John Lark

So the New Year has bought with it promises of dramatic change and Spartan-like dedication to the task in hand – your health and fitness levels.

To make this easy I want to make this as simple as possible.

Here is a list of what I believe to be the best steps you can take this year to improve your health and fitness levels.

Take one action item from this list. Do it. Do it hard for a week or however long it takes you embed.

So without further a due.

Write down your goal. You are far more likely to achieve it.

Match your behaviours to your goals. If your goal is to run a marathon this year then you need to get running. Likewise the same goal wont be met if you are constantly in the behaviour pattern of sitting on your arse every day. Equally if you want to lose weight then pick five behaviours that you know will help you lose weight and do them every day.

Find your ‘why’. Why are you doing this? This has to be strong.

Focus on improving your health rather than shrinking your waistline. With health comes fat loss. With health comes abundant energy and balanced moods. With health comes performance in life, sport and work. Living should be fun and easy not a chore.

Keep a grateful journal. Each day spend 2-3 minutes and wrote down what you are grateful for. Turn off the news and do this. You will sleep better and wake up looking forward to the day rather than thinking about the next ‘drama’ that you have to tackle.

Improve your sleep by investing in blackout blinds. Your hormones and immune system will thank you for giving them a good night’s sleep. If you struggle to nod off hop into an Epsom Salts bath. They work brilliantly.

Eat raw foods with every meal. Stick a salad or lightly cooked vegetable soup next to your meal and eat it first.

Drink more good FILTERED water. The best thing you can do for you and your family’s health is to use reverse osmosis or water ionisers. 3-4 litres every day.

Replace your paraben-laden cosmetics with organic versions. Likewise stop spraying aluminium next to your armpits. These are carcinogenic and the health shop have excellent replacements that are in most cases cheaper. No brainer.

Get your mercury fillings removed and then follow up with a good nutritional chelation protocol (like the one we can offer). This is another no brainer. Mercury is poisoning you 24-7. If your dentist says that this is not worth doing then thank him for his/ her opinion and find another one. He/she does not have your health at heart.

Stick to exercise at first (if you are new to this) that you will enjoy and keep at. Sweating and using oxygen is at the heart of most beginners to exercise Nutritional and lifestyle changes will make the biggest difference so just get sweating and moving!

Use an Infra red sauna. These are great for your health. Sweat removes toxins and again makes strides to build your health.

Want power is more powerful than will power.

Learn how to weight train.

Eat les animal and diary protein. It is making you sick and tired.

Eat more fruits and vegetables. Simple. Effective. Cheap.

Buy a vegetarian cookbook and learn how to ‘dress up’ these once boring and tasteless items.

Start supplementing your diet with Sodium Bicarbonate, Lugol’s Iodine, Magnesium and Vitamin D. These are power houses and will not fail to improve everyone’s health. A year’s supply of all of these items will set you back about 100 quid. What a bargain. In fact – let’s start an experiment. Use them and see how many visits to the Doctor you need this year. Let me know in December.

I hate ‘detox’. It is far more complicated than that. Our bodies are well adjusted to deal with it. However, it needs help. Especially in this day and age. We have not quire evolved to deal with the environment that burdens us day in day out.

Do you think our caveman ancestors worried about what skin care product to use?

There is plenty here to get you going. Health comes from in to out. Stress, poor nutrition, toxic overload and lack of exercise will all be reflected on the outside. You are your own canvas.

It is the classic scenario that eludes so many people. They hit the gym hard yet they find it hard to shift the love handles.

Days drag into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and still the dreaded tyre just wont shift. The rest of the body may (or may not be) taking shape nicely. So what is going on and more importantly how can we fix it?

Your love handle levels are a direct correlation to your glucose or sugar tolerance. His work over the past 27 years has found direct correlation between the levels of fat on your back and side and your insulin management.

In simple terms when we eat sugar, take for instance a piece of cake, our body responds by releasing insulin to shuttle that sugar to the muscle cells for use. That is when we are insulin sensitive.

However, our consumption of grain, pastas, starches and simple sugars grossly outweigh our ability to tolerate the level of sugar in our diet. Do we need to consume the amount of sugar we consume on a day-to-day basis to ‘keep our energy levels up’? – NO!

