Sunday, 5 May 2013

Nutrition Bootcamp II

Bootcamp II Guidelines

After the success of the first nutrition Bootcamp, this is version II.

The nutrition guidelines are the same and outlined below.

Eat three meals per day (NO skipping breakfast)
Avoid all sugar based foods (This is THE most important rule to follow.)
Consume adequate water
Eat lean protein at lunch and at dinner
Eat a protein based breakfast, such as eggs
Eat a maximum of one serving of wholewheat carbohydrates at each meal
Do not eat late into the evening
Eat a maximum of two fruits per day (more than this will provide too many calories from sugar)
Take your Lotuslite at least once a day

7-Day Bootcamp II Meal Plan

Below you will find seven days of three meals and two snacks per day. There are general guidelines on portion sizes, but since we all have varying caloric needs, you may need to increase the portion sizes to meet your needs. The meal plan, as is, will provide about 1300-1500 calories per day.

Day 1

Breakfast 1 cup of high protein, high fibre cereal served with natural yoghurt and a sprinkling of cinnamon and a banana.
Lotuslite

You can sweeten this with Maple syrup or honey, but don't go nuts this is sugar after all! You may prefer to choose bran based cereals; it is essential you don't choose over processed versions as this results in a a blood sugar spike and we are aiming for sustained and maintained levels of sugar in our bodies in order to avoid the roller coaster which promotes over eating.

Whilst not an advocator of brands, I am a big fan of Rude health products and their cereals range are yummy!

Snack 1 orange
Lunch Sliced turkey breast served with a whole grain Pitta topped with lettuce, tomato and mustard. Serve with a big green salad
Snack ½ cup cottage cheese topped w/ 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
Dinner Grilled Chicken breast (no fat) and served with 1 cup of steamed broccoli, 1 small sweet potato and a large green salad topped with oil and vinegar.

Day 2

Breakfast 3 egg whites scrambled with a sprinkling of grated cheese served (optional) served on 1 slice of whole grain bread (Try seeded for extra protein)

Lotuslite

Chia, or Salvia hispanica L, is a member of the mint family from Mexico and South America. The flowering plant can sprout in a matter of days, but chia's appeal is in the nutritional punch of its tiny seeds.

With more omega-3 fatty acids than salmon, a wealth of antioxidants and minerals, a complete source of protein and more fibre than flax seed, the seeds have been dubbed a "dieter's dream", "the running food", "a miracle", and "the ultimate super food", by advocates and athletes.

Snack 10 almonds and ½ cup of plain natural yoghurt preferably not with added sugar or sweetener

Lunch 1 ½ cups of low fat vegetable soup (preferably homemade) topped with 2 tablespoons grated hard cheese served with a plate of steamed green veggies and Ryvita
Snack Protein smoothie made with 1 scoop of protein powder, 1 cup of fresh of frozen berries or a banana and ½ cup of skimmed or soya milk. Add ice and maple syrup if desired for sweetness. You can also reduce the milk content and add water instead or use rice or almond milk if you prefer.
Dinner Skinless chicken breast, with or without the bone, baked until cooked through. Serve with steamed courgettes topped with 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and ½ cup of brown or wild rice. Serve with a large green salad topped with home made vinaigrette or balsamic vinegar.

Day 3
Breakfast 1 cup of high protein, high fibre cereal served with natural yoghurt, a banana and your Lotuslite.
Snack 3 oatcakes topped with avocado and chicken breast, but they are not meant to be towers! You may wish to add another Lotuslite today depending on your appetite.

Lunch Chicken Caeserish Salad
Use the remaining chicken to make a salad (use a palm sized serving of diced chicken breast mixed with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise and a tsp of Dijon mustard) served with green salad and a chopped tomato
Snack 3 oatcakes and humous
Dinner BBQ - Tuna steak or swordfish grilled on BBQ, serve with red pepper and pineapple kebabs, and green salad.

Day 4
Breakfast 3 egg whites scrambled with a sprinkling of grated cheese served (optional) served on 1 slice of whole grain bread (Try seeded for extra protein), ½ an apple and your Lotuslite.
Snack 10 almonds and other half of the apple from breakfast
Lunch 1 Grilled chicken breast, served with mixed greens (cabbage, spinach, broccoli, etc) and grilled or baked tomatoes — use low-fat salad dressing and serve with 1 wholegrain Pitta, bagel or muffin. You may refer to substitute the warm greens and tomatoes for a salad version.
Snack ½ cup of cottage cheese with 1 cup of sliced melon. Try watermelon as this is lower in calories.
Dinner Prawn wraps: Mix some prawns in a bowl with ¼ cup canned sweetcorn, ¼ a sliced avocado, and ¼ cup chopped tomato — add 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, a tsp of lemon juice and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper or chilli. Wrap up the mixture in a wholegrain tortilla wrap and serve with a large green salad dressed with 2 tablespoons of the dressing you used for the wrap. You can substitute the prawns for shredded crabsticks, tinned crab meat, or other seafood as your tastes desire.

