My Workouts - Chest + Back

I recently created a 'My workouts' page listing all of the exercises that I do during the week. The more observant of you will notice that I've split my weight training into 3 categories; Chest + Back, Arms + Shoulders and Legs.

This Post will go into more detail on what I do with these workouts. Its always important to change your workouts, as after a while your body learns how to do exercises more efficiently resulting in a poorer workout. I'm not going to go into what I do for my abdominal exercises as this can change on the day depending on what I fancy, though if you look through my post on Abs you can get a good flavour on the kind of things I like!

Super Foods - Almonds

Up until recently I never used to be too bothered about nuts and seeds, but after avoiding them a long time I decided that I needed to give them a chance. I started off by going with almonds as I thought 'Marzipan is made from almonds, they can't be too bad right?'. 

Assorted Almonds

Meal Plan - 25/11/12 - 1/12/12

This weeks meal plan starts off a bit poorly as I have very little hope of keeping to what I'd like to eat on Sunday as I'll be spending most of the day in London and I'll probably just end up eating what ever is put in front of me. Surprisingly I've never been to London before so I have no idea what will be happening to me there, Is the food good?

Apart from Monday the rest of the week is pretty standard, there are some new additions to my menu but also a lot of repeats from last week, this is mainly because I'm moving house and I have a lot of pre made frozen meals I have made that could do with eating before I go, luckily they are very nice so I have no problem doing this!


Sunday:
B: Muesli
S: Banana
L: Pub Lunch
S: Orange
D: Chilli with tortilla chips and lettuce
S: Raisins

Monday:
B: Porridge with Honey
S: Almonds
L: Chicken Curry
S: Pistachios
D: Chicken Stir fry
S: Peanut butter on toast

Tuesday:
B: Egg and Soldiers
S: Protein Shake
L: Turkey Stirfry
S: Cranberries
D: chicken with green veg ad salad
S: Walnuts

Wednesday:
B: Muesli with yoghurt
S: Almonds
L: Chili with tortilla chips and lettuce
S: Power Bar
D: Blueberry and Banana Smoothie
S: Peanut butter + toast

Thursday
B: Scrambled eggs + Toast
S: Almonds
L: Chicken Parmigiana
S: Protein Shake
D: Meatballs with whole meal bread
S: Raisins

Friday:
B: Porridge with Honey
S: Orange + banana
L: Chicken Curry
S: Protein Shake
D: Chicken Katsu
S: Almonds

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

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

Next Sunday I'm lucky enough to be spending the day at the Good Food Show in Birmingham's NEC, so hopefully I should be able to find some great healthy recipes that I can add to this plan, I'm also getting a new camera this week so I'll try and take loads of pictures to stick on here! There's a good chance because of this that my meal plan will be a bit late next week but I'll try and put some real effort into it to make up for it!

Cheers,
Rich

Muscle Groups - The Chest (Pectorals) Part 1

Muscle Groups - The Chest (Pectorals) Part 1

My last muscle groups post was about the abdominal region of the body, so it makes sense that the next thing I discuss lies next to this; The Pectoral Muscles. The Pecs are to the chest what the Abs are to the stomach, If you want to look like you in good shape and fairly strong you need to have good Pectoral Muscles. Like last time Part 1 will concentrate on the Anatomy and how you can stretch these muscles prior to a workout and part 2 will go into more detail over the exercises you can do!

The Anatomy:

The pectorals are slightly less complex in structure then the abdominals in the fact that they are only split into 2 main regions:

Pectoralis Major and Minor

Smoothies - A Power Meal

         Anyone who reads my food plans will know that I drink a lot of smoothies, In my opinion they are the easiest and the quickest way to get lots of healthy things into you in one go. As far as sports nutrition goes they are ideal as well, not only do they get healthy foods into you but they also offer a great option for hydration. As well as all this they are quick and easy to prepare and most of them can be made in bulk and frozen to be drank at a later date. They can be drank as a meal replacement or as a snack just to help you through the day!

What Goes into a Smoothie?

