Effects of unhealthy diet

Hi everyone, it's great to be back after a lovely quick break. We have had 3 Bootcamps since my return and everyone has been putting in a fantastic effort especially considering the hot weather we have been having.

Brooke had her measurements taken yesterday and she has lost another 17.5cm in the past 4 weeks, so a huge 'well done' to her. Keep up the great work.

I wanted to write today about non-insulin dependant diabetes, which is a very common condition these days. Even more so than you think and unless you are eating healthy foods almost all the time, you are very likely to develop this condition yourself. It used to be called adult onset diabetes but now it is so common in young people, including children, that the name does not fit the disease anymore.

Insulin resistance is basically when the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin. Insulin is one of the most powerful and important hormones in the body and it's job is to get energy (in the form of glucose) from your blood into your cells and regulate blood sugar levels. Without it, you would die as your body would not be able to use the energy (glucose) that your diet supplies no matter what or how much you consume. People who cannot produce their own insulin have Insulin Dependent Diabetes and must use insulin injections instead to prevent hyperglycaemia, coma and eventually death.

A diet too high in carbohydrates and a lack of exercise are two of the leading causes of insulin resistance. When you eat carbohydrates, glucose is released into the bloodstream. This signals your body to produce insulin to take some of this energy to the cells for immmediate energy. It also converts some to glycogen which is sent to the liver and muscle tissue for short term storage. This energy can be used when blood sugar levels drop again. This short term storage is limited and so excess glucose is converted to body fat for long term storage.

This system works really well most of the time, but an excess of carbohydrates and certain kinds of carbohydrates are more quickly converted to glucose and cause a flood of glucose into your bloodstream. This causes an equally large surge of insulin which causes your blood sugar to drop very quickly and triggers fatigue and cravings for more carbohydrates. When this happens regularly, your insulin levels remain high and your body struggles to convert all the glucose properly. It then continues to produce insulin in an attempt to overcome this and eventually the receptors in the cell membranes become less and less effective in recognising the hormone insulin. Another side effect of the glucose that remains circulating in your bloodstream is that it begins to effect your heart, kidneys, nerves, eyes and blood vessels. I am sure that you have heard of amputations and blindness being caused by diabetes.

Eventually your pancreas is unable to supply enough insulin to maintain stable blood sugar levels and your blood sugar rises above normal levels. At this stage you may be diagnosed as having Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes. If you do not get this under control (because you don't change your dietary and exercise habits or you haven't been diagnosed and don't know you have it) your pancreas will eventually falter and be unable to keep up with this condition. This may lead to having to take insulin injections as you progress to having Insulin Dependent Diabetes. (The cause is different to people who experience Insulin Dependent Diabetes from childhood)

If detected early, this condition can be managed and full blown diabetes can be prevented. Don't wait till you have been diagnosed, do something about it now. Clean up your diet and exercise regularly.
Some preliminary symptoms include but are not limited to:

Anxiety, fatigue, sleeplessness, head aches, palpitations

Eating in response to emotions

Cravings for high carb foods

Overweight

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Frequent hunger or thirst

Dizzy spells

Pins and needles

These are just some of the signs and you may have all or none of them. (these symptoms can also mean other things so check with your doctor if suffer from any of them)

Please note that I am not recommending that you do not eat carbohydrates. What I am recommending (after studying loads of research) is that you change your sources of carbohydrates to fruits, vegetables, some yoghurt and limit your intake of grain based carbohydrate foods like breads, pastas cakes, pastries, biscuits, sweets etc.

I am also researching at the moment on the latest info that says it is actually our overconsumption of carbohydrate foods of this type and not our saturated fat intake that is increasing the rate of heart attacks, stroke, high cholesterol etc. I will bring you more on that later.

The above is a simplified, but accurate, version of how your body works in regard to insulin production. If you are interested, I can recommend good books that provide more information on this.

Please also think about this stuff and how it relates not only to yourself, but to your loved ones as well. For instance, don't let your kids get to the stage where they worry about how they are going to lose the excess weight and get their health problems under control. Teach them now about healthy foods and encourage them to eat a variety of real foods rather than filling them up on junk. Just remove the junk from the house and take healthy foods with you when going out. It can be done and they will not starve when they refuse to eat it. Don't give in-this is their health and yours that we are dealing with.

Remember when party food was only eaten at parties?? Now it is a regular addition to peoples' diets several times every day.

Don't forget Bootcamp this evening at 5.30pm (Tuesday-bring plenty to drink!!

Jo

You CANT out-train a Bad Diet!

Well it's a new year and time for a fresh start. Have you set up your calendar yet? (refer previous blogpost) This one idea will really help you to stay on track if you don't cheat and get started.

