About Mark

When you’re on a weight loss journey, one of the most important things is as well as getting exercise.  You have to watch the calories that you are consuming for some people, this can be a pain.

Even though modern food labelling is meant to be straightforward. Some people still find it confusing or don’t even read the labels.

This is where sites like Diet Chef have taken care of that for you. So you don’t have to do worry about counting calories anymore, as well as nutrition, this is taken into account.  So it as simple as joining up with the site, ordering your food and then using the tools provided to track your progress.

They have a forum so there’s so a community of people, all with the same goals as yourself which all helps. They have a Facebook page so you can look at their tips and suggestions. So what I’m going to be doing over the next few days is choosing foods which Diet Chef sent me.  So I can do an review of how I get on with the food over a seven-day period.

This will give anybody who sees this review an idea of whether it would be suitable for them. So on each day I will be documenting what I’m eating for breakfast, lunch and tea. As well, as any snacks I consume while on the plan. Which will be provided by Diet Chef. This will avoid any confusion.

On my first day I had for breakfast porridge with vanilla and banana this was a 40g serving I had this with some skimmed milk.  I never had porridge with banana and vanilla before so it made a change calories in the packet of porridge were 158 calories.

To complement this, I had a fruit and oat cookie and a chocolate, soft cookie. About mid-morning I had a snack as I still felt a bit peckish.  For my snacks I had a packet of cheese and onion flavour bakes and some sweet chilli oat bites these combined had a calorie value of 206 calories.

Everything I had for my breakfast today, which is Monday, I really enjoyed.  The porridge was certainly different snack bars tasted great as well as did the crisp snacks. I had and after eating all of it. I felt satisfied and didn’t feel the need to eat anything else until lunchtime.

For my lunch. I had chunky vegetable soup. This is 114 calories per pack. I had it with a couple of slices of bread. It was delicious and the right amount of food for me to cook this it takes three minutes in a microwave oven and for me that was more than long enough.

Because this comes in a packet . All you need to do is cut the corner off and pour it out. For my evening meal I had chicken tikka masala. This was in a packet which you shake for 10 seconds and cook in the microwave for 3 minutes as far as packaged food is concerned, to me, this tasted delicious. It had small chunks of chicken in and the sauce was delicious. This contained 120 calories.To complement this, I had some salted popcorn calories 107,  which is a snack and a fruit and oat cookie calories 439.

Tuesday

For my breakfast I had cinnamon and Apple porridge.  This was 150 calories mid-morning I had a pack of cheese and onion flavour bakes calories, 105 and a blackcurrant and raspberry oat bar 390 calories, as well as a vanilla flavoured milkshake, which is classed as a meal replacement.  For my lunch.  I had smoked bacon and  bean soup.  Another winner with me.  It tasted great.  Later in the afternoon I had another pack of cheese and onion flavour bakes calories, 105 and another blackcurrant and raspberry oat bar 390 calories.

For Dinner I had macaroni cheese calories, 273 and a chocolate milkshake calories, 210.  This concludes everything on this day.

Wednesday

For my breakfast I had vanilla and banana porridge calories, 158 calories.  For a mid-morning snack.  I had the following a chocolate soft cookie calories 180 and some sweet chilli oat bites calories, 101.  For lunch, I had a ham and sweet corn chowder, which is a soup calories, 165.

 

For dinner I had sausages in onion gravy.  This was delicious and the soup was delicious.  I felt satisfied after eating my lunch and dinner.  Although at times, I had something later, as I felt a bit peckish so in the evening I had some salted popcorn.  This is 107 calories and a vanilla milkshake, 216 calories.

I also had a pack of dark chocolate chip oat biscuits, calories 90 and some sweet chilli oats bites calories, 101.  This concludes everything that I had on Wednesday.

