Fiber is part of the carbohydrate group and is present to one degree or another in all grains, fruits, vegetables, pulses, legumes and nuts. Technically a non-starch polysaccharide or NSP for short, our digestive systems lack the necessary enzymes to break fiber down and so, as far as we are concerned, fiber is a calorie-free food. Animals that can extract energy from fiber have more than one stomach or have the ability to produce specialised enzymes so they can digest this tough plant-derived starch. For humans, although fiber does not contribute any energy to your daily diet, it provides numerous other health-related benefits.

Types of Fiber

Fiber can be classified as soluble or insoluble. This refers to its interaction with water. Soluble fiber forms a gel-like substance as it passes through your digestive track. Like a dry sponge, it soaks up liquid as it passes though your intestines and absorbs small but significant amounts of bile acid, cholesterol, fats and other such nastiness in your digestive system. Soluble fibre is found in the soft flesh of fruits, vegetables and grains. Think of soluble fiber as your friendly digestive-tract cleaner!

Insoluble fiber, sometimes called roughage, is found in the tough outer husk of grains as well as the skins of vegetables and fruit. Insoluble fiber passes through your digestive system like an old-fashioned bottle brush and gives it a good internal scrubbing. This helps keep your innards nice and clean!

Fibre Requirements

Despite being calorie and nutrient-free, fiber offers a wide range of health benefits. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) for fiber is around 35 grams per day, split evenly between soluble and insoluble varieties. Your total daily fiber requirement varies according to your age, weight and the amount of food you are eating which is why you may often see a recommended range for fiber consumption of 24 to 35 grams. As fiber is calorie free, there is little harm in making sure you hit the upper ranges of this scale. If you are currently eating too little fibre and decide, as the result of reading this article to eat more, increase your daily fiber intake gradually. Going from a low fiber diet to a high fibre diet overnight is like trying to run a marathon on the first day you take up jogging. Increase your fiber intake slowly and gradually over a few weeks to minimize your chances of suffering digestive discomfort.

Fiber Benefits

Weight Control – as previously discussed, fiber is calorie free. This means that foods that contain a lot of fibre such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables are generally lower in calories than less fibrously-dense foods. To put this in perspective, an apple and a typical biscuit both contain around 60 calories. Because much of the mass of the apple is made up from calorie-free fiber and water, compared to sugar and fat in the biscuit, the apple is bigger, far more filling and much more satisfying to eat. Most of us can eat a few biscuits in a single serving but it’s pretty unlikely you’ll eat the same number of apples!

Filling up on fiber is a great way to prevent overeating. Stretch receptors in your stomach send signals to your brain when it is full so you know when to stop eating. This message can take as long as 30 minutes to be sent and delivered. Fibrous foods cause greater gastric distension than non-fibrous foods. Simply put, this means you feel fuller, quicker which results in your brain getting the “stop eating” signal sooner than usual. This limits your potential for overeating.

In addition to being low in calories, fibrous foods generally take longer to chew and eat and keep you feeling fuller for longer. Fiber is a major gastric inhibitor. This simply means that fibre delays the emptying of your stomachs contents into your small intestine. The longer food stays in your stomach, the longer you feel full. A real-world example of this phenomenon is Chinese food. It’s an old truism that after eating a Chinese meal, 20 minutes later you are hungry again. Why? White rice! White rice is mostly devoid of fiber and subsequently passes out your stomach and into your small intestine very rapidly. This means you can go from feeling full to feeling empty very quickly.

By delaying gastric emptying, fiber also helps to control your blood glucose levels. Large fluctuations in blood glucose can trigger corresponding fluctuations in insulin levels. Roller coasting blood glucose levels play havoc with your hunger. A rapid drop in blood glucose can often result in cravings for carbohydrate (one reason never to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach!) so by ensuring that your stomach empties slowly, fibre helps ensure that your blood glucose levels remain relatively stable.

Digestive Health

The hollow tubes of your intestines are made of smooth muscle and like the muscles of your chest, arms and legs, benefit from a regular workout. Fibre provides the means to exercise your digestive system. A diet devoid of fiber will result in poor intestinal health in the same way that a lack of exercise will result in a flabby, weak body.

To push food though your digestive system, the smooth muscular tubes that make up your digestive tract must squeeze inward in an action called peristalsis. Picture a snake swallowing an egg and the wave-like undulations as the snake squeezes the egg down the length of its body – that’s peristalsis.

Low fiber foods do not travel though your hollow digestive tubes very easily. A large amount of pressure is required to push food along. Imagine trying to get the very last bit of toothpaste out of the tube – it’s a real challenge! Fiber adds bulk to your food and, consequently, it passes though your digestive system much more easily and with far less pressure. Easy food passage and reduced food transit time (the time it takes from ingestion to elimination) has a major impact on digestive health and is strongly linked to a lower incidence of diverticular disease, also known as diverticulitis. This is a painful and serious medical condition where bacteria-filled bulges develop in the walls of your intestines. By consuming adequate fibre, intestinal pressure is kept to a minimum and there is much less likelihood of developing this unpleasant disease.

Getting Enough

While getting enough fiber is very important, supplementation is seldom the best way. Fiber supplements such as bran and psyllium husks do indeed provide fiber but they do not provide any of the other nutritious benefits associated with eating fibrous fruits, vegetables and whole grains; specifically vitamins and minerals. An overreliance on fiber supplements may actually result in a vitamin and mineral deficiency. The best way to get enough fiber in your diet is to eat a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, grains and other natural food. Refined foods such as white bread, white rice, white pasta and processed meals contain very little fibre so, wherever possible, seek out foods in their most natural and unprocessed state. Simply following the old advice of eating an apple a day is one way to make sure you are on your way to getting enough essential fibre in your diet.

