Shopping Trolley Accountability...

Accountability - being liable and having to answer to someone for your actions or some activity...

As part of my services through Calma Health, I offer clients (Online and Face to Face) the option of recording their food and training on a weekly basis, then sending me their DIARIES every Monday for the past week, in order for me to review and give feedback... This is one tool we have in place in order to help clients reach their goals faster.

So far, it has worked wonders!!! Most clients use it as a personal diary to reflect on how they are feeling, their actions towards food and exercise and monitor where they can improve and things to change... Often, they give themselves the feedback before I can even comment! 

This past week we had a 'LIGHT BULB' moment, when a client, who has been seeing great (gradual) improvements in several areas of their life due to small changes in their diet... This client was so impressed with how 'healthy' their shopping trolley looked they had to send me a photo!

Look at the vibrancy and colour in this trolley!!!

This client also mentioned that someone at their work had noticed the small, healthy changes to their diet and was inspired to make some changes of their own - cutting out 1-2L of soft drink per day!!! 

So.... this got me thinking... How cool would it be to inspire just one other person in your life to make one small healthy change of their own!?!?! 

Then I thought, if all of my clients, plus my FB friends/community got involved we could make some seriously healthy change!!!!

The IDEA I have is simple...

SHOPPING TROLLEY ACCOUNTABILITY!

1. Next time you go shopping, TAKE A PHOTO.
2. Paste it on my Facebook page (either my personal one or Calma Health - it doesn't matter - this is not for business, but to help spread a 'healthy' idea)
3. Have a good look at what is in your trolley. Comment on any changes you could make, or what you feel proud of that's in your trolley... Even share a recipe of what you are going to do with the ingredients in there!
4. Pass on the IDEA to others! 
5. If you want FEEDBACK from me, just say... I'll happily comment!

So, this weekend - happy shopping! And I look forward to HEALTHY SHOPPING TROLLEY PHOTOS being posted this weekend/next week and into the future!

In Health and Happiness,

Sharna. xxx

Need a reason to lift?

There are SO many reasons to lift weights and add some extra muscle to your body…

Speaking from experience, here are my

Top 7 reasons to Life Weights… i.e Make Muscle!

1. Muscle burns more calories at rest.

Did you know that every kilogram of muscle burns 10 Calories per day? That is the equivalent of 5kg of body fat over a year just by having an extra 1kg of muscle on the body.

2. Muscle costs calories to move around.

Muscle is lean weight that costs energy to carry during exercise, and burns more calories than fat to move around.

3. Muscle reduces blood sugar levels

Muscle is effective at using blood sugars for energy, which helps keep your insulin levels down. Stable blood sugar levels/insulin levels makes keeping lean easier.

4. Muscle prevents falls

Muscle helps you stay strong and stable on your feet.

5. Muscle makes it easier perform everyday activities.

The stronger you are the easier it is to carry shopping bags, play with kids, clean the house, generally everyday tasks.

6. Muscle makes your bones stronger.

Performing strength exercises helps your bones stay strong and reduces your risk of osteoporosis later in life.

7. Muscle improves you looks.

You look smaller and more toned by having more muscle and less body fat on the body… Simple.

Get a HEAD START...

Do you start your week Monday mornings? 

Dragging yourself out of bed with a severe case of Monday-itis... 

Or do you jump out of bed excited about the week ahead and the things you are going to achieve throughout your week?!

One habit that I have learnt and found invaluable during my training for Fitness competitions, and staying healthy and fit in general, is Sunday shopping and food prep time!

Often during the weekdays life gets busy, things come up, plans don't always go to plan... But when you have your snacks, meals, supplements and vitamins all prepared and served out as needed, then it is as easy as grab and go... No excuses necessary.

The only other obstacle you may find yourself struggling with during the week is whether or not you 'can be bothered' to exercise or not... Those few extra minutes sleep in the morning sound more appealing than jumping out of bed in the dark when the alarm goes off! Well, all I can say to that is remember your 'why'... What is it that you really want to achieve? Why do you want to achieve it? Spend some time on your Sunday's, while you are prepping your food, to think about your goals and why's for that week...

Get a 'head' start for the week and have a plan of attack for it all!
That way... You can JUST DO what needs to be done, even when you don't want too...

I came across this anonymous quote yesterday.. Have a think about it...

 "Your body doesn't care if your mind isn't motivated... The results will be the same..."

To a happy, healthy and productive week - Don't WISH for it, WORK for it! xxx

5 Simple FAT BURNING Tips.

5 SIMPLE Burning Fat TIPS… 

Many people don’t understand the processes that happen in our body when we eat (and digest) foods. 3 main macronutrients – protein, carbohydrates and fats provide us with energy. When we eat carbohydrates our body converts them into blood sugar (glucose) – the main source of energy for our brain!

