I do a very advanced form of fat callipering called The Biosignature. Basically where you store your body fat tells you alot about your health. And if you hold most of your fat around your navel, this is a sign of stress. Guess what one of the most common profiles in the UK is? You got it, stress. Profiles are different in each country – the Americans have much more of a problem with the insulin sites. The Australians have problems with pesticide detoxification. But we have stress.
OK, if your house is falling down, your significant other is having affairs, awful illness is found in your nearest and dearest, you will be stressed. But fortunately most of the time most of us are not experiencing this degree of stress. Yet still we collect that fat around the belly button.
So what exactly is stress? The simplest explanation is that it is when a sabre tooth tiger jumps out with the intention of making you lunch, you get stressed. The body mobilises all it’s energy into running away – and you either get away or get eaten. Job done. Ho, ho. No more sabre toothed tigers now. The stress response is when the body mobilises itself to move in order to survive. In response to a stressor, it releases cortisol into the blood stream which shuts down digestion, reproduction and any repair jobs being done around the body and raises the heart rate in preparation to feeding oxygen to the limbs in order to survive. It also releases Glucocorticoids. These things are like the back up guns – they essentially prepare more bullets for the fight for survival. Temporarily your immune system is ramped up. And you charge on through life.
Did you notice what I just said in the middle of that? It shuts down digestion, reproduction and any repair jobs being done around the body. This is hardly the time to repair the roof (read thyroid/pancreas/liver etc etc etc). The guts are lined with mucus to protect the stomach and small intestine from the Hydrochloric Acid and various digestive enzymes necessary to break down food. And the large intestines are similarly lined with mucus. Under stress, this vital mucus production is turned down. In other words the body is geared up to save you at every unnecessary expense. And we in Britain are highly stressed.
So why is our life so stressful? Here are some factors - not exhaustive, depressingly.
Missing breakfast. Body thinks it is a famine. It gets stressed. Mobilises you to get some food.
Skipping lunch – same as above
Eating lunch at your desk. Body not relaxed and able to digest food properly – not enough mucus lining the intestines, no production of HCL and digestive enzymes to properly digest the food.
Not eating regularly – going for more than 4 hours between eatings.
Poor diet – not enough protein and fat and too many carbs. Amazingly common in the UK. Body keeps on producing insulin exhausting the pancreas (which isn’t being repaired, remember) and blunting the response of the insulin receptors. (Carbs are all sugars, the worst offenders being starches (pasta, bread etc) and things like biscuits and sweeties. Ie too much sugar therefore increases the stress load on the body).
Not crapping enough.
Not getting enough sleep. Huge issue. It does matter. When on earth is the body meant to repair itself????
Daily hassle of commuting.
Squeezing too much in in the day
Pollution – we are an old and overcrowded country. It is very stressful on the body to constantly have to detoxify the very air we breathe – never mind the rest (eg painkillers for that irritating headache or cold you keep getting and won’t go away). The liver gets overworked. And not repaired.
Reverse breathing patterns. Unless you sang or played a brass/woodwind instrument, it is likely that you have reverse breathing. This means when you breath in, your tummy goes in. When you breath out, it sticks out. This is not good. It means your breath is shallow and akin to panic breathing.. Just as you would if a sabre toothed tiger suddenly appeared.
Perception of personal wealth. If you feel you are poorer than you would like = stress. Go, kill more tigers. But the bloke next door has already killed them all.
Not enough proper laughing. Find your favourite comedian on You Tube – and laugh out loud. It’s good for you. It helps you relax and lets the body get on with things other than mobilisation of the troops.
What I am saying is that if you reduce the stress on the body, you will lose belly fat – and feel an awful lot happier. Do you really want to stay up late to watch the telly -having drunk too much wine and stuffed down the nibbly bits MORE than you want a flatter belly and a happier and healthier life? For make no mistake about it – apart from giving you a belly, stress really is not awfully good for you....
Monday, 4 October 2010
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
We are meant to drink water. If you want to know quantities, it is your body weight in kilos multiplied by either .033 if you are inactive or .044 if you are active. Oh, they argue away, the dehydrated - “There is water in the fruit and vegetables I eat. I do not need to drink extra water”. Blah blah blah. Nice water helps flush the kidneys and keeps that brain going. Fruit juice, sweetened water or vitamin water won’t do. Grow up. You’re not a baby that needs to be tempted to eat something. Strangely, if you’re dehydrated, water tastes awful. But if you are overhydrated, water tastes so great you can’t get enough. Most peculiar.
