Starting Position
* Lying on your side with your forearm on the ground under your shoulder, your feet split with the top leg forward

Procedure
* With your body in a straight line and your elbow under your shoulder, push your hip off the ground, creating a straight line from ankle to shoulder and keeping your head in line with your spine.
* Hold your position for the prescribed amount of time.

Coaching Keys
* Keep your body in a straight line and keep your stomach tight.
* If this is too difficult, do individual repetitions – 1 repetition per 2 seconds.

You Should Feel It
* In your shoulders and trunk.

A Side Plank should be incorporated in your home workout. Check out these exercises for a general home routine including core conditioning circuit, and an aerobic and resistance training routine for fat loss or sign up for a Fat Loss Challenge to get 8 lessons where you are given a personalized exercise and nutrition plan, and shown exactly how to apply them in your lifestyle.

Reference

Starting Position
* Lying on your stomach with your forearms on the ground under your chest and your feet slightly wider than hip width apart.

Procedure
* Push off of your elbows, supporting your weight on your forearms and toes
* Hold a static position for the prescribed length of time
* Push your neck and sternum as far up and away from your forearms as possible
* Lift one arm, hold for 2 seconds (more challenging & for variety)
* Switch arms
* Widen your feet, if necessary, to reduce difficulty (or do a plank on your knees)

Coaching Keys
* Keep your tummy tight and your head in line with your spine.
* There should be a straight line between your ear and your ankle, with no sagging or bending.

You Should Feel It
* Working your shoulders, trunk and core

A Plank should be incorporated in your home workout. Check out these exercises for a general home routine including core conditioning circuit, and an aerobic and resistance training routine for fat loss or sign up for a Fat Loss Challenge to get 8 lessons where you are given a personalized exercise and nutrition plan, and shown exactly how to apply them in your lifestyle.

Reference

The classic squat builds strength, muscle, and mobility—that is, if you do it right. But as performance specialist Nick Winkelman explains, many people make one of two mistakes when performing squats. Nick will show how to correct these common errors so you can use the squat to train all the major muscle groups of your lower body. As a result, you’ll build greater strength and muscle with less risk of injury.

A Squat should be one of your core exercises that should be included in all home-routines. It is essential that you learn the correct technique, or sign up for a Fat Loss Challenge to get 8 lessons where you are given a personalized exercise and nutrition plan, and shown exactly how to apply them in your lifestyle.

Reference

A proper squat requires tremendous coordination of joints, balance, stability and strength. You should feel tension throughout your abs (but still be able to breathe comfortably) if you’re doing it right.

But the squat trains more than your abs and legs. It trains your entire pillar, which encompasses muscles from your hips to shoulders. Performing pillar-strengthening moves, like the overhead squat, will engage your torso while bolstering the most critical areas of your body for overall performance.

Watch your technique, making sure to keep your weight (can also be a broom stick for home-use) over the arches of your feet and your arms straight overhead.

Watch this video for a demonstration:

In addition to building your pillar, the overhead squat will reveal weaknesses you may have. If you feel your weight shift back onto your heels or forward onto your toes, or if you notice your knees collapse inward or your arms move forward, then there are areas in which you need greater mobility or stability.

Of course, doing squats alone isn’t enough exercise for your pillar, nor does it replace traditional abdominal and core exercises. But the squat is a great indicator of stability and mobility, and it will make you stronger, not just from the waist down but throughout your hips and torso.

If you’re performing your own training program, include variations of squats in your routine, including split-stance and bodyweight squats. Or sign up for a Fat Loss Challenge to get a personalized exercise and nutrition plan.

Reference

Susan Bowerman, in her article Meal Replacements: A Great Strategy for Weight Management, agrees that a Meal Replacement should be part of everyone’s diet – it takes care of portion control, it is designed to provide great nutrition with a defined number of calories, and it is convenient for today’s busy lifestyles. And they are delicious!!!

When it comes to dieting, most people approach the process by controlling portions and counting calories. But oftentimes, despite even the best efforts, the scale refuses to budge. Inaccuracies in counting calories and estimating portion sizes are two of the biggest obstacles to successful weight loss.

