Christmas = FOOD

We all know that Christmas means way more food to tempt us than we would normally have on offer.  For some this is not a problem.  For others it is one HUGE problem.  There are people who find themselves in the middle of a weight loss regime with Christmas fast approaching.  So how can you get through Christmas with as little side effects as possible?




Relax.

For starters, it's Christmas.  It is the time of year where family and friends get together and you may not have seen each other for a while.  Lunch, dinner or drinks - or all, are the perfect excuse for a get together.  So, stop stressing and ENJOY.  If you keep a level head, you can limit the potential damage.  It is much better for you to give yourself permission to enjoy yourself than to over indulge and then feel guilty afterwards.  People who stress about how much they've eaten or are going to eat, or try to limit the amount of calories they are going to eat, do not actually end up eating fewer calories.  So you may as well relax about it and do not obsess.

Get organized.

There is nothing worse than eating far too much turkey and roast potatoes thinking you can skip dessert, only to find that your host has prepared your all time favorite sweet.  If you are not organizing the meal, ask your host; "Hey!  What's for dinner?  Can I bring something?" This is a polite way of getting all the information you need to make wise food choices.

I love desserts, and they are something that on the whole I tend to stay way away from.  But, if I am eating out and I really want that dessert, then I limit the other food in order to enjoy the dessert.

If you are faced with a large buffet, take a while to look at everything that is on offer.  I do a "walk around", and have a look at everything from the starters to the mains to the desserts.  Then I go back to the beginning and pick what I really want to eat instead or just piling my plate with a little of everything.

Follow a certain order.

You might have been saving yourself all day so you can really enjoy your family dinner.  But you don't want to go too far and end up feeling like you ate the whole dinner yourself.  There are 3 important things you need to keep in mind:

1.  Carbs make you fat.
2.  Protein makes you feel fuller for longer.
3.  Vegetables give you necessary vitamins and minerals and stop your system getting blocked from all the excess food.

So, start your meal by eating protein (turkey) and vegetables.  This will take the edge off your hunger and you will probably eat less roast potatoes and dessert.

Be Mindful.

Listen to your body.  It takes roughly 20 minutes for the message from your gut to reach your brain that you are full.   So, eat slowly, take a break between courses.  Most of these lunches and dinners can be leisurely so take advantage of that and put your knife and fork down while catching up with your cousin who you haven't seen for 10 years!

Once you are full, stop eating.  There is no fun in feeling like you are about to explode and you will regret it and you will feel guilty.

Using smaller plates also stops you eating too much and use a smaller wine glass too.  Also, pre dinner drinks is a great way to lose the plot.  If you've had a drink or two before dinner, then your inhibitions will be lower and you won't "care" as much about how much you eat.  However, you may well regret it afterwards.  Drink alcohol once you have started eating.

Keep moving.

Don't give up on your normal exercise regime.  Lounging in front of the TV is not a good way to keep your food control in check.  Carry on as normal, or, if you don't have a habitual exercise regime, then now is the time to get one going.  Exercise is extremely important for optimal health and should be a part of every day life - all year round.  So get into a good habit and then carry on with it.  This will help good digestion too.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Look after your man

This one is particularly close to my heart.  My father has struggled for years with his weight and, as a consequence, his health.  He is obese, has type 2 diabetes, early stage heart disease and is on a huge amount of medication.

I think that what upsets me the most is his apparent lack of wanting to help himself.  His wife does everything she can to keep him on a healthy diet, but he views going out to a restaurant as an excuse to not eat healthily - problem is, he eats out a lot.

Thing is, men tend to look after themselves a lot less than women.  Stress is a big problem and men tend to deal with this a lot harder than women.  My own husband will reach for the ice cream when stressed, for others it's a packet of biscuits or chocolate, or a few pints down the pub with his friends.

Jeremy Clarkson hit the papers this week for his unsightly pot belly while filming his new TV show. Thing is, that kind of fat around the middle is far more dangerous to your health than being obese all over.

Subcutaneous fat around the thighs that is more prone to women is a "healthy" fat.  It doesn't move, it just stays there and is difficult to shift.  However, belly fat sits behind the abdominal wall and is free to move around the body and it's this kind of fat that can clog arteries and cause heart attacks and strokes.

42% of men die before the age of 75, compared to 26% of women, men are also 60% more likely to develop cancers that affect both sexes, and 70% are por likely to die from them.

So what can you do to help your man, with or without him realizing?

If your husband or boyfriend is overweight and has an allergy to all things healthy and even refuses to admit he has a problem:

"My blood sugar levels are stable and within their normal parameters", my father stated on Saturday...

"And so they should be," I answered, "You're on medication for that, if they weren't within range while medicated then I'd be driving you to the doctor's not back to your hotel!" I almost screamed desperately.

Men are extremely competitive, so try exercising together.  Exercise is important for everyone, whether you are overweight or not, so it will be good for you too.  If your partner is very overweight then you might like to start with something simple like walking and gradually build up in distance and speed.  Adopt a dog, having a reason to go for a walk will actually make him get off the sofa.  If he likes going to the gym then buy him some new funky workout gear, it might motivate him to show it off! Also, recent British study of 3,500 couples working to reduce their risk of heart disease found that the men that worked out more and saw higher rates of improvement in their health, worked out with a partner.

Quit sugar and refined carbs.  Let's face it, the majority of us love a biscuit with out tea, or a dessert after a nice meal, but the fact is that there is so much hidden sugar in foods nowadays that most of us don't even realize how much we are consuming.  Change white bread to wholegrain and eat as little as possible.  For example, only have toast for breakfast twice a week - maximum.  The other days have fruit, not juice, or a protein breakfast.  Omelettes are great in the mornings.  Don't forget avocados either, these are a great source of healthy fats and fiber, so pack those in to your diet.  Put less sugar in cakes, if you bake, and use a smaller teaspoon to add sugar to drinks if you can't get him to switch to stevia.

Don't have bread and/ or potatoes with every meal.  I don't even have bread in the house.  Nowadays there are loads of healthier options that you can substitute.  Cauliflower is really in fashion at the moment, you can use it to make pizza bases, rice and other side dishes.  It's even great roasted with garlic and olive oil!  Love mashed potatoes, you can sub them for mashed butter beans, for example.

Eating more fruit and vegetables is really important for health and not just for your waistline.

Take and unflattering photograph of him and stick it on the fridge door.  A friend of mine had a small pig "toy" that oinked when the fridge door was opened and the light came on!  Hey, you never know, it might work as a deterrent.

