Categories Exercise tips, Health Tips, Nutrition, Personal Training

Tuesday’s Skinny Plan!

Fusilli Pasta with Salmon & Baby Spinach (click here for tonight’s dinner recipe)

TUESDAY

Morning brisk walk: 30 – 45 mins

Brekkie – 1 slice of rye bread or grainy bread toasted with fresh avocado and sliced tomatoes and lots of cracked pepper.

Snack – 50g of sliced turkey and 1 x apple

Lunch – pita pocket filled with salad veggies and your choice of protein

Snack – low fat vita wheat crackers and lite cream cheese x 2

Dinner – Salmon and pasta (see recipe), note that the quantities are for 1 person only just double for 2, etc.  The recipe within the planner provides you with the choice of how many people you want to cook for then produces a recipe and shopping list for you. So easy!

Exercise – Join us at Hyde Park at 4.30pm for a group class or find your local rec centre which will have a variety of classes available.  Other options are: going for a walk for a minimum of 45 minutes but include some jogging intervals, walk for 5 mins then add in a 1 min jog and continue (this is for a beginner).  If you have a dvd or a wii, put it on!  I totally recommend Just Dance 2!!

When you go shopping – buy yourself some flowers to brighten up your home, a nice colourful bunch!

Stretch, relax, read or do yoga late in the evening to wind down.

Remember to write in your “me” Diary!

Recipes are courtesy of Nutrition Complete, a weightloss meal planning system available online, included in our personal training packages. Monthly memberships are available for $15 per month.

Categories Exercise tips, Health Tips, Nutrition, Personal Training

Skinny September!

Welcome to Skinny September!

With Spring in the air and summer upon us, what better timing than now to start getting fit and healthy.  You will find daily posts for your Skinny September Coaching Guide on our Blog, Twitter and FB pages to keep you organized and motivated so there’s no excuse!

This is a guide only but should give you enough information to make your healthy regime effective.  Always check with your doctor before starting a new diet or exercise programme if you are unsure of your health or have existing medical conditions.

If you are looking for a more personalized programme then a Create Health & Fitness Personal Training Package, nutritional consultation will be more appropriate for you.

Preparation for the week ahead is key, when you start to prepare yourself, your family, your meals and exercise clothes for the week you will find that you are more likely to keep to the plan.

So just a few pre-programme tips….

1. Mindset – you need to have the right mindset when starting out with any life changes or just getting back on track with your health programme. You must commit to small changes and make the decision that you are going to be kinder to yourself.

2. Time – make sure you factor in the time it takes to go shopping, prepare meal batches and exercise, essentially make some time for yourself for a change.

3. Just do it as Nike says – don’t think about it, just put on your trainers at the time you are supposed to and just do your exercise.  If you think about it too much, you will end up talking yourself out of it and justify why you can’t do any exercise. Try to remember how good you feel after putting in the effort to exercise and why you are doing it.

4. Posting your progress and connecting with other Create Health & Fitness followers will also assist with your commitment to your health regime. Tell us what is happening to you, share any time saving tips you have that are helping you along the way.  Sharing your goals you’re your journey helps you to achieve them!

First thing, preparation:

Are your exercise clothes ready to wear? No? Find them and put them out somewhere you can see them. Where are your runners? Find them and have them ready along with your water bottle and ipod? They all need to be easily accessible.

Your ‘me’ diary, if you don’t have one, just open a blank document on your computer and start making notes of your weight, how you feel, where you would like to be and by when.  Take a picture of yourself now and put it in your diary. The purpose of this is so you can write down everything you eat, do and feel every day for at least 2 weeks, when you see what you have consumed in a day it can be a bit of a shock and motivating at the same time.  It is also a good way to identify any food sensitivities you may have.

Food shopping: make sure you have a stock of fruit, vegetables (including green leafy), nuts and seeds, some low fat crackers, yoghurt, eggs, muesli or porridge, wholemeal/grainy bread, brown rice, cheese, tinned beans (lentils, chick peas, adzuki beans, etc), canned tuna or salmon, corn thins, low fat cottage cheese. Wholemeal wraps are also a good thing to keep in the pantry.  Lean cuts of meats, poultry and fish, no processed meat though.  Clear out your pantry of any sugary snacks that you usually have, that will be detrimental to your progress.

