Battling the cookie monster

‪The other day I read a very interesting article by Patrick Holford on why we can end up eating cookies after a bad day‬ at work.
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‪Patrick is one of the leading nutritionists in the UK and is very into his research - usually as evidence as to the importance of food with respect to health. This article was on a growing body of research that shows that giving in to temptation has more to do with physical fatigue than moral weakness.

The research suggests that exercising will power is actually like exercising a muscle, using up energy and tiring during the day. So you start the day able to resist the cookie jar, but by the time you get home you can't help yourself.

Therefore anything else that uses up energy - a stressful day at work, running around after your kids - can effect your ability to resist temptation afterwards.

City life can be pretty stressful and I'm sure we've all gone home and tucked straight into some ice cream at some point in our lives (I certainly have)! However if you find yourself regularly turning into a post-work cookie monster then that's probably a sign that you should be having an afternoon snack or even just something small before you leave the office to top up your blood sugar levels thereby boosting your willpower. Also if you do get home ravenous then have a piece of fruit when you get in to satisfy your sweet tooth and buy you some time to cook a healthy dinner.

ps If you want to learn more about nutrition and optimum health I'd highly recommend signing up for Patrick's newsletter www.patrickholford.com
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Yogalicious

Zen Dog here - talking complete Yoga.......

A lot of people associate yoga with contorting themselves in a class of super skinny people!  Infact most of us can't, and never will be able to, put our leg around our neck but that doesn't mean you can't have a yoga practice.  Yoga is for everyone and can help to keep you supple and strong and also dissipate stress and release tension.  

My yoga practice started with some free dvd's in the Daily Mail a few years ago and eight months later I was in India, sweating profusely and trying to elegantly slide around on my mat whilst doing Warrior poses in an Ashtanga class in Mysore.  If you are interested in trying to start a yoga practice or deepen your existing yoga practice I have come up with a few ideas that will hopefully inspire your yoga wherever you are and whatever you are doing (I have listed all websites at the end).

The main objective when practising yoga is to be safe and not push your limits so you are experiencing any pain or uncomfortable sensations.  Going into and coming out of postures safely and with awareness, combined with building strength alongside the flexibility are key factors to a long and healthy yoga practice.  Normally you would only get this knowledge from attending some classes, so investing in a yoga course could help your long term practice.  Normally a beginner course is one night a week for 6-8 weeks and it should build you up progressively with good foundation skills you can take home to your mat.  

Once you feel you have some grounding then there are so many ways to keep it going at home so you can integrate it into a busy life.  One of the fantastic websites I use for a home yoga class is My Yoga Online.  It has a huge variety of yoga levels and styles and a lot of them have been filmed during an actual yoga class.  My Yoga Online also has classes in pilates, meditation and dance and the price per month is the equivalent of about £6.50 (its a US site) to have access to all of them!

Some other ways of practising at home are with dvds or podcasts.  The free dvds I got with the Daily Mail, back in 2007, were by Yogi Marlon and they were 20 minutes snippets with a lot of guidance (I did spy some on Ebay going for about a £1 today!)  Also when I was first interested in yoga a friend lent me the Geri Yoga dvd.  The yoga on the dvd is actually led by Katy Appleton and I found her very clear and thorough. 

It is very common now that yoga teachers are teaching to a wider audience via download and there are some very diverse and interesting ones out there.  One way of checking out a teacher before buying a dvd or download is to look on YouTube.  This is what I do if I am researching a new teachers' perspective or teaching technique and to make sure it will work for me.

There are some great free podcasts on iTunes by Bristol Community Yoga and also a meditation download for £7.99 by Sparkling Meditation, Elena Mironov. Yoga Journal magazine online has some mini classes for specific postures you may be having difficulty with and also pictures and descriptions of the postures that can help any level of practice.  It is also a fountain of knowledge when it comes to the philosophy and spiritual aspects of yoga with short articles and guest writers.

Once you start your practice you could then combine this with the occasional one day or weekend retreat either in the UK or abroad.  A retreat could also start you on the road of Yoga if you didn't want to do a course.  Short retreats can be a cost effective way of enhancing your knowledge and developing new ideas to add to your practice.  If you are really keen for an intensive experience then go for a week long retreat somewhere warm and exotic.  If you think a week of just yoga may be too much for you then there are holidays combining yoga with spa treatments, festivals or even something like surfing so you can have the variety and also meet like-minded people.  