Big often isn't better.  Big plates, big glasses lead to bigger portions.  Use smaller plates and when it's just the two of you, smaller wine glasses too.  Using a smaller wine glass means consuming 125ml instead of the 250ml bigger ones.  This will cut your partner's alcohol intake by  half and the calories too.  A small glass contains 106 calories while a larger one is closer to 252.

Supplement with Omega 3.  Omega-3 fats are found in oily fish such as salmon and also in walnuts.  They have great anti-inflammatory properties which have been shown to lower type 2 diabetes risk by 33%.  You can also take them as a supplement - krill oil is best as it is water soluble so much easier to assimilate by the body.

It also seems that shorter holidays are better for you than a two week break.  Studies have shown that a two week holiday can compound stress levels.  It seems that preparing for a long break and then trying to catch up afterwards can be just as stressful as not having a holiday.  It would appear that one long weekend break every 6-8 weeks, and evenly spaced one-week holidays throughout the year are healthier.

Above all, don't mention the word DIET.  Men believe that women go on diets and that dieting is unmanly.  Make it a lifestyle change for better health and there are loads of ways to improve both your diets by being adventurous in the kitchen, it doesn't all have to be grilled fish and salad.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com 

Why excess weight takes years off your life

Everyone knows that excess weight is not healthy.  Carrying excess weight around puts a strain on your heart and joints but it can also contribute to a load of other more serious illnesses; type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer of the kidneys, colon and liver.  What's more, high blood levels of glucose, commonly found in overweight people,  make them look older than they really are.

A lot of the blame lately is on sugar... Carbs make us fat, however, new information points  to the possibility that it may be the fat itself that is causing all of these problems due to a build-up of a type of cell called senescent cells.

Senescent cells are simply cells that have grown old and have stopped dividing.  Until recently it was thought that when healthy cells become senescent they just sit around doing nothing, however this is not the case.

Judith Campisi, a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, California, USA, started studying these senescent cells way back in the 90s.  Professor Campisi and her team discovered that when cells become senescent they secrete molecules called cytokines - a molecule that causes chronic inflammation.

"Inflammation causes or is a major contributor to, virtually every age-related diseases we know," she said.

To test this, investigators created mice that lacked the gene for a key protein, making them age prematurely due to an accumulation of senescent cells.  These mice developed cataracts early in life and in middle age they became frail and wrinkled.

The investigators then administered a drug treatment to remove the senescent cells from the mice.  The results were astounding, the mice became stronger and their cataracts cleared up, even their wrinkles disappeared.

Dr. Kirkland, co-author of the study said that one day we may be able to have our senescent cells removed - a bit like changing the oil in a car, but until then the best way to prevent the aging process is to lose any excess weight you may be carrying.

Dr. Kirkland has discovered that the largest amount of senescent cells accumulates in human fat tissue.  As we age, our subcutaneous fat becomes visceral fat, which is the dangerous kind, accumulating around our vital organs.  Visceral fat produces cytokines - those molecules that cause chronic inflammation and are also linked to cancer, and insulin resistance.

Dr. Kirkland believes that senescent cells found in visceral fat may well be the major culprits in systemic inflammation that accompanies aging.

In an amazing experiment in 2008, visceral fat was surgically removed from obese lab rats.  Those rats lived 20% longer than their counterparts who were still obese.

Unfortunately, the same can not be done in humans.  Human visceral fat is completely entwined with our blood vessels and organs, making it too difficult to remove surgically.

So, how do we stay young until a senescent removal procedure is invented?

You have to MOVE!  Constant movement improves and maintains muscle tone.  In fact, exercise is so good for you it can help with your junk food addiction!

Dr. Nathan LeBrasseur, Mayo Clinic, USA, studies metabolism and has just finished an exciting experiment that highlights the powerful effects exercise has on the body.

In the lab, he fed mice a specially designed diet that mimicked the nutritional content of a fast food diet - burger, fries and soda.  The mice had previously been genetically modified so that any senescent cells would bind to a fluorescent marker so that they would glow in the dark.

After a few months of eating the junk food diet, the mice lit up like Christmas trees due to the amount of senescent cells in their bodies.  Unlike their normal diet counterparts.

Some of the junk food mice had been put on an exercise program as well as the special diet.  These mice had developed a lot less senescent cells.  Effectively proving that exercise negates the toxic effects of junk food.

We know that muscle is important for burning calories and in order to have good muscle tone you need to exercise.  However, the benefits of muscle don't stop there.  Professor Mark Febbraio, head of metabolism and inflammation at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia found in 2003 that when you contract muscle it is actually an endocrine (hormonal) organ, and that muscle can communicate with other tissues.

What Prof. Fabbraio discovered was a cytokine (IL-6) which is usually associated with negative consequences such as; age-accelerating inflammation and early death.

Exercise produces large quantities of IL-6, BUT, in this context it is a good thing - it signals the liver to convert fat into fuel - in exercise IL-6 is actually an anti-inflammatory.  IL-6 is found at constantly high levels in obese and elderly people - signaling high levels of inflammation.

Younger and normal weight people have lower levels of IL-6, but when they exercised this level shot up and then dissipated over a few hours - telling other organs such as the liver to switch to exercise mode.

So, where as I would NEVER recommend eating junk food on a regular basis -  if you are going to then make sure you exercise regularly.

Prevention is key.  Eat healthily, move as much as possible and put up a fight against aging!

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Diets don't work.

Yes, that's right, diets don't work.  Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't change the way you eat.

Let's start off with the concept of a "diet".  Your diet is actually the WAY you eat - not just a weight loss program.  However most of us associate the word "diet" with eating a lot less and basically lettuce and grilled chicken.  Severe calorie restriction and avoiding all those foods that we enjoy is a recipe for disaster.

If you want to lose weight there are several things you will need to do, but the main one is to:

MAKE A LIFESTYLE CHANGE

The majority of people who decide they need to lose weight follow the following steps:

1. Go on a calorie restricted diet
2. Lose weight
3. Stop the diet because they have reached their weight loss goal
4. Put the weight back on again... and then some.

Sound familiar?

Consider this:  If the way you ate before the diet made you put on weight, going on a calorie
restricted diet will help you (in some cases) to lose that weight.  So you then think YIPEEE! I can stop the diet, and you then start eating the way you did before.  Yes, the way that made you gain weight to start with... So if it made you gain weight in the beginning, why wouldn't it do the same again?