We have become insulin resistant whereby the sugar is shuttled to the fat cells instead.

Genetically we have evolved 0.01%  in 40,000 years. Our consumption of grain is alien in the grand scheme of things in our evolutionary diet. We are fighting against our genetic code instead of working worth it.

To stick to what you should be eating try this simple lifestyle adjustment:

“If it does not run around in a field, swim, fly or is not green, do not eat it”.

Since our genetic code has not changed since Caveman times it seems logical to eat like one. That certainly did not mean popping to the tree and picking a biscuit off it or leaving the cave to pop on the fire 10 breaded chicken goujons.

We ate wild meats, green vegetables and rarely (maybe once a year according to expert Loren Cordain) we would stumble across a bee-hive and gorge ourselves on the honey.

The easy way to locate this type of food will be found on the fringes of your supermarket and at your local butcher’s.

Upping your intake of protein including the more nutrient dense plant based proteins  at each meal will aid in managing your insulin levels better with small more frequent feedings of protein and healthy fats such as Fish Oil, Avocado, Macademia, Walnut Oil.

It is a far cry from the ‘low fat’ offerings that are found in the aisles these days. Please – do not be fooled.

“But they are all high in fat” cry the ‘low fat gurus’

“Really?” I reply

The calorie is a calorie is far too simplistic in this case. Certain low-fat staples such as Skimmed Milk are low in fat. However, they are insulinogenic meaning they will still spike the insulin to store the sugar in fat cells.

In addition they are acid forming foods forcing our body to buffer this acidity by removing it from our blood and vital organs and straight to our fat tissues – out of harm’s way.

The classic breakfast cereals with skimmed milk are out and best found in the bottom of a garbage bin.

Increasing your fibre intake will also aid in blunting the dreaded insulin response alongside improving your colon health by protecting the mucosa.  A grain-free fibre rich in Cranberry Seed Extract, Hydrobind Carrot Fibre and Probiotics will suffice with an optimum amount of 30g per day over divided amounts.

And finally – get off the fat to get the fat off. You have to move and move with intensity. Put away the spandex and get lifting weights with the aim of building muscle.

Ladies you will NOT look like a bodybuilder. In fact the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn through the day as 1lb of muscle burns 50 kcal. It also aids with insulin management.

So simple steps equals long term progress. A skilled exercise physiologist should be able to tell you why you are holding your body fat around your love handles and more importantly tell you how you can reduce them.

John Lark is a Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. Download your ‘5 Top Tips for Fat Loss’ at www.spherefitnessstudio.com. He can be reached at 01-5052131.

Are there ‘Quick Solutions to Fat Loss Problems’ writes Kildare Personal Trainer, John Lark? In this article we explore some common myths that we have heard many times in consulting with fat loss clients. We share some ways of debunking them with immediate fat loss results!

As a personal trainer I hear the most creative of excuses. It seems that even at this time of year that despite the wave of enthusiasm in the New Year, excuses are still being made to avoid the dreaded ‘E’ word. Even embracing a bit of change is like dragging a car.

Here are some problems and my solutions to them.

Problem “I don’t have enough time.”

Solution – You do. You just don’t know how to manage your time. You have the same time as every one else.
The same 24 hours that Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Warren Buffet have. You just don’t set exercise or eating healthy as near the top of your priority.

Stop, take check at your ‘time vampires’ (watching TV, nattering hours on the phone, reading trash mags) and be ruthless. Get rid of them. Make exercise and preparing healthy meals important and see the benefits.

Problem – “Eating Healthy all the time is boring”

Solution – you just need to reframe what you consider as boring. This is a challenge as ‘cravings’ normally overwhelm your rational thinking.

Instead of viewing a salad or vegetables ‘boring’ think ‘boundless energy, vitality, health, strength and well-being’. And who says you have to eat healthy ‘all the time’? We call for a 90 per cent compliance on our nutrition programme.

This leaves 10 per cent for those foods that you consider a ‘treat’. It doesn’t have to be about denial and sacrifice.

And who says eating healthy is boring?

Look into some simple, basic cookery books and try them out! This will be time well worth investing. Not only for yourself but also for your family. Your personal trainer may even take you grocery shopping to make even better use of your food.