At some point or another, just about every exerciser commits to a fat loss workout programme and diet. This might because of a significant albeit gradual accumulation of body fat, because you want to get in great shape for a big event like a holiday or because you are contemplating entering a figure, fitness or body building show. Maybe you just want to look good naked?! Whatever the reason, there is a right way and a wrong way to get lean and stay lean.

Only around 2% of people who start diets actually keep the weight they have lost off. This depressing fact illustrates one thing – that many diets are simply too extreme for long term compliance. Diets like cabbage soup, Atkins, the Zone and South Beach may well work but if you can’t stick to them week after week, month after month then they are all but useless.

The secret to successful fat loss is making haste slowly. Fat accumulation can take years to happen, as in the case with “middle age spread” so it’s unrealistic to expect to be able to lose that accumulated body fat in just a few short weeks. Losing fat and, more importantly, keeping it off is about moderation and consistency. The best diet and training programme are nothing but waste paper if you can’t stick with it for an extended period of time.

As you probably know, body fat, properly called adipose tissue, is stored energy and is the result of a lack of activity, eating too much or a combination of both. Excess energy from carbohydrates, fats and even protein are converted to adipose tissue for later use. To use this stored energy, you have to eat less than normal which forces your body to use stored body fat to make up your energy intake shortfall.

The trouble is, if you reduce your calorific intake too much, you can trigger something called the starvation response. As well as being stored energy, fat is a secreting organ that produces a signalling hormone called leptin. If fat levels drop too quickly, so do leptin levels. The hypothalamus region of your brain detects this drop and goes into survival mode – the so-called starvation response. The starvation response results in the following “symptoms” which can completely unhinge your fat loss efforts.

• Reduced metabolic rate
• Break down of muscle into amino acids for fuel
• Increased production of lipoprotein lipase – a fat storage enzyme
• Increased hunger levels

As you can imagine, none of the above is particularly conducive to long term fat loss. The starvation response actually primes your body for fat gain so that, when your will power breaks and you go back to eating a less regimented diet, you not only gain back the fat you lost but also gain a little more! Not good at all.

So what is the solution?

Firstly, only reduce your calorific intake by around 10% below your daily maintenance requirements. If you need 2,500 calories a day to maintain your current weights, cut 250 calories a day from your intake.

Next, perform enough exercise a day to create a further 250 per day deficit. This gives you a combined calorie deficit of 500 per day which will result in a steady and predictable fat loss of around a pound a week.

Finally, follow these tips for eating smarter and not necessarily less. This will take you safely above the pound a week fat loss we have calculated for but without triggering the starvation response.

Build each meal around lean protein – it boosts your metabolism and provides essential amino acids which will help preserve your muscle mass during calorie restriction.

Eat lots of fibrous veggies – they really fill you up without providing much in the way of calories. Lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, courgettes and mushrooms are all excellent choices. 

Only consume starchy carbs like rice, potatoes, pasta etc. directly after exercise – these foods are great for raising blood glucose levels and therefore insulin levels which is essential for shunting nutrients into your muscle cells and speeding up the post-exercise recovery process. On the downside, insulin also inhibits fat burning. Optimize your insulin levels by only eating starchy carbs in the 1-2 hours after exercise.

Consume plenty of healthy fats – specifically omega three fatty acids. In addition to being anti-inflammatory, these fats also promote fat burning. It takes fat to burn fat – crazy but true!

Don’t drink your calories – sugary drinks don’t register at the hunger centres of your brain like food does. It’s very easy to consume a huge number of calories in liquid form and still feel hungry. Water is the best beverage for fat loss.

Build some muscle – strength training builds bigger muscles and muscle is metabolically active. That is to say, the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you need. A single kilo of muscle is estimated to require around 90 extra calories per day. Also, strategic strength training during a diet prevents muscle loss, unlike long duration cardio.

Do interval training – while long, slow cardio workouts may burn fat, they do so at an alarmingly slow rate. Interval training; periods of hard work interspersed with short rests, produces a lot of lactic acid. Lactic acid, in very simple terms, requires a lot of energy to clear it out of your system. This means that your metabolic rate is elevated for hours after an interval training session – a phenomenon called EPOC which is short for excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption and also known as after burn.

Supplement wisely – there are a number of supplements and other substances that can be beneficial in your quest for fat loss including green tea extract, caffeine, cinnamon, chillies and white willow bark extract. These substances work by either giving your more energy for your workouts, increasing your metabolism, increasing your sensitivity to insulin, reducing your appetite or a combination of the above. While not exactly miracles in powder form, these supplements and substances can give your fat loss efforts a real boost.

So, forget the crash diets and too good to be true eating plans that promise amazing results but almost always fail to deliver. Follow the advice above and you’ll be well on your way to losing fat and, more importantly, keeping it off for good.

Yesterday we told you about what not to do if you want to develop a strong core. Today, we’ve provided you with a list of our top five core exercises!

This is far from being an exhaustive list of exercises but each one will provide you with plenty of “bang for your buck” and challenge your core muscles to become stronger. Don’t try and do them all in the same workout though – chose 2-3 a day on non-consecutive days and perform 2-3 sets of each for best results.

