That is a good question.
It depends really. Walking in your comfort zone meaning you are walking at a pace where you can comfortably hold a conversation, referred to as zone 3. This is better than no activity but it is nowhere near the complete fitness package. If you walked at a higher pace at times and get into zone 2, This is where you can hold a conversation but your sentences might be breaking up a bit.If you can try and stay in zone 2 for a few minutes during your walk you will have many more benefits. There is also a zone 1.This is when you push really hard perhaps when you walk up a hill and you get to a point where you have to stop or slow down. So if you go for a 45 minute walk and you want to make the most of your time, warm up in zone 3 the increase the pace to level 2 and stay there for a prolonged time. If you want really make the most of your time try and push really hard when you walk up a hill and get to a point where you want to stop. The national guidelines for exercise is that you spend between 3-5 hours doing some movement every week and on two occasions you should involve some weight bearing exercises. So two hours of walking at a comfortable pace is not really enough by any means. The weight bearing exercises should focus on the biggest muscle groups, the legs, the upper back and chest. The minimum amount of sets you need to do to get stronger is 25 sets per week. This could be 10 sets of legs, 10 sets of upper back and 5 sets of chest. If you get into a routine of both cardio and weight bearing exercises you could avoid many life style diseases and life a happier and more fulfilling life as you get into your senior years.
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Obesity seems to be on the rise in most countries and it’s possible that The US and the United Kingdom have the steepest rise.
It is now more or less a norm that we gain a little bit of weight every year and in a decade or so a person could go from being overweight to being obese and with time could face health problems. So when we gain weight over a period of time that means there is too much energy going in. Too many calories. We are actually meant to be able to control our calorie intake and balance it out. So if that was the case we would’t be gaining weight. So what is going on? Why are we eating and drinking too much? Part of the problem in ultra processed foods. They lack fibre, which would help us to feel fuller. It is therefore easy to over consume. In the UK more than half of what we eat is ultra processed. If we instead ate food from scratch( Single ingredient foods) we would be much less likely to over consume as the satiety signals kick in and prevent us from over consuming. Ultra processed foods also have additives that create taste sensations and some additives that create addictions. Another big problem now is accessibility of high calorie foods. We could basically just tap on the phone and a few minutes later we could have burgers delivered to our door.Before we would have to go for a walk/drive if we wanted burgers. So our ability to balance our food intake isn’t there anymore and now there are medications available that will help us to balance things out. One medicine which you can now get on the NHS is called Ozempic. Ozempic contains a substance called GOP-1. This substance was discovered in a Lizard. This Lizard would only eat twice a year. So if you go on a diet while taking Ozempic you are highly likely to be successful as you will be in better control of your satiety signals. Now the problem seems to be as soon as you come off the drug you will regain all the weight again. So it’s possible that you have to use the medication for life. There might be ways you can lower the dose or even take the medication for periods on and off. I believe that Ozempic is a good idea because if you lose weight you might stay off other medications. You take one medication and you stay off 3 others. It’s really a win win situation.This is assuming you do't get any side effects from this medical intervention. There are so many benefits you get from losing weight, you could prevent diabetes lower your LDL cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides. There are more and possibly even more effective medication in the pipeline awaiting approval. I have a feeling we could be on our way to reducing the obesity crises in the not to distant future. By: Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton. The first thing you need to pay attention to is your microbiome, your gut bacteria in other words.
Many studies have shown that obese people have inferior microbiome to leaner individuals. Some studies have also shown that you actually burn more calories if your microbiome is more diverse eg. Many more species of gut bacteria. The question then is; how do you improve your microbiome? Is there a supplement you take? The answer is; you need to eat as many types of different types of fibre sources as you can. Your microbiome feeds on short chain fatty acids that are derived from fibre that you consume and the more different sources you have the better diversity of your gut bacteria. Let’s say you go and buy a probiotic yogurt drink from the supermarket. That bacteria will not last long in your body unless there is food for it in the shape of short chain fatty acids. If you really want to make a difference in your health you should aim for about 30 different sources of fibre every week. This means 30 different types of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nut, seeds and whole grains. So if the only vegetable you eat now is lettuce you need to do a bit better, add some carrots and other vegetables that you like to add diversity. The second bullet point is to give your digestion an extended break every day. Start off by 10 hours overnight. If you have your last meal at 8 PM, go to bed at 10 then eat your breakfast in the morning around 6 am. When this becomes easy try to gradually add more hours of giving your digestion a break. Personally I have a 16 hour break every day so I consume all my food in an 8 hour window. Recent studies have shown that there are many health benefits derived from time restricted eating and if you are disciplined and try not to over eat you can also lose a decent amount of body weight Good luck with this. By: Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal traineer in Loughton As we get into our forties and beyond, would it be a good idea to give high impact exercises a miss?
