Fitness Fridays| Smoothie Love

Firstly apologies for not posting any Fitness Friday posts over the past couple of weeks, I hope you understand I was busy with my dissertation. But fear not they will be continuing, and are becoming a little bit more personal, as I am currently starting a health kick, to ensure I’m looking super fit for summer. It is the perfect time to start in my opinion (if you haven’t already) as the short bursts of sunshine are really motivating to remind you that bikini season is just around the corner, June is only 2 months away!

As the title suggests this post is not really fitness, but diet related. For those of you have been a loyal follower of mine from the beginning you will remember that I adore a good smoothie, and if it is homemade even better! So for my health kick I decided the first small step I am taking is to change my breakfast from carby bread and cereals, to homemade smoothies. If you have a blender there really is no excuse, as they don’t take long at all, especially if your fruit is already prepared. And if you don’t have a juicer, you can buy them relatively cheaply on ebay for around £20.

Smoothies themselves are a great start to the day, here are some of the benefits for you;

• They are full of fibre, which will help you feel fuller for longer.
• If you add natural protein such as spinach or whey powder then the smoothie will keep you even fuller!
• Smoothies can contain 2 or 3 portions of your fruit or veg for the day… so it gets you off to a great start for hitting the magic 5!
• They are perfect for summery and spring days, as they are cool and refreshing.
• The vitamins in your smoothie will significantly improve the appearance of your skin, hair, and nails… great for us beauty bloggers especially with those close up photos!
• The high water and nutrient content will help keep you hydrated throughout the day.
• Obviously they are a low caloried option. The recipe below contains only 200 calories…great for girls wanting to shape up.

Here is a really easy one I have been making and drinking most mornings this week. It has three ingredients, and takes 2 minutes to make. Your ingredients are a packet of frozen mixed berries, a carton of grape juice, and a pot of natural yoghurt. Throw in a bit of each (I don’t know measurements I just throw it all together) and blitz… there you go breakfast! I admit this is quite a sweet smoothie, so not great if you don’t like sweet things, put you can Google recipes, or try your own!

I hope I inspire someone to give it a try. Give it a week, and you will notice your skin becoming a lot clearer, and maybe your waistline reducing.

*Apologies for the blackberry photos..bad quality!

Are Detox a sham or not?

So its that time of the year again, where health and fitness comes to the front of everyone's mind. Detoxing is obviously one of the most popular ways to kick start this phase many of us go through. From juice diets, to yoga, to beauty treatments, there are many different ways to detox. However I recently read an article in the Daily Mail saying that detoxing, in fact, had no benefit to health and is a sham. To be honest I always take any article published by the Daily Mail with a pinch of salt, as I believe they can over react a lot!

So I did some researching into the topic. Experts believe that the body is perfectly capable of ridding of all the toxins in your system without the need of detoxing. They even claim that some detoxes out there can even be dangerous. Detoxing is not what improves your body's functionality, it is the increase in the healthiness of peoples diets that make them feel better, and it is in fact bad diets and lack of exercise that make people feel sluggish and heavy, not toxins. Basically experts say detoxing is no more than a marketers dream and a million pound industry.

I personally agree that the body does detox itself, but to a degree you can help your body through many methods. You cannot cram your body full of rubbish continually, do no exercise and expect it to still function effectively and properly for the rest of your life, you need to nudge it in the right direction. I don't agree with spending large amounts of money on special products, but instead, upping your intake of vegetables and fruit, restricting carbs, taking up yoga and Pilates (exercises that concentrate on breathing and stretching), just using your commonsense. Do not buy into fads and pills, if you up your vitamins and fibre you will see more movement in your bowls (lovely I know, sorry) which will help rid the waste you have in your body.

For example my mother had a series of colonic irrigation, and the benefits she gained form this were great. When she saw the therapist she obviously listed all the possible benefits, but my mum personally lost around 7 pounds, which was most obvious on her upper abdominal area, as this is supposedly where waste in our body become crammed, and makes us look bloated no matter how much exercise and toning you try to do. She also felt less lethargic, and recommends the treatment to everyone and anyone who will listen.

