Fitness Matrix

It takes about 21 days of repetitive behaviour to form a new pattern in your brain and once this has been formed, it becomes an automatic behavioural pattern.  As you adopt and develop new healthy habits, they will slowly replace the old bad habits.  Maintaining these healthy lifelong habits, that have stood the test of time and been practiced by centenarians around the world, will invigorate and rejuvenate you.

Eat five small meals a day

It is much better to have five small meals throughout the day, rather than three large meals.  When you eat smaller portions, you give your body a steady stream of fuel and nutrients, providing it with a drip-feed of energy throughout the whole day.  In addition, eating in this way is less demanding on your digestive system, as you are not overloading your body with more than it needs, which reduces the stress on your heart.

Use the stairs whenever you can

The importance of taking regular exercise and the resulting health benefits, are well documented and cannot be over-emphasised.  Regular exercise can aid physiological well-being, strengthen your immune system, maintain joint flexibility and increase your energy level, which are just a few of the benefits.

During your day, when you can, choose the more physically demanding option.  Try walking or cycling instead of driving or taking the stairs instead of the lift, which will start you on the road to better health and fitness.  The best way to achieve better health and fitness, in a safe and structured way, is with a specifically designed training programme from a Personal Trainer.  Statistically, you have a 95% chance of realising your health and fitness goals, if you have a Personal Trainer.

Laugh all the way

Laughter has been proven to boost your immune system, especially the production of the natural cells that help protect the body from illness and disease.  Laughter also increases the release of endorphins, which are compounds that give a sense of well-being in the brain.  There is no doubt that happy, joyful people live healthier and longer lives.

Drink more water

Water is essential for a healthy, functioning body.  Centenarians around the world cite their native water as the source of their good health and longevity, which scientists endorse.  They all have in common a pure water source, which is located far from any city and free from chemicals and toxins.  Try not to drink water from plastic bottles/containers, as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can permeate the water and can have a negative effect on your health.  Water from the tap and even from water filters is dead, acidic and is so resisted by the body, that is digests it rather than absorbing it.  The best water to drink is living water, which is alive, alkaline and loved by the body so much, that it is immediately absorbed and the body is quickly hydrated with life.  Wouldn’t you rather drink life than death?

May your life be long, strong, healthy and happy!

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Return to your childhood with this….there’s just no substitute for the real thing!

[...]

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Preparation Time 15 minutes

Cooking Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• Large knob of butter
• 1 large onion – chopped
• 4 chicken breasts – chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic – crushed
• 1 red chilli – thinly sliced
• 2 red peppers – chopped
• 200g mushrooms – sliced
• 200g tin of olives – pitted
• 2 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• Handful of fresh thyme
• Sea salt and black pepper to season

To serve:  Wholewheat pasta or homemade chips cooked in lard, goose or duck fat (see recipes)

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large pan, then add onion and fry until soft.
2. Add the chicken and fry until cooked through.
3. Once the chicken is cooked, add all the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for 15 minutes .

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There are three types of cholesterol:-

High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) – Your body’s protector!

Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)

Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL)

We are persistently bombarded by the media with television adverts and magazine articles, that tell us our cholesterol should be low….this simple isn’t true!  Not all cholesterol is bad for you.  The VLDL and LDL are the bad types of cholesterol and the HDL is the good type.  The VLDL and LDL are produced from trans fats, which go to work on the inside of your arteries, making them narrower and increasing your blood pressure.  The HDL works in the opposite way, by galvanising your arteries and protecting your body against the VLDL and LDL, preventing them from penetrating your arteries and reducing the risk of hypertension.

To increase your HDL, you should be eating more good saturated fat.  Follow this link for more information:  http://www.fitnessmatrix.co.uk/2009/04/good-saturated-fat-the-past-is-the-future/

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This is so good for you!  It’s great to have for breakfast and an excellent way to start the day.  You can also drink it thoughout the day, as a quick snack for sustained energy. [...]

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Ingredients

• 500g Blueberries (try to buy local produce or grown in Britian)
• 200g/8oz Billington’s natural molasses sugar
• 200ml/7 fl oz water

For the base

• 250g/9 oz Porridge Oats
• 6 oz butter melted

For the filling

• 300ml of double cream
• 100g/4 oz of Billington’s natural molasses sugar
• 500g of full fat cream cheese
• Zest 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the blueberries into a pan with the sugar and water.  Heat slowly to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for 7-8 minutes.  Strain through a sieve into a bowl, pressing the blueberries into the sieve to extract as much juice as possible.  Leave to cool.
2. Line a 20cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper.  Melt the butter in a pan and mix with the porridge oats.  Make sure mixture is not too dry, if it is add more melted butter.  Pack into the cake tin to make the base, firming with the back of a spoon.
3. Whip the cream and sugar together until fairly stiff.  In another bowl, beat the cream cheese to soften, then fold in the cream with the lemon zest and vanilla extract.  Lightly fold through the berry syrup to create a rippled effect.  Spoon the mix onto the biscuit base, then place in the fridge for 2-3 hours until firm.
4. You may want to keep a few blueberries and a little syrup aside to decorate the cheesecake once cooled.
5. Run a hot knife around the edge of the cheesecake, then release the side of the tin and slide the cheesecake onto a board.  Cut into slices and serve each one with a generous helping of double cream.

