The balance advent calendar day 2: Surviving the Christmas Party!
At this time of year, party season kicks into full swing. Friends, work, family, another work do, sports clubs and a whole host of other groups get together to celebrate. And celebrating can mean food and more often than not it means copious amounts of alcohol! So here’s 10 ideas that are absolute crackers for surviving the festive season and not eliminating all of your good work to achieve your goals. 1) The Water Chaser Method – a tried and tested method for limiting the effects of alcohol. For every drink consumed order a glass of water with it. Ok so you’ll spend more time in the loo, but hey that’s less time at the bar! 2) The Small Plates Method – this is backed by scientific research. Smaller plates means two things, firstly smaller portions and secondly, it means that even a small portion looks bigger and more filling. 3) The Scrooge Method – take only the amount of money you intend to spend. Alright, you can sponge a few drinks off others, but every little helps. 4) The Grinch Method – don’t feel obliged to say yes to absolutely every invite. Choose your celebrations wisely, arrange to meet at times and locations that are unlikely to turn into epic eating and drinking sessions. 5) The Eat Before You Go Method – control your food intake by eating before you go. This method can be used with buffet affairs where the temptation to consume at least one of absolutely everything is hard to resist. By eating at home and choosing something healthy and filling, appetite is reduced later on. It also means that the alcohol you consume won’t have as large an effect on you. 6) The Pre-Booked Taxi Method – arranging for someone to pick you up at a specific time can prevent nights from rolling on, and on, and on, until they become day! 7) The Support Crew Method – everyone knows that there’s power in numbers, so team up with someone equally determined not to let Christmas send them off the rails and offer each other support across the evening (or evenings) in question. 8) The Big Night Out Method – ok so you won’t find us recommending bingeing sessions very often, but for some people recognising that they are going to go out, relax and enjoy themselves can be a good way of preventing post-party guilt. All you’ve got to to do is get yourself back to your normal routine afterwards and the damage can be minimised. And remember, life is about balance after all. 9) The Day After The Night Before Method – one of the biggest dangers of a big night out is often the food consumed during the hangover period. Plan ahead like you’re planning a military operation. Get food in that you know is healthy and make sure you don’t have the junk food you know you’ll crave. Drink plenty of water when you get home and have healthy fluids available for the next day. Get lots of rest and try a gentle bit of exercise, a walk for a little fresh air is a good idea, a big circuits session is not! 10) The Public Confession Method – many of us don’t like to tell people just how bad we’ve been. So resolve to confess your sins publicly and post all of the food you ate and alcohol you drank on your social media feed. Above all, as we’ve said, life is about balance. So it’s up to you if you want to use December as your month to enjoy yourself or you want to find a method that allows you to be that little bit healthier. Whichever you choose, make sure you enjoy yourself, it is Christmas after all!
A balanced view on running for weight loss
Come January, as the New Year’s Resolutions start to kick in, you will see many people hitting the roads for a run, some to get fitter or dreaming of being the next Mo Farah, others because they want to lose weight. You’ll see the same increase in jogger numbers in the weeks after the London Marathon has inspired the British public in the middle of April. So is running a good option for weight loss? We’ll present both sides of the argument for you here and let you decide for yourself, after all, we’re not called balance for nothing! The pros 1) Running burns calories This is an undeniable fact! You’ll hear some say that cardio is no good for weight loss and they’ll upsell the virtues of resistance training (and they’ll be absolutely right to do so on the latter). But let’s be honest, you don’t see very many overweight professional long-distance runners do you??? OK so cardiovascular training doesn’t build muscle and increase calorie burn after workouts in the way that weights training does, but it burns plenty of calories in the process. If you want to know how many calories you burn during a run, Runners World provide a nice simple calculator here: http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator Of course, this is an estimate but it gives you some idea and shows how much of a dent you are making towards your goals. 