         Almost anything. If you can blend it and its edible then it can go into a smoothie. The majority of smoothies out there will contain milk, yoghurt and some form of fruit, though not all of them do! The trick with smoothies is to find out how to get a good balance of thickness taste and nutritional benefit. Too thick or thin and you wont want to finish it and you'll miss out on some goodness, or if you don't put enough good stuff in then you will end up doing more damage then good!

Nutritious and Delicious!

         I've found that adding things like yoghurt, Ice and banana's will help to thicken the mixture giving it a nice texture and also helping to satisfy your hunger. You can add some nutrients to the mixture by adding berries and other fruits, which as well as being good for you also help give your smoothies a sweet flavour. On top of berries and fruits you can add honey, peanut butter and flavoured whey powder to add some extra flavour and a bit of protein!

What do I need to make one?

         The only thing you need is a blender, and if you can't get a proper one then you can pick up a hand blender from the value section of any supermarket chain for about £5 but you will just make a bit more of a mess and need to put a bit more work into it! Apart from that all you need to make a smoothie is the ingredients your going to put in!

My hard working blender!

Where can I find recipes?

         You don't need to, I find the best thing to do is experiment with different flavours until you find a nice balance of healthy and tasty. However if your in a hurry and want some recipes straight away you can go to the Men's Health website where they have a smoothie maker section full of recipes tailored to different situations. They also do an App for iPhone that does basically the same thing as the website. On top of that there are various food websites out there that have smoothies sections and if you look in the recommended reading section then you will see a book called 'the new abs diet' that is a huge advocate of smoothies in lowering body fat and promoting fitness!

         At least twice a week I make a Blueberry and Banana smoothie as I've found that its perfect for my training, It always leave me full (without being bloated) and full of energy, since I've started drinking them a couple of hours before a workout (with a power bar) I've felt full of energy and my fitness has benefited from this! The recipe is as follows:

• 100g of Blueberries
• 1 medium Banana
• 3 tablespoons of ready oats
• 3 tablespoons of natural yoghurt / vanilla yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon of unsweetened honey
• 1 scoop (30g) of strawberry whey protein
• 300ml of skimmed milk

         I've talked about the health benefits of blueberries in one of my first posts, so they're an obvious choice for my smoothies as they have no real drawbacks but price. Bananas are delicious, full of Potassium and help thicken the mixture as well as being a source of sugar. The oats are a great source of slow release energy and also thicken then mixture, with the help from the yoghurt and banana! The honey gives it a sweetness kick while being a source of sugar in a natural form to give you immediate energy. The strawberry whey protein ads some protein which helps with carb uptake and also adds to the diet quickly and easily. Finally the milk helps add to the volume and dilutes the mixture so if its too thick for your liking you can always add some more! This is my standard but depending on what I can get a hold of and what is in season I do change it up, I sometimes ad strawberries or raspberries instead of blueberries just to give it a different taste!

         If you can't even be bothered to make them then you can always buy them from the shops and there are some really good brands out there!

Innocent have a tasty but expensive range!

Any drawbacks?

         Not really, though obviously its important to remember what goes in must come out, and too much liquid or fibre before exercise is not ideal as you would like to avoid having an accident mid sprint, so maybe be careful with the amount of fruit you add! Its also important to consider what you put in when you think about freezing them for a latter date! Anything with banana in cannot be kept if you have used milk, this is because a reaction takes place causing the banana to start to turn brown and expire early making it inedible. Some consideration must be taken with adding protein as well as if left in liquid state for too long it can cause bacteria to grow so it should either be drank right away or frozen!

         That's your lot for smoothies, give them a go I can't recommend them enough, just make sure you invest in a good blender as they have many uses above making just smoothies and make the whole process quick and easy!

Cheers,

Rich   

Meal Plan - 18/11/12 - 24/11/12

         Its getting cold now so I'm slowly moving onto more wintry food to fit the weather! I'm starting with the addition of Stew to my menu which is great on a cold evening making you feel warm on the inside and its really healthy to boot!

