Vitamin D Awareness Week

This is Vitamin D Awareness Week, a good time, I thought, to give you an update on this vital vitamin.

As you know, I’m a big believer that if you regularly engage in physical activity it’s important to take care of your body with the right nutrition. As well as increasing our wellbeing and energy levels, vitamins and minerals have the ability to help protect against injury and ensure good muscle recovery.  Recent research has revealed that 50% of UK adults are now deficient in vitamin D.

How much do you know about vitamin D? According to a health survey, 46 per cent of people think they get enough of this vitamin from vegetables. In fact, 90 per cent should be obtained from strong sunlight, this is why many of us become deficient during the winter months.

The highest rates of deficiency are in Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland. Due to limited sun exposure between October and March, it is almost impossible to get the UV rays needed to reach the daily requirement of this essential vitamin.

Low levels of vitamin D are associated with increased likelihood of illness, fatigue and a higher risk of suffering stress fractures. As we age, and during the winter months, our body’s ability to produce vitamin D reduces, so it’s important to think about topping up with a supplement.

Research has linked good levels of vitamin D to reduced inflammation and pain within joints, as well as improved exercise capacity and better protein synthesis within the muscles.

Vitamin D is vitally important for bone health. Without it, calcium cannot be effectively absorbed by your body. A deficiency in vitamin D can result in bone and muscle pain, poor bone mineralisation (softer bones) and a greater risk of osteoporosis and fractures as we age – a prime concern for all you fantastic quintastics!

It’s especially important to look after your bone and muscle health if you engage in regular physical activity, doing so can reduce your risk of injury. Weak bones alongside repetitive loading can result in painful and debilitating stress fractures.

Finally, everyone hates the dreaded colds and flu that seem to come along during the winter months. Vitamin D is known for its high anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties, which means it can strengthen our immune system and help protect against colds and flu. Some studies even suggest that vitamin D may offer more powerful cold and flu protection than vitamin C.

Suppliers of vitamin D supplementation include Pharma Nord – here is a direct link to their site:

https://www.multivits.co.uk/bio-vitamin-d3

Walden Farms review

IMG_8023Walden Farms is a US company supplying a range of products which should be particular interest to all fitness enthusiasts – indeed to anyone looking to up their fitness levels, and down their fatness levels, or indeed a bit of both.

Based in New Jersey, they supply a range of dips, sauces, spreads, jellies and dressings. Nothing unusual about that, you may say, but these are products that tend to feature fairly low on the fitness-fiend’s ‘to buy’ list. Usually packed full of sugars and saturated fats, fitness-focussed readers of this article would tend to avoid them – well, not quite like the plague, but certainly as much as possible.

So what makes Walden Farms products of interest to you, fitness-person? Across the entire range – which is growing almost daily – every single product has no calories, no fat, no carbs, no gluten and no sugars of any kind. Which is indeed pretty amazing!

Obviously, since its zero calories, there’s no good calories in there either – no protein, fibre or good fats – but those can be obtained from whatever it is you are putting Walden Farms products on top of in the kitchen. And I’m not going to mark them down for missing these nutrients.

By the way, when is ‘none’ not ‘none’? Here is the answer, because although the products claim to be zero calories, the ingredients list on each label says ‘Contains trace calories’. And what are trace calories? It is calories in such a small amount that you use more calories eating and digesting it than it provides. And due to that, it is all legally OK in the US and UK to call it zero calorie.

So, with practically no calories, what on earth is in these bottles? The main zero-calorie things I know are water, diet sodas, herbs and spices, coffee and teas. And none of the Walden Farms products are like those. The answer is: water. The biggest ingredient in each product is good old H20, purified and/or filtered. Plus much smaller amounts of many other items – some natural, many others less so – to give the flavour, colour and texture required.

The biggest nasty I found was sodium benzoate. Used as a preservative, it’s a compound that which a lot of people don’t approve of, although it’s totally legal of course in all foodstuffs. It is being phased out of Diet Coke, but is present in all the Walden Farms products I tried.

The nice guys at Discount Supplements – discount-supplements.co.uk – sent me a box of various Walden Farms products to sample – so it was time to stop writing, and start tasting and reading labels!

I did an unscientific taste check on five of their products, one from each of several ranges. Here are my thoughts on taste and ingredients.