After all the joints are starting to feel sore and you may be carrying a bit more weight than when you were younger. Surely the wear and tear of high impact exercises can’t be good for us in our senior years? Would you be surprised if the answer is; high impact exercises are pretty much essential for us as we age. The benefits of doing high impact exercises is maintaining good strong bones. This is important for both men and women but especially important for women when they go through menopause. There are some options that walking half an hour a day is enough to keep you fit in your senior years. I don not agree to this opinion. Walking is low impact and it will not make any significant improvement in your bone density. It might be enjoyable and it does obviously add to your weekly fitness regime but by no means is it a complete fitness package. If you combine walking with some weight bearing exercises, perhaps twice a week you are much closer to the complete fitness package. Weight bearing exercises are good for bone density but not as good as high impact exercises. So what would classify as high impact exercises? Jumping and running. How about skipping? A lot of my PT clients do boing with me(Hitting pads). That is a brilliant high impact exercise mainly on the upper body. One thing you may not wanna do high impact exercises every day, we aren’t in our twenties anymore so perhaps high impact one day and rest or low impact the day after to help us recover. What if your joints are already affected by wear and tear and you are in constant pain. I would say high impact to a certain degree would still be beneficial even if you experience increased pain the day after. There are ways I modify exercises for my clients. Some do wall press-ups where the hands come off the wall and then you quickly put the hands back before your head hits the wall. I also have clients jumping up and down without actually jumping. Basically they swing their arms and use the momentum to jump but their feet never actually leave the ground, They basically come up on their toes and when they come down the feet act as a shock absorber. These medium impact aren’t a bad idea as they will be of some help in improving bone density. And if you can jump, you can skip and you can run. Well then it’s a good idea to keep that up. You surely don’t want to end up being a statistic.15 % of people over 60 years of age who break their hip bone are dead within a year. Falls are inevitable. We do fall down from time to time and if your bones aren’t strong you may face consequences. I recently fell down when waking up for the toilet in the middle of the night. By: Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton. One of the biggest downfalls of our western diets is the lack of fibre. Ultra processed foods are stripped of their fibre to make them taste better and to increase shelf life. This is a really big problem since fibre can not only make you lose weight but it is also necessary for optimal health.
The daily recommended intake for fibre is 30 grammes a day. If you eat bread (which is mostly ultra processed) you get about half a gram of fibre in one slice. Most breakfast cereals will contain about 2 grammes per serving. On the other hand side an apple contains about 5 grammes of sugar so if you eat 3 apples you are halfway there. For optimal health you are better off eating 3 different types of fruit however; our gut bacteria feed on fibre and if you include different sources of fibre your gut bacteria will become more resilient and protect you better from illness and disease. There are scientific studies from Tanzania. There is a tribe called the Hadza tribe, they are basically the last hunters and gatherers in the world. In Tanzania there are only two seasons, the rainy season and then it’s the sunny season. The Hadsz’s s diet changes between the two seasons and so do their gut bacteria. There are also studies where Africans were given a western diet and black Americans swapped for an African diet. Guess who had the best gut bacteria? The Africans who were put on a western diet stared lacking species of bacteria that they had before the study began and the black Americans significantly improved their gut bacteria within days of eating an African whole food diet. Improved gut bacteria is not the only advantage of increased fibre consumption. Satiety is also another advantage. Let’s say you start your day with a bowl of corn flakes. Chances are that within a couple of hours your energy levels will drop and you will start to reach out for a top up. There are even scientific studies that compare people eating corn flakes for breakfast and people eating Oates and the outcome was that the Corn flakes group consumed far more calories in subsequent meals. I am going to make a list below of my different fibre sources this week. If you can get to a number of 30 different sources you are top notch.1) Apple 2) Pear 3) Orange 4) Plum 5) Mango 6) Banana. 7) Avocado 8) Coffee 9) Tea 10) Celery 11) Dates 12) Spinach 13) Kale 14) Beet sprouts 15) Carrots 16) Broccoli 17) Lentils 18) Red kidney beans 19) Oates 20) Walnut 21) Pistachios 22) Pea nuts 23) Cashew nuts 24) Almonds 25) Pecans 26) Brazil nuts 27) Onions 28) Garlic 29) Lettuce 30) Olives. Fitness tracking is now a part of modern life. Steps and even miles covered can be tracked on our phones by GPS.
