An Ode to Coffee

         For me coffee is one of the greatest things in the world. It smells good, tastes great and perks you up so that you're nearly human in the morning. To know why coffee is so great we need to have a closer look at what goes into every cup:

• Water - About 98.75% of every cup is water, so you get plenty of fluids in from coffee (which partly explains why you need the toilet more when you drink it)
• Caffeine - This is the stimulant that makes coffee what it is, without it coffee wouldn't be anywhere near as popular as it is, but we'll discuss this more later.
• 2-Ethylphenol - Contributes to the strong odour
• Quinic Acid - This chemical gives coffee a slightly sour flavour
• 3,5-Deicaffeoylquinic acid - This is a powerful antioxidant and can seriously reduce the risk of cancer in cells
• Acetylmethylcarbinol - adds a buttery taste to the drink, its also used in microwave popcorn!
• Trigonelline - adds a sweet flavour to the drink and also helps fight tooth decay. It decomposes to make Niacin
• Niacin - also known as Nicotinic acid or Vitamin B3, it is a dietary requirement for the body and is used as a neurotransmitter

The coffee I'm drinking as I write this!

Caffeine

          As mentioned before Caffeine is the reason why we all drink coffee, its found in lots of other products regularly consumed by the general public, this such as tea, fizzy drinks, medicines and chocolate. Ever wonder why after taking some cold cure tablets you suddenly feel more alert and able to cope with the world? Well that's the caffeine hitting your system!

The Chemical structure of caffeine

         While high doses can have toxic effects on the body, normal use doesn't have any lasting harmful effects on the body (except addiction after heavy prolonged use). When looking at any drug though, the most important aspects are how they effect the body. Below are both the positive and negative effects:

Positive effects:

• Can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabettes
• It is suggested that it minimises the cognitive decline that is associated with ageing
• Increases neurotransmitters
• Increase the metabolism
• reduces the risk of cancers
• Linked with reducing the risk of Parkinson's Disease when consumed regularly in large doses
• Increases alertness and reduces fatigue
• Increases strength of muscles contractions by stimulating Calcium release

Negative effects:

• In non regular users it can cause an increase in blood pressure
• Can cause shaky hands
• Stimulates urination as it is a diuretic
• It's addictive
• Can cause anxiety and sleep problems
• Withdrawal can cause headaches and sleeping problems

         In my personal opinion I think that the positives of taking caffeine largely out way the negative aspects, with most of them being minor or temporary. From the perspective of an athlete its a useful drug as if it is taken an hour before a workout studies have shown that there is an increase in productivity leading to a better performance / workout this is due to increased focus and also due to the increase in muscle strength / endurance.

So how does it work?

         The neurotransmitter Adenosine is used to suppress the central nervous system, which leads to less activity and makes you feel drowsy or tired. Structurally Caffeine is similar to Adenosine, which allows it to interact with the Adenosine receptors in the body. Instead of activating them like Adenosine does, it acts as an antagonist (blocker) and prevents Adenosine attaching and causing a responce, this prevents you feeling sleepy. As well as this, it also stimulates adrenaline which causes you to feel alert and full of energy. Eventually the caffeine will dissociate and get broken down allowing the receptors to be used again, this is why the effect wears off an we 'crash'.

         Caffeine is both water soluble, lipid soluble and non polar, this allows it to cross the blood brain barrier and reach the brain, this is why it is able to have such a potent effect on all of the body!

         So there you go, that's my tribute to coffee and more specifically Caffeine, whether you use it to just get you through the day or if you use it to help you get the extra edge in a sporting event I'd recommend it to anyone just maybe cut down on the milk and sugar to keep it healthy!

Cheers, 

Rich

References:
Wired.com
Rang and Dales Pharmacology
The complete guide to sports nutrition - volume 6

Meal Plan - 28/10/12 - 03/11/12

Hello everyone,

         
         Its been a couple of weeks since I've managed to do a post as I've been crazy busy. I've finally found a minute to do this weeks meal plan, its slightly different again this week with a couple of new additions to some of the meals just to change it up.