         I recently did a post about how the body uses energy, linking with this its worth pointing out that when your body uses its reserves of glycogen it clearly needs to replace these. It has been found that while a high carbohydrate diet is useful in helping to bring up your reserves and fight fatigue and muscle damage, eating something that contains a mixture of carbs to protein (4:1 ratio) is even better helping to promote refuelling and muscle repair. This is the reason why on a Wednesday night and on a Saturday evening I have carbs mixed with protein (peanut butter on toast and chicken in wholemeal pita, though dark chocolate will also be good at this!) so that I am ready for my weights session the day after! I'll go into more detail about this soon when I do my posts on pre and post exercise nutrition in the near future!

Sunday:

B: Muesli with yoghurt

S: Protein Shake

L: Meatballs with wholemeal bread

S: Raisins

D: Beef Stew

S: Walnuts

Monday:

B: Porridge with Honey
S: Almonds + Raisins
L: Chicken katsu
S: Pistachios
D: Chicken Stirfry
S: Peanut butter on wholemeal toast

Tuesday:

B: Egg and Soldiers
S: Protein Shake
L: Turkey Stirfry
S: Cranberries
D: Chicken Curry
S: Walnuts

Wednesday:

B: Muesli with yoghurt
S: Almonds
L: Chili with tortilla chips and lettice
S: Power Bar
D: Blueberry and Banana Smoothie
S: Peanut butter + toast

Thursday

B: Scrambled eggs + Toast

S: Almonds

L: Chicken with Salad and Veg
S: Protein Shake
D: Homemade pizza with low fat mozarella

S: Raisins

Friday:

B: Porridge with Honey
S: Orange + banana
L: Steak with salad and veg
S: Protein Shake
D: Beef Stew
S: Almonds

Saturday:

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

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

         As per let me know what you think by leaving a comment and if you have any meal suggestions I'll give them a look for my next meal plan!

Cheers,

Rich

How the Body makes Energy

         As you should be aware, in order to exercise (or just do anything in general) our body needs energy. The big question really is how do we get this energy and what is it produced from? Well if you read my earlier post on A Guide to Nutrients then you would know that we get our energy from carbohydrates, protein and fat, but not in equal measures (carbs and protein produce 4kcal/g where as fat produces 9kcal/g respectively). This is not the full story though, usable energy is created using a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate), but all of these nutrients are involved in different ways to produce this chemical. It is probably worth pointing out that this post is going to be a precursor to one on weight loss through exercise and also another article about pre exercise nutrition! This post is a bit heavy with biology and chemistry but it isn't too complex so don't panic!

So what is ATP?

         ATP is thought of as the energy currency of the body, its used in virtually every process in the body. It is made up of adenosine (an adenine ring and a ribose sugar) and 3 phosphate groups. ATP produces energy by hydrolysing (reacting with water) one of the phosphate groups to form ADP (adenosine diphosphate) and a cleaved phosphate group, releasing energy in the process.

ATP + H₂O → ADP + P_i 

         The amount of energy released is about 7.3kcal/mol (1 mol is equal to 6x10²³ units of a compound) which is a relatively small amount however as the ADP unit can be regenerated back into ATP by using the nutrients in our food, we can keep repeating this reaction, so long as we have energy with which to do the reverse reaction! An interesting fact about ATP is that we have so little of it in our body, on average we only have about 250g, which when you compare the size of us and the amount of energy we have, is only a very small amount.

Adenosine ring (right) with the triphosphate tail (left)

The Energy systems

1. The Phosphagen System 
2. The Glycogen-Lactic Acid system ( or anaerobic glycolyic system)
3. The Aerobic system

         All of these systems are used in tandem when ever you exert any effort on a task, they are also all important in their own rights as the exert energy at different rates and at different energy levels!

The Phosphagen system

         This system uses phosphocreatine to generate ATP to be used in the body. In every muscle you will automatically have a small amount of ATP, this is used up very quickly and needs to be replaced if any more work is to be done. The Phosphagen system is used to quickly replace this ATP by breaking up phosphocreatine using an enzyme called creatine kinase into creatine and a phosphate group plus a bit of energy. The energy is then used to bind the phosphate group to an ADP molecule thus regenerating the ATP molecule needed for energy transport.