The few people who manage to lose weight and keep it off is due to not only changing their diet but changing their lifestyle as well.  A change in eating habits that permit you to lose weight is a longterm change, not just a quick fix. 

First you need to sit down and analyze exactly what you eat and what healthy habits you have in your life - if any.  Now, you need to be brutally honest with yourself.  My suggestion here is to keep a food diary for a week or two.  Write down EVERYTHING you eat or drink EVERY day and at the very moment you eat or drink something.  Don't wait to write it all down at the end of the day - you simply won't remember everything.

Once you have completed your diary you can analyze the types of foods you are eating.  We know for a fact that refined carbs (sugar, pasta, white bread and white rice), and root vegetables make us put on weight, also processed foods and junk foods.  So you can see where you are making the wrong food choices.

Ask yourself WHY you ate that McDonald's meal on Thursday evening, for example.  Or WHY you ate that packet of biscuits.  Do you eat when you are stressed?  Do you eat when you are emotional?  Bored?  Knowing your state of mind when you eat something you know you shouldn't is very important and will help you to make healthier choices in the future.  So, when you are reaching for the family sized chocolate bar in the cupboard, ask yourself why you want to eat that.  

Do you feel guilty after eating something you know is fattening?  If you do, then the next time you are heading for the biscuit tin, ask yourself if you are going to feel guilty afterwards, is it really worth it?

If you ask yourself pertinent questions, you can also find healthier solutions.  Am I eating from boredom?  What can I do to stop myself feeling bored?  How about reading a book or better still going outside in the fresh air for a brisk walk or a run?  

When eating healthy food, visualize what those healthy nutrients are doing to your mind and body.  Enjoy the knowledge that you are giving your body what it needs and, in time, those healthy foods will become what you crave.  

Have patience.  Sustained weight loss should happen over time.  Each person loses weight at their own pace, no matter what they do.  I have had patients drop 6 kg in 18 days, and other lose 1.5 kg per month... it all depends.  So, bear in mind you won't know how you are going to lose weight until you try, so don't get frustrated and give up if you aren't losing weight at the pace you'd like.  Your body will dictate that.  

Exercise is very important.  Not only for the body but for the mind too.  Find a sport or activity that you enjoy and look forward to doing.  If you can find people to join in with you then all the better.  If you have arranged to meet someone to go for a walk or run, you are more likely to go.  Exercise also helps with stress levels.  High stress levels means high levels of cortisone which leads to weight gain, so try something that will help you to de-stress.  Everyone is different, I like to run, a friend of mine likes to do high adrenalin workouts at the gym... it's up to you.

However, none of these changes will work if you don't incorporate them into your life as a part of it. 

1. Find a healthy eating plan that works for you - my suggestion is almost always a low carb diet with lots of vegetables.
2. Find a sport or activity that you enjoy.
3. Make this a long term project.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Exercise does not make you lose weight

Ok, here we go...

EXERCISE DOES NOT PROMOTE WEIGHT LOSS

So, that dessert you think you can get away with because you just worked out, isn't guilt free and it will affect your weight.

The amount of people who tell me that they have joined a gym and are going 3-5 times a week and are NOT noticing a change - in fact they've put ON weight, is just astounding.  I often ask my patients if they've noticed a difference since starting at they gym and more often than not the answer is NO.

You see, exercise is good for you - it's a necessity for good health.  Exercise is associated with a diminished risk of cancer, heart disease, dementia, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, high blood pressure and even obesity - to name but a few.  Of course it does tone you up which can lead to a decrease in volume.  So don't throw out your trainers or cancel your gym membership just yet.

This is why so many people that make a New Year's resolution to lose weight and join a gym to do just that, end up getting frustrated and give up when they don't get any results or worse still, they get fatter.

So here's why your exercise plan is making you gain weight not lose it:

To start with is the type of foods you are eating.  Lots of people believe they need lots of carbohydrates to go to the gym, you know, for instant energy.  The truth is - you don't.  I have been going on for years about how carbs make you fat.  And they do, even if you work out a lot or run a lot.  Carbs are carbs whoever you are.  You only need high carb meals if you are a professional athlete or a marathon runner.  Energy drinks are also packed full of sugar and really aren't necessary.  POWERADE released a report stating that only athletes who are doing multiple, high-intensity training sessions, lasting longer than 60 minutes need extra fuel.  So, gels, protein bars and sports drinks just contribute to you piling on the pounds.

Now, I have also said that the AMOUNT of calories isn't the problem - and it isn't.  It's the TYPE of calories, as in where you get your calories from.  The body processes protein, fat and carbs in different ways and for different reasons and that determines if you  lose or gain weight.  However, many of us are unaware of:

a) How difficult it is to burn calories and

b) Just how many calories are in your favourite post workout treats.  

For example, a standard 20 minute workout will only just about cover the calories content of a large glass of wine... forget the chips and olives that come with it!

Be careful about calculating how many calories you burn.  A body burns calories even when you are doing nothing, just by functioning.  For example a man weighing 10st burns approximately 70 calories while lying on a sofa watching TV.  If he goes to the gym and rows on a machine for an hour, the machine will tell him he's burned 250 calories TOTAL, when in fact he has only burned an extra 180 calories - the other 70 he would have burned anyway!  But, I insist STOP COUNTING CALORIES; burned, ingested or otherwise - it won't get you anywhere.

Post workout latte = 180calories

Stress will also ruin any exercise results you could hope for.  When an unstressed person exercises the body releases cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.  High levels of this hormone causes the body to hold on to fat for survival.  However, if you are unstressed and your body is functioning correctly, the exercise also releases endorphins which balance out the cortisol increase and stops your body going into survival mode and storing fat.  But this doesn't work properly in a stressed person.  A stressed person already has high levels of cortisol circulating and the exercise releases even more making the level too high for the endorphins to balance out, so the stressed body goes into survival mode.  Cortisol also stores fat around the middle which is the dangerous kind that increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers such as breast cancer.

There is also the probability that you are rewarding yourself above and beyond what you need.  Quite often we reward ourselves with something delicious thinking; "I deserve this, I've just run for an hour!"  Well I have news, those rewards are usually carb based and 

REFINED CARBS MAKE YOU FAT!

Yes, I'm shouting!!!!!  The main foods that help you put on weight are:

Bread, pasta, potatoes, carrots, white rice, sugar... in other words: toast, sandwiches, pasta - with or without sauce, sushi (but not sashimi), noodles, croissants, doughnuts, biscuits, cake, chocolate, fries, cooked carrots (raw carrots in moderation are ok).

