Home Made Coleslaw and Mayonnaise

OK so here's how Gordon Ramsay has done his mayonnaise



I used the same recipe but used olive oil which added a slight flavour, any good quality cold pressed oil (ground nut/olive) should be fine, I also used mustard powder instead of paste but either is fine just check the label,

if you haven't got a food processor they are a MUST - they are fantastic for making anything from hummus, salad, coleslaw etc

For the coleslaw
Finely chop (I use the grater piece on the food processor), 3 carrots, 1/2 an onion and half a green cabbage.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients then spoon in the mayonnaise and keep mixing, keep spooning in until you find the desired consistency!

So there you have it - much better than the shop bought crap and only takes a little bit of time :o)

Yes I do get Fat Days!!

Just wanted to share with you a common thing about us fitness professionals that not many will tell you - We Have Our Share Of Fat Days Too!!

Well I know me and several of my other fitness professional friends do anyway! What do we do about it - the same as everyone else, tell ourself we need to do something about it and then carry out the work that is required.

This last week I was away in Newquay and enjoyed one or two of the local delicacies as you do and this week found an extra layer around my middle oops! I'm not worried though, I know what I have to do to get back to what I was before the extra tyre arrived lol. Which is get back to training sessions and eating clean nutritious foods, it's no secret to getting these results I teach to my boot camp and Personal Training clients in more depth too.

Our next boot camp is to start on Monday 2nd of May and as an extra incentive we're going to have a competition to see who can get the best results on the camp in time for the next Bank Holiday weekend, there will be a great prize for the best transformation. Want to be accountable and train with some fantastic people as well as meet some new friends then grab a spot on the next camp by clicking here

I'm ready to get back into my skinny clothes and feel fantastic for summer maybe you would like to join me in getting fantastic results too?

Have a fantastic week, here's to getting outstanding results :o)

Is Weight Loss Surgery the best Option to Stop Diabetes?

In todays news we are being informed about ‘type two diabetes ‘cut’ after weight loss surgery’
(you can read about it here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13052309)

After reading about this I felt a mixture of emotions, frustration, sadness and excitement.... why all these different emotions I hear you cry!

You see first of all was the immediate response of frustration, I felt angry that the medical profession seemed to be promoting a drastic surgical procedure to help people lose weight and to reduce the diabetes epidemic that has swept our nation over this last couple of decades when there are much healthier and safer options.

I felt sad because for a lot of people they may feel that surgery is their ONLY option because they feel that they have tried every diet going, these generally being the well known diets in our industry today, unfortunately a lot of these low fat/low calorie diets on the market don’t provide our bodies with the vital nutrients needed to function properly and end up doing more harm than good. Sadly when we look into these issues the foods we eat are generally dismissed as having a link with the diseases that have spread across western civilization.

I believe that our food has a MASSIVE impact on how we feel and our over all health and vitality, the body as a whole is a massive jigsaw puzzle and whilst the foods that we eat may make up a huge part of that jigsaw there are several other factors to take into consideration, stress (family and work for example), exercise choices or lack of them, sleep patterns, external pollution, pollutants used in the household – cleaning equipment, air fresheners etc. You see in today’s modern world EVERYTHING has an impact on our body and our health.

I felt excited because as a health and fitness professional I could see the bigger picture of the article and hope that myself as well as hundreds of other health and fitness professionals can help to spread the word about a safer and healthier way to combat the problems we are facing with obesity and the increase of type 2 diabetes (and a lot of other health related issues too). I love my job and I love educating everyone about the wonders of healthy eating, regular exercise and much more.

You see the point that was raised in the article that diabetes is linked to our size and weight so to combat it we want to be losing weight and getting into shape, this is great, now we know that we can combat diabetes by losing weight and regaining our health, but to resort to surgery to achieve this – really?

The article is written from a medical approach yet I feel that medical professionals do not get educated fully where nutrition is concerned and feel that there should be a LOT more emphasis put onto this subject. I remember as part of my nurse training (yup I was training to be a nurse before I changed paths into the Personal Training field) I only received a few days of nutrition training, this is nowhere near enough.

When faced with a health issue the medical profession seem to treat the problem without actually finding what the cause is, treat obesity with surgery or pills to lose the weight rather than finding out the reason this person has become obese these people may need counselling and health education rather than the 'quick fix', when someone’s in pain they’ll give pain killers and a name for the problem rather than finding the root cause of the pain and treating that instead.