Sometimes people go to yoga classes/practice at home for a while and then start to wonder about the yogic philosophy.  If you are looking for a more intensive experience then maybe a teacher training is the next step.  You don't have to go and be a teacher after the teacher training, some people do it because it is a structured way of learning more about the practice, philosophy, history, anatomy and different styles of yoga to then be able to have a deeper self practice or help others with theirs.  A 200 hour Yoga Alliance registered teacher training is normally 4 weeks at 5.5 to 6 days of study a week or one weekend a month for 18-24 months, but do your research as they vary greatly in price, standard and location.

One thing to always make sure when looking at courses or home classes is that teachers are either British Wheel of Yoga or Yoga Alliance registered so you can be sure of the safety and standard of the teaching.

I have recently invested in some Yoga Paws so I can practice yoga without carrying my mat with me.  They are super-gripping palm and foot gloves to help provide traction on any surface. (http://www.yogapaws.com/).  It provides much more freedom of when and where you can practice yoga as they fit in your handbag/rucksack and are very light.

Remember that you don't have to pressure yourself into a 60-90 minute practice everyday like Madonna (actually she probably does way more than that!) as even 15-20 minutes is enough to feel the benefit and make changes to your body and your health.  Research has shown that the body prefers the regularity rather than the length of your practice.  The time you do take on your yoga mat is your personal nurturing time and your body will love you for it.   

On a final note - Yoga is unity.  Unity within you and unity with what is around you.  Yoga is not all about practising postures.  Yoga can be practised any time, anywhere.  You are in yoga when you are swimming and for a moment you have the perfect stroke and your body is floating and you are totally in that moment.  It is yoga when you are running and feel like every care in the world has fallen away and you could run forever because your body is being carried along.  It is also yoga when your body tells you that is feels unwell and would like to just sit quietly today rather than stepping on the cross trainer or going to a hot yoga class.  Create the awareness and you create the yoga.

Here are just a selection of websites to explore the different ways of getting into and furthering any yoga practice you embark upon.  I hope you enjoy the exploration....

home yoga

websites:

http://www.myyogaonline.com/

http://www.yogalearningcenter.com/videos/

DVD's: 

Geri yoga (about £4 on Amazon)

Shiva Rea DVD 'Yoga for Beginners' (+ many other yoga dvds for different levels)

Ana Forrest Strength & Spirit DVD for beginner and intermediate

Katy Appleton

Gaiam selection of DVD's have very good teachers

yoga app on iTunes: 

Akhanda Yoga

Yoga Journal iPractice

podcasts on iTunes:

www.bristolcommunityyoga.com

www.yogadownload.com (20 min yoga classes)

Kelly Morris Yoga Podcasts

short courses

http://www.sivananda.co.uk/beginners_courses.html

http://www.triyoga.co.uk/book-courses-workshops/

http://www.thelifecentre.com/workshops-and-courses/

UK Yoga Conference

http://www.theyogashow.co.uk/london/home.php

one day/weekend courses

http://www.triyoga.co.uk/book-courses-workshops?x=1&visit=Yoga%20Workshop/Retreat

http://www.dhanakosa.com/DKretreatsINTRO08.html

https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=3223

retreat ideas - further afield

http://www.akhandayoga.com/?page_id=37

http://www.kripalu.org/

http://www.yogatravels.ca/

http://skyros.com/yoga_holidays.htm

http://wanderlust.schedulegrid.info/colorado-2012/schedule/list

http://www.macrobios.com/

http://www.appleyoga.com/apple-adventures/

Magazines

http://www.originmagazine.com/online-issues/

http://www.yogajournal.com/

The sober truth

Panorama are doing a programme on over-drinking in the middle classes and I think it's long overdue.

The idea that excess alcohol intake is a working class problem is totally out of date, but a convenient story for the well educated who like to think that because they're drinking high quality wine every evening they aren't doing themselves any harm.

The article is a worth a read, but particularly noteworthy is that recent research shows that even small levels of alcohol consumption can significantly increase breast cancer risk.