Imagine being able to rustle up a poached salmon  fillet wrestling on a bed of rocket, tomato and basil salad tinkering with a delicate olive oil and lemon juice dressing in 10 minutes. Mouth watering isn’t it?

“But I will have to give up chocolate and ice-cream”

Solution – Really? And live like a monk or an obsessive? Work these foods into your plan. The only thing you will have to give up is the notion that you can sit on your backside and think the pounds will melt off and that you can eat everything in the cupboard and dream yourself skinny. That is just delusional.
I love ice cream and a good glass of wine. But they are every now and then. I advise my clients to have one meal a week if they are on a fat loss plan whereby the rules fly out of the window.

Problem – “I can’t afford the gym”

Solution – Exercise at home, in the park or head outside. Get a good workout DVD and have some fun with it. Alternatively lower all your stress hormones by heading outside for a brisk walk. A cheap set of Dumbbells will last you a lifetime.

Problem – “I don’t have a way of getting to the gym and besides I have to take Little Jonny to Scouts”

Solution – See above and stop making overly-creative excuses.

Problem – “I am injured”

Solution – That’s ok. Injuries are what I call andinconvenience’ not an ‘injustice’ . Exercise professionals will be able to work around your injury enabling you to still work towards your goals despite your set-back.

Problem – “I don’t feel like it today”

Solution – when IS a good time? Just start! Just do something that will make a difference. The Japanese have a philosophy called Kaizen. It seems to be the buzzword at the moment. But it means gradual and incremental improvements. Each day make a positive step towards your health and fitness.

Problem – ‘I Just can’t stick to  it’

Really? How hard have you actually tried? Give it your all, measure your compliance to it or know how to quantify your efforts. Where are the indicators to tell you that it is working or not?

My point is this if you are writing to do lists all the time – stop. Stop thinking about it and just do it. Paralysis by analysis.

Problem – “It’s boring.”

Solution – Yep, so is waiting in the Doctor’s office because you are too sick to do anything.   We are designed to move and eat healthy nutritious foods. As they say – prevention is better than a cure. Besides, exercise can be fun. Dance classes, group activity and meeting with friends for a good brisk walk can be fun.

Visit Kildare Personal Trainer, John Lark’s website at www.john-lark.com and download your free report on the ‘7 Most Effective Ways of Burning Fat’ including a free sample workout and meal plan.

Probably THE most overlooked aspect of any fitness programme.

Yes – hard work is needed. But if it is not coupled with this you may be in trouble

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Seems like the ideal quick fix if you are looking to shed a few pounds, doesn’t it?

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It seems this month there is a new diet book, approach, view or opinion thrust into our faces. The promises are huge. Drop a dress size in a week. Lose 7lbs in 7 days. Change your life forever.

Who knows? You may be ‘on’ a diet. And who can blame you? You want results – QUICK! These ‘diets’ promise you exactly that with their fluorescent book covers, powerful testimonials and ‘proven’ strategies for success.

You plunge in to them. You may even become a serial dietar (or is that ‘cereal’? dieter. I have to be careful, and no pun intended, on a well-known cereal producer’s ‘Drop a Dress Size by Eating Two Bowls of Dead Food Diet’)

Atkins, The Zone, The Cabbage Soup, The Grapefruit – whatever next?

It can become a frustrating habit. One that yields good, bad, indifferent or no results for people. You may give up the ghost and plunge back into the habit of sugar binges and drinking 5 cups of coffee for the ‘pick me up’.

Our experience with serial dieters is that like the diet themselves, they are fussy.

When an individual says they are on a specific diet – they aren’t really. They are on a piece meal version. The individual may take the bits of it they like and ignore the rest. Take for instance the Atkins. We all know that this is renowned for its rib sticking breakfast of sausages and eggs.

I would hazard a guess that most people would warm to this. However, the devil is in the detail. What about the inordinate amount of vegetables that are recommended alongside a certain formula of water to help with the detoxification process.

It is like me giving you a recipe for apple pie and you then making rhubarb crumble.

My point is simple. For any diet to succeed and in truth most, if not all will, you have to be compliant 90% of the time.