The beauty of meal replacements is that portion control is taken care of, and they’re designed to provide great nutrition within a defined number of calories. On top of that, they are simple and convenient for today’s busy lifestyles.
Portion control is one of the primary strategies in controlling calorie intake. Many people don’t take the time to weigh and measure foods – or if they do, they usually stop after a while, thinking they can estimate portions fairly well. Portion sizes may then begin to creep up, and weight loss starts to slow down. More often than not, portion sizes will then gradually increase and the rate of weight loss slows.

And then there are the practical issues – some may not realize that the 3-ounce portion of meat specified in a meal plan is the size of a deck of cards. Or, perhaps they forget that everything counts, including any fats used in cooking or at the table, or foods that are eaten while standing at the sink or while driving in the car. A few small omissions over the course of a day or week can derail anyone’s progress.

Meal replacement shakes take the guesswork out of calorie and portion control, while delivering healthy ingredients and great taste. A number of clinical studies have shown that using meal replacements as part of a weight loss plan can be more effective than counting calories with an all-food plan. In a recent study at the University of Ulm in Germany, subjects drinking two Formula 1 Shakes a day (Herbalife European Formula) lost more weight than people in the study who simply counted calories.

Meal replacement shakes can also be customized, too. By choosing to mix with milk or soy milk, adding a favourite fruit, or tossing in some extra protein powder, a personalized meal can be had in minutes. Convenient, delicious, healthy, portion controlled meals – what more could a dieter ask for?

I usually recommend to my clients to at least replace 1 meal with a Meal Replacement Shake. This could either be the breakfast meal for a quick out-of-the-door quickie, or the lunch meal to eat during lunch-break at work, or even the dinner meal.

Think of some of your favourite recipes and the ingredients they contain. Chances are that with a few minor variations and new cooking techniques, they can be made healthier, more nutritious and still taste delicious.

Let’s begin:
1. Replace cooking oil with vegetable oil spray, broth, juice or water when sautéing.
2. Switch to healthier cooking fats, including olive and canola oils. Avoid tropical oils, butter, lard and shortenings.
3. Oven fry or pan-fry foods using a small amount of oil, instead of deep-frying.
4. Decrease salt by adding herbs, spices, or citrus to boost the flavour of your food. Buy low-sodium canned products.
5. Cook with reduced calorie products, such as fat-free or reduced-fat sour cream, cream cheese and other light dairy foods as well as low fat spreads and salad dressing. Also, try to replace the cream and cheese with natural yoghurt. And use mustard instead of spreads.
6. Go for white meat (chicken, turkey, rabbit, fish). If eating red meat, use lean cuts of meat, including beef and pork cuts labelled loin and round. Trim all visible fat and skin from meat and poultry before cooking. Rinse or drain ground meat after browning it to remove excess fat. Limit your red meat intake to 1 time per week.
7. Rely on dried beans, peas and lentils as healthy substitutes for meat when preparing casseroles, stews or soups.
8. Instead of white rice in stews and casseroles, use whole grains such as barley and brown rice for added fibre and nutrients.
9. Add extra vegetables – to your plate, on your pizza and in your soups, salads, sandwiches and omelettes.
10. Replace some of the sugar in your baking with applesauce or dried fruit.
11. Use egg substitute or egg whites for at least half of the eggs needed in your cooking (the yolk has all the fat and cholesterol)
12. Invest in a good quality set of non-stick skillets, baking pans and saucepans that don’t require greasing.

TIP: You can reduce the sugar and fat by ¼ to ½ in many recipes with little taste change in the finished product. Try a little reduction at first, and if you are satisfied, reduce a bit more next time.

ADVICE: Don’t be overwhelmed. Start by making just 1 or 2 changes at a time. Modifying recipes would soon become easy with some practice.

Reference: Body Bulletin Canada April 2008

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Claire Morawski is also the founder of mySKiN&CO – a beauty clinic in Malta. At mySKiN&CO’s blog , Claire shares a lot of information related to beauty – how to achieve a healthy younger looking skin, how to find a good therapist, simple tips of how to take care of your skin at home, why it is important to exfoliate between waxing session, and more. If you are interested, why not join mySKiN&CO community.