2) You might like running Doing something you enjoy is fundamental to success in any weight loss or health programme. For those that enjoy running, it may well be a good idea. If you don’t, we guarantee there will be an alternative that is just as effective for you, be it cycling, swimming, walking, weights training or whatever works for you. 3) Running improves health From improvements in blood glucose and blood cholesterol to better control of mood and mental health, running provides a range of health benefits. We’ve also shown many times that getting outside amongst nature has important effects on health and running is a great way of doing this. 4) Running can improve bone density Various studies have shown that bone mass is increased, maintained, or the rate of loss with ageing slowed through running, in both the lower limbs and lumbar spine. Running is of benefit because the strain frequency is high. This means that during a running session the number of times the foot comes into contact with the floor are high, putting repeated stresses on the bones and causing adaptations to occur in order to cope with these stresses and strains. The cons 1) It places stress on joints Yes we know, we just told you that placing stress on bones and joints was a good thing, and it is, for the right people at the right time. If you are overweight and deconditioned however, it may not be the best place to start. When running, up to five times your bodyweight can pass through your joints. For those who are normal weight or slightly overweight, this may not pose too much of a problem, but if you carry more weight then running may place too much stress on your joints, increasing the risk of injuries. 2) It is repetitive The nature of running means that you have to perform the same movement time and time again. This increases the likelihood of overload on specific muscles and joints, again increasing the likelihood of injury, especially if the body is not conditioned enough to undergo these pressures. Running with poor posture or technique, or doing too much, are the things likely to cause issues here. If you have tight muscles, have had injuries, have a predominantly seated job or have not been active for some time, it is well worth conditioning your body first before ploughing straight into the running regime. You can do this through resistance training, stretching, yoga or Pilates. 3) Walking can burn more calories You may be surprised to hear that walking quickly actually burns more calories than running. This means brisk walking (that special type of walk, the type you see in the Olympic Games), at a speed of 8 kilometres per hour or faster. At this speed it is less economical for the body to walk than it is to run, and as such it makes it harder to do, burning more calories in the process. 4) You might not like running See point two in pros. If you prefer another form of exercise, don’t run! There are plenty of other choices available to you. Key messages: 1) If you haven’t exercised for a while, have poor posture or tight muscles, or are very overweight, consider doing something else in the earlier stages of your exercise routine. As you increase your fitness and lose weight, you can gradually add running into your routine. 2) Mix it up. Don’t just run; mix it up with stretching and resistance training to ensure your muscles, bones and joints can take the stresses and strains placed on them. 3) Learn to run – this might sound daft but ensuring you run with good posture and technique, and have the appropriate footwear to suit your style, is key to you getting the most out of it. 4) Run if it’s fun! Don’t slog through exercise if it is a chore, you won’t stick to it in the long-term. Find what you enjoy and mix it up regularly to keep it fun and varied. 5) Little by little – if you are going to take up running, build up gradually and be sure to get yourself a proper programme that includes periods of rest to prevent you overdoing it and to decrease your risk of injury or boredom. If you have a question about your own running programme, get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to offer some friendly advice. balance your exercise routine, balance your scales
balance on…….booze
It’s the weekend again and no doubt alcohol consumption may increase for some of you, so here’s a few pieces of information on how alcohol affects your body short-term and long-term: Beer bellies – alcohol consumption is strongly linked to the size of your waist. This is because it’s high in calories, packed full of sugar and enters your blood stream very quickly. Research in men shows that increased alcohol intake equals increased trouser size. In women, one study did show that moderate drinking (one to two small glasses of wine) did not affect the size of your outfit, but anything above that did. Beer goggles – a study recently scooped an award for showing that alcohol consumption makes people see themselves as more attractive, but at the same time had no effect on how attractive they appeared to others. If this is the case, it means we should be chatting ourselves up on a night out! Image courtesy of cbenjasuwan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Wine head – it’s not just your belly and your eyes that alcohol has a bad relationship with. Alcohol decreases the quality of sleep, decreasing the amount of REM sleep, making you wake up more often and making you sleepier and low in energy during the day. Wine head doesn’t just affect your sleep, as you’ll know it carries on the next day. Your hangover may lead to stomach problems, headaches, low energy levels and blood sugar imbalances. These imbalances may cause you to crave sugar foods and undo all of the great work you’ve put in to get yourself healthy. Just the one? One to two small glasses of wine or a half/pint per day may offer some protection against type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is likely that women should drink less than men, probably one drink compared to two for the guys. Small amounts of alcohol appear to increase HDL cholesterol and also to decrease the likelihood of