1) Dead lifts
Not strictly a core exercise in the strictest sense of the word but none the less an excellent exercise to strengthen and develop the erector spinea muscles of the lower back. Dead lifting requires you to coordinate the efforts of your legs with your lower back and as such is a truly functional core exercise. A weak midsection will present its self during the dead lift as a rounding of the lower back so if you experience this you should reduce your training weight to avoid injury. If you don’t know how to dead lift, get some qualified instruction!

2) Cable Russian Twists
Rotational strength is vital in all sports and twisting sit ups and, worse still, broom stick twists are ineffective for developing strength. To develop strength we need to apply a significant overload to the muscles in question and twisting sit ups just won’t do it! The cable Russian twist allows us to load up the obliques – the muscles responsible for rotation – which is essential for strength development. To perform the cable Russian twist, adjust a cable pulley so it is set at about shoulder height. Stand side on to the cable and hold the handle in both hands. Keeping your legs slightly flexed and your arms straight, rotate your spine whilst imagining your upper body as a tank turret. Rotate through a full 180 degrees keeping your arms, chest and head all in perfect alignment. Repeat for 6-20 reps before changing sides.

3) Swiss ball crunches
Whilst traditional crunches on the floor will provide a minimal challenge for most fit sports people, performing crunches on a Swiss or stability ball should make the common crunch much more effective. The instability of the ball as it wobbles from side to side will “fire up” the abdominal muscles far more effectively and make the exercise much more challenging. To perform this exercise, sit on the ball and then walk your feet forwards until you are lying across the ball and it sits in the natural curve of your lower back. Place your hands either at your temples, crossed over your chest or on your legs. Make sure you start from an extended position – i.e. your head should be lower than your hips. Starting with your head, curl up one vertebra at a time until your abdominals are fully contracted before slowly inhaling and returning to your starting position. If you can perform more than 20 reps, try holding a weight plate or medicine ball on your chest. If you do perform the weighted version of this exercise you may need to anchor your feet to avoid rolling off the ball. 

4) Saxon side bends
This exercise, named after Arthur Saxon – a historically famous English strongman, is super effective for working all of the core musculature. To perform Saxon side bands stand with feet hip width apart and hold a single dumbbell or medicine ball held overhead in both hands. Avoiding any forward, backward or twisting movements, lean to one side whilst keeping your arms extended overhead.  Bend to the side as far as your flexibility allows before returning to the middle position. Immediately bend to the other side and continue for the desired number of repetitions. The secret to this exercise is the long lever provided by holding a weight above your head.

5) Swiss ball mountain climbers
This unusual exercise is a dynamic stability exercise which requires you to maintain core control despite the movement of your legs. This is a primary function of the core muscles in sport and is a valuable exercise for all sportsmen and women. Place your hands on either side of a medium Swiss/stability ball and walk your feet backwards so you are in a press up position. Brace your abs as hard as you can to maintain core tension. Alternately pull one knee and then the other into your chest whilst making sure your midsection doesn’t move but be careful not to hold your breath. The faster you more the legs the more “wobble” you’ll need to stabilise and the more demanding the exercise will be. To make the exercise even more demanding, try elevating your feet on an exercise bench.

6) Barbell or ab wheel roll outs
One of the most challenging core exercises you can do is called the roll out and can be performed using a loaded barbell or an ab wheel device designed especially for this exercise. If you are using a barbell, place a 5-10kg weight plate at each end of the bar and secure them in place with collars. Kneel on an exercise mat in front of the bar and place both hands at about shoulder width apart with an overhand grip. Simultaneously extend your hips and shoulders to lean forwards and push the bar away from you. Keep your core tight throughout and avoid extending your spine – if you feel any discomfort in your lower back you have gone too far. Pause at the most extended position you can manage for 1-2 seconds before bending your hips and using your abs and shoulders to pull yourself back to the kneeling position. This exercise will challenge even the strongest core! If you get to the point where you can do 20 perfect reps on your knees, you’re ready to try this exercise from the standing position but, be warned, you may find you can barely perform a single rep of this ultra-hard exercise.

Vitamins and minerals are the very sparkplugs your body needs for life. In fact, if your diet is deficient in vitamins and/or minerals, ill health is likely to be the result. Whilst vitamins and minerals don’t contain any meaningful energy themselves, they allow your body to unlock energy within the macronutrients and also act as biological catalysts in the myriad reactions that occur in your body. A diet that is lacking in vitamins and minerals results in sluggish or even a complete absence of life-sustaining reactions. For example, it is common knowledge that that vitamin C can help you ward off a cold. This is because vitamin C plays an important role in immune system function. Ironically, many people only worry about their vitamin C intake when they actually get a cold, by which time it’s too late!

Types of Vitamins

We get vitamins from plant foods or from animals that have eaten plant foods. We also synthesise a small amount of vitamins in our digestive tracts. Vitamins are organic compounds that can be classed as water or fat soluble.

Fat Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins A, D, E and K are transported and utilized in the presence of fat and, subsequently, do not have to be eaten every day as you can store them in your body. Because you can build up high levels of these micronutrients, it is possible, albeit unlikely, to reach toxic levels if you consume a large amount. This phenomenon was exploited by tanning supplement manufacturers. Back in the early 80’s, you could buy tanning tablets. These were in fact mega-doses of beta carotene. Beta carotene is converted by your body to vitamin A and an excess of vitamin a turns your skin bright orange! Add a bit of sun to your orange skin and you develop an excellent tan in next-to-no-time – or at least that was the idea. The reality was you looked like the Tango man and not only did your skin turn bright orange, so did your nails, the whites of your eyes, the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet. Take it from someone who tried – it wasn’t the most natural or flattering of looks!