What is the Glycemic Index?
Including carbohydrates in our diet is essential. However, not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, and they actually behave quite differently in our bodies. The Glycemic Index (GI) describes this difference by ranking carbs according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Hence, the GI is a value that is obtained by monitoring a person’s blood sugar after eating a particular food, and gives us an idea of which foods raise our blood glucose fastest and highest.

What do the numbers mean?
The Glycemic Index range is:
Low GI = 55 or less
Medium GI = 56 – 69
High GI = 70 or more

Eating pure glucose is given a ranking of 100 — all other foods are in relation to this. So a food with a glycemic index of 95 raises blood sugar almost as much as pure glucose, but a food with a glycemic index of 20 doesn’t raise blood sugar much at all. Note that the value can vary slightly from person to person and from one type or brand of food and another.

Why do Carb counts vary?
Many factors influence how foods test, including differences between the people tested, the recipes, the laboratory techniques, and the fact that no two carrots are exactly alike. Hence, because there is so much variation between foods and between individuals, there is essentially no difference between foods that have a difference of less than at least 5 or 10 points on the glycemic scale.

Why should I choose carbs with a low GI?
Eating a lot of high GI foods can be detrimental to your health because it pushes your body to extremes. In addition, many people have problems processing large increases in blood glucose. This is especially true if you are overweight and sedentary. Hence, you should aim to include more foods (carbs) with a low Glycemic Index in your diet. These are the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels – keeping your energy levels balanced, and your body will digest these foods slowly leaving you feeling full for longer and allowing you to eat less calories without feeling hungry. In addition, to its benefits on sustainable weight loss, choosing low GI carbs, is also the key to long-term health, in that they reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

o Low GI diets help people lose and manage weight
o Low GI diets increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin
o Low GI carbs improve diabetes management
o Low GI carbs reduce the risk of heart disease
o Low GI carbs improve blood cholesterol levels
o Low GI carbs can help you manage the symptoms of PCOS
o Low GI carbs reduce hunger and keep you fuller for longer
o Low GI carbs prolong physical endurance
o High GI carbs help re-fuel carbohydrate stores after exercise

What is Glycemic Load?
It’s important to keep in mind, though, that the glycemic index does not take portion size into account. The actual amount any food raises blood sugar has to do both with how glycemic it is, and how much of it you eat. The glycemic load attempts to combine these concepts, and some diets are using the glycemic load for this reason. The formula is to take the number of grams of carbohydrate in the serving, multiply by the glycemic index, and divide by 100.

A diet with a low glycemic load has been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. If a food has a low glycemic load, it almost surely has a low glycemic index, however, it is harder to guess the load from the index. A diet which is low in carbohydrates automatically has a low glycemic load.

Some nutritionists use the following categories for a diet’s glycemic load:
o Low Glycemic Load – Less than 80 points per day
o Medium Glycemic Load – 80-120 points per day
o High Glycemic Load – Over 120 points per day

Examples of the glycemic load of some foods:
o 2 oz peanuts – 1
o 1/2 large grapefruit – 3
o 1/2 cup pinto beans – 6
o 1 medium apple 2 3/4 inch in diameter – 3 per lb – 6
o 2 cups popcorn – 7
o 1 tablespoon honey – 9
o 1 cup orange juice – 12
o 1 cup corn flakes – 21
o 1 cup brown rice – 23
o 1 bagel, 3.5 inches across – 25
o 1 baked potato, 3 inches in diameter (170 grams) – 28
o 1 cup white rice – 33

How to switch to a low GI & low GL Diet?
The basic technique for eating the low GI way is simply a “this for that” approach – ie, swapping high GI carbs for low GI carbs.
o Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
o Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
o Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
o Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
o Use Basmati or Doongara rice
o Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa
o Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing

Glycemic Index Food List
The following Food List is by no means exhaustive. It is a good guide and contains quite a long list of foods. You can print it out and stick it to your fridge or inside a cookery book. In addition, at the bottom there are books that I recommend that will have tables of GI values of an extensive list of popular foods. These will make an excellent reference book to have at home.

Reference from the official website of the Glycemic Index and GI Database
Reference for list of low GI foods
Reference for Glycemic Index
Reference for Glycemic Load
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P.S. For more tips and educational articles, join this community.

