I've always been obsessed with how exercise and nutrition affect our health. I'm an exercise specialist. I'm not a doctor or dietician and, while I believe science has it place, I prefer alternative methods wherever possible. To me, prevention is far better than cure. I am proud to say that our household is completely organic and chemical free and I wish that for every household. I believe it's time to go back to grass roots and to find health and beauty in life, naturally.
Another busy day in the Lowe-Martin household! It's GLM's birthday tomorrow:) That means loads of preparations on my part. I've also got a big order heading to Durban tomorrow afternoon and I really want to finish it all today so that I can just spend the weekend spoiling my wife which is possibly one of my ultimate favourite things to do:) But I can't let all that get in the way of my daily post and so, here it is!
Today's Real Food Friday Feast recipe is... Home-made yogurt! But why would anyone want to make their own yogurt when the shelves at the grocery store are lined with so many different yogurt options? Well, you know what I'm going to say to that, don't you? Anything that is in a sealed package, on the shelf of a grocery store, is processed food and processed food isn't actually REAL food. In case you aren't sure why, read this post.
I really feel for people who stock up on yogurt on a weekly basis and dutifully eat it by the litre, thinking that they are doing wonders for their digestive system. The reality is that store bought yogurt has about the same nutritional value as a store bought caramel-toffee dessert: and that would be zero. The reason for this is that the yogurt is fermented for a very short period of time, sometimes as little as an hour, in order to turn out more yogurt at a time, and make more money (you didn't actually think they were bothered with making it healthy for you, did you?!) To make it worse, thickening agents are added to the yogurt BECAUSE they don't ferment for long enough, and fermentation is usually the process that thickens it.
So, that yogurt you are eating, actually has very little, if any, probiotics (read about some of the benefits of probiotics in this post) in it and it also has hidden thickening agents that you should really not be eating. To make it worse, most yogurt has so much added sugar that it really does have a similar calorie count to a caramel-toffee dessert! If you are feeding that to your kids, you are not doing them any favours, I promise you. Unfortunately yogurt has been labelled a health food and that means people buy it by the truckload, AND feed it to their kids because it's a convenient, easy, "healthy" snack.
Make a note of this: generally, anything that is easy and convenient, is NOT going to be good for you. It'll probably add a few more minutes to your day. But, those minutes added to your day, can ultimately be subtracted from your life in total, whether it leads to time spent in a doctor's room, or a hospital bed, or worse.
That is why I blog:) And actually, home-made yogurt is SO easy, it'll take you the amount of time you would have taken to get to the store and back, to actually make it and all it will cost you is the price of 1 litre of milk to make 1 litre of yogurt.
Something to bear in mind is that, if you are going to make your own yogurt, it would be a lot more beneficial to use a good quality milk. If you're not sure why, then read this post to understand why full cream, raw milk is the BEST milk for you. If you can't find raw, the next best alternative is Woolies organic full cream milk although, even that is heat-treated and pasteurised.
HOME-MADE YOGURT
A pot
A ceramic or glass dish with a lid
A whisk
1 litre of milk
1/2 cup yogurt (try to get a decent yogurt as a starter. Woolies sells an organic yogurt. You'll only need to buy it once if you are going to be making yogurt often)
Thermometre
Method:
Turn your oven on to 50° celsius. (this is to create a nice warm environment for the bacteria to thrive in)
Place the pot on the stove on medium heat so that the milk won't burn at the bottom of the pot. (On my stove this is about a 4)
Pour the milk into the pot, leaving the lid off (to avoid condensation dripping back into the milk)
The milk must gently come to a boil (keep an eye on it because it happens quite suddenly and I've been caught unawares a few time!)
Remove the pot of milk from the stove, cover with a dishcloth and leave to cool
Every few minutes test the temperature of the milk until it reaches about 40° celsius. (A food thermometre is best here but I STILL don't have one so I just use my digital one that I usually use when one of us is sick! It doesn't go above about 43° celsius but that's fine because you only need it to reach 40°!)
When the thermometre reads 40° celsius, pour the milk into your ceramic dish
Turn OFF your oven (you don't want to nuke the little bacteria;)
Add the 1/2 cup yogurt and mix it in with a whisk (a fork will do if you don't have one!)
Place the lid on the ceramic dish and stick the dish in the oven
Leave for 24 hours
After 24 hours, place the yogurt into a container and store it in the fridge. It will last for about a week or two depending on how fast you eat it.
You can use this batch of yogurt to make the next batch so always make sure to keep at least half a cup aside for when you next make your yogurt to avoid having to buy more. As long as you keep making it, your yogurt will only ever cost you the price of the milk. I pay R9 a litre so that is the price of a litre of yogurt for us! I usually do this in the morning and then I leave it in my oven overnight and take it out the next morning. If you make some yogurt and suddenly remember you need to roast a chicken in the oven, firstly, DON'T FORGET TO TAKE YOUR YOGURT OUT before turning your oven back on and secondly, it will be fine if you take it out. Your oven will cool down within an hour of you turning it off anyway. As long as it has a bit of heat to kickstart the process, it will still ferment just fine. Put your dish on top of the oven and it will still probably feel a bit of heat from the chicken roasting anyway. Once you've roasted your chicken, let the oven cool a bit before putting your yogurt back into the oven. I learnt this the hard way when I managed to kill all the little bacteria in my yogurt by putting it back into a TOO hot oven! That's it! Really simple and easy and yummy! You can add fruit, or honey, as you eat it, if the plain yogurt is too sour for you. I really recommend getting your kids, and YOU, accustomed to eating it plain if NOT with fruit or honey. Try to avoid adding sugar to food as it really takes away from the nutritional value. You'll find, with raw, full cream milk, it is deliciously creamy and tasty! Have a super weekend!
Today has been a crazy day. This is what my kitchen looked like:
I have a large soap and cream order to finish up and the days just never seem to be long enough!
That means I didn't have ANY time to post a blog today:( I'm sorry! But I couldn't leave you completely stranded so I thought I'd leave you with this powerful thought:
I'm sure I don't need to say, make your body your temple and treat it as such, with love and respect.
Tomorrow is the Real Food Friday Feast and I'm going to tell you how to make your own, home-made yoghurt!
If you've read this post of mine, you will know just how bad most beauty products are for you. If you haven't read it, I urge you to. Most beauty products contain chemicals that are exceptionally bad for you, and yet we apply them religiously to our bodies because we have been promised younger looking skin, softer skin, smoother skin etc. It's ironic that these products actually dry out, and wrinkle your skin more, in the long run, because of all the free radicals they are putting into your body and because they contain such harsh chemicals which usually require protective clothing to work with! I believe they are a large part of the reason cancer is so prevalent in our lives.
That is why I started making my own products. It was just safer for us. It was some serious trial and error on my part. Poor GLM had to live with grainy creams that left residue on all her clothes and deodorant that smelt strongly of coconut and various other things but I have finally found the right mix and I am really happy with it. So far I am making body butter, lip ice and soaps. My deodorant is still in the testing phase but I hope to roll it out really soon! I will talk soon about just how bad store bought deodorants are for you.
