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Newsletter 02/10/07

In this week's issue:

You Are What You Eat
25 Reasons To Drink Green Tea - Part 2
Healthy Pancake Recipe!?
AMAZING Strength And Balance
Precision Nutrition Tip of the Week #2

Hi, and welcome to this week's newsletter! I hope nobody is slacking off now it's winter time, remember that although it seems a long way away, summer really is just around the corner! If you are not a current client, I have a special offer for new clients in the month of October, check it out at www.absolutegoldfitness.co.uk/october

You Are What You Eat

I do a lot of good stuff when training people. I get them stronger, get them in better shape, fix postural problems, cure little niggling aches and pains and much more. But when it comes to body composition/fat loss results, most of the results are out of my hands. The training certainly gives you the gun and even loads it for you, but you have to hit the target yourself!

Why You Must Eat Right

You have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat” before, I am sure. The fact that is undeniable is that if you eating more calories than you require, you will be putting on weight. The correlation tends to be that bad food is more calorie dense than good food, so ‘eat bad – look bad’. No matter how hard you train you cannot train around a bad diet. Yes, you will get stronger. Yes, you will get fitter. You may even gain some muscle (those extra calories don’t have to be stored as fat), but it will be highly unlikely that you will lose fat.

Sometimes it is hard to get good food in – you have a busy week at work and find yourself grabbing food on the go, trying to make ‘good’ choices from what is available, but generally not eating in a way that is going to change your body for the better. This is understandable, and occurs all too frequently in today’s on-the-go society. However, ‘understandable’ does not mean ‘excusable’. Sometimes, if you wish to achieve the results you deserve, you will have to put a little work in.

Fail To Prepare, Prepare To Fail

There are a few little things that can help your chances of staying on track so much easier. If you have to decide when you are hungry what you will eat next, you have very little chance of succeeding long-term, no matter how good your intentions are. Therefore, you can do some or all of these tips to save time during busy times:

Chop large quantities of vegetables at once, store in containers
Pre-cook meats (chicken breast etc.)
Make batches of stir-fry and chili to reheat when needed
Buy a cool bag and carry food with you where possible
Find healthy meals you can eat in restaurants
Find ‘emergency’ solutions
Ensure you have good food in the fridge when possible

By simply doing these little things, some of which require a little one-off research (what food can I have in Subway?) and some that you may have to do on a bi-weekly basis (chopping vegetables, cooking meat), you can take a lot of the pressure off when it comes to eating time. Rather than spending ten minutes every time you plan to eat preparing, it can be done in one go, saving huge amounts of time later.

This little tip is one of the most important variables for me between success and failure. When I am carrying healthy food with me, I no longer have the choice of, “what shall I eat next?” every time I feel hungry. In fact, if I make a bad choice, it will be even more highlighted by the fact I will come home still carrying healthy food. In this way, it is more effort to not eat well, which is exactly the kind of situation that will lead to success in the long term.

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25 Reasons To Drink Green Tea - Part 2

14. Green Tea and High Blood Pressure
Green tea helps prevent high blood pressure. Drinking green tea helps keep your blood pressure down by repressing angiotensin, which leads to high blood pressure.

15. Green Tea and Food Poisoning
Catechin found in green tea can kill bacteria which causes food poisoning and kills the toxins produced by those bacteria.

16. Green Tea and Blood Sugar
Blood sugar tends to increase with age, but polyphenols and polysaccharides in green tea help lower your blood sugar level.

17. Green Tea and Immunity
Polyphenols and flavenoids found in green tea help boost your immune system, making your health stronger in fighting against infections.

18. Green Tea and Cold and Flu
Green tea prevents you from getting a cold or flu. Vitamin C in green tea helps you treat the flu and the common cold.

19. Green Tea and Asthma
Theophylline in green tea relaxes the muscles which support the bronchial tubes, reducing the severity of asthma.

20. Green Tea and Ear Infection
Green tea helps with ear infection problem. For natural ear cleaning, soak a cotton ball in green tea and clean the infected ear.

21. Green Tea and Herpes
Green tea increases the effectiveness of topical interferon treatment of herpes. First green tea compress is applied, and then let the skin dry before the interferon treatment.

22. Green Tea and Tooth Decay
Green tea destroys bacteria and viruses that cause many dental diseases.It also slows the growth of bacteria which leads to bad breath.

23. Green Tea and Stress
L-theanine, which is a kind of amino acids in green tea, can help relieve stress and anxiety.

24. Green Tea and Allergies
EGCG found in green tea relieves allergies. So, if you have allergies, you should really consider drinking green tea.

25. Green Tea and HIV
Scientists in Japan have found that EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) in green tea can stop HIV from binding to healthy immune cells. What this means is that green tea can help stop the HIV virus from spreading.

Hold on.....gotta brew a cup of green tea - be back soon!...

.........

Healthy Pancake Recipe!?

This is another one stolen from Precision Nutrition forums - a recipe for moderately healthy pancakes! Yum yum! This is still a post workout or possibly breakfast meal (depending on goals), but will certainly be better than the real thing, but almost as tasty!

1 cup eggs or egg whites (or mixture)
1 cup cottage cheese (1 or 2%)
1 cup dry oatmeal
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Other options:

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup pumpkin puree (optional)

Or..
1/4 cup blueberries
almond extract

Blend ingredients in a blender until the consistency of pancake batter. If too runny, add more dry ingredients. If too thick, add more wet ingredients.

Let sit for a few minutes to thicken and blend again for a few seconds.

Pour onto a preheated skillet or large frying pan (use cooking spray so they don't' stick, if necessary).

Flip over when bubbles appear through tops. Basically cook as regular pancakes.

I often top with real maple syrup or if I am eating stricter some fresh berries and natural yogurt. I almost always serve with a spinach / strawberry salad on the side to get my veggies in.

They are great left over, cold, with nut butters or plain. I use them to make my son peanut butter and jam or honey sandwiches.

Be creative and these will be your favorite too!

AMAZING Strength And Balance!

Check this video out - the world record for vertical push-ups. This is some seeerious control and strength. The question is - who wants to try them in their next program? :-)

Precision Nutrition Tip of the Week

Tip #2
The Sunday Ritual
by Dr. John Berardi

To ensure that good foods will be available when you need them, use the Sunday Ritual. This is performed by setting aside three hours every Sunday to write out your menu for the week, shop for the week, and prepare your meals for the week. Cook all the meat, chop all the vegetables, measure out all the yogurt and/or cottage cheese, and distribute all the powders. Have them ready and set aside so that you can grab them in the morning and bring them with you regardless of what your day holds in store for you.