Do you have ‘Portion Distortion’?

Many people eat more than half of their daily calories after 4pm. I liken it to the movie ‘Gremlins.’ During the day, you’re hunger is like a cute little Mogwai, easy to tame and keep under control. But once the sun starts to set, boom – out comes your inner Gremlin and Whoosh, you’ve inhaled over half your daily calories and looking for more.

The hormone Ghrelin, is your inner Gremlin

Our hunger hormone has the name Ghrelin (Coincidence – I think not!). It’s what stimulates your appetite, giving you the rumbly tummy before a meal, and it tends to be very time based. It’s almost like an internal clock that says ‘Well you ate at this time yesterday, so it must be time to eat again!’ It’s also a greedy little bugger, and the more you feed it the more it wants. In fact if you feed it high fat, calorie dense meals, it actually craves more.

If you skip breakfast – be warned!

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Tagged As: Portion control, Salads, snacks, Soups

This is a question I get asked all the time “Why aren’t I losing weight? I’ve been exercising regularly, doing all the right things but nothing is happening!”  I’d say that this is the number one reason why people fall off the exercise wagon- lack of results. So why is it that some people seem to be doing all the right things but still don’t lose weight? I’ve outlined the five main culprits in order of importance. Point number one is, in my experience, the most common reason why people don’t lose weight and keep it off.*

1. You’re not losing weight because you’re eating too much:

Many people begin an exercise program and the increase in activity can make them hungry. However eating more will just counter balance the calories burned, leading to no weight loss at all. Similarly, I have observed a mindset of “Well I just trained so now I can have that hot dog and beer.” If you are trying to lose weight, sorry that just won’t work!

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Tagged As: diet, exercise, Fat Loss, Weight loss

Hands up if you like tax! I didn’t think so. Hands up if you like nanny state reforms? Me neither. So it’s no surprise that people are up in arms about the possibility of a fat tax. But let’s get one thing straight, we are fast facing a ‘globesity’ epidemic. If we don’t start a culture shift soon, our kids and their kids will be the ones who will live shorter, less healthy lives.

The question remains though, is a ‘fat tax’ the right way to go about reducing our ever expanding waist lines?

Denmark lead the way in the world’s first fat tax

Recently, Denmark became the first country in the world to introduce a tax on foods that contain more than 2.3% fat. To put that into shopping speak, that’s butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed foods.
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Tagged As: Fat tax, Obesity, Weight loss

Here we explore some of the crazy celeb diet fads out there. Grapefruit sniffing anyone!?!

Tagged As: Amelia Burton, celebrity diets, Weight loss

New research shows that if you’re finding it hard to lose weight it may not just be because of the food you eat, it could also be your kitchen. In his book Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink shows us how subliminal messages are affecting the choices and quantities of the food we eat.

Here are some of my top tips to make sure your kitchen is setting you up for success, not sabotage:

1. Out of sight out of mind

If you want to have treats on hand it’s important to keep them out of site. A great way to do this is to store them in a non-transparent airtight container, and if they come in a packet, make sure you can’t access them easily by securing them with a bull clip. This creates what we call a ‘barrier to entry’ and stops you from sneaky snacking.

2. Place healthy food on display

The only thing that should be on your bench is a fruit bowl. Research shows that when foods such as chocolate are visible, they may trigger the urge to indulge. That’s why snacks like biscuits, chocolates and muesli should be stored in your cupboard to reduce temptation. Instead, make healthy snacks more accessible and keep pre-cut veggies or fruit in the fridge.
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Tagged As: Brian Wansink, healthy eating, Mindless Eating, Weight loss

Once upon a time the dairy aisle was simple, but stand in front of the shelves at the supermarket now and you’ll find an abundance of options. With so many varieties on the market, choosing the product that’s right for you can be confusing and not to mention time consuming. Here’s what you should know before your next venture to the dairy section.

What’s in your milk?

Before you reach for a carton of milk it’s important to know if you’re allergic or intolerant to lactose. Most of us don’t have an intolerance, but if you’re worried, you can check by having a simple hydrogen breath test or blood test by your doctor.

When buying milk, the main thing to look at is the difference in fat content between full cream, low fat and skim. All the other labels usually have more of an effect on your wallet than your health.
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Tagged As: Cheese, Cream, Dairy, Milk, Yoghurt

Here Kerri-Anne and I discuss some amazing research coming out linking the foods we eat with depression. What moods affect your cravings? What are the best foods to help combat depression.