There are also more sophisticated fit watches that track things like calories burned, sleep cycles and even your Vo2 max. To track your daily steps is probably a very good idea, especially if you have set a specific step goal. Not so sure about tracking your sleep cycles though. Wouldn’t it be stressful to check your sleep stats in the morning and find out that your sleep quality was very low? I think you have to find the right balance in fitness tracking and only focus on things that are beneficial. It’ a bit like weighing yourself and getting really stressed about your weight on the scale.It is not really useful as body weight mostly reflects hydration. Our bodies are 60-70% water and when you lose a kilo or gain one it is mostly going to be water. Personally I use a Body Matrix which is an ultra sound scanner that measures body fat, I do a scan every 10 weeks or so just to make sure I stay on track. This does not add any stress to my life. I must say that at one point it did. A few years ago I sort of lost track of myself. I was injured and I couldn’t do my runs and we had a lockdown.Tis resulted in mr gaining a bit of weight mostly from boredom. Then I stopped doing the scans and my scanner gathered dust in a cupboard. So the fitness watches that measure calorie expenditure they might be a good idea if they motivate you. You feel good after getting a notification telling you that you have burned 400 calories in an hour. You need to bear in mind though that these estimates are very inaccurate. The error margins are roughly 20-30 % and the calories burned will be overestimated. I use a Garmin myself to track my miles that I run and my pace, The miles run has an error margin of about 10%. I never pay any attention to how many caloriesI have burned. What is going to be the next big thing is glucose monitoring on your mobile phone. This technology will soon be available. There is a company called Zoe that offer a weight loss programme, they actually provide glucose monitors to people who join their programme. They claim that monitoring your glucose can personalise your nutrition. Basically if you eat something that spikes your insulin then it’s a good idea to avoid this food. The interesting thing is that if you eat a parsnip that will spike your insulin because a parsnip has got a very high GI. Perhaps we should stick to bacon and eggs to keep our insulin levels low? The fact is that glucose monitoring is a complete waste of time unless you are a type 1 diabetic.As long as your glucose levels are in a healthy range, fluctuations will not have any negative impact on your health or ability to lose weight. Zoe have even changed the term for a rise in glucose. They call it a spike, the correct term is an excursion.I am quite sure they are aware of this but personalised nutrition will probably sell better that a weight loss programme. After all they do need as many people to join their programme as possible otherwise it won’t do any good. In conclusion fitness tracking can be useful if it motivates you but if it adds stress to your life probably not. ByAbdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton. Apparently obesity is on the rise. The government are very alarmed about this as it will cost the NHS lots of money.
Over the past few years it’s been a top priority to get obesity rates down as it not only is a huge cost involved in medical care but it is also shortening our life expectancy. The fact is some children who will be born in 2024 will become obese already as toddlers and growing up with metabolic issues and by the time they reach 25 years old might be close to the end of their life as they will be suffering from diabets and other really serious health conditions that go hand in hand with obesity. It is estimated that over half of the population is overweight or even obese. What is going on? I was born in 1965 and I don’t recall seeing many xxxl people in my childhood and even in my adolescence. This observation is actually correct as things started to change in the eighties. That is when obesity started to be common and since then it has accelerated. So why did this happen? Weight will be gained if you consume more than you use. So did people stop exercising in the eighties? So back in the eighties gyms were’t really a thing. They were there and we had a few Arnold wannabes attending but it was nowhere near as popular as gyms are now. I work as a personal trainer. Back in the eighties this profession wasn’t even invented.Personal training only started around year 2000. So were people doing more sports? Hard to say really but if you look around you, I live in Loughton and we have about 7-8 gyms in our local area. Two new ones have just opened in the last few weeks. We got 3-4 athletic club locally, there is five a side football. The newest gym that opened in Debden has even got a basketball court. We have the park run in Roding fields every Saturday. I really don’t believe physical activity has declined since the eighties. What else could it be then? Is it willpower? Did everyone just lose their willpower in the eighties? A lot of xxl people blame genetics. They will tell you our parents were large we are large and now our children are large is’s in our genes. Is it something in the environment? Or in the tap water? Why are we all gaining weight? I have one explanation and I believe I am right. It’s all the ultra processed foods. Ultra processed foods were there even in my childhood. I remember corn flakes for breakfast and 33cc bottles of Coca Cola. So ultra processed foods were there but not at the level where we are now. The United Kingdom has the highest consumption of Ultra Processed food in Europe. 