Measuring cups or versions of them are available in your local poundshop or fondly known as chavstore for about 99p, that way you cant cheat on your measures!

Day 5
Breakfast Porridge (½ cup before it is cooked) served with 1 cup of low-fat plain yoghurt with 1 cup of berries or banana mixed in. Sweeten with honey or maple syrup as desired. Lotuslite.
Snack 3 oatcakes spread with peanut butter (sugar free)

Lunch Tuna salad (buy chunky tuna in water or brine rather than oil) made with tuna and 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise. Serve over a bed of lettuce and tomato.
Snack Slice of Turkey breast served with 5 cherry tomatoes and ½ a sliced cucumber or alternatively try a handful of dried apricots or fruit medley.

Dinner Veggie burger with bean salad. Crumble 2 bought veggie burgers of choice (check ingredients for nasties) over a salad made with lettuce, spinach, tomato, ¼ cup grated hard cheese, and ¼ cup of mixed beans. Dress with salsa a heaped teaspoon of sour cream or creme fraiche and serve with ½ of a wholewheat pitta or wrap. You may choose to ut the ingredients in the wrap!

Day 6
Breakfast Smoothie made with ~90-100 calories worth of protein powder, ½ cup skimmed milk, or other milk, water of choice and 1 cup of frozen berries or a banana. Add ice and maple syrup if desired. Serve with 1 slice of wholegrain toast. Lotuslite.
Snack 2 oatcakes with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
Lunch Greek salad made with: chopped lettuce, feta cheese (avoid the cubes in oil), 5 cherry tomatoes, ¼ cup chick peas and ½ a sliced cucumber. Dress with vinaigrette dressing and serve with ½ a wholewheat pitta bread.

Snack 1 sliced red or yellow pepper - eat like an apple if you prefer!.
Dinner Breaded Turkey burger made with turkey mince, 3-4 tablespoons shop bought salsa (check ingredients for nasties!), and 1-2 tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs; you can make these yourself by toasting a slice of bread and blitzing in blender. Grill burger for about 6 minutes on each side until cooked through. Serve with a large green salad; topped with ⅓ cup canned sweetcorn and 2 tablespoon grated hard cheese and dressed with home made vinaigrette

Day 7
Breakfast 1 cup plain yoghurt topped with 1 tablespoon flaxseed and ½ a chopped apple. Flavour with cinnamon and maple syrup or honey if desired. Serve with 1 slice whole grain toast. Lotuslite.
Snack 1 orange or 2 satsumas or their equivalent
Lunch Heat up 1 ½ cups of your home made vegetable soup — and top with 2 tablespoons of low fat grated hard cheese. Serve with Ryvita, wholegrain crackers or oatcakes and a tomato and cucumber salad.
Snack 1 handful of nuts or dried apricots
Dinner Chilli con Carne - made with extra lean mince (turkey, beef or pork whichever suits), tomatoes, sweetcorn, red onion, chilli powder and served with ½ cup of wholegrain, wild or brown rice and a large green salad.

DO NOT FORGET TO ADD YOUR LOTUSLITE!

This weeks Magic Ingredients...

Cinnamon

and his friend chilli powder. Look for opportunities to add these ingredients to your foods.

Metabolism is the complex biochemical process by which your body converts the food you eat into usable energy. Proteins, fats and carbohydrates all come together with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function properly. Having a high metabolism is vital to losing weight. There are many supplements that can increase your metabolism.

Step 1

Do not skip meals. When you don't eat for a long time, your body automatically conserves calories from previous meals. Your body slows down your metabolism in order to prevent you from starving. To prevent this from happening, eat five small healthy meals daily. This will maintain your energy levels and prevent you from feeling hungry.

Step 2

Add spices to your meals every day. Spices contain potent compounds which can boost your metabolism for a few hours. Sprinkle paprika, black pepper or chilli powder to your food.