Without intending to, I have started a little sideline business of selling my products to those interested in keeping their bodies clean! I was initially making them as gifts for my family and friends, but people loved the product so much that orders started coming in and now I find a large part of my free time is taken up making beauty products in my kitchen;) I really enjoy it though. It's so incredibly satisfying to see a finished product, and to know that I am doing my little bit to make people healthier, and keep the environment cleaner!
So, I thought I'd let you guys know too. Here are the prices:
Mellow Health Body Butter using beeswax (500ml): R70 each
Mellow Health Body Butter using soywax (500ml): R85 each
Mellow Health Soaps: R10 each
Mellow Health Lip Ice: R40 each
These are some lotions and soaps to give you an idea
If you are interested in ordering any of Mellow Health's beauty products, please email mellowhealth@melanielowe.co.za with your orders. Please bear in mind that, if you are in another province or country, I will need to add courier fees to the cost but, if you place an order of over R300, there will be no courier charge!
I can do several different scent options so please be sure to specify your preference. If you have any skin conditions you need help with, please also let me know, as well as if you have any allergies. You shouldn't have any issues except perhaps with beeswax. All the products contain completely natural ingredients. These being:
Beeswax (or soy wax if you are allergic to beeswax or if you are vegan)
Coconut oil
Olive oil
Avocado oil
Sweet Almond oil
Shea butter
Cocoa butter
Herbs (depending on the scent you want and also any possible skin conditions you may need help with. For example, if you suffer from eczema I will use Calendula and lavender herbs)
Essential oils (also depends on the scent you want and any possible skin conditions that you need help with)
The soaps can also have many different scents and all contain a mix of the above ingredients as well as clay to harden them. I don't use lye in my soaps as it is quite volatile to work with and I don't have a separate work room yet. I don't want to destroy my kitchen;) The soaps are deliciously soft and luxurious. Your skin will never feel dry again and they are also biodegradable and perfectly safe and good for your baby's skin. The same applies to the body butter.
That's it! I look forward to hearing from you all!
I guess it's a given that, no matter how important health is for all of us, weight loss is always going to be top of the list for most people in terms of goals. If you've been reading my blog daily, you'd have noticed I focus a lot on health, because that's more important to me, but I have also said that, eating clean, organic, real foods will, by default, lead to weight loss, so it's a win-win.
If you have been changing your lifestyle, cutting out chemicals and all processed foods, eating more clean fruit and vegetables, eating only free-range meat and dairy and drinking no more sugary drinks, you will likely have seen and felt a change in your energy levels, your body will have an enhanced ability to heal, your hair will be shinier and grow faster and so will your nails and you'll have lost some weight. That weight will likely keep dropping off if you have included exercise in your daily routine, but, if you haven't, there is a chance the weight loss will plateau after a while.
There is a catch to all this healthy eating, as there is with ANY eating. Your body requires a certain amount of calories to function and anything you eat over and above that is going to go into storage. I know you didn't really want to hear that but it's true!
Whenever people prescribe fad diets, 9 times out of ten they end up working for the first few weeks. Why? Because they drastically cut calorie consumption. Think about any diet you have ever been on, or heard of. No diet allows for junk food of any kind, most, if not ALL diets prescribe LOTS of salad and vegetables and less refined foods, and all diets cut the amount of calories you are allowed daily. Anyone who cuts calories, no matter WHICH calories they are, will invariably lose weight because, after their body has used what it needs to function, there are no excess calories left over to store. Your body will start using existing fat stores for energy and, before you know it, you've lost 5kgs. Exciting stuff!
Here's the rub: very few (if any) people can maintain a diet that only allows you a yoghurt for breakfast, a tuna salad for lunch and a skinless chicken breast and veggies for dinner. For starters, it's just boring. Secondly, it's bad for your body because it's totally lacking in any fat at all and thirdly, it's going to end up making you so hormonal and grumpy that your friends and family will beg you to eat again!
When you start eating your "normal" food again, those 5kgs you lost, will come back just as quickly as you lost them. That is the danger of dieting. That is why it is so important to get the word "diet" out of your vocabulary as quick as you can and replace it with "lifestyle".
I've given you most of the tools in all my blogs, to clean up your eating habits, get healthy and lose weight, so all you need to do is keep on doing what you're doing, BUT you also need to cut down on quantity. How do you know how much you need to be eating? You can calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
Your BMR is how much energy your body uses when it's at rest. Why does your body use energy while it's resting? Well, you'd be amazed by how much is going on in your body while you are sitting still. Your digestive system is busily digesting the meal you ate an hour ago, sending nutrients to wherever they are needed to build new cells, you are breathing all the time and your blood is transporting oxygen to the cells in your body and carbon dioxide away from the cells in your body. If you are cold, your body is working hard to keep you warm, if you're hot, it's trying to cool you down. Your hair is growing, your nails are growing, you may have a cut on your hand that's busy healing or stiff muscles that need repairing. Your body is in a constant state of change and it needs energy to do that. Your BMR tells you how much energy is needed to run YOUR body on a daily basis.
Every BODY is different. A man who spends his life sitting in a car or on a couch, leading a sedentary life, is going to need fewer calories than a man who spends his life being active, whether its in a gym, or with sports or with a job that involves a lot of moving and carrying. A very tall man will require more calories than a very short man. A pregnant woman will require more calories than a non-pregnant woman (you get my drift!)
The active man will need more calories than the sedentary man, because his body is more active and he has more muscle. Muscle is metabolically active, whereas fat isn't at all. If the man on the couch eats the same amount of food as the active man, he will be eating more than his body requires to function and the excess calories will likely be stored as fat. He will have a lower BMR than the active man so he will need to eat according to his own BMR. The fact that he isn't active is also going to be a factor BUT, interestingly, even the active man will gain body fat if he eats more than his body is using. That is why I say, exercise alone won't ensure that you lose weight. Diet is 80% of it. Everyone needs to eat according to their own metabolic needs and most people don't.
You only have to look around you when you're at a restaurant to know that people eat far too much. They're also eating far too much of the wrong stuff. Most people who eat out will have a starter, mains and dessert. Mains will come with a range of starches and a huge piece of meat of some kind. Dessert will also be loaded with sugar and a gazillion calories because health isn't top of the list in most restaurants. In that ONE meal, most people have exceeded their daily calorie requirements for the entire day. It's no wonder people are getting bigger.
You don't need to starve yourself to lose weight. You just need to work out what your body needs on a daily basis, and eat a little less than that, and you WILL lose weight. How do you work it out? Here is a handy calculator, because the formula is complicated. Once you know what your BMR is, you need to also take into account how active you are. Use this formula to calculate it. I'll use myself as an example. I require 1292 calories a day BUT I gym about 4 times a week, so, according to the formula, I need to multiply 1292 by 1.55. According to those calculations, my body needs 2002 calories to function. Now, if I wanted to lose weight slowly and in a healthy manner, I'd probably cut my calories by about 100 a day, so I'd try and consume ±1902 calories a day. My body will draw on the existing fat stores to make up for the calorie deficit and I will burn fat.
