Archives 2011

Exercise… and I say this sadly because I too have my lazy moments …. is a strictly Do-It-Yourself business.

If the idea of running, lifting weights or heaving against the row machine just isn’t your thing, you’re in good company.

A lot of good folk just aren’t that into exercise.

And that’s OK.

Because here’s some wonderful news…

According to recent research you can STILL find your thinner sparkle, lose weight and look absolutely fabulous – WITHOUT strenuous exercise.

Researcher, Dr James Hill has discovered that the average daily number of steps taken by women is about 5,000 steps.

Intriguingly, his study shows that overweight women take 2,000 fewer steps per day than their happy-weight sisters.

Think about that for a moment.

Only 2,000 steps separates those who are overweight from their happy-weight counterparts.

Like to know the distance of 2,000 steps? Four. City. Blocks.

Four city blocks stand between you and your happy weight.

Incredible.

Just so we’re clear.

Hill isn’t talking about extreme exercise here. He’s not talking about pavement-pounding, iron-pumping or sweat-inducing exercise….he’s talking about walking.

Good ole-fashioned, move-your-butt, one-foot-in-front-of-the- other: WALKING.

Last week, you learned just how easy it is to disturb your body’s innate balance through overeating.

Well, today you’re seeing how you can restore that balance, through lacing-up and stepping-out.

Simple steps.

Four city blocks. I mean, come ooooon!!!

So…. go get yourself a pedometer (step counter) from a sports shop (they’re about $10). From the moment you wake up, attach it to your belt and find out how many steps you currently take in a typical day.

Aim to increase the number of steps by 2,000 a week until you hit a comfortably, maintainable target. Hill’s study suggests 10,000 steps per day is a good ball park figure.

The beauty of walking is its accessibility. I’m guessing there’s a pavement (‘sidewalk’ for my Americans readers) outside your house?

Yup? Go get your-good-self acquainted with it.

Walking’s safe, simple and you’ll soon get good at it. You can fit walking around your lifestyle. Anytime, anywhere.

No excuses.

You don’t need a gym membership. No specialist Lycra kit required.

Listen up: my purpose isn’t to discourage you from gym-ing it. If you adore your spin classes or you love lifting iron…hats off to you chica, keep it up.

This missive is for the non-exercisers amongst you. You know who you are….

I realise there are exercise experts out there who argue that “you must exercise with continuous motion for one-hour to get fitness results”.

And maybe that’s true. If you’re training for a marathon.

All I know is that whether it comes to food, exercise of almost anything else, I’ve had to find my own rhythms and honour them.

I’ve learned if I tell myself, “I MUST achieve my 10,000 steps in one workout,” I’ll find all sorts of inventive ways to avoid getting out the door. I’ll overwhelm myself. And do nothing.

But I’ve discovered that if I take a bunch of 15-minute walks throughout the day, it feels good. And by nightfall, I’ve achieved my 10,000 steps.

Job’s a good ‘un.

I’ve also learned to keep it simple. In my book, even one five-minute walk is vastly better than no walk at all.

Well, isn’t it?

So no, you don’t need to start a formal exercise program … (unless you want to feel more confident, be less moody and feel better in yourself)….but you DO need to move your body.

Do it whenever you get the chance. Yes, that too will burn calories ; )

Take the stairs instead of the lift. Walk your dog. Park your car a block from your office and walk the difference. Disembark the train a stop early and take a stroll. Leave the car in the garage and walk the school run.

Move.

Dance.

Play.

Have fun. You only have one body. It was designed to move. Enjoy it.

In the comments below, I’d love to hear YOUR best tips for getting your steps up and keeping yourself motivated around exercise.

As always, a huge thank you for your time and for reading. If you found this information useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook.

One foot after the other. Step it out, lay dees : )

Love etc, Avril

Are you looking for a magic elixir – perhaps a detox formula or some celebrity-endorsed pills – which will somehow magically melt your weight away?

It’s a nice, optimistic idea, isn’t it?

And how very splendid…if only it worked.

We know it doesn’t though, don’t we ladies.

It simply cannot.

Because…

You. Cannot. Subtract. By. Addition.

Read that again.

It’s worth getting your beautiful head around.

You cannot SUBTRACT something (as in, your weight), by ADDING something (pills, detox pills or ‘slimming foods’) to your daily intake.

Add more to your daily intake, and the total on the scale will increase. So says infant school maths.