I hear about so many people who do resort to surgery and claim that they have ‘tried everything’ but I can bet that they haven’t. You see the diets that really make a MASSIVE difference to our body and HEALTH are the ones that take discipline to follow which may include several lifestyle changes.

Lots of people think you need to exercise to lose the weight when actually it’s NOT the most important factor, what you put into your mouth is NUMBER ONE when it comes to getting into shape but there are several other factors to consider.

Our body is just a part of what makes us, you could have the most beautiful body in the world but if you have lots of stress at home or are unhappy what good is having a great body going to do for you? Sure you might look good but you’re still not likely to be completely healthy because of the other factors in your life. Sadly a lot of people believe that their problems will disappear once they are slim which isn't always the way, if it has taken several years for you to get out of shape it's going to take some time to reverse that effect.

On another note however, as a health and fitness professional who has spent the last few years studying a LOT on these subjects it would be silly of me to expect you to understand everything immediately (unless you study the subject yourself). You see sometimes we can take our knowledge for granted and forget that we have trained for years to bring us to where we are today. This is why I have written this, I hope to be able to point you in the right direction and hopefully ignite something within you to want to learn more about your own health.

Rather than searching for the quick fix and wanting slim straight away why not look at the bigger picture and see what you can do to improve these areas:

What does your current daily dietary intake look like?
How much exercise do you get?
How is your life at the minute?
What work stress do you have? Can this be improved?
Are you happy within yourself?
Are you happy with your partner/family life etc?
Are you getting enough sleep?
Have you been through a traumatic experience yet not dealt with it yet?
What other external stressors might you have? How can you make it easier to deal with these?
Will being slim solve all of your problems?

When we start to take everything into consideration we can start to understand ourselves and our body much better and start to improve each and every factor of our life and achieve overall health and wellbeing, getting slim will be a byproduct of this. Sometimes just writing it all down or talking about it to someone can be a massive help.

I could go on forever about this subject but I feel I have now gone on for long enough other than to try to explain the best way to combat obesity, reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and live a healthy and happy life but remember nothing ever comes easy and a bit of hard work and discipline is needed:

Number one – sort out what you’re fueling your body with

Foods that could be causing you to be miserable and gain weight these include:

Cut out these:
Sugar (including sweeteners), Wheat (bread’s out of the window!), dairy (with the exception of a small amount of butter, natural yoghurt and eggs), Alcohol (yup it’s a depressant and like drinking a glass of sugar), caffeine (ditch those cups of tea and coffee you need to function on a morning!)

Severely restrict the following:
Processed foods – Ideally cut them out completely but if you have to then always check the label, if you cannot pronounce the ingredients or don’t know what an ingredient is then its best to leave it.

What you should be eating (and drinking):
At LEAST 2 litres of filtered water per day, herbal teas,

Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables (berries and green leafy veg especially), nuts and seeds, lean cuts of poultry and meat, good fats such as olive oil and coconut oil aim to choose organic where possible.

Try to keep the fruit and vegetables to as natural state as possible which means assessing cooking methods – stir fry and steam veg rather than boiling them.

Add a good quality multivitamin because it’s hard to get all of the nutrients from our foods due to poor quality soil and air travel to get it to the supermarket shelves (this is where farmers markets can be fantastic).

Number two – Get moving:

Start to do a little bit of exercise each day, whether you have a bad back or not you can still walk right? (if not then please feel free to email me at Debbie@dj-personaltraining.co.uk and I’ll see if I can help you with a solution) Walking is a fantastic form of exercise and the most natural for our body. Once the weight starts to fall off you might find that aches and pains start to disappear so you can do more. Your body quickly adapts so after about 6 weeks you will need to either increase the intensity or make changes to your exercise program (or both). This is where a health and fitness professional might be able to help you.

Number three – Chillax!

Focus on relaxation – especially if you suffer with stress, relaxation is a HUGE part that is completely overlooked by a lot of people yet can have a MASSIVE impact on your health and wellbeing. Start with just 5 minutes a day of gentle breathing exercises, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for five minutes, close your eyes (if you wish) and concentrate on rhythmic- diaphragm breathing, try to focus on your breathing and switch off your thoughts, by just doing this exercise each day you could see massive improvements as it helps to re-oxygenate the blood and get the nutrients from our foods passed around our body.

