Four healthy things I have learned this month.

One of the most important parts of being a health and fitness professional is to keep yourself well-read and on top of your game. It would be quite easy to learn just enough to get me by, but after many years in an ever changing industry with new science and new methods coming into the public domain constantly, you can never stop learning.

On that note, here are four healthy things I have learned this month;

1)  How to make a tasty, savoury, gluten free bread.

I am always trying out new recipes and as someone who is a big fan of the Paleo movement and the message they promote, I often try gluten free breads. However, I find that most of them have been very sweet and almost cake like, so I was really happy to find this fantastic savoury option, which is really simple to make.

Here’s the recipe:

• 200g almonds
• 260g pumpkin seeds
• 200g brown rice flour
• 85g sunflower seeds
• 3 tbsp. psyllium husk powder
• 3 tbsp. dried mixed herbs
• 2 tbsp. chia seeds
• Salt & pepper

• Place the almonds and 175g of pumpkin seeds in a food processor and blend until a flour forms.
• Pour the flour in a large mixing bowl with all the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Add in 600ml cold water, stirring the mixture together.
• Leave the bowl to one side for about an hour to let all the water absorb into the mixture.
• Turn the dough out onto a baking tray and form into a loaf no thicker than 5-7cm tall and bake in an oven at 180 degrees centigrade for approximately 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

2.       How to make your own organic chicken liver pate.

Recently I have been made aware of the benefits of eating organ meat on a regular basis, especially livers for their superior nutritional profile. Chicken livers are packed full of protein, healthy fats, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and iron. The problem with buying shop bought pate is it is often full of rubbish ingredients and you cannot be 100% sure of the quality of the livers used – these must be organic as the liver is the chemical plant of the body, therefore if the animal has been fed rubbish then you can guarantee the liver will be rubbish.

So here is a link to a delicious organic chicken liver recipe I have tried and tested and can confirm it’s delicious.

3.       I should spend more time at the athletics track.

This is not something I have learned this month, more reminded myself of. I went for a little track session this week with a few colleagues and after 30 minutes of a mix of 400m, 300m, 200m and 100m sprints at full intensity I was more than ready for a sit down and couldn’t bring myself to jog back up the hill to work. WOW! 

I have been so focused on improving my Olympic lifting technique over the last 18 months, coupled with the fact I no longer play football on a regular basis means my sprint sessions have been few and far between. 

Sprinting is the ultimate high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout. HIIT workouts have been widely promoted for their health benefits, including fat burning, improved cardiovascular health, strength gains and time efficiency. The 4 days of DOMS I experienced after this is personal testament to how effective they are for a workout.

4.       Why sleeping naked is good for your health.

    The last thing I have learned this month is something I guess I have always known intuitively as I always sleep more soundly and comfortably this way. Now I have the evidence to back me up I can convince the other half that science is why I insist on this policy at night :-)

Stay healthy!

Weight Loss - it's all in the mind!

To get a body like a film star all you have to do is cut out wheat, dairy, sugar and carbohydrates; only eat for five days out of seven; never eat after 7pm; and on top of that make sure you are eating enough protein to create a new species on the endangered list and guzzle so many supplements it will keep Holland & Barrett in business for decades. 

Yes, according to the glossy magazines this is what it takes to lose weight and get the body you dream of. Sounds easy, right?!

Sarcasm aside, my many years of experience in the field tell me that people who exercise consistently and effectively and have a diet full of unprocessed highly nutritious food will make significant changes in their physical appearance and maintain a healthy weight.  However, many people constantly fall at the first hurdle and find it almost impossible to stick to a healthy living regime. 

Why? I believe it is due to lack of understanding of the many psychological factors that are associated with dieting behaviour.

Habits

Human beings are habitual by nature and from the moment we are born food becomes an essential part of our lives. It’s no surprise to find out that over the years we develop habits and create associations with food that are in some cases controlled by our environment and are not under our conscious control.  So what can be done about this?  Research has shown that breaking habits can be achieved by making small changes in our daily routine and getting out of our comfort zones.  

Completing simple tasks such as watching different television programmes, eating new foods, taking up new hobbies and making new friends can not only enrich your life but help you lose up to 2lb a week before you even start dieting.  

My advice is to begin making small positive changes to your life before starting a diet and fitness regime, as this will not only open your mind to change but give a whole new perspective to life itself.

Behaviour Change

Timing when to start a weight management programme is essential for success.  By this I don’t mean that you should only start when you have no parties to go to; but knowing when you are ready and capable of change before making adjustments to your lifestyle is important.

