930s. Fartlek is done on a soft surface, ideally the pinewood needle surface of a forest path. It is done on undulating ground so that there is plenty of uphill and downhill running.

Fartlek is a combination of great quantities of easy running, interspersed with sprints and periods of resistance running up hills. The advantage of fartlek is that a lot of good solid running can be done without the factor of boredom appearing. Forest tracks wind continually and the view constantly changes. It is controlled by time ie you would go for a 20, 30 or 40 minute as opposed to going out for a 3, 4 or 5 mile run.

It would be wrong to lay down set intervals for types of work in Fartlek session but the following types of running are examples of running that may appear in a Fartlek session:-

a.      fast 60m sprint on flat surface

b.      steady strides (70 seconds, 400 metres speed) for half mile

c.       40-100 metres fast as possible uphill

d.      fast strides for 400 metres downhill

e.      light manning with occasional inclusion of 4/5 fast strides for 3 minutes

f.        brisk walk for 3 minutes

g.      light even paced running with short acceleration spurts 50-60 metres for 5 minutes

h.     jogging and rhythmical exercises for 5 minutes

The sprints and uphill work will force the body into periods of anaerobic work resulting in oxygen debt. This debt must be repaid during the low intensity parts of the cycle. The method educates the body to improve its’ oxygen uptake and speed of recovery. The whole session should be joined together by lively jogging and should be enjoyable.

 INTERVAL TRAINING

 This particular form of ‘punishment’ was developed by Emil Zatopek, the great Czech middle distance runner and was brought to a climax by Britain’s Gordon Pirie. Interval running consists of running a specific number of short distances (between 50-100 metres) in a given time with short rest periods in between. The rest periods are normally spent jogging walking. The main emphasis of this type of conditioning is to develop the heart capacity and to strengthen the heart wall muscle, thereby improving the stroke volume of the heart (the volume of blood pumped at each stroke/beat). To increase the difficulty of the training period, you can:-

a.      run the interval in a faster time

b.      decrease the recovery distance time

c.       increase the number of repetitions

   REPETITION TRAINING

A similar type of running to interval running except that the recovery period is long enough for the athlete to get his breath back. The sprinter will do far more of this work than pure interval running. Here, good fast running is wanted in every effort, so the heart and lungs are given a chance to recover before the next run. A rest of 4 to 6 minutes between each run is required.

CONTINUOUS RUNNING

Although interval training develops stamina in the body, it sometimes fails to condition the mind to racing hard over a racing period. Continuous running is done for distances over the normal racing distance at as near possible racing speed. The athlete needs a downhill course with a prevailing wind. He records the best time he can, using a watch and mile markers to estimate progress. During workouts on this basis the athlete is subject to all the mental visions of collapse that he suffers in a race. By fighting his way through these ‘black periods’ in training he makes himself aware of the fact that most fatigue is only in the mind.

TEMPO RUNNING

This type of running can be done anywhere and is normally done for a set period of time or distance, The runner picks a rate that can be maintained at a comfortable pace and maintains this pace throughout, some runners use split times or heart rate monitors to gauge their desired pace E.G 60% of Maximum heart rate.

RESISTANCE RUNNING

Under this category come sand hill, snow and mud running. Running towing equipment such as tyres, trolleys or a partner offering resistance on a harness can also be included as resistance running. In the absence of a harness partners can do the old fashioned methods of

A.    Holding onto the waist of the runner and dropping their body weight in a squat position as they offer the resistance, trying to hold the runner back as they move forward.

B.     In front of the runner with hands on the shoulders offering resistance as the runner aims to go forward.

PAARLAUF

This form of training is a competitive form of interval running. As in a proper race, two man teams compete against each other. The distance of the race is unspecified, only a minimum and maximum time being given. Thus a race could last from 30 to 45 minutes. After a certain time has elapsed (this time is prior decided but unknown to runners), the referee blows a whistle then for a period of one minute. The winning team is the one who has carried the baton the furthest. The 2 runners can decide how they wish to share the running – they can either run interval quarter miles or every other furlong, jogging across the track to regain the baton.

As a training workout, the number of runners can be increased in a team of 4, 6 or 8. With 8 runners, they could spread out over 400 metres and move with the baton from some 60 metres with about 55 seconds rest before the next effort.

CROSS COUNTRY

The mental stimulus and the physical value of cross country running and racing are invaluable to the middle distance runner. The lengths of the courses vary fro 3 to 10 miles and usually become longer as the season progresses. (For this reason, the miler/3 miler is advised to curtail cross country racing in March by this time, the courses will be too long and in any case it will be time for the athlete to consider returning to the track for most of his work-outs). Cross country running is invaluable for the triathlete a sit aids in core stability and strengthens ankle and knees owing to the nature of the surfaces this type of running covers.

ACCELERATION RUNNING

This type of running can cause confusion and some may think it is a play on words in relation to fartlek. This is not the case and is a recognised and useful form of training. Again pick a distance or set time the main aim here is to start of slow and progress to full race pace prior to the end of the set period. For example a 15 minute run may be split into 30 second segments with the last two minutes being near threshold or race pace as possible.

Alternatively this form of training is used by coaches in football; athletics etc in order to test the acceleration speed of athletes, a normal set for this would be 3 x 30 meter sprints. Take the average of the 3 sprints in order to get an indication of your acceleration speed.

Survival of The Fittest (Mens Health) 2011

7 of our intrepid warriors took the test and one.

Well done to the ladies who took part and I know they are looking forward to the next challenge!