1. From the sauces, I chose the Seafood Sauce. It’s for seafood, not made from seafood – and I’m not sure why they limit it for seafood in their description, the taste would go with many savoury meals. The taste is tangy, and I noted hints of tomato, cider vinegar and horseradish. The main ingredient, of course, is water – and it is runny compared to most UK sauces, but comparable to American chop sauce. Other ingredients include tomato paste and sea salt. It is the sea salt that gives me a concern – it is pretty heavy in sodium. One serving gives you 10% of the US recommended daily amount. But that’s not outrageous when compared to calorie-heavy sauces that taste similar.

2. Another sauce I tried is their Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce. This actually has real bits of tomato and peppers in it (but still legally zero calorie), and is remarkably lovely in taste, and I‘m sure it would enhance any pasta substantially – and will do in our house. Again it’s the sodium which is likely to concern a few people. A portion of this gives you 350mg of it – 16% of your recommended daily value. A large number, but again comparable to other similar-style products that come with tons of sugar too.

3. Let’s leave meals and move to spreads – and I’m really looking forward to this one – its peanut butter with extra flavourings – to be precise its Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Spread. I love peanut butter, the taste and the texture. And I love the taste of this, I get the peanuts, the cinnamon and the raisin in the flavour. But it has a weird texture, more creamy than I’d expect, so it’s far better put onto something (like bread) rather than eaten by the teaspoonful, in usual Chris Zaremba-style. And real raisins too – I’m not sure how they can be zero sugar, but I’m sure it’s a legally valid claim. Sodium is a bit high – but I can confidently predict this jar won’t be in the cupboard for long in our house!

4. Don’t like peanut butter, you strange person? An alternative is a fruit spread – and I tried the Blueberry Fruit Spread. Looks the right colour, smells right and tastes fine, but again the texture is unusual. Spread it on bread, and don’t expect any lumpy bits of real fruit – they would, of course, bring calories with them. Sucralose is here as the artificial sweetener, but there’s no sodium involved.

5. Finally, to coffee – and Walden Farms Hazelnut-flavoured Coffee Creamer. Americans love their flavoured coffee, and this does the trick with that big zero calorie plus point. This product in particular is a chemical lab in miniature on the ingredients list, with remarkably few truly natural-sounding ingredients. It is heavy on carrageenan – which is used in many dairy products – and gives some people an upset tummy. And the sweetener sucralose is surprisingly high up the ingredients list. But – if you like this sort of thing – it tastes fine in coffee, sweetens it well, and the favour reminds me of many trips to coffee shops in the US, where adding the creamer often brings 200 calories or more to your coffee.

In summary, this is a range of products that I suspect their food technicians and chemical engineers have laboured hard to keep within the no calorie, no fat, no carbs, no gluten and no sugars claim. And that is going to get them a lot of customers, including me for some of their products.

If that no sugar, no fat, no calorie approach is paramount for you, then without doubt this is the range for you. I doubt there’s enough sodium benzoate or sucralose to cause you concern unless you eat far too much from the range. But keep an eye on the sodium, it will mount up.

However, if you like your products as natural as possible, regardless of calories, fat or sugars, then my guess is you won’t be buying much from the range.

Me? I’ll take the sauces and the peanut butter, and for these I’ll happily take the Walden Farms rather non-natural approach in exchange for the zero calories. But the spread and coffee sweetener/flavouring isn’t for me; I don’t consume these anyway in full calorie versions, and I’m not going to change that due to the availability of zero calorie options for these.

A final word of thanks again to Discount Supplements for sending me the box. It’s very kind, thanks guys!

Ideas on building abs

You may have others say that ‘Abs are made in the kitchen – not in the gym’.

Well, that’s not really true. They are actually made in the gym – but they are indeed made visible by what you do in the kitchen. Work in the gym (or on the floor at home) will build those abs, but only getting down to below-average levels of bodyfat will make viewable.

The best abs exercise to show what you’ve built in the gym is without doubt: five sets daily of eating less rubbish!

But you do indeed have to build them – and I’ve written an article about what I’ve found to be the 6 best simple exercises for building the lower abs. On most people, that’s the bit south of the belly button, the lower slabs of your soon-to-be-visible six pack.

