Cognitive Health Tip: The Brain

Cognitive Health Tip: 30% of what you eat, NOT JUST ENERGY, but amino acids and essential fatty acids are at the service of your brain. Make sure your diet is providing you with a rich source of complete proteins, animal fats and healthy Omega-3 fatty acids from either marine sources or grass-fed animals. Nourish your food by reducing your intake of Omega-6 fatty acids, processed and refined foods and sugar and watch your brain fulfill it’s potential.

Stevia

Decrease Sitting Time To Increase Longevity

We are often told that diet and exercise are the panacea to many of the diseases we face as a society today. However, a recent systematic review & meta-analysis from the University of Leicester examining the association of sedentary time with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular & all-cause mortality, suggests that 30 minutes a day may not be enough to stave off these conditions. Their results, based on 18 studies with nearly 800,000 participants found that the greatest sedentary time (compared with the lowest) was associated with a 112% increase in the Relative Risk (RR) of diabetes, a 147% increase in the RR of cardiovascular issues and a 49% increase in the risk of death. The researchers concluded that the total time spent sitting is associated with an increased risk of all of the adverse conditions they investigated, but that the strength of the association is most consistent for diabetes.

Interestingly, these effects were found independent of exercise. In retrospect, this makes sense. In today’s increasingly sedentary society, it is suggested we spend 30 minutes a day exercising. However, the question then becomes ‘what are we doing with the rest of the 23.5 hours in our day’? If this time is spend in a sitting position in an office, on public transport or in cars for the work-home commute and then on the couch in front of the television or computer for our ‘leisure’, then such results may come as no surprise.

When we think about our evolutionary origins as hunter-gatherers, our bodies were never designed to be sitting for such prolonged periods. Our ancestors roamed the plains and fields in search for food & shelter, and would have spent significantly less time in a sedentary position when compared to us. The above image should give several tips on how you can start incorporating the standing posture more in your day (perhaps towards greater overall health), however; I challenge you to find other novel ways of decreasing sitting time. While it may be a slightly unusual change at first, you’ll soon find that it is a refreshing & energizing break from constantly being hunched over a work desk or keyboard!

Reference:

Wilmot, E. G., Edwardson, C. L., Achana, F. A., Davies, M. J., Gorely, T., Gray, L. J., Khunti, K., Yates, T., & Biddle, S. J. H. (2012). Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetologia, 55(11), 2895-2905.

Motivational Tip: Remind Yourself!

10 Healing Foods

My Own Diet

What is ‘healthy’ when it comes to food? Unfortunately, like beauty; health seems to be in the eye of the beholder. However, if you’re actively trying to reduce your bodyfat in a constructive way, then ‘healthy’ needs to conform to a much tighter definition. 3 Meals of Bagels, Cereals and pastas, garnished with sides of dessert (e.g. ‘fat-free’ or sugar-loaded, fruit yoghurt) and bolus doses of fruit will simply not get you the results you want. Especially if these results are to be TRULY lean. If you want to look like a fitness model, then you have to eat and train like one regardless of gender. By the same token, it seems there is a large portion of the ‘dieting’ populace that seems to be taking their energy intake to dangerously low levels because they’ve been brainwashed by the message of ‘low calories & low fat = weight loss’. However, neither of these approaches seem ideal in my opinion. But, there’s so much processed junk out there - it’s impossible to eat healthy (you might say). Baloney!

The above image shows my diet as it stood before my European vacation. By eating natural, unrefined & unprocessed whole foods and regularly training with intensity I dropped to 10% bodyfat without this being my aim (see display picture).

Why am I posting such ‘useless’ information? Well, number 1 - it seems half of Tumblr is doing it, so why can’t I? But more importantly, I wanted to demonstrate that it is possible (even in today’s society) to eat a diet which is free from refined and processed foods and that starvation is not they key to your weight loss. By the same token, I wanted people to understand that while a moderate amount of carbohydrates are healthy, even these should be as close to unrefined and ‘WHOLE GRAIN’ as possible for maximum results. In fact, if you’re not performing exercise which depletes your glycogen stores then I would go so far as to suggest that your carbohydrate intake should come solely from vegetables and low-GI (low fructose) fruit and the bulk of your diet should come from proteins and healthy fats.

Feedback and thoughts are definitely welcome!

Medicine: A History