Over the years, various studies have examined the claim and suggested that certain spices can in fact increase metabolic rate by raising body temperature, though to what extent and for how long is unclear. Capsaicin, the compound that gives red chili pepper its powerful kick, creates the largest bump in heat generation, which helps burn more calories immediately after a meal. Black pepper and ginger have similar effects.Generally, studies have shown that on average a meal containing a spicy dish, like a bowl of chili, can temporarily increase metabolism by about 8 percent over a person’s normal rate, an amount considered fairly negligible. But besides a slight uptick in metabolism, spicy foods may also increase feelings of satiety. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/health/nutrition/28real.html?_r=0

Cinnamon has a regulatory effect on blood sugar levels and simultaneously increases insulin levels in the body. It imitates the biological activity of insulin and increases the metabolism of glucose. Since high blood sugar levels can lead to increased storage of fat by the body, cinnamon helps prevent this increased storage of fat and enables you to lose weight. In addition, it influences the manner in which sugar is metabolized by the body and prevents the transformation of the metabolized sugar into fat. Cinnamon also delays the passing of food from the stomach into the intestine. Hence, you feel satisfied for a longer time and eat less. This helps you lose weight. Cinnamon also helps the body to process carbohydrates more efficiently and this assists you in losing a few pounds. Studies show that abdominal fat is more sensitive to the effects of cinnamon than fat from other parts of the body.

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/how-a-scoop-of-cinnamon-a-day-can-help-you-lose-weight.html#b

Step 3

Drink 1 cup of green tea preferably after a meal to help increase your metabolism. Green tea includes polyphenols called catechins which can speed up your metabolism by oxidizing fat, helping you lose weight.

Step 4

Drink 1 to 2 litres of cold water. Your body increases your metabolic rate to help keep you warm, which in turn helps you burn calories. Additionally, you can leave your windows open during cold days. This will allow cold wind to permeate your room and cause you to shiver. Close your windows if you can no longer take the cold. Personally I just don't wear a jumper!

Step 5

Exercise for one hour every day to help boost your metabolism. Exercises such as aerobics, swimming, running and cycling will help reduce body fat and increase your lean muscle mass. When muscle mass is increased, your metabolism naturally increases, helping you burn more calories. Muscle tissues utilise more calories than fat tissues since its metabolic rate is higher.

#Strongnotskinny

Some disclaimers...

I'm not a nutritionist - these are things that have worked for me. Use at your own risk.
I'm not a medical professional either - I don't know your fitness level, family history, illnesses, meds, etc. Use at your own risk.
I'm not a medical professional either (part deux) - there are probably a lot of medical/terminology errors. Let me know and I'll see if there's a better way to make the point.
Everyone is different - make sure you're doing what works for you, not just following what's listed here.

Friday, 26 April 2013

Bootcamp meal plan

Bootcamp Meal Plan

Bootcamp Guidelines

You’ll find the nutrition guidelines below. It may look a bit daunting, and you may wonder, “What can I eat?” But don’t worry, you’ll find your seven days worth of meals to illustrate what bootcamp eating looks like. In the meantime, here’s how to get started

Eat three meals per day (NO skipping breakfast)
Avoid all sugar based foods (This is THE most important rule to follow.)
Consume adequate water
Eat lean protein at lunch and at dinner
Eat a protein based breakfast, such as eggs
Eat a maximum of one serving of wholewheat carbohydrates at each meal
Do not eat late into the evening
Eat a maximum of two fruits per day (more than this will provide too many calories from sugar)

7-Day Bootcamp Meal Plan
Below you will find seven days of three meals and two snacks per day. I’ve provided general guidelines on portion sizes, but since we all have varying caloric needs, you may need to increase the portions sizes a bit to meet your distinct needs. The meal plan, as is, will provide about 1300-1500 calories per day.

Day 1

Breakfast 3 egg whites scrambled with a sprinkling of grated cheese served (optional) served on 1 slice of whole grain bread
Snack 1 sliced red pepper - eat like an apple if you prefer!
Lunch Sliced turkey served on a whole grain English muffin topped with lettuce, tomato and mustard. Serve with a big salad topped
Snack ½ cup cottage cheese topped w/ 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
Dinner Lean beef mince hamburger grilled (no fat) and served with 1 cup of steamed broccoli, 1 small sweet potato and a large green salad topped with oil and vinegar.

Day 2
Breakfast ½-¾ cup cottage cheese with 1 slice of wheat toast and 1 cup of sliced melon
Snack 10 almonds and ½ cup of plain yoghurt
Lunch 1 ½ cups of low fat vegetable soup (preferably homemade) topped with 2 tablespoons grated cheese served with a plate of steamed veggies and 5 whole grain crackers
Snack Protein smoothie made with 1 scoop of protein powder, 1 cup of fresh of frozen berries and ½ cup of skim or soyamilk. Add ice and maple syrup if desired for sweetness.
Dinner Skinless chicken breast, with or without the bone, marinated in teriyaki sauce and baked until cooked through. Serve with steamed courgettes topped with 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and ½ cup of brown or wild rice. Serve with a large green salad topped with vinaigrette or balsamic vinegar.

