UPDATE

For anyone not in the know - my show is being developed and you can stay in the loop  - www.facebook.com/superfoodwarriors and I have a co-host hence Warriors - www.superfoodwarriors.com

MY TIPS ON HOW TO STAY FIT AND HEALTHY

Last night I left a hot yoga class in Los Angeles grateful ... I then decided that I wanted to share my tips on how to make exercise and health, fun and easy.  So here are my tips:

Train with friends - this does two things... firstly you commit to a training session so as not to let your buddy down, but also it makes training and more enjoyable, to have someone to chat with and train next to.

Variety - is the spice of life, it is also the spice of training.  If you live in a city you should have countless exercise options.  I try to do something different every day of the week - hot yoga, surf, touch rugby, gym, hike, swim, run ....

If you receive an invitation - to try a new form of training, then go.  Normally the first class is free, also who knows if you will love it and who you will meet!

Smoothies - the easiest way to smash yourself with all the macro and micro nutrients your body needs.  Blend a smoothie before or after a workout - I often drink one in the car on the way to training... superfoods, protein and fruit :)

Leave early - If you have to drive somewhere and there will be traffic... leave early, avoid the traffic, exercise and reward yourself for the early drive and the training with a nice breakfast at a cafe.  Also a great way to start the day, exercise done!

Sweat - six days per week.  That is give yourself one rest day but for the rest you should do a strenuous session that makes you sweat!

Ocean - I find it so rejuvenating ... train by it then jump in and challenge yourself to swim out past the deepest surfer.

Yoga - great for the mind, body and soul.  I call myself a 'yoga slut'... I've done every class in Sydney and LA - they have intro packages and you learn new styles while at the same time stimulating yourself with new environments and people.

Team training - play a team sport which you enjoy and appreciate the people you train with, otherwise do a group fitness class such as cross training.

Train for an event - this gives you motivation to train regularly and keeps you out of trouble in the evenings, if you are competitive you will want to give your best.

These are my tips .... have you got any to add to this list?

Just breathing is enough to create change....

As I young man I would often get angry and sport and drinking was a way to tame that beast. Both were socially engaging and energy consuming.  Now that I'm older, I find that I'm more selective with regard to how I spend both my time and energy.  I now ask myself questions: what activities do I really like; whom do I want to do them with; and are the activity and the people I'm doing them with good for me.

This came to me as a realisation in my yoga class today.  The instructor made a comment about breathing and how it "can be enough" -  that is, if you are in a deep pose and you are feeling the burn, then breathe deeply and slowly though the discomfort.  Likewise when you are in a resting pose, simply breathe.

It made me think more about the power of both breath and yoga.  I now love yoga and I try every different school possible.  It's great as they are all different.  Growing up I believed that yoga was some New Age thing for chicks.  My first ever class was when I took a “sickie” from high school.  My mother quickly caught on that I really was not that sick and encouraged me to go to yoga with her.  It was just me and some middle-aged women.  It was when we started headstands that I thought: “Here is a chance to challenge myself”.  In fact it was an opportunity to embarrass myself – middle-aged women “killing it”, me huffing, puffing and falling.

Now I practice yoga, often hot yoga, to work out, sweat, stretch and just as importantly breathe.  It is the breath that centres you; it is the breath that you enjoy when you concentrate on it.  The fact is we all often need change.  The need for change comes from stress, illness, anger and sadness.  When you need to change the path you are traveling on or the way that you are thinking, just breathe.  Inhale, then release your breath and let go of what was.  Inhale and start again.

The main reason I am writing this is to encourage people to be happier and healthier.  So breathe.  Here are some tips on where to start. Just turn up to any yoga centre in shorts and a t-shirt and give it a go.  Just take that first step.  Similarly if you can learn to meditate in a quiet room or in the great outdoors facing the sun – that’s another opportunity to breathe.

My other two suggestions for feeling happier and to help achieve the change you want is to breathe at either the beach or on a walk in nature.  I find that the ocean has incredibly rejuvenating properties. Take a breath, dive under, surface and exhale.  It is enough to create change.  A walk in nature will do the same. Walk and breathe... it's enough.

The final tip is to make superfood smoothies.  It’s another easy place to start.  Go to a supermarket, health food store or farmers’ market and buy some superfoods.  Also buy some fresh foods to blend them with.  Blend them and drink them before and/ or after your exercise.

So to be healthy as well as to encourage change in both your body and mental state - breathe.  And of course, drink superfood smoothies ;)

Andrew
Superfood Warrior

Eat real food. This one is more difficult that most people might think – especially if you’re reluctant to get out of the supermarket. Too many of us satisfy self-imposed time restrictions by settling for food that comes pre-prepared out of a bottle, jar, packet or box. However, the downside of convenience is that these “foods” often come with a hearty side dish of chemicals, salt, sugar and toxic fats. Real whole food is what really feeds us. Food that is as close to its natural state as possible. By eating foods that haven’t been tampered with and had their nutritional quality compromised, we are giving our bodies all of the vitamins and minerals they need to thrive.

Great list of 5 awesome superfoods:

http://margarethyde.com/the-super-food-gurus-top-five-2/

Meatless Mondays - good for you, good for the planet

If you’re reading this today it's because you care about what you eat and about what's happening to our climate.  Many people do too. That's why Meat Free Monday was started.

The principle is that by giving up meat for one day each week you can save money, reduce your environmental impact and live a healthier life.

Celebrities have joined the cause including – Oprah, Sir Richard Branson, James Cameron and Paul Mccartney.

Meatless Monday is all about helping people cut their meat consumption by 15 percent. This percentage equals one day a week and by slightly changing eating habits, people can reduce their risks of preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.  Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death for both men and women in America.  A recent Harvard University study found that replacing saturated fat-rich foods (meat and full fat dairy) with foods rich in polyunsaturated fat (vegetable oils, nuts and seeds) reduces the risk of heart disease by 19 percent.  Hundreds of studies suggest that diets high in fruits and vegetables may reduce cancer risk, particularly colon cancer.  Research also suggests that lower consumption of red and processed meat reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes.  Likewise people on low-meat or vegetarian diets have significantly lower body weights and body mass indices.  Finally regarding diet, consuming beans or peas results in higher intakes of fiber, protein, folate, zinc, iron and magnesium with lower intakes of saturated fat and total fat.

In 2006, a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, highlighted the environmental impact of meat-eating and the importance of making more environmentally and socially conscious food choices.   The campaign is to encourage people to think about the environmental consequences of what you eat.  To think about the energy, water and chemicals used to produce food, as well as the fuel it takes to get it to your plate. Meat is also one of the most resource intensive foods to produce.

The campaign is not asking you to give up meat completely; it’s encouraging you to do your bit to help protect our planet. B y joining together in having one meat-free day each week we’ll be making great steps towards reducing the environmental problems associated with the meat industry.  You’ll also be giving your own health a boost, and with the added benefit that vegetables cost less than meat, having one meat-free day each week means it’s good for your pocket too.

So join us and see how one day a week can make a world of difference because it’s holistic changes which can improve our society, as well as our environment.

Hemp :)

Many of you may know hemp as the material traditionally used to make sails and rope for ships…as a fabric for clothes…as biofuel for diesel engines…or because it comes from the same plant family as marijuana, Cannabis sativa L.  But I bet that most of you don’t know hemp as an amazing source of vegetarian protein(Don’t worry, the hemp products that we eat, such as hempseeds or milk, have no intoxicating effects).  Like soy, hemp is a complete protein, meaning that, on its own, it contains all of the essential amino acids in significant amounts and desirable ratios.  I have been consuming hemp seeds and protein powder :)