Health Food Expert

Something I’ve been aware of for quite a few years is the EAS Body for Life program. This, in essence, is a bodybuilding style routine for the normal man, which is something I firmly believe in. I’m a member of several bodybuilding forums, and, simply put, a lot of the information on them isn’t applicable at all to you and me.

For me, the ideal physique is relatively (but maintainably) low bodyfat whilst having good muscle definition. This is acheivable by using some, but not all of the techniques used by bodybuilders. For example, cardio in the morning (something I’ve advocated time and again on this site), a healthy balanced diet, plenty of rest and a regimented training routing.

So, having neglected Body for Life, I gave the materials a read recently, and came away very impressed. I do think there is a lot of marketing stuff in there (as you’d expect), but the core concepts are sound, and most importantly, it doesn’t promise you instant results with little or no effort - there will be a lot of sweat, and maybe some tears.

To that end, I’ve decided to give the program a try - albeit in a modified state. I don’t really like the volume of weight training that they cover, nor the intensity index for weights either (although I love the intensity index for cardio). Therefore, my routine looks something like

Tuesday

• 3 x 8 incline bench press
• 3 x 8 flat bench press
• 3 x 8 barbell shoulder press
• 3 x 10 dips

Wednesday

• 20 minutes cardio (as detailed in the Body for Life book, but essentially HIIT cardio)

Thursday

• 3 x 8 deadlift
• 3 x 8 barbell rows
• 3 x 8 barbell curls

Friday

• 5 x 10 chins (varying grip / hand width)
• 3 x 10 external rotator training
• 3 x 8 shoulder press (yes, again!)

Saturday & Sunday

•  20 minutes cardio (as Wednesday)

This is quite a variation on the Body for Life routine, but one I feel will work for me - I’ve used it with success before. Now, the big difference to me - this is all (yes, weights too) done in the morning before breakfast, in an unfuelled state. That, to me at least, is a huge challenge. I’ve done this so far for 2 weeks, and had to drop most of my maximum weights by 10% - 20% so far. However I feel that they will soon be back at their “normal” levels, with a bit of hard work.

The reason for training before eating, is of course to burn fat - remember, something I always advocate - a mildly muscular body with low(ish) bodyfat will look far better than a highly muscled body with a covering of fat. Muscles are best appreciated when you can actually see them!

So, in short, I’ll keep this site updated with my progress - the “Eating for Life” component of Body for Life is more about putting on more muscle, and is a slightly different program, so I may switch to that in 6 months.

So far - 12 days down, 74 to go! I’d love to hear from anyone who is trying, has tried, or is considering trying this program.

…

• Read More »

I’d like to take the unusual step of retracting something that I said in a previous article, regarding the use of vitamins. I previously stated that vitamins were somewhat unnecessary given a healthy diet. I’m not going to completely retract that statement, but I do feel there are a couple of things that most people would benefit from taking.

The first is the much maligned Vitamin C. Conventional wisdom was initially that this was good for “warding off illness”. Then thinking changed to “anything more than 90mg a day is simply passed through the body an excreted”. Thinking seems to be leaning back towards the “Vitamin C may pass through your body, but it detoxifies your cells on the way”. While there is no conclusive proof I would still suggest caution; don’t expect Vitamin C to prevent you from ever getting ill or preventing disease. It might help your overall health if you take it long enough, and the cost is low enough that it shouldn’t be noticed financially. I personally take 1000mg twice a day - it’s very cheap, and due to being unable to take any form of citrus fruit I may well be lacking in Vitamin C naturally. For me, its more of an “insurance policy” type supplement - I eat a balanced diet, but until there is conclusive proof one way or the other I will continue taking Vitamin C (it can now be bought in powdered form if you have trouble taking pills).

The second vitamin is Pantothenic Acid, which I shall talk about tomorrow!

• Read More »

I’ve talked about the health benefits of eating nuts before, and today something in the same vain - seeds! For this ultra simple snack, I think that dry roasting (or, more correctly, dry frying) your own seeds is far more cost efficient than buying ready made ones.

To start, you’ll need (pick any or all from the following

pumpkin seeds
sunflower seeds
hemp seeds
linseeds
alfalfa seeds
sesame seeds
pine nuts
soy sauce
garlic power
powedered chilli flakes

You’ll need a largeish non-stick frying pan, which you should heat to a medium heat (don’t add any oil).

Next, put your seeds into the pan (except pine nuts, soy sauce etc).

The seeds should be stirred to prevent them toasting on one side, and as soon as they begin to pop, add your pine nuts, toast for a little longer (pine nuts will toast quickly) and then remove. While they are still hot, sprinkle over some soy sauce, and a little garlic or chilli powder (to taste). Then mix well and spread out - the soy sauce will evaporate quickly, but don’t add too much.