Thursday

For my breakfast I had porridge oats calories, 157 for my lunch.  I had chicken jalfrezi calories, 285.  I enjoyed eating this it had chickpeas in with chicken and tomatoes.  And for dinner I had spicy tomato beef soup calories, 144 I also had a blackcurrant and raspberry oak bar calories, 100-ish.  Snacks I had were cheese and calories, 105 and a fruit and oat soft cookie calories 90-ish.  This concludes what I had today.

Friday

For my breakfast I had porridge with Apple and cinnamon calories, 150.  For my lunch.  I had vegetarian korma, which is a light curry containing soya pieces calories, 282 for a snack.  Later I had cheese and onion flavour bakes calories, 105 and some fruit and spice oat biscuits, calories, 80 to 90-ish.

For dinner I had oxtail soup with bread and later I had some potato chips with meat, this was not part of the diet chef regime.  I just felt the need for something else to eat.  This concludes what I had today.

Saturday

For my breakfast I had crunchy bran muesli calories, 164 for my lunch.  I had spicy tomato and beef soup calories, 144 for dinner I had beef goulash.  This is beef stew with tomatoes, peppers and paprika calories, 216 snacks I had were salted popcorn 107 calories.

Just so you know you can complement what you eat whilst on the diet chef program so having someone fruit and vegetables to bulk up your calorie quota is fine, just as long as you don’t overdo it.

Sunday

For my breakfast I had luxury muesli calories, 166 for my lunch.  I had ham and sweet corn chowder, which is a soup made with sweet corn and ham calories, 165 for dinner I had minced beef hotpot in gravy with carrots, swede and peas with sliced potatoes calories, 254.  For snacks.  I had cheese and onion flavour bakes calories, 105 and an oat bar with blackcurrant and raspberry calories, 40 to 50-ish.

This concludes what I had on this day.  My overall experience with diet chef  has been positive.  I’ve enjoyed the food and lost some weight in the process.  And just to reiterate what I said earlier on, you are encouraged to supplement what you eat on the program with other foods such as fruit and vegetables.

The reason I have written my review like it is so you can get an idea of a typical day on the program and every individual is different.  If you would like to try the program yourself or read more about it.  Their website is at www.diet-chef.co.uk

They do have a broad range of foods and the ones I chose to eat were only a small selection of what they have, to offer.  So there is something for everybody, no matter what your food tastes are like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you use walking or running as a form of exercise you will know how important it is to choose the right footwear. Especially if you walk or run long distances. Your choice of footwear will be a important one.

I was fortunate enough to have been sent a pair of mens running shoes from Up & Running to try; the Brooks Adrenaline GTX. These come under the category of trail running shoes, which means they are ideal for people who walk/run in wooded uneven territory which may be wet or slippery.

These shoes would be a good choice for a winter/autumn person who likes to exercise and commune with nature in rough-and-ready, conditions, whether it be snow or wet in urban or nonurban areas.

They’re not for people who exercise in fair-weather. The first thing you notice about these shoes is the rugged, build quality of them. You can tell straight away when you hold them that they are well made for the exact purpose that they are intended for. Which is rough outdoor work.

These men’s running shoes are well made, the soles as you can see in the image have a coarse grip which is why they are ideal for rough terrain. And poor weather. They are very light which is another plus point which will create low resistance when wearing them.

As you can see from the side view, they have very thick soles which will only add to the comfort factor. This will minimise the amount of shock from your feet upwards, which will enable you to run further with less risk of injury to your joints et cetera.

Walk/Running Test

For my walk test. I chose to walk around the perimeter of our local park. I’m not exactly sure what the distance is involved, but it takes me roughly about 20 min to walk around the circuit twice and it is a fairly big park, I probably walked a mile or two wearing the shoes. The first thing I noticed straight away was compared to my other training shoes.

It felt like I had a pair of springs attached to my feet so while I was walking. I felt like I had a bounce in my step. And made the whole experience very comfortable on the way back home. I tried a bit of light jogging. I could feel the shoes supporting my feet and did not feel any pressure on my knee joints.