Sure, detox formulas and appetite suppressants will certainly not add to your weight (so in that respect they are ‘slimming’ foods), but NOTHING you add to your diet will help you subtract weight.

Good. I’m pleased we’re clear on that.

Now, let’s pause a moment.

Breathe.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Good work.

I know I’ve just said, “There’s no such thing as a magic elixir for weight loss ….”

Well, actually there is. Or at least, it’s the closest thing I’ve come across.

Today I read a study which backs up my assumption with hard evidence.

Research presented at the American Chemical Society in Boston demonstrated that increased water consumption is an effective weight loss strategy.

It’s not just folklore ; )

This study found that obese dieters who drank two glasses of water before each meal lost 5 pounds more than the group of dieters who didn’t increase their water intake.

And a year later, the water-drinkers had also kept more of the weight off.

So there you go ladies, two glasses of water before each meal.

Need More Reasons To Drink Up?

If you’re one of these ya-can-lead-em-to-water-but-ya-can’t-make-em-drink types and you need even more proof of water’s weight loss efficacy, the next bit is especially for you.

You probably already know that your body comprises roughly 75% water. Did you know that very often when we feel hungry, we’re actually just thirsty?

According to Dr Batmanghelidj, author of the ground-breaking book Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, many of the aches and pains that we experience on a daily basis, including hunger, are actually the preliminary effects of dehydration.

And since it’s virtually impossible to tell the difference between this ‘thirst signal’ and authentic hunger, the best thing to do is drink water before you sit down to eat.

If you’re not hungry afterwards, you’ll know that “hunger signal” was thirst – and no matter how much food you ate, it would never quite feel like it ‘hit the spot’.

And if you’re still hungry after your water, then dig in.

Cheers ladies, and c’mon in … the water’s lovely : )

Love etc, Avril

“‘Hooonesty Avril. I’ve been eating like a sparrow and I’ve STILL GAINED WEIGHT,” she despaired.

She was about as frustrated as a girl can be. My heart went out to her.

But my head… well, nope.

Because science tells us that what she’s saying is impossible.

Here’s why: it violates the law of thermodynamics.

Let’s face it, if her body truly was capable of producing ‘weight from nothing’, she’d have been head-hunted by UNICEF and, the world’s hunger problem, eradicated.

A number of clients share this claim (I can relate). They support it by talking about how diligent they’ve been with their exercise and food intake.

It’s only when I do a detailed inquiry about their exercise and eating habits, they get to see they’ve been tricking themselves. Often unintentionally.

Here’s the little heads-up I share with them. It’s fundamental to weight loss.

OK, here we go…

Assuming you’re an average person, during your lifetime you’ll eat 60 million calories. And to maintain your steady weight, you’ll need to expend 60 million calories.

60 million in + 60 million out = steady weight.

OK, so nothing earth-shattering so far… good old ‘calories in versus calories out’.

But put some numbers in the formula and here’s where it gets interesting, ladies.

If you’re an average woman ….

(clearly you’re not Miss Average, you’re unique and wonderful, but for the sake of the example, today, you’re Miss Average)

…who needs 2,700 calories per day to remain at a steady weight but you take in 2,800 and expend only 2,700 calories, you will gain 12 pounds (about 5.5 kgs) EVERY year.

Here’s the kicker…

An apple is about 100 calories.

That’s just an apple a day difference.

In other words, it’s very easy to be overweight!

Now the reason I share these numbers with you is not to depress you. Or scare you off consuming apples.

It’s to remind you of the delicate balance in which our bodies thrive.

It’s to remind you that if you make the slightest error in this balancing act, YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT.

Next time you go to nibble on something and you tell yourself, “it’s only a slurp, only a lick, only a taste… it won’t make any difference to the number on the scales”.

STOP.

Remember the apples.

Quit tricking yourself.

You know your numbers now.

You are in control of YOUR apples.

That metaphoric apple WILL make a difference. . . all the difference in the world.

Love etc, Avril

With the world’s book shelves heaving with information on how to get your good self motivated, why then, is finding motivation still such an issue in our society?

What are we missing?

Motivation, it seems, is a funny thing. An elusive concept.

Sometimes we experience it, sometimes we don’t. And when we do get it, it doesn’t seem to hang about for very long.

What if there was a simple technique you could apply immediately to kick start your motivation?

Would you want to know about it?

I know I would.

