Monday 12th November - Little things can make a HUGE difference

I know that it seems like I am stating the obvious with this blog title but it truly can be the way to see significant changes.
Make the little things count.

I was thinking about all the amazing things that I had found out and also remembered during the writing of my book and there is one point that comes up time and time again.

Reduce your intake of total calories by 100 each day and at the end of a week you have taken in 700 calories LESS. I know that doesn't really sound like much to most people but it is and you should know that 3,500 cals is a kilogram (2 lbs) of fat. That means in 5 weeks with JUST DOING THIS small change you can impact and limit your "bottom line".

Now let's reverse that and see how easy it is to put weight on.
If you consume an additional 100 calories per day in 5 weeks you can add a kilogram or two lbs of fat. It is that easy.

Now with our life policy of "balance and mderation" justifying our excesses, let's say that you are not eating correctly and are consuming 200-500 cals over your required daily intake. Quite easy to do with today's food portion sizes. Let's say that you also consume a few glasses of wine each night (which is worth about 200-250 cals).

That means each week you are adding about an additional 3,500 calories. That means you could be adding the equivalent of a kilogram (2lbs) of fat calories.

Now with this fact we can see the importance of the calories in (total) vs calories out (total) scenario and how it becomes significant.

To meet this additional intake of calories you would need to be working out everyday just so you don't add to your weight and subsequent health problems. Yeah who is doing that ?

I always have to smile when someone starts learning that they should be limiting alcohol intake. As trainers we get this little bit of research thrown at us all the time "alcohol contains anti-oxidants which assist heart health".

Sure there is no fat in alcohol and you get some anti-oxidant values BUT becomes of little to no value with your body being laden down with excess bodyfat.

In fact it will directly impact this "bottom line" as you try to justify your drinking habits and of course you can do this as much as you want. This is your life. But I guarantee that you will be doing it from a position of defeat because it will only be a matter of time until you realize that "life choices" have been poor.

So we are clear. The research actually says a glass a day may assist heart health - one glass. So when you consume half a bottle a night it's not heart healthy it's alcoholism. Also there is new research that indicates that alcohol may be a contributing factor to breast cancer.

(From Womens Health News Sept 2007)
"It is the alcohol itself (ethyl alcohol) and the quantity consumed that increases breast cancer risk. In fact, the increased breast cancer risk from drinking three or more alcoholic drinks a day is similar to the increased breast cancer risk from smoking a packet of cigarettes or more a day, according to Kaiser Permanente researchers Yan Li, MD, PhD and Arthur Klatsky, MD."

This is incredibly scary. Having had a close friend go through breast cancer this year I am not the bearer of bad news but I want you all to know what the potential dangers are for your Human ECO system.

From time to time with this Blog you may think that I am being harsh.
I don't ever intentionally mean to be harsh but for most preventable conditions YOU could be right. I do care and sometimes this presents as "black and white". But I want you to be responsible for your own health and more importantly get healthy NOW and don't wait until something goes wrong.