Part 2 of "I have a secret to share about how to get in shape quick smart"

(I do need to pre-empt this blog by stating that I am not a nutritionist. I have followed a Paleo/Primal regime for over a year now and can attest to continued good health, plenty of energy and a much better diet than I ever had.)

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for my second secret to getting into shape.

It's easy to tell you that it's truly going to shift some stubborn kilos, but it's hard to put it into practice...

It's restricting carbs.

Reducing your carbohydrate consumption will give you immediate results on the scales. That is because the general carbohydrate molecule is CH2O - that is, carbon and water. Less carbs = less water = less weight.

In that initial phase, you may feel a bit grotty, flu-like even. It's OK. You'll bounce out of it and feel fantastic. 

There are many authoritative websites out there warning people against low-carb diets. I completely agree that a well-balanced diet is the key to good health and stable weight. However, out of all the fad diets that you've tried, this one is going to get you results.

So here's what I propose:
Reduce your carbs
For one month.
Just try it.
I am here to help you out if you find yourself waning and feeling the pull of the Tim Tams.

That means - no bread, no pasta, no rice. Other no-nos are white potato, couscous, gluten-free alternatives and definitely no sugar or processed sweets, baked goods, bread-crumb covered deep fried takeaways.

Rather than focussing on all those no go items. Let's talk about what you can have and it's a gorgeous range of amazing foods. You can have meat, dairy, legumes, nuts, good oils like extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil and pretty much as many glorious vegies as you can squeeze in. Vegies like pumpkin and root vegetables and fruit such as bananas are high in carbs and so should be restricted too. Limit your fruit content to 2 pieces a day.

Great breakfast ideas are:
CADA - that's Coconut, Almonds, Dates (3) and an Apple. I put it all in the food processor and blend it into a Bircher Museli kind of mix and have it with cinnamon, Greek yoghurt and chia seeds. With it being a bit chilly I use the same ingredients but make it into Stuffed Baked Apples. Core and score the circumference of your Granny Smith apple, place a blended mix of coconut, dates, almonds, cinnamon into the hollow, bake in a bit of water with foil covering it, until it is soft. Serve with Greek Yoghurt.
Chia porridge is also very filling and delicious in winter.

Lunch - make a huge pot of your favourite soup and portion it into single serves, freeze the portions. My favourite is pumpkin soup. This is where you can get your carb fix through pumpkin, carrots and sweet potato. Lighter carb options are minestrone. Dhal is another way to warm up, get full and get your fibre.

For dinner, just don't have the carbs that the rest of the family are having. If you're making a stir fry, take out your portion before you add the noodles or rice. Give yourself an extra serving of greens - bok choy, chinese broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms. Go to town! When it's pizza night and I'm really needing something carby, I put a whole sweet potato into the oven to bake. Once soft, I open it up and put all the pizza toppings on the lovely sweet spud. Cauliflower can also become your friend. Try cauliflower "rice" - the whole family might even like it. Cauliflower mash, cauliflower pizza base.... the internet has an endless array of recipes to help you out.

I do give myself treats. I have two or three pieces of dried fruit and some nuts and seeds after dinner. There's usually dark chocolate roaming around my fridge too. There are fantastic Paleo websites with sugar free baking ideas. My favourite is www.paleomg.com

Please, please don't do this if it contravenes your doctor's advice.

Otherwise, give it a go. It's worth trying. 
If you need encouragement, please contact me.
Cheers
Louise

I have a secret to share about how to get in shape quick smart - Part 1

Hi Again.
High Intensity Interval Training
HIIT.
Heard of it?
Dr Michael Mosley brought it to everyone's attention in his documentary "The Truth About Exercise", whereby he performed 20 seconds of full throttle cycling on a stationary bike, followed by a couple of minutes of gentle peddling to regain his breath, then repeated that sequence twice more.

The magic of this style of workout lies in (the likelihood) that HIIT uses far more of our muscle tissue than classic aerobic exercise.