I believe there are 5 stages to consider. Which one are you at?

1)  Pre-contemplation.  At this stage people are in denial over their need for change.  They embark on diet plans under duress from others and will rarely achieve success.

2)  Contemplation. This is the stage when a person acknowledges that they have a problem and like to talk about it, read about it and think about it.  In fact, they like to do anything except act on it. 

3)  Preparation.  Preparing for action!  This can involve seeking out a personal trainer or gym membership, deciding what foods you are going to cut out of your life and planning your meals.  A key part of this stage is to go public with your intentions to help push you into action.

4)  Action.  This stage is busy and time consuming.  A routine of new foods and exercise dominate your thoughts whilst trying to combat cravings and negative influences.  This is why preparation is vital!

5)  Maintenance. Once you begin to make changes and gain results, your support from peers dwindles.  This makes it essential that you understand that CHANGE NEVER ENDS WITH ACTION. An extensive period of maintenance is needed to engrain the new regime into your life whilst it becomes a new habit, this can last anything from 6 months to a lifetime!

TOP TIP:  Make a list of all the positives and negatives involved in going on a diet.  If the positives outweigh the negatives you are ready for change!

True motivation must come from within!

I am always shocked by the amount of people who try to lose weight due to the pressure of others.  I cannot be any clearer with this statement; “If you attempt to diet to make someone else happy, you will fail!!”

So, in danger of sounding a bit like a bad actor, what is my motivation?  Well I have found success with clients when I ask them to take part in a simple writing task;

Take the time to write down and explain in detail why you believe that losing weight will improve your life. It is important not to focus on why it will make others happy, but to focus on the emotions involved personally to you and why your life will change for the better. This gives you a chance to express the stress, anger and frustration you may be feeling in a way that is very personal to yourself without having to talk it through with anyone else.  The cathartic nature of this task provides a much needed stress relief, but it also gives fresh perspective on a journey that for some has always been just a dream that lip service is constantly paid to.

In summary, losing weight is not as simple as being told by a young, in shape fitness trainer who has no kids, to eat less chocolate.  If you take note of these important psychological factors and begin to plan your regime properly and make sure you are not only ready for change but doing it for the right reasons, you will succeed.

How to eat well on a budget

The old adage, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” has become a sad reality for many Brits recently and we are currently experiencing the fallout of the so called “Horsemeat” scandal.  For many health and fitness professionals like myself it has been an extremely interesting news story, one which both disgusts me but also allows me to feel slightly vindicated as I openly speak out against processed food on a daily basis to my clients.  The fact the food industry has been caught red handed in lying to consumers over the content of its products is no surprise to me and my colleagues, but it gives me the perfect opportunity to present a positive counter argument to something that I hear time and time again; “I can’t afford to eat good food”.

First of all I want to set out my stall; I am not naive in thinking that in today’s financial climate has not affected many individuals and families on low incomes, and I am certainly not arrogant in thinking I can give parenting advice.   I do know if many of us change the way we think about food we can improve our diets (and those of our families) and do this on a budget that suits your circumstances.

The recent news scandal has highlighted that processed food cannot be trusted;  in fact I was told by reliable source that someone is needed to literally count the animals going in and out of these meat processing plants due to the corrupt nature of the business.   For those who do not know, processed food is food that has been pre-prepared and will have instructions to either be re-heated or to be cooked from frozen.  Apart from the ambiguous meat sources, these food types are also packed with sugar, salt, artificial flavouring, fillers and sweeteners. As a general rule of thumb, if the ingredients list is longer than a few items avoid it.

Buying what we in the industry called “whole foods” and cooking from scratch is the ideal solution to make sure that you are getting good quality, healthy and nutritious meals on a regular basis.  This is usually where the phrases “organic” and “free range” pop up and on the whole I would recommend buying as much of these products as you can, but first of all; What are they and what do the terms mean?

Organic Food

According to the soil association organic food is, “... food which is produced using environmentally and animal friendly farming methods on organic farms.”  The problem with a definition like this is it is still quite ambiguous in its meaning, especially as different countries have different organic regulation.  But to put it in lay terms, Organic food will not be grown using industrial chemicals to aid the growing process, it will not be genetically modified and organic meats/poultry will not be fed with non-organic animal feed. 