The path where I walked around on the park is uneven and in need of repair. However, I couldn’t tell at all due to the thickness of the soles. I walked on the grass which was slightly damp and had no problems with slipping, the grip on the soles coped with it well. If you’re a runner and want a high end pair of running shoes, then these would make an excellent choice and would last a good few years if taken care of.

Nowadays, vegetarian food is becoming more commonplace than it used to be. Not only that, it tastes better than it used to. Myself like variety, in what I eat and more recently have been trying some of the vegetarian alternatives, just to see how they compare to their counterparts.

Mostly because we buy our shopping from Sainsbury’s. This is where I have bought most of it. I have tried a few of their own vegetarian range as well as other brands such as Linda McCartney’s range of vegetarian food. Early on this year I was contacted by someone who represents Fry’s Vegetarian Food and sent some samples to try.

Here is what I was sent.

Frys Cottage Pie

This was the first item I tried in the past I have eaten cottage pie, which has been made with meat, et cetera so this was a change for me with it being vegetarian cooking. It is simple enough from frozen. It takes just 6-7 minutes, depending on your microwave and it’s done. It contains mashed potato, Frys Vegetarian Mince, peas, lentils, carrots and onion gravy. The tray it comes in can be recycled in your compost bin. To say this was a vegetarian dish. I found it very tasty and felt satisfied after eating it and would rate it highly next to cottage pie alternatives to me this was a definite winner. I enjoyed eating it.

Here is the nutritional information for the cottage pie.

Calories per 100g  92 cal

Protein 9.3 g.

Carbohydrate 5.7 g.

Fats  3.6 g

Dietary fibre 2.8 g

Sodium 430 mg.

Salt 1.09 g

Frys Chicken Style Nuggets

These nuggets look like the ones that you get in fast food establishments, except they are far healthier I cooked these under the grill and turned them occasionally they didn’t take long to cook.

I ate these with garden peas, microwave chips, and tomato sauce. They were delicious. If I was blindfolded, I might have trouble telling the difference between those and real chicken nuggets. If your children are vegan or vegetarian. These would make a ideal substitute.

Here is the nutritional information for the chicken style nuggets.

Calories per 100g 188 cal

Protein 12 g

Carbohydrate 20 g

Fats 9 g

Dietary Fibre 6 g

Sodium 700 mg

Salt 1.78 g

Frys Traditional Sausages

I cooked these from frozen under the grill, turning them occasionally and had them with potato wedges and mushy peas. Again, they didn’t take that long to cook the only thing I noticed about them was they did look a bit pale in colour, but apart from that these too tasted delicious. After eating my meal. I felt full and satisfied. I had three with my meal which was more than enough.

Here is the nutritional information for the traditional sausages.

Calories per 100g  123 cal

Protein 16.5 grams

Carbohydrate 5 g

Fats 6g

Dietary Fibre 11 g

Sodium 900 mg

Salt 2.25 g

Frys Traditional Burgers

I cooked these under the grill and they didn’t take too long to do cook 8 minutes maximum. These too were slightly pale in colour. However, they went brown after being cooked. I had them with baked beans and potato wedges. These had a slight spicy taste to them, which is something I particularly like in food and I really enjoyed eating them. They had a great taste and texture.

Here is the nutritional information for the traditional burgers.

Calories per 100g 149 cal

Protein 15.8 g

Carbohydrate 12.2 g

Fats 4.4 g

Dietary Fibre 0.6 g

Sodium 814 mg

Salt 2.07g

Frys Polony Slicing Sausage

Here is the nutritional information for the polony slicing sausage.

I had this sausage sliced with some potato and peas and ate it cold, having never eaten anything like this before. I was curious as to how it would taste, and wasn’t disappointed at all. It tasted like luncheon meat to me, even though it isn’t. This would make a great addition to you or your children’s lunchbox, particularly if you don’t eat meat or are looking for a alternative. It has a great taste and texture. I really enjoyed it.