One way to immediately lower your caloric intake is to work out how much protein your body needs daily and try stick to that. As with BMR, everyone is different in terms of protein requirements. Most people eat way too much protein and, contrary to popular belief, it isn't fat that makes you fat, eating excess calories makes you fat so, if you eat too much protein, your body will store it as fat. How do you work out how much protein you need? Sedentary adults need about 0.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight IF they are not active. That means, if you weigh 55kgs, you need to multiply 55kgs by 0.8 and the result is 44grams of protein.
BUT, you also need to take into account how active you are, again. Check below to work out how active you are:
Sedentary: 0.8
Recreational Exerciser: 1-1.5
Endurance athlete moderate: 1.2-1.6
Endurance athlete heavy: 2.0
Strength/Power athlete: 1.2-1.8
Adolescent athlete: 2.0
If you gym 4 times a week you'd likely fall under option 3 which means you need to multiply your weight by 1.2-1.6 instead of by 0.8. You need to gauge just how active you are at gym. I gym about 4 times a week, and I work very hard when I'm there, so I'd probably multiply my weight by about 1.4. Got it?
If my protein requirements are 77grams a day, that is NOT a lot of protein at all. One chicken thigh has roughly 28grams of protein in it. I bet when you eat a chicken curry you don't only eat ONE chicken thigh, do you? You probably have a thigh and a drumstick and maybe some white meat too. One can of tuna has 39 grams of protein. If you eat one chicken thigh and one can of tuna in a day you will have almost met your protein requirements. Protein isn't only found in meat either. Vegetables, fruits and dairy also contain protein. One glass of milk has about 7grams of protein. One egg has about 6grams of protein. Do you see where I'm going with this? Before the day is through you have eaten triple your protein requirements and that is one of the reasons why you aren't losing weight.
I'm not going to tell you to sit and count calories. All you need to do is cut them down really. If you always eat two chops, or two chicken pieces for dinner, cut it down to one. If you usually scramble three eggs for breakfast, cut it down to two, if you have bacon with that, cut it down to one egg. This is a great website if you really want to count your calories and it will give you a good idea of how much you are eating daily. You can record your daily meals and work out just how far off you are from your BMR.
Another way to make sure you don't eat more than you need, is to snack rather than eat big meals. The Japanese have really got it right. They don't sit down to huge meals like we do. Their meals are about quality rather than quantity (think sushi). They "graze" all day on small meals. It's a great way to speed up your metabolism and, eating every 3 or 4 hours means you never get to that point where you are STARVING. You always maintain your appetite and so you end up eating only what you need, when you are hungry. Both me and GLM eat this way and it works really well for both of us. She has lost weight, and I have gotten my IBS more under control. My body is so accustomed to eating small meals every 3 hours that, literally on the DOT of 3 hours, my tummy grumbles for food;) If it doesn't, I know I ate more than usual in the previous meal and I wait until the hunger hits. There is no strict rule when it comes to time. We only eat when our bodies tell us to. For me, that's usually every 3 hours though!
If all of those small meals are made up of clean, organic, real foods, you can't go wrong, really. I have to be honest, I don't count calories at all. I used to be obsessed with it but now I find, if I eat only as much protein as I need, and eat clean, organic, real food, and no processed junk, I maintain my weight quite easily.
I'm full of righteous anger today! A friend who has been through a crazy amount of suffering over the last 10 weeks is being stomped all over by a business who "claims" to be so concerned about our health and well-being, Discovery Health.
This poor woman, who we'll call *Jane, went into hospital for a hysterectomy; a pretty standard procedure these days. Surgery isn't so standard for Jane though because, she suffers from a rare condition called Pyoderma Gangrenosum. What this means is, your immune system is so compromised that your body cannot heal itself like it should. Your body tissue becomes necrotic and painful sores and ulcers can form on the skin which the body cannot heal. Jane was unfortunate enough to go through a traumatic bout of breast cancer, chemo and radiation when she was younger and this is possibly what compromised her immune system in the first place.
Jane informed her doctor of what COULD happen if they operated on her. The last time she had complications arising from Pyoderma Gangrenosum, she ended up spending 3 months lying in a hospital while doctors performed several painful, complicated procedures to try and cure her. Unfortunately, her gynecologist arrogantly disregarded her fears. Not long after her hysterectomy, the Pyoderma Gangrenosum returned, just as she feared. 10 weeks, approximately 10 blood transfusions and 3 more bouts of surgery later, she is STILL lying in the surgery ward, of a hospital, with an open wound on her abdomen, which is bleeding all the time, while the doctors try and figure out how to fix her.
The scary thing is, they don't actually know exactly HOW to do that. They've been experimenting from the start. The doctors have refused to have her moved to the hospital she was in when she last had Pyoderma Gangrenosum, even though they are now experienced in the treatment of it. As per the usual arrogance of doctors, they are disregarding the patient's needs. Her case has become the talk of the hospital and she has become almost like their guinea pig as they try this option and that option.
Meanwhile Jane has been unable to go to work for 10 weeks. Fortunately for her, her work loves her and they have been really understanding and good to her, but everyone has their limits and it's a worry for her. She's been unable to go about her daily life and just be at home in her space. She hasn't seen her cat for 10 weeks. These are things that we all take so much for granted, until they are taken away from us. Her partner has spent every one of those 70 days going between home and hospital. Her family and friends are rallying around her. But imagine spending every day of your life in a sterile environment, having to be woken at 5am to be poked and prodded before eating a bland, unhealthy hospital meal, and then spending the rest of your day doing pretty much the same, day in and day out for 70 days and counting?!
It's not her fault she's there. If anyone should take blame, it's actually the doctors. They've apologised for not heeding her warning but really, how will that ever make up for the amount of pain she's experienced, and the 10 weeks of her life that have been wasted lying in a hospital bed, not to mention the trauma to her body?
Jane is a member of Discovery Health. Fortunately, being on a good medical aid means that they have paid her hospital bills unless the doctors charge above medical aid rates. (Unbelievably, the gynecologist who messed up in the first place, sent her a bill for R6 000 because medical aid didn't cover all his costs?!?! Can you get over the audacity of that?!) Given the amount of money Discovery Health makes off of her on a monthly basis, for the last few years, they SHOULD be paying all her medical bills. She's on the same plan as I am and that costs R3 241 a month. It's not cheap.
Here's the thing; she's on Vitality as well and she always makes sure she reaches her fitness quota per month to maintain her gym contract. But she's been stuck in a hospital bed for 10 weeks... Discovery don't actually seem to care though. Despite their knowledge that she is in hospital, they are penalising her for NOT going to the gym 3 times a month. They refuse to put her gym membership on hold, and have upped her monthly payment from R90 to R203 because she isn't doing her required monthly gym visits. They will only lower the amount again when she increases her gym visits...