Sunday:

B: Porridge with Honey

S: Raisins

L: Pizza

S: Scrambled Eggs

D: Roast Chicken with stuffing and Cauliflower 

S: Protein Shake

Monday:

B: Scrambled Eggs on Toast
S: Almonds + Raisins
L: Jacket Potato with salad
S: Peanut butter on toast
D: Chicken Stirfry
S: Protein shake

Tuesday:

B: Porridge with Honey
S: Protein Shake
L: Turkey Stirfry
S: Banana in yoghurt
D: Sandwich with fruit
S: Raisins

Wednesday:

B: Muesli with yoghurt
S: Almonds
L: Chicken Curry
S: Scrambled Eggs
D: Blueberry and Banana Smoothie
S: Peanut butter + toast

Thursday

B: Scrambled eggs + Toast

S: Goji Berries

L: Sandwich + orange
S: Protein Shake
D: Chicken with green veg and salad

S: Raisins and Almonds

Friday:

B: Muesli with yoghurt
S: Orange + banana
L: Steak with veg and salad
S: Protein Shake
D: Chicken curry
S: Almonds

Saturday:

B: Banana + Blueberry Smoothie
S: Power Bar
L: Unknown
S: Protein Shake
D: Chicken and spinich in wholemeal pita
S: Mixed nuts

B: Breakfast
L: Lunch
D: Dinner
S: Snack

         While there aren't any huge changes, there are the addition of a couple of new items such as Goji berries (which I hope to get a post up about soon), Muesli and steak. This is just to add some more variety so I don't get bored and also because they are both very good for you and fairly tasty if you serve them right!

         I've also moved my cheat meal to Sundays as I'm no longer going on a pub lunch on a Friday as I've changed work. I've also slightly increased the size of the snack by adding more items to some of them as I found that I need to be eating more to combat the extra exercise I'm doing. Its very important if you want to be in good shape to have your intake match your output, otherwise you will end up loosing fat and muscle and despite eating better have a negative effect on your health!

         Let me know what you think about my meal plan and comment below with any suggestions or what you like to do!

Cheers Rich.

Muscle Groups - The Abdoninals Part 1

         It seems like the best place to start when talking about muscle exercises is the Abdominal muscles, having good abs is the sign of someone who is at the top of their fitness and rightly so as it requires a lot of hard work to get these muscles into top condition. There is a lot to talk about with looking after your muscles so I'll be breaking this into two parts. Part 1 will give you an insight into what makes your abs and how to stretch them, with part 2 looking into the equipment you can use and how to exercise them! So lets start with a brief biology lesson:

The Anatomy:

Picture from wiki commons

• Rectus Abdominis - This is the muscle that defines the abs, it is responsible for the '6 pack' that so many people crave. It consists of 2 vertical muscles that run from the pubis up to the 5th rib covering all of the abdomen. It has various functions that include helping with posture as well as helping to flex the spine in a 'crunch' motion. It can also play a part in forceful respiration such as heavy breathing after intense exercise and helps to protect the organs behind it.
• External Obliques - These muscles run across the side of your midriff and are involved in any rotation that the torso does, so when you turn from side to side or go to throw a punch for example these are the muscles that allow your rotation to occur, they also allow sideways bending of the torso.
• Internal Obliques - These unsurprisingly are found beneath the external obliques and they also are at right angles to the external obliques. They are similar to the external obliques in that they are also involved in the rotation of the torso, however they run in an opposite direction, for example; if the left internal oblique contracts and so does the right external oblique contract then this will bring the right shoulder towards the left hip. As well as this the internal obliques are also involved in breathing by helping move the diaphragm  up and down.
• Transverse Abdominis - This muscle lies beneath the rectus abdominis and holds your abdominal region together. It is involved in respiration and is used to pull the abdominal wall in, so basically this is the muscle you use when you want to such in your gut and make your belly look smaller then it really is!

Now that you know what makes up your abs its time to look out how you can stretch them out. 

The Stretches:

         It's important to stretch well before a workout as this will allow you to work to your best, as well as avoid injury. It's wise to do stretch after a work out as well as this will prevent muscle stiffness the next day and will speed up recovery time!

Stretch 1 - Waist Press

         This stretch works your rectus abdominis and starts off in a press up position with the body pressed against the ground and with the arms perpendicular to the body with the hands placed against the floor.

Start position

         Next push your torso up using your hands while keeping your waist close to the ground, once you get to the top of this movement and can feel the stretch, hold this position for about 20 seconds.

End position

Stretch 2 - Hip Stretch

         The Hip stretch will help stretch you obliques by doing some simple controlled rotations. start by lying with your back to the floor and with one leg raised and crossed over the other leg.