Calories per 100g  201 cal

Protein  15.3g

Carbohydrate 8.3 g

Fats 11.8 g

Dietary Fibre 2.2 g

Sodium 1000 mg

Salt 2.54 g

You can buy Frys products from the following retailers online and off-line. Your localHollandand Barrett, Holland & Barrett stock selected lines only.

www.goodnessdirect.co.uk

www.3663.co.uk

http://www.pallasfoods.eu/

If you are interested in looking at the Frys range of online here is their site address : www.frysvegetarian.co.uk

 

Image by briannalehman

Pomegranates are in the news today because of their amazing health properties and something that we should be eating regularly. The reasons are they help to lower pressure, arterial health and removal of fat cells from your stomach. This new research published in the Journal of Nutritional Science by researchers at Queen’s Market,University of Edinburgh.

This research confirms other clinical information which has charted the benefits of consuming pomegranate juice and the benefits may reach further too suppressing appetite, Spanish scientists have even suggested it may help people with bingo wings.

Pomegranates are known as a superfood reasons being pomegranate juice is a powerful antioxidant, which helps with lowering blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer. In the study, people who consumed 500ml of pomegranate juice everyday for four weeks had reduced levels of plasma NFA, which stores belly fat.

Research in Spain found pomegranate juice helps to rejuvenate skin. In another study, they found it can help with stress and reduced cortisol levels in the participants saliva. They were said to feel more enthusiastic and less anxious after consumption of pomegranate drink.

And part of this study also found that it can increase levels of testosterone, which helps with sexual need and urge as well. These benefits some pomegranate juice has natural sweeteners in them which release their energy over a longer period, giving you more energy. Rather than having a quick sugar spike and crashing down.

Pomegranates aren’t something that I normally have in my shopping basket. However, after reading this, I’m going to try some pomegranate juice out of curiosity to see what it tastes like.

Source : Pomegranate health benefits

Image by robertbanh

It’s long been said breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or is it? 50% of us think otherwise, we leave the house on an empty stomach, and the majority only spends 3 minutes on its maximum. Experts say this isn’t wise, according to studies, which say otherwise.

It makes us more alert, more slim and helps children’s behaviour and concentration at school. Despite the evidence, a third of schoolchildren skip breakfast, says the better breakfast campaign, which launched yesterday. Having breakfast has shown to help children’s memories.

It also prevents obesity later in life and ill-health later on. Children who skip breakfast are more likely to become obese. In later years. In a study, 6/10 participants performed better in English and maths. After eating breakfast, and eye and hand coordination was improved.

Prof Heather Joshi, director of the study, said, “The consequence of not having breakfast is that children and adults are more likely to get hungry before lunch snack on foods are high in fat and sugar.” This could explain one of the reasons between being obese and skipping breakfast. A survey done by the Prince’s trust found that in 2012 39% of teachers knew pupils whom came to school on empty stomach.

The better breakfast campaign, which is set up by a charity called PHYTO trade, Africa, says that porridge makes a good breakfast. And it would seem that the message is getting out sales of porridge rose by 20% last year. Do you eat breakfast? Personally, I do and function better for it. My favourite breakfasts are porridge with blueberries, Weetabix, pineapple chunks, and occasionally a full English breakfast. If you want some ideas for breakfast. Here are some links to other posts I have wrote about breakfast.

Reasons Why Porridge is a Good Breakfast

Five Reasons To Eat Breakfast

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

High Protein Breakfast Ideas

What Breakfast Do You Eat 

From Daily Express 24 September 2012

Image by Tobyotter

If you’re a fat person. It doesn’t mean you are unfit about half of fat people are as healthy or healthier than thin people and are less likely to have health problems like cancer, heart issues.

When you exercise this offsets being overweight. This study was the biggest of its type and smashes beliefs obesity leads to ill health.

Its findings showed that when people are metabolically active, they become healthier, despite having a high BMI (body mass index). Their risk from disease or dying prematurely is better than unhealthy obese people, the risk is halved of getting cancer or heart disease.