Phosphocreatine → P + Creatine + Energy

ADP + P + Energy → ATP

         This process is very rapid and can generate ATP instantly to be used in explosive movements, such as when trying to lift a heavy weight or when sprinting. There is only a small amount of Phosphocreatine available so after 6 seconds or so this system ends and cannot be used again until the creatine is converted back to phosphocreatine which takes time. It is unsurprising then that we can only sprint at full pace for a few seconds as the energy produced cannot match the energy required!

         Many of you will have heard of people taking Creatine supplements and this is the reason why. If you can raise the amount of creatine in your body you theoretically should have more explosive energy and should be able to lift heavier weights for prolonged periods, this however is something I plan to discus in a post about supplements in the future! For the sake of this post though its worth saying that creatine is made naturally within the body using amino acids that are obtained from protein in the diet!

 The Glycogen-Lactic Acid system

         This second system is a longer lasting but a bit less rapid system then the first method and involves the anaerobic breakdown of glucose. As mentioned in the post about nutrients, Carbohydrates are broken down and converted to glycogen for storage. When we need energy they are converted back into glucose and used as a fuel to make ATP. This can be done in 2 different ways, 1 of them using oxygen (aerobic system) and the other without oxygen (anaerobic system). This system focuses on the second one and is important when considering high intensity activity that last for about 1-2 minutes.

         When glucose is broken down as a fuel source when there is no oxygen present it gets converted into pyruvic acid and then to Lactic acid, while at the same time producing 2 molecules of ATP. This process is dependent on 2 things, the amount of glucose available, which is obviously limited, and the amount of Lactic acid produced. Lactic acid is a chemical that is linked with fatigue, and causes the burning sensation you feel when you've done some high intensity workouts. It isn't actually the Lactic Acid that causes this burning sensation but the Hydrogen Ions that are produced with it. Either way if the build up is too large then it will cause muscle damage and stop them from contracting. This means that we can only use this system for a short amount of time, which is why it only really dominates in high paced distances such as 400 / 800 meter running or when doing a set of weights in the gym.

Aerobic Pathways (left) and Anaerobic Pathways (right)

         If using the anaerobic route only lasts a short amount of time, produces a short amount of energy and also causes harm to our body, they why do we do it? The simple answer is the speed at which it occurs, while not as fast as the Phosphagen system, it is still much quicker then the aerobic system so will help us get energy straight away and get the body moving, this would have been essential to our survival when we first walked this earth as if it took a couple of minutes before we had the energy to run away or fight something we wouldn't have survived as a species!

The Aerobic System

         The final system produces by far the most energy but is also by far the slowest method by which ATP is regenerated! It is similar to the anaerobic method in the fact that it converts glycogen to glucose but this time oxygen is present so a different reaction pathway is followed!

         The glucose is again converted to pyruvic acid creating 2 units of ATP but this time it doesn't get turned into lactic acid. Instead the pyruvic acid is used in the pathway called the Krebs cycle which is done in the mitochondria within the cell (they are like the batteries of the cell!) and produce another 36 molecules of ATP brining the total up to 38 units of ATP! As you can see this is a massive increase compared to what was available before! On top of this fat can also be used to make ATP using oxygen and this produces between 80 and 200 units of ATP, it isn't surprising that fat makes more as I mentioned before that it is far more energy rich!

         This process is clearly far more energy rich, with the only major downside being the rate at which it occurs. The question is; why does it take so long to produce energy? There are 2 reasons for this, the first is that large amounts of oxygen is required, which means that the rate at which you breath needs to be increased, which relatively is a slow process, on top of this the reaction pathway is very long so it takes long for the ATP to actually be made!

         As you may have already guessed, this system is more suited for long term 'endurance' events like long distance running  or any even that takes an hour or longer. This gives us a clue as to why you will burn off more fat by jogging then by sprinting. Fat can only be burned off through aerobic activities, and as the concentration of glucose in the muscle and blood decreases the amount of fat used for energy increase. It is important to note however that fat needs carbohydrates to be used as fuel, so don't think that you can just cut out all of your carbs and your will just burn through your fat, this just won't happen!