If you need an "on the go" high energy boost without eating carbs, try a small handful of RAW nuts - any type you like - except peanuts!

Finally, variety is the spice of life.  Just as I encourage you to be as varied as possible in your diet, try changing your workout routine.  Our bodies are capable of getting used to doing the same thing over and over again, so spice it up and keep it on its toes.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Men Vs Women in the fight against fat

It has been a long standing joke that men and women come from different planets - but when it comes to losing weight, it just isn't funny.

Men just don't SEEM to care as much as women about weight gain or weight loss.  In fact, lots of men don't even seem to have a problem and can basically eat anything they want without putting on weight.  Whereas we women tend to have a life long struggle with watching what we eat and going to the gym.  However, this is not true.  Men do care about their appearance and the incidence of men with eating disorders is on the rise.  They also have all the common weight problems that we women have.

So why are men and women so different?

Well, mother nature made us different because we have different functions in life.  Now, don't go all feminist on me here - I'm talking on a body function level, not on the paid employment scene!

Women were built to have babies - to carry a child and nourish it through pregnancy and bring it into the world.  In order to accomplish this, women are designed to have a lower percentage of muscle and more body fat than men.  Due to women having less muscle, they tend to have lower basal metabolic rates than men.  This means that men with more muscle require more calories than women of comparable weight.

Men were built to provide for the women and children and to fight/ defend.  Having babies and providing for families are two very different but equally important "jobs".

However, tens of thousands of years later our bodies haven't changed at all as far as our "mission" is concerned.  Yes, we have changed greatly in our ideals, ambitions, obligations and of course our diets.  But, physiologically we are still the same.

So, on a hormonal level, women are naturally engineered to retain and store more fat than men due to

their higher levels of estrogen.  Estrogen is a hormone in charge of keeping fat on the female body in preparation for pregnancy.

Men, have higher levels of testosterone than women.  Testosterone (the male sex hormone) means lower body fat and increased muscle mass.  The differing degree of testosterone in men and women is responsible  for the differences in total body fat percentage, fat distribution, and muscle mass.

Men and women also store fat differently.  You have all heard me talk about different body shapes; apple and pear shapes.  Women tend to store fat around their thighs and hips (pear) whereas men tend to store fat around their middles (apple).  I hope you understand these are tendencies and you will find female apples and male pears!

But the difference in fat storage also means different types of fat and different dangers.  The subcutaneous or peripheral fat found in pear shapes is "safe" fat.  You may not like it, but this is the safe kind... it stays where it is and does not move around the body.  Unfortunately, this type is very difficult to lose.

The abdominal fat of the apple shaped person is the DANGEROUS kind.  This fat is behind the abdominal wall and attaches itself to the internal organs.  It is also known as visceral fat.  This type of fat is able to move freely around the body and is what clogs arteries leading to heart attacks and strokes.  The good news is, it's the easiest fat to lose.

If you and your partner are both trying to lose weight then you might get frustrated that he is losing weight quicker than you.  This is due to everything I've already said.  He probably has more visceral fat which is easier to lose and YOUR FEMALE body is fighting to hold on to what it can in case you decide you want to have a baby.  Working out with your partner is a great thing to do, you can support and motivate each other and it will bring your closer.

So here's what you can do:

• If you are trying to burn fat through exercise, follow a low carb - high protein diet.  When you eat carbs your body stores the sugar for energy - your body can not burn fat in the presence of glucose.  First it uses up all the glucose for energy before it gets round to burning fat for energy.  It's that simple.  So no carbs before your gym session.
• Eat a varied diet with lots of vegetables, animal protein and some fruit.  A high protein diet will keep you feeling full for longer.
• If you need to lose a fair amount of weight, limit your carb intake to twice a week.
• Eat when you are hungry, but eat the right stuff.  Snack on fresh fruit or raw vegetables.
• A handful of raw nuts (if you are not allergic or intolerant) every few days will help enormously in boosting your energy levels.  But remember, they are very high in calories so don't eat the whole bag, just a handful and make sure they are raw.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Be honest... how much do you eat?

On the 18th August 2014 the Institute of Economic Affairs in the United Kingdom published a report called The Fat Lie... you can download it here.  Basically I'm having a hard time digesting it.

The Summary of the report is as follows:

• The rise in obesity in recent decades is popularly believed to be the result of increased consumption of calories in general and sugar in particular.
• Campaigners have called for product reformulation, fat taxes and other anti-market policies to reduce calorie consumption at the population level.
• All the evidence indicates that per capita consumption of sugar, salt, fat and calories has been falling in Britain for decades.  Per capita sugar consumption has fallen by 16% since 1992 and per capita calorie consumption has fallen by 21% since 1974.
• Since 2002, the average body weight of English adults has increased by 2 kilograms.  This has coincided with a decline in calorie consumption of 4.1% and a decline in sugar consumption of 7.4%.
• The rise in obesity has been primarily caused by a decline in physical activity at home and in the workplace, not an increase in sugar, fat or calorie consumption.

Basically, the report published by the Institute of Economic Affairs is saying that the undeniable rise in obesity is NOT RELATED TO WHAT WE EAT, but to a lack of exercise.

I'm sorry but I really can't swallow this one.  Yes physical exercise is very important to health, but if you are eating junk food on a regular basis and your diet is high in carbohydrates (especially of the sugary kind), it doesn't matter if you are active, you will put on weight!

One of the arguments against the report is that the report is based on till receipts from supermarkets - so basically it tells us what people are taking home with them.  It doesn't take into consideration WHAT those people are doing with the food they take home, as in are the frying it or is it being made into cakes?  It is also based on members of the general public reporting what they have eaten over various days.

Well, Dr. Michael Mosely did a documentary on eating habits and different diets (I can't for the life of me remember the name of it, sorry!), in that documentary a woman was asked for one week to write down everything she ate and drank at the end of each day.  She was then asked the following week to write down everything she ate and drank at the time of eating or drinking it... not later on.  The difference in the amount of food she'd really eaten (second week) compared to what she had remembered eating (first week) was incredible.  We really do not remember eating things.  You can try this yourself, for one week write everything down at the end of each day.  The following week, write everything down as you eat or drink it, then compare the two.

So if you base a report on other people's memories it isn't going to be reliable.

There is no doubt that there is a serious obesity problem which is costing the public health services a fortune in new equipment for hospitals to cater for obese patients, in the treatment of diseases related to obesity such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, school uniforms are having to be made larger to cater for obese children yet according to The Fat Lie, it's not because of what we are eating just a lack of exercise.