I do often get cited research. About alcohol lowering risk of heart disease, which is true in small doses, but the antioxidants in wine can be taken as supplements and there are plenty of other ways to wind down after work (the stress reduction effect of alcohol is thought to be part of why it can lower blood pressure, although if you've ever seen my Uncle Julian mid rant after a few glasses of red you might disagree!)

The point is that any alcoholic drink is bad for you on some level and therefore any misguided notions of drinking for our health need to be kicked into touch. You should enjoy alcohol, like all other treats, in moderation as part of the 80/20 rule, so preferably on no more than two days a week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/
front_page/newsid_9696000/9696398.stm
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Penance for pancakes

Whilst I hope you all enjoyed your pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, I hope you also put some thought into what you're giving up in penance for your pancake day indulgence.

I always give something up for lent to break any bad habits and remind myself that I do have pretty good willpower. But even if you think it's a religious rouse it's actually a good time of year to be cleaning up your diet, much better than January.

Plus it ties in with Ms Haribo's small rewards model - a chocolate egg after 40 days of abstinence from your favourite treats may seem unbalanced, but it really does work as a motivator and the chocolate tastes so much better when you get to Easter.

Traditional lent involves no eggs, dairy, meat or sugar (including chocolate) - which is a pretty good list to follow, but is perhaps a bit too comprehensive for some.

Still lent has to be a stretch to count, giving up something you eat every couple of weeks doesn't really count, whereas something you eat, drink or crave every day will be a challenge and significant enough to make a positive impact on your health.

Here are the usual suspects if you need some inspiration
Alcohol
Chocolate/sweets (or all sugar if you are feeling brave)
Cheese (or all dairy if you can manage it)
Cakes/biscuits/baked goods
Salty snacks (crisps, doritos, salted nuts)
Wheat (or gluten as the tougher version)
Caffeine (tea or coffee, including green tea)

As you'd expect I follow a pretty healthy diet, but I'm not going to cop out, instead I'm giving up all of the above (yes all!) with one caveat - I may have a glass of bubbly on my birthday, which inconveniently is just a few days into lent.

There are also other non-food habits you can give up for lent:
- Eating in front of the tv
- Watching tv just before going to bed or first thing in the morning (it's a stressor)
- Skipping breakfast
- multi-tasking whilst you eat eg reading, talking on the phone, working
- finishing all the food on your plate rather than stopping when full
- getting the tube one stop when you could walk
There are plenty more I'm sure you can think of.

I personally am seriously considering giving up watching TV altogether. It's something I've done for lent in the past, with the exception of watching films at the cinema, and it's surprising how much time it frees up and how much more energy you have if you relax after work in silence.

The only thing holding me back is (please don't judge me!) missing out on the communal TOWIE watching in my flat. Having to shut myself away in my room whilst listening to the giggles from the living room may be too much to bear, even in exchange for a yummy easter egg.

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Time for some crop rotation

It's very normal to go through food phases when it comes to fruit and veg, having an insatiable desire for blueberries, craving salad or wanting roasted winter root vegetables. So when I find myself not being particularly inspired by fruit and veg it usually means I'm eating out of season.

Fresh produce eaten in season should be full of flavour and a pleasure to eat - so if your food is tasting a bit bland then it's probably the wrong time of year to be eating it. In addition if it's full of flavour then it's also going to have a higher nutrient content than an out of season flavourless equivalent.

Still not being a gardener or that clued in to farming, what's in season isn't something I naturally know, so I have to rely on my trusty Leon: Ingredients and Recipes to keep me informed.

According to this wonderful tome of information, the winter foods we should currently be eating are pomegranate, clementies, blood oranges and cranberries, artichokes, leeks, potatoes, celery, sprouts, butternut squash, cabbage, parsnips and kale. Well it's not a particularly inspiring selection, for me at least - my favourite fruit and veg are the summer and autumn varities. But still these are all wonderfully good for you and can be made into some pretty comforting winter food.