Water Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins B and C are soluble in water. This means that you need to consume them on a daily basis as your body is unable to store them in any meaningful amounts. Any excess is eliminated in your urine which is why high doses of vitamin C can turn your urine bright green! Too much vitamin B and C are seldom toxic as your body simply flushes away the surplus but that doesn’t mean you should go overboard. Too much vitamin C can increase the acidity levels in your digestive and urinary system and cause an upset stomach.

Minerals

Minerals are inorganic compounds that are present in the very earth in which your food grows. Plants absorb the minerals and then we eat the plants. Minerals are vital for numerous processes within your body including regulating fluid balance, muscle contractions, bone formation and nerve function. Like vitamins, minerals are essential for health and wellbeing. For example, a lack of calcium could increase your risk of developing osteoporosis whereas a lack of iron will negatively affect your ability to transport oxygen in your blood.

How Much is Enough?

The nutritional information label on pre-packaged food often lists vitamin and mineral content. Food manufacturers often boast that their products contain 100 percent of, for example, your RDA of vitamin C. But what does RDA actually mean and is 100 percent actually worth boasting about?

When it comes to vitamin and mineral consumption, there are a wide number of opinions as to how much you actually need. While one authority may recommend fractions of a gram, another will recommend multiple grams. It seems no one can really agree as to what quantity of vitamins and minerals you need to consume for health and wellbeing. Subsequently, there are a number of dietary reference values or DRVs for vitamin and mineral consumption.

RDA – Recommended daily allowance. RDA is the absolute minimum amount of vitamins and minerals required. This does not guarantee good health but simply survival. This is a very low figure! RDA is so low that many food manufacturers’ can boast their products contain upward of 100 percent of your RDA. 100 percent of a small number is still a small number. Most people would benefit from exceeding their vitamin and mineral RDA.

EAR – Estimated Average Requirements. EAR caters for around 50 percent of the population. It’s a bigger amount than RDA but some groups will still be deficient if they only meet these targets. The elderly, children, nursing mothers, hard training sportsmen and those convalescing from illness need more vitamins and minerals than the EAR suggested figures.

RNI – Reference Nutritional Intake. RNI caters for around 70 percent of the population but some groups such as hard training sportsmen would still deficient even if they achieved the RNI intake guidelines. Because this is a significantly higher figure than RDA, it is very unlikely you will see many food manufactures boasting about 100 percent RNI scores.

Getting what you need

Consider the standard advice to eat five portions of fruit or vegetables as your RDA – a very low target. If you want to achieve RNI levels of vitamins and mineral consumption you will probably have to double the standard five-a-day advice. For some people, this level of fruit and vegetable intake is prohibitive and subsequently, many of us rely on vitamin and mineral supplements. There is nothing wrong with this per se but it is important to remember that even the most well designed and expertly manufactured vitamin and mineral supplement will be missing many of the nutrients that are essential to life which are only found in “real” food. In addition to vitamins and minerals, there are literally thousands of other healthful compounds in your food including phytochemicals, pro-vitamins, enzymes and anti oxidants that are rarely, if ever, included in vitamin and mineral supplements. An over reliance on supplements means that you could be missing out an entire spectrum of essential nutrients. Whilst a vitamin and mineral supplement can provide a useful nutritional safety net they should not be considered as a viable alternative to a healthy balanced diet.

So, for your New Year’s Resolution you have made the decision to start getting some exercise – that’s great! But where should you start your journey from Couch Potato to Fitness Fanatic? In this article, I hope to help you map out a plan to get you on the road to improved health, fitness and wellbeing. 

Step One: Get a check up. It’s an irrefutable fact that exercise is good for you. It can reduce your chances of suffering many common chronic diseases, help you control your weight, improve your general health, and give you more energy and so on. There is a long list of benefits associated with exercise but exercise also comes with some risks. Because of this it is vital that you get a full medical examination before commencing your new exercise regime. Your doctor will be able to screen you for any medical conditions which may worsen because of your new routine. It is very VERY rare for a medical practitioner to tell you not to exercise, but they may suggest certain restrictions if a particular condition is discovered – e.g. low impact exercise for morbidly obese exercisers or avoiding overhead weight lifting in hypertensives. If in doubt – get checked out! 

Step Two: Decide on how much time you can realistically spare for exercise. The truth is that if you are short of time and your exercise programme becomes an inconvenience, it is very likely that your plan will be a non-starter or certainly a short runner. Calculate exactly how much time you have spare each day and look for ways to maximise that time. Are you really going to want to commute for an extra hour to get to the gym across town? Or are there better ways to use your valuable spare time? Remember it is not necessary to spend hours and hours exercising every day. 20-30 minutes, 3-5 times a week will yield amazing benefits. The average person spends 4 hours a day watching TV…you need to find less than 4 hours per week for exercise! 

Step Three: Explore your exercise options. There are literally hundreds of ways for you to exercise. Some will suit you perfectly, others will be completely unsuited to your needs, your personality or your goals. You can choose from aerobics classes to weight training, from Pilates to swimming, from jogging to tennis. From the almost endless list of possibilities, choose activities which you think you will enjoy. If you have “two left feet” then maybe hip-hop aerobics isn’t going to be for you. Not a great fan of loud music, shiny chrome and mirrors? Maybe the local Fitness Studio isn’t for you. I guarantee you that there are plenty of activities out there which will suit your personality and physicality so do some research, look around and then select something you feel comfortable with and not intimidated by. The caveat is that whatever your chose, you should enjoy. 