For an adult to burn fat through exercise there has to be an absence of glucose in the body.  If there is glucose present, the body will burn that BEFORE burning fat.  This means roughly 40 minutes of high energy aerobic exercise - such as running BEFORE you even start burning fat.

I am convinced that our sedentary lifestyles are damaging our health to a huge degree and if you add junk food, fried food, carbs, sugary desserts, sugar filled drinks, etc to that sedentary lifestyle, then you have a recipe for disaster.

A plant based diet and a regular exercise program are, in my opinion, the only way to go.  So, my apologies to Christopher Snowdon, but I just can't stomach that report.

These two short videos on this topic are well worth a few minutes of your time.


I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com 

How to lose weight through exercise

I have often talked about the necessity to take regular exercise.  Exercise is essential for good health and can even ward off breast cancer amongst many other diseases such as type 2 diabetes.  However, many people only see exercise as a way to lose weight and then discover that it isn't as easy to lose weight through exercise as they originally thought.  Many people find that when they introduce strenuous exercise into their lives to lose weight, they actually don't.  More energy expenditure can lead to feeling hungrier and people think, well, I have done and aerobics class or been for a run, I can eat what I like!

So what do you need to do in order to lose weight through exercise?  Here are some handy tips:

Stay away from sports drinks:
Sports drinks contain salts and sugars to replenish what the body has lost through seating that water
(supposedly) can't replace.  The idea behind them is to bring your blood mineral level closer to it's normal level so that you can continue to workout as if you have just started.  However, many of these drinks are full of carbohydrates which means they also contain calories.  Sports drinks are only really advisable for professional athletes with a strict training program.  If you are working out 2-3 times a week, plane old water is enough or ONE bottle of natural coconut water is enough to bring your hydration levels back to normal.

Join a gym or go for the cheaper options?
I wrote a long time ago about NASA's idea of the perfect exercise for the body... basically what our bodies need is CONSTANT MOVEMENT.  Sitting at a desk all day is killing us all.  If you have a desk job, you really need to get up at least every half hour and move around, NASA found that if you are sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day 3-5 gym workouts a week do NOT get rid of the deadly effects of a sedentary lifestyle.  Exercise does not mean having to join a gym... you can go for brisk walks in the fresh air, housework (even if you hate it) is the perfect workout for the body - turn your daily chores into your own gym workout, even gardening - any type of activity that gets your heart working and your muscles moving.

Tough aerobics classes or spinning are not the only way to lose weight.  Research shows that moderate exercise such as walking, can be just as effective for weight loss and it has the added benefit of NOT triggering the hunger hormones, which can deceive you into eating more after a long workout.

Remember why you are doing what you do:
Visualization is a very important aspect to incorporate into our daily lives, whether it's for weight loss, or achieving a goal.  I have two friends that believe that when they exercise, if they mindfully visualize the effect the exercise is having on the part of the body they are exercising, the effects are far greater than just working out mindlessly for an hour and then going home!  Try it, you never know what could happen!

Where do you hold your fat?
There are different types of fat in the human body.  Fat is also essential for health.  But, just with everything, too much of a good thing can lead to problems.  There are generally two body shapes; pear shape and apple shape.  The pear shape where fat is stored around the thighs and hips is subcutaneous fat that is stored just below the skin.  This fat is "healthy" fat, it stays in the same place and is very hard to get rid of.  The apple shape is cause for concern.  Belly fat, found in apple shaped people is fat that is stored behind the abdominal wall and around internal organs and as such is free to circulate throughout the body and can cause obstructions in arteries - however, the GOOD news is that this type of fat is the easiest to lose.  Fat stored around internal organs, also known as visceral fat, is the fat the body will primarily use for energy when you work out, so even if you don't see the instant desired effects on the outside, keep the faith, things are getting better on the inside.

Burn energy by building muscle:
You may want to look toned or even generate a six pack but muscle tissue also uses up more energy than fat tissue.  What does this mean?  Well if basically means that if you increase your muscle mass and lose fat, you'll be burning more calories more efficiently, even during your rest periods.

Eat healthily and move more:
There is more and more evidence available everyday about the beneficial effects of a healthy diet and regular exercise.  However, you must remember that both go hand in hand.  There is no point in enduring a spinning class if you are just going to go and gorge on pizza afterwards.  A balanced diet, correct hydration and regular exercise will keep the body in tune and out of trouble.  Avoid over compensating after an exercise class, it won't do you any favors if you just do the exercise and don't take care of your diet.

Remember, CONSTANT MOVEMENT is what NASA recommends, so keep this in mind.  Get your diet sorted out and choose a sport that you really enjoy, or turn your house into your gym... you can do it!

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Just how long does it take to burn off the calories from that fast food lunch you just ate?

It is no news that the western world is eating it's self to death out of laziness.  Yes, I know that sounds harsh, but most blame it on lack of time and too much stress.  Yes, we are all stressed with work, homes, kids, schools, after school activities, etc..  So, grabbing a McDonald's for lunch or ordering a pizza for dinner is so quick and easy and it has become the norm.  Moms and Dads tend to take the easy option and avoid planning home cooked meals due to lack of time.

A new study from Texas has found that if information as to how much exercise you would need to do in order to burn off the fast food you just ate is given a long with the calorie information of that meal then the consumers tend to make healthier choices.  It is a plan that has been devised to "scare" people into eating better.

So how long does it take?

We all burn calories in different ways, an overweight person will always burn more than a normal weight person.  The exercise information (based on a 68kg person) should be as follows:

• McDonald's Egg McMuffin - 300 calories - 32 minutes of running at 5mph
• Starbucks Cinnamon Roll - 500 calories and 85 minutes of dancing - nonstop
• Dunkin' Donuts Cholocalte Frosted Donut - 230 calories and 1 hour of walking at 3mph
• Wendy's Large French Fries - 540 calories and 77 minutes of cycling at 10-12 mph
• Taco Bell Beef Burrito Supreme - 410 calories and 70 minutes of dancing.
• Domino's slice of medium cheese pizza - 210 calories PER SLICE and 22 minutes of cycling at 12-14mph for each slice you ate.
• McDonald's Mighty Kids Meal of Double Cheeseburger, Fries and chocolate milk - 840 calories and a solid 4 hours and 3 minutes of frisbee-playing - do you really want to put your child through that?

