I'm starting a new Circuits Class!

New Circuits Class

I’m going to be starting a Circuits class on 4th June in St Michaels Church Hall in Kingswood (there’s a map at the bottom of the blog entry). 

Circuits are one of my favourite ways of training with a group – each class is a little bit different from the last and there are plenty of different formats to choose from.  I love the fact that you are never quite sure what you’re going to get: one week it can have a heavy CV focus, the week after it might be more resistance focussed, then the week after it can be a real mixture.  Sometimes you’ll be in pairs, other times on your own.  Sometimes there’ll be equipment and others there will be very little kit.

Classes can be a great way to learn how to do exercises safely and efficiently; I’ll give pointers on improving technique for safety and effectiveness, adjusting the exercise to make it easier or harder for you and giving encouragement and instruction.

The classes can be a great way to meet people who just want to get fit and don’t have any pretensions, just wanting to have fun and sweaty!

Contact Me!

If you’re interested, or know someone who might be, call 0775 663 2646 or you can drop an email to andy@fitnesstoolbox.co.uk

St Michaels Church Hall, Kingswood, Bristol, BS151BQ

View St Michaels Church Hall, Kingswood in a larger map

A bit of silliness: and award ceremony for carbohydrates!

The award for the Carb Most Likely To Turn You Orange goes to the Sweet Potato.

The award for Best Accompaniment to Curry goes to White Rice!

The award for Outstanding Cultural Icon goes to Pasta!

The gong for Best Carbohydrate for Muscle Gain goes to Egg Noodles!

The award for Underpinning Western Civilisation Since The Dawn Of Time goes to Wheat!

The award for Most Likely to Reduce Blood Pressure, goes to Sweet Potato.  (so you change from being blood vessel red to Dale Winton Orange!)

The award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Wheat!

The award for Best Supporting Carb for Weight Loss goes to Baked Potato.

Finally, the award for Most Nutritionally Balanced Carbohydrate goes to ... Wholegrain Bread!

Calories in Carbohydrates

Calories in Carbohydrates

In my post exploring-carbohydrates, I explained a bit about what they were, how they related to other energy sources and how they are used by the body.  In this post I'll compare some common complex carbohydrates  against each other to see how they measure up!

Take a look at the table below; I've highlighted in red the highest values for calorie content and green the lowest values - with two exceptions - potato has one of the lowest calorie counts of the carb food sources that I've identified, but I've highlighted its protein value with amber because good quality protein is essential not only for a variety of structural and enzymatic purposes with in the body, but its also a key weapon for fighting off hunger!  I have highlighted the protein content for Egg Noodles for the same reason.

Surprises (for me at least)
I'm not surprised that egg noodles score so very highly in the calorie table: eggs are high in calories; after all, they have to contain all the ingredients for building chicks!

I've got to say, bread is my hero: I love a good wholemeal roll, but I am disappointed by the amount of fat and sugar in it!  If you're after weight gain (for example, because you want to build muscle or are recovering from illness), then bread is a good food.  Bread does have its place in a calorie controlled diet - because of its higher protein and fat content it will probably help you feel full for longer - and I'll cover off the other benefits of bread in later posts.  I'd say that fat has a good mix of energy sources in it: a little sugar to give you an immediate boost, some fat and more complex carbs for longer term energy provision and protein for building and repair.

If you're after weight-loss, then its going to have to be a plain old baked potato ... as that's mostly made up of water!  Sweet potato may be a problem if you're after weight loss - they contain a lot of sugar which can increase feelings of hunger!  I'll cover this when I get onto glycemic indexes in a subsequent post.

Next Time

I'm going to have a look at the nutrients in the carbohydrate sources listed in the table below - after all, there's more to food and nutrition than calories!

Calorie Table

One word of warning about the table below; its all by weight (100 grams) rather than by portion size.

Its also worth noting that the bread has its crusts on and the potato is baked.  How you cook potato (and rice) enormously changes the calorie composition: roasting or frying your potato of egg-frying your rice will greatly increase the fat content of these two foods.  Bread is usually served "as is" (albeit with butter, cheese or what have you on it) and pasta pretty much has to be boiled - anything you add to these foods has to be taken into account separately.

Food	Total Calories	Calories from Protein	Calories from Carbs (Less Sugar)	Calories from Sugar	Calories from Fat
RDA - 35 year old 65kg male * approx - no RDA exists	2400	360	1320	NA	720
Egg Noodles	376	56	276	8	36
White Bread	293	36	196	20	45
Brown Bread	281	32	188	16	45
Wholegrain Bread	260	52	148	24	36
White Rice	196	16	180	0	0
Sweet Potato	180	16	112	52	0
White Pasta	148	24	120	4	9
Brown Pasta	133	22	103	3	5
Potato	116	8	104	4	0
Brown Rice	113	12	92	0	9

Weighing on your mind?