Step Four: Make a commitment. A plan is just a meaningless piece of paper unless you commit to following it. Decide on a start date for your new, healthy lifestyle and zero in on it. Make it an appointment in your diary and stick to it. Work towards it so that when you reach your intended commencement day, you are ready to start. Plan ahead for this day. Have you booked your place in the class? Bought some appropriate work out clothing? Arranged a baby sitter? Do everything in your power to make this as easy a process as possible. The last thing you want is for uncontrollable details to derail your new healthy lifestyle. 

Step Five: Do it! Get off the couch, out the door and get started. Procrastination will ruin even the very best intentions. A journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step or so they say, so make that first step now. Your old life of inactivity has an inertia all of its own and it’s absolutely vital that you make a clean break from it. Put it behind you and move onwards and upwards into your new healthy lifestyle. Treat this change like a battle – attack it with tenacity and aggression and you WILL win. 

Step Six: Stick with it. You’ve done the hard part – you got started. Now you need to keep that momentum and maintain your new active lifestyle. Tell your friends what you are doing, keep a workout diary, and set your self some goals. Take a look at my article “Habits of Effective Exercisers” and you’ll learn about a number of excellent strategies designed to help should your motivation levels start to wane. 

Step Seven: Enjoy it! Look back on what you have achieved and take pride in it. At the very least you have broken away from the gravity of your couch and have now made moves towards a new, healthier lifestyle. And remember, it’s not a race – there’s no hurry, take it a day at a time, a workout at a time and you WILL make improvements and progress. You will have done what many people never manage to do – taken positive steps to improve your health and fitness. Good for you! 

I hope that gives you a plan of action to get up, out and exercising. It’s time to stop thinking about getting fit and start doing something about it – Just do it! The rewards are huge!

Like a car needs the correct fuel to run optimally, your body needs the right foods to fuel your workouts and provide the necessary nutrients for growth and recovery. Eating a well balanced diet can greatly enhance the benefits you experience as a result of your weight training workouts. Regardless of whether your weight training goals are toning, muscle building, muscular endurance or weight loss, good nutritional practices will ensure you achieve your targets as quickly as possible.

The Need for Protein
Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth. Training with weights causes your muscles to break down and your body responds by making your muscles bigger, stronger and, therefore, better able to cope with the demands of subsequent workouts. This process is called anabolism and requires are good supply of amino acids which are derived from protein foods. Foods that supply protein include eggs, fish, meat, soya and quinoa. According to most experts, you need approximately two grams (0.07 ounces) of protein per kilo (2.2 pounds) of body weight spread evenly throughout the day.

Carbohydrates for Energy
Carbohydrates, obtained from foods such as bread, rice, fruit and vegetables, are broken down by your body to make glucose and glucose is the primary fuel used by your muscles when working out with weights. Carbohydrate is essential for fueling an active lifestyle and is also your primary source of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals all of which are essential to your health.

Dietary Fats
Dietary fats are an energy dense but very important part of our diets but, if eaten to excess, can cause weight gain. Weight gain in the form of body fat can have a negative effect on both appearance and health and is best avoided where possible. Dietary fats are obtained from meat, dairy, oils and convenience foods and while they should not be avoided completely, you should only consume enough fat for your daily requirements. Most health authorities suggest that fats should only make up around 20 to 30 percent of your total daily calorific intake. Some fats are considered especially healthy including omega 3 and omega 6 fats which are derived from plants, seeds, nuts and fish. Saturated and trans fats, however, are considered much less healthy and are often linked to diseases such as coronary heart disease and diabetes.

Vitamins and Minerals—Spark Plugs for Life
Vitamins and minerals are derived from plants, dairy and some animals and are vital for health and functions throughout your body. If your diet is deficient in vitamins and minerals you may find you are ill more often or fail to see the results you deserve from your workout routine. Vitamin B6, vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc and manganese are all important nutrients for regular weight trainers as they support the anabolic process by helping to regulate hormones, by assisting energy production or repairing muscle damage. You should get the majority of your vitamins and minerals by eating a wide variety of nutritious foods but you may also wish to supplement your diet with vitamin and/or mineral tablets if you feel you need more.

The Need for Water
Your body is made of around 70 percent water. Your body uses water as the medium for chemical reactions, to regulate temperature and also to lubricate your digestive system and joints. Although water contains no energy, it is essential for the health and function of your body. Weight training raises your core temperature and your body uses sweat to keep you cool so as an exerciser, you need more water than a sedentary person. Aim to consume around two quarts of water a day plus and extra quart per hour of exercise. If you are working out in a hot gym, you may need more than this.

Your body is made up of between 65 to 75 percent water so a ten stone (140 pound/64 kilogram) person’s body contains around 42 to 48 litres of water! It’s no wonder then that virtually every nutritional expert places a high value on hydration, rehydration and avoiding dehydration.

Water is a number of functions in your body including:

• Temperature regulation through sweating
• Movement of chemicals around your body
• Medium for chemical reactions
• Lubrication of digestive tract
• Elimination of waste materials and toxins
• Integral part of all muscles
• Provides a carrier medium for blood cells – known as plasma

Water is the most essential part of your diet. You can live for quite a long time without food as even the leanest person has a significant supply of body fat but, as we cannot store much water and it is essential for virtually every reaction that occurs in your body, you won’t live more than a few days without water to drink.

