The truth about alcohol in your diet...

 

 

 

Welcome to the ladies lounge!!!!

 

This is my first post in a series of commonly asked questions by the ladies.  They also apply to the men, it is just that, well, we ladies talk more...

The most common question I get asked is... Can you have a look at my diet? I can't lose the last 5 kilo's. (Seriously, it is ALWAYS the last 5 kilos, you are not alone).

And we have all been told that a glass a wine a night is good for us, right?

So every food diary has a few "one or two glasses of wine for dinner" entries.  The weekend food diaries rarely hit my inbox (no judgement!  I hate food diaries myself). So weekends would be more telling about alcohol consumption.

Here's the truth.  Like breakfast cereals, ALCOHOL being good for you is one of the greatest money-making marketing hoax's of all time.

Alcohol made 200 or more years ago WAS good for us.  It was safer than drinking water.  It used proper fermentation processes (not reliant on sugar).  It used non-processed plant materials.  No chemicals.  No pesticides.  It had nutritional value.

The truth about today's alcohol

Most post-mix drinks, ciders and mixers have more sugar and artificial sweeteners (boo) in ONE DRINK than you should have in a week.

Alcohol is toxic to the body.  It's not just the calories that are bad for you.  If your body has to work on flushing alcohol out, it doesn't flush out your estrogen.  If you don't flush out your estrogen it gets recycled.  Recycled estrogen equals hormone imbalance = cortisol production = fluid retention = fat hording = inability to build, repair and retain muscle = you can't lose weight and feel like shit (and other hideous health effects that are usually treated with prescription drugs and pain relief that make you fatter).

Alcohol increases cortisol production (stress hormone production) which peaks at dinner time = you reaching for that second glass of wine because you 'need to relax'

To burn off two glasses of wine, you need to run 12 K's with sub 5 minute k's.   Can you do that?  Because then you have to deal with the domino affect of cortisol production of running 12 k's.

Alcohol doesn't just increase your risk of breast cancer.... IT MAKES IT MORE PROBABLE THAN NOT THAT YOU WILL GET BREAST CANCER.  That is how bad it is to have recycled estrogen floating around your system.  I'm not prepared to die for cheap wine.  (Or a three day growth.. Blah).

FACT:  You will lose 5 kilos in five weeks if you stop alcohol consumption.  Entirely.  

What is alcohol that has some health benefits?

1. Alcohol that is not fermented on cane sugar, corn syrups or artificial sweeteners.  So, not much that is readily accessible at your local bottlo.
2. Alcohol that contains sediment threads (which shows a fermentation process from a 'mother' and/or barrel).
3. Alcohol that is fermented with certified organic, pesticide free grains or fruit.

So, the really expensive organic kind.  Hard to get right?

What if you do fall off the wagon (and into the proverbial wine cask)?

• Get good probiotics and fermented foods into your diet and gut.
• Eat green vegetables.  Loads of them.
• Drink loads of water.
• Get at least 7-10 hours sleep a night.
• Don't drink gallons of coffee thinking it's the only way to make you feel better.  And no KFC.  Ever.
• Go train.

And make sure that you had fun.  Fun is not vomiting,  Fun is not having a scrag fight with your best friend in a night club, or scratching the face off your boyfriend.  Ahhhhhh.... it takes me back to my youth.....

No, I'm no tea-totaler.  This photo is proof that drinking makes... you... ugly....

If you had fun laugh it off, go train, and tell your friends you can't wait to do it again..... next year.  Sometimes the laughs make it all worth while.

Top 5 excuses for not training and poor diet - BLOWN AWAY

Yes, he has a face...

Comments from the Big Man

 We all get busy. Working long hours. Fast food meals to catch up. We delete things from our schedule which aren’t a high priority. Often that means skipping a workout. This pressure leads us to make excuses to justify OUR DECISIONS. It comes down to this; what motivates YOU to train and eat healthy? What gets YOUR blood pumping while YOU train (loud music, yelling, someone yelling at YOU, competing with others?) What does it take to get you to night sessions in winter?

Unlike cavemen, we no longer need a high level of fitness to stay alive (unless you are a special forces soldier in a war zone...). We train to: feel healthy, get fit, look amazing, be the best we can be, challenge ourselves, feel more energetic...

There are far more important reasons to train hard. Healthy humans survive illness and injury FAR better and recover quicker than unfit and unhealthy humans. I have witnessed astonishing recoveries of fit people as a paramedic in the military and civilian world and not just Aussies, I have seen this all around the world. Best example: a triathlete shot through both legs and walking the next day... The flexibility which comes from stretching after training is for life, e.g. if you strengthen your legs with squats/sprints and jump lunges then stretch after you are far less likely to experience lower back pain (especially if you train barefoot, but more on that next time) which cripples so many Australian adults who don’t squat down to lift everyday items and lack flexibility. And by the way the time for stretching is always after you train not before (stay tuned for my next blog).

Here are my top five favourite excuses (which people try to peddle to me) in no particular order, and suggestions for not letting them become your reasons for your diabetes or your stroke or your heart attack. 