A big congrats goes to all the FitterFaster Bootcampers who have been putting in a fantastic effort over the past months. We have had several new Bootcampers start up in the last week or so as well which is great to see. Word is spreading. Results are coming. Everyone is getting fitter, stronger, leaner, they have better balance, more flexibility, more endurance and are feeling more energetic. They have begun to lose many cm's with the average loss so far being around 30cm in 8 weeks.

Another very important piece of the health and fat loss puzzle is your nutrition. You cannot out-train a bad diet. Too much sugar and alcohol cannot be overcome by exercising. Cruel I know, but best results will come to those who change the way they think about what they are consuming on a daily basis. Here are my basic tips for improving your nutrition. These are the first and vital steps you must take to get results. I will expand the list in future blogs, but get these things under control first.

1. Cut down on breads, pastas, pastries, cakes, biscuits, wraps, rice, cereals, museli or breakfast/health bars, etc. This includes multi grain and wholemeal varieties. These foods are processed!!! Since when did a loaf of bread grow on a tree? Try to limit these foods to one serve of wholemeal or multigrain per day. Once serve is a slice of bread or 1 cup of cooked pasta. Remember Grains are not my friends.

2. Eat protein everytime that you eat. This will stabilise the blood sugar/insulin response and also supply quality nutrients that you body needs for complete health. Protein is found in meats, fish, eggs, whey powder and also yoghurt. Nuts and seeds also contain small amounts of protein. Limit yoghurt to 1 serve a day of full cream (do not choose diet or low fat)

3. Eat fruits and/or vegetables at every meal or snack. Most of every meal and snack should be made up of fruits and vegetables. There is no limit to the amount of these that you can eat except limit yourself to 1 small potato each day. Remember rule 2 and combine with protein.

4. Drink only water or tea or coffee. This includes cutting down on alcohol. There are a million reasons to stop drinking every or nearly every day. Even one drink begins a cascade of bad reactions in your body. Many of which also slow or reverse your fat loss efforts as well as effecting your health. Limit yourself to 2 days per week where you consume alcohol. By the way, cut out soft drinks, cordials and fruit juices as well. And skip those lattes and flat whites from the cafe. They are both almost all milk-refer no. 5

5. Cut out milk and if you can cheese too. Limit milk to a tiny amount in coffee or tea. It is for baby cows, not humans. We are the only animal that drinks milk beyond infancy and look at our state of health compared to other species. They may be onto something.

6. Eat every 2-3 hours. Yes don't go more than 3 hours without eating.

7. Include small serves of nuts and seeds in your diet every day.

8. Stop having take away. Cooking a meal from scratch really doesn't take long.

9. If it came in a packet, or has a list of ingredients, stop eating it!!

10. Once per week, eat something you love and disregard all the rules.

11. Exercise every day. You can find plenty of info about this in past blog posts and at www.fitterfasteronline.com

Sticking to these rules will get you well on the way to a healthy and lean body. Every rule is important and although sticking to one or two of them will help, you will never reach your full potential without improving your whole diet.

Until you follow these rules every day, you do not need to worry about serving sizes or quantities of carbs or protein etc. Stick to eating real, non-processed foods and it will make a huge difference. Stop worrying about calories and carbs and get healthy food into you. Don't worry about the latest supplement of weight loss pill or drink. These basic rules will increase your fat loss much more than any of these ever will despite the advertising promises

FitterFaster clients have the opportunity to have their diets analysed and critiqued by me before January 10th. Simply record everything you eat, drink or inhale for 2-3 days and send it through to me either by commenting below or by emailing me at joanne@fitterfasteronline.com

I will have a close look at it and provide ideas, changes and advice for you completely free of charge and with no obligations attached. I really want you all to be able to achieve all of your goals so I want to give you all the help I can.

Make sure that you do not change anything that you normally do for the next 2 days while you record your intake. It is important to get real life examples so that we can work out ways around what you really do. If you try to make it look good, you will not learn ways to improve your daily habits properly so be honest and record everything including the times that you eat it. Best results will be recorded if you carry a pen and paper with you and write it down as you consume it rather that trying to remember it all later in the day.

Take advantage of this whether you are a new client or have been coming for a while. Clients who have purchased nutrition plans in the past should also do this to get you back on track and make sure you are still headed in the right direction. And don't just think that this is for weight loss only. Health improvements are not possible without a healthy diet.

And don't forget that the 30 session package will come off the website on Monday evening. This is your last chance to purchase this package. Results are guaranteed too, so if you don't lose cm's you get your money back

Jo