Are you still waiting?

Are you still waiting for the right time to get back into your healthy eating and exercising regime. What are you actually waiting for?

• Christmas and New Year to be over? Well, they are.
• Family and friends to go back home after the holidays? They more than likely have.
•   All the Christmas contraband to have been consumed? Hasn’t it?
• Waiting to get back to work again so that you can get into a routine. Most people are back at work by now.
• Maybe you’ve been waiting for the summer weather to appear, to help motivate you. Well, fingers crossed, it’s looking good at present.
• Auckland Anniversary Weekend – done and dusted.
• Waiting for the kids to go back to school? It’s happening this week.

It seems to me that just about all the excuses you have been tossing around as to why you haven’t got back on track can be dismissed now. Yes, it can be difficult to get back into the swing of things after a holiday, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and get on with it. The alternative is to keep filling up those pesky fat cells around your middle, yes, you know the ones I mean.

Here are a couple of special deals to motivate you to contact me right now!

The Six Week Nutrition Challenge is still running and everyone who is doing it is achieving fantastic results. The Challenge consists of an initial 30 minute appointment where we set targets to meet over the following 5 weeks, measure your body composition and write up a plan. Then you come every week for the next five weeks for a 15 minute ‘accountability’ appointment. You must keep a diary, you must keep your weekly appointments (no extensions) and ideally you will take a before and after photo. Simple! The cost to existing clients is $185.00. New clients can also do the Challenge, ask them to contact me for details.

The Back to School Special consists of an initial 30 minute appointment to set goals and boundaries, measure body composition and write up a food plan, followed by 1 x 30 minute appointment and two x 15 minute appointments. The follow up appointments can be at either weekly or two weekly intervals. The cost to existing clients is $135.00. Don’t wait another minute – phone or email me now and let’s get started!!

New Study Confirms Overweight People Die Earlier

The lethal impact of carrying extra kilos of fat may seem obvious. Until recently, however, no one could point to a study that did not have confounding flaws such as including those with pre-existing heart disease, cancer, etc.

A pooled analysis involving 1.46 million men and women was published in the New England Journal of Medicine that measured risk of dying with body mass index (BMI).47 Those with pre-existing illness and smokers were excluded.

The findings showed that compared with women of normal weight during the study period:

• Overweight women (BMI between 25.0 and 29.9) were 13% more likely to die;
• Moderately obese women (BMI between 30.0 and 34.9) were 44% more likely to die;
• Severely obese women (BMI between 35.0 and 39.9) were 88% more likely to die;
• Morbidly obese women (BMI between 40.0 and 49.9) were 151% more likely to die.

The body weight/risk of dying pattern was similar for men. The lowest mortality risks were for the people who had a body mass index (BMI) of 20 to 24.9. Click here to check your BMI: Hit the metric button and enter your height and weight. (BMI is different to body composition, ask me to explain next time we catch up if you are unsure.)

BMI is not a completely accurate mortality predictor, as a large waist circumference, even in those in the normal BMI range, can increase one’s risk of early death. Men should aim for a waist measurement of no more than 94cm and women no more than 80cm. Health risks increase as your waistline does. Grab a tape now and check your waist measurement.

While most of us are more concerned about how extra fat looks on our bodies, we really should be thinking about the health risks of carrying those extra kilos.

I often hear from clients that they are genetically more likely to be overweight because their mother/father/aunt/brother/grandfather or other relation is very overweight. I usually suggest that it is more likely that their lifestyle is the issue. If a family as a whole eat more meals away from home, if they don’t regularly exercise and if they don’t eat ‘real’ food including plenty of fibrous vegetables, then of course they are more likely to be an overweight/obese family. Nurture, not nature is at work here.

It doesn’t mean that the situation can’t be changed if the individuals are prepared to change their habits. Sadly though, it often isn’t until someone in the family develops a serious health issue that the rest take notice.

We need to be proactive about taking care of our health. Aside from genetics, the risk factors associated with heart attacks are generally ones that we have some influence over. Being a smoker, being overweight, having high blood pressure and having elevated blood fats are all risk factors, often caused by our lifestyle. Which is better, modifying your lifestyle now or having a heart attack? Did you know, with 50% of heart attacks that is the only warning you get? 50% of heart attack victims die with no previous warning. Don’t be a victim, take care of yourself now.

If your goal is fat loss, go easy on fruit. Yes, fruit is good for you, but it is also high in sugar and eating more than 2 or 3 servings of fruit a day may slow down your fat loss because of the effect it has on raising your blood sugar and insulin levels.

What’s new at the supermarket?

• Sugar free maple syrup. If you like your porridge sweetened, but don’t want to add extra calories, try the new Queen brand of sugar free maple syrup. It is sweetened with sucralose which is a safe sweetener and 35g (7 teaspoons!) contains only 18 calories.
• Sunsweet have multi packs of lovely soft prunes and apricots which are only 63 calories and 70 calories respectively. A bag of these with a pot of lite yoghurt would make a good afternoon tea. Or you could take a pack of these with a small amount of nuts in the car for a healthy snack on the run.
• Peckish Thins are delicious thin, crisp rice crackers which are only available at New World. They have to be the best tasting rice crackers I’ve tried and contain slightly less energy than the other brands.
• Select (Countdown range) are producing their own ‘chicken in a can’ now.

Tip:

Want to know a super easy way to get the husk off a cooked corn cob? Slice the bottom (stalk end) off the cob then hold it by the top and shake the cob out. It comes out clean as a whistle!

Speaking of corn, if you have an allowance for starchy carbs in your plan (rice, potato, kumara, etc) you can exchange those for a medium sized corn cob. I just microwave them in their husks. Enjoy it now while it is in season.

Recipes:

Cottage Cheese Dip. Blend lite cottage cheese until smooth, like the texture of ricotta. Pile into a serving bowl then drizzle sweet chill sauce over. Serve with rice crackers and vegetable sticks.

Bean Salad Wrap. Serves 2. Mix a 400g can of Craigs Mixed Bean Salad with diced red onion and scatter 40g of feta cheese over. Divide in two and using large iceberg lettuce leaves, roll up for a crispy tasty, vegetarian wrap.

Chicken + Cranberry Pizza. Go to my recipe index for this super easy, crispy pizza.

Chocolate Mousse + blueberries. Serves two. 4 Tbs Weight Watchers drinking chocolate mixed with 4 Tbs boiling water. Stir until smooth then stir in 4 Tbs lite Greek yoghurt. Stir well and chill for at least 30 minutes. Put ½ cup blueberries into a parfait glass and top with half of the mousse and repeat for the second serving. ** I really like orange zest mixed into the mousse, it is delicious!

Does anyone have contacts in the insurance industry in London? One of my clients who are experienced in commercial insurance is moving to London in April and will be looking for a job. Please get in touch with me if you have any contacts.

Until next time.
Lynda