Excuse 1

Ran out of time

The Tabata protocol last 4 minutes (20 seconds work then 10 seconds rest x 8) and is designed to push you to exhaustion. Four sets of Tabata takes 16 minutes. All you need is a couple of metres of floor/ground space and with 4 minutes of push ups, crunches, jump lunges and air squats you have functionally trained your body with no equipment. You don’t even need shoes! 

See the original study by Dr Tabata...

And check out our free 5 - 20 minute programs...

The Baby Jo 20 minute workout

5 minute NO Santa stomach! workout

Excuse 2

I can’t afford gym membership OR classes

Bodyweight exercises are free. Every park in this country has a place for chin ups. Its not just push ups and chin ups, you are limited only by your imagination...burpees, flipping/running with an old tyre. It never has to be the same workout. The undisputed legend of fight fitness Ross Enamait at www.rosstraining.com (also on Facebook) has specific designs for improvised home made boxing, strength and conditioning equipment. 

Excuse 3

I’m not fit enough to start a class yet

Our classes are purpose built for beginners AND advanced athletes. No-one walks out of a Sweat Depot session without burning fat. In fact you will be still burning fat hours and hours after you leave. All you need to do is start today and do your body a favour by following your session with a high protein, no (or low) carb diet with plenty of water/mineral water, NO SUGAR and YOU WILL SEE RESULTS. YOUR friends and family will see your results. Passers by at the shops will see your results.....DON’T wait til you’re fit enough we will get you there!

Excuse 4

I don’t have time to cook healthy meals

Let's look at a delicious lunch for home or work. One wholegrain tortilla with half an avocado (containing good fat which you will use in your next workout), some cold meat, some grated carrot, your favourite cheese and with some preparation from the night before some diced baked/boiled sweet potato (brilliantly packed with low GI energy and sooo tasty). Quick to make, inexpensive, and full of flavour without the need for sugary/salty sauce that will make it go soggy anyway.

Dinner: slap a steak on a pre heated BBQ, put a bag of snap frozen store brand veges in the microwave and in 5 minutes, your healthy fast dinner can be on the table.

LEFT OVERS (butt-in from Erin....)

What ever you have left over from the night before always tastes better the day after if you make it into fritters (just add egg, some garden or dried herbs and a little spelt flour)

 

 Or lasagna... just line a baking dish with canned tomatoes or paste, add wholemeal sheets and layers of left over meats and veges.  White sauce is as easy as ricotta cheese  (or ANY cheese) and egg...

Excuse 5

I can’t afford healthy meals or protein shakes

If you calculate a week of meals as 21, following a simple plan like the one listed below for 19 meals per week (and maybe hitting some well deserved carbs in the 3 remaining meals) will SAVE YOU MONEY, help you SHRED BODY FAT, and provide the appropriate minerals you hard working body needs to aid recovery. You will also find that you don’t crave the foods you used to survive on (greasy take away, soft drink and chocolate being the main offenders)

Brekkie: rolled oats ($2) with full cream milk

Mid morning snack: a piece of fruit, a few handfuls of mixed unsalted store brand nuts and some mineral water

Lunch: wholemeal wrap mentioned above and mineral water

Mid afternoon snack: yoghurt and some more nuts

Dinner: baked chicken drumsticks with a variety of veges

Protein shakes can be delicious and are handy but are extremely expensive. They generally provide up to 30 gms of protein which is the most our bodies can digest at one time. The menu above provides the same amount of protein as a shake with each meal including each snack.

 If you still need convincing that YOU need to be eating healthy from the moment you finish reading this onwards, take a walk through you nearest major hospital emergency department (take it from a former QLD paramedic). Count how many fit, lean and healthy patients you see lying in a bed. More than likely you will see overweight heart attack, stroke and diabetes victims. Then hit the outpatients department and say hi to the adult onset diabetes patients who have lost limbs to the disease due to excessive sugar intake. It would be silly not to stop in at the dental clinic and smile at the patients who have lost teeth to SUGAR.......

CAN YOU AFFORD NOT TO EAT HEALTHY FOOD?

Train hard, eat well

Charles

we've also got 27 strategies to motivate you to GET TO TRAINING...  

Can't lose weight because fruit & vege are too expensive?

BOLLOCKS!!!!

$35 of fruit and vege lasts us a week of mainly vegetarian meals and we don't  need TINS/ CANS/ PACKETS

We purchased this at the Eagle Farm Markets for $35. 

Yes, there are bananas and mangoes there (OMG!  We must be rich..)

This is what I did (and am still doing with it...)

• grilled mushrooms for breakfast
• eggplant and zucchini casserole and BBQ eggplant lasagne sheets
•  whole roasted capsicum for salads, blend and add dill for spreads
• Slow roasted tomatoes for spag bol and homemade pizzas
• BBQ's corn for salads and fried rice
• avocados for spreads and salads
• fried leek for fritatas & soups
  
• Roasted pumpkin

I always try to include 2-4 veges every lunch, and 3-5 veges every dinner.   With very few exceptions.

This is why is has got me buggered that our lower socio economic class are the fattest in the world?  Families will spend $35 on McDonald's for one or two meals....  when this could feed them for a week.  Plus I can cook this faster than it takes to drive to Macca's and watch the kids vomit in the playground.

I'm not sure whether this can be blamed as a a lack of education?  Let me know your thoughts..... change doesn't happen if we keep doing the same thing every day and complain when nothing is changing....