Now some people do drink their water. I have seen them do it. I have seen people drink about a litre and a half of water during about 50 mins of gym time!! But, apart from exercising, they never drink water because they prefer the infantile sweetened stuff. Utterly amazing. If you are exercising for a couple of hours, you need to hydrate regularly. But, if your hydration levels are good, you can survive a 50 minute exercise period on a few sips. Not half a gallon of the stuff!! And sure, after exercise, drink plenty of water, but also drink plenty before. Water is drunk bit by bit throughout the day. Water. The Drink of Adults.
Now some people do drink their water. I have seen them do it. I have seen people drink about a litre and a half of water during about 50 mins of gym time!! But, apart from exercising, they never drink water because they prefer the infantile sweetened stuff. Utterly amazing. If you are exercising for a couple of hours, you need to hydrate regularly. But, if your hydration levels are good, you can survive a 50 minute exercise period on a few sips. Not half a gallon of the stuff!! And sure, after exercise, drink plenty of water, but also drink plenty before. Water is drunk bit by bit throughout the day. Water. The Drink of Adults.
Friday, 27 August 2010
Summer Holidays
The busiest time of year for me is May – early July. Why? Because the summer is arriving and shortly people are going to have to lose those carefully cut clothes they wear in order to disguise the blab beneath.
So, I find, people work hard to reduce the blubber and indeed do look an awful lot better for it by the time they are deposited a frazzled heap by Ryanair in a nice hot place.
And then what on earth happens??????!!
They Eat. And Eat. And Eat. And, of course, Drink.. Well, they are on holiday, you say to me disbelievingly. What else are holidays for? It is utterly amazing. So all that hard work they put in goes for absolutely nothing. They generally re-gain any blab lost plus a bit more. They arrive back in Blighty like pink porpoises and wobble their way back to work, depressed and lethargic. Never mind, winter is coming and it all gets carefully hidden again.
I suppose it shows the unhealthy relationship people have with food. Cakes, Jammy dodgers and Ice Creams are all known to turn you into a fatty so are eaten with a degree of guilt. But, when on holiday, people wolf these forbidden foods down in order to relax.
So perhaps on your next holiday, if this sounds a little familiar, you could go there thinking of other ways to de-stress. This will involve doing something nice for yourself – you know, the usual stuff. Something that you don’t do at home because there isn’t time – or, even better, it seems a waste of time. Reading a good book, having a nice massage, taking a nap in the afternoon, going for a long walk, having a bit of sex. Food is meant to be enjoyed – and were we all lean, then I wouldn’t be ranting. What isn’t realised is that life is made of choices - discipline doesn’t come into it. When we make poor food choices there is always something driving that choice – and it isn’t lack of will power.
So, I find, people work hard to reduce the blubber and indeed do look an awful lot better for it by the time they are deposited a frazzled heap by Ryanair in a nice hot place.
And then what on earth happens??????!!
They Eat. And Eat. And Eat. And, of course, Drink.. Well, they are on holiday, you say to me disbelievingly. What else are holidays for? It is utterly amazing. So all that hard work they put in goes for absolutely nothing. They generally re-gain any blab lost plus a bit more. They arrive back in Blighty like pink porpoises and wobble their way back to work, depressed and lethargic. Never mind, winter is coming and it all gets carefully hidden again.
I suppose it shows the unhealthy relationship people have with food. Cakes, Jammy dodgers and Ice Creams are all known to turn you into a fatty so are eaten with a degree of guilt. But, when on holiday, people wolf these forbidden foods down in order to relax.
So perhaps on your next holiday, if this sounds a little familiar, you could go there thinking of other ways to de-stress. This will involve doing something nice for yourself – you know, the usual stuff. Something that you don’t do at home because there isn’t time – or, even better, it seems a waste of time. Reading a good book, having a nice massage, taking a nap in the afternoon, going for a long walk, having a bit of sex. Food is meant to be enjoyed – and were we all lean, then I wouldn’t be ranting. What isn’t realised is that life is made of choices - discipline doesn’t come into it. When we make poor food choices there is always something driving that choice – and it isn’t lack of will power.