Roast some parsnips and leeks to have with your sunday dinner, make some new potato mustard mash to have with some sausages (preferably veggie), braise red cabbage with apples, sultanas and a little balsamic vinegar as a yummy veggie side, make some roasted butternut squash soup and serve with crusty rolls and use kale to make some bubble & squeak for a comforting sunday evening dinner. For pudding serve segmented blood orange and clementine with some fresh pomegranate seeds and make some cranberry muffins as a nice accompaniment to afternoon tea.

Once you've found some recipes you like with these ingredients you'll find you naturally pick them up when they turn up next year on the supermarket shelves, and will start rotating your foods without even having to think about it, making your diet both more interesting and more nutritious.

Ps Sylvia dearest, when are you going to share with me your wonderful polish pigeon recipe so I can get NITC readers into eating cabbage?!

Goal setting

Miss Haribo here.

As mentioned before, and will surprise no one who knows me, I love graphs, statistics and tracking my progress. I also love giving myself a reward when I achieve a goal.

Theoretically achieving a goal should be motivation enough but sometimes we all need a little bit of extra help. Not only are rewards a good motivation but they can actually help us believe that we enjoyed something that would be a bit unpleasant.

This stems from a fairly classic experiment in psychology, in which subjects did a boring task and then got paid to lie and then tell someone else how much fun the task was. Once this was done those paid a small amount to then actually reported to the experimenter that they liked the task, while those paid a lot were happy to admit that it was totally boring. This sounds crazy but it has a simple explanation: those paid only a small amount to lie  had to somehow justify the lie to their brain and convince themselves that they had actually enjoyed the task.(http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Festinger/ )

So when I give myself a reward for sticking to something I don't like very much I try to make sure the reward is small. For example my 'reward' for going to Fight Klub at 7am on a Friday was that I would be allowed to read Grazia on the bus.  It actually helps me to reprogram my brain to convince me that I like something. So not only is 7am Fight Klub not painful, but it's something I actively enjoy!

Miss Haribo
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Subtle but significant

I was in a yoga class today taught by an instructor who I can only describe as the Bruno of the yoga world.

It was unconventional to say the least and, whilst trying to follow the novel instruction of 'turn your vagina to the ceiling', I did wonder what I was doing there!

Still, despite not being the traditional yoga class I was after I left feeling taller, lighter and refreshed.

This isn't the first time I've thought 'is this really doing anything' during some of the pilates and yoga based classes I've been to! But this is just because the techniques involved are so much more subtle than a conventional weights workout, which makes them easy to dismiss.

I think the same may be true when it comes to healthy eating, people expect to have to make really radical changes to their diets and feel pretty deprived to see any results.

Infact some of the subtler changes can be pretty powerful and pretty easy to do. Here are a few of my favourites:

- drink a glass of water before each meal or snack, before you have a tea or coffee, before you go to bed and when you wake up, makes a huge difference to energy levels

- add some protein to every meal or snack, even a few nuts or a glass of soya milk can be enough to help balance your blood sugar and keep you feeling full

- swapping your sugary muesli or cereal for a non-sugar version is an easy way to make your breakfast low GI and keep you full for longer. If you need some extra sweetness add some chopped fruit (fresh or dried) and do the same with your porridge instead of adding sugar or honey.

- The same applies to fruit yoghurts which are full of sugar. Instead have natural yoghurt mixed with some fruit to sweeten it up. Avoiding sugar isn't just important for weight management, it's also key in the long run in avoiding diabetes, heart disease and digestive disorders.

- have a wheat-free roll with your soup rather than a white bread roll or make your lunchtime sandwich with wholemeal gluten free bread to avoid the post wheat snooze

- go to bed half an hour earlier during the week to feel mentally and physically refreshed and help keep bugs at bay

- switch to decaf tea or coffee or green tea for your afternoon drink to encourage restful sleep

- have a side salad along with your dinner everyday to up your intake of super nutritious greens

- cook with olive oil or coconut fat rather than butter and use a pure sunflower spread on your toast

- take five meditative breaths before you eat to switch your nervous system from the sympathetic (stressed) mode to parasympathetic (relaxed) this will allow proper digestion and absorption of nutrients and reduce stress-related symptoms such as bloating, wind or urgency

- leave a clear breath between each mouthful when eating to force you to slow down eating and chew properly to improve food breakdown

- go for a ten minute stroll after a meal to moderate insulin production
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