Staying Hydrated

As it is water your body needs, it is water you should drink but there are numerous opinions about how much water you need. The most common hydration recommendation is six to eight tall glasses of water a day; the equivalent of around two litres. Interestingly, this figure has absolutely no scientific basis and is not the result of any studies, medical journals or statistical research. It’s simply a figure that was proposed back in 1945 by the American Nutrition and Food Board that was adopted by just about everyone thereafter. That is not to say that these figures are wrong but only that two litres is an arbitrary number based on one organization’s opinion as opposed to scientific fact.

Rather than focus on the amount that your body MAY need, it is better to focus on what your body actually DOES need. The best determinant of your water needs are your thirst and your urine colour and output.

Thirst

Thirst should be  our best hydration indicator. Our caveman ancestors’ probably only used thirst to govern their water drinking habits. If you were thirsty, you needed to drink. Simple! The problem now is that,  because modern man often slakes his thirst with sweetened, calorie dense beverages, thirst and hunger signals can become confused. In other words, you might feel hungry but, in reality, you are actually thirsty but your brain gets the signals all turned around! This was not a problem for our non-sugary drinking ancestors. Subsequently, thirst has become a less accurate indicator of hydration. Because of this lack of thirst sensitivity, it is better to drink enough water to avoid thirst in the first place.

Urine Colour and Output

Other than your first urination of the day, most experts agree that your urine should be relatively clear, fairly copious and also odourless. Dark, smelly and infrequent urination can be a sign of dehydration and the less than rosy odour suggests a build up of undiluted toxins and waste-products. 

By avoiding thirst and making sure most of your urinations are a light straw-like colour and neutral smelling, you can be confident that your body as all the water it needs to maintain healthy metabolic and thermoregulatory functions.

Dehydration

Mild dehydration is common. A hard workout, too much coffee or alcohol, too little water or hot weather can all result in less than optimal water levels in your body. This is not a serious problem if this is a short term or infrequent occurrence but regular and/or long term dehydration can cause numerous performance and medical related problems.

Signs of Dehydration – in approximate order of onset and severity

• Dry mouth (sometimes referred to as “cotton mouth”)
• Reduced urine output
• Dark, odious urine
• Headache
• Muscle cramps
• Fatigue
• Cessation of sweating
• Hot, dry skin
• Elevated heart rate
• Confusion
• Elevated core temperature
• Heart palpitations
• Unconsciousness
• Kidney failure
• Coma
• Death

Too Much of a Good Thing?

While water is essential for life, too much water can actually be harmful to your health. Although very rare, some people have suffered from a condition called hyponatraemia, also known as water intoxication. This condition can manifest if you drink very large volumes of water, for example during a long distance running event where you consume significantly more water than you are losing by over taking on water at each and every feed station. This results in a dangerous dilution of essential minerals, collectively called electrolytes; specifically sodium. Sodium is essential for muscle contractions, regulating inter and extracellular fluid levels and pressure as well as controlling heart rate and rhythm. A significant enough sodium dilution can even prove to be fatal. Needless to say, this is a very rare occurrence and is usually the result of an underlying medical condition combined with an extreme excess in water or sports drink consumption.

Sports Drinks

No discussion of hydration would be complete without mentioning sports drinks. With so many on the market and so much advertorial information telling you what drink you should consume when, it can be very hard to choose a sports drink that is ideally suited to your needs.

The first question to ask yourself is, however,  do you really need a sports drink? If you are exercising for 60 minutes or less, are exercising for weight loss and have eaten properly in the hours leading up to your workout, I would suggest that plain water is more suited to your purposes. If, on the other hand, you are not eaten properly before training, are going to be working for 60 minutes or more and are not trying to burn fat during your workout, a sports drink is an acceptable way to stay hydrated. There are three main types of sports drinks:

• Hypotonic
  With a very low amount of carbohydrate, a hypotonic drink is mostly about hydration and offers very little in the way of fuel. That being said, ingesting carbohydrates can suppress fat burning so water is the better choice if that is your exercise goal
• Isotonic
  Containing around 6 grams of carbohydrate per 100 millilitres of water, isotonic drinks are the most common sports drinks. Usually engineered to provide a mix of slow, medium and fast acting sugars for energy plus essential electrolytes, an isotonic drink provides fuel and hydrating fluids in equal measure. Isotonic drinks are ideal for long workouts where a drop in blood glucose or muscle glycogen levels would result in decreased performance. However, the carbohydrate content and extra calories in these types of products would negate most of the benefits of a fat-burning workout.
• Hypertonic
  Ten plus grams of sugar per 100 millilitres of water means that hypertonic drinks are more food than fluid. The high level of sugar may actually interfere with water absorption so these drinks are not ideal for helping you stay well-hydrated. If you chose to use a hypertonic drink, you should also consume plenty of plain water to make sure that you rehydrate as well as refuel.

The bottom line is that your body needs copious amounts of water to function properly and while soft drinks, coffee, tea, alcoholic beverages, fruits and vegetables can all contribute to your daily fluid intake, it is water that your body needs. Avoid getting thirsty, drink as much as you need to keep your urinations frequent and mostly clear, drink plain water during most types of exercise and use sports drinks wisely and you’ll be well on your way to avoiding dehydration.