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Claire Morawski is also the founder of mySKiN&CO – a beauty clinic in Malta. At mySKiN&CO’s blog , Claire shares a lot of information related to beauty – how to achieve a healthy younger looking skin, how to find a good therapist, simple tips of how to take care of your skin at home, why it is important to exfoliate between waxing session, and more. If you are interested, why not join mySKiN&CO community.
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I get asked again and again by my clients… how much rice shall I eat? how many almonds? how much fruit? how many ….. and on and on.

My clients, and I am sure a lot of people, ask these questions because we all know that the key to a healthy diet and weight management is portion control! The concept is easy – to lose weight, you need to eat less and consume fewer calories. But, what should food portion sizes really look like?

Fruit is healthy. Can’t I eat as much as I want?!
Most people nowadays know the basics about nutrition and what is considered healthy. However, a lot of people think that if something is healthy we can eat as much as we like. Compare the following 2 bowls of fruit – the one on the left would be a recommended serving size, while the one of the right is the person’s choice of his/her portion size (obviously it is too much – and even though it is healthy, one would still be consuming way too many calories, and hence would not lose weight, or maintain a healthy weight).

Also, since we are living in the age of super-size meals, – buy 1 get 1 free, all-you-can-eat buffet, the double food portions served at restaurants, etc – we have really lost sight of what an actual serving size is. And believe it or not, this is just as important as what we eat!!!

What is the difference between a food portion and a food serving?
A food portion is how much you actually serve yourself on your plate – it is your choice. Some people choose a healthy portion (a normal size portion), while others tend to go for a larger portion (hence tending to overeat).

On the other hand, a food serving is the recommended portion that you should eat from each of the food groups, to maintain a healthy weight and not to overeat (hence you would lose weight).

Do I have to carry a scales and a measuring cup wherever I go?
Since, knowing what and how much to eat can feel overwhelming, I have come up with a list (you can print and stick to the fridge), to help you know what 1 serving of most
foods is and what it looks like, in easy visual terms.

This helps you size up a meal in relation to the object it should look like. Also, then after a few weeks, by experience you would be able to judge how many calories a particular food has, and what size your portion should look like.

NOTE: 1 serving is not the entire contents of a packet, a can, a container, etc. – you have to READ YOUR LABELS CAREFULLY.

Below I am also adding an easy way to visualize 1 serving size using your hands. It’s simple, and you don’t need to carry any scales or cups!

Reference for Serving Size
Reference for Serving Size
Reference for Food Groups
Reference for Measuring Sizes

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Claire Morawski is also the founder of mySKiN&CO – a beauty clinic in Malta. At mySKiN&CO’s blog , Claire shares a lot of information related to beauty – how to achieve a healthy younger looking skin, how to find a good therapist, simple tips of how to take care of your skin at home, why it is important to exfoliate between waxing session, and more. If you are interested, why not join mySKiN&CO community.

As we know protein is essential for a healthy diet, and especially if we are trying to lose weight, and building muscle in the process. As in everything there are foods which are high in protein and they are healthy, but then there are also protein rich foods that are very high in saturated fat. So when you are including protein in your diet, you have to look out for the healthy protein food.

In this post, I am including a list of protein foods that are great-tasting, but are low-fat high protein foods. I am including the carbs, calories, fat and protein content, so that it can help when you are counting your calories and filling in your Food Log. Even though the fat count is included, there’s no saturated fat count (the bad fat) listed in the first section. That’s because the foods on this list are ALL high protein foods with low saturated fats.

As a basic guideline:
3 ounces = 1 deck of cards or the palm of your hand.
1 cup = 1 tennis ball
1 ounce or 2 tablespoons = 1 golf ball

BEANS

DAIRY

FISH

GRAINS

POULTRY & WHITE MEAT

NUTS AND SEEDS

I am not a fan of red meat. I wasn’t going to include it in the list, since red meat is usually too high in saturated fat, which research has shown again and again, that this contributes to too many health risks such as heart disease and atherosclerosis, colon cancer and other cancers (such as breast, stomach, bladder, lung), and increases the risks of diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension and endometriosis. (Source ,
Source) After a lot of debating I decided that I’ll include the red meat, but with a WARNING!