Start Position

          Now rotate the raised leg in the opposite direction (so move your right leg left or your left leg right) until you feel the stretch and hold this for about 20 seconds. When you've stretched one side, swap legs and do the same for the other leg.

End Position

Stretch 3 - Seated twist

         This again will help stretch out your obliques but should help stretch your internal obliques more then stretch 2! Sit down on the floor with your legs straight, now cross one leg over the other one (basically the same as the previous stretch but sitting up)

Start Position

          Now twist your torso in the opposite direction to the crossed leg until you can feel the stretch and hold it for about 20 seconds then change legs and repeat

End Position

References:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/abdominalcorestrength1/ss/AbAnatomy.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectus_abdominis_muscle#Function

http://www.exrx.net/index.html

http://www.fitnessuncovered.co.uk/core-muscles.php
All stretch images are taken from the iMuscle app for iPhone

Meal Plan - 14/10/12 - 20/10/12

         Hey there, this is my second meal plan post. If you looked at my post from last week you may notice a few changes and also a few things the same. It's always a good idea to change things up as If you eat the same thing every week then there is a good chance that your going to find yourself craving foods that you shouldn't be eating. 

         I will generally speaking try and make sure I get a good mixture of different types of food so that I don't miss out on any of the good stuff that isn't found in everything you eat, this is why you will notice that I will always try and have various beef, turkey and chicken based meals throughout the week. It's also good to have some fish options as well because things like salmon contain lots of things that you won't find from regular meat. There is a lack of fish on my plan purely due to me not liking them, as a result of this I try and add things to my diet that contain things like omega 3 which is readily found in some fish but not many other things.

         You should also notice the introduction of protein shakes and power bars, the power bars are home made and are based on a recipe from a previous post found here. These two items are used to as a supplement to my exercise so when ever you see these it is because I plan on either doing some sport or going to the gym on that day, though I'll go into detail on why on a future post! As per my Friday lunch time is a treat and I'll be going for a pub lunch and my Saturday lunch is unknown as I'm playing hockey and our lunch is provided by the other team, however as this will be a high intensity day I can afford to have a less then healthy option!

         So that's it for this week, have a look and try to make one of your own. Leave my a comment on what you think of mine, or if you have any thoughts or questions!

Sunday:

B: Scrambled eggs

S: Banana

L: Pasta bake

S: Mixed nuts

D: Spaghetti Bolognese

S: Peanut Butter on Toast

Monday:

B: Porridge
S: Almonds
L: Sandwich + banana
S: Protein shake
D: Chicken + green veg
S: Blueberries with yogurt

Tuesday:

B: Scrambled eggs + toast
S: Orange
L: Spaghetti Bolognese
S: Protein shake
D: Chicken Curry
S: Banana

Wednesday:

B: Porridge
S: Raisins + almonds
L: Sandwich + Orange
S: Power Bar (see related post)
D: Blueberry and Banana Smoothie
S: Protein Shake

Thursday

B: Scrambled eggs + Toast

S: Almonds

L: Sandwich + orange
S: Raisins
D: Curry with Brown rice

S: Peanut Butter on Toast

Friday:

B: Porridge
S: Orange
L: Pub Lunch
S: Raisins
D: Turkey Stirfry
S: Milkshake

Saturday:

B: Banana + Blueberry Smoothie
S: Power Bar
L: Unknown
S: Protein Shake
D: Chicken pita wrap
S: Toast + Orange

B: Breakfast
L: Lunch
D: Dinner
S: Snack

Homemade Power Bars

         This post comes from a conversation I had with a friend of mine in the pub the other week. We were discussing the sort of things that we like to have to eat before exercising when he told me about a recipe he'd found to make power bars. I've always been a big fan of doing homemade versions of stuff you can buy off the shelves, so after looking into the recipe and similar ones that have been posted about online I decided to give it a go.

The finished product

The Ingredients:

         I didn't follow the recipe exactly how it is suggested but below is the ingredients I used:

• 3 cups of Oats (1 cup is about 225g)
• 3/4 cup of Raisins
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup of honey
• 1 cup of non fat vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup of apple sauce
• 2 egg whites (beaten)
• 2 table spoons of skimmed milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Everything you need

         One of the positives of making your own power bars is that you know exactly what goes into your bar, so you can tailor it to your needs. The above ingredients are by no means a perfect recipe as there can really be no such thing, some people may prefer a harder or a softer bar which can be done by changing the ratio of solid and liquid ingredients.