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Children's Lunch Boxes
See Jammy Dodgers blog 1st for the implications of high blood sugar. Read, remember and concentrate as much as your carb/wheat addled brains will.
Ok, so first there was the Glycemic Index. The carbohydrates you eat raise your blood sugar – and this index worked out by how much, by using white bread as a marker. Because there were problems with this system, it’s been replaced by a newer one called the Glycemic Load. This is an improvement because it takes into account both the fibre in the food and the realistic amounts of the food you eat. In the GI, carrots rate worse than pasta at raising blood sugar. This is patently rubbish, and indeed, under Glycemic Load, to raise blood sugar with carrots as much as you do with the average portion of pasta (5oz), you have to eat 7 full sized carrots at one sitting. Must be Eeyore’s birthday, I think.
On the Glycemic Load system, it’s recommended to eat foods that score under 100 in order to avoid excessively high blood sugar. Here are some lunch box numbers to get you into the GL picture:
1 slice of white bread has a load of 107. This is just one slice, so half a sandwich.
1 small bag crisps: 62
1 medium banana: 85
Peanut M&Ms – snack size pack: 43
Snickers Bar: 218
Carton of Orange Juice: 119
Coca-cola 12oz can: 218
1 rounded teaspoon white sugar: 28.
Remember, on the G Load system, it is recommended to eat foods that score under 100. Children have smaller bodies than we do. Therefore whatever they eat has more impact upon them than it does on us. So let’s just think about this. Does someone weighing 2 stones have less body mass than someone weighing 9 stone? So 1 teaspoon of sugar will have far more impact upon a child than it does upon an adult won’t it?
Breakfast:
Muesli 1oz: 95
Shredded Wheat 1 oz: 142
Puffed wheat 1 oz: 151
Instant oatmeal (cooked) 8oz: 154
Cornflakes 1oz: 199
If we eat a pile of sugar, our blood sugar soars and we feel as high as a kite for a little while. Then the blood sugar drops (apparently this happens over 4 hours) and we feel very hungry, frequently grumpy and quite unable to concentrate upon anything other than needing something to eat. It’s likely that all those around us feel the same. And at school, our children are constantly trying to learn new things – this is what school is all about, after all. Quite a task, really. Of course, if the child is too difficult, there is always Ritalin. So much easier than reducing the sugar load on the child.
It is a wonder that children can learn anything at all. So, if your child is rather difficult – or won’t go to bed at night, maybe you may have some ideas as to where to start. And it isn’t Ritalin.
Maybe the much villified Jamie Oliver was right on the money. Children should have a good school dinner. Don’t plant your addiction to starch onto them. Do you think there may be a blog on the way on this subject??
Ok, so first there was the Glycemic Index. The carbohydrates you eat raise your blood sugar – and this index worked out by how much, by using white bread as a marker. Because there were problems with this system, it’s been replaced by a newer one called the Glycemic Load. This is an improvement because it takes into account both the fibre in the food and the realistic amounts of the food you eat. In the GI, carrots rate worse than pasta at raising blood sugar. This is patently rubbish, and indeed, under Glycemic Load, to raise blood sugar with carrots as much as you do with the average portion of pasta (5oz), you have to eat 7 full sized carrots at one sitting. Must be Eeyore’s birthday, I think.
On the Glycemic Load system, it’s recommended to eat foods that score under 100 in order to avoid excessively high blood sugar. Here are some lunch box numbers to get you into the GL picture:
1 slice of white bread has a load of 107. This is just one slice, so half a sandwich.
1 small bag crisps: 62
1 medium banana: 85
Peanut M&Ms – snack size pack: 43
Snickers Bar: 218
Carton of Orange Juice: 119
Coca-cola 12oz can: 218
1 rounded teaspoon white sugar: 28.
Remember, on the G Load system, it is recommended to eat foods that score under 100. Children have smaller bodies than we do. Therefore whatever they eat has more impact upon them than it does on us. So let’s just think about this. Does someone weighing 2 stones have less body mass than someone weighing 9 stone? So 1 teaspoon of sugar will have far more impact upon a child than it does upon an adult won’t it?