Photo borrowed from Howstuffworks.com

         That's your lot on energy systems for now, Sorry for all the text I promise the next post will contain more pictures!! If you need any more detail on anything said above let me know!

Cheers,

Rich

References

www.sharecare.com

The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition - Anita Bean

How stuff works

App Review - Nike+ Running

         There are lots of fitness related apps out there, so it can be hard to find the one that's right for you, especially when they all seem to do the same thing. When it comes to running apps there are absolutely loads out of there to choose from (MapMyRun, RunKeeper and iRunner for example), but for this post I'm just going to talk about the Nike+ Running app.

What Does it Do?

         As the name suggests it keeps track of your runs for you and stores the data. It does this by tacking your movement using your phone's GPS system and using a built in timer. You can choose one of 4 settings for your run; Basic - Where you just run and are provided with stats when you finish; Distances - where you can either do a set distance and try and beat your time, or alternatively try and beat your maximum distance; Time - Where you aim to beat your longest run or try and do a greater distance in a set time; and finally speed run - this combines elements of the last 2 where you try and beat your time for a set distance, 1K, 1 Mile or 5K etc.

What you see when you finish

         For me the stats are the key to this app. If for example you just do a basic run when you finish you are initially given your time and distance. No big deal right? Your could work this out yourself if you have a watch and a map! Well this is where it gets more interesting, if you have done a personal best (fastest 5K or best distance etc) then you will get a voice message from a known athlete congratulating you on your result. Your time is then broken down to show your average pace throughout your run, and can be broken down even further to show you your time per mile. It will also show you your average pace / time / distance compared to previous runs so that you can see if you have had any improvement. If this wasn't enough you can look at a graphical representation of your run on the map, showing you where you were quickest on your route and where you weren't as quick, as well as breaking your route up into miles.

A breakdown of the run, green is fast and red is slow!

         You can share your stats and runs on facebook and twitter (If you want the attention!) and you can also get involved with the Nike+ community. When you post that you are doing a run using the app, your also have a 'cheer' option, this is designed so that when ever someone comments or likes this status you will here a cheer to encourage you to run!

What is the Nike+ Community?

         In my opinion the Nike+ Community is for those that take their running seriously, its a place for people to upload their stats and runs. It's for those people that are actively keen to run and for those with a competitive spirit. On the Nike+ site you are able to upload a route that you do and other people can try your route. This is where the element of competition comes in, as people can compete for the best times for the route or alternatively compete over who has ran in the most.

    

         You can also share things such as calories or Nike+ Fuel points used (Nike+ fuel points are a sort of branded version of calories which Nike like to use). As well as this you can also set targets such as run so many miles in a month or burn off so many fuel points. They also offer support in running things like marathons and such.

How much does it cost?

         Nothing. Which considering what it does is a bargain, as you would expect though they like to advertise their trainers and all of their other running related products to you so I suppose they just consider the app to be an investment which should encourage you to buy some of their more costly products! It is also available on both apple and android so practically anyone can use it provided they have a smart phone!

Is it worth getting?

         There are a couple of flaws I'm yet to mention. While as a whole the app is great and I haven't encountered any real problems (yet!) there are a couple of things that I find irritating. The GPS isn't completely reliable, whether this is due to me loosing signal during a run or whether its just not that accurate I'm not sure but I find that I can run exactly the same route but come out with different distances each time. This is something they have made efforts to correct, and even if it is inaccurate you can correct the distance by calibrating your run, though it would be nice if it just worked right the first time! Another alternative to fix this is to buy one of the Nike+ tags which can be put into your shoes to help track you this but your then having to pay to fix an app issue.

         I have also found the Nike+ community to be difficult to use. While it is a great concept it doesn't seem that straight forward, I have no problems planning a route on the site, and I have no problems uploading my run data to my section on the site but I am unsure how to share my times for routes on the maps! I'm yet to actually run a route I have mapped on the site, so it may be that if you run a route that appears on the site then it recognises this and puts your stats up, and as the map planning section also has 'heat regions' where there is large amounts of running, I assume from this that it must be sophisticated enough to recognise my route, though as I'm not doing a large amount of road running at the moment I am yet to find this out!