When you do HIIT, you are using not just the leg muscles, but also the upper body including arms and shoulders, so that 80% of the body's muscle cells are activated, compared to 20-40% for walking or moderate intensity jogging or cycling.

Active exercise also seems to be needed to break down the body's stores of glucose, deposited in your muscles as a substance called glycogen. Smash up these glycogen stores and you create room for more glucose to be sucked out of the blood and stored. (1)

My husband is chronically busy and has neither the time nor inclination for long bike rides, bouncy Basic Training sessions nor back-breaking weights workouts. HIIT is the perfect antidote: exercise that is over in 20-30 minutes, improves your cardiovascular fitness, increases your insulin sensitivity - which is particularly good if you have a genetic predisposition to diabetes and best of all, burns more fat.

I recommend going to the following link in order to know how to start out. (2) Essentially you will start out slow, and will therefore not get the aerobic, insulin and fat-burning benefits as quickly as you'd like. But stick with it! Push yourself to do a few more reps every workout.

So, for the absolute beginner through to the experienced athlete, check out this website to get some workout ideas: www.buzzfeed.com/sallytamarkin/get-fit-bodyweight-exercises. Just do what you can in the given timeframe. For the beginner; move steadily through the exercises, taking the easier options initially e.g. push ups on your knees rather than your toes; regular lunges rather than lunge jumps, plank on your knees.

By the way, remember my previous post about the pelvic floor? Don't do jump squats, lunge jumps or deep squats if you are in the process of strengthening your pelvic floor. I also recommend taking five minutes pre-workout to go for a gentle jog and do some dynamic stretches - that is, moving through a range of stretches. Sun salutation is an excellent dynamic warm up. You may want to add five minutes at the end of the workout to do some static (holding) stretches too.

When you've done your HIIT workout, post your achievements to us. Try to do at least three of these workouts a week. That's just 90 minutes of your time each week. 

I'm telling you, it's the secret to getting in shape quick smart.

Remember: Keep Encouraging Yourself...
Or contact me and I'll do it for you!

(1) http://www.bbc.com/news/health-17177251
(2) https://www.fast-exercises.com/michael-answers-frequently-asked-questions/

Incidental Exercise - that is, keeping fit while not even realising it.

In my experience as a Personal Trainer, there are just two groups of people: Those who have made a life-long commitment to keeping fit and those who find fitness sheer drudgery and something to avoid as best as possible. People in the first group already know how to squeeze some sort of movement, a little bit of sweat and the resulting feelings of achievement into their day.

For those in the second group, listen up! Incidental exercise isn't going to get you triathlon ready. But it will make your life sweeter. You will simply move more, which burns more kilojoules, which reduces weight gain, which gives you a healthier heart and body.

So here are some suggestions for adding exercise into your day:

• Walk more - set a couple of days a week to walk the kids to and/or from school.
• Walk more - choose a bus stop further away from home and work, then walk the difference.
• Get a back pack to replace your handbag and trainers to take off once you get to work. Pack exercise clothes and go for a 30 minute walk/jog with your colleague at lunch time rather than checking out the latest shoe collection at DJs.
• Take family walks (see the theme here?!)  It's amazing what your kids will tell you when you walk with them. This is especially valuable for parents with teenagers. Walking side-by-side, they are more inclined to open up than if they are talking directly to your face.
• If you only need a few grocery items, put a back pack on and walk to the supermarket.
• If you want to catch up with a mate, plan a walk together then the coffee, rather than meeting at a cafe and sitting the entire time.
• Play with your children - rather than reading that magazine at the park, get up and play football, bull rush, whatever with your kids. They will LOVE you for it.
• Set small, daily goals e.g. I will do 10 push ups and 20 squats and two 30 second planks each day. Then break it down so you achieve that goal - perhaps 5 push ups, 10 squats, one 30 second plank morning and night. Then increase the goal to 20 push ups, 40 squats and two 45 second planks. Make sure to get professional advice on how to perform the exercises with good form to prevent injuries.
• I have my yoga mat and foam roller set up in front of the t.v. At night whilst (ashamedly) watching Masterchef, I do stretches and rolling. Easy. My body sure appreciates it the next morning when my joints don't creak as much. 
• Use free online exercise videos. I love www.doyogawithme.com and www.yogadownloads.com. You can do a fantastic workout in just 20 minutes in the comfort of your own home.
• Smile while you exercise. It tricks the brain into thinking you are actually enjoying it. And who knows........ you just might start to enjoy it?!
• Keep Encouraging Yourself.