How do you measure this? Well we use a compliant grid. Let’s say you eat 3 meals a day for 7 days of the week. That’s 21 meals. 95% compliance means 2 meals where you can avoid the rules. Not a lot of lee-way. So ask yourself – do you understand entirely what is asked of you and have you followed all the rules 95% of the time?

Here is my problem with diets. You end up chasing more than one rabbit at a time.

This is ok if you are talking in short periods of time – say 2 weeks. However, any longer than that I would begin to question compliance. The proof is really in what the results say.

We approach nutrition from a behavioural point of view by asking our clients to focus on one habit at a time. One week it may be the water intake.  The next it may be breakfast. In total there are 10 habits for anywhere between 7-21 days per habit.

Why this period of time? Well some of us have that burning intrinsic level of motivation to make a change immediately. For 7 days they can focus their efforts on making a change before these habits become long-lasting. For some it make take a little longer i.e. 21 days. In fact studies have shown that habits take around this time to be forged.

Like any habit, nutrition is no different. It takes time to forge habits such as shopping for fresh foods twice a week or bulk cooking and bringing in left-overs with you to work.

However, the difference between this approach and all the diet books is ultimately it is more fulfilling. Imagine tackling one habit a week for 10 weeks. In 10 weeks you would have completely overhauled your eating habits – for the long haul. That could mean the difference between shifting the weight and not.

Like all goals success brings more success and there is nothing more fulfilling than setting a goal and snowballing your achievements.
So, it goes without saying that if you are thinking of trying a diet check with a healthy doctor first then ensure you make yourself accountable and can measure your results with it.  However, if you know that you have a terribly sweet tooth or just find it hard to eat right on the run then a diet book will not help.

Behavioural changes with forging new habits will.

More fat loss strategies for you to use and implement including a free sample meal plan and workout

www.spherefitnessstudio.com

For those voyeurs amongst you, I thought I would give you a peek into the staples of my fridge (and freezer).

As I have always mentioned, good nutritional choices win out in the end i.e. over fanatically counting calories.

That is not to say calories don’t matter. Of course they do. However, most of us either chronically under-eat or overeat. The middle ground, as always, is to eat healthily 90% of the time with good sound nutritional principles allowing the other 10% for the rules to fly out of the window.

If we are honest most of us eat healthy choices about 50% of the time and wonder why fat starts appearing in awkward places.

“I just can’t seem to get rid of this” as they grab their spare tyre.

Well – start by cleaning up your home. If that is not a safe haven you can be rest assured that being out and about will be an uphill struggle.

If it is in your pantry IT WILL END UP IN YOUR MOUTH. I have never seen this fail. Try throwing out a packet of unopened biscuits. Go on, try it. It will be like prizing away a kid’s toy. There will be pangs of guilt if you attempt to delve into your bin again, even a feeling of sadness.

“But they were going to bring so much joy and happiness”

You are addicted to sugar. It is not your fault. You just are. Face it. Deal with it. Here are my Top Ten Foods that are in my fridge and form the cornerstone of my nutrition.

Grass Fed Beef – if you want sustained energy for the day then kick it off with some grass fed beef. Rich in Omega-3 and CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) both super fat burners and anti-cancer agents.

Salmon – this is one of the best sources of Omega 3, which reduce heart disease and inflammatory conditions. It is also rich in vitamins B, A an D.

Omega 3 Rich Eggs – it is like most food an egg is not just an egg, a fish is not just a fish. It all depends on where it came from, the soil it is raised in, the diet it was exposed to. Eggs are no exception. Buy organic or Omega 3 enriched eggs. These are a super fast food. Whip up omelettes or have a few hard boiled in the fridge as a quick snack.

Flax Seeds – I love my Omega 3s! Flax is a potent source of Omega 3 and works well in balancing out your hormonal profile. It is also rich in fibre.

Greens Powder – who eats 10-12 servings of veggies a day? Hands up! Veggies maintain the natural acid-alkaline balance that exists within each and every one of our body’s cells. When this becomes unbalanced then problems occur. Stress, intensive training and proteins will tip us towards acidosis.  So not only make sure that two thirds of your plate is veggies but also use green drinks as a great pick-me-up throughout the day.

Fish Oil – every man, women and child should be taking this. The benefits are are far beyond the scope if this piece. Lets just say- name any ailment that you can think of and fish oil will help.