The article is in two parts, both on the great Watchfit website – take a look at the articles here:

Exercises 1-3

Exercises 4-6

I hope you find that helps you on the abs building part – now go plan that good nutrition to work on the making-visible part. There’s tips on my website about the nutrition approach you will need, but if you still want ideas, just drop me an email.

And have an ABSolutely fine time doing it, too!

New Approved Personal Trainers

As you may know, I am a Personal Trainer offering my services on exercise, nutrition and lifestyle advice to a range of clients.  I do this in person in South Bucks and Central London, and by Skype consultancy sessions elsewhere.

But I can’t be everywhere and available at all times, so to help meet the demand country-wide, I’ve set up a network of other Personal Trainers that I know and trust to deliver a high-quality, client-centred personal training service.  All on this network have the right qualifications and insurance of course, plus they have shown to me their ability to support clients of the age range that I tend to specialise in – my ‘quintastics’, those over 50 in other words!

Very few of these Fitness Over Fifty Approved Personal Trainers are themselves over 50, but they have all shown to me they can work successfully and built a good rapport with the client even if there is an age difference.  But they all work with clients yet to meet the golden half-century mark as well!

Dan squareThe latest additions to the register of Fitness Over Fifty Approved Personal Trainers are Felicity Day in Southampton (below), and Dan Wynes in Telford (right).  Both of these have existing clients, their own fitness experience and knowledge to make them worthy additions to the list of Approved Personal Trainers.   They also bring new locations served, as there were no previous Approved Personal Trainers living either in Shropshire or South Hampshire.

Felicity APT in FOFIf you are looking for some guidance, motivation or inspiration – whether its just a single piece of advice, a weekly training session, or something in-between, and you live near Dan or Felicity, then I suggest you check out their profile and email contacts on www.FitnessOverFifty.co.uk/APT.

Indeed, you can see the full listing and details of Approved Personal Trainers that cover the country from Aberdeen to Devon (sorry Cornwall – and Northern Ireland –  I’m still looking!) by searching on that page.

I know the skills, enthusiasm and dedication of all the trainers listed, and I recommend each of them.

I hope you have a fit-increasing, fat-reducing sunny weekend – whether using a personal trainer or your own motivation!

Fit For Life

I spend a lot of time in gyms these days, either trying to improve my weight-training performance or working on removing some layers of fat – usually both. For this week’s blog, I thought I’d explain why I’m doing this in the first place – and how this spreads into other areas of life. I hope this will show that the level of addiction with gym-based stuff brings benefits outside of the weight room – and I my case, how it’s changed my life completely and forever.

A little personal history first, if I may. Up until the age of 50, I was lazy – did no exercise and ate all the wrong things. I hit my 50th birthday at a weight of nearly 18 stone, officially obese and with a bodyfat percentage figure that I can’t imagine. Something else hit me at the same time – a doctors warning that I was in a pre-diabetic state and was heading for some other serious health issues.

I used that message as a serious jolt to my system, and spent the next few years getting fit – lots of cardio in the gym, and eating much more nutritiously. After a couple of years, I added resistance training to the mix. Which brings me to where I am now – about 11.5 stone, with a bodyfat level of 11% which has dipped to about 7% for fitness and muscle model contests – including my win for my age group at the Miami Pro World Championships in April.

So I could talk and write for ages about nutrition, cardio and resistance training. Indeed, I often do. But there have been many benefits to my adoption of a fitness-focused life – and I hope that describing these will encourage you to spend more time on fitness activities.

Firstly, there are obviously the health and longevity benefits. If I hadn’t changed course 7 years ago, I think I’d now be over 20 stone and pretty much immovable, being out of breath just walking across the room. If I was still breathing at all. Now I hope I have many years of fit life ahead if me and will reach 60 in a couple of years fitter and healthier than ever.

I’ve discovered sports I couldn’t dream of doing – I ran my first ever 1k fun run six years ago, then progressed through 5k’s and 10k’s and now regularly participate in marathons. I’ve also bought a bike or two, and now cycle up to 100 miles on some days. Add in the swimming, triathlons and mountain walking, and the fact that Is I have discovered the joy of exercise – something alien to me 10 years ago.

But there are other benefits. I feel much better about myself mentally, more positive for the future. I now believe it’s never too late – for anything – rather than the pessimistic outlook I used to have.