The study, carried out by the Texas Christian University, to find new ways to help people make better choices, proposed adding the exercise information to the calorie information on the menus.  The principal investigator on the study, Meena Shah says that hers is the first study centered on examining the effects of knowing how long you would have to walk at a fast pace in order to burn off those calories, the results were presented at the Meeting for Experimental Biology 2013 held in Boston in April.

For the study, 300 men and women were recruited between 18 and 30 years of age who were invited to eat at fast food restaurants.  Without explaining the purpose of the study, a menu was assigned to each participant at random.  All the menus had the same appearance and consisted of a hamburger, chicken nuggets, salad, french fries, dessert, soda and water.  However there were 3 things that differentiated them:

1. The first menu was accompanied by calorie information and the amount of exercise needed to burn off what was chosen and then eaten by the participant.
2. The second menu was accompanied solely by the amount of calories associated to it.
3. The third menu didn't have any accompanying information.

I think it is fairly easy to guess that the participants that ate the fewest calories were those who chose from menu Nº1, followed by those who were given menu Nº2 and those that consumed the most calories were those who had menu Nº3.  The reasoning behind this is that for the general public, caloric information for food is difficult to understand, however the minutes or hours of physical exercise needed to burn it off is much easier to apply to daily life as it is easy to visualize the effort needed to eliminate those calories.

Meena Shah said that a lot of the participants were surprised to see just how much physical exercise is needed to burn off the calories from some of the menu options: 

"For example, a woman would have to walk vigorously for about 2 hours to burn off the calories from a double quarter pounder with cheese".

However, the authors have stated that the sample group was made up of people under the age of 30, which means that it would be erroneous to suggest that the results are representative for all the consumers of these types of foods.  Therefore, the team intends to repeat the study with a more diverse group with older people.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Myth Busting... again...

For years (and I mean years) most of the studies done on Nutrition were funded by the big corporations. For example... studies on the benefits of milk produce funded by Danone, or the importance of breakfast cereals funded by Kelloggs (I made these up so you get the gist!).  However, luckily for us, more and more money is being injected into nutritional studies by governments and universities.  This is great as we are finally getting an unbiased opinion as opposed to a bought one!  But, this can be very confusing for many as all the new information seems to contradict the old:

"A calorie is not a calorie." for example.

So here I am going to try and dispel some of those confusing statements based on evidence from new studies and I hope to clear up some of those myths:

Exercise does not burn off kilos:

This it TRUE.  Yes, I know, you are all going to start screaming and pulling your hair out wondering why you are paying for that expensive gym membership or "wasting" your time running every day.  Let's just clear one thing up, the fact that it doesn't burn off the kilos does not mean it isn't good for you so keep going to the gym or running as much as you like and you will still reap the benefits - they even say it makes you more intelligent!  But first, here are the facts:

A study with 411 female participants who worked out for over one, two or three hours a week for six months showed that these participants did not lose significantly more weight than those who devoted their time to sedentary pursuits such as video games or watching TV or crossword puzzles.  A review of another 15 similar studies came to the same conclusion: moderate workouts don't lead to weight loss, possibly because they tend to make us hungrier.  But there is also a more scientific explanation.  As with weight loss, one of the ways in which your body adapts to an increase in exercise is to lower your resting metabolic rate by roughly 7%, so you actually end up burning fewer calories - anywhere from 50 to 75 fewer per day, or so the scientists said.

So what are the benefits?  Well while exercise won't actually burn off that spare tyre it does help to reduce your waist circumference and generally tones up the body to make it firmer and leaner, not to mention the other benefits of having an active lifestyle.

Is it better to eat several small meals a day or just the regular 3 - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?

The reasoning behind the myth of eating several smaller meals during the day - about 5 is that your blood sugar level won't drop so much between meals, you will feel less hungry and you won't suffer from cravings when your blood sugar level drops.  

The facts are that in a study by the University of Missouri has found that people who eat 3 square meals a day are often no hungrier than those who eat smaller, more frequent meals. "Often people misinterpret the size of a mini meal and end up taking in far more calories than they realize, "says lead author Heather J Leidy. "Also, more meals means more exposure to food, which creates more opportunities for overeating."

It is my opinion that this is a very personal question.  There are people who feel better eating varias smaller meals per day rather than just 3 bigger ones.  As long as you are aware of what you are eating and you don't go overboard on quantity then go ahead and eat several times if that works for you. 

 Is it best to set more attainable goals or to be more ambitious and set a very challenging goal?

For years, weight loss specialists have said that setting an unrealistic goal for your weight loss means you will become easily discouraged and give up quickly.  In a recent Dutch study of 447 overweight adults, researchers found that the more weight loss the participants strived for, the more effort they made, and the more weight they reported losing after two months.  The theory is that being ambitious about your weight loss has a psychologically energizing effect, fueling your commitment and drive.  If you are over weight and need to shed the kilos set yourself a high goal of losing up to 14% of your current weight, this is the target that, on average, motivated the higher-reaching dieters in the Dutch study.

To lose half a kilo you have to cut back on 3,500 calories!

This is so FALSE!  This is a commonly quoted equation that doesn't account for the slowdown in your metabolism as you drop the kilos, say researchers at the National Institute of Health.  "It drastically overestimates how quickly people will lose weight," says senior investigator Kevin D. Hall.  His team has created a more accurate computerized model.   As an example a 46 year-old woman weighing 77kg by the traditional method she should drop half a kilo a week by cutting back on 500 calories a day and therefore lose 11.8 kg in six months.  The new model shows that the loss is more likely to be approximately 9 kg in the same time frame.  The truth is that where you get your calories from is very important.  The body does not metabolize the calories from protein in the same way it does the calories from carbs and if you add that to the fact that when you have been on a diet for a length of time the body slows down metabolism because it thinks it's going to starve!

If you know what to expect, you will not become so easily discouraged when the weight loss seems to slow down.

If you have been a yo-yo dieter for years your chances of weight loss success are ruined.

This is also FALSE.  This comes from way back in the '80s when studies on rats found
that those forced to yo-yo with their diets became more efficient at gaining weight.  Humans, however, are much better off.  The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, has found that a history of losing, then gaining, then losing weight wasn't linked to any negative effects on metabolism.  Even serial yo-yo dieters who reported losing 9 kg or more on three or more occasions, were able to follow a new diet and exercise programme as successfully as non yo-yo dieters.

Women are more prone to yo-yoing by trying crash diets one after another.  The way to go is to make healthy lifestyle changes that lead to slow and steady weight loss, and stick to them.  Become more active it will help tone up as the kilos come off.