Leave the seeds to cool and then eat! I’d say 25g makes a great portion full of good protein and healthy fats. Ideal as a snack during the day - try replacing your morning chocolate bar with some!

• Read More »

Feeling a little lethargic after the holiday season? Eaten a little too much? Finding it difficult to start exercising again? These are all common complaints, leading to two common outcomes

• People don’t ever start exercising again
• People join a gym, go throughout January and February, and then give up, repeated every year

The solution is to set yourself targets (and this is a very personal thing, so I’ll give you examples below, but the actual targets are upto you), work towards them, re-evaluate them as necessary and keep at it! January is a dark, dreary, cold and wet month (certainly where I live), making it all the more difficult to get up early for exercise, or reducing your motivation so much that after a day in the office you simply don’t feel like hopping on that exercise bike! Keeping a positive attitude, motivating yourself and being focused are essential - you can dream of the body you’ve always wanted, but thinking about exercise won’t produce results!

I’ve set myself some simple goals for this year, I’d advise you to do the same - write them down (maybe a yearly diary would be a good place, and put reminders in constantly), look at them every week and evaluate them as often as possible. Setting realistic goals is crucial - if you set goals which are too hard, you’ve given yourself a great excuse to not meet your targets, whereas if you set yourself something acheivable, you have no excuses for not reaching it. The goals I’ve set for myself are

• Train six times a week (for me, that is 3 weight sessions and 3 cardio sessions)
• Exercise outdoors more (I’ve just bought a mountain bike which will allow me to do this)
• Keep eating well, but allow myself a “cheat day” once a week (don’t go crazy on your cheat day! I’ll talk about this is another column soon)
• Cook something new every week (we all love those easy recipes we eat every week, but you should vary your diet to include in-season fruits and vegetables)

The main thing (and you’ll hear this oft-repeated by me) is that your goals must be realistic - don’t simply say “I want a body like Ronnie Coleman”, make it something realistic. And keep measuring your progress (see previous articles on “The Log” for more info on that).

Remember - you are the only person who can acheive your goals, and they aren’t just for this year or for the next few months, your goals should be appropriate for your life, your lifestyle, and your long term ambitions. Good Luck, and have a successful, prosperous, and HEALTHY 2008!

• Read More »

After a short Christmas and New Year break, Health Food Expert returns for 2008 with a lot of new content, beginning tomorrow with some exercise advice for the New Year!

• Read More »

Just a simple, short (and I hope useful) bit of advice today. With Christmas fast approaching, it can be all too easy to get in a panic about dieting, exercise and nutrition. I find that one simple rule helps solve all this - don’t worry too much! In my opinion, carrying on a strict diet or exercise routine over Christmas is counter productive - you’ll either end up not enjoying the festive period, or not exercising correctly (or even worse, both).

I’d advocate a few simple rules

-Don’t eat TOO much (although eating more than normal is fine)
-Don’t drink TOO much (as above!)
-Enjoy yourself

If you find time to do a little exercise, then great; but don’t neglect your family and friends at this time of year! Healthy living is about mental health as much as physical health, so don’t forget to relax and concentrate on enjoying yourself rather than the pursuit of your physical goals!

• Read More »

I’ve long been a fan of vegetable and fruit juices - I think they are a quick and useful way of getting some good quality fruit and veg into your system. However, fruit juice is high in fructose (sugar, albeit lower Gi, for all intents and purposes), whereas vegetable juice isn’t. This means that if you are watching your calorie intake you may want to avoid fruit juice and try vegetable juice instead. My personal favourite is Campbells V8 juice.

V8 was invented by a man named W.G. Peacock in 1933 - the recipe hasn’t changed much since then! It can be found in almost all supermarkets, and comes in a number of different varieties. I’m referring to V8 Original (or classic) in this post, but the other kinds do have benefits (although most of them contain fruit juice, so I’ll talk about them another time). The ingredients in V8 are tomatoes, beetroot, celery, carrots, lettuce, parsley, watercress, and spinach (hence the 8 in V8!). It also includes salt and some spice extracts for flavouring.

As with all veg/fruit juice, you can only get 2 of your 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day from juice, due to the lack of fibre in them. However, an 100ml glass of V8 provides 1 portion of V8, so a normal sized glass will provide 2 of your 5 portions of vegetables, which is pretty amazing. I find that if I stop drinking V8 for any length of time I start to notice a “toxic” type feeling, which I attribute to the beta carotene in the juice, which serves as a powerful anti-oxidant.