Now I know it seems like a small thing in the midst of all she's going through, but really?! Why not stomp on a person while they are down?! I am angry because this is so typical of big corporations. I have said it time and again in my blog. They don't give a hoot about you and your health, no matter WHAT their adverts say. It's just propaganda. At the end of the day it's all about the money. It always has been. You'd expect a little more from a company who's business appears to be people and their health but that's not the case.
I question a company who would put a few rands ahead of a person's suffering. Jane has so many extra costs thanks to this nightmare and she also has the spectre of being jobless hanging over her head if she is in hospital for a few more months. This issue may not be the fault of Discovery, but how is it that they are willing to pay for the mistakes of doctors (which they are obligated to do) and when it actually comes to helping the people who suffer BECAUSE of those mistakes, they turn a deaf ear, because "it's not their problem."
I am incensed. These are GOOD people. They haven't sued the doctor for the part they played in this debacle. Jane has taken all of this in her stride, even though it must be hell for her. She's sore, she's stressed and she's lost all her power because the doctors around her have taken that from her. She relies on them for everything from food to baths. She needs help wherever she can get it but some are just determined to shoot her while she's down.
I have blogged about this today in the hopes that someone somewhere, knows someone, somewhere, who can plead her case. I've also blogged about it because I think it's really relevant to my blogs. Big corporations do NOT care about the little people like you and I; be they food producers, medical aid companies or beauty product manufacturers etc. They care about money. That is all. I blog to warn people about the dangers of chemicals in foods, and the possibility of developing cancer and various other awful diseases if you don't look after your body and your health. It's my personal belief that Jane can beat her Pyoderma Gangrenosum with a total reworking of her lifestyle ie. her diet and the amount of chemicals she's exposed to on a daily basis through her beauty products and other chemicals. I blog about this because I believe in the power of food to cure. I find it frightening that, even in a hospital, they are feeding her tramezzinis made with refined flour, filled with processed cheese for lunch, and they think this is NUTRITIONAL?! How is she ever supposed to heal if they are not giving her body the right kind of fuel? Even Discovery Vitality Foods penalises you for buying full cream dairy products instead of low fat. All the people in the "health" business, have NO idea about what's healthy!
I blog about all of this because, if I can reach just ONE person and affect positive change in their lives, I have achieved my aim.
If this has resonated in any way, please share this post.
You heard me right. I said fermented. Your initial instinct is "Blegh" right? Mine was the same until I discovered the wonder of fermented foods! Not only are they exceptionally good for you, but they are really tasty.
Fermented foods are foods that have been through a process called lacto-fermentation which involves natural bacteria feeding on the sugar and starch in the food, creating lactic acid. The whole process actually preserves the food for very long periods of time. It also creates beneficial enzymes, b-vitamins, Omega-3 fatty acids and various strains of probiotics (The opposite of antibiotics. Probiotics are the good guys when it comes to bacteria.)
Lacto-fermentation is nothing new. It's been around for centuries. It was commonly used to preserve food because fridges weren't readily available. These days you still find loads of foods pickled in jars and sold at grocery stores but, unfortunately, in the interest of big business, it is too costly and time consuming to properly ferment foods. That is why the pickles you find today, like beetroot and gherkins, are dead food by the time they reach you. They are all preserved in vinegar, which is too harsh for anything to survive in. However, lacto-fermentation is still practiced a lot in countries like Germany, where sauerkraut is extremely popular, and Korea, where kimchi is consumed with every meal.
Unfortunately, the amount of probiotics in the average western diet has declined so dramatically as to be almost non-existant. Milk is now being pasteurised so no-one drinks it raw anymore (except us), store bought yogurt, which might as well just be pudding it's so loaded with sugar and very little live bacteria, has replaced homemade yogurt and vinegar based pickles have replaced lacto-fermented foods. Instead of nutrient rich foods full of enzymes and probiotics that our great-grandparents probably ate, the average diet today consists mostly of sugar laden, scientifically created, dead foods.
Here are some of the benefits of eating fermented foods:
They contain probiotics: Eating fermented foods and drinking fermented drinks like kefir and kombucha, introduces good bacteria into your body and improves the balance of bacteria in your digestive system, which is often upset by bad diet and antibiotics. It's also been proven that probiotics help slow or reverse some diseases, improve bowel health, aid digestion and strengthen your immune system.
It improves your absorption of food: Having a lot of good bacteria in your colon and digestive enzymes, helps your body absorb more of the nutrients in the food you eat. This is especially beneficial if you are eating a clean, organic, real food diet, AND eating fermented foods. You'll find that your body absorbs a lot more nutrients from the food you're eating and you won’t need as many supplements and vitamins as you used to, because you’ll be absorbing more of the live nutrients from the food you eat.
Economical: Eating organically can get expensive if you don't know where to shop, but fermented foods definitely make it more affordable because you can buy veggies in bulk and ferment all of them so they last you for weeks or months. You can make your own whey at home for the price of a litre of milk (more on this in a bit), and then all you need is a good mineral salt, water and the veggies. Adding these foods to your diet also cuts down on the number of supplements you need, which helps your budget AND lowers possible future medical costs.
It preserves food easily: Homemade chilli sauce only lasts a week or so in the fridge but fermented homemade chilli sauce lasts months (unless you are me and are chilli crazy!) The same goes for sauerkraut, pickles, beetroot and anything else you ferment. Lacto-fermentation allows you to store food for longer periods of time without losing the nutritional value.
So, how this all started for me was that I bought some chillies from my organic veggie supplier and there were LOADS of them. I'm the only one who eats them and I was worried, as much as I love chilli, that I still wasn't eating them fast enough. They were definitely going to go off. I'd also found an amazing chilli sauce while on holiday in the Berg and it had come to an early demise when GLM accidentally dropped the glass bottle on the floor! I was missing my chilli sauce and I had all these chillies, so I started hunting around for a recipe to make my own. Every recipe I found involved cooking the chillies though and I wanted to keep them raw. Suddenly it dawned on me that I could ferment them!
I've been fermenting my veggies at home for a few months now and I can't tell you what a difference it's made to my IBS! I knew that, if I made fermented chilli sauce, I'd eat it daily and what could be better for me than that? Beside which, chillies are exceptionally good for you. You can read about the benefits of spicy food in this post but I'll give you the low down on chilli. The main ingredient is Capsaicin, which is responsible for the intense heat you feel when you eat a chilli. Here are some of the health benefits of chillies:
Lowers Blood Sugar Levels: Eating chillies can have a very positive impact on people that are overweight or suffer from diabetes. They can significantly help to control insulin levels after eating a meal. One study even showed a lowering of insulin levels by an amazing 60%!
Improves heart health, boosts circulation, thins blood and helps protect against strokes
Provides pain relief & reduces inflammation: Capsaicin contains a neuropeptide associated with the inflammation. Chilli has helped relieve pain in patients with auto-inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, as well as more common ailments such as headaches, migraines and discomfort caused by sinus problems. The regular intake of chillies can help to minimise the effects these diseases have on the body. Capsaicin can provide pain relief without the side effects of normal painkillers like sedation and an inability to focus. It is a far healthier alternative to painkillers. Capsaicin has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which means they can really bring relief to conditions such as IBS and even flu or a cold.