Breakfast:
Muesli 1oz: 95
Shredded Wheat 1 oz: 142
Puffed wheat 1 oz: 151
Instant oatmeal (cooked) 8oz: 154
Cornflakes 1oz: 199
If we eat a pile of sugar, our blood sugar soars and we feel as high as a kite for a little while. Then the blood sugar drops (apparently this happens over 4 hours) and we feel very hungry, frequently grumpy and quite unable to concentrate upon anything other than needing something to eat. It’s likely that all those around us feel the same. And at school, our children are constantly trying to learn new things – this is what school is all about, after all. Quite a task, really. Of course, if the child is too difficult, there is always Ritalin. So much easier than reducing the sugar load on the child.
It is a wonder that children can learn anything at all. So, if your child is rather difficult – or won’t go to bed at night, maybe you may have some ideas as to where to start. And it isn’t Ritalin.
Maybe the much villified Jamie Oliver was right on the money. Children should have a good school dinner. Don’t plant your addiction to starch onto them. Do you think there may be a blog on the way on this subject??
Public Gyms
Public gyms for me are always variations on a horror theme. There is the bloke whizzing up and down looking like a funny little monkey on the chinning bar –all curled up. Then there is the hysterically funny female hanging on on the treadmill. Why do I say hanging on???? Well these females (I have to say I have never seen a man do this) have set the incline on the treadmill to the highest setting and are hanging on the the bar for grim life as they bobble along for hours and hours – presumably wondering why they never seem to get slimmer no matter how often they go to the gym. Of course afterwards they always have nice skinny latte with their mates – and a biscuit (never a Jammy Dodger here – one of those nice ones with oats in) afterwards. Tee Hee Hee
It seems to me that people leave their brains in the boot of the car and go completely into auto-pilot when entering the gym. On each machine, the manufacturere has gone to some effort to make it clear what part of the body this machine works. But people heave away on these machines with shoulders in the ears, elbows flailing madly, backs flapping about like the washing on a line. News, people. If you can’t feel a muscle working, then that is because it isn’t. Other muscles are – and they shouldn’t be.
So we have the famous bicep curl. Worthy of a blog in itself. You know, I go on courses with men with HUUGE muscles. And I have witnessed The Biceps Curl. Why don’t people think????? (And yes, personal trainers are at the sharp end of this particular rant) What is the elbow – a hinge joint. To do a bicep curl, the only movement is at the elbow which hinges up and down. It does not involve the shoulders or the back. At all. Doing a standing biceps curl with a bar should not look like you are in the act of making love!! Shimmying your way through a set of hammer curls leads the physiotherapist’s funds for a new BMW. To do a biceps curl really really well, the weight may just be a little lighter than the ego likes – but, hey, engage a brain cell or two and you will not only grow bigger biceps, you will save yourself a trip to the sports massage parlour.
OK, girlies. Cardio sucks. So: typical gym = blokes heaving away with weights. Girlies doing CV. Hours and hours of it. Grimly plodding – or zooming - away for hour after hour. Eyes on the TV - brains in handbag. In fact I am so cross about Cardio Vascular I am going to write a separate blog on the subject. Anyway, for now, girlies, as Charles Poliquin would have it Insanity Defined = Keep Doing the Same Thing and Expect a Different Result.
It seems to me that people leave their brains in the boot of the car and go completely into auto-pilot when entering the gym. On each machine, the manufacturere has gone to some effort to make it clear what part of the body this machine works. But people heave away on these machines with shoulders in the ears, elbows flailing madly, backs flapping about like the washing on a line. News, people. If you can’t feel a muscle working, then that is because it isn’t. Other muscles are – and they shouldn’t be.
So we have the famous bicep curl. Worthy of a blog in itself. You know, I go on courses with men with HUUGE muscles. And I have witnessed The Biceps Curl. Why don’t people think????? (And yes, personal trainers are at the sharp end of this particular rant) What is the elbow – a hinge joint. To do a bicep curl, the only movement is at the elbow which hinges up and down. It does not involve the shoulders or the back. At all. Doing a standing biceps curl with a bar should not look like you are in the act of making love!! Shimmying your way through a set of hammer curls leads the physiotherapist’s funds for a new BMW. To do a biceps curl really really well, the weight may just be a little lighter than the ego likes – but, hey, engage a brain cell or two and you will not only grow bigger biceps, you will save yourself a trip to the sports massage parlour.
OK, girlies. Cardio sucks. So: typical gym = blokes heaving away with weights. Girlies doing CV. Hours and hours of it. Grimly plodding – or zooming - away for hour after hour. Eyes on the TV - brains in handbag. In fact I am so cross about Cardio Vascular I am going to write a separate blog on the subject. Anyway, for now, girlies, as Charles Poliquin would have it Insanity Defined = Keep Doing the Same Thing and Expect a Different Result.