Free Range

Free range food doesn’t mean Organic, what it means is that the animal in question would have been living in conditions that allow it to roam around and forage for food naturally.  In the case of chickens for example; this means they will not be kept it battery farm conditions (artificial light, nowhere to move or flap their wings).  Why is this important? If an animal cannot move around its muscles and connective tissue cannot develop correctly, which means a terrible quality of animal is produced.  The food industry has tried to get around this by using hormones to help their animals grow and by injecting water into meat to make it look more succulent, but this is purely for aesthetics to help them sell a bad product with low nutritional value.  So just think, if your diet is mainly made up of this poor quality produce, then how are you supposed to get energy and essential nutrients from it?

Below I have put together a list of common ingredients, different levels of quality and their prices.  It makes worrying reading.  The Organic Supermarket produce is over 300% more expensive than the Supermarket Value brands, which is terrible as it does price out a lot of hard working families.  But the mid range brand, which includes free range eggs, chicken and organic milk is not that different to the value brands, so is definitely affordable, especially if unnecessary products such as sweets, crisps, biscuits, cakes, alcohol and frozen food are taken off the shopping list.

Table of common Ingredients

	Supermarket Value Brand	Mid Range Brand	Organic Supermarket
Wholemeal loaf of bread (800g)	£0.90	£1.50	£3.78
Dozen Eggs	£2.18	£2.65 (free range)	£4.38
4 Pints of Milk	£1.29	£1.79 (organic)	£4.30
Whole Chicken	£4.00	£5.50 (free range)	£17.32*
Total	£8.37	£11.44	£29.78

* Available for delivery in London only, which has affected the price on this delivery service

My advice for people who wish to improve the ingredients quality of their shopping list, but cannot afford to buy at organic supermarkets (that’s most of us) is to make up your shopping list with a mix of ingredients from your supermarket (look for the better quality produce such as free range and organic), local green grocers and when possible your local butcher.  If you are unable to buy organic vegetables the make sure your scrub them well before cooking, a tip would be to use apple cider vinegar to scrub them before rinsing in cold water (this removes any pesticides).

Another piece of essential advice is to change the way we look at our diets.  Why do we need to eat animal produce every day?  You can get essential protein from combining cheaper vegetable protein sources; for example a homemade daal (lentil curry) with brown rice and vegetables can provide all of the essential amino acids to make a wholesome protein rich, vitamin rich and energy rich meal that can feed a family at a fraction of the price of a meat based meal.

If you do want to use meats and fish then look at traditional working class dishes from home and abroad to make your meals go further; Stews, curry, paella, tagine, Bolognese, stir fry’s etc. All these dishes use whole food ingredients with some meat, but can be made in bulk portions to feed a family on a budget or to feed an individual for multiple days.

To sum up, it is not impossible to eat well whatever budget you are on, just make sure you shop smart and buy your ingredients whole.  It’s really easy to blame others for the state of your health, but taking some responsibility and cooking more will not only improve your health but the quality of your life and those around you.

Stay healthy!

For more information and recipe ideas email James directly to arrange a consultation james@hutchisonpt.co.uk

Do yourself a favour and do something different!

One of the most frustrating aspects of being a Fitness professional is seeing such inconsistency in peoples training regimes and diet.  I am forever hearing next week is the week I’m going to sort my food out; on Monday I am going to stop drinking so much; after my holiday I am going to take my training more seriously etc.  

This table from Stanford University’s psychology research department makes interesting reading and can shed some light on why people seemingly find it so difficult to add an exercise or healthy diet regime to their life,  give up a bad habit or break away from self destructive behaviours that affect their overall health. The table highlights the fact that not enough focus is on recognising or understanding how much our behaviours, therefore our lives are controlled by habits.

	Stanford University’s Top 10 mistakes in behaviour change
1	Relying on will power for long term change
2	Attempting big leaps instead of baby steps
3	Ignoring how environment shapes behaviour
4	Trying to stop old behaviours rather than create new ones
5	Blaming failure on lack of motivation
6	Underestimating the power of triggers
7	Believing that information leads to action
8	Focusing on abstract goals more than concentrating on concrete behaviours
9	Seeking at the outset to change the behaviour forever
10	Believing that behaviour change is always difficult

It is human nature to think that we are all in control of our lives and all of decisions and behaviours are completely rational and all of the choices we make are conscious.  The truth is that they are not; our brains may only make up 2% of our body-weight but they consume 20% of our energy resources.  It has also been shown that willpower behaves like a muscle in the sense that it burns more energy and can get tired when overused, which suggests that it is natural for the brain to want to conserve energy.  A way this can happen is to run on auto-pilot and just do what is comfortable and requires less thought.  