Number four – Sleep:

Getting a good nights sleep – our sleep patterns have a massive impact on our health and our body so you want to be getting as good a nights sleep as you can. Start by limiting computer usage and reduce how much TV you watch after 9pm at night, ideally you want to be in bed by 10pm as that is when the body starts the process of repair and re-growth. Get rid of the TV in the bedroom! Your bedroom is where you sleep so get rid of that TV, in fact cut down on all of the electrical equipment in the bedroom, Electro Magnetic Forces (EMF) have a significant impact on the quality of sleep that we get so before you go to bed make sure that you have no electrical items on and if possible place your mobile phone as far away from you as possible (if you use it for an alarm clock make sure it’s within hearing distance – don’t want you to get the sack now)

A Long post I know but the world of health is absolutely MASSIVE and we have only touched the tip of the iceberg here. Please give some of the above a try and let me know how you get on, if you’d like a more detailed nutritional plan please send me an email to Debbie@dj-personaltraining.co.uk and I will send you a copy.

Chase health and Thin Will Follow.

Have a great day and stay healthy,

Debbie

Can this one thing help you drop a shed load of body fat – really?

So today I’m going to reveal the one thing that can help you shift a shed load of body fat, but first of all I’m going to go into a few other things that will lead me to this.

In today’s current lifestyles we are becoming more and more stressed what with work, home, family and now more so with the credit crunch and prices rising could be a huge contributor to the stress.

Stress plays a major factor in weight gain, in fact not only weight gain but it has been proven that up to 90% of illnesses are stress related – not good huh!

We could be eating all of the right foods, getting plenty of exercise but if we are stressed then the chances of feeling great and achieving overall health could be minimal.

When we are stressed we release the hormones cortisone (cortisol) and Epinephrine (adrenalin), this is the bodies natural response. It is known as the ‘fight or flight’ response, basically you are either going to fight the stressor or run from the stressor, which back in the caveman day you could. In today’s busy lifestyles stress is happening several times a day, and although our bodies haven’t evolved much from the caveman days it’s unlikely we are going to be able to do the natural response of fight or flight.

When we are stressed it is very hard for our body to function at its best, it makes it hard for foods to be processed within the gut because it makes it hard for the body to utilize fats and without the fats our bodies cannot absorb nutrients needed for healthy function.

It’s very common for people who do suffer with stress to carry excess fat around their abdomen.

So here is the number one way to deal with stress in today’s hectic lifestyle:

Breathing!

Yup something as simple as controlled breathing can help you to relieve stress! You see while we are stressed our heart rate becomes very erratic as does our breathing which means that the heart may not be able to pump blood around the body effectively, because of this it may also mean that the blood our body is producing then becomes less efficient. This could lead to several other health issues such as circulation problems and pain in joints and muscles to name a few.

So how can this help me drop the fat?

Well you see when our body is able to function better by not having to cope with health issues and stress it can then do it’s job properly, it’s able to metabolize the foods that we eat correctly, it’s able to recover better after exercise, it will help you to deal with each stressor more effectively plus you will feel better in yourself and that excess fat that you’ve been trying to shift for years will start to melt away.

So how do I do controlled breathing?

The best way to do the controlled breathing is to sit comfortably and take a long breath in through the nose counting for about five seconds and then exhale through the mouth, again counting for five seconds. You should be breathing into your abdomen rather than chest breathing, if you find this a bit hard at first try lying on your back and pressing down on your stomach whilst trying to push your tummy our against your hand. After completing the previous exercise remain lying down keep your hands on your stomach and concentrate on your stomach rising and falling with every breath to make sure you are breathing into your abdomen.

You should do this around four to five times per day for 3-5 minutes and repeat EVERY time you experience stress. You know the saying ‘and deep breath’ when you get stressed – there’s something behind that ;o)

Another factor to help this is to add some positive thoughts as you are doing the breathing, for some it helps to close their eyes and focus on something that makes them happy. The more happy feelings being passed around the body the better it will function.

So there you have it, one simple thing such as breathing correctly can help you function correctly meaning it could help with digestion problems, aches and pains, circulation problems and shed a load of body fat!

Practice the breathing in your car, when going for a walk, cooking your dinner – whatever you are doing spend a bit of time being conscious of your breathing and slowing it down – especially during times of stress.