Friday, 16 July 2010
M & S
So I went into M& S for a chicken, since I am reliably informed their chickens are very nice, and I wanted some of their very organic lets save the poor farmers and the world coffee. In the basket paying queue I found myself following a woman who was rather wobbly of butt, but not a total weeble yet – then I saw her son who was, I guess, about 10 years old. Well, he was well on the way to weebledom. Poor lad. Then I saw The Shopping. Out of an unladen basket was poking 2 packets of Jammy dodgers. Good Grief. What on earth is going on?? Can she not see her son is fat? Soon she will have to also buy him a bigger mirror so he can see the full magnitude of himself. Why can people not connect eating sugary things with wobbliness around the middle bottom? Since you are all convinced a Balanced Diet works – which set of scales are you using?? Those of an elephant?
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So let’s examine her Jammy Dodger. White flour, lots and lots of white sugar, poor quality fat (this is M&S, so presumably not transfats), more sugar cos there is the Jam. The deluded you thinks that because Jam is made with fruit, it is in someway a Good Thing. So you eat a biscuit (or 3 or 10). It is sweet, blood sugar rises – this is dangerous for the brain, so the body produces insulin to lower blood sugar. Insulin, incidentally, is the fat storage hormone. Weeble weeble weeble. So immediately on eating the biscuit, you get a high. This is why you eat sugary things. Then you get the most dreadful low because insulin is efficient and lowers your blood sugar – it lowers it too much, which is also dangerous for the brain. So your brain makes you feel really really really hungry – and you need your next sugar fix. Don’t blame your brain for this – you do have to stay conscious. So you have a nice fruit juice – or you raid the fruit bowl. Good good, you think. No FAT in this – and not a Jammy Dodger. But hey, it is still nice and sugary. Insulin, that Fat Storage, hormone rises, etc etc etc.
And sooner or later you have to buy that bigger mirror. And guess what? Children’s bodies work in the same way as ours. Yes, there will be a BLOG on packed lunches.... In the meanwhilst, no doubt you are well stocked on those nice fruit yoghurts. Low Fat, of course. Must keep that insulin up. Weeble weeble weeble.
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So let’s examine her Jammy Dodger. White flour, lots and lots of white sugar, poor quality fat (this is M&S, so presumably not transfats), more sugar cos there is the Jam. The deluded you thinks that because Jam is made with fruit, it is in someway a Good Thing. So you eat a biscuit (or 3 or 10). It is sweet, blood sugar rises – this is dangerous for the brain, so the body produces insulin to lower blood sugar. Insulin, incidentally, is the fat storage hormone. Weeble weeble weeble. So immediately on eating the biscuit, you get a high. This is why you eat sugary things. Then you get the most dreadful low because insulin is efficient and lowers your blood sugar – it lowers it too much, which is also dangerous for the brain. So your brain makes you feel really really really hungry – and you need your next sugar fix. Don’t blame your brain for this – you do have to stay conscious. So you have a nice fruit juice – or you raid the fruit bowl. Good good, you think. No FAT in this – and not a Jammy Dodger. But hey, it is still nice and sugary. Insulin, that Fat Storage, hormone rises, etc etc etc.
And sooner or later you have to buy that bigger mirror. And guess what? Children’s bodies work in the same way as ours. Yes, there will be a BLOG on packed lunches.... In the meanwhilst, no doubt you are well stocked on those nice fruit yoghurts. Low Fat, of course. Must keep that insulin up. Weeble weeble weeble.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Grotwoski
We like to be "scientific", by which we mean discursive and cerebral, since this attitude is dictated by the course of civilization. But we also want to pay tribute to our biological selves, to what we might call physiological pleasures. We do not want to be restricted in this sphere. Therefore we play a double game of intellect and instinct, thought and emotion; we try to divide ourselves artificially into body and soul. When we try to liberate ourselves from it all we start to shout and stamp, we convulse to the rhythm of music. In our search for liberation we reach biological chaos. We suffer most from a lack of totality, throwing ourselves away, squandering ourselves.
Jerzy Grotowski - Toward a Poor Theatre
Jerzy Grotowski - Toward a Poor Theatre
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