Milk drinkers lose more weight!

Those of you who have followed this blog know that I am dead against milk and milk produce, which makes it so great for me to be able to say that this myth is FALSE!!!!  Harvard researchers analyzed 29 studies on this subject.  They found that while dairy MAY help dieters lose weight in the short term, ultimately it's not a successful strategy.  In most of the studies that had lasted a year or longer and that didn't restrict calories, found that adults who drank extra glasses of milk or ate more dairy actually gained more weight than those participants who didn't.

Another thing I will add to this from my own findings with patients I have treated and conversations I have had is that people that don't diet specifically to lose weight but do suddenly cut out dairy from their diets for other reasons, find that they lose weight suddenly for apparently no explanation.  I was talking to the mother of an adolescent with severe dermatitis last week, she had taken her daughter to loads of different doctors to try and find a solution to the child's terrible dermatitis.  She had finally given up on the traditional doctors and taken her daughter to a Naturopath who instantly cut out milk produce and provided a specific plan.  Within a week the dermatitis was notably better and the mother commented on how her daughter, although not over weight at all, had slimmed down.

You have to watch what you eat forever.

I'm sorry to say that this is TRUE.  Once you have lost weight and reached your goal, you'll want to stay there - I hope.  So many people make the mistake of thinking that now they have lost the weight they can come off the diet and go back to eating the way they did before, many don't stop to think that the way they ate before got them over weight in the first place.  However, I hope that whatever regime you choose to follow that works for you, your journey to your ideal weight will TEACH you how to eat healthily and you will therefore maintain your weight loss forever more.  This does not mean that every now and again your can't enjoy a piece of birthday cake or a yummy ice cream on your summer holiday, but it does mean controlling what you eat on a daily basis so that piece of cake or ice cream doesn't stay with you forever.

Controlling your carb intake is the best way to keep the pounds off.

Lots of you will be pleased to know that this is FALSE.  At the beginning of a weight loss regime it is better to limit your intake of REFINED carbs and go for a high protein diet BUT with lots of fresh vegetables and some fruit, water and exercise.  But once you are at the maintenance part of the diet a proper healthy balanced diet with all the food groups is essential.

Now, most people when they hear the word carbs think of bread, pasta and rice.  But carbohydrates are found in fresh vegetables, legumes, fruits, and nuts too.  The most damaging carbs are the white refined type - bread, pasta and rice.  

A balanced diet plan was found to be better than the usual technique of counting carbs or fat grams in a study of adults who had recently lost a significant amount of weight.  The least successful method was the one that counted fat grams.  Healthy fat is essential for a healthy body, eliminating it from your diet is not going to do you any good at all.  Fat counting caused the biggest slowdown in metabolism, leading dieters to burn an average of 423 fewer calories a day.

The carb-counting plan was problematic because it caused and increase in cortisol and C-reactive protein levels - factors that may elevate your risk of cardiovascular disease.

However, the balanced plan caused a less extreme drop in metabolism (under 300 calories a day) and didn't trigger any heart harming consequences.  The plan included lots of whole grains, fresh vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, healthy fats like olive oil and lean fish and meats.  It excluded heavily processed foods like white bread and instant rice.  This is a low-glycemic diet and is based on regulating blood sugar and hormone levels and does not restrict entire food groups so it is easier to stick to.

I hope I have managed to dispel some of those nagging doubts you may have about dieting and healthy eating.  See you next week!

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

The hidden health risk

Under normal circumstances, inflammation is part of a healthy immune response, a biological automatic response to an injury sees cells and chemicals being sent to heal an infection or injury.  Which is what happens when you are, for example, bitten by a mosquito, the area around the bite becomes inflamed, red, itchy and often painful.  This swelling is actually to stop the poison from the mosquito bite circulating freely in the blood while other cells and histamines repair the area and eliminate the poison.

However, just like in many other areas of life, there is a dark side to this normally healing process.  Chronic "hidden" inflammation, that you can't necessarily feel or see can occur throughout the body when something kick-starts the immune system and turns off the shut-off button.  What sets off the alarm and kick-starts the immune systems differs in each person: repeated or prolonged infections, smoking, gum disease, obesity, etc all of which have the same end result: an endless trickle of immune cells that interferes with the body's healthy tissues, which set off genetic mutations that can lead to cancer, diabetes, depression, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's, and a long list of etc..

However, on the whole a person will not know they suffer from chronic inflammation until something more serious happens.  There isn't even a reliable medical test for it.  There is a test for an inflammatory marker called C-reactive protein (CRP), which is recommended for people at risk of heart disease, as high levels of CRP are associated with future heart attacks and strokes, but it is not used on a general level as researchers still don't fully understand the role CRP plays and whether it really is a sign of incremented risk of disease.  However, what has been clearly established is that people with poor health habits tend to have higher levels of inflammation.

"In recent years, we've come to accept that inflammation plays a role in many chronic diseases, but it's about an imbalance - too many pro-inflammatory chemicals and not enough anti-inflammatory ones," says Moise Desvarieux, an inflammation researcher at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

In a normal situation, hours after the alarm is set off kick-starting the immune system to fight and injury or infection, the body then sends out anti-inflammatory substances to restore equilibrium.  So in order to stay healthy, both systems have to be in good working order.

Lots of medications, such as Aspirin, can reduce inflammation.  However, there are healthier options to reduces inflammation other than popping pills, here are some tips:

While being overweight raises your risk of inflammation, what is more important is where your fat deposits are.  "It's where your body puts the fat, on your waist as opposed to your hips and thighs, that indicates a pro-inflammatory state," says Carol Shively, Professor of Pathology at Wake Forrest University School of Medicine who has studied fat distribution.  Fat stored around internal organs is far more dangerous than subcutaneous fat on the hips and thighs.  The fat surrounding internal organs leads to stress and the stress hormone cortisol, "appears to bind receptors on these fat cells, setting off a process that promotes the storage of fat and increases the number of fat cells," says Prof. Shively.  "These extra cells then produce more chemicals that increase inflammation."

Now this, as you are probably aware, takes us back to the apple or pear body shapes.  Having a large waist measurement (80cm or more in women and 94cm or more in men) means you are likely to have excess inflammation.  Other indicators are:

• high blood pressure (130/85 or above)
• raised glucose levels (100mg/dl after fasting)
• high triglyceride levels (150mg/dl)

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), these all point to an inflammatory condition called metabolic syndrome, a common precursor of diabetes and heart disease.

So what is the best way to reduce belly fat?