The Method:

         This is as simple of a method as you can get, it is simply a chuck everything into a bowl and mixing it through until a consistent mixture is made. The only additional thing to do is to make sure that the egg whites are lightly beaten prior to this, though they don't need to be too heavily beaten.

how it should all look together

         Once the mixture looks like the one above its time to get baking. The mixture should be poured into a pan lined with baking paper and spread out so that it has an even consistency, this is to ensure that everything cooks evenly and will prevent having burnt edges and soggy middles! The pan should be put into an oven heated to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and be left to cook for 25-30 minutes, and should look like this when its finished:

fresh from the oven!

         This should be left to cool  on the side and depending on how big you like to make your bars you should be able to make about 15 good sized bars.

ready to eat or freeze

         If you've followed the ingredients exactly how I've laid them out above then your final product should be fairly firm but also still quite moist. Provided you wrap them well they should be able to handle the rough and tumble of your sports bag and if you need any advice on how to wrap them easily check out Dr Allen Lim's video on how to do so here. These bars will last a couple of days if stored in a dry environment but don't leave them too long as the eggs and milk in them will cause them to 'go off' if left too long, the alternative is to freeze them and just take them out of the freezer the day before a work out.

wrapped and ready to freeze

         And that's all there is to making these bars, including prep and cooking this shouldn't take more then 40-50 minutes to make and are a much cheaper alternative to buying the bars off the shelves. A rough estimate for the cost of the ingredients used is £3.50 which works out to just short of 24p per bar instead of the £1.50 - £2.00 that you could be spending buying energy bars from the shops.

         I could go into a lot of detail about the important qualities of some of the ingredients used to make these bars but this post would be getting a bit to long so to be simple I'll just say that they're a great source of energy that is released slowly to keep you going! By no means do you need to use the recipe as it is, you can substitute the raisins for other fruit such as cranberries or you can even use chocolate to ass some extra sweetness. To make this more gym suitable as well you can add some whey protein to the mixture to boast the protein content!

         If you want to look at the original recipe you can do so here, otherwise let me know how you get on making these, or any changes you would have made.

Cheers,

Rich

Meal Plan - 07/10/12 - 13/10/12

Hello,

           This is the first of what I hope to be of many meal plans I post on here. There are loads of good reasons to do a food plan, the first and most obvious is that if you plan ahead it should be easier to eat healthy as you'll know in advance what your going to eat. Nine times out of ten if you don't know what your going to eat for dinner before you get home its going to be something that comes out of a can or something from the freezer. Planning your food for the week also lowers your food bill at the supermarket, if you know what your going to eat there is no need to spend extra money on those 'I might want this' purchases. Most importantly if you do a food plan (and stick to it!) you know exactly what your putting into your body, so you can have a good idea if your getting enough protein, too much fat or not enough carbohydrates etc.

Right, to business (nearly!). There are several little rules that should be kept to when planning what your going to eat for the week:

1. Eat small meals often - I like to eat about 6 times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner with 3 snacks between these and 1 after dinner. The reason for this is simple, eating small meals often allows you to keep your metabolism working throughout the day allowing you to burn more fat / carbs without having to do any extra work. It will also keep you alert and energised all day, so if you find yourself flagging at work late in the afternoon it might be an idea planning a snack to help keep you awake!
2. Vary what you eat - If your eating porridge everyday for breakfast then soon enough your going to start craving a McDonald's breakfast on the way to work. As well as this you may find that your neglecting a food group you need, balance is necessary for a healthy body
3. Increase protein, decrease carbs - I'm not saying no carbs, in fact if you are about to exercise then its important to have carbs to burn for a quick response, however if you take in too many carbs then these are broken down in sugars but are not used for energy, they are instead converted into glycogen and stored. When this happens fat cannot be digested and this leads to fatty build up. Protein however is digested slowly and will provide you with a small release of energy over time keeping you full at the same time!