There a many supplements available that claim they will enhance your figure, physique, performance or health. The best ones are backed with independent studies which confirm the claims of the manufacturers. Workout supplements can be beneficial and boost your exercise performance but it’s important to realize that they won’t replace a healthy diet of hard work. However they may provide you with the edge you are looking for.  Choose your supplements wisely and buy the best quality products you can afford because, according to Jose Antonio and Jeffrey R. Stout in their book Sports Supplements, product quality can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Creatine
Creatine has been proven in many studies and is effective for boosting your muscle strength, power and size. To use creatine, you should take 20 grams, split into 4 doses, a day for 5 days and then reduce your intake to 2 to 5 grams a day thereafter. Creatine will increase your stores of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) which is the chemical that powers your muscular contractions. Creatine supplementation is popular with people involved in strength training, weight lifting and sports than involve short bursts of activity such as football or sprinting.  

HMB
HMB (Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate) is a metabolite of the amino acid leucine and has anti-catabolic properties. HMB has been shown to reduce exercise induced muscle breakdown. If you are involved in any form of intense exercise, HMB supplementation will help you recover faster from your workouts by promoting recovery and muscle repair. To get the best from HMB supplementation, take 2 to 4 grams in split doses a day. Larger doses are ineffective as any excess will be excreted in your urine. 

Whey protein
Protein supplementation can be very beneficial if you are involved in strength training and whey protein is considered to be the highest biological value protein available. If your diet contains insufficient protein, your body will not have enough of the essential building blocks it needs-called amino acids-to repair your muscles after your workouts. Whey protein provides a quick and convenient way for you to get adequate protein into your diet and can be used to make up any protein shortfall in your daily protein intake. Excess protein does not automatically turn into muscle and may even turn into fat so avoid consuming weight protein over and above your daily requirements. Choose whey protein products that contain no artificial colors, flavours or sweeteners as they may have an adverse effect on your health.

ZMA
ZMA stands for Zinc l-monomethionine aspartate and is a special blend of: zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. If you are involved in rigorous exercise you are, according to Bill Philips in his book Sports Supplements review, likely to be deficient in these essential nutrients. ZMA has been shown to elevate testosterone levels, strengthen the immune system, improve mood, delay fatigue and enhance restful sleep. You should take ZMA at bedtime to enhance your recovery from exercise while you sleep. ZMA is suitable for all types of exerciser.

 Branch Chain Amino Acids
The branch chain amino acids-BCAA for short-leucine, isoleucine and valine, are broken down within your muscles during intense exercise. The supplementation of BCAAs can enhance your recovery after heavy resistance training and are used by people involved in strength training. Some studies also suggest that BCAAs are beneficial to endurance athletes as they may prevent fatigue and help reduce muscle breakdown (catabolism). For best results, take 3 to 5 grams of BCAAs 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after exercise.

L Carnitine
L Carnitine is a supplement that has a wide spectrum of positive effects including increased delivery of oxygen to your muscles, reduces muscle damage and soreness, maintenance of normal testosterone levels, improved recovery after strenuous exercise, improved mental function, alertness and improved memory. To get the most benefits from L Carnitine supplementation you should take 1 to 2 grams a day on an empty stomach.

Food is one of life’s necessities—your body needs an almost constant supply of food and water to keep it functioning properly. A good diet, consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meat, fish, eggs and dairy provides etc not only provides energy but vitamins, minerals and fiber too. Modern convenience foods, treats such as candy and ice cream, many breakfast cereals and pre-prepared foods contain plenty of energy but are often devoid of the essential nutrients needed to maintain your health. There are a number of dangers that can be attributed to a bad diet.

Obesity
A poor diet will probably include numerous processed foods which often contain lots of refined sugars and fats. These foods will be very energy-dense and, if consumed in excess, will result in weight gain. A significant gain in weight is referred to as obesity. Defined as an accumulation of body fat to the degree that ill health may result, people with obesity are more prone to coronary heart disease, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, stroke, respiratory infections and premature mortality.

Diabetes
When you eat carbohydrate foods, such as bread, your blood glucose levels rise. Your body produces insulin which transports the glucose from your blood and into your cells for energy or storage for later use. A diet that results in obesity or that contains too much sugar can result in diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects your ability to process carbohydrates. There are two main types of diabetes—type one where no insulin is produced and type two where insulin is produced but is unable to perform its job properly. Both types of diabetes result in a rise in blood sugar levels which can be fatal if left unchecked. Although diabetes can be genetic, a poor diet can significantly increase your chances of developing both forms of the disease.

Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is often associated with a high salt intake. High blood pressure can have a negative effect on the health of your heart, eyes and kidneys. Many convenience foods, commonplace in a poor diet, contain large amounts of salt, for example pre-prepared TV dinners, processed meats and savory snacks such as potato chips. Although not physically addictive, salt is something that some people find very hard to cut back on, especially if they enjoy the taste.

Coronary Heart Disease
Coronary Heart Disease or CHD for short is the narrowing or occlusion of the arteries that keep the heart supplied with oxygenated blood. If the blood that supplies the heart is cut off, sections of the heart will become damaged which can result in a heart attack which may be fatal. CHD is often attributed to an over consumption of saturated fat which is sometimes described as artery-clogging fat. Many convenience foods are high in fat which, in addition to being very calorie dense, may increase the risk of developing CHD.