Thanks for your time.

Please contact me on louise.mavor@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Cheers

Louise

Some KEY things to remember about.... ahem....Pelvic Floor

This week I was doing some study on the delicate topic of pelvic floor. As a Personal Trainer to mums, it is a topic I try to keep myself well informed on. Now having these facts and information I would like to pass on my newfound wisdom.

The pelvic floor muscles are like a sling or trampoline that run from the pubic bone back through to the bottom of the spine. The pelvic floor muscles work as part of the core, along with the abdominal, back and breathing muscles to regulate the abdominal pressure. This pressure is increased in our core region as we pick up a weight, jump, sneeze. The pelvic floor muscles can become compromised through child bearing and child birth. The brutal truth is that if, many years after your last child was born, you are still leaking urine when you cough, sneeze, jump or run, then you need to work on strengthening your pelvic floor. I remember my physiotherapist telling me about a youtube video in which a gynaecologist cheerily admits to peeing whilst skipping AND says it's ok - it apparently had the physiotherapy world in a state. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKzq1upNIgU). A weak pelvic floor is not something you just have to put up with. 

Personal Trainers have been cueing our clients to pull their navel to spine in order to brace and strengthen the core. However in doing so, some women are placing undue strain on their pelvic floor by bearing down on these muscles rather than lifting them up.  

So, some KEY things to remember about your pelvic floor are

• Firstly, feel ok about telling your PT that you need to work on strengthening your pelvic floor muscles.
• Become conscious of drawing your pelvic floor muscles up (a gentle contraction as if trying to hold off from urinating and passing wind) BEFORE drawing in your navel to spine. The upper abdominals and butt muscles stay relaxed and you should still be able to breathe easily whilst holding this contraction. Activate these core muscles prior to and during any resistance exercises.
• Avoid holding your breath and drawing your navel to spine forcefully during exercise. This increases the abdominal pressure and puts undue strain on your pelvic floor.
• Avoid lifting heavy weights, doing deep squats and high impact exercises until you have rehabilitated the pelvic floor muscles. 
• Finally, there is always a pelvic floor-friendly version of the exercise you are performing. Rather than deep squats, squat with your back against a Swiss ball and keep your knees just a handspan apart; use a Swiss ball to support you in upper body resistance exercises; do push ups against a wall. Just ask your PT for a safe alternative.
• Avoid sit ups, plank and most ab exercises until you have regained strength and control over your pelvic floor muscles. 
• Treat these damaged muscles like you would any other injury. Increase your work out intensity and duration gradually.
• To increase the strength of your pelvic floor practice drawing up these muscles (a gentle contraction as if trying to hold off from urinating and passing wind), for 10 seconds, then relax and repeat 5-10 times. Try doing this during the day, say morning, noon and night. Increase the contraction incrementally until you can hold it for more than 40 seconds. 

If you have any more questions, please contact me on louise.mavor@gmail.com

Keep Encouraging Yourself

Paleo for the superstitious

So it's Friday the 13th on the eve of a full moon; the boys have commandeered the t.v., husband is off playing football and I'm just superstitious enough to think we all need to hunker on down quietly and get the evening over with! Since my last blog, it's finally turned wintry here in eternally sunny Sydney. It was still a balmy 20oC today. My shoulder is being given a rest, leaving me to run or walk. That was a fine alternative til I overdid it, now top AND bottom half are screwed! But, on the bright side, my efforts at Paleo living are still paying off.