58% of what we consume is convenience food and this is where the problem lies. A lot of times we don’t realise that we are eating ultra processed foods as they are so common. This is also fuelled by slick marketing. The food industry are blaming lacka of exercise. You can drink a 2 litre bottle of fizzy drink as long as you go gyn and burn it off is their logic. Then you can eat your food from boxes. So if you are looking to make a difference to your body weight in 2024, this is where you need to start. Have a look at all the ultra processed foods you are consuming and if possible try to make some changes. It does not have to be complicated. Before you eat something ask yourself this question, did this food grow, run or swim. So obviously bread don’t grow on trees. Some processing is ok. For example cheese. It’s processed but not often ultra processed. A food that contains 7-8 ingredients is most probably ultra processed. So eating whole foods does require a bit more time in the kitchen but I would say it’s time well spent as you could add years to your life if you became a bit leaner. I can give you an example of an action that you can take. Breakfast cereals are ultra processed. Just make your own one, a couple of times a week put some jumbo Oates on a tray. Use honey, cinnamon, cacao powder and a little coconut oil mixed together and give it 20-30 minutes to bake. If you want to add other ingredients be my guest. Coconut flakes or nuts, you decide? We are near Christmas now. Try to be creative. Go on Google and lear new methods of preparing the treats that would normally be ultra processed. Don’t forget the mince pies. By: Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton. In the United Kingdom ultra processed foods are consumed more than in any other country in Europe.
58% of all calories consumed are from ultra processed foods.Ultra processed foods started to gain popularity in the eighties and incidentally this is when obesity also got more common. I was born in 1965 and I grew up in the seventies.Back then obesity was’t very common. In this day and age it’s a different story. Just look around you. Anywhere you go you will find that overweight/obese people now are a majority. So what defines an ultra processed item of food? In essence if an item contains a high number of ingredients then it is ultra processed. Are the ingredients harmful any way? Probably not but generally the number of nutrients that you get per calorie will be less if you opt for ultra processed foods. Therefore it’s always better to choose whole foods and spend a bit more time in preparing them, especially if you are looking to lose weight. A few years ago someone reached out to me asking for advice. She said she was only eating whole foods and she was still finding it really hard to keep the weight off. I asked her for a food diary. So her breakfast was Weetabix, a sandwich for lunch and on most afternoons she would eat some kind of an ultra processed snack. So I told her neither Weetabix nor bread are whole foods so a large chunk of her daily calorie consumption do actually come from ultra processed foods. And the packet of crisps in the afternoon it's not like she is eating boiled potatoes. She disagreed, she told me that Weetabix comes from highest quality wheat and that it’s even sold at Holland and Barret. The bottomline is that a lot of people consume more ultra processed foods than they think because they are so common. Surely if you are looking to maintain a healthy weight it would be a good idea to start looking at your consumption of ultra processed foods. The less you eat the better. By: Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton At one point in your life you are going to have to make a decision on how you are going to live your life as you age.
Many things are in our own hands. If you look after yourself by eating well, sleeping well and moderate exercise then your chances of staying healthy as you growl older are much greater. What are you looking forward to in the years to come? Grand children? I have got 3 myself. My last one was born on April Fool’s day this year. You wanna travel the world or go on a hike in the mountains? None of this is gonna be possible if you don’t have your health. I have got 3 grandchildren. I can decide what I want to do or be able to do. Sit on a sofa and talk to them, sit on the floor and build lego or take them out and explore. I have got great memories of my grand dad taking me on a skiing trip in the alps. He must have been in his mid sixties then. Imagine how much energy you would need to go up ski lifts and ski down the hill for 7-8 hours? My grand mother actually lived until she was a 103 years old and on her last day she still walked to to the breakfast room all by herself. Independence is something that is so important. I can’t think of anything worse than having to depend on other people? So how hard is it to stay fit? I personally spend about 2 and a half hours to three hours every week and I do consider myself to be in good shape. In fact I can run faster and lift heavier than many people half my age. How about my food? I practise something called JERF. (Just eat real food). Most of us are aware that ultra processed foods are no good for us son I have made the decision to stay away. I also make sure I get 8 hours sleep and I also practise time restricted eating. I give myself a rest from food for about 16 hours every day. I can still drink water, tea and coffee during those 16 hours. I would actually love to help you as well if you are looking to invest in yourself for your future. I have been helping seniors fro get fit and healthy or over 20 years now. Drop me a message if you are ready to take action? By;Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton. |
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March 2024
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