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In an article in the November issue of Womens Fitness, they state that celebrity cookbooks may be damaging to our health, according to a new report by the ‘Fat Panel’.

The study revealed that the saturated fat content of many dishes from celebrity chefs’ recipes, contained more than 100 per cent
of the guideline daily amount of saturated fat in a single serving (30g for men and 20g for women).  Sian Porter registered dietitian on the fat
panel, says “having a celebrity chef treat is one thing, but eating these dishes regularly could bump up your saturated fat intake considerably”.

Yes it could and it should!  Your body wants good saturated fat, as it is its primary source of fuel, supplying sustained energy and acting as a protector, because it provides the immune system with the fuel it needs to become strong, resulting in the body being more equipped to fight-off infection.  Good saturated fat is also vitally important for the body to properly metabolise all other nutrients and receive the best from the food ingested.

I realise that this is contrary to popular belief and that you may be thinking that saturated fat will be detrimental to your health, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.  The human animal has historically lived on good saturated fat for hundreds of years, but in the last century, we have been brain-washed by the media and the power of advertising, to believe that foods that are ‘low-fat’, ‘light’ and ‘healthy option’ are good for us, but this is not the case.  Some of the products that provide good saturated fat are; whole milk, butter, cheese, double cream, free range eggs, lard, beef dripping, goose and duck fat, which are natural products and benefit from not being tampered by humans.

For more information on good saturated fat, follow this link:  http://www.fitnessmatrix.co.uk/2009/04/good-saturated-fat-the-past-is-the-future/

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If you are training to build muscle mass (hypertrophy), immediately after your training session, there is a 15 minute window when your body is at it’s most receptive to nutrition.  The best way to maximise your training, is to ensure that you eat a meal that is high in protein within this 15 minute window, to give your muscles the best possible opportunity to repair quicker, then become bigger and stronger.  Don’t fall into the trap of taking protein shakes or supplements, because not only are these full of artificial ingredients that your body doesn’t need or want, but they only increase the fluid (sarcoplasm) between the muscle and the skin, rather than build the muscle.  This provides a cosmetic result instead of a physical result, defeating the aim of the training.

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Preparation Time 30 minutes

Cooking Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 Chicken Breasts
• Butter
• 3 Shallotts
• 4 Garlic Cloves
• 5cm/2 inch piece fresh ginger
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 4 tbsp tomato puree
• 50 ml yeo valley natural yoghurt
• 150ml double cream
• 4 heaped tbsp of ground almonds

To serve: Brown basmati rice

Method

1. Cut the chicken breasts into pieces.  Heat the butter in a large pan.  Add the chicken, onions and garlic, fry until the chicken is cooked.  Once cooked add the ginger, chilli powder, turmeric, coriander and cumin and fry for a further minute.
2. Stir in the tomato puree, ground almonds and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, then turn down the heat.
3. Add the yoghurt, double cream and mix well, then allow to warm through.

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I was watching Countryfile (23 August 2009) and the item on red meat particularly concerned me.  While the argument for us to eat less red meat because of the global effects of the methane gas emitted by cows is valid,  shouldn’t the farmers be looking at what they are feeding the cows, that causes them to produce so much methane?  Afterall, whatever is emitted, is the result of what is ingested.  It was good to see that they are researching different types of grass that may alleviate the problem.

Alot of animals are fed antibiotics throughout their life, to prevent them from contracting diseases, which is not good for them and has a detrimental effect on the quality of the meat.  Do you want to be eating meat that is dosed-up on drugs?  I know that I don’t, which is why I buy all my meat directly from my local farm and the taste is so superior to any meat that I previously bought in the supermarket.    My main concern was the item ‘linking’ red meat to an adverse effect on our health.  We are animals that are meant to live of the land and red meat is a staple of our existence.  Red meat is full of natural goodness and provides our bodies with more of the fundamental vitamins it needs, compared with white meat.

When Countryfile’s chosen member of the public for this item received the results of his medical and discovered that his cholesterol was high, they only mentioned LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein), the bad cholesterol and not HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) the good cholesterol.  If his HDL is high, then that is good, as this is used by the body as a protector.  If his LDL is high, then that is not good, but it doesn’t mean that his high consumption of red meat is the cause.  Red meat is not the problem, it is how it is cooked that is the cause of high bad cholesterol.  Most people cook with one of the many oils that are available on the market today, but don’t realise that the oils turn to ‘trans fats’ (bad fats) when heated at high temperatures, which is one of the main causes of high bad cholesterol.  If people were to cook with a natural fat, such as butter or lard, they would be increasing their level fo HDL (the protector), as these products do not turn into bad fats, because they maintain their natural composite.  So, at the end of the report, when the guy was eating his meal in the pub that consisted of fish, chips and vegetables; while the chips and fish are nutritionally good, it’s not what he is eating, but how it is cooked.

Let’s not make red meat a scapegoat for the failing health of the public, when there are so many other factors to consider.

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