clotting. Ask yourself when you go out if you drink lots because you enjoy it and you crave that Sunday morning wine head, or do you think that it’s the done thing? Are you easily led or do you just have a few and lose track? If any of these apply to you, have a plan for a more balanced evening: Drink water in between alcoholic drinks Take a set amount of cash and no card Team up – there’s power in numbers and if a few of you are keen to decrease your alcohol intake, decrease your weight and increase your health, then your gang will become the social norm and others will follow you. Move abroad – ok so this is a bit extreme, but many cultures see drinking as a sociable event without having to consume copious amounts. We could learn a thing or two from our worldly-wise neighbours. These are just a glassful of ideas, you can plan your own that works best for you. balance your beer, balance your scales 🙂
balance on………….The Men Who Made us Thin
Having finally had a chance to sit down and watch all four episodes from this BBC 2 series back to back (the joys of Sky+), it’s worth reviewing what Mr. Jacques Peretti had to say after delving deep into the belly of the weight loss world. Whilst we don’t normally recommend sitting on your backside for hours on end, we nobly did it for you and reviewed the key messages here so that you could use that time on moving and being generally healthier and happier! What did we learn? Diets don’t do it Jacques was quite scathing of some of the larger weight loss companies in his earlier episodes, sometimes fairly although sometimes the reporting was a little on the sensationalist side and arguably not always a balanced view. At balance we’d certainly agree that heavily processed shakes, bars and meal replacements is not the key to long-term success. Interestingly though, having spoken to some people who use them recently, they said that it helped them to ‘kick-start’ their weight loss, increase their motivation and then adopt healthy lifestyles to maintain it. One of the balance values is in empowering people to find out what works for themselves, and whilst you won’t find us selling you a powdered mix to add to milk or water instead of having breakfast any time soon, we do recognise the value for some of getting things moving to help motivate them. Remember though the story of the hare and the tortoise!! And remember that if you do go down this route it’s not a long-lasting solution, so you’re only going to have to make yet another change at some point to maintain it. Fit doesn’t necessarily mean thin The piece on exercise in episode 2 is worthy of some attention. It is certainly true that exercise on its own may not be THE solution to weight loss, but then again, as the world’s population grows larger day by day, it is fairly clear that no one single solution has been found, or ever will be! Jacques’ negativity towards exercise for weight loss was clear, although he did rightly point out that there are numerous other reasons for moving from a health and wellbeing perspective. He also neglected one fundamental point when looking at exercise; type! The focus of the show was very much on cardiovascular workouts, which certainly can make the heart healthier and increase fitness. They also burn calories so can have a part to play in a balanced exercise routine. However, resistance or weights training received little or no attention, yet there is evidence to show that it reduces fat levels and also improves insulin sensitivity, decreases risk of falls and improves cardiovascular health in everyone from athletes to elderly adults an type 2 diabetics! There was a very nice piece about the ‘fat but fit’, showing a couple of ladies who were super-fit but overweight; it emphasised that fitness was key, even if you were overweight. OK, so the exercises they were given weren’t always the safest or most appropriate in terms of injury risk, but they were moving! The science says is also clear in showing that exercise helps to keep weight off, so when it’s combined with a healthy diet you can get some pretty good results. Exercise should form part of a holistic approach and the focus should not purely be on weight loss but on changes in shape, energy, self-confidence and health as well. Do this and weight loss will come anyway! What tastes sweet may not be so neat There was a short but interesting piece in one episode around sweeteners. Jacques pointed out that rats eating them surprisingly gained weight, when it would be assumed that consuming less sugar would lead to weight loss. In an interview with a scientist, she noted that in human beings there was a change in a part of the brain called the amygdala when consuming sweeteners like aspartame. It seemed change occurred in the brain with regular consumption of sweeteners and that this could actually lead people to eat even more calories as it created a weaker response to sugar. Weight gain and weight loss has numerous reasons Peretti brilliantly portrayed the complex interplay between society, the food industry, the medical world, drugs companies, the media and fitness industries. We could take a cynical view of many of these, but that’s not what we’re here to do. All we ask is that you go on your own journey through weight loss, ask yourself the questions: • Will what I am about to do make me fitter and healthier? • Will it help me to lose weight and keep it off? • Is it helping me to gain a realistic view of what I can achieve? We don’t think that the diet toothpaste or magic weight loss soap fits into this category!! Think, eat, live, move, and balance your life, balance your scales. 🙂