Going back through my photos, the first one is from my trip to Scoop in Mosman. This place is a definite no-no for anyone on a strict budget.... but did that stop me?! Oh My Lord it was like heaven in there: huge tubs of all the glorious treats I adore. There are all the nuts, dried fruits, chocolate covered goodies and trail mixes you can imagine. I came home with a wee taste of many things but my favourites were these....

From left to right: cocoa nibs, root vegetable chips (completely addictive. Thank God Mosman is a 15 minute drive away. I even contemplated running there today to justify the indulgence), and inca berries.

Next dish off the camera roll is a freezer meal. Remember I made that kangaroo mince meatloaf? (Sunday 13th April: I'll skip on the Skippy next time). Well I froze half of it, then rebaked it with a celeriac (and a smidgen of potato) mash on top. I actually preferred it this way to the meatloaf. The celeriac mash was just an entire celeriac cut into cubes, one potato, cubed and both boiled together til tender. Then mash them with plenty of coconut or almond milk or stock and ghee or grass-fed butter, salt and pepper. Bake the dish at 180oC til golden and bubbling.

My lovely friend's birthday came along and I wanted to bake her a cake. We both agree that there are occasions when healthy options should be nixed for the sheer love of something naughty every now and then. However, I selfishly wanted the naughtiness to be Paleo! So I Paleo-ised an old favourite recipe. It's a Sephardic cake documented by Claudia Roden...

Orange and Almond Cake

3 medium Valencia oranges

6 eggs, separated

225gm coconut sugar (this is the bit I Paleo-ised; you could use caster sugar if inclined)

200g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

Coconut Yoghurt to serve (optional)

Mixed berry compote made with honey to serve (optional)

Place the clean, whole and unpeeled oranges in water to cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1.5 hours or until soft, adding more water when necessary.

Drain the oranges, cut into quarters, discard any major pips, and whiz the rest, including peel in the food processor, then cool.

Heat oven to 180oC. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl til pale. Beat in the oranges, almonds and baking powder. 

Beat the egg whites til softly peaky and fold gently into the mixture.

Pour into a high-sided 23cm springform cake tin and bake for 1 hour, til firm to the touch. Cover with some loose fitting foil if over-browning.) Cool in the tin.

Serve with just some fresh berries or the yoghurt and compote mix.

I experimented with a few other recipes: we had a cook-up for breakfast last weekend. The boys wanted those disgusting store-bought hash browns. I refused to buy them and made sweet potato ones instead.  There was left-over mixture, which kept really well in the fridge. I then used a scoop of this mixture, making a quick rosti and fried egg brekkie each morning this week. Awesome start to the day - I wasn't hungry for hours, which is unusual for me. This photo is a bit random, but it's a cauliflower puree, a couple of rosti and then a piece of smoked herring on top - surprisingly tasty!

Lastly, the search for the perfect banana bread is over! I trawled through all the banana bread websites for a recipe that contained only two bananas, as that was all I had, et voila, I discovered the wonder that is this almond banana bread. As ever, the true test lay with my boys.... they loved it!

I added some cocoa nibs to the topping which was yummy.

One more thing I'd like to share - I found this article in a website I sometimes use to realign the brain matter. It just resonated with me. Maybe it will with you too.
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/3-tips-get-out-of-head-start-expressing-yourself/

Cheers Folks.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the hard-working and long-loving mums out there.
I hope all mums out there were indulged today. I think Mother's Day should be at least twice a year!
My husband completely surprised me with the most fabulous "primal" breakfast (that is, dairy was blessedly included). It was a recipe from my mummy's day present: the I Quit Sugar For Life recipe book. I had made Gwyneth's Paleo Bread, which he had topped with mashed avocado, fresh raspberries and the most divine goat's milk brie. What a great mix.