Day 3
Breakfast 1 cup of high protein, high fibre cereal served with natural yoghurt and a banana
Snack 2-3 slices of turkey breast rolled with 1 slice of cheese and ½ a sliced cucumber

Lunch Chicken salad (use a palm sized serving of diced chicken breast mixed with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise and a tsp of Dijon mustard) served over a bed of mixed greens and a chopped tomato
Snack 3 oatcakes and humous
Dinner Southern Turkey burger made with turkey mince, 3-4 tablespoons commercially prepared salsa, and 1-2 tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs. Grill burger for about 6 minutes on each side until cooked through. Serve with a large green salad; topped with ⅓ cup canned sweetcorn and 2 tablespoon grated cheese and dressed with vinaigrette.

Day 4
Breakfast 3 egg whites scrambled with 1 slice of 2% cheese served with 1 slice of whole grain toast and ½ a sliced apple
Snack 10 almonds and other half of apple from breakfast
Lunch 1 Grilled chicken breast, served over mixed greens and tomatoes — use low-fat salad dressing and serve with 1 wholegrain English muffin.
Snack ½ cup of cottage cheese with 1 cup of sliced melon or berries
Dinner Heat up 1 ½ cups of prepared soup — and top with 2 tablespoons grated cheese. Serve with baked tortilla chips, crackers or oatcakes and a tomato and cucumber salad.

Day 5
Breakfast Porridge (½ cup before it is cooked) served with 1 cup of low-fat plain yoghurt with 1 cup of berries mixed in.
Snack 3 oatcakes and 1 sliced pear
Lunch Tuna salad (buy chunk light for less mercury) made with tuna and 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise. Serve over a bed of lettuce and tomato.
Snack Slice of Turkey served with 5 cherry tomatoes and ½ a sliced cucumber
Dinner Veggie burger taco salad. Crumble 2 veggie burgers over a salad made with romaine lettuce, tomato, ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese, and ¼ cup black beans. Dress with salsa a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche and serve with ½ of a wholewheat pita.

Day 6
Breakfast Smoothie made with ~90-100 calories worth of protein powder, ½ cup skim milk, 1% milk or soy milk, and 1 cup of frozen berries or a banana. Add ice and maple syrup if desired. Serve with 1 slice of whole grain toast.
Snack 2 oatcakes with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
Lunch Greek salad made with: chopped romaine lettuce, feta cheese, 5 cherry tomatoes, ¼ cup chick peas and ½ a sliced cucumber. Dress with vinaigrette dressing and serve with ½ a wholewheat pita bread.
Snack ½ cup plain low fat yoghurt topped with ½ cup high fibre cereal, such as granola or muesli (no added salt or sugar) and ½ cup frozen berries or a banana. Sweeten with maple syrup or honey if desired.
Dinner Prawn wraps: Toss some prawns in a bowl with ¼ cup canned sweetcorn, ¼ a sliced avocado, and ¼ cup chopped tomato — add 2 tablespoons of bottled Italian or Caesar dressing. Wrap up the mixture in a whole-wheat tortilla wrap and serve with a large green salad dressed with 2 tablespoons of the dressing you used for the wrap.

Day 7
Breakfast 1 cup plain yoghurt topped with 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts and ½ a chopped apple. Flavour with cinnamon and maple syrup or honey if desired. Serve with 1 slice whole grain toast.
Snack 1 orange
Lunch Choose a frozen homemade meal Serve with a large green salad dressing with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Snack 1 handful of nuts (1 handful is about: 20 almonds, 25-30 peanuts, 17 cashews, or 10 walnut halves)

Dinner 1 portion of grilled salmon (or any fish you desire) with 1 cup of steamed broccoli and ½ cup of brown rice. Serve with a green salad if desired.

DO NOT FORGET TO ADD YOUR LOTUSLITE!

Let’s go!

As you can see, this is a no-frills meal plan designed to produce fast results. It is too rigid to use long term. Diets that are this rigid can often result in over-deprivation, which leads to binging. Therefore, I suggest that you only use this bootcamp as a way to kick off the summer and to get you conditioned to eating healthier meals and snacks. You can go back to this meal plan when you feel yourself slipping into bad habits, or use it as a way to look good for an event.

Some disclaimers...

I'm not a nutritionist - these are things that have worked for me. Use at your own risk.
I'm not a medical professional either - I don't know your fitness level, family history, illnesses, meds, etc. Use at your own risk.
I'm not a medical professional either (part deux) - there are probably a lot of medical/terminology errors. Let me know and I'll see if there's a better way to make the point.
Everyone is different - make sure you're doing what works for you, not just following what's listed here.

Eating clean without blowing the budget!

