Food For Thought!

Bingo wings, moobs, muffin tops, thunder thighs, skinny arms, skinny calves, beer guts...the list of negative associations we have with our poor bods is endless. In fact I lose count of the various parts of the body I’ve had waved at me with a tortured “but how do I get rid of this?”

As such you will find future blogs talking about ways to achieve a balanced lifestyle...healthy eating and exercise! Simples eh?! I hope I can inspire you to embrace a healthier lifestyle and help you learn to love your body, squidgy or skinny bits and all, and work with it rather than against it!

So I’m starting with some really basic stuff you’ll find me referring to in future articles.

NUTRIENTS: Together these make up a healthy balanced diet:

• Proteins - essential to growth and repair of muscle and other body tissues
• Fats - one source of energy and important in relation to fat soluble vitamins
• Carbohydrates - our main source of energy. Two types simple or complex.
• Minerals - inorganic elements occurring in the body and which are critical to its normal functions
• Vitamins - water and fat soluble vitamins play important roles in many chemical processes in the body
• Water - essential to normal body function - 60% of the human body is water!
• Fibre - essential to health of the digestive system

CARBOHYDRATES

· Complex carbs – found in bread, cereals, rice, pasta, potatoes and beans. They are also found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains.

· Simple Carbs - include glucose, fructose (fruit sugar), sucrose (table sugar) and galactose (the sugar found in milk). Simple sugars are used as ingredients in sweets, cakes ice cream, chocolate...yep all the tasty things! They also occur naturally in fruits.

PROTEIN

· Protein sources include meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products. Vegetarian sources include nuts, beans and wholegrains as well as tofu and soya.

FATS

· Your body needs Essential Fatty Acids, EFAs, (the clue is in the name!!)... they are important carriers of certain vitamins into the body and help with many functions within the body.

· EFAs - found in oily fish (mackerel, salmon, trout), seeds and nuts and oils such as flaxseed oil.

There are of course the bad fats, along with simple sugars these are the curse of the modern lifestyle!! Think butter, cheese, cream, cakes, burgers, sweets.....all the things we love so much otherwise known as junk food. So easy to consume yet laden with calories and heart stopping amounts of saturated fats and sugar and sadly lacking in vitamins and minerals!

The key is balance; we all like a little junk sometimes, just make sure the bad outweighs the good!

Shin Splints

With the Marathon looming just around the corner, I thought those crazy folk out there who are pounding the pavements in preparation may appreciate some advice on a very common running injury. To those of you who are too sane or just too damn lazy to run 26 miles, you may still encounter this niggling injury, so if you have pain in your shins please read and learn......

Periostitis is the technical name for the most common type of shin splints found in the front of the lower part of your leg.

Symptoms:

So how do you know you have them?? Press slowly along your shin bone, if you have shin splints you will find an area along the shin bone that is really tender! Ouch!

Shin splints are caused when the muscles of the lower leg are over stressed, this can be through overload or excessive stretch, causing the tendons to pull excessively on the bones of the tibia and fibula resulting in pain!! The pain can normally be felt more acutely as you begin to exercise then subsides for the duration of the activity, then the pain will come back with a vengeance when you stop exercising. This is one common sign that it is shin splints, not some other injury, causing the pain.

Causes:

Overload is the most common cause and often occurs as a result of doing too much too quickly, often a problem for people new to running, or runners who have come back after a break and try to go straight back into training at the level they were at before the break. Overload can also be a result of running on hard surfaces such as roads or pavements.

Biomechanical issues can also be to blame such as over pronation or over supination of the foot (both can be helped by correct footwear) or the problem may be a result of poor running form, or unsuitable foot wear.

Prevention:

Good trainers are essential.... don’t panic, they don’t have to cost the earth! They do however need to be suitable for the training you are doing. A good sports shop will be equipped with gadgets that can tell what type of foot movement you have and even a treadmill for you to try the trainers on.....clever eh?!! Staff will then be able to advise the best trainers for you. (try your local running shop, probably the best place to find this level of service!)

Start any program slowly, gradually increase distance or time to avoid injuries. If you’ve had a break from your routine make sure you start slowly and build back up to your previous level of training. The general rule of thumb with running is to increase you distances by no more than 10% a week.

Always warm-up for at least 10 minutes, gradually increase intensity and always finish your workout with an adequate stretch incorporating all the major muscles in your legs.

Treatment:

Even if you take all the measure s in preventing shin splints they may occur and correct treatment is essential to help them heal as quickly as possible.

Think RICE

REST the legs

ICE the area of the injury

COMPRESS the injury

ELEVATE the injured area

The RICE should be applied for the first 48 to 72 hours.

You may find that the shin splints recur, if this happens go straight back to the RICE technique for 48 hours. When you recommence training start gradually again.