For our evening feast we had an antipasto platter of pate, salami, ham, sicilian olives, semi dried tomatoes, carrot sticks and more of that really good goat's milk brie. The boys love meals like that - we all sit round big platters and help ourselves to different flavour combinations.

I've had a big week of sweet potato folks. I competed in a sprint distance triathlon yesterday, so I really wanted to have a full tank before the competition. With one humble sweet potato, I made fritters for two lunches and PaleOMG's pumpkin bread (substituting the pumpkin for sweet potato). The bread was even popular with my boys. It was moist and the generous amount of nutmeg was really enticing. I had a slice of it the morning of my tri for some long and slow burning carbs.

The fritters were a basic recipe: 1 and a half cups of mashed sweet potato mixed in with about 150g tinned salmon, 1 beaten egg, a couple of tablespoons of fresh herbs, salt and pepper. I make little patties and fry them in some coconut milk or extra virgin olive oil. Then I made a big pile of rocket, avocado, tomato and cucumber and placed the patties on top. There was a quick dressing of 1 teaspoon of mayo, 1 tablespoon of coconut cream/milk and 1 tablespoon of chermoula paste to pour over it all.

We had guests over for pizza mid-week. I love making pizza dough - there's nothing better than the smell of the dough raising in the kitchen. To make a primal version, I baked a whole sweet potato, split it open and made it into a "pizza". I sat the potato in a sea of ranchero sauce, then dolloped blue cheese, bacon and roasted red pepper on top and grilled it til bubbling. Really filling but delicious and especially spectacular made with a purple sweet potato - that is, the flesh was a rich, royal purple (not the one in this picture below.)

I actually had the same dinner two nights in a row and the night before my race I wanted something not quite so high in fibre, so I made some plantain fritters, which I served with the same salad of lettuce, avocado, tomato and chermoula dressing. I used half the mixture then and cooked up the other half when I got back from the tri - starving and trying to avoid the packet of crisps sitting in the cupboard!

I almost forgot to mention my great excitement - it's now pumpkin soup time! I LOVE pumpkin soup and was stoked to make it this week for a scrumptious lunch. I roast half a butternut pumpkin, a couple of carrots and a bulb of garlic. Then I saute an onion and some rashers of bacon if I have them on hand. Add some dry roasted cumin, all the roasted veggies, several chicken stock cubes, cover the lot with water and bring it to the boil. Once I've blended it ,I then add half a tin of coconut milk. This one, I served with a plantain bread cheese toastie. To be honest the plantain bread didn't work well like this. It was nicer when I toasted it in the Breville and let the bread crispen up a bit more. 

May the Fourth be with you

I just had to blog today, so I could use that title!
It's also been a while and I have a few Paleo recipes to share with you since I left off. So, I added dairy back into my diet and strangely, the aching in my thumb joints has stopped. The problem is that I really don't like the flavour of milk now, except in my tea. But it's lovely to have a slice of cheese and a big dollop of yoghurt every now and then. I also added corn back in, or more precisely, I've tried corn twice now and had no reaction, so that's a bonus.
Apart from those few diversions, I've happily remained Paleo for 99% for the time. I read that people on Elimination Diets often are hesitant to add food groups back into their diet as they are so happy with the status quo that they don't want to potentially upset their systems. This is where I'm at. 

Here are some yummies I've made recently:
I went back to my favourite sweet-toothed gal, paleOMG, to make Chocolate Almond Butter Cups. They're cute, easy to make and very rich. I keep mine in the freezer. They're still not as good as her Chocolate Coffee Caramel Bars, which I'm going to make again this week.

I've loved the "not cornbread pie crust" recipe and decided to make it with Moroccan flavours instead. So I made my own chermoula and harissa. 

Chermoula from Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish"
2 Tbspns cumin seeds, roasted and ground
1 Tbspn coriander seeds, roasted and ground
1.5 Tbspn sweet paprika
1 Tbspn ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-4 whole bullet chillies, seeded, scraped and chopped
juice of 2 lemons
100ml olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Blitz all ingredients in the food processor. Tip into a clean, sterilised jar and cover with olive oil. It will keep for up to 6 months. Top up with a little olive oil every time you use it. 