Acts as a relaxant: Studies have found that chillies help you to "chill" far more easily;)
Helps clear congestion: Nothing clears the sinuses like a good, hot curry! That's because chillies are really good at quickly and effectively opening your nasal passages, allowing you to breathe more easily.
Limits spreading of prostate cancer: Cancer research has proven that Capsaicin can help stop the spread of prostate cancer. The Capsaicin found in chillies actually triggered suicide in both types of prostate cancer cells and dramatically slowed the development of new cancer cells.
Lowers risk of stomach cancer: Chillies and stomach cancer have been a topic of debate amongst researchers for a long time, with many varying opinions. Scientists used to believe that chillies actually caused stomach cancer (much like they believed saturated fat caused heart disease!) but recent studies have proven that they actually reduce the risk of getting stomach cancer. Scientists have also found that Capsaicin inhibits cancer cell growth in general.
Chillies help to burn fat: NOW I have your attention;) Capsaicin is a thermogenic compound. It raises your metabolic rate, which aids in the fat burning process. Studies have shown that eating chillies can raise your metabolic rate by up to 23% for about 3 hours!
Lowers cholesterol: Eating Chillies has recently been shown to lower cholesterol, and to lower the blood's tendency to clot.
So now you know why you should be eating chillies AND why you should lacto-ferment them.ssss But how do you do it?
As I said a bit earlier, all that's really needed to lacto-ferment food, is a good mineral salt, water, veggies and whey. When I say whey, I don't mean the kind USN sell at Dischem! I mean the liquid kind that is a by-product of making cheese from raw milk. Sounds complicated but it's actually so easy. The trickiest part of this whole recipe, is finding the raw milk! If you have a farmer's market near you, you will find it easily. If you don't, you are going to struggle because NO store will sell you raw milk. Woolies organic milk doesn't count because it's not actually raw. It's still pasteurized and heat treated. Start looking for raw milk at a farm near you and, if you struggle, give me a shout. I know people;)
Once you find raw milk, making the whey is simple:
Pour the milk into a glass bowl, cover with a cloth and leave for a few days. Keep an eye on it from about day 3.
It will start to curdle and separate, into curds and whey (like little Miss Muffet;)
After it's completely separated (about 4-5 days), get another glass bowl and put a dishcloth over it. (use one that you don't mind getting dirty!)
Pour the contents of your other bowl, onto the dishcloth.
Grab all the corners of the dishcloth and gather them together so that the curds are inside the cloth. Tie a knot in them and then leave the whey to drip slowly out of the dishcloth, into the glass bowl beneath it. (I tie piece of string around the knot of the dishcloth and then tie it to one of my cupboard handles in my kitchen and leave the bowl underneath it on the counter for about a day to slowly all drip out.)
The liquid in your bowl will be the whey you will use for your fermented foods and the solid stuff in the dishcloth is actually cream cheese! It's delicious and exceptionally healthy and tasty as a dip or a spread.
Pour your whey into a glass jar and place in the fridge. It will keep for a few months. If you find you won't use it often, put it in a container in the freezer.
Now you are ready to make your chilli sauce!
Lacto-fermented chilli sauce
±500 grams chillis (You can stick to one type OR use a mix)
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp sea salt or himalayan rock salt
2 tsp raw honey
1 Tbs whey
1 glass jar
Prepare the glass jar first:
Boil your kettle and fill the jar with boiling water
Leave to sit for about 10 minutes (this is to kill off any bacteria that might interfere with the good bacteria fermentation will produce)
Pour out the water and leave to air-dry
Method:
Wash all the chillies in lukewarm water and a bit of vinegar and chop off all the stems.
Place all ingredients in a blender (I have found my hand blender actually works best as the normal blender gets sauce all up the sides!) Blend until all chunks are completely broken down
Use a filter to scoop and pour all of the sauce into the glass jar (Mine is well used and broken now but you by these plastic filters very cheaply at Pick n Pay)
Seal the lid TIGHTLY
Leave to sit in your kitchen, at room temperature, for 5-7 days (it takes time for the little guys to get working!)
I'm on day 3 now:
You can see that the process has already changed the chillies a bit. They aren't as lumo green as they were before;) It's hard to tell, but there are little bubbles in there too and that is a good thing! It means the bacteria are working. By about day 5 or 6, the chilli may actually rise to the top of the jar which usually means it's good to go!
Eat copious amounts, with anything, anytime! The more you eat of these the better. You can obviously also play around with the recipe according to your tastes. Just be sure to include the whey, honey and salt as they aid the fermentation process.
They say that fat loss can be attributed to 80% diet and just 20% exercise. If that's the case, surely, if we eat right, we shouldn't really need to exercise. It's such a small part of it all anyway? Well, this may come as a shock to you, but not everything in life is about losing weight...
I don't know when it was that people started worrying more about their weight than their health. It's kind of ironic actually. A person can spend years fighting against the excess fat on their body; taking diet pills and drinking diet smoothies, eating processed "health" foods, starving themselves, doing liposuction, tummy tucks and all sorts of other horrific things to their body, all in the desperate pursuit of being a size 8. Then, thanks to all the trauma they have put their body through, they get cancer or diabetes or something else equally awful, and suddenly they question why their body is letting them down!
You only get one body. If you are going to spend your entire life trying to make it thinner, it is going to be a very sad life for you, and probably a much shorter one than you had hoped. A far more productive path to follow is the pursuit of health. The beauty of doing that is that everything takes care of itself without you having to stress about it. If you eat organic, free-range, chemical-free, REAL food, your body will be getting all the nutrients it needs and none of the rubbish it doesn't need. By default, you will lose excess body fat. If you exercise on a regular basis, your body will react even MORE positively by running at its peak performance. Everything will be operating the way it should and you will burn fat while you are sitting at your desk. It's a win/win really.
If you were wondering how exercise really makes that much of a difference to your body, well, here are some of the benefits:
Lowers your risk of heart disease: Your heart is a muscle (in case you didn't know!) What happens when you exercise a muscle? It gets stronger. Exercising on a daily basis is going to considerably strengthen your heart, lower your blood pressure, raise your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (good cholesterol), improve the flow of blood around your body, and increase your heart's working capacity which means, if you push it a little too hard, it will cope and recover nicely, as opposed to a heart that ISN'T exercised, which will probably give in to a heart attack.
Reduces stroke risk: Because exercise strengthens your heart, it improves the flow of blood through your body which lowers the chances of you developing blot clots in your arteries thereby reducing your risk of a stroke.
Lowers high blood pressure: Regular exercise will lower your blood pressure if you suffer from abnormally high blood pressure levels. Obesity is also associated with high blood pressure so, if you lose weight from exercising, your blood pressure will naturally lower itself as well.