         Overall I do like the app and I especially like the cheer option to help encourage those who need it to keep their effort up (even though I myself don't like to post when I've been exercising). So in my opinion, even if you only run sporadically like myself then it is definitely worth a look!

Cheers, and get running!

Rich

Meal Plan - 11/11/12 - 17/11/12

Hello, 

         This is my food plan for this week, as per there are some regular meals that I have every week, (my breakfasts are fairly similar) though there are a few new additions. I find that the easiest way to plan your meals for the week is to have a list of all the meals you could make that week and then look at what your doing each day and try and match the most appropriate to it. So if you know your going to have a very active day then something with lots of carbs in for lunch or dinner might be appropriate (which is why I have smoothies on Wednesdays and Saturdays!)

Sunday:

B: Muesli with yoghurt

S: Raisins

L: Roast Pork Dinner

S: Peanut butter on Toast

D: Pork and stuffing sandwich 

S: Almonds

Monday:

B: Porridge with Honey
S: Almonds + Raisins
L: Chili with salad
S: Protein Shake
D: Chicken Stirfry
S: Walnuts

Tuesday:

B: Egg and Soldiers
S: Protein Shake
L: Turkey Stirfry
S: Cranberries
D: Meatballs with wholemeal bread
S: Walnuts

Wednesday:

B: Muesli with yoghurt
S: Almonds
L: Jacket Potato
S: Power Bar
D: Blueberry and Banana Smoothie
S: Peanut butter + toast

Thursday

B: Scrambled eggs + Toast

S: Almonds

L: Chili with salad
S: Protein Shake
D: Meatballs with Wholemeal bread

S: Raisins

Friday:

B: Porridge with Honey
S: Orange + banana
L: Chicken Katsu
S: Protein Shake
D: Steak with green veg and salad
S: Almonds

Saturday:

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

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

         If you have any thoughts on what I've put above then leave me a comment below!

Rich

Product Review - Graze

Hello!

         Today I'm doing the first of what I hope is many product reviews! This first one is on the company Graze and their snack boxes. The Idea behind the product is simple, deliver snack sized portions of different nuts and fruits (and variations) that can be transported easily allowing everyone to be able to eat the snacks they like, where and when they like. Like a lot of internet companies such as Love film or Amazon Prime, they offer the chance to let you try for free and then they start charging you for this service afterwards.

How much Choice do you have?

         In a word. Lots. There are over 100 different snacks to pick from, they make it easy for you to pick what you want as well. You can either go for the nibble box option and choose from all of the snacks available, or you can go for the nutrition box which only gives you the healthy option. The nutrition box can also be split into 3 categories so you can choose what you define as the 'healthy option' whether that is low calorie, high in nutritional things or just a generic healthy snack option.

         As you would expect there is a chance you can get something that you don't like (or don't like the look of) coming your way. To help fight that you have the option to rate all of there snacks as bin, like, love or try. Allowing you to filter through the things that you enjoy and the things that you hate. This process isn't perfect as sometimes you don't know what your not going to like, and it does take a bit of time going through all of the products to decide what to go for!

What do you get?

         Each delivery consists of 4 different snacks all in individually sealed containers, which would fit nicely in a lunch box and would probably hold up in a bag fairly well. The box that it's delivered in is made from recycled cardboard and contains nutritional information on each of the products that they send you.

Personalised Nutritional Information

         The box should fit through any normal sized letter box so you don't need to worry too much about delivery, and its nicely designed to fit with the contents in side so everything normally arrives in mint condition. Looking inside the box there are vouchers which you can offer to friends to try and get them involved and there is a lot of personal touches like addressing you by your first name in the nutritional data.

How good are the snacks?

         Of the 4 that I received I really enjoyed 3 of them and would definitely have them again, the 4th was something I wouldn't have tried but I hadn't rated it on their website so I can't really hold it against them especially as I'm a very fussy eater! In regards to portion size I'd say they are a bit small, and if I was hungry enough to warrant a snack then 1 of these would most certainly not be enough to satisfy me, and I'm only a small guy, with the size of a box ranging from 30-40g depending on the snack.