The Importance of soaking your oats/grains/pulses

Just a quick post today, up until recently I never soaked my nuts/seeds or porridge oats (well I did used to soak porridge oats overnight but stopped for some reason), I have now changed over to eating oat groats which I soak over night in water then rinse a few times before adding coconut milk to it - tastes lovely!

Anyway the reason why we must soak our grains/nuts/seeds over night is because they contain phytic acid which can actually stop you from absorbing essential minerals in your diet. Here is a passage i recently found when researching it.

taken from http://www.choosehealth.net/PracticalLiving/Cookingwithgrains.html
'Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron especially zinc in the intestinal track and block their absorption. This is why a diet high in unfermented whole grains may led to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss. The modern misguided practice of consuming large amounts of unprocessed bran often improves colon transit time at first but may lead to irritable bowel syndrome and, in the long term, many other adverse effects. Soaking allows enzyme, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid. As little as seven hours of soaking in warm acidulated water will neutralize a large portion of phytic acid in grains. The simple practice of soaking cracked or rolled cereal grains overnight will vastly improve their nutritional benefits'

The reason why I say it's also important to soak nuts and seeds before eating them is because Pre-soaking nuts breaks down their natural preservative making them easier to digest, this means your body can absorb the nutrients better and there's less work for your liver, kidneys and colon.

So if you like your porridge on a morning still go for it but soak it over night, you might find there's no need to heat it up because the grains are already nice and soft to eat.

Same with the nuts and seeds, it gives them a better taste and it makes it easier for them to be broken down into smoothies and sprinkled onto breakfasts.

So go on get those nuts (seeds and oats) soaked ;O)

Have a great day x x

Free Workout and Four Winter Warming Soup Recipes

Hi All,
Its That time of year again when the snow falls out of the sky and everyone begins to hibernate! If you find yourself becoming surrounded by your four walls constantly and your exercise and diet have gone down hill, stop and turn it around! The average person puts on over 10lbs over the festive period, don't let that be you! Get out for some fantastic winter walks - especially around noon when you might get some sunshine too to help with Vitamin D Uptake.

Even if you are stuck indoors there's no excuse for not being able to do exercise, here is a workout that you can do in the comfort of your own home (be sure to warm up first):



And to keep you warm on the inside here are some fantastic warming winter soup recipes that take no time to make but taste great:

Carrot and Lentil Soup


Rinse 75g (1/2 cup) red lentils, and put in a large saucepan with 1 sliced onion, 450g sliced carrots, 1.2 litres (5 cups) vegetable stock and 5ml (1 tsp) ground coriander. Stir, season and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are cooked. Add 3tbsp chopped parsley and cook for a little longer. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor, return to the pan to reheat, and thin with a little extra water if needed before serving.

Green Soup

This makes a beautiful velvety soup that's not too thick. If you prefer a soup with more substance, add a handful brown rice, but it needs to simmer for 10 minutes.
500g (10 cups) spinach,1 large onion, 2 medium potatoes, 750ml (3 cups) vegetable stock
Get the stock simmering nicely, wash and shred the spinach removing any tough stalks, peel and chop the onion and potatoes, and add all to the stock. Season lightly. Let it simmer for 15 minutes, until the veg are softened. Blend. Serve immediately, or chill.
Variations
• For a creamier, richer soup, cook the vegetables in 500ml (2 cups) stock. This will give you a thick puree, which you can thin down to taste with organic milk.
• You can add any vegetables you have to hand – chopped carrot, squash, sweet potato, leeks, broccoli. The result is always slightly different, and may not be as intensely green, but will still be delicious.
• Add depth and warmth. Peel a 1-inch piece of root ginger and grate it in while the soup is simmering.
• Grate in some fresh nutmeg. Particularly good with spinach.

The above recipes are thanks to http://www.healthy-eating-made-easy.com

Here’s a couple of soups I put together –

Cream of Tomato Soup


put 2 tins of plum tomatoes and about a cup of water in a pan and bring to the boil, then add 1 onion, 2 sweet potatoes and 3 cloves of garlic. Once it boils reduce the heat to a simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Place in a blender and add 1-2 handfuls of cashew nuts (soaked over night) blend and add sea salt as desired.