So use Sunday evening and Monday to prepare yourself for the days and weeks to come. Try to go for at least a 45 minute walk on your first day and get all the necessary healthy foods to start your plan.

Monday Meal Examples

Pre-exercise – 1 x apple

Morning brisk walk – 45 mins

Breakfast – bowl of natural muesli and yoghurt with fresh fruit

Snack – handful of nuts and seeds, plus one piece of fruit

Lunch – tuna salad with dark leafy greens, and capsicum, add ½ cup of brown rice

Snack – 1 x piece of fruit or a piece of wholegrain toast and peanut butter if you are working out.

Dinner – protein (less than 80g), fresh vegetables and roasted sweet potato

Categories Health Tips, Nutrition

Mediterranean Gluten Free Fresh Basil & Veggie Slice

This is a great slice that you can make then freeze in portions for lunches.

This recipe makes enough for 9 slices.  I put in lots of mediterranean veggies to make it a really nutritious and filling slice. If you aren’t vegetarian then you might want to add in your choice of meat.

You will need:

1 cup of gluten free flour

1/4 cup of olive oil

5 eggs

1 cup of mixed olives including some stuffed with fetta (or you can add in your own fetta)

2 large mushrooms

10 – 15 cherry tomatoes or sundried tomatoes (sliced in half)

1 red capsicum

4 stems of fresh basil (leaves only – sliced)

1/4 finely sliced or grated zucchini

1/2 cup of strong parmesan cheese

Rock salt and cracked pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 180

Chop and slice all your vegetables

Mix eggs with flour and olive oil, add salt, pepper and cheese.

Combine all other ingredients well and place in a shallow baking, then sprinkle with cheese and any further seasoning to taste.  Bake for at least 20 minutes (this depends on the depth of your tray, cooks better in a shallow baking tray).

Serve with a light green salad or on its own.

Let me know if you make it and if you added anything to make your own version!

Angie :o)

This recipe was made by Angie, Director of Create Health & Fitness, the healthy living specialists! Personal Training, Lifestyle advice and Products.  We provide training to the surrounding areas of Perth including, North Perth, Mount Hawthorn, Mount Lawley, East Perth, Subiaco, Leederville up to Joondalup.

Categories Exercise tips, Health Tips, Nutrition, Personal Training

Stress, Nutrition & Exercise

Is this you?  Well as far as I can tell, this is how we all seem to be living our lives right now… excessively S.T.R.E.S.S.E.D! Stress will take it’s toll on your body and not in a particularly good way. Sometimes a small amount of stress can motivate us to take on exciting tasks but when it becomes overwhelming then we need to take action.  Some symptoms of excessive stress are; weight gain or weight loss, high blood pressure, neck and backaches, dizziness, getting emotional over unusual issues, lack of sleep or concentration and frequent illnesses that keep you away from work.

When you are under a lot of stress and strain your adrenal glands produce more hormones which in turn increase your blood pressure and heart rate. This reaction can cause symptoms in any of the organs or systems in the body such as the digestive system and can also create some long term problems if not addressed. By increasing the rate at which the adrenal glands are producing hormones, increases metabolism of nutrients so they are available for the body to use as energy.  Although that may sound good, there is a downside apart from all the side affects already mentioned! You will also lose protein and potassium more quickly as well as decreasing the storage of calcium in your body.  So the need for good quality nutrients are necessary during times of stress.  You can see that as your metabolism increases due to stress, your stores of required nutrients will become depleted more quickly which will lead to those niggling bugs and colds or longterm illnesses.

A balanced diet is the best way to get through stressful times but sometimes it’s the sugary, fatty foods that we crave which only makes things worse.  These foods do not replace the required nutrients that you have lost so just leads to more stress, more illness, a vicious circle.

By putting some quick and simple measures in place, you may just be able to keep better control of stress and live a better quality of life.