5 Reasons Why We Do Not Eat Clean

1. Marketing of popular products means we believe that healthy foods cost more.
2. Cultural habit, we always buy the same things every week
3. Fast Food is too easy to get hold of
4. We are addicted to sugar and our evolutionary nutrition habits makes us salivate when we smell fat; think chip smell
5. We are not encouraged enough to eat the right foods

6 Ways to Eat Clean easily

1. Shop at your local farmers market. The key is to buy what's in season (not what's out of season) Or invest in a veg box scheme, use your local farm shop and no that isn't the gourmet farm shops that are currently springing up in all the local villages. We are talking potato sacks and mud!
a. Buy fresh fruits.
b. Buy fresh produce.
2. Shop in bulk, cook in bulk and freeze healthy meals. This requires a little bit of planning a cooking marathon but the dividends on your waistline will pay off in the long term.
3. Stop eating out! You save lots of money when you cook your own food. Meet for a coffee or a drink instead, non-alcoholic of course!
4. Eat less meat. With meat prices on the rise, you can free up your budget for more fruit and veggies. Many beans offer great sources of protein. Or the money you save means you can buy higher quality, leaner and organic meat.
5. Use vouchers - groupon and supermarket loyalty cards e.g. nectar, my waitrose which incidently goves you a free hot drink everyday!
6. Follow the mantra if it didn't swim, grow or fly or come from something that did - don't eat it! Think natural - filtered water is the best drink you can have! Base your diet around these principles and you will glow from the inside out!

It can help you:

a. lose weight.
b. feel great.
c. fight illness and decrease your chances of disease
d. reduce cravings.

How Does It Benefit You to Eat Clean?

1. You have better weight management.
2. You sleep better.
3. Better mood.
4. Increase your energy.
5. You look and feel better.
6. You improve your digestion.
7. Better mental focus

And then add a regular lotuslite and you'll be on top of the world!

Culinary tips for staying slim

1. RETHINK YOUR COLOUR SCHEME

Fast-food restaurants use red shades, which are thought to have stimulating effects on your body, say colour experts, so the theory goes that you may find you make impulsive food choices when faced with these colours in your kitchen. Stick to muted tones instead, and try using blue or black plates - apparently diners eat less and are more satisfied when they eat off dark-coloured plates. This may be because blue is an unnatural colour for food - we may even unconsciously associate it with mould - and so it may affect your perception of how food tastes on the plate.

2. INVEST IN A SLOW COOKER

Fitness guru Joanna Hall, author of The Weight-Loss Bible(Kyle Cathie, £19.99), swears by them, and says that having a healthy dinner waiting for you will steer you away from fast food or fatty snacks on the journey home. 'Toss chicken breasts, a bag of frozen carrots, chopped onions and a jar of low-salt sauce into a slow cooker before you leave for work - your meal will be ready when you get home.'

3. BINGE-PROOF YOUR ENVIRONMENT

● Don't watch TV as you eat: A study in the British Journal Of Nutrition found that eating when distracted makes you gobble more. Instead, listen to relaxing music, which is more likely to slow down the pace at which you eat, giving you more time for your food to hit your stomach, and making you eat less.

● Hang a mirror opposite the table: In studies, people who were able to watch themselves while eating reduced their intake by almost a third. Or alternatively eat your dinner in your bikini! That will soon reduce your portion size

4. MAKE FRIENDS WITH HOMEMADE READY MEALS - AND YOUR FREEZER

Keeping a couple of healthy ready meals in your freezer by cooking and freezing portions of healthy meals is a great way of keeping calories under control, according to the journal Obesity Research. Also, a constant supply of frozen veg means you have filling, nutritious greens on tap.

6. RESTOCK YOUR SPICE RACK

Herbs, spices and other seasoning adds flavour, often with very few calories - and some, such as chilli, can even help boost your metabolism by as much as 50%. 'Powerful smells and tastes help enhance sensory-specific satiety, and tell your brain "I'm full",' says Dr Alan Hirsch at the Smell & Taste Treatment And Research Foundation in Chicago, US. In studies, people who sprinkled calorie-free special seasonings on their food lost about 15% of their bodyweight in six months as the seasonings made them feel full faster. Choose mustard, balsamic vinegar, wasabi and horseradish, which add flavour without a calorie blast.

7. CHOOSE FAT-REDUCING GADGETS

Switching to low-fat, low-calorie cooking techniques is easier if you have the right equipment, according to dietitian Jane Kirby of the American Dietetic Association and author of Dieting For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, £14.99). She recommends the following tools...

● Non-stick pans: To reduce oil use.

● Refillable pump oil bottles: Spritzing uses less oil than pouring it on. You can load it with salad dressing, too, for calorie conserving blasts.

● A gravy strainer: This is a measuring cup with a spout at the bottom. Use it to skim the fat off sauces, casseroles and soups.