The 4 snacks they sent me

         If you go with the default option of 2 boxes a week this is only 8 snacks and while that is over 1 a day, I feel that with portion size I'd be eating 2 at a time and I'd be struggling to have enough. Despite this though the quality of what they send is good and their are no issues of knowing when they will perish as best before dates are provided.

How good is delivery?

         Very good. They give you warning about how late you can cancel / edit your boxes and the delivery date for my box was spot on with lots of advice available in regards to how I can have it delivered. They deliver through the Royal mail and as such can come on between Monday and Friday but, if you have a weekly delivery on this should remain on a fairly consistent day of the week!

The box it comes in

How much does it cost?

         This for me is the downside to the product, things were going very well for graze in my opinion up until this point. The price per box is £3.89 including delivery which works out to be about 98p per snack which considering the size of each tub is very expensive. The fact that they are delivered to your door does save you valuable time searching round supermarkets looking at the different things they have on offer, and also offers lots of things that you may not pick up so easily in most places (such as Goji Berries).

         If you opt for 2 boxes a week it does end up working out to being just short of £34 a month on nuts and fruit, and as you will probably buy other similar things in the supermarket this is a large (unnecessary) expense.

Is there any catches?

         I decided to review graze because I got a voucher from a shop offering me a free box. When I went to use it I found it very straight forward until I placed my order. At this point I noticed that I had automatically been signed up for 2 deliveries a week. They also insist on taking your card details for your free sample and won't allow you to place your order without it.

         On top of this it becomes unclear whether if you simply delete these deliveries whether you still receive your free box, or if you have to wait for delivery then cancel your order. This seems like a ploy designed to catch out the lazy, which a lot of people using this service may well be as they have already shown that they can't be bothered to go and buy their own nuts and seeds etc. I was on the ball enough to cancel my free box order as soon as I had conformation that my snacks where on their way, but I'm sure many wouldn't! Bar this there doesn't seem to be any other catches, they do try to do what I call the 'desperate phone network tactic' of offering you a better deal (a free box etc) if you don't cancel your order.

Is it worth it?

         I'd say no, unless your fairly wealthy and not very knowledgeable on what healthy things you would like to eat. I would only use it as a short term reference tool to try and gain a good knowledge on what there is out there. As a service they are efficient, but the price just doesn't match what they do for you in terms of portion size.

If you have any more questions on the service let me know!

Cheers,

Rich

A Guide to Nutrients

         Most of you will know that everything we ingest is split into several different groups of nutrients; Carbohydrates, Protein, Fat, Vitamins and Minerals, Fibre and water. These also split into various different subgroups and all play a role in a balanced diet. For this post I'm going to focus on the main 3; Carbs, Protein and Fat as these take up the bulk of your diet. This is not to say the vitamins minerals and fibre are not important, but they are more understood by most people and they understand why they need them unlike the 3 I'm going to discuss!

         Depending on who you speak to you will probably be told that these 3 are either brilliant for you or terrible for you as lots of people having looked at various diets have developed their own opinion over the years. The real fact of the matter is that they are both great for you and bad for you, its all about balance. Too little and you could die and too much and you could die, its all about finding that nice spot in between!

Carbohydrates

         With the exception of water, this is the largest part of your diet with most sources recommending that you have 300g per day. Carbs are branched macromolecules that are made up of lots of sugar molecules such as glucose, fructose and lactose. Sugar units like these are often referred to as monosaccharides, and when they pair up through a glycosidic bond they form disaccharides. If multiple units join together they create polysaccharides more commonly known as Carbohydrates.

The monosaccharides Glucose and Fructose

Why do we need them?

         Carbs are broke down into their sugar subunits and are used as a source of energy, so the logic goes that the more carbs you have the more energy you have right? This is not always true but we'll come back to that! The fact is though, if you don't have enough carbs then you will feel tired or sluggish because your not managing your diet right, hence why you will hear people saying "my blood sugar is low", this is in essence correct, so its time for a snack!

Where do they go?