Improves oxygen and nutrient supply to your cells: Exercise helps your body to run far more efficiently. Your heart is stronger so it can pump more blood to the cells in the body. A higher volume of blood means a higher volume of oxygen, because oxygen is transported by haemoglobin in the blood. This means more oxygen AND more nutrients are reaching the cells of your body, helping it to run more efficiently.
Reduces your risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Overweight people are far more at risk of Type 2 Diabetes. If you exercise regularly, you will not only lose body fat, but you will also lower your risk of getting it AND exercise will also prevent diabetic complications for those already suffering from Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
Reduces body fat: Following on from the previous point, exercise helps to reduce body fat by building muscle mass, helping to improve the body's ability to burn calories. Obesity is a major risk factor for MANY diseases. If you can lower your body fat, you immediately become healthier.
Prevents osteoporosis: Regular weight-bearing exercise promotes bone formation and increases bone density and strength and will prevent bone loss associated with ageing.
Improves muscle strength, joint function and osteoarthritis: The more lean mass (or muscle mass) you have on your body, the more body fat you will burn. Muscle strength is also going to benefit you in your daily life. Things like walking, running, climbing stairs, carrying bags or kids, all require muscle strength. If you don't have it, chances are good you will strain a muscle far easier than you would if you worked those muscles a bit. When you work your muscles, by default, you work your joints and this is very important in helping to prevent osteoarthritis. Working your joints encourages them to be healthier and more mobile. You have cartilage in all your joints, between your bones. Cartilage doesn't have its own blood supply to carry away waste products. It relies on the synovial fluid in the joint to carry it away. Exercises encourages the release of more synovial fluid into the joint. If you already have arthritis, be it rheumatoid or osteoarthritis, exercise will help you to manage it better.
Exercise plays a role in preventing cancer: A large amount of cancer deaths are related to obesity and inactivity. When you exercise regularly, your body just runs more efficiently which will speed the passage of food through the colon, reducing the amount of time that any toxins are in your body. Overweight people also tend to have more insulin, which promotes the growth of tumours. For women, exercise reduces the level of oestrogen, which is a hormone linked to breast cancer. Women are exposed to a LOT of oestrogen these days via chemicals in food and any way that it can be lowered, will be hugely beneficial.
Reduces back pain: If you increase your muscle strength and endurance and improve your flexibility and posture, it will help your back pain. If you suffer from kyphosis, which is a rounded upper back, and you strengthen your back muscles, your shoulders will naturally start to pull themselves back and you will find your shoulders aren't quite so round anymore, and your neck and back aren't quite so stiff anymore.
Good psychological effect: Regular exercise will improve your mood and the way you feel about yourself. Your body releases feel-good endorphins when you exercise, and raises your serotonin levels (the happy drug!) Researchers have found that exercise reduces depression and anxiety and helps you to manage your stress levels.
Prevents insomnia: Exercise will help you to ease tension and relieve headaches and insomnia by releasing endorphins into your system. It also helps you to gain a sense of emotional wellbeing and a feeling of being more in control, which relaxes you.
Fitness promotes faster recovery: When you are unfit and you exercise now and then, or never, you will find your body struggles to recover. You breathe heavily, you sweat more, your heart beats really fast and you are limited in what you can do. The fitter you get, the less out of breath you become, the slower your heart beats, the more you can do. The reason for this is a lot of the points I've made above: exercise promotes more blood flow which helps your body to run efficiently. It gets more oxygen and nutrients and so it can recover faster. This will apply to everything in your daily life. If you have to climb several flights of stairs you won't be gasping for air at the top. A woman who is fit and exercises regularly will find childbirth FAR easier, and she will recover much faster than someone who doesn't exercise. That, alone, is a good reason for women to exercise more!
There you have it, several reasons to exercise. I know it's hard to get motivated, but come on, you NEED to if you are going to be around for a nice long time. I know your family and friends would definitely prefer that! You also owe it to your body to treat it well. As I said, it's the only one you have!
So you have mastered a demanding, but effective, cross-training workout! Well done YOU;) But what happens if you don't warm up and cool down and stretch before and after that workout? Why is it so important to do all of those things? Well, I speak from experience when I say, skip the warm up and you'll probably be skipping gym for the next few weeks trying to recover from a strained muscle!
A few months ago we were learning some warm up drills in class. So, in case you don't know what usually happens when you put a bunch of fitness freaks, trainers and sports fanatics together in a room, I'll tell you! They all try to outdo each other;) We ended up timing each other and trying to beat each other's times which was rather silly for a bunch of professionals, given that we hadn't warmed up beforehand! By the end of the first drill I could feel that my thigh wasn't happy. But I stretched it out and carried on. By the third drill, when we had to run a race, I was stopped short, half way through, in agony. Whatever I'd started with the first drill, I'd pretty much driven home by the third drill. I'd pulled a muscle and the only thing that would heal that, was time. That put an end to any lower body workouts for at least 4 weeks, very frustrating for an exercise fanatic...
Stefan Terblanche warming up
THAT is why you need to warm up. If you go from standing still, to doing a jump squat, or even just fast walking, your muscles will get such a shock, you will likely strain something. Even the fittest of rugby players warm up before they run onto the field. No-one is exempt from the need to warm up.
Your body is highly intelligent. When you are just going about your every day life, it is determining exactly where to send blood flow, based on your needs. If you are sitting at a computer, not moving much, it won't be sending a large portion of it to your muscles, it'll be sending more to your digestive system and to your brain. When you exercise, your body sends more blood to your muscles enabling them to exert themselves, loosen up and become more flexible and capable of working effectively. Before you start to warm up, your muscles will be cold, and tight. If you make a sudden movement during that stage, your muscle won't be prepared for it, it'll have no flexibility, and it will, at best, take strain, and at worst, tear. You definitely want to avoid the pain and inconvenience of either of those options.
Another advantage of warming up is that it improves your reflexes. Nerve impulses travel at a faster rate, at higher temperatures which means you'll be able to move faster, the warmer your muscles get. Increased blood flow also means more oxygen is available because oxygen is transported by the haemoglobin in your blood. More oxygen means more energy and less chance of muscle failure. That means you can work harder and more efficiently.
It's important to do a gradual warm up for obvious reasons. Dive head first into warming up and you will probably injure yourself before you even get to the main event. You don't want to shock your body into sending blood to flow to your muscles too rapidly, you want to slowly encourage it away from your digestive system and into your muscles. Warming up also helps to gradually increase the heart rate and ensure that the demand made on the circulatory and metabolic systems is gradual. It helps to improve neural function and co-ordination. It also signals your body to increase the supply of lubricating synovial fluid in your joints and thickens the articular cartilage which are your body's shock absorbers, something especially useful when you are running or jumping.
So you've warmed up, you've done your exercise and now you're ready to head home? Not yet I'm afraid! You haven't finished your exercise session until you've cooled down and stretched. But what exactly does a cool down mean and why is it so important?