Data has found those who have heart problems. People in the bracket whom are normal weight or overweight may be worse off than overweight people. If you’re overweight and have a heart attack, you’re far more likely to live longer than your slimmer counterparts. If you don’t exercise.

The study of 43,265 people found you can be metabolically healthy and fit, overweight and have the same chances of keeping heart disease and cancer free. If you are obese and metabolically healthy. You may not get insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels. This is measured by how well, heart and lung function is.

It looked at Americans between the years 1979 – 2003 whom had a fitness test and found 46% whom were obese were metabolically fit their risk of mortality was cut by 38% compared to unhealthy obese people. Their risk of dying from either heart disease or cancer was reduced by 30 – 50% compared to their unhealthy counterparts.

And was the same to those of people with normal weight, the leader of the study, said: “It’s well known that obesity is linked to a large number of diseases such as cancer, heart disease and others. ”However, they appears to be a subset of obese people whom are protected from obesity related metabolic complications. “Our study suggests that obese metabolically healthy individuals have better fitness levels than the rest of obese people.

“We believe that getting more exercise broadly and positively changes major body systems and organs, and consequently contributes to make somebody metabolically healthier, including obese people. “In our study, we measured fitness, which is largely influenced by exercise.”

In a another study, which looked at 64,000 heart patients in Sweden found similar data, which supports the obesity paradox, which suggests that overweight people with heart disease have better prospects and survival compared to thinner people. The highest risks were among people who are underweight and morbidly obese.

Mortality rates were lower, with obese people and overweight people. Advice to people whom had already had heart problems were advised not to lose weight as it may cause more problems.

Its important to take note of how much belly fat you have reason being the cells. Here are active and pump unneeded hormones into your body, which cause problems and may lead to heart disease as well as diabetes. This will be a relief to people whom are obese or overweight and  trying to get fit and lose excess weight.

People-fat-AND-fit-study-finds-obesity-doesnt-automatically-lead-ill-health

Image by puuikibeach

Calorie restriction is a diet where you 30% less calories than you would do normally, and have the same nutrients as a standard diet. Scientists have been doing studies on rehsus monkeys and found that calorie reduction doesn’t extend life or prevent age-related diseases. This study done over a 23 year period, monitored rhesus monkeys.

The study, conducted at the National Institute of ageing is in the online issue of Nature, dated August 29, 2012. The science goes back a long way. Previous studies on mice and other animals, even as far back as the 1930’s found that rats and mice on calorie restriction diets lived longer, up to 40%.

Other research has suggested, it’s extended the life of worms, yeast, flies and different types of mice. However, other studies have found no benefits to longevity, in tests on certain mice. There was no gain in longer lifespan and some had a shorter lifespan when calorie restricted. Present-day research suggests finds that it doesn’t have much effect on extending lifespan in humans.

Studies are being conducted, looking into safety and effectiveness of this method of dieting. However, another study has different results of the one above, they found that rhesus monkeys followed for 20 years, lived longer on reduced calories compared to those who didn’t.

Both studies, however, found that certain diseases were more preventable, which were arthritis, diabetes, diverticulosis and heart problems. These would occur at a younger age. In monkeys on standard diets compared to calorie restricted ones. This wasn’t noted so much in the NIA study. In the NIA study, they found incidences of cancer were lower in calorie restricted monkeys.

A researcher said: “These results suggest the complexity of how calorie restriction may work in the body,” said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “Calorie restriction’s effects likely depend on a variety of factors, including environment, nutritional components and genetics.”

So going down the calorie reduction route seems debatable. The evidence suggests otherwise it would be interesting to get other people’s thoughts and input on this as I know several people do use this method, combined with intermittent fasting.

Calorie Restriction Does Not Affect Survival: Study Of Monkeys Also Suggests Some Health Benefits

Image by mermaid99

Organic food is big business. It’s expensive and is supposed to be better for you, or is it? In one of the biggest studies of its kind. It seems that it isn’t the case. A team at Stanford University found no added health benefits and, customers aren’t always getting pesticide free food.