To make the Chermoula flavoured cauliflower puree, I simply blitzed the cauli in the food processor with a big dollop of chermoula. It seems to keep in the fridge for a week. I love using it as a base for dishes, as with the sausage stew, or as a topping so it goes a bit crispy.

Harissa from Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish"
1 red pepper, whole
10-15 dried red chillies
10 small bullet chillies
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
3/4 tsp caraway seeds, roasted and ground
60 ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200oC. Place the pepper on a baking tray and roast til the skin starts to blister. Remove from the oven, place in a bowl and cover with cling film to steam for 10 mins. Peel away the skin and discard the stalk and seeds.
Pour enough boiling water over the dried chillies to cover and leave to rehydrate for 10 mins. Seed the bullet chillies. Crush the garlic with the salt.
Blitz all the ingredients in the food processor. Taste for seasoning.
I made this without seeding the bullet chillies..... it really is HOT!!! 
Tip into a sterilised jar and cover with a thin layer of olive oil. It will keep for 4 weeks in the refrigerator.

As it's recently been the school holidays, I offered to make sushi for the boys. So we went to the fish market and my eldest chose some sashimi salmon (bless him), while my youngest chose the dodgy seafood extender of dubious origin. I've really got quite accustomed to sushi without rice (imagine explaining that in Japan?!) With lots of carrot strips, avocado, cucumber and pickled ginger, my salmon roll was fabulous.

The latest Coles recipe book has some good recipes for the family that can be adapted for Paleos. This one was a hit: Sausage Stew
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 Pork Sausages
1 eggplant (I slice mine, salt the slices and stand them in a colander. After an hour or so, I rinse the salt off them thoroughly and then cook them. It makes them more tender and less bitter.)
2 zucchini, sliced
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 x tins of basil and garlic chopped tomatoes

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Cook the sausages til just cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
Add eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms to the pan. Cook for 5 mins or til softened. Add tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 12 mins or til tender. Slice sausages and add to the pan for the last 2 mins of cooking. 

At this point, I made mashed potatoes for the menfolk and served the stew with that. For myself, I had a batch of the Moroccan flavoured cauliflower puree on hand. I put a layer of the puree on the bottom of the dish, topped it with the sausage stew and then took 2 stalks of kale, rubbed them with some olive oil and salt and pepper and broke them up all over the sausage stew. I then baked the lot in a 180oC oven til it was bubbling, approx 20 mins (but watch that the kale doesn't get too burnt). 

This doesn't look so exciting but it was really tasty.

Then I came across some recipes for plantain. I got quite excited about this recipe for a decadent, oozy, cheesy sandwich and decided to give it a try. Firstly I made the plantain bread. I should have used baking paper as it stuck to the non-stick dish. But it was otherwise fine. The recipe made enough for 2-3 "sandwiches", depending on how big your baking tin was. Holy guacamole, it was good to have a grilled cheese sandwich. I also included some hot salami in mine. I believe it is a travesty to heat avocado and always add them to the sandwich after the cheese has oozed rewardingly out of the sandwich and caramelised on the Breville.... heaven.

Then, finally, I had guests round for brunch today and decided to channel Frida Kahlo and go all Mexican. I am sorry I forgot completely to take a photo of my plate but it looked very similar to this one.  I made the refried beans for the non-Paleos, and also made cornbread instead of the Spanish rice. I also should admit that I followed the instructions for the rancheros sauce and tortilla heating from this recipe... You gotta love a blog titled: Fur Coat, No Knickers - done up like a dog's dinner since 1984! So Paleos: grill some of the plantain bread and knock yourself out with the eggs, rancheros sauce, guacamole and a wee dollop of harissa. Really great flavours for all to enjoy. 

Cheers x