Butternut Squash and Green Lentil Soup

I made a chicken stock from the roast we had at the weekend so was about 1ltr

add some chopped butternut squash (I’d bought a packet already cut on Sat - used some for our roast and the rest for this) about 4 carrots peeled and chopped and half a can of green lentils (drained and rinsed)

In a frying pan sautée an onion and add to the mix
leave to simmer for about 20 minutes or so (until veg soft) then let cool before blending it all together, add some some sea salt and pepper (and also some other spices to make it a little bit hot but that’s optional) and that's about it, its VERY tasty

Remember though with root vegetables you want to limit to 2-3 x per week but in the winter it's a lovely treat ;o)

Enjoy!

PS I have a 21 day Online Xmas Booty Program just released with more fantastic workouts and nutritional program, if you want to drop a dress size in time for Xmas and feel fantastic while everyone else feels uncomfortable check it out here 21 day Xmas Booty Body Blast Online Program

Your body, Your responsibility

Excuses, excuses! I hear them every day:

‘But it was pouring down and freezing I wasn’t in the mood for training today’
‘My alarm didn’t go off’
‘My workmates bought in cream cakes and I’d be rude if I refused them’
‘I can’t give up bread, pasta and cereal what will I eat!’
‘I’m not fit enough exercise 3 times a week’
‘I was stressed at work, I needed junk food!’

Let’s get one things straight, your body is nobody else’s responsibility but your own – period.

If you’re out of shape because you enjoy a good drink with your mates every weekend and eating crappy food choices then that’s down to no one else but you!

If you’re feeling ill and tired all the time then you should be looking at what you’re fuelling your body with and whether you are getting enough exercise, this could be playing a major role in how you’re feeling.

If you’re feeling fat but can’t give up on your regular treats of alcohol, chocolate and other unhealthy food choices then that’s all down to you.

We all want to feel great about ourselves but it’s only the truly committed people that will actually do something about it. The overall outlook you have about your body is all down to you, you can either make excuses about your shape or you can do something about it.

If you’re unhealthy and out of shape then the only way to reverse that is to do something about it, make a start, that’s the main thing then you must be consistent with it, the more you do the more your body will adapt, so the more you can challenge it, you will see the changes happening and start to feel more body confident and in turn start to feel happier.

Change the way you see yourself, if you think of yourself as fat and unhappy then that is what you’re most likely to be-come, its law of attraction! If you look in the mirror and see a fit and healthy body and are prepared to carry out the work to get that way then you will get there.

Stop making excuses about why you are out of shape and unhappy and start to work on becoming healthy and happy, if a healthy and fit body is your goal then you will get to a healthy size and feel much more confident at what you see in the mirror.
Just because you’re family/friends/partner are eating or drinking crap and doing their own thing doesn’t mean that you have to, perhaps learning to tell the odd white lie might help, telling your friends and family you can’t really drink milk/eat wheat anymore because you’ve found out you’re intolerant might help. Enjoy a night out for sure, but how about not drinking and tell your friends you’re on medication so can’t drink at the minute.

The body you want is achievable with hard work and dedication, it just depends whether you’re prepared to take responsibility and start taking the necessary action to get there....

Are you ready to take responsibility? Here are a few tips how:
Make yourself accountable and set yourself a goal, whether it be to drop a dress size by 20th Dec so I feel fantastic this Christmas or to be able to run around with your kids without getting tired, whatever it may be, write it down and remind yourself daily of your goal. Why not send it to me at Debbie@fatblastbootcamp.co.uk and I will chase you up on it!

Plan your meals ahead, if you know what you’re going to have to eat for the week ahead you’re less likely to feel lost with your nutrition.
Carry snacks with you – take fruit and nuts with you to work, that way when the snack monster attacks you’re ready and prepared ;o)

Eat healthy and wholesome foods, lots of fruit and vegetable, be sure to eat your greens (broccoli, kale, sprouts etc) it’s not some old wives tail they are packed with vitamins and minerals to help you fight off infection and stay healthy.
Exercise regularly!

Eat to exercise not exercise to eat – so many people do it, have a few cream cakes then thrash themselves in the gym to work it off, that’s not the mindset you should have, you should eat a well balanced diet that will support your fitness program not the other way around.

There are many more I could add but perhaps you have your own, why not share below? How do you take responsibility for your health? What actions are you taking to get the best from your body?