I often hear clients say how hungry or tired they feel and more often than not it is directly related to what and when they are eating (blood sugars), and what exercise they are doing. 

Blood sugar levels also affect whether we burn fat or store it, and essentially how lean we are able to get. Poor diet, lack of exercise and the associated weight gain that comes with the two, stuffs up how the hormone insulin works, potentially leading to Type 2 Diabetes.

Insulin's role in the body is to let blood sugar into our muscles and tissues, therefore controlling our blood sugar levels. When blood sugar levels are too high more insulin is required in an attempt to lower blood sugars after meals. Excess insulin is a strong stimulus for storing body fat making the fat you already have, stubborn to shift.

There are 5 simple habits that you can implement into your daily life in order to burn fat (rather than store it)… and in turn boost your metabolism…

1. NEVER skip meals! Eat REGULARLY! 

Every time you skip a meal you slow your metabolism and send your body into starvation/survival mode. Therefore conserving fat stores, making fat loss more difficult. 

2. PLAN your meals and take your snacks with you daily.

Plan your snacks and meals for the day take them along so that you are able to eat regularly and won't be tempted by junk food. 

3. UNDERSTAND what you are eating – PRE-PORTION your meals!

Snacking, or eating regularly is IMPORTANT but it is essential that what you are eating is healthy with the correct macronutrients and portion sizes. Over-eating can also lead to increased calories and increased blood sugar levels. (see upcoming BLOG on Perfect Portions)

4. Include HIGH FIBRE snacks and PROTEIN with EVERY snack and meal.

High fiber meals help to regulate your blood sugar levels by slowing down glucose absorption and your rate of digestion. Protein with every meal keeps your metabolism firing and prevents potential lean muscle mass loss.

5. Perform FAT BURNING CARDIO first thing in the morning on an empty stomach… 

When our blood sugar (glucose) levels are low, for example after waking from a night of sleep) when we exercise - the process of metabolism turns our body fat into energy. However, when our blood sugar levels are high, for example after a high carbohydrate meal, the process of metabolism stores excess energy into body fat to be used another time... (see upcoming BLOG on Fat Burning Walks).

For more information on balanced meal plans and correct exercise programs, Email Sharna – sharna@calmahealth.com.au.

Time Out.

Sometimes in this busy world the most precious gift we can give ourselves is a little time out....

I seem to be queen of busy. I like it like that. But, in order to stay in control and focused on the 'right' path for me, I know it is essential to take some time out and reflect/re-evaluate...

And that is exactly what I have done over the past 2 days.

What am I doing? Where am I heading? How are my relationships? Training? Diet?..... Every area of my life.... Since competing in my first Fitness Model Comp I have found my biggest challenge has been balancing a social life again with clean living and exercise... One challenge I am SURE you are all familiar with. 

My little 'light bulb' moment came today....

I realised I had a 'mental shift' since finishing comp and had been thinking, "Oh, you missed out on so much while prepping, now you can socialise and cheat because soon you will be prepping again..." This is NOT healthy/balanced thinking. The feeling of deprivation leads to cravings, mood swings, lack of motivation... the list goes on...

Ok, why am I sharing this, when I usual share motivating post and tips???

I realised that most women (and possibly men) are living with this same feeling on a daily basis, rather than the feeling of being in control of their health and fitness!

Like I said in my first blog after comp - IT IS A LIFESTYLE... A CONTINUOUS CONSISTENT JOURNEY....

There is NO NEED to deprive ourselves anything. Start to think in ADDITION - what does it feel like to complete a challenging exercise session or stepping into your clothes that you have not fit into for a year, or waking up with energy and vitality that you haven't had in years!?!

Time out yesterday and today has helped me re-focus and find my motivation again. Goals for the next 6months are set! Vision board is up! And my own challenges are set!!! 

So, here I am challenging YOU! Give it a go and reflect on how you feel at the end of the 7 days. 

50x5 Challenge

1. Burpees

2. Mountain Climbers

3.Sit-Ups

4.Walking Lunges

5.50sec Plank Hold

Complete 50 repetitions of each exercise, back to back, every morning for the next 7 days. You can do it ANYWHERE! No excuses!

Have fun! And remember, time out is sometimes exactly what we need. 

If I eat a big steak, is it all protein?

