It may be shocking to hear that according to a new study, having just one fizzy drink a day raises women’s risk of a stroke by a huge 80%!
Researchers at Osaka University found both regular and low calorie soft drinks raise the chances of an ischaemic stroke – a life-threatening condition.
Try sipping on ginseng or green tea for a natural high instead.
Ohyo’s new collapsible water bottle is a perfect little space-saver for any handbag. The clever compact design extends to hold 500ml of water and then squishes down when it’s empty.
Visit Ohyo’s website (www.ohyo.me) for more information or pop into your local M&S (prices from £4.99).
A flabby mid-section is notoriously hard to shape up, and it often comes down to stress. Even if you eat well and exercise, leading a stressful lifelstyle can stop you losing inches.
When the body is under long-term physical stress, levels of the hormone cortisol shoot up, which can cause your body to hold onto fat around the waistline.
Cortisol effects appetite, causing you to crave sugary, high fat foods. These foods stimulate the brain to release neurotransmitters such as serotin and dopamine which, although soothe stress, are bad news for your body.
To counter the effects of cortisol, get yourself some consistent, solid sleep (ideally seven to nine hours a night) to allow your body to relax and recuperate.
You can also try stress-soothing foods such as oily fish, which helps regulate cortisol, or turkey, which boosts serotonin.
And, if that isn’t enough to make you want to chill-out and put your feet up, a recent study by Columbia University Medical Centre found the effects of stress are as damaging to your heart as smoking five cigarettes a day!
It seems Popeye was on to a winner with his diet of spinach, as this super vegetable is a powerhouse of nutrients.
Just 125g of fresh spinach will provide you with more than 20 nutrients, including more than your recommended daily allowance of vitamins K and A, almost all your daily requirements of folate and around 40% of your daily magnesium needs. Even better you get all this for around just 30 calories.
There are many benefits of these rich green leaves, but the most interesting from my point of view, is the fact that spinach is a super workout food.
Research has shown that spinach may help reduce oxidative stress caused by regular exercise and protect against muscle damage.
It may also make the body more efficient, as it contains a compound called nitrate, which has been shown to boost the mitochondria (the microscopic part of cells that generates most of your energy), meaning your body will need less oxygen when exercising.
So let’s take a leaf out of Popeye’s book and top up on spinach. However, rather than canned, why not try using it in a salad, lightly cooked or even in a juice!
I could write a long list of all the benefits exercise gives us, but one that is maybe most overlooked, yet probably relates to 99% of us, is it’s ability to relieve stress.
Physical activity helps to use up the excess energy produced by the stress response. In fight-or-flight mode, the body is ready for intense physical activity.
By exercising, the stress response runs its course, and the body returns to a physiological normal.
Even if you don’t feel like exercising, push yourself to do something, however light. It will do wonders for your mental state and help to make you feel much more positive.
TOP TIP: Work out with a friend or partner. It’s a great way to get healthy, whilst have fun too!
There are many people writing blogs and offering advice on specific diets and exercises, but something I realised recently is that many fail to advise on the most important aspect, which is how to initiate an exercise routine.
Therefore I have decided to write a simple step-by-step guide on how to approach the subject and where to begin.
Step 1
As already mentioned there are so many different ways of keeping fit. You are more likely to keep to your new exercise programme if you enjoy it.
Therefore you need to find your ‘fitness personality’ by working out which type of exercise will suit you best. Are you a morning or evening person? An outdoor or indoor person?
Step 2
Next you need to think about making time for exercise. If you find it hard to set aside a full hour each time, a session at the gym is probably not suitable for you.
Activities such as walking or cycling may fit into your routine easier.
Step 3
Once you have decided on the type of activity and the best time to fit it in, you are now ready to commit to it. This means making the first physical steps to partaking in exercise.
However, in the early days you should start off slow. Not only is this advisable for health reasons, but also many forget that you need to mentally prepare and adapt to any changes to routine.
Step 4
Now that you are going ahead with your exercise programme, the most crucial point to remember is to set yourself realistic goals.
Your motivation will be led by your objectives, but set the bar too high and you could end up being disappointed and ultimately demotivated or even put off completely.
Think about what your end goal is and then plan how you are going to get there. Break your long-term goal into smaller, more manageable chunks.
Step 5
Lastly, once you have all this in place, ENJOY it! And remember, is true when people say fitness is for life.
If you answer yes to one or more of the questions below, you could benefit from having a Personal Trainer to help you with your exercise programme:
1. I want to lose more body fat and tone up my muscles more than I have been.
2. I want to improve my diet and nutrition.
3. I want to get as much out of my workouts as I possibly can and not just ‘go through the motions’.
4. I want more motivation and be more consistent in my workouts.
5. I want to have more energy, endurance and enthusiasm.
6. I want to look better and feel better.
Think you don’t have time to workout? Find it difficult to put aside time just for you? Well you may be surprised that you don’t need an hour – or even half an hour – a day to lose weight or get into great shape.
Studies have found that 15 minutes of resistance training is just as effective at boosting your metabolism as 35 minutes. It also found that women have a better chance of sticking to a plan if they only had to commit to 15-minute sessions.
All it takes is 15 minutes, four to six times a week. You will soon see the many benefits, including increased calorie burn (body-sculpting resistance training builds muscle which in turn burns calories).
This type of training will also help you to decrease your stress levels, sleep better and can even fend off cancer and diabetes. So why wait? Get on and do your 15 mins today!
Everyone knows that regular exercise is good for your physical health, helping to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and strokes.
More recently, studies have shown that regular physical activity can have major benefits for your mental health too. Exercise can help people recover from depression and prevent them from becoming depressed in the first place.
Exercise should be something that you enjoy. if not you will find it hard to find the motivation to do it regularly. Even a 15 minute walk can help you clear your mind and relax. Any exercise is better than none.
Anyone with depression can benefit from doing regular exercise, but it’s especially useful for people with mild depression.
If you’ve been feeling down for more than two weeks, see your GP to discuss your symptoms. They can tell you about the choice of treatment available for depression and help you decide what’s best for you.
When we workout and begin to sweat, we need to ensure that we recognise the signs of dehydration early to prevent upsetting the balance of minerals, including salts and sugar, in your system. Even a small amount of fluid loss can cause your body to work less efficiently.
Feeling thirsty, light-headed, tired, headachey, a dry mouth and lips are all signs of dehydration. Take a look at this top 5 list of drinks to help your body keep hydrated.
1.Water
Water is the perfect hydrator. You should aim to drink at least 1.2 litres of fluid (six to eight 250ml glasses) a day and increase this to 2.5 litres in hot weather, when you lose more fluid through sweat.
2. Squash or diluted fruit juice
If you find water boring, try highly diluted squash or fruit juice.
3. Sports drinks
Sports drinks don’t necessarily hydrate your body as fast as water, but they do provide a quick energy source. Only have energy drinks, or ‘hypertonic’ drinks, with a higher level of carbohydrate, after doing very high levels of exercise, to quickly replace muscle glycogen stores.
4. Tea
Drinking up to four mugs of black tea with milk a day is just as hydrating as drinking the same quantity of water. However, the caffeine in tea starts acting as adiuretic (increases fluid loss by causing you to pass more urine) when you exceed around five cups a day, so go easy or switch to herbal teas.
5. Coconut water
Fresh coconut water is naturally isotonic, with a 330ml serving containing more potassium than two bananas plus five other naturally occurring electrolytes. It has one-fifth of the sugar found in fruit juice, plus a little fibre.