8. KEEP YOUR EGG TRAY FULL

'Eggs are a fast, nourishing meal or snack,' says nutrition expert Janine Whiteson, co-author of Get A Real Food Life (Rodale, £14.98). She recommends keeping a few hard-boiled ones in the fridge for a quick and easy protein-rich nibble. Also, research from Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University, US, found that volunteers who ate an egg breakfast every day while cutting back on calories elsewhere lost an average of 6lb in eight weeks, compared with 3.5lb for their non-egg eating counterparts, and they also trimmed their waists 83% more.

9. Keep your man away from the cooker!

Research from Newcastle University shows that women tend to eat more fatty and sugary foods when they move in with their partner, resulting in an average weight gain of 4lb in the first year of living together. If such gains continue, women can be more than a stone heavier within four years. When men are cooking, they tend to use more fatty ingredients, prepare more meat-based dishes and use less healthy cooking methods, such as frying rather than grilling. So, volunteer to do the shopping and cooking yourself, or together, and don't be swayed by his preference for high-fat meals and takeaways.

Sunday, 21 April 2013

A gentle reminder....

Why stress is a weighty issue?

It’s not just the wrong type of food that piles on the
pounds. The relentless, low-level stress of everyday life
can also add inches to your waist

When we’re frightened, angry, tense or worried our bodies become flooded with adrenalin and a stress hormone called cortisol. The adrenalin keeps us alert and focused, while the cortisol prepares our muscles for a ‘fight-or-flight’ response. It also helps the body to release sugar into the bloodstream for instant energy. It’s all part of a defence mechanism that allows the body to respond appropriately when faced with danger.

While this stress mechanism worked well for us when we were cavemen, modern-day stress, caused by a relentlessly busy lifestyle, is really bad for you. It makes you fat, it wears out your immune system and it increases your risk of serious illness. This is because many of the situations that cause stress nowadays don’t present the sort of physical danger that you need to run away from. The result is that fat-storing hormones – and the sugar they help to release into the bloodstream – float around your system, eventually ending up as fat on your tummy and around your waist. They also make you crave more sugar because your body thinks it needs more to keep going.

As stress levels subside, your adrenalin levels fall, but cortisol (and the resulting blood sugar) stays in the system much longer. Research shows that fat cells around the stomach attract cortisol, giving you a layer of toxic fat just below your abdominal muscles that’s really hard to shift, so doing regular sit-ups is pointless if you always feel stressed. And stomach fat is the most dangerous type because it raises your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain cancers.

Constant stress also shuts down the digestive system because your body redirects blood from there to your muscles. So stress can leave you constipated, bloated and toxic. Beating stress is the only way to better health and a better body.
STRESS ON A PLATE

It’s not just stress that makes you stressed, the wrong type of food does too. Potentially toxic foods, such as refined sugar and processed foods, will make you feel more stressed because they release sugar into the bloodstream too quickly. It leads to a vicious cycle, where the more stressed you get, the more you crave toxic food, which makes you more stressed.

FOOD FRIENDS

Make these stress-reducing foods and supplements part of your diet:

Berries are packed with vitamin C, which helps the body to deal with stress. Plus, they’re full of fibre which helps to regulate blood-sugar levels. Have a handful of berries with your breakfast.
Dark green vegetables help to replenish the body with vitamins in times of stress. Have these with every meal if you can (even breakfast!), but make sure they’re organic.
Turkey contains an amino acid called L-tryptophan, which releases serotonin (a calming, feel-good hormone) into the body. Keep it clean and lean by choosing skinless and organic.
Sweet potatoes will satisfy a carb craving, but contain more fibre and vitamins than white potatoes.
Avocados contain good fat and potassium which can lower your blood pressure and, therefore, stress levels. Have half an avocado on its own as a snack or with oatcakes for a delicious stressbusting breakfast.
Nuts help boost a battered immune system, plus they’re full of B vitamins, which help to lower stress levels. Stick to a handful a day.
Bodyism Body Serenity supplement contains essential minerals and vitamins, such as magnesium to aid restful sleep, and it can reduce cortisol levels before sleep.
Bodyism Body Brilliance supplement is a stressbusting blend of vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein – one of the best ways to kick-start your day.
(Go to bodyism.com for more details and to buy)

FOOD ENEMIES

Cut out these stress-inducing foods:

Sweets and sugary snacks give you a quick burst of energy, but then cause your blood-sugar levels to crash, leaving you feeling sluggish, stressed and with poor concentration.
Processed foods are full of junk and deplete the levels of vitamins and minerals in your body, leaving you more prone to stress. Stick to clean, lean, natural foods.
Junk food, which is high in bad fats (burgers, chips, kebabs, etc), lowers your concentration levels and increases your stress levels.
Salty foods increase your blood pressure, making you more prone to stress. The worst offenders are processed meats such as ham and bacon, and processed foods that are stuffed with salt.
Coffee – too much caffeine stresses out your system by constantly flooding your
body with the fat-storing hormone cortisol. Stick to one or two cups of organic coffee a day.
Alcohol – people mistakenly think it will help them to unwind after a hard day, but it has the opposite effect, just stressing your whole system further. Alcohol is also full of sugar which makes you toxic and fat.