1) Eat a well balanced diet, that means preparation, I know I probably say that every post, but it really is key to a balanced diet.  If you don’t prepare your food then you will likely end up eating an unbalanced meal from the store.  Grainy breads, fruits, veggies, protein and “brown” carbohydrates. Remember that good quality carbs are good for the brain.  Refined carbs just place more stress on your body so please avoid, avoid, avoid! Caffeine try to limit your coffees, chocolate and alcohol.

2) Exercise, ideally 60 mins per day, however, this just isn’t manageable in some cases so, split your workouts up, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Personal Trainers are great for getting you up and out of bed for your workouts and you don’t even need to think about what you are doing, we do that for you!! If you don’t want anyone to see you then get yourself a Wii and they have a number of fitness games you can try.  Or join a group for motivation.

3) Relaxation, don’t forget that you also need and are allowed to relax! It’s actually a really important thing to do.  Mediation, yoga, or even cooking can be relaxing!

B-complex vitamins are a great nutrient for the nervous system and can be found in a number of foods, if not you can take a good supplement or make up a great soup! I’ll post my stress relieving soup in the next post!

If you would like any further information about how to manage stress or for a healthy eating programme, training programme or some personal training, please do get in touch.

Thanks for reading!

Angie :o)

Categories Health Tips, Personal Training

Menopause and Mother’s Day!

What better to give to your mum on mother’s day than the gift of wellbeing, just for her.  Or better still, mum’s love to spend time with daughters so why not join your mum for some exercise!   Just for Mother’s Day treat your mum to some personal training with a gift voucher, 5 personal training sessions for the price of 3, $210. That’s a huge saving of $140!  OR book 5 training sessions for mum and come along for free!  Every mum gets access to our Fully-Fit Membership and meal planning programme included.

Think about the sacrifices your poor mother made for you all of those years, and oh, she probably still does!!

Why Does Your Mum Need Personal Training?

1. Exercise can reduce the incidence of hot flashes and night sweats in some women.

2. To maintain bone density which reduces dramatically during menopause.  We don’t want our mum’s falling over and breaking things.

3. Activity during menopause can manage the usual weight gain caused by the reduction in hormones and metabolic rate.  Mum’s need to have something to feel good about, not worrying about their waists getting bigger and…. bigger.

4. Reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes and high blood pressure, also type 2 diabetes.  Cardiovascular disease risks generally decrease with exercise, mum’s can be particularly vulnerable to these, and we don’t want that, we need our mums.

5. Exercise can help with insomnia and getting a restful sleep.  This also helps Dad because mum isn’t so irritable.

6. Mum’s can get quite depressed around menopause, some gentle exercises and support of a personal trainer or group can help to reduce the debilitating symptoms of depression.  Menopausal mum’s don’t need to feel alone.

7. Exercise can give mum just a little bit more energy (to look after you, again).

8. Reduces mum’s stress levels, which is great for everyone!

You see, mums are usually too busy looking after everyone else to worry about themselves, let alone even consider personal training for themselves.  Give your mum some mum only time to find out who she is again and give her that little bit of help in a difficult time of her life, she might not even tell you she’s having a little bit of trouble.

We at Create Health & Fitness promise to look after all menopausal mums!

Just contact us to buy your mum her gift voucher, don’t forget!

Categories Health Tips, Nutrition

Are You Running on Empty?

Are you running on empty? It seems like we all are, but a few simple changes might just do the trick!