Steak, and all red meat, is an excellent source of protein but is not ALL protein. Raw red muscle meat contains around 20-25g protein/100g. That's around one quarter protein. Cooked red meat contains a higher percentage of protein, 28-36g/100g, as the water content decreases and nutrients become more concentrated during cooking. The remaining weight of the cooked lean red meat you eat is made up mostly of water at around 73% and of fat at around 5%. The protein in red meat is highly digestible, around 94% compared to the digestibility of 78% in beans and 86% in whole wheat. Protein from meat provides all essential amino acids and has no limiting amino acids. Because red meat is high in protein, it makes a substantial contribution to help you achieve your minimum 1.0g/kg of body weight daily protein target. As well as being an excellent source of high biological value protein, red meat also boasts the following properties: An excellent source of vitamin B12, niacin, vitamin B6, iron, zinc and phosphorus. A source of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, selenium and possibly also vitamin D. Mostly low in fat and sodium. Sources of a range of antioxidants and other bioactive substances including taurine, carnitine, carnosine, ubiquinone, glutathione and creatine. For more informative articles on nutrition check out -  www.metabolicjumpstart.com

Food. Food. Food.

Food. Food. Food.

These were so many questions I was faced with over the past few months when people starting noticing changes in my physique, as well as changes in my energy levels and strength and fitness.

What do you mean by clean eating? Do you eat much? What/when/how/why? Don’t you get sick of the same thing? Prep?!?!

When it comes to health and fitness goals, I would have to say the #1 most important habit for me is to create is CONSISTENCY - in exercise, in diet and in recovery… In order to see results, you MUST be consistent. PERIOD.

As I have mentioned previously, I have always been fairly healthy and aware of what I was/wasn’t eating and the exercise I was doing. However, I wasn’t CONSISTENT in WHEN I was eating and HOW MUCH I was eating.

Throughout my comp prep the biggest change/lesson for me came from ‘cleaning up’ my diet and becoming educated on the what, when & why’s of all things Nutrition+Health+Fitness.

Many of us would have heard advice on eating 5 smaller meals per day…? Well, how many of you actually do??? Would you be surprised if I was to then say, this is just the MINIMAL amount of times that I eat! Your body needs fuel (just like a car) to keep running and by eating smaller meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day, you are providing your body with that energy to run efficiently.

BUT. Feed it crap, no matter how often, and it definitely wont’ run as efficielnty as it could!

Of course, there are lots of different theories on this, so I am just reflecting on what worked for me!

Clean Eating… ‘Oh you mean by washing your food before you cook it?!’…. ummm, no. Not quite! 

As little processing or chemicals as possible. 

No packages, pre-cooked, baked, seasoned, sauced, processed crap.

Besides my meats, eggs, fruit, vegetables, nuts and proteins – these are the extras I had sitting on my bench to cook with or add to foods, daily.

• -       rock salt
• -       cracked peper
• -       caynenne pepper
• -       paprika
• -       nutmeg
• -       cinnamon
• -       garlic
• -       ginger
• -       coconut oil

As simple as it sounds, (and many people try to complicate it) but clean eating really is just cutting out the bad stuff and going back to food in it’s basic form.

There are a lot of great E-books on clean eating and great fresh food recipes out there! People are posting on Facebook all the time… Really, there is always a ‘healthy/clean/ option you may just need to search it out. No excuses.

Cheat meals… Again, there are differing opinions on cheat or treat meals… But, for me it was about balance and knowing if I was controlled and consistent most of the time (I said 90%, some say 80%) then I could let me self enjoy a good cheat meal (NOTE – meal… NOT – day!). For me this was a Korean meal, some pasta, sushi, icecream or of course – chocolate! However, as it came closer to comp day cheats became less frequent/non-existent…

How do you prep?

That is a simple question - but one which I was asked every time after I posted ‘prep’ photos.

The simple answer....

1. Shop routinely – I shopped every Sunday.

2. Dedicate an afternoon to prepping for the week.

3. Buy many containers, electric scales, snap lock bags and play some loud/fun music.

I have a meal plan – I know what to eat every meal and how much carb/protein/fats .

So,

4. Weigh, chop and cook veggies and meats then put into containers for each meal.

I am a little too organized at times – tending to label every meal – meal 1 -6/7 so I know what to grab the next day! 

I also count out my almonds on the weekend and wrap them so during the week it’s a grab and go situation. No thinking!!!

This not even scrapping the surface with diet/food/nutrition.... But just a little insight into what Clean Eating and living has started to become for me...

If you have any questions that I haven't touched on please feel free to comment or send me a Facebook message or email - sharna@calmahealth.com.au

Choc Protein/Oats Pancakes with Organic Peanut Butter Drizzle

Pancakes:

- 5 egg whites

- 1 scoop of protein powder ( I used chocolate)

- 2 tbsp almond milk, skim milk or water

- 1tsp cinnamon

- splash of vanilla extract

- mix together and cook on fry pan

Peanut Butter Drizzle:

- 1tbsp of organic peanut butter (melted down in microwave or saucepan)

- 1tspn of agavae

- 1 tspn of water

- mix together and drizzle over pancakes with chopped up banana

* This is a similar recipe from a fitness friend - John Carter. I played around with it to suit my tastes. You can check out his Facebook page at  -http://www.facebook.com/JohnCarterFitness