Well, you know all that blood that you sent rushing to your muscles during your exercise? Just because you've stopped exercising doesn't mean it suddenly all resumes whatever it was doing before. It takes a bit of time for your body to realise that the situation has changed and you don't need so much blood going to your muscles anymore. Cooling down gradually awakens your body to the fact that blood is no longer needed in such great supply, in the muscles and it can send it back to the heart to be sent to other places that need it. If you don't cool down, the excess blood is going to just pool in your muscles and you increase your risk of feeling light headed and fainting because of decreased blood flow to the brain. Also, you don't want blood pooling in your legs too often. It can cause damage to the small veins eventually and varicose veins aren't pretty.
Your cool down should be low intensity and gradual as well. If you have been running at a fast pace, you need to gradually bring it down to a nice slow pace over the course of about 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on your heart rate and your breathing intensity. Once you are breathing normally, and your heart rate is down to about 80-90 beats per minute, you are probably adequately cooled down. But it doesn't end there either. As part of your cool down, you also need to stretch.
There are varying opinions out there about the importance of stretching. In my experience, and according to the study of exercise science, stretching IS of great benefit and necessary to your workout because it reduces the risk of injuries to your muscles in the longterm. Stretching should be done AFTER your workout and not before, unless you are ONLY doing stretching on that day, obviously. Contrary to popular belief, stretching before a workout doesn't add benefit to your workout UNLESS you have an existing injury. In that case, it's a good idea to gently stretch a previously injured muscle if you know it causes problems for you when you exercise. But, the two main reasons you wouldn't stretch all your muscles before a workout is; firstly, because stretching a cold muscle increases the risk of injuring it and secondly, because it slows muscle activation. That means that it will decrease muscle strength for up to an hour after you've stretched (which would basically mean you'd have decreased strength throughout the workout following that stretch). If you want to exercise to the best of your ability, stretching beforehand will hamper your workout by making you weaker.
When you exercise, your muscles contract and shorten. That's why, when you do a bicep curl, you see the raised bump of the muscle during the concentric contraction as in the image below.
Any exercises that you do will shorten your muscles, whether you are doing jumps or bicep curls. Stretching enables you to lengthen those muscles again, after exercise. If you don't stretch, your muscles will get tighter and tighter and, the end result of that, is you lose flexibility and range of motion. The more flexible you are, the easier you will find it to exercise, the less chance there is of you injuring a muscle or joint. There is another, rather important side benefit to stretching: it can significantly reverse hardening of the arteries which decreases risk of a heart attack. Yoga is especially beneficial in this case.
The basic rules of stretching are that you never force a muscle to stretch, you do it slowly and gradually, and only as much as the muscle can handle. Over time, flexibility will improve, but it is a gradual process and shouldn't be forced. Never make any fast movements while stretching. Start it slowly, and end it slowly, easing your muscle back to its original position. I've often seen people bouncing while stretching. Don't do it. There is a good chance of hurting that muscle and you're not really stretching it properly if you bounce. Just pull your muscle gently, and hold it, then ease it back. Rule of thumb is to stretch all the muscles you have worked during a workout, and to hold each stretch for about 15-20 seconds. Stretching shouldn't be a comfortable feeling! The point of it is to stretch a muscle, which is uncomfortable! But it shouldn't be painful. You should just feel the stretch. If you can't feel much, push a little more.
Some basic stretches to get you started
All of this sounds like a mission, but, in reality, doesn't take that long if you work efficiently. Our entire workout, from warm up to stretching, takes us 45 minutes. You shouldn't need to spend hours in a gym. If you are, you're doing something wrong, especially if you aren't seeing any changes. As long as you spend 45 minutes challenging your body in ways it isn't accustomed to, it will reward you by getting fitter, slimmer, stronger and healthier. The key is to working smarter, not harder.
Here's to a fitter, slimmer, stronger, MORE flexible YOU!
We actually love to gym on weekends or while we're on holiday! Some would say we're crazy;) But, the nice thing about gymming on a public holiday is that it's so quiet. I actually love it! That's the same reason that gymming in winter is always far easier for me than in summer. Yes, it's cold. But you warm up within about 5 minutes of getting there AND it's so quiet that you can have a proper workout without having to adjust your programme because there is a queue for every cardio machine in the gym and all the free weights are being used. But what do you do if ALL the machines are being used and you are at a loss for something to actually DO; something that will make your gym visit more worthwhile than just getting a few vitality points! (I know all about those of you who do the boomerang move. Swipe your card, go through the turnstile and then straight back out of the other turnstile! The only person you are cheating is yourself there, but you know that;) But I digress... All of your favourite machines are being used and you have NO idea what to do... what then?
To be honest, I'm not a fan of the machines in a health club. They serve their purpose for those who are inexperienced, and, in that regard, they are probably a good starting point. But if you stick with those for the rest of your gymming days, you will start to see fewer results as time goes by. As I said in my previous exercise post, if you don't challenge your body, it will become accustomed to what you are doing and it will respond by plateauing. You won't see or experience any changes in your shape or size after a few weeks. What usually happens then is that you become frustrated because you feel like you are doing all this work and getting no reward. You also get bored! So you start slacking off, finding it easier to just stay home, under a blanket on the couch and you do the boomerang move twice a month to ensure your gym contract stays active.
Of course, as you've probably read in a magazine, ANY activity is better than no activity at all. So why shouldn't you just do the usual thing every time you go to the gym? At least you don't look stupid because you KNOW what you're doing, AND it's easier than having to try and figure out a new workout. You don't really know what you would do if you changed your routine because you don't know what exercise works which muscle, so it's best to just stick with what you know. But, as I said, if you have no choice BUT to change it, because the gym is busy and everything is being used, what then? I've actually figured out some of my best exercises by being forced to try something new. I go to a gym to work out and I get really frustrated if I get there and everything I planned, has gone awry because of all the people! What that makes me do, is try harder! So I find something new, and probably even MORE challenging to do;) I'm a glutton for punishment, what can I say?
There is intelligent training, and there is unintelligent training:
Which would you say is which here? Personally, I think the body on the right looks far healthier than the body on the left. Granted, the woman on the right is big, but look how BALANCED everything is as opposed to the woman on the left who has almost NO thighs to speak of. Her shoulders are way bigger than her biceps and triceps and she just looks unhealthy to me. Some of you, I know, think that skinny is better. Firstly, I just think it's unappealing, and secondly, it's not healthy. How is a body supposed to maintain itself? She looks like a strong breeze would snap her! The woman on the right exercises intelligently. She will maintain her sporting career for a lot longer, and with less injury, than the woman on the left. But how does she do it? She cross trains, she does exercises that mimic natural movement, and she does compound exercises that work her whole body.
I'm a real fan of crossfit-training and compound exercises. What does that mean? Well, I don't believe that you should go to a gym and JUST do isolation exercises like bicep curls and leg extensions. I believe in doing exercises that work several muscles groups at the same time, in fact, in most cases, they work your WHOLE body at the same time, WHILE working you aerobically as well. Most of the machines at the gym are designed for isolation exercises. Isolation exercises are used when you focus only on biceps, or triceps, or stomach, or calves etc. Unless you are religious about your gym visits, you are going to end up missing days, and body parts, and it's really difficult to get the balance right and work all your muscles equally. How many times have you seen guys at the gym who have massive upper bodies, and upper legs, and TEENY TINY little calf muscles?