  • Eating regular meals and correct snacks are the basics for providing your body with consistent energy.
  • If you think if your body like a car, it needs quality fuel consistently or it just stops working.
  • Before you go for your regular food shop, just stop and think about what you are actually doing during the week.  Monday might be a quiet day and you don’t require too much energy to get through, Tuesday could be full on from 6am till 6pm and you’ll require a lot of regular energy to keep your brain and body functioning in tip top condition, Wednesday could be more of the same, then it gets a bit more quiet again to Friday.  Do you need the same amount of energy everyday?  No you don’t.
  • Ok so lets take a slower day, you might need just a good brekkie of wholegrain toast or muesli with some yoghurt, a piece of fruit at about 10am, a light salad with protein for lunch, an afternoon skinny latte, then a light dinner of roast veggies. You won’t need a full-on day of food because you don’t require that much energy (even though you might think you do).
  • Lets take an exceptionally busy day (which could be every day!).  You may start really early and don’t feel like a full breakfast so start with your cup of tea or preferred drink for breakfast and grab a piece of fruit (apple, pear or banana) something you can eat on the run. Then have your proper breakfast a bit later on (within a couple of hours of waking), have a box of muesli at work or some grainy bread and organic peanut butter at the office so you can have it for morning tea.  If you have meetings, grab a protein bar or muesli bar, but always have a spare piece of fruit or little box of nuts for when you need it in your bag.  Are you exercising during this day too? Then make sure you have something to eat abour 1 – 1.5 hours prior to your exercise, banana, some nuts (almonds, pecans, brazils), yoghurt, rice cakes and cottage cheese with some pineapple.  This is just enough energy to get you through your workout. After your work out, drink a glass of milk for recovery processes. Lunch, a sandwich with some good quality protein, afternoon snack again fruit is fine, nuts, yoghurt, low fat crackers and a piece of low fat cheese.  The idea is just stoking the fire to keep them burning. For dinner, a light dinner of grilled fish, baked potato or sweet potato, salad or grilled veggies with lime and cracked pepper.  You don’t need energy in the evening and going to bed with a full stomach, juts isn’t pleasant for you or your partner!
  • I know you know all of this but it’s putting it into practice that can be the problem.
  • Running out the door without a stock of food in the morning is a sure way to end up either eating nothing, or eating too much processed food.
  • When you are at the planning stages prior to getting to the food shops, make sure that you work out what you are actually doing all week and ensure that you have enough fresh food in the fridge.
  • When you are making dinner, make your food for tomorrow at the same time so you don’t need to make it later on.
  • Make up a batch of veggie and lentil soups on the weekend, freeze them in portions and grab and run in the morning. Too easy!
  • Make up a batch of oat muffins, freeze, grab and run in the morning. They are a great snack.
  • Cut up your raw veggies and find yourself those small pots of low fat dips.
  • Get yourself a little esky and put a block of ice it in, it should last at least till lunch time.
  • Always have some sort of food with you so you don’t run to the vending machine in the afternoon.
  • Remember that too much caffeine can have the opposite effect of keeping you alert.
  • Plan, plan, plan.
  • Always also take your breaks, get up and walk around in the sun!

Eat when your body tells you to eat and don’t miss out on food because you are on “a diet”.  Fuel the body  with good quality foods regularly and it will treat you well!

Here’s an idea that you can make for dinner and save some for tomorrow’s lunch!

Salmon Fish Cakes

1 medium sweet potato, 100g salmon fillet flaked, fresh chilli, 2-4 spring onions, chopped dill, flax seeds and LSA, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup of parmesan and some rice crumbs to assist with binding, one egg.

Steam the sweet potato and mash, put all the other ingredients into a bowl (apart from the LSA and flax seeds) and mix and season well (add rice crumbs if required), roll into small balls in the flax seeds and LSA for a bit of crunch.

You can oven bake these or pan fry with a tiny bit of spray oil.

Serve with a nice fresh salad with lots of leaves, tomatoes, capsicums and olives with a good quality olive oil.

Enjoy!

Categories Clothing, Health Tips

Sizing Chart

Sizing XSSML XL
UK
EUROPE
USA
8
36
4
10
38
6
12
40
8
14
42
10
16
44
12
To fit bustcms
81
inches
32
cms
84
inches
33
cms
89
inches
35
cms
94
inches
37
cms
99
inches
39
To fit waistcms
61
inches
24
cms
63
inches
25
cms
66
inches
26
cms
69
inches
27
cms
79
inches
31
To fit hipscms
89
inches
35
cms
92
inches
36
cms
94
inches
37
cms
102
inches
40
cms
107
inches
42
Inside Legcms
76
inches
30
cms
79
inches
31
cms
82
inches
32
cms
82
inches
32
cms
82
inches
32