Finally,  below is what my plan for the week coming:

Sunday:

B: Egg and Soldiers

S: Orange + glass of milk

L: Curry + brown rice

S: Raisins

D: Meat Balls with brown bread

S: Toast + Milk

Monday:

B: Porridge
S: Almonds
L: Sandwich + banana
S: Almonds
D: Chicken Stir-fry
S: Blueberries with yogurt

Tuesday:

B: Scrambled eggs + toast
S: Almonds
L: Tomato + garlic pasta
S: Orange
D: Meat Balls with brown bread
S: Banana

Wednesday:

B: Porridge
S: Raisins
L: Tomato + garlic pasta
S: Almonds
D: Blueberry and Banana Smoothie
S: Orange

Thursday

B: Scrambled eggs + Toast

S: Almonds

L: Sandwich + orange
S: Raisins
D: Curry with Brown rice

S: 

Friday:

B: Porridge
S: Almonds
L: Pub Lunch
S: Raisins
D: Turkey + green veg
S: Milkshake

Saturday:

B: Banana Smoothie
S: Banana
L: Unknown
S: Raisins
D: Chicken pita wrap
S: Toast + Orange

B: Breakfast
L: Lunch
D: Dinner
S: Snack

        I'm sure you can notice some patterns appearing on this list, for example during the week I tend to opt for raisins and almonds for snacks fairly regularly, this is purely due to me having a busy week working and I don't have anything else available at the moment to eat when I'm at work. Though the good thing about a meal plan is that you don't need to stick to it religiously but its good to have a back up plan if you can't do what you would like!

        You may also notice that I have a couple of smoothies for main meals on a Wednesday and  on a Saturday. This is because I train / play hockey on these days and I find its a great way to get certain things into my body and stay nicely hydrated at the same time!

If you like the idea of this, try it for yourself, just remember that Its OK to treat yourself every now and again (hence the pub lunch on Friday and the the unknown lunch on Saturday!).

Cheers,

Rich

About Me

Hello out there!

So This is my first post, so I thought it might be a good idea to let anyone out there who is reading this know what kind of things I plan to be writing about.

As the name suggests I'll be talking about healthy eating, keeping in shape and sport in a wider sense. I'm decided to start doing this blog for two main reasons, to encourage me to learn more about being healthy and to try and encourage other people to take an interest, so hopefully I can do both!

I will be aiming to have some fairly regular themes in what I post which should include reviews on sports equipment / tech; super foods / meal advice; the different types of supplements available and finally I'll be spending time talking about different muscles and how to train these! I'll try and make sure that any claim I make is backed up with some sort of reference but if I don't feel free to drop me a message and I'll try and find you some evidence for what I've said.

I don't promise to keep to all of these topics and there is a very good chance that I'll go off on a tangent every now and again!

Hopefully there will be something for everyone here!

Rich

Super Foods - Blueberries

         I'm a huge fan of Blueberries, In my opinion they are one of the best fruits about, they seem to have it all going for them. Their tasty, but not too sweet. They can be eaten on their own or with yogurt or even blended to make a nice smoothie. As well as their nice taste they are also incredibly good for you as they have a fantastic nutritional content as well as having lots of health beneficial properties!

A 50g portion of Blueberries contains:

Kcalories	29
Fat	Trace
Protein	0.4g
Carbohydrate	7.2g
Fibre	1.2g
Vitamin C	5mg
Vitamin E	2.4mg
Potassium	39mg

(Table taken from 100 best Health Foods ISBN: 978-1-4454-6198-4)

Recommended Daily Allowance for an Adult:

Kcalories	For Men: 2500 For Women: 2000
Fat	65g
Protein	50g
Carbohydrate	300g
Fibre	25g
Vitamin C	60mg
Vitamin E	30mg
Potassium	3500mg

         As well as having good nutritional values, blueberries are also rich in antioxidants (they're actually one of the most potent fruits in this field with a high ORAC value) giving them excellent cancer fighting qualities, they have also been shown to help eyes remain healthy and have been linked with lowering urinary tract infections. 

        As I mentioned before there are loads of different ways to get blueberries into your diet, they can be eaten raw, with yogurt, blended in a smoothie or even added into baked goods such as muffins or pancakes or even pies, though the last 3 aren't particularly healthy options! I personally like to drink Blueberry and Cranberry juice as it has all the goodness of blueberries with the additional flavor of cranberries.

         The only real draw back to blueberries are the cost, while they aren't too bad they are by no means as cheep as your generic fruits like apples, oranges and bananas. Most good supermarkets will sell blueberries at about £1 / 100g and they should keep for about a week in the fridge, though they can be frozen without loosing too much of their goodness