Broccoli – men with moobs and overly emotional women listen up. Broccoli (and watercress) will help in shifting fat in embarrassing areas and balancing your emotional state. How? It is rich in phytoestrogens that balance out the bad oestrogen that is within your system. A powerhouse of nutrients and fibre too.

Blueberries – low in sugar, high in fibre rich in antioxidants these little beauties are a powerhouse of nutrition. Try them frozen with natural yoghurt and cinnamon. Lovely.

Spinach – one of the best natural sources of folic acid, a great alkaline food and superb for preventing heart disease. Popeye was right. I use it as a base for salads.

There is more. And variety is the key. But have a close look at the staples in your fridge. Try swapping one poor choice for one of the above and a positive step has been taken already.

When times are tough, it is time to dig deep and come up with strategies that are part and parcel of most health and fitness enthusiasts armoury, yet rarely show their face in most people’s day –to-day habits.

If fitness enthusiasts didn’t watch their purse strings when it came to eating right they would be cast aside in an attempt to get leaner or bigger! Their food bills would be astronomical.

So what can you do to a) eat healthier foods b) save time in the kitchen and c) save pennies.

Here are few tried and tested strategies that work really well to cover your nutritional bases and also allow you to eat right on a budget.

1.Buy your meat from a local butcher – this goes without saying. I love going into my butcher. Fresh, traceable meat that is far richer in nutrients and more economical.

Don’t be afraid to mix up and try cheaper organ meats. These are powerhouses of nutrition. Just ask one of my Premiership Rugby Players – his staple diet, at 18 stone and 12 per cent body fat, is liver and heart kebabs!

2.Buy your meat, fish and poultry in bulk and try and negotiate a discount. You will always need fresh protein on hand any way to keep up with your healthy eating strategies. Why not buy a few days worth and freeze the rest?

3.Use the local farmers markets as your port of call for fresh veggies and fruits. More often than not you will be able to pick up organic produce at half the price than say a supermarket. You will be doing your bit for supporting local produce too! You know the people that actually care about what goes into your mouth when you buy it!

4.Stick to the outside aisles of your supermarket will mean that you save a huge amount on costly boxed, packaged and wrapped items. In general these tend to be foods that will scupper your plans to keep fit and healthy over the Winter Months. My food bill is by no means through the roof yet I still tuck away around 3500-4000 calories a day. This is a lot of food!

My Nan always brings to my attention how cooking a stew, roast, casserole costs about a Euro whereas you compare this to a serving of waffles, burgers, chips and Ice Cream will knock you back about three times that and the cost of a visit to the Doctor as your Immune System cries out for some nutrients.

5. Buy In Season will mean that you are working with nature rather than against it. Ever wondered why your Strawberries from Columbia are three times the size of a normal Strawberry and looking more like a peach devoid of all colour?

Our love of the humble Strawberry has led us to crave them all year round but this is not how it is suppose to be. The bottom line is that you still pay three times as much for them.

6. Stick to buying loose items too rather than packs of items. This is a cheaper option and will mean that you waste less.

7. It is also funny how a simple Bolognese or chilli sauce can cost three times as much when you choose the jars. Not only are these ladened with hidden sugar but also a Bolognese sauce is so easy and cheap to make.
Simply get a tin of chopped tomatoes, some mixed herbs, garlic, salt and pepper and hey presto. For a chilli sauce add in chilli. A trained chimp could knock that up.

8. Cook More Veggie Based Dishes at this time of year. Veggies are nutrition power houses and lets face it, we don’t eat anywhere near enough of these. Stir Fries, casseroles, bowls of salad ready made in the fridge are great for this.

9. You can also juice Your Veggies to save on waste. A good juicer is a good investment particularly if your kids like vegetables as much as they like going to the dentist. Celery, Carrot and Apple is a great little formula. Throw in some ginger if you like a bit of a kick!

10. With a young fella I refuse to fill him with hydrogenated breads, pastries and biscuits so Pat the Baker watch out. Swap your normal flour for Spelt, use Coconut Oil instead of Margarine or Raw Organic Butter, Splenda instead of Sugar and hey presto you have your baking basics.

John Lark is a personal trainer in dublin. He can be contacted at www.spherefitnessstudio.com or 01-5052131.