Erm, I don't even know WHAT to say...
This is the problem with working your muscles separately. This is not intelligent exercising! A lot of people get a bit obsessed with working certain muscles. I love to work biceps and triceps. When I first started doing weights, that's all I did, really, because I didn't know what else to do and because it made me feel good and I thought it would give my arms a nice shape. The downside is that the rest of my body was neglected. Biceps and triceps won't look like anything special unless your shoulders are ALSO developed but I didn't know that at the time. Granted, I was never going to get huge biceps and triceps doing things the way I was doing! But what's the point of exercising only 2 muscle groups?! Don't tell me you don't do the same thing... I know some of you are guilty;)
Another point is that exercise should mimic natural movement. How natural are some of the movements you make when you're working the machines at gym? I'd say little to none of them! They aren't making your body strong, really. They might give it a bit of shape, but you'll only be stronger with THAT particular movement. If you had to defend yourself, those bicep curls you do daily, won't get you very far. You know those big, beefy guys you see at the gym? They look strong, don't they? Well, I'd love to see one of them take on a karate champ with a black belt. Have you seen the body of an elite athlete with a black belt in karate? It's pretty much perfectly formed. Every muscle is defined and everything is in perfect proportion. They may be smaller than the big guys you see at gym, but I guarantee they will be stronger, and faster. They do exercises that work their WHOLE body, they use their own body weight, and they do movements that you would make naturally, if, for example, you needed to defend yourself. Their exercising incorporates movement that takes power and power is FAR more useful in life, combined with strength, than just having strength on its own. Most of you watched Karate Kid;)
Who is going to get there faster? No question really.
So, if you go to gym and it's packed, and you need to make a plan to do a workout, what are your options? Well, there are several actually. If you have some knowledge of a few cross training exercise options, you can have a comprehensive and effective workout. We pretty much do this kind of workout every day, no matter what machines are available, simply because it's better to exercise smart, and get more bang for our buck! GLM often says, "Are we ever going to do a normal gym session again?" and my answer is, this IS a normal gym session. What we were doing before was based on my limited knowledge of exercise. Now that I've studied exercise and anatomy, I am better equipped to design effective exercise programmes and I have a better idea of what we should be doing and I don't see the point in working on certain muscles exclusively, when you can work your entire body at the same time and get better results. Crossfit is the new buzzword in the training industry but, honestly, people have been doing it in different forms for years. It just didn't have a copyrighted name to label it with;)
With the following workout, the most important thing is getting your form right. It's pointless doing an exercise if you are going to do it wrong. For one thing, it won't do what it's meant to do, for another, you will likely end up hurting yourself or pulling a muscle.
In the bicep curl above on the left, she is doing it right. She is only using her biceps to pull the weight up. On the right, she is basically using her back to pull the weight up so she is exercising the wrong muscle and could potentially hurt her back. It would be better to not do the exercise at all then to do it the way she is doing it. Spend some time watching the videos below BEFORE you try this workout. Do the moves in the privacy of your home a few times to get some confidence. Once you are ready, start with VERY light weights until you feel confident that you have got all the moves down.
All-over Cross Training Workout
(A word of advice: If you are a complete novice, I wouldn't recommend trying this just yet. You will need to start with those gym machines and build up a bit of strength and fitness first!)
You will need:
An aerobic step
A rocket bag (weight will be dependent on your abilities. Start light and work your way up as your strength increases) You can also use a barbell for this exercise.
A kettlebell (again weight will be dependent on your abilities. Start light and work your way up as your strength increases)
A heart rate monitor would be preferable but it's not essential. You need to keep track of how you are feeling though. If you are struggling, take a break. The more you do this workout, the better you will become at it, the lower your heart rate will be.
Because you are a newbie at this workout, you will start with 6 repetitions of each exercise, all in a row. Once you've completed a round of 6 of EACH exercise, you will then do 5 of each exercise, then 4, 3, 2 and finally 1 with as little rest in between as possible.
Kettlebell swings
(This video has really loud music so turn down the volume if you are going to watch it in your office!!)
Watch the video and practice it a few times to get your form right. This exercise is FANTASTIC for an all-over body workout. You can see how it works her muscles in her arms when she removes her pullover. It works your core, it works your legs, it's overall really good for balance and stability and, provided you do it right, it will strengthen your back and probably get rid of any backache you may be experiencing when you run. (It fixed mine up!)
Once you've done 6 of those in a row, immediately go into the next exercise.
Plyometric Jumps
These you'll start with a normal height aerobic step but, over time, you will need to make them higher to keep challenging yourself.
Once you've done 6 of those in a row, immediately go into the next exercise.
Jump Squats
These you will eventually do with the rocket bag on your shoulders, but for starters, do them without any extra weight added. Be sure to get your form right. When you squat, always focus on keeping your weight on your heels, your butt out, your chest out and your head upright and facing forward. Watch the video carefully to see the proper form for a squat.
If you watch to the end of this video you will see how his form changes as the exercise gets harder to do. At that point he could do himself some damage and that's why form is so important. It's better to use a lighter weight, or stop, if you find yourself not managing to do it right.
Once you have completed all of these exercises, go back and do 5 of each of them, then 4, then 3, all the way down to 1. The whole workout shouldn't take you longer than 20 minutes. If it is, you are resting too long. Allow yourself no more than 30 seconds rest after you complete a round of all the 3 different exercises.
All of these exercises are compound exercises. You are working several muscles at once, even though it seems like it's mostly your legs! Your legs WILL feel wobbly after this;) But you are also working pretty much every muscle in your body AND you are getting a cardio workout at the same time. They are all GREAT for your core. You will achieve a six pack far quicker with a workout like this than you will doing endless stomach crunches! The key to ALL of these exercises is to keep your stomach muscles nice and tight. No wobbling around while doing everything. Focus on keeping your body centred and balanced to make your workout more effective and to prevent injury. As you get better at this workout, increase the amount of repetitions until you can do 10 repetitions all the way down to 1, with very little rest. You must also increase the height of your aerobic step as you get better at it, and increase the kettle bell and rocket bag weight as well.
Always start any workout with a warm up. For this workout I recommend getting on a treadmill and walking at an easy pace for about 2 minutes, then up your incline to about 6 and walk at the same pace for another 2 minutes, then up your incline one more time to about 8 and do another 2 minutes. Go immediately into your workout while your heart rate is still up so you don't rest too long. It's also really important to cool down afterwards as well. I'll go a bit more into why tomorrow! A gentle 10 minute walk on the treadmill, or a cycle, or on the cross trainer will be good for that. Finally, remember to stretch. I will go into more detail tomorrow about why this is all so important.
Good luck and I'd love to hear any feedback about how things went!