A personal example of detoxing is when myself and my friend did the Maple Syrup Diet, which is famous because Beyonce used it to lose weight for her role in Dream Girls. Basically you are to drink nothing but a mixture of lemons in hot/cold water, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper (it was pretty gross). You drink this for 6 times a day for 10 days, me and my friend managed 4 1/2 days. Surprisingly my hunger disappeared after 2 1/2 days, however my humongous headache made me want to die. This is an extreme "Detox" and I would not recommend it, as personally apart form losing 5 pounds, I saw no other benefit, I think I actually looked worse.

What are your opinions on detoxing. Have you ever tried a detox, or bought any products?

Victoria Secrets Model Diet| Miranda Kerr Diet when she is at home

For those of you want to start your health kick right away, here's a little show of what a Victoria Secrets model eats. It may give you some inspiration.

Breakfast

Yoghurt and muesli with a fresh fruit salad.

Boiled eggs with rye toast and avocado

Lemon and Ginger water

A cup of green tea

Lunch

Spelt crispbreads together with fresh tuna salad

Lemon water

Dandelion tea

Dinner

Either fish or lamb chops, or salmon steak or steak with salad or vegetables.

Eat heaps of greens and sweet potato and pumpkin roasted.

Cup of green tea. 

Are you going to have a health kick start this year? What are your ambitions?

18 Days To look Fabulous| Tone Up Quickly

It is 18 days till the big night, New Years Eve! This means we all have 18 days to look and feel amazing for the big event (whatever your plans are.) Most people spend the occasion catching up with those we have not seen for a while, so what better occasion to turn up and make jaws drop. It is obviously very hard to maintain our weight throughout the holidays, never mind lose weight. However it is doable, especially during the week between Christmas and New Year, as the majority of parties and get togethers happen before Christmas day. 

So what I'm suggesting is that we do not punish ourselves with relentless calorie counting, but instead make healthier choices. Here are my top tips;

• Do you need an extra glass of wine after the 3 you've already had? Try swapping a large glass of wine (185cal)  for a vodka lime and Soda (76 cal), this will save you around 110 calories.

• Always have a healthy breakfast. You can at least start the day right. Have a healthy filling and nutritional breakfast, for example a smoothie, for your vitamins, then scrambled or poached egg on wholemeal toast. The protein will ensure you stay full untill lunchtime, and if you are hungover the eggs enzymes are good for your hangover (if you can stomach it.)

• Have a health lunch as well! If two out of 3 meals are healthy, it will make a difference. Plus if you have eaten well for most of the day, you will less likely want to ruin your good work, by indulging too much for dinner. Have some soup, hummus with carrot/ celery/ pitta bread, or warm Chicken and pasta salad (in a tomato sauce, not creamy!!)

• Have a 30 minute brisk walk 5 days out of 7. Try going for a walk after your dinner, this will help your digestion also, so you will feel less bloated. Wrap up nice and warm and take the family or dog with you. If you don't fancy walking at night, then try walking to work, or get off your bus or tram a stop early and walking the rest. It may only be 10 minutes extra, but it will help boost your metabolism meaning you will burn more calories when you are sat at your desk all day.

• Do some strength exercises, even if you are new to it. Did you know that for every pound of extra muscle you gain, you burn an extra 150 calories a day! Plus it will help your posture, and the dreaded cellulite! So if you plan on wearing a short dress you need to be doing some lunges! 
• All I am asking you to do is 50  bicycle crunches in the morning when you wake up, and 50 before you go to bed. Bicycle crunches work the whole abs area, so will help trim your waist quicker. 
• Plus 50 squats while you brush your teeth in the morning and again in the evening. It is better than just standing there, plus squats are a great calorie burner, but make a great difference to the toning of your legs and ass... We'll all be looking like Beyonce in no time.

Now I am absolutely certain that everyone of you reading this will be able to do these small but significant things every day over the next 18 days. It really will make a difference your body, your skin, your hair, and it will ensure you look fabulous on the biggest night of the year.

Lets go for it! Let me know what your plans are for the New Year?

The importance of Health! Which life are you designing?

This image popped up on my Dashboard on Tumblr, and it really struck a cord with me. I may not be the healthiest person in the world, but I have a great respect for it, and thankfully a knowledge of it.

I get really annoyed by people who assume that because they are slim or skinny, whatever, they believe that they are healthy. Because I can tell you many of them are not. Your weight is not a representation of your health, you can be slim yet still have unhealthy fat around your organs that can damage them. You can be skinny, yet be unfit, and not have strong bones and muscles to support you, that will quickly deteriorate with age. There are plenty of people out they who may be classed as overweight, due to their high BMI's yet, they are healthier than people who are deemed healthy because of a lower weight.