CHANGE THE WAY YOU EAT

You can follow all the diet and exercise rules to the letter, but if you’re skipping meals, eating too quickly or eating while stressed, you’ll never be clean and lean. Well-digested food can help give you a flat stomach and a healthy body. Take your time over every meal – at least 20 minutes, more if it’s a big meal.

Here are the rules for eating properly:

Chew each mouthful at least 20 times, 30 if you can manage it. Chewing releases all the vitamins and minerals contained in the food and breaks it down so it can be more easily digested.
Put your cutlery down and take a few breaths between each mouthful.
Don’t swallow until your food is a watery paste.
Only ever eat when you’re relaxed. If you’re stressed, wait until you feel calm before eating.
Stop when you’re full and don’t be afraid to leave food on your plate. You can always have more food later on if you become hungry again.
Don’t mistake stress for hunger. If you’re stressed you need to calm down, not eat.
Make sure you’re drinking plenty of still water. When you’re stressed it’s easy to forget to stay hydrated.
Don’t watch TV or do any type of work while you’re eating. Focusing on something other than your food can lead to overeating.

Follow these rules and not only will your stress levels reduce but:

You’ll look and feel less bloated.
You’ll feel fuller quicker, so you’ll eat less at mealtimes and look leaner.
You won’t feel uncomfortably full or bloated.
You won’t mindlessly munch – when you stress-eat, you don’t take time to listen to your body properly, so you often end up eating when you’re not even hungry.

You won’t get a flat tummy with exercise alone. Cutting out toxic foods and sticking to a clean, natural, healthy diet are vital ingredients

Some of you may be familiar with the first book, Clean & Lean Diet. In it it explains that a ‘clean’ body is one that can deal effectively with everyday toxins and get rid of them successfully. A body can never be lean unless it’s clean, and toxins stop that happening. That’s because your body stores toxins in its fat cells. If you’re dieting, but toxic, your body will slowly lose fat, but these toxins will have nowhere to go other than back into your system. The result? You’ll feel tired, you’ll have headaches and you’ll struggle with your energy levels. This is why most of us feel rotten within a few days of starting a diet. Your body decides that it doesn’t like feeling that way, so it holds on to fat in order to store the toxins. So if you’re toxic, you’ll always find it hard to lose weight.

If you stick to ‘clean’ foods – meaning toxin-free foods that are unprocessed and close to their natural state – then you’ll lose weight easily and keep it off. So what are the clean foods that you should be eating? In a nutshell…

They haven’t changed much from their natural state. For example, an orange in a bowl looks like an orange hanging on a tree, whereas a crisp looks nothing like a potato.
They won’t need any added fake flavourings.
They don’t last for months and months – clean foods will go off in the fridge or cupboard after a short while as they don’t contain preservatives.
They don’t contain more than five or six ingredients.
They don’t contain ingredients that you can’t pronounce or that you don’t recognise.
They don’t list sugar as their main ingredient (or as one of their first three).
They don’t make you feel bloated, gassy or too full.

SAY NO TO TOXINS

The four main toxins that cause our bodies to cling to fat are caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed foods, and their initials spell c-r-a-p. So what I say is, ‘Cut the crap!’

CAFFEINE

This is OK in small doses. A cup of coffee a day won’t do you much harm, and some studies suggest that it can even help with fat burning. The same goes for tea. Green tea – which also contains caffeine – is an even better fat burner, and I let my clients drink up to six cups a day (not in the evening, though, as it can stop you sleeping). The trouble with caffeine is that too much of it causes stress to your body. And too much stress dumps a ring of fat around your middle.

REFINED SUGAR

Sugary foods raise your insulin level, which causes fat storage. Studies show that 40 per cent of the sugar you eat is converted straight to fat, and that’s in a slim person; if you’re already overweight, up to 60 per cent is converted straight to fat and stored around your stomach, waist and hips. If you eat sugar every day, you’ll always find it a struggle to lose weight and you’ll never have a flat tummy.Sugar also leaches vitamins from your body, and a body starved of vitamins becomes hungry. That’s why overweight people are always hungry – they don’t eat enough vitamin-rich food and are actually malnourished. Toxic foods such as sugar will never satisfy you or fill you up. Plus, sugar makes you tired, lowers libido and weakens the immune system.

Refined sugar is found in the white sugar you put in your tea, as well as the following:

fruit drinks
white, non-organic pasta, bread and rice
alcohol
cakes, sweets, biscuits, ice cream
foods marketed as ‘low fat’, including cereal bars and energy drinks
any ingredient ending in ‘ose’, such as sucrose, glucose, maltose, lactose, dextrose and fructose
also avoid foods containing artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin and aspartame.