Our lives are run by habits, so when it comes to changing your diet, or committing to an exercise regime or giving up drinking or smoking it is no wonder so many fail at the first hurdle as they are battling against environmental triggers that they don’t know exist.  The good news is there is something you can do to help.  It is quite simply learn new behaviours and create new brain connections by doing something completely different.

Professor Ben Fletcher, Head of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire has spent his career researching this field and has overwhelming evidence that shows that when people commit to trying new things it opens their mind to change, which has a positive effect on breaking habits, losing weight and making sustainable long term changes.  It can even improve your creativity, work productivity and overall enrich your life.  

Professor Fletcher advocates “Do Something Different” interventions that require people to come out of their comfort zone and take part in seemingly innocuous tasks such as eating different food, reading a different paper, watching new television shows, walking a different route to work or striking up conversations with new people. The result of these interventions is a mind that is open to change, as he puts it, you learn how to use the other 9/10ths of your personality.

Remember, Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

So, if you have been struggling in 2013 to keep to your health goals, my advice is to mix it up and do something completely different and help improve your chances of success!

For more information and guidance on how to change your health behaviour and build a successful exercise regime contact James directly on james@hutchisonpt.co.uk or enquiries@aayou.co.uk.

Why failure is what most dieters experience

The obesity epidemic is fast becoming a crisis in the United Kingdom.  The term clinically obese is defined as, "a body mass index of 30kg/m squared or greater,".  In fact the NHS released statistics in 2009 that claimed 24% of adults in England were clinically obese, an increase of 15% since 1993.  The same report shows there is a 14% increase in raised waist circumference in adults across the same time scale.

More alarming figures were released in 2010 by top market researchers Mintel, showing that almost a quarter of women in the UK are wearing size 18 clothes or over, that equates to approximately 6.2 million people.

So with obesity problems like this it is no surprise that the diet industry is big business.  There are no official statistics for the amount of money spent on the UK diet industry, but estimates in the US quote figures of between $40-$100 billion.  So for the industry to be making this kind of revenue they expect one thing, your failure.  If every person who put themselves on the (place generic diet brand here) diet actually kept the weight off, there would be no need to sell the memberships, promote the books or champion the potions and powders that bring this miraculous weight loss.

Speaking as someone who has worked in the fitness industry for over ten years I can honestly say the clients of mine who have successfully lost weight and kept it off do two things; first they work hard in raising their exercise levels, not only in the gym or in personal training sessions, but overall in their lifestyle.  This could be exercising outside of the gym by taking up a sport, or just walking more often or cycling with the kids.

Secondly, and most importantly they adopt a sensible balanced diet, which provides adequate nutrition and calorie intake to sustain their daily activities, but a regime they can stick to without falling off the wagon due to treat deprived binges.  So, if the solution is so simple, why do most dieters fail?  I am going to answer this question from a psychological perspective rather than in the more traditional (regulate your blood sugar) sense.

It would be common sense to assume that if a persons attitude towards a behaviour, lets say their attitude towards eating healthier, was positive, then they are likely to participate in that behaviour.  However, it was shown many years ago that the correlation between attitude and behaviour was as low as 0.30 (1 being a perfect correlation).  Over the years there have been many academic studies into attitude and behaviour change, one of the most significant was proposed by Ajzen & Fishbein; The theory of planned behaviour.  This model has shown empirically that a persons actions can be predicted accurately using knowledge of their attitudes towards the behaviour, subjective norms about the behaviour and perceived behavioural control.  What this means when related to a person wishing to diet, is their behaviour can be predicted more accurately by knowing their attitude towards dieting in general, what they believe other people will think of them if they do or do not diet, do they believe they can succeed if they diet and most importantly do they show real intention to change.

Another theory has grown out of this model, mainly focusing on peoples intention to change.  Gollwitzer has proposed the idea of implementation intentions, and has good empirical support to back it up.  The concept can be summed up as planning how to participate in a behaviour that will result in a achieving a desired goal.  The implementation intention requires the person to specify when, where and how the behaviours will be achieved, this will not just provide the person time to evaluate their goals and think practically how to achieve them but also provides an emotional and psychological contract that they have signed.

So, my advice to those who are thinking of dieting, is to look at the situation from a psychological prospective.  Make sure before you go ahead with the latest fad diet in a glossy magazine that you choose an eating regime you believe you can stick to.  Then take time to write down when you are going to start, where it is going to happen (such as eating at home rather than restaurants and spending more time in the gym) and most importantly, how are you going to achieve this.  It is important to prepare meal plans and give yourself three or four small goals each week, such as drink more water, cut out chocolate, reduce salt intake etc.