So I am only including the following tables for those meat lovers, who can’t do without meat and have to have some meat. But remember – other meat alternatives will taste just the same as red meat, depending on how it is cooked and prepared. And it is essential, that if you insist on eating red meat, then limit your intake to less than 300g cooked weight per week, and choose lean meat.

BEEF

(acceptable cuts)

PORK

(acceptable cuts)

LAMB

VEAL

Reference for High Protein Food and Low Saturated Fats
Reference for the Leanest Red Meat
Reference for Nutritional Information in Food

P.S. For more tips and educational articles, join this community.
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Claire Morawski is also the founder of mySKiN&CO – a beauty clinic in Malta. At mySKiN&CO’s blog , Claire shares a lot of information related to beauty – how to achieve a healthy younger looking skin, how to find a good therapist, simple tips of how to take care of your skin at home, why it is important to exfoliate between waxing session, and more. If you are interested, why not join mySKiN&CO community.

At any one time in Britain about 10 million people are trying to lose weight. And most of them fail. And that’s usually because they just can’t stick to their diet. But now science has come up with simple ways to make dieting less painful.

A lot of people agree with medical journalist Michael Mosley “For me the key to losing weight and keeping it off, is to not get starving hungry”. And now there is some fascinating research in this territory. As it turns out there are certain foods that are much better than others at staving off the hunger pangs.

So what kind of foods will make you stay fuller for longer?

Hunger pangs happen when your stomach is empty and shrinks back down. That triggers the hormone ghrelin to send the message to the brain that you want more food. But there are some clever ways in which you can fool your brain and dump down those hunger pains. One way is simply to eat more protein. Scientists have known for many years that protein rich foods like lean meat, eggs, beans and fish keep you feeling fuller for longer than other foods. But until recently no one really understood why.

An experiment was done where 3 bridge painters where given 3 different breakfast meals and had to monitor their feeling of hunger on the hour for 4 hours. Then their results were analyzed by Nutrition Expert Dr Alex Johnston.

Dr Alex Johnston is preparing 3 different breakfast meals for Mick, Willy and Charlie.

All the breakfasts have the same number of calories, the ingredients are pretty similar, but unknown to the guys there are some crucial differences. It’s not the amount that they are going to eat, but what they are going to eat.

Mick is having a carbohydrate rich breakfast. Carbohydrates are food like pasta, bread and potatoes. Mick is having 10% more carbohydrates which comes from adding muesli and orange juice to his meal.

Willy’s breakfast has 10% more fat. Fat comes from things like fried foods and butter. His extra fat comes from adding bacon and a double cream smoothie to his meal.

Charlie’s breakfast has 10% more protein. The extra protein comes from adding baked beans and lean ham to his breakfast.

If science is right, just 10% more protein in Charlie’s breakfast should keep him feeling fuller for longer.

After 4 hours work, the guys climb down for their lunch break. The results confirm that Charlie who ate more protein for breakfast felt fuller for longer. Just 10 % more protein in his meal, has had a dramatic effect. What’s more, research shows that Charlie is now far more likely to eat less at lunch time than Willy or Mick.

So, what is it about protein that keeps you full? Scientists have recently discovered one key way in which protein controls hunger pangs. When any food travels through your digestive system it triggers a release of a hormone called PYY (peptide YY) in the blood stream. And when PYY reaches the brain it suppresses any hunger signals there. So you stop feeling hunger pangs, and feel full. But scientists have now discovered that from all food types, protein triggers far more of this PYY hormone than anything else, flooding the brain with signals that you are full, and thus suppressing hunger pangs for longer. That’s why protein makes you feel satisfied for longer than any other food type.

I agree with medical journalist Michael Mosley when he says that “Before they used to say that calories were calories and the only way to lose weight is to eat less. But when they started saying that they can eat loads of protein and lose weight, I frankly did not believe them. But the evidence is now almost overwhelming that protein is actually switching off your urge to eat. So magically you eat your protein, several hours later you see the chocolate bar, you don’t feel like eating it. Now I just think that that is utterly wonderful. I was sceptical but these days I eat high protein for breakfast. I mean it’s just miraculous – you just don’t feel hungry.”

So the Holy Grail for dieters is that more lean protein in your meals will keep you feeling fuller for longer, but do keep counting your calories.

References

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