Tooth Decay
Many of the foods that are considered to be unhealthy contain large amounts of refined sugar. This may be in the form of glucose syrup, refined corn syrup, fructose or any number of other variants. All sugars are very acidic and will attack the tough enamel that covers your teeth. Sodas—some of which contain upwards of eight teaspoons of sugar per serving, processed fruit juices, candies, cakes, cookies and even breakfast cereals all contain large amounts of some form of sugar.

One of life’s greatest ironies is that the very substance that is essential for keeping us humans alive is also the thing that contributes to our eventual demise. That substance is oxygen. Oxygen is necessary for just about every life-sustaining reaction that occurs on your body; just try holding your breath and you’ll soon see what I mean! Unfortunately, around five percent of all aerobic activity results in the production of something called Reactive Oxygen Species or ROS for short. ROS or, as they are more commonly known, free radicals, are oxygen-carrying molecules with an unpaired electron in their outer shells.
 
The main problem is that free radicals want to have paired electrons and so, they bounce into other molecules and, for all intents and purposes, mug them for an electron. The mugging “victim” also wants to be balanced and does so by mugging another molecule. Once this reaction starts, it can take days to stop and all the while damage is being done to millions of the cells that make up your body. Cell damage can result in cell mutation or cells simply dying off faster than they can be replaced. This is the very essence of aging and age-related physical degeneration.

Free radicals are known to cause damage to:

• DNA – essentially the blueprints that tell your cells how to function and replicate
• Your arteries – free radicals cause your blood vessels to harden and lose elasticity
• Your cell membranes – which exposes cell bodies to damage
• Synovial joints – resulting in degenerative arthritic conditions
• Your eyes – resulting in age-related macular degeneration
• Your skin – one of the reasons your skin loses elasticity, gains wrinkles and gets thinner with age

In addition to breathing, the following are also causes or free-radical production and damage:

• Pollution
• Smoking
• Oxidized unsaturated fats – trans fats
• Ultra-violet radiation – the sun and sunbeds
• Stress
• Aerobic exercise – increased mitochondrial activity
• Strength training – ischemic reperfusion injury and micro tears in muscle fibres

Yes – exercise causes increased free-radical production! But, before you hang up your running shoes and put away your barbells, it is important to realize one very important factor. Whilst exercise DOES increase free radical production, it is also the trigger for the production of anti-oxidative enzymes which “cancel out” the damage caused by exercise. Incidentally, mitochondria are the cells where energy is produced for all activities and ischemic reperfusion injury is the trauma caused by cutting off the blood supply into muscles and then forcing blood back in which happens whenever a muscle contracts forcefully. Strength training also causes micro tears in your muscle fibres which is why they grow back stronger and thicker. So now you know…

Anti-Oxidative Defences
We are not defenceless against free-radicals. Our bodies are very capable of fighting off the effects of evil ROS. Exercise increases your production of anti-oxidative enzymes – AOE for short. These enzymes have the power to stop free radical reactions in their tracks by donating or receiving an electron without becoming unbalanced themselves. The AOE may have complicated-sounding names but luckily we don’t need to be able to list these soldiers in the war against ROS – they go into battle for us regardless.

The primary AOE are:

• Superoxide dismutase
• Catalase
• Methione Reductase
• Glutathione Peroxidase
• Heme-Oxygenase-1

In addition to the AOE, there are also a number of anti-oxidative nutrients, AON for short, that can also give up or receive electrons to put a halt to free radical damage.

The primary AON are:

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Zinc
• Copper
• Selenium
• Manganese

Foods rich in AONs are rated according to their ability to absorb ROS using the ORAC scale. Standing for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, the ORAC scale states which foods offer the most “bang for your buck” in terms of free radical defense. Foods that score very highly on the ORAC scale are often described as “super foods” and it seems barely a week goes past without a new super food being championed by the media. Regardless of the foods, super or otherwise, you eat, it is suggested that you consume around 3,000 ORAC units a day. While this might sound like a lot, a few portions of fresh fruit and vegetables, some natural unsweetened cocoa and a glass of red wine is going to take you well above this figure.

ORAC units per 100 grams/3.5 ounces of some common foods:

Unprocessed cocoa Powder 26,000
Dark chocolate 13,200
Prunes 5,770
Raisins 2,830
Blueberries 2,400
Blackberries 2,036
Kale 1,770
Strawberries 1,540
Spinach 1,290
Raspberries 1,220
Brussels Sprouts 980
Plums 949
Alfalfa Sprouts 930
Broccoli Florets 890
Beets 840
Oranges 750
Red Bell Peppers 710
Red Grapes 739
Cherries 670
Onion 450
Corn 400
Aubergine 390

While free radicals are clearly something we need to control, over consumption of anti oxidative nutrients is by no means a guarantee of eternal youth or a disease-free life. Studies have been inconclusive as the long term effect of overconsumption of AONs. The consensus of opinion is that too few AON can definitely lead to ill health but too much may be ineffective at best and unhealthy at worse. Some free radical activity is essential and is one of the triggers for increased fitness and strength after demanding exercise and white blood cells produce free radicals to help fight bacterial infections. It’s not simply a case of all free radicals being bad.

The bottom line is, minimize the production of excessive free radicals by avoiding pollutants, enjoying but not abusing exposure to the sun, not smoking, avoiding trans fats, keeping stress levels to a minimum, exercising regularly but not chronically and enjoying a well-balanced diet rich in naturally nutrient-dense foods. By following these simple tips, you should be well on your way to winning the war on free radicals.