The problem with any weight loss strategy is that you cannot stop eating!

Obviously, this can cause problems when dieting, when trying to lose weight through never use or using a combination of the two. Often people over-compensate for the energy expended during exercise by eating too much ("I've earned this"). Many people also drink energy drinks while exercising - these are fatal to weight loss as they almost certainly have a calorie content greater than the energy expended and the calories ingested wont register on the brain's feeding centre … as a result you may feel even hungrier after exercise and drinking these sugary drinks than simply on exercise alone as they can spike insulin levels.

Many people become discouraged with weight loss if it doesn't happen quickly. Others abandon the process after losing a lot of weight initially and the plateauing. Those that do best are those that work to a gradual, sustainable weight management programme and gradually make behavioural changes.

That is why I partner with a professional counsellor to tackle the psychological aspects of diet and weight management to help tackle the mind as well as the body.

Is Exercise Failing You?

Are you in the gym everyday, sweating buckets and still not losing weight?

Have a good look at what you're doing outside of the gym:

• Do you drink lots of alcohol? The alcohol you don't burn immediately will be stored as fat. Alcohol will probably also inhibit your performance when exercising
• Do you smoke? This will reduce the effectiveness of your aerobic system (heart and lungs). It will also inhibit nutrient absorption.
• Do you feel you sleep well? Sleep is when your body repairs itself and builds muscle
• Do you have breakfast? All night you've been asleep and your metabolism drops; eating breakfast gives it a kick and gets you motoring. Skipping breakfast may be a false economy.
• Do you drive short distances? Or take the lift? Keeping active is more than getting hot in the gym - it involves raising your activity level throughout the day!
• Do you snack? Be honest! Sugars do horrible things to our energy systems - they encourage us to feel hungry, and then we eat more sugary things to fill us up.
• Do you drink sports drinks? These are full of sugar, and unless you are running marathons contain much, much more energy than you exert in the gym.

Try keeping a diary of what you eat, drink and all the activity you do in a day and how you feel about each thing.

Coffee and Exercise

I was gong to have a talk about the effects of coffee on my body as sometimes I'll have a cup or two when I'm tired and need perking up, or I might have a cup before doing some exercise to give me an extra boost if my energy is lacking.

What I Thought I Knew

I thought I knew coffee: it can certainly disrupt my sleep, it can artificially elevate my heart rate, and I have found that it can make running unpleasant as it relaxes the smooth muscle in my oesophagus and starts repeating on me! The same type of muscle can be found at the other end of the food pipe … which explains why some people need a poo after drinking coffee. Yuk! I also knew that coffee could interfere with iron absorption, making it a problem drink for some athletes, especially female athletes.  These things are still true.

Benefits of Coffee

It turns out that coffee can be hugely beneficial (although I have to wonder about who pays for the research!).

It seems that the effects of coffee on the brain, nervous system and endocrine systems are well researched and quite profound!
• Type 2 diabetes - several studies have found that unsweetened coffee reduces the chances of developing type 2 diabetes
• Reduced chance of developing dementia, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease
• Reduction in certain kinds of cancers (eg liver, kidney, colorectal and prostate)
• Reduction in heart arrhythmia and strokes

It's quite possible that if you develop headaches (like I do) or other side affects when drinking coffee that its the bean and how its prepared rather than the caffeine. Try coffee from a different part of the world, or that has been roasted for longer or less time. Lighter roasts tend to have more caffeine in than darker roasts (that surprised me); it's the roasting that tends to make the coffee taste stronger rather than the caffeine - research also indicates that darker roasts tend to have higher levels of chemicals that protect your nervous system than lighter roasts (neuroprotective).

Coffee as a metabolic booster

If you're trying to lose weight, drinking black, unsweetened coffee may help - all over the place I am reading the phrase "coffee can boost metabolism by up to 20%" … although I am struggling to actually find the research that backs it up! There is a good article on live strong.com that does have fairly decent references; the evidence here is that drinking coffee helps metabolise fatty acids.

When to drink coffee

There do appear to be a few rules for drinking coffee for health benefits:
• Drink it black and unsweetened - you'll wipe out any benefits if you put milk, cream, sugar or sweeteners in it
• Drink organic as coffee is one of the most heavily sprayed products
• Don't drink it too regularly - your body will adapt to it and you won't get the metabolic uplift
• Avoid drinking to late in the day and after exercise - drink before exercise for best benefits

Enjoy your next cup!