ALCOHOL

Alcohol is full of sugar, and as a result makes you fat around the middle. It stimulates the production of the hormone oestrogen in your bloodstream, which promotes fat storage (specifically around your waist and tummy). In addition, the liver is a fat-burning organ, but when it’s busy processing alcohol it stops burning fat.

Alcohol also decreases muscle growth, leaving you podgy and out of shape. I see so many women with what I call a ‘wine waist’ – a thick waist and a swollen, squidgy tummy as a result of regularly drinking wine three or four days a week.

PROCESSED FOODS

These go against every clean and lean rule there is. The less a food has been altered, the ‘cleaner’ it is and the better for our health and waistlines. Clean foods are very close to – if not the same as – their natural state, whereas processed foods are far
from it. They are usually made in factories, stripped of their natural goodness and pumped full of man-made preservatives and additives to make them look appetising and last longer.

Foods to avoid include:

tinned foods
white bread, pasta and rice
processed meats
breakfast cereals
frozen ready meals - shop bought that contain additives
frozen chips, wedges, etc
packets of dried pasta
packaged cakes, biscuits, muffins
chocolate, sweets and crisps.

LET YOUR GUT DO THE WORK

If you want to lose weight around your stomach, it’s important that your digestive
system is functioning at its optimum ability, which is where probiotics and prebiotics come in. They work together to boost gut health and should be included in your diet, either by eating foods that contain them or by taking supplements. Unless your gut is as healthy as it can be, your stomach will always be fat.

Probiotics are live microorganisms, known as friendly bacteria, and are responsible for several important biological functions, including boosting your digestion, reducing levels of ‘bad’ gut bacteria and strengthening the immune system. They also help your body to absorb health-boosting nutrients from your food more efficiently. Prebiotics are non-digestible ingredients found in certain foods that stimulate the growth of friendly bacteria in the gut.

Probiotics are found in:

sauerkraut
miso
fermented dairy products, such as acidophilus milk (make sure they’re low
in sugar)
natural yoghurt and yoghurt products (look for the words ‘live cultures added’ in the ingredients)
some soft cheeses
cultured buttermilk
soured cream.

Prebiotics are found in:

bananas
berries
asparagus
garlic
tomatoes
onions
spinach
kale
lentils
kidney beans
chickpeas
black beans
oats.

Vitamin C makes pro- and prebiotics more effective, so tuck into vitamin C-rich foods every day, such as kiwi fruit, oranges, sweet potatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts and tomatoes. If you would prefer to take pro- and prebiotics in supplement form, ask your local

health-food store for recommendations. A probiotic should contain several different strands of bacteria, including lactobacillus bulgaricus, lactobacillus acidophilus, streptococcus thermophilus and ifidobacterium.

Apart from helping you to achieve a flat tummy, the benefits of pro- and prebiotics include:

lower ‘bad’ cholesterol levels
increased vitamin absorption from your foods
boosted immune system
steady blood-sugar levels
less constipation and diarrhoea
reduced risk of bowel disorders
possible reduced risk of cancer.

YOUR 14-DAY DAY TUMMY-TONING CHECK LIST

Have three meals and two snacks a day.
Do 90 minutes of exercise a week.
No work-outs at weekends.
Drink two to three litres of still, room-temperature water each day, ideally filtered.
No alcohol or fizzy drinks.
No processed foods.

Nearly every woman that they hate their tummy, and countless studies say it’s the least favourite body part. There are a number of reasons why women in particular store fat around their tummies. First, men tend to crave high-protein foods, such as steak and eggs, which feed muscles rather than fat cells, while women have sugar and fat cravings that often intensify at specific times in the menstrual cycle. When these cravings are satisfied, they result in a happier mood – however, this doesn’t last and the excess sugar tends to deposit fat all over the stomach and love handles. Second, there is a condition called visceroptosis, which is more common in women than in men. It involves a sinking of the abdominal organs, which results in a paunch. It’s basically what happens when the body’s natural girdle (the muscles that make the tummy flat) become defective. The condition can be caused by a loss of abdominal muscle tone, constipation and eating foods that inflame the gut and intoxicate the intestines (predominantly processed foods). Most cases can be cured by cleaning up your diet, improving your posture and maintaining good abdominal strength with the right exercises.

The third reason women may have a distended tummy is if they become pregnant again before their body has fully restored its optimal muscle strength, proper posture and ideal body weight after having a baby. With multiple pregnancies, the body can forget what it should look like. Waiting two years between pregnancies can prevent this paunch, as can good core conditioning between pregnancies. A post-pregnancy tummy-flattening plan involving proper nutrition and exercise can see the return of a pre-baby body in no time at all.