If you are on a no/ultra low fat diet (not that I’d advocate that!), then V8 is ideal - it contains no fat, some carbohydrate and a little protein. It’s packed full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants however, including A, C, potassium, beta-carotene and Lycopene.

One thing to note - if you are on a low sodium diet, don’t drink too much V8 - each 100ml contains 260mg of sodium. However this won’t pose a problem, just something to be aware of.

In summary - drink V8 - increase your fruit and vegetable intake, boost your vitamin and mineral levels and increase your intake of antioxidants!

• Read More »

Exercising for fat loss is extremely common, but over the years I’ve seen some awful techniques for burning fat. From obese people at the gym killing themselves on the cross trainer (whilst drinking an energy drink), to ultra thin people doing 1.5 hours on the running machine, there are a number of different techniques to burn fat.

One of the best, in my experience, is exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. At this time your muscles Glycogen stores will be depleted, meaning that as soon as you start to exercise your body is forced to find energy from somewhere. And if you are following my previous articles, you should know that exercising at 60%-70% of your MHR is perfect for burning fat. Combine this with an empty stomach and your body will need to burn fat to power your muscles; doing this 3-4 times a week will see positive results within a fortnight; but remember - put those calipers away.

Measuring your body fat percentage (BF%) is a guess at best and an over or under estimation at worst, and serves no practical purpose. The best way to see how (or if) you are progressing is by standing in front of a mirror in a constant light (i.e., the same mirror and same lighting conditions each time). If you’re brave enough, try taking a photo of yourself twice a week (Monday and Friday), right after you exercise. In 3 months look back and compare todays photo with 3 months ago - if you’re sticking to the plan you WILL see great results. Visualise the same progression in another 3 months, in 6 months etc. But don’t get caught up with looking too far ahead - take each workout at a time, give it your utmost dedication and keep at it. The one thing that stops people losing weight or becoming fitter is a lack of application. Yes, it can be difficult getting up in the morning to exercise before work, but make it part of your routine and you’ll soon find it’s as much a part of your morning as having a shower or eating breakfast!

• Read More »

Since the announcement of eTrack, I’ve had quite a lot of interest, so I’ll clarify some details of the first release.

Initially, the software will allow you to track exercise in 2 forms

• Weight Training
• Cardiovascular Exercise

The reason for splitting exercise into these 2 areas is quite simple; they are fundamentally different. Weight training consists of certain exercises, repeated a number of times (repetition), grouped into sets. Cardio consists of a single (or multiple) exercises completed for time/distance/effort. However, the eTrack exercise tracking software will allow you to record both types, and perform all kinds of analysis and graphing on them, such as

• Display your progress on bench press over a 6 month period (how many sets, how much weight etc)
• Display your progress cycling over a 6 month period (how long to cycle 2 miles, average heart rate after doing so etc)
• Plot your predicted future progress (intelligent analysis)

But also, I’d like you to be able to input details of your food eaten etc - so you can track things like how eating an extra 500 calories per day impacts your performance (although this will come in a later version).

For now, the software will allow recording any display of data, and as it progresses I’ll add in more analysis and comparison options, allowing you to view data in any form you wish.

Any questions about the forthcoming release just leave a comment below, even if it’s a suggestion for a future version!

• Read More »

Today we’ll have a look at something that is traditonally popular at Christmas, but not so much at other times of the year - nuts!

Nuts are either seeds or fruit, depending on the type. You may commonly see things like chestnuts, brazil nuts and peanuts at this time of year - supermarkets love selling huge bags for vastly inflated prices! Don’t let that put you off though, as nuts are one of the best foods you can eat, full of good fats and protein, and studies have shown that people who eat nuts regularly are less likely to suffer from coronary heart disease. Almonds are a personal favourite of mine, full of good fatty acids which can help lower LDL Cholesterol (walnuts are also high in good fatty acids).

One of the things I’ve commonly heard is that nuts are “full of fat” - this may well be true to an extent, but I’d say that this is a reason to EAT them, rather than to AVOID them. As I’ve discussed in previous articles, fat isn’t a bad thing - it is essential for our health and long term well being, and avoiding fat can have long term health repercussions. Try consuming a small handful of nuts every day, maybe before bed and see how you get on; take advantage of a mixed bad from your local supermarket to try a few different varieties, and remember - no food makes you fat - so watch your portion sizes!

To get your started, pick one of the following:

-Almonds
-Peanuts
-Pistachio
-Cashew
-Brazil
-Soy nuts (very dry, so you might want to take them with water, and also high in protein)

The picture below (click for a larger version) should give you a breakdown of the nutritional properties (protein/fat) of some common nuts:

I’ll discuss another favourite later this week - seeds!

• Read More »