Now the good news is that belly fat is a lot easier to get rid of than the subcutaneous kind on hips and thighs.  So basically all you really need to do is to eat less and move more.  Adopting a mediterranean diet which is rich in fruit, vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds and olive oil has been proven to protect the heart, probably because it lowers the level of pro-inflammatory chemicals.  Another benefit of this type of diet is that it may protect against depression by raising levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants used by the body to manufacture anti-inflammatory chemicals that increase blood flow to the brain.

Don't over do the exercise to start off with.  Exercise has been proven to produce less inflammation as it protects against metabolic syndrome.  1 hour, 5 times a week is enough.  Just walking at a fast pace which makes conversation difficult is adequate.  If you want to run but never have, start slowly little by little.  Intersperse fast walking with bits of jogging and build up gradually.  There is a brilliant podcast called From Couch to 5K - free on the NHS website (Couch to 5K), is a great way to learn to run if you never have.

Surprising recent data shows that flossing and brushing your teeth twice a day reduces the risk of heart disease.  There is a well established link between gum disease and heart disease, researchers believe that the same bacteria that cause inflammation and swelling in the gums appear to be a source of inflammation and thickening of the arteries.

The top 10 ANTI-INFLAMMATORY foods you should include in your diet:

1. Wild Salmon
2. Kelp
3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4. Cruciferous Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and brussel sprouts
5. Blueberries
6. Turmeric
7. Ginger
8. Garlic
9. Green tea
10. Sweet potato

The top 5 INFLAMMATORY foods to avoid:

1. Sugars: sodas, fruit drinks, sweets, etc..
2. Common cooking oils: grape seed, cottonseed, sunflower, corn and safflower oils
3. Trans fats: deep fried foods, fast foods, commercially baked products, margarine, etc..
4. Dairy produce.
5. Factory farm animals.  Stick to grass fed animal produce.

So the key is to:

• Eat less
• Get Active
• Floss and brush twice a day.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

NASA's take on exercise.

I have written before about how sitting for most of the day is damaging to health.  Just to recap; our lives have become extremely sedentary.  Our jobs have the majority of us sitting infront of a computer screen for most of the day.  This increase in sedentary lifestyle has meant an increase in a a number of health problems such as:

• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Osteoporosis
• Muscle Wasting

Until recently, these illnesses were associated with the inevitable aging process.  However, they are now affecting increasing numbers of people well before what is considered "middle age", and even children are being diagnosed with them.  Obviously our change in diet over the years also plays an important role in this as well as the sedentary lifestyle we have fallen victims to.  It has also come to light that going to the gym 3-5 times a week doesn't do enough to combat how long we are sitting still for every day.

Recently, researchers have investigated the effects of inactivity, they have discovered that not moving or using a very limited range of movements for extended periods of time has a profoundly negative impact on our health and longevity.

Dr. Joan Vernikos, former director of NASA's Life Sciences Division and author of Sitting Kills, Moving Heals, she was one of the primary doctors assigned to keep the astronauts from deteriorating in space.  Dr. Vernikos has explained why sitting has such a dramatic impact on our health, and what we can do about it.  In order to discover why regular exercise does not appear to compensate for the negative effects of prolonged sitting, some of her research focused on finding out what type of movement is withdrawn by sitting.

What she discovered was nothing short of amazing:

"Standing was more effective than walking," she says.

But it didn't matter how long you stood for, but how many times you stood up that made the real difference.  Her conclusion was that the change in posture is the most powerful, in terms of having a beneficial impact on our health.  You can see Dr. Vernikos explain it here: Vernikos Perpetual Motion

Our bodies need PERPETUAL MOTION to function optimally, and the good news is that we have plenty of opportunities for movement throughout the day.

"The key for life long health is more than just traditional gym exercise once a day, 3-5 times a week," she says.  "The answer is to rediscover a lifestyle of constant, natural low-intensity non-exercise movement that uses the gravity vector throughout the day."

Some examples of the type of movement she is talking about are: housework, gardening, dancing,

hanging clothes out to dry, rolling dough or stirring a pot of sauce... the list goes on and on, because it covers the entire spectrum of movements that we carry out during daily life.  However, our dependence on technology has made us lazy.  We have stopped walking to talk to the neighbors or family members under the same roof, we send a text or an email instead!  All movement subjects our bodies to the force of gravity and this is what is important.

We tend to understand that going to the gym, running, playing tennis or walking is considered exercise - and it is!  Don't get me wrong, by all means do all that, but in between we need to move more and we need to flip that mental switch to understand that all movement - be it ironing, vacuuming, dusting, cooking, etc are also exercise and beneficial for our bodies, instead of considering it the "daily drudge", think positively - your housework and daily chores are keeping you healthy.

I heard a conference given by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer on his book Excuses Begone!  He was talking about changing the way you think in order to stop yourself from getting stuck in a rut.  He says that believing is everything and you should only believe what you think and not take on other peoples beliefs.  He is talking about typical thoughts such as; "Oh I can't do that!  My mother told me I was hopeless at doing that!" During the conference he talked about a study that was carried out on the power of belief - belief as in believing in what you are doing is beneficial to you - changing your mindset, in other words.  They study controllers took two groups of hotel chamber maids from 2 different hotels in New York.  One group was given coaching to perceive their work as physical exercise and as such was beneficial to their health.  The other group just carried on as usual, neither group changed their diet.  Over time, the study showed that the group that had received coaching to see their job in a different way, had lost weight, the other group remained the same.

So, what we need to do is to use our bodies in the way they were designed to be used?  We need to avoid sitting for long periods of time.  So stand up at regular intervals as often as possible.  Set an alarm on your phone and, while at work, stand up every 10 minutes and stretch, or take a brief walk to the bathroom and back, or go and drink a glass of water, etc..  Dr. Vernikos states that standing up every 10 - 15 minutes could easily compensate for the majority of the damage caused from sitting.  Dr. Vernikos' research is strong evidence that many of the health problems people suffer today are connected to modern lifestyle modifications, and these modifications are incompatible with optimal biological functioning.  The answer is easy; we simply need to go back to a lifestyle that incorporates NATURAL MOVEMENT.

I find it very difficult to see Coca Cola as an advocate for healthy living - especially when their products are so full of either sugar or aspartame - both of which are seriously damaging to health, however, their latest advertisement encouraging people to stand up is, at least, a step in the right direction.  So, it is now in your hands... or should I say in your feet?  Stand up to disease and stand up for good health!

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com