Tagged As: depression, eating, folate, nutrition, omega 3, Weight loss

Heidi Klum - One month after giving birth

So we know that the only way to make a big difference to our body shape is long term lifestyle adjustments with eating and exercise, but that doesn’t help for next week’s big event does it? I am constantly asked what the tricks are to change one’s body shape fast. Heidi Klum had just one month after her baby was born to get svelte enough to model Victorias Secrets lingerie range or she’d lose a 2.5 million dollar deal – no pressure!

Follow these 5.5 ways to change your body shape fast. I can’t promise you’ll have a stomach like Heidi Klum’s, but it’ll be an improvement on what’s poking out now!

No bread before bed!

Although I am not a fan of low carb diets long term, there is no doubt that reducing your carbohydrate intake slims you down short term and does wonders for flattening a stomach and increasing muscle definition.

There are a few fascinating reasons low carb diets work short term. Firstly, they rid your body of unwanted excess fluid. In order to digest simple carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes), the body requires a lot of fluid to break this down. In addition many people are intolerant to gluten and their bodies react by retaining even more water and giving that bloated look that we all try to avoid.

Secondly, by eliminating one massive component of a person’s diet, ie carbs, often the total calories consumed each day are reduced. This will also help to flatten the stomach (less food in there) and shed excess body weight.

Before you decide to eliminate carbs all together, I suggest taking my metabolic typing quiz. If you are a carb or a mixed type, I would not suggest eliminating carbs altogether. It’s not worth the pain and anguish you will put loved ones through. You might look good, but you’ll be a cranky bugger!

I suggest: having some carbs for breaky, such as porridge or toast, and then avoiding them for the rest of the day. Instead, increase your complex carbohydrates (coloured veggies) through salads, and increase your protein intake whether it be through lean meat or legumes. You can follow any of the low carb diets if it’s easier (Zone, Atkins etc), but I simply tell my clients, if it’s white and fluffy, or packed with sugar don’t eat it!

Cardio Boxing

There is something about cardio boxing that changes body shapes fast. It might be the fast push/pull action of Click here to continue reading…..

Tagged As: body shape, fitness

NOTE: If you would like to do a Detox please contact me here for more information.

You know those times in your life when you’ve partied a bit hard? Maybe you’ve been working long hours and eating crap? You feel exhausted, lethargic yet anxious and frankly not on top of your game. It’s time like these that you need to Detox. There are a plethora of Detoxes to chose from, lasting from one day up to three months. But before you go launching into the first brand you come across be warned, choosing the program can mean the difference between having a Detox that rocks or having Detox Disaster.

The Benefits of a Detox

Besides the usual benefits of increased energy, clear eyes, skin and regulated moods, Detoxing has many other benefits:

• Improves our Immune Function
• Reduce the amount of toxins and pollution into our body to lessen the burden against the detoxification organs
• Promote healthy eating, nutrition and supplementation to help our body effectively clear the toxins
• Scavenge free radicals and eliminate toxins
• Strengthen body’s fight against cancer cells and generate healthy cells in our body
• Cleanse mucous, congestion, fermentation, inflammation in our digestive tract
• Purify our blood
• Reform our lifestyle addictions for sugar, salt, high glycemic carbohydrates, alcohol, junk foods, nicotine, etc

Things to be Aware Of

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Tagged As: detox, diet, nutrition, Weight loss

Editors Note: This post is written by our elite performance specialist Andrew Verdon. Andrew has completed a Diploma in Exercise Science, Certificate IV in Fitness, Level 1 Strength Coaching Qualifications with ASCA. He is currently completing a Post Grad Diploma in Applied Science (Elite Sports Training) and will go on to do a Masters in Recovery.

Want a  really simple way to check your body fat levels and the level of health risk this could put you at? Here is a reliable and easy test you can do at home with a tape measure (and a note pad).

With a tape measure held horizontal take it around your waist at the level of your belly button. Keep your tummy muscles relaxed and take the measure. The most accurate way to get the measure is to get someone to hold the tape and sight the measure on the right hand side- not the front. If you doing it by yourself then place your finger on the number on the right of your body and let the tape go and record where your finger was- simple!
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Tagged As: waist measurement, Weight loss