Kill Your Fat!

I always advocate eating fresh fruit as a significant part of your diet. Well, here are some interesting tidbits on the health benefits of bananas that someone sent me…

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fibre. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.

But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anaemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anaemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex, England) school were helped through their exams by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fibre, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system..

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a ‘cooling’ fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. Perhaps it’s time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”

Sometimes changing your daily routine can help to change your whole lifestyle. It can be as simple as getting up earlier by 30 minutes. Now what you do with that 30 minutes makes a huge difference! Do you clean house? Do you prepare a healthier breakfast? Do you go for a walk or a run? Or do you do as I do and spend the time reflecting and stretching, getting your body ready for the day. I admit that I actually spend most of my time sitting at a desk. Hopefully it won’t always be that way (in fact I know it won’t), but if you are like me in that respect, then any little change can be good!

One thing that you can do to change your routine is to look at your eating routine. When do you snack most? What kinds of things do you snack on? Why? Sometimes people snack on certain foods simply because they are easier (or at least percieved as easier). But is a bag of chips any easier than an apple and a banana? We all know it’s not, but we don’t think of it that way. Jeez, advertisers are good! So that’s another little strategy you can use to change your routine. And it will help you be healthier in the long run!

There are several products and tools that you can use to help control your appetite, but I highly recommend one that is very low in cost - in fact, cost free for most people.

Drink Water to Lessen Your Binging Urges

If every time you have the urge to eat a snack or just go on a bit of a binge, you drink a glass of water, it will help you to eat a little bit less. It will also help you to learn what your habits are. Drinking that glass of water makes you more conscious of your actions and what you are doing when it comes to food. This in itself can help you to be more aware of what you are doing.

Using Water to Lower Your Caloric Intake at Meals

When we’re kids our parents often don’t let us drink anything right before or during a meal. Little kids tend to drink a lot at meal times and fill up on water, milk, or juice if the adults let them. And so we are taught not to drink before a meal and to be moderate during the meal. This practice is something that we should start changing. With childhood obesity on the rise, perhaps the habit should be to have a glass of water before the meal and another during the meal. Even as adults this will help us to lower our caloric intake and to start losing some of that weight we’ve been putting on over the years. Water has little or no calories. Yet it is possible to feel full from drinking a lot of it. This is useful in weight loss, as long as you use the water to substitute for the food, not as an addition to it. Drink LOTS of water every day, before and during every meal and sometimes when you feel like snacking. You’ll be surprised at how well this can work!

It always seems that people who are trying to get you to lose weight are pushing the healthiest diet and the craziest fads around. It really is amazing! And I sometimes find it reprehensible. There are options available that don’t drive you crazy!

The best way to lose weight is to simply eat less. That’s it. Of course that can be tough, which is why a coach is sometimes necessary. Who else can look at what you eat (and what you like to eat) and come up with a way that you can actually stick to your goals and help you to meet them in a safe and realistic manner? Who else can give you the encouragement you need when you’re not feeling up to it?

Sometimes it’s rough to try and make a go of it on your own. WE all need support networks to help us. And someties that help is as simple as choosing the right options in losing weight. So what options are typically available?

• There’s the going to the gym and eating very healthy, bang, all at once — that’s tough for most people.
• There is gradually cutting back on your food, slowly changing your eating habits. How do you know you’re doing it right and still maintaining a decent level of nutrition? Better check, and if in doubt seek some help. And that is often really tough to do on your own.
• There is ignoring your diet and simply exercising more. This works for some people. And if it works for you, great! If you need help in deciding what will work best for you for exercise, ask around. Ask your friends what is fun, or better yet, ask an expert who can help you choose what fits you best.
• There are also several combinations of all of the above, and then some… How do you choose?

First off, I’ll say it’s rare that it ever works for anyone to simply buy a book off the shelf and try to follow whatever the style of the day is to lose weight. I’ve seen countless people try that and fail. I’ve never seen anyone succeed from that. I have seen many people get a friend to help them out and get them going, as a pair. I’ve also seen people consult with a fitness trainer, dietitian, or their physician to get them going and keep them on track. Each of these is great! And they all have their advantages. A fitness and health coach is someone who goes beyond the regular trainer, and helps you to make lifestyle choices that will suit you and your goals. Often you can think of this as someone who is as much a life coach as a personal trainer. And that’s what I do!

What would you expect from your personal coach?

Enjoying exercise in the outdoors

We each have our specific goals in getting rid of fat or keeping fit. Some people just want to lose a little bit, and some people want to lose a lot. And there are some people who are already have reasonable body fat levels, but want to increase their fitness - they may even be in horrible shape, but aren’t fat. Well, I’ve worked with people of all of these backgrounds, and enjoy coaching them to meet their goals. I believe that anyone can reach the fitness goals they desire! Sometimes all it takes is a little prodding and maybe designing a simple plan to follow.

I have a specific diet that I follow. Granted, my diet is more strict than most people’s, but you don’t have to follow my diet to keep healthy. Designing one is part of what I do. But I integrate that into your lifestyle and your tastes. And the same goes with a fitness plan. A lot of people think that they have to run to the gym three times a week and that’s the only way to get fit. What a load of rubbish!

Getting fit doesn’t have to mean working out at Gold’s Gym every other day. There are a myriad of ways to accomplish your fitness and health goals. One can take up an activitiy, such as walking or playing a game, like soccer or Ultimate Frisbee, swimming, and more. Changes in lifestyle are also going to have to occur, of course. But they don’t ahve to be hard. And once they have been happening for a while, it’s not something one thinks about, but one simply enjoys!