It is also important to have this implementation intention on paper, if it is sitting as a document on your PC or lap top you are not going to see it.  Print it out, put it up on the fridge or somewhat where you and those around you will see it regularly, and make sure you add your signature to it.  If you do these small but significant tasks, it will greatly increase your chances of achieving your goals and avoiding the gut wrenching guilt of previous failures.

For more information about the psychological perspective of weight loss and exercise goals, contact me on james.hutchison4@btinternet.com.  

Is a gluten free diet for me?

The heroics and sheer athleticism of Novak Djokovic during the recent Wimbledon tennis tournament highlighted not only the climax of a journey that has seen him rise to the world number one spot, but also claims that his superior fitness and energy levels were due to his new gluten free diet.  A gluten free diet has been promoted by those in the fitness industry for many years, but what does it actually mean? More importantly, is it for me?

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.  This protein can trigger an immune response in the small intestine of people with gluten intolerance and those with celiac disease.  The body responds to this reaction by creating anti bodies to attack the 'foreign invader'.  During the process of the attack the villi of the small intestine are affected which can cause all sorts of gastrointestinal symptoms and dysfunctions.  These symptoms can include;

• Abdominal discomfort
• Bloating
• Constipation
• Diarrhoea
• Fatigue
• Gas
• Joint Pain
• Migraines

Should I avoid gluten if I am not celiac or gluten intolerant?  An article by Charles Poliquin, a world renowned expert on health and fitness suggests it should be removed from every diet.  The reasons he gives are as follows;

• Gluten inflames the brain, therefore can interfere with brain function;
• The glutamate content in gluten is known to kill brain cells;
• Gluten intolerance has been shown to negatively affect the thyroid;
• Gluten can aggravate menopausal symptoms.  Removing it from the diet can help reduce the severity of associated symptoms such as night sweats, hot flushes, headaches, mood swings and fatigue;
• Gluten is associated with accelerated ageing;
• Gluten weakens tooth enamel;
• Gluten negatively affects body composition.  Gluten is known to raise the levels of insulin and cortisol.  The combination of increased levels of these hormones can lead to obesity.

(For full article, see www.charlespoliquin.com)

Following a gluten free diet means  completely avoiding the following foods;

• Bagels                   
• Beer                                   
• Beverage mixers
• Biscuits                 
• Bread                                  
• Bread crumbs
• Breaded fish          
• Breaded meat or poultry       
• Cake
• Candy                   
• Canned baked beans            
• Cereal
• Chicken nuggets    
• Croissants                            
• Crackers
• Crisps                   
• Croutons                              
• Custard
• Doughnuts              
• Dumplings                           
• Flour
• Flour tortillas         
• Fried vegetables                   
• Fruit filling
• Gravy                    
• Gum                                    
• Hamburger buns
• Hotdogs                 
• Hotdog buns                       
• Ice cream (also non-dairy ice cream)
• Ice cream cones     
• Macaroni                           
•  Melba toast
• Muffins                  
• Noodles                               
• Packaged cereals
• Pancakes               
• Pasta                                   
• Pastries
• Pizza crust             
• Pretzels                                
• Processed chocolate milk
• Rolls                      
• Salad dressing                     
• Salad dressing
• Soy sauce             
• Spaghetti                              
• Stuffing
• Syrups                  
• Tabbouleh                            
• Tinned soup
• Waffles

This seemingly endless list removes many of the foods that would make up a standard shopping list.  But do not fear, many supermarkets now offer a range of foods that are free from gluten (many from wheat and dairy too).  These foods are considered specialist, so inevitably more expensive than the standard versions, but eating a gluten free diet does not mean having a boring tasteless diets.  It does mean spending a little ore time in the kitchen preparing your own meals.  There is an abundance of gluten free recipe and cook books out there, a selection of 3500 recipes from top TV chefs such as James Martin and Rick Stein can be found on www.bbc.co.uk/food/diets/gluten_free .  A couple of examples are Steamed fish with Chinese vegetables and plum sauce, or Surf and Turf with wilted spinach, watercress and mustard sauce, both meals sound tasty and are full of whole foods and nutrients.

So all that is left for you to do is to give it a try.  For two weeks completely eradicate gluten from your diet and monitor your energy levels, your sleep patterns and your digestive function.  I would be extremely surprised if each of those does not vastly improve.

For more information regarding planning an effective diet or fitness programme contact me on james.hutchison4@btinternet.com