         As mentioned before, carbs are broken down into sugar, but this isn't the end of the process. Your body doesn't want your blood sugar to go through the roof every time that you eat so it uses the hormone insulin to convert all this excess sugar into glucagon. This is then stored in the muscles (~400g) and in the liver (~100g).

         The glucagon stored in the muscles are used for fuel in muscle contractions, and the glucagon in the liver is used to maintain the blood glucose level so that all other areas of the body has access to energy. You may have noticed though that the muscles and liver have a limit on the amount that they can store, so what happens to the rest? This is where the issues on over indulging on carbs comes, the excess is stored as fat in the adipose tissue in the body. This is why if you eat too many sweets you get fat!

         The lesson is to regulate your carb intake, you should eat low GI foods (Glycemetric Index) such as wholemeal bread and pasta as they are digested slowly and prevent large spikes in blood sugars. On days when you are being active it is fine to eat foods with high GI values such as white bread and chocolate, as it will give you a quick boost in sugar allowing you to compete at a high level!

Protein

         As with carbohydrates, protein are larger structures that are made up of lots of small subunits, in this case the subunits are amino acids, of which there are 20 natural ones, and many unnatural versions. Our bodies are unable to make the natural ones so we need to get them exclusively from our diet.

Generic Amino Acid - R is variable

Why do we need them?

         Protein has a variety of uses, they repair and build new tissues and cells, they are used for making hormones and antibodies and in a pinch they can be used as a source of energy.

         For an athlete the key feature of proteins are their ability to repair tissues. Our bodies are in a continual process of breaking down tissues and rebuilding them. When we exercise we damage our muscles, causing the need for our body to repair them (this is why you feel sore the day after a gym session), protein is used to repair these muscles, and in the process they make them bigger. So it doesn't matter how much exercise you do if you don't have enough protein in your diet you won't get positive results!

Where do they go?

         Unfortunately we don't store protein for long, the body instead metabolises it to form urea and it is expelled from the body. This means that you can't just overload on protein at the start of the week and expect that to be good enough. Daily control of your protein intake is required to get decent results, so once again the answer is a balanced diet!

Fat

         Fat comes in 3 main forms, saturated fat, unsaturated fat and trans fat. Saturated fats and trans fats should be largly avoided as they have been associated with heart disease and other health problems, where as unsaturated fats are deemed the healthier option though should only be a maximum of 30% of you dietary calorie intake! As a whole fats are made of triglycerides, which are units that contain a glycerol unit and 3 fatty acids.

the unit on the left is the glycerol attached to 3 fatty acid chains

Why do we need them?

          Fat is one of the nutrients that has a really bad reputation in recent years, in the past people thought it was brilliant as it had lots of benefits and being larger was good because it kept you warm in the winter. These days people use fat as the whipping boy for health problems, but most people don't realise how useful fat is. As well as providing insulation to keep us warm, fat also makes up cell membranes, nerve sheaths, bone marrow and surprisingly contributes to 60% of the human brain!

         There are also some vitamins that are fat soluble and use fat as a medium by which then can be absorbed by the body. In terms of exercise fat can also be used as an energy source, with 1g providing the body with 9kcal of energy (protein and carbs only give is 4kcal / g). This however is less readily available so we can't use it in explosive actions like sprinting or weight lifting, instead it gets utilised during endurance events like running or cycling.

Where do they go?

         Fat is stored in the adipose tissue which is found below the skin, around the organs (visceral fat) and in the bone marrow. Men tend to find that they but fat on around the stomach area (apple shaped bodies) where as women tend to put it on the legs and bums (pear shaped bodies).

         Visceral fat is the worst of the 3, as this it the kind that is associated with health problems such as heart conditions. Most fat around the stomach is visceral fat, so if you have a large belly you need to change your diet and do more exercise or you run the risk of having severe health problems! This also helps to explain why heart problems tend to effect men more then women!

         Well thats everything on nutrients for now, if you have any questions leave me a comment below!

Thanks,

Rich 

References:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/

The complete guide to sports nutritions - 6th edition

http://www.netrition.com/rdi_page.html