I share many activities with Jenny, my wife. She had pretty much given up on me from a fitness perspective, and we spent too much time apart – as she went off for a run, while I stayed in and watched TV (and probably phoned for a pizza). Our time together has probably doubled, and is much more enjoyable.

Outside of my family life, I’ve become involved In the community through the local running club and organising and presenting fitness training sessions for other, local, over 50-year olds. My oldest regular attendee is well Into his seventies and has progressed in fitness to have a metabolic age of 44 and is still improving. At the other end of the age range, I’m a mentor to Dan Wynes, a fitness star of tomorrow. It’s a particularly good feeling to be able to pass on the benefits of fitness I’ve had to others from 20 to 70 and behind – and be respected as a result. This level of respect, the feeling that I’m doing something that genuinely helps others and be appreciated as a result, is a feeling that was unknown to me in my past life.  So, yes, I have the trophies and a bit of glory on the way, but they are matched in every way by the other joys of being healthy, enjoying life and making a difference to others. It’s infectious, and I hope – well, if you haven’t caught the bug yet, that maybe this article has helped.

By the way, I’m the co-host of a new fitness magazine TV programme. Called ‘Fit Happens’, the show is on Sunday evenings at 8:30, repeated on Wednesdays at 9:00. It’s on the Community Channel – which is FreeView 63, Sky 539, Virgin Media 233. Each week I’m joined by sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and I hope you get the change to watch – and maybe get some further inspiration towards the benefits of a multi-activity, fitness-focused life!

New Fitness TV Series – Fit Happens

I’m the co-host of a new fitnesIMG_3153s magazine TV programme starting this weekend.  Called ‘Fit Happens’, the show is on this Sunday and for the following few weeks.

Its a fitness magazine programme, covering fitness in a number of different ways – in the gym, in the kitchen, in exercise classes and out in the fresh air.  We’ve targeted this programme at the overall community – its not a commercial enterprise in any way.  If the programmes help just a handful of people find ways in which they can reduce their fatness levels, and increase their fitness levels, then it will have done its job. 

Much as I would have liked ‘Top Gear’ style production values, it was made on a zero budget – so no glamour trips for us (the local park is the furthest we went!).  But the message, I hope, is large.

My co-host is top sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and he joins me for each of the four episodes.  In this first episode, Keith takes us through cooking a healthy meat meal, while I look at gym exercises for the Pull group – Back and Biceps.  Together we are in the park for the 5k ParkRun, and we have a go at answering viewers questions.  Future episodes include features on aerobics, cycling, yoga, gym training other parts, more tasty and healthy kitchen treats, and answering more questions from viewers.

The first showing is at 8:30PM this Sunday on the Community Channel – which is FreeView 63, Sky 539, Virgin Media 233.  And then at the same time each week for four weeks. 

I very much hope you get the change to watch some or all of the episodes  – and maybe get some further inspiration towards the benefits of a multi-activity, fitness-focused life!

Ignorance or worse?

imageAs I’m a bit into fitness (well, more than a bit), I do tend to think that most other people know at least the basics of what is fit and health-promoting, and what is the opposite. But I may be guilty of making this assumption, so luckily manufacturers and retailers can help those who need a little help. Mr and Mrs Bloggs may not know what healthy food is, but luckily labelling in shops will help them make the right choice.

Or will it? I saw this display in a motorway service area a few days ago. To save the embarrassment of the management there, I’ll not name it – but it was on the M1 north of Leicester and South of Leeds.

If you can’t see the photo well, it has a display labelled ‘Newspapers’ – and underneath it are shelves containing what are pretty obviously Newspapers. So they understand this labelling thing.

Next to it, is a display labelled ‘Healthy Eating’ – so here we’ll find perhaps some chicken or tuna salads, veg snacks, wide selection of fruit, mineral water, packs of nuts maybe. I’ll be generous and throw in some wholemeal sandwiches, a few wraps, and perhaps some low calorie drinks and yogurts.

But the display contained nothing but high sugar, high fat, low protein and low fibre, high-temptation sugar-addiction-fuelling products. Chocolate fingers, Maryland Ciookies, Jammy Dodgers, Oreos in a variety of configurations, packs of Crunchies, Jaffa Cakes and loads of chocolate biscuits varieties.

