The Happy Hormone

We all know what it’s like, you started the year bursting with positive energy, eating nothing but healthy foods, all with the idea to get super fit and the body you always dreamed of. A few months on, motivation is lacking as the stresses and worries of day to day life kick in. But actually, exercise maybe the exact thing that you need right now.

Being active can distract you from your daily worries and can give you a much needed boost of endorphins helping you to feel oh-so-good. Endorphins are the hormonal neurotransmitters in your brain that are responsible for your feeling happy. As you start exercising, your brain recognises this as a moment of stress. As your heart rate increases, the brain thinks that you are either fighting an enemy or running away from it. So to protect yourself from stress, endorphins are released in your brain. Sudden bursts of endorphins can cause you to feel euphoric, and can also act as your body’s natural form of pain relief. The best part about endorphins is that you can stimulate their production to feel happy more often. A study published in the "Journal of Sports Medicine" found that exercising daily could have as much effect on your happiness as it does on your waist line. In fact, if you are new to exercising you may experience stronger effects of endorphins than someone who has been exercising regularly, since your brain is not used to the endorphin rush.

Most researchers have found that moderate-intensive cardiovascular exercise lasting at least 20 to 30 minutes produces the greatest increase in endorphins. Running is a great way to elevate the levels of endorphins, reducing tension and stress while improving the mood. The more endorphins a runners body pumps out, the greater the effect it has on mood. Dancing is also a great way to get your happy fix. Not only does it burn calories and help to build muscles, but it also gives you a boost in endorphins. The physical activity of dancing along with the vibrant music helps to give you your ultimate happy fix. Try a Latin dance like salsa and you’ll be addicted in no time. Other physical activities that require cardio fitness such as cycling, swimming, playing tennis or football are all great at producing high levels of endorphins. So go and grab your running shoes and get yourself a happy fix!

Your Marathon warm-up

The London marathon is seen as one of the greatest human endurance challenges ever. Add to this cramps, chafing, dizziness and dehydration. This 26.2-mile run can push the human body to its absolute limit. To help you prepare for your biggest challenge yet I have come up with all the essentials to get you over that finish line.

Nutrition and Hydration

A healthy diet is essential throughout your training programme, on the day of the marathon and during your recovery. Make sure that you are eating plenty of vitamins and minerals, protein and slow releasing carbohydrates.

Pre run

It is important to make sure that you are fuelled up for your run. Try to eat a snack or light meal about 1 ½ hours before the marathon starts. This needs to be carbohydrate rich with a little protein so that energy can be released slowly throughout the race and should be around 250-300 calories. Try pasta, rice, potatoes toast and peanut butter as well as bananas, dried dates, cereal bars and smoothies for an energy boost. Drink plenty of fluids before hand as well to keep hydrated.

During the run

Try and keep energy levels up during the marathon. We know easier said than done! The easiest way is drinking a sports drink like Lucozade, Powerade or Gatorade. These contain carbohydrates, electrolytes and water and are often found at the drink stations so stock up! Energy bars, jelly babies and chocolate can help to keep you fuelled up too.

Post run

You might have finished running but it’s not over yet! Get eating! Food should be carbohydrate rich to help replace energy lost with some protein to help repair your muscles and get your body recovering. Try a bagel with peanut butter, chicken and pasta, yogurts and fruit, cereal bars or a milkshake.

Training

Training for a marathon is one of the biggest challenges that you will ever face. Physically, mentally and emotionally. The most important training days will be your long runs, usually on a weekend. Gradually increase the distance of this each week by about one or two miles. Run at least 20 miles to increase endurance, train your body to burn fat as a fuel and build physical and mental strength in preparation for the marathon.

Kit bag                     

The important kit bag should be stocked up with bananas, sport drinks and gel satchels, your Ipod with all your favourite running songs, cooling gel to relieve aching muscles and Vaseline to apply before, during and after your run to soothe any chaffing ( I know, but someone had to mention it!)

Injury prevention

Most running injuries can be prevented by wearing the right shoes. After about 400 miles running shoes won’t give you the support and shock absorbency you need. But don’t wait until the last minute to buy those new trainers as you need time for them to mould to your feet. Change your trainers no later than six weeks before the marathon.

An injury can also develop as a result of your training load, previous injury or flexibility. Make sure that you stretch properly after every training session to keep muscles subtle and follow a structured training plan so you don’t over load your body.

Treat yourself to a deep sports massage to relieve tight muscles and aches and pains that have built up during your training. This will help you to run more freely on the day,

Recovery

The finish line is in sight! But whatever you do don’t just collapse on the floor! You need to walk around for at least 10 minutes to slow down your heart rate safely and keep your legs from stiffening up too much. Make sure that you eat and hydrate yourself as soon as you cross the finish line. Make sure that you look after yourself. This will determine how quickly your body will recover

Lucky Number 7!

 

So the latest diet news is that we actually should be eating 7-10 portions of fruit and veg a day despite the fact that a lot of us find eating 5-a-day challenging enough. Hectic lifestyles mean that we barely have time to blend up a banana but after hearing that the extra veggies could cut the risk of premature death by 42%, I reckon it is worth the time and effort. Research shows that people eating only one to three portions of fruit and veg a day have only have a 14% reduced risk of death, making those veggies a pretty powerful tool against heart disease, strokes, type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Vegetables have a greater effect than fruit, though fruit can still make a real difference. However our body does not differentiate between the fructose in fruit and refined sugar found in chocolate and cakes. When it comes to fruit juice, drink it in moderation because without the fibre it is not beneficial.

So, what is a portion?

An apple, banana or orange count as one portion, but for smaller fruit such as plums and satsuma’s you would need to eat two to make a portion and seven strawberries and 14 cherries.

When it comes to larger fruit eat half a grapefruit or a large slice of melon or pineapple.

A portion of dried fruit is about 30g such as raisins, prunes or figs.

When it comes to your veggies eat two broccoli spears, four heaped tablespoons of kale, spinach or green beans and three tablespoons for sweet corn, carrots, peas and beans like kidney beans, butter beans and chickpeas.

And finally for salad, 5cm of cucumber and seven cherry tomatoes equals a portion.   

Getting your 7-a-day

Getting your 7-a-day isn’t as difficult as you might think. There are plenty of ways to add extra fruit and vegetables to your meals.

Breakfast

• Add a handful of berries or a banana to cereal or porridge
• Add mushrooms, tomatoes or spinach to scrambled eggs
• Make a quick smoothie from fresh or frozen fruit

Lunch

• Add some lettuce, tomatoes or cucumber to cheese sandwich
• Sticks of peppers and carrots are great with dips such as hummous
• Add beans and lentils to soups and salads

Dinner

• Chop up carrots, peppers and onion and add to bolognese sauce
• Have a side salad or vegetable dish with your main meal
• Choice a fruit salad over a cake for dessert 

The Clean and The Dirty!

We all know that buying organic is better for our health. We don’t eat all those green veggies to fill our bodies up with harmful chemicals. Links to breast and ovarian cancers and a whole lot of other nasty things is definitely something we want to avoid. We’re pretty health conscious these days but that doesn’t mean that we have a purse full of cash. So wouldn’t it be great to know when to buy organic, and when to not.

Good news for us, The Environmental Working group (EWG) has produced a list of fruit and vegetables that really is worth going organic for and reducing your pesticide exposure by a huge 80%.

GO ORGANIC

“The Dirty Dozen” have been found to absorb the most pesticides so buy these fruit and vegetables organic if you can.

·        Apples

·        Celery

·        Cherry Tomatoes

·        Cucumber

·        Grapes

·        Hot peppers

·        Nectarines

·        Peaches

·        Potatoes

·        Spinach

·        Strawberries

·        Sweet bell Peppers

·        Kale/Collard Greens

·        Summer Squash

BUY ANYWHERE

“The Clean 16” are pretty low in pesticides and are fine to buy in non organic varieties.

• Avocado
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Domestic Cantaloupe
• Eggplant
• Kiwis
• Mangoes
• Onions
• Papaya
• Peas
• Pineapples
• Sweet Corn
• Sweet Peas
• Sweet Potatoes
• Watermelon

Healthy shopping just got a whole lot easier! 

Beat Your Sugar Addiction

Calling all sugar addicts! We all know what it’s like; nothing makes us feel better after a hard day at work than a few squares of galaxy chocolate. We say a few squares but without thinking about it those few squares turned into the whole bar. And no, we are not talking about a little one, but those huge slabs. We think they are made for sharing but we didn’t bother! We just couldn’t stop!

So what is it about sugar that we crave? Not only does sugar taste so good but eating it releases the feel-good brain chemical serotonin as well as giving you a surge of endorphins, the happy hormone known for giving you that natural high. So why wouldn’t you crave all of this. I hate to say it but sugar isn’t all good. It is linked to accelerated ageing, tooth decay, obesity, and diabetes not to mention links to cancer. And even more terrifying is that the average person in the UK consumes about 700g of sugar a week, which is about 140 teaspoons! Given that the maximum recommended daily intake of sugar is about 6 teaspoons a day we are eating sugar to the excess!

So for those of you with a sweet tooth raging out of control I have some tips to help with those sugar cravings.

• Reach for some fruit. Keep fruit handy for when you get a sugar craving. Not only is fruit sweet as it contains fructose, but it also contains fibre and vitamins giving you a health boost.

• Do some exercise. When a craving hits, do something to distract yourself. Running is a great way to take your mind off things and clear your head. Burning calories will make you reconsider eating that mars bar as you won’t want to undo all of the hard work you have just done.

• Eat regularly. If you wait too long between meals you tend to start craving sugary and fatty foods to curb your hunger quickly. Eat every three to four hours to keep your blood sugar levels stable as well as your energy levels. Foods high in protein and fibre will also keep you feeling fuller for longer and will help to stop those cravings.

• Avoid artificial sweeteners. They may sound like a god idea but common sweeteners such as saccharin and aspartame can be up to 200 times sweeter than sugar itself and will only contribute to your need for something sweet.

• Always read the food labels. Check the traffic lights on the front of processed foods and try to avoid food high in sugar. Also check the ingredients which will be listed in size order on the back. Forms of sugar in processed foods are also called glucose, fructose, invert sugar, corn syrup, glucose syrup, lactose, maltose and hydrolysed starch.

• Cut out energy and fizzy drinks. So much of our sugar intake comes from fizzy drinks. 500ml of coke contains the equivalent of 17 cubes of sugar!

Add these simple changes to your diet and your skin, health and waistline will thank you for it.

Your Health Check

We all know that we should look after our body but do we really know why? That work deadline that had you knocking back the coffee like a total addict, the birthday party of the year that lead to a few too many and then resulted in a sleepy Sunday sat eating on the sofa. Sound familiar? Thought so! Here are a few of the most common health mishaps and what really happens to our body as a result.

You try a faddy diet

Come on admit, who has been tempted by the maple syrup diet!? Quick fix weight loss diets are more popular than ever with the promise to shed the pounds that we can’t seem to loose. However, with a restrictive diet your metabolism starts to drop and your body goes into starvation mode. Your body as a result clings onto the fat stores left and starts to burn lean muscle as a fuel source instead which will ultimately increase your percentage body fat. The very thing that you were trying to avoid in the first place! After several days your levels of omega-3 in the brain also starts to fall. The brain is made up of these fats and without enough of them you may be more prone to depression.

Make sure that you are eating small and regular balanced meals so that your body does not go into starvation mode and never drop below 1200 calories.

You skimp on sleep

Just one night of fours hours sleep instead of eight can leave you feeling moody and generally down. Lack of sleep can make it difficult to concentrate and complete difficult tasks. Not ideal when at work. Lack of sleep will also have you reaching for anything sweet to help get a quick energy fix. If you are not getting enough sleep your body is also unable to make enough growth hormones which are needed for the growth and repair of your tissues and to keep you looking younger.

We know you all lead busy lives but try to get around 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

You eat a fatty meal

That Friday night curry may have tasted pretty great, but the saturated and trans fats from your korma instantly cause your blood vessels to constrict. They stay like this for hours. Four to be precise! This can cause an increase in blood pressure and can reduce blood flow and oxygen supply to your vital organs. After the fours hours it’s pretty much time to eat again. Chose another fatty meal and the cycle happens all over again.

To help live longer make sure you only eat fatty foods on occasion.

You’re dehydrated

If you are not drinking enough fluids it can lead to dehydration. Waste products and toxins in your body start to build up and can have you feeling tired, lacking energy, headachy and bloated. You may also mistake dehydration for hunger and have you reaching for the biscuit tin and those extra calories as a result.

Make sure that you are drinking eight glasses of water a day.

You’re addicted to caffeine  

 

Can’t function without a supply of coffee to get you through the day? Two mugs of coffee in the space of a few hours can cause your body to start producing the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones can increase your heart rate, tense up your muscles and increase your blood pressure. The caffeine will cause you to feel more alert but after a while you will experience a crash and have you racing to the closest Starbucks.

Limit your caffeine intake to no more than two mugs or four cups a day.

Use these tips to help feel, look and live better.

Brain Boosters

We could all do with a brain boost I am not going to lie!

Here’s what to eat to give that brain of yours a much needed boost.

Berries

Get eating blueberries, raspberries, blackberries for that brain boost! Berries are rich in polyphenols which have been shown to increase the sharpness and processing system of our brain. This area is normally the first part of the brain to be affected by old age so make sure that you look after it.

Try adding a handful of berries to your porridge in the morning or eat as an afternoon snack when those 4pm munchies kick in!

Salmon

Oily fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel contain high amounts of omega-3 and fatty acids EPA and DHA. Other good sources of omega 3 can be found in linseed oil, soya bean oil, pumpkin seeds, walnut oil and soya beans. These chemicals are all associated with good brain function. Salmon also contains vitamin D which has been shown to protect against Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative diseases.

Try baked salmon with a plate of steamed veg. Mmm!

Coffee

Despite coffee having a bad reputation it can have a huge impact on the brain. Caffeine has been found to stimulate the central nervous system and to combat declining brain function which can occur with age. Research has shown that even those at the highest risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease can lower the risk by 67% just by drinking coffee.

Try to stick with the recommended intake of coffee though which is about 3 cups a day.

Chocolate

Like we need an excuse to eat the stuff! A few squares of dark chocolate will do wonders for your mind and body. The chemicals in chocolate can give you a cognitive boost as well as having an impact on learning, memory and mood. The flavanols found in cocoa powder can help to protect against neurological damage and can help to promote blood flow to the brain.

Try a few squares of dark chocolate when that sugar craving comes!

Almonds and walnuts

Almonds and walnuts are high in vitamin E which is essential for protecting the brain from age related damage as well as improved learning and memory. Leafy veg, asparagus, olives, seeds, eggs, brown rice are all good sources of vitamin E needed for that brain boost.

Try snacking on nuts for your mid morning snack.