balance on…..blogging beginnings and counting calories
Welcome to the the first ever balance weight loss blog! It’s taken a fair bit of reading web pages that we didn’t really understand to get to this point, so it’s nice to be able to start writing! We’ll be posting regularly on weight loss, health and well being, including: News – the latest research and press coverage for all things weight loss, health and well being. Recipes – we’ll be giving you a range of healthy alternatives to your all-time favourites, ideas for healthy snacks and recipes using a range of healthy foods. All will be based on our ‘ten pillars of nutrition’. Exercise advice – at home, outside, or in the gym, we’ll show you how to fit activity into your everyday lives with practical examples of awesome exercises and simple, effective training programmes. Success stories – we love to praise those who’ve achieved their goals, so we’ll be sharing their achievements and how they did it with you, to motivate you and give you ideas for your own journey. Our own research and reading – we like to keep on top of the science and we’re keen to share what we find with you. We’ll put together articles on a range of topics, everything from sleep to stress management, from food to fitness, from what works for your mind to what works for your body. If you want us to write about anything in particular, just ask and we’ll create a post just for you! We thought we’d start with a look at something that appeared in the news recently. These days, you can’t go more than 24 hours without seeing a TV programme or a news story about weight loss, food, exercise, health and well being!! In many ways this is fantastic as it raises people’s awareness of the subjects and gets them thinking about their own health. We do however work with people who tell us they’re confused by all the conflicting information that they read and see from day to day. “Fish is really good for you as it’s packed full of Omega 3” or “the seas are polluted so be careful with fish as it may be full of chemicals”, “make sure to get your five portions of fruit and vegetables each day”, or “fruit is high in sugar and may increase your risk of diabetes.” Which one is true? Who should I trust? Sometimes it’s not easy to know, so we’ll be helping to make it simple to understand by offering you a balanced view (pun very much intended)! Last week the Daily Mail had a story about a research study that they say tells us that counting calories is meaningless. Is this the case? Have a look for yourself . The findings suggest that the calories on food labels might not be correct, especially in processed foods where they may often underestimate the calories. It also showed that different people processed foods differently and as such may absorb different amounts of calories from the same foods. There’s a lot of good messages in this article to take away, including: Just counting calories may not be an effective way of losing weight, and certainly won’t guarantee good health. People are different! Foods that work for one may not work for another. You’ll need to learn over time how you respond to different foods and use a little trial and error to discover what works for you. Real foods are best! If it grew in the ground or on a tree, or it lived and died and not much happened to it afterwards, it’s probably good for you. If it was processed, and it’s advertised on TV, it’s probably not! Healthy cooking can be a recipe for success – steaming is particularly good for you and the odd bit of raw food can be great. Don’t go mad on this, there have been a number of cases of people experiencing severe health issues with extreme raw food diets, and there is research to suggest it lowers HDL cholesterol and raises levels of markers of inflammation in the body. In fact, most fad diets like this purely work because they restrict you from consuming as many calories as you normally would, there’s no magic going on. To count or not to count? When we work with clients we don’t ask our clients to count calories and arguably you don’t need to. If you eat real foods you’ll get full fairly quickly and absorb the nutrients you need. If you eat processed foods it’s easy to over-consume as they don’t contain what your body needs, leaving it hungry for more. They do however have refined sugars, trans-fats and other unhealthy substances that play around with your blood sugars and insulin levels, making you hungry again soon after. This is not to say that calories are irrelevant, far from it. If someone eats too much they can gain weight, if they don’t eat enough they can lose weight. This is undeniable. If somebody finds it helps to count calories by measuring portion sizes and it works for them, well that’s great and it should not be discouraged. People need to find their own ways to achieve balance in life and balance on the scales! If you’re considering making lifestyle changes to lose weight, remember that for thousands of years before food labelling and ‘low-fat’ or ‘lite’ foods existed, people successfully managed their weight by being in tune with their body’s, eating when they were hungry and stopping when they were full. Oh, and you won’t see a fat lion very often!! We hope you enjoyed our first instalment, we’ll be back soon with lots more to help you balance your life and balance your scales. 🙂