The researchers claim it has no more nutritious benefits compared to food grown with pesticides, so there is no benefit to your health. We pay three times more for it, and believe it is better for us. Dr Dena Bravata and her colleagues found no evidence of other health benefits.

In addition, they found there were no guarantees of the food having no pesticides, although the levels were lower. Dr Bravata said: there isn’t much difference between normal foods and organic. If you’re making a decision based on health. The results came from the Internal Medicine Journal, which compared both types of food.

Campaigners in the UK, however, aren’t convinced. They say it wasn’t equipped to note real differences, the researchers looked through many papers associated with organic food. It included studies of people with both normal and organic diets as well as nutritional levels and other reasons. The researchers found no differences in the vitamin and mineral content of it.

There was no difference between protein and fat content in organic milk compared to normal milk. And they could not find specific fruits or vegetables which were healthier. Organic food was 30% lower in pesticides such as fruit and vegetables, but wasn’t always pesticide free. Some studies on children found that their urine were lower in pesticides and were below safe levels.

Also, it’s been said organic farming may not be good for the environment, according to experts atOxfordUniversity, they say, organic cereals, milk and pork, create more greenhouse gases than conventional means of farming.

Is organic food, then just another way for the food industry to make more money? As well as making it seem environmentally friendly when it isn’t. Do you buy organic food on the basis that it’s healthier? Or are you quite happy with conventional non-organic foods. Certainly, some food for thought here. Sorry about the pun.

Organic food isn’t healthier and no safer than produce grown with pesticides, finds biggest study of its kind

Image by 24oranges

The humble banana has been a favourite with sports enthusiasts for energy and endurance. They contain potassium and other nutritional benefits and are low in calories. Some recent research conducted at Appalachian State University’s Human Performance lab has found other benefits.

The researchers wanted to know which gave the most benefit either a banana or a sports drink, when eaten before intense cycling.

To their surprise, they found that performance was roughly the same, although there was advantages to bananas. They gave the cyclists antioxidants which aren’t in sports drinks, as well as a nutritional boost which includes vitamin B6, potassium, and fibre.

During the study, cyclists had either a drink or 1/2 banana at 15 minutes intervals. Over a simulated race, which was 75 km, which lasted for between 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Blood samples were taken from the cyclists and were measured for metabolites. These are associated with metabolism. The exercise is not the actual issue.

It would seem there are lots of athletes, or other people who don’t like consuming sports drinks, which are mostly just flavoured sugar water. In comparison bananas are far cheaper than buying branded sports drinks, which essentially are sold through clever marketing and celebrity approvals.

This coincides nicely with my shopping. I did yesterday, as I happened to buy some bananas. And I do like bananas when I remember to buy them.

Bananas Are as Beneficial as Sports Drinks, Study Suggests

Image by lululemonathletica

People who have cancer can prevent it by half. If they exercise, according to many studies. Despite this, people are still reluctant to exercise, even though the evidence suggests otherwise.

They think that their daily routine is enough. One study conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, looked at patients exercise habits.

One of the researchers, Dr Andrea Chellville said. ”We often tell patients the benefits of exercise however, no body had studied what patients know about it how they feel about it and what gets in the way.”

Patients who have had either breast or colon cancer can prevent it returning with regular exercise by up to 50%. This study, published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, found that patients who exercised often were far more likely to keep it up after. Dr Andrea said the patients were not aware being inactive could make them vulnerable to cancer. Therefore hindering recovery.

Several the patients thought that doing activities such as gardening and other leisure activities “there was a real feel of what I do daily is my exercise is ok” said Andrea. This research comes from one that studied overweight women, which found that they have worse outcomes compared to those of normal weight.

The research suggests that excess body fat contains hormones which make changes, such as inflammation, which may cause recurrences of cancer. So here is another reason to be at your ideal weight and move more if you aren’t already.

Exercise-help-cancer-sufferers-beat-disease-stop-returning.