Today’s article was written as a result of this simple technique, so I know it works…

Chris Hammer, a Canadian-based psychologist, says we need to quit using the “elusiveness of motivation” as an excuse to not get things done.

O.U.C.H

He reckons we have a tendency to see motivation as this “thing” that “needs to be found”.

And that as soon as we “find it”, things will be smooth sailing. That everything will be easy peasy.

Don’t we just?! I know I do.

Hammer goes on to say, as long as we don’t “have it”, we’re not really pressured to accomplish the thing we want to achieve and that we can easily blame our inaction on the fact that we just haven’t “tapped into it yet”.

So we get to stay stuck. . .wheels spinning. . . going nowhere.

But the truth is that it’s NOT impossible to act. . . EVEN IF WE’RE NOT FEELING motivated.

Ladies, wouldn’t you agree…we get so caught up in the idea that we can’t move forward (eat well and exercise) unless we’re “feeling it”.

But this just simply isn’t true.

It might not feel the greatest to take action without possessing this magical thing called motivation… but we’re all completely capable of doing it anyway.

So instead of looking for down the back of the couch for motivation-gone-AWOL, take action. Action CAN (and frequently does) precede motivation.

In other words, WE JUST NEED TO GET STARTED.

Or as Nike would say, “Just do it”.

…just
do
it…regardless of how you feel, and stop looking for some (non-existent) magic formula.

You’ll be glad you did.

Inspire us in the comments section below, what are you going to JFDI today?

Love etc, Avril

“You’ve GOT to be kiddin’ me . . . what’s with this ‘listen to my body’ stuff?” she despaired.

“Yup,” I nod, “you were born knowing what foods your body needs. Why don’t you see what that voice has to say?”

“Yeah, right. If I listened to THAT voice, it’d say eat chocolate sundaes…… TEN of them…… right NOW!’”

My client was getting snippy.

Confusion and frustration hummed down the phone line.

Here’s what I shared with her.

In a fascinating experiment performed in the 1930s, scientists gave a group of toddlers unlimited access to a range of foods from ice cream to spinach, and everything in between, with the purpose of allowing the youngsters to create their own diet based on nothing more than their individual sense of what they wanted to nibble on.

The results may surprise you.

Despite the variations in when, what order and how often they ate, every child in the study choose what was considered to be a balanced healthy diet. All the children maintained their happy weight.

And you assumed they’d scoff only the ice cream!

Here’s the thing.

Our bodies are an incredible source of (constructive) feedback. They’re constantly nattering to us.

And, we are all unique. While a particular food might be heaven on a platter for me, it might be an injudicious choice for you and your body.

How To Be Your OWN Guru

Any weight loss programme that tells you specifically what you must or mustn’t eat is doomed to fail.

Taboo foods become VERY attractive, don’t they. Deprivation leads to rebellion. Entire contents of the fridge….demolished.

The fact is this: some foods increase your vitality and energy. Other foods diminish it.

You need to learn to listen to the wisdom of YOUR body, so you can experience the benefits of optimal health.

Here’s a great little exercise from researcher, Dr Gay Hendricks, to help you determine which foods are YOUR personal high-energy foods.

1. Eat the food you like.
2. Notice how your body feels about 45 minutes later.

Easy aye. If you feel ready hit the dance floor or take the woofer for walkies, that’s a high-energy food for you. If you want to collapse on the couch, laze around and watch telly, it’s not.

If you actually listen to your body (not your mind) you’ll discover that you DON’T want those chocolate sundaes. At least, not 10 of them anyway.

As soon as you give yourself permission to eat the sundae you’ll find the desire for it lessens…as it is no longer taboo.

I encourage you to practice this delightfully simple technique for as little as a week and notice how your food choices start to change for the better.

You’ll feel energised, vital, alive. You might surprise yourself at the healthy foods you start to crave because your body responds so positively. Can you imagine being addicted to feeling great?

Gradually, the cravings for the low-energy foods will give way to contemplation, and you’ll start to listen to your body’s own innate wisdom. It has been longing to speak to you, but you’ve always been too busy listening to someone else’s version of what you ought to eat.

Be your own guru.

Eat to nourish.

Come home to your body’s own natural wisdom.

Listen.

With nourishing love, Avril

Strauss, S. (2006) Clara Davis and the wisdom of letting children choose their own diets. CMAJ November 7, 2006 vol. 175 no. 10