I am not consistent with my health and fitness, but I do try, and I know that although "overweight" I am a lot fitter and healthier than some of my friends. Nutrition has a lot to do with it, and since drinking smoothies everyday for breakfast, which include on average half a mango, quarter of a cucumber, handful of berries, one banana, and a handful of spinach, I can't believe the crap I used to start my day with. Even just walking for 30 minutes a day is better than nothing. I believe that everyone should be active at least once a day. There is no excuse for not working out these days, especially with the computer games and DVD's that mean you don't have to trek to a gym, they make working out work round your schedule (although exercise should always BE part of your schedule). Even if injured with a bad back, or leg etc, do some gentle exercise such as yoga (which is amazing!)

Overall you may be young now, but how you live your life now will effect how you live it when you are older. Your body has a very good knowledge of how you treat it, and it will treat you the same as you age. Treat your body well and it will look after you for years. Abuse your body and it will soon shy and retire from yourself, and will refuse to work properly.

Just take the picture for example, or look to Jane Fonda for inspiration. At 73 she has just release a new exercise DVD. She admits she can;t do everything she used to, but she tries. (And she still looks fabulous doing it.)

Please just think about how you treat your body. Even just aim for 4 days healthy, 3 days not, and try and build it up and up. Aim for healthy breakfast and lunches, every little bit will help, and the more you do it, the more it become a habit.

Abs Are Made In The Kitchen

I don't know about you, but I never seem to get the right balance with nutrition and exercise. I either find myself religiously working out, 5/6 days a week, feeling great, but not eating right as I am in the mentality that "oh I worked out already, so I can eat this chocolate." Or I eat great, really healthily, but don't exercise, as I think "I'm eating great and loosing weight, so I don't need to exercise."

At the moment I am eating great, but not exercising, I keep telling myself "Oh well, weight loss is 70 percent diet, and 30 per cent exercise." However if I don't work out I won't be toned, I need to kick myself up the bum. Think of it this way, you eat 3-5 times a day, everyday, however you only workout 1-2 times a day 5-6 times a week. The activity that you partake in the most, if obviously going to have a greater impact on your body. 

So starting this week, as in tomorrow! I am going to workout 4 days a week, and keep my soup/smoothie diet up.

I am also upping my soup/smoothie diet, to kick start my weight loss for December. So I will be having 3 smoothies a day, and 3 soups a day, it will almost be like a cleanse. Everything I eat will be green and I will be making sure the soups and smoothies are rammed full of protein so I do not loose muscle mass like you can do in some cleanses. 

Have you ever been on a cleanse, or liquid diet? Do you get the balance right between exercise and diet?

Food Intake Recently| The Benefits to Soup and Smoothies

Recently I have had this obsession on not becoming ill. I have a million assignments to do for uni my dissertation, I work 30+ hours a week in hospitality, plus it's party season... so basically I don't have time to be ill, and with loads of my colleagues being ill I had to take action.

I decided to up my vitamin intake and make loads of vegetable soup, and eat a bowl a day, hoping the vitamins would keep my immune system up. It seemed to work, plus my skin and hair looked amazing thanks to these vitamins. I have done well at sticking to eating soup, so decided to increase my vitamins more and added smoothies to my diet. So before I knew it I was having home made smoothies for breakfast, and home made soup for lunch. I feel great because of it, and because they are full of fibre and protein, I feel fuller for longer, so I don't feel the urge to snack. As a consequence in the past 2 weeks I have lost 6 pounds in weight, which is a great side effect.

For recipes I find them on tumblr, on recipe sights such as the BBC good food, or SparkRecipes. And as long as you have a blender it is easy to do. You can even make a few days worth in one go and leave them in glasses in the fridge, so you can just grab your smoothie in the morning.

I have really just accidently found myself on a replica of one of these silly meal replacement plans that people pay fortunes for, yet mine is completely natural, cheaper, and has the same effect.

So, so far, so good, as I have not fallen ill, I have tonnes of energy, my hair and skin will look amazing for party season, and my waistline is slimmer.

Have you ever tried a meal replacement diet? Or do you favour more green and natural diets?