Nutrition
Good nutrition is vital for your health and fitness. Don't rely on exercise alone to achieve your goals, because you can never out-train a bad diet. That's why my personal training clients in London get ongoing nutrition advice as part of the package.
There are lots of nutrition tips to explore in this site. Here's a snapshot:
Healthy Recipes
Every week there's a new recipe on This Week's Recipe page - they're all easy to prepare, and bursting with taste. One of the best things you can do is to stop eating takeaways and ready-meals. Don't be brainwashed by the junkfood adverts and the tempting packaging of supermarket ready meals. Put yourself first and prepare healthy and nutritious meals for yourself.
There's also a page of Smoothie Recipes - great for quick snacks on the go. Might even ween you off chocolate, crisps, and fizzy drinks. I've also included a section on raw vegetable juicing on this page.
If soups are your thing, you'll find some nutritious ideas on the Soups page.
And if you're vegetarian, there's plenty of tasty options to choose from in the Vegetarian Recipes page, with advice on how to get more iron in your diet if you're not eating meat.
Healthy Shopping List
When you're next planning a supermarket trip, print out this handy shopping list of nutritious items. This way you'll never be short of healthy foods in your fridge and cupboards. There may even be some items you've not considered!
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What do Personal Fitness Trainers Eat?
And if you're wondering what I eat ( I bet you're dying to know) then check out my personal trainer diet page. I consume a lot of calories because my metabolism is high and I'm working out, playing tennis, and on the move all the time.
Eating healthily will help you achieve whatever physical goals you set yourself. If you want to lose excess body fat, good nutrition is vital. If you want to build muscle, good nutrition will help you achieve a more muscular physique. See the pages on building muscle, and weight loss.
What is good nutrition?
It's a combination of things:
What you eat: natural wholesome foods that include complex carbs, low-fat protein, good fats (monounsaturated, polyunsaturated), plenty of fruit & veg, and water. And of course the right balance and quantity of vitamins and minerals.
What you avoid: refined and processed foods, ready-meals, takeaways, sweets and cakes and biscuits, foods high in saturated fat, manufactured foods that contain trans fats (also known as hydrogenated fats),refined carbs, salt, sugar, excess alcohol.
How much you eat: we tend to over-eat or under-eat, few people get the balance right. Always have breakfast, and eat moderate portions through the day. If your goal is weight loss, reduce your portions until you are losing between 1-2lbs per week. If your goal is weight gain, increase your portions slightly until you are gaining weight at a rate of 1-2lbs per week. Make sure exercise goes hand-in-hand with weight gain, so that you are gaining muscle not fat. And to lose weight, you want to just lose excess body fat, not lean muscle.
When and how you eat: Eat moderate portions every 3-4 hours. Always have breakfast, but don't eat just before bed. Eat slowly, chew thoroughly, and sit still for 10 minutes after you've finished eating. And don't exercise on a full stomach. How long should you digest before exercise? Depends on the size of your meal, so if you had a small snack of fruit and yoghurt, then 30 minutes is ok, but if you had a full meal, allow 2 hours digestion time before you hit the gym or tennis court.
Nutrition FAQ's:
"Is coffee bad for you?" In excess yes. Try to stick to 2 a day at most, and even better drink herbal or fruit teas instead. And if you really like coffee, switch to decaf.
"Is Red Bull bad for you?" I'm not going to comment on specific brands, but suffice to say, I recommend plain water over all fizzy drinks or drinks that contain stimulants. So-called energy drinks don't give you energy in the healthy nutrition sense of the word.
"Should I drink Red Bull/coffee before a workout?" I recommend you simply drink water before and during your workout.
"What's the healthiest cheese?" Some cheeses are lower in fat than others. Try low fat cottage cheese. Or reduced fat mozzarella.
"Is cheese a good source of calcium?" Yes, but so is skimmed milk (fat free, unlike most cheeses which are very high in fat), and sardines with the bones is an even better source of calcium than cheese.
"What's the best source of calcium?" Skimmed milk, sardines with bones (go on, chew up the bones thoroughly, they're really thin and soft. Have the sardines on toast, it makes a great snack)
"Does bread make you fat?" Any excess carbohydrates will turn to fat, so yes, bread in excess can make you fat. Always choose brown/wholemeal over white bread. Don't eat more than 4 slices bread a day. And avoid croissants! They're full of saturated fat.
"Is it safe to drink tap water?" In the UK you're safe with tap water, yes. Is bottled water or mineral water healthier than tap water? Yes, but this is a small refinement to the improvement to your diet, rather than a major consideration. Some people get things totally out of proportion, by drinking mineral water because they think tap water is full of pollutants, then they go outside for a cigarette, or guzzle a fizzy drink. Is filtered water better than tap water? The same answer applies.
"Can I improve my skin quality and healthy looking hair through good nutrition?" Absolutely yes! Plenty of water, lots of fruit and veg, and omega 3 fatty acids found in oily fish, will all contribute to healthy skin and shiny hair. Rather than spending a fortune on expensive skin creams and anti-aging creams, spend that money on fruit and veg.
"Can junk food and sweets and cakes form a regular part of a healthy balanced diet?" That's a bit like asking if putting sewage in the petrol tank of your high performance Porsche can be a regular part of your car's maintenance. The junk-food industry like to make out that their 'food' is absolutely fine as part of a healthy balanced diet. But the definition of healthy balanced diet means a balance of healthy foods, not a balance of healthy food and junk.
"What's the best water filter?" I use a Brita water filter jug. You can get them from most large supermarkets, and simply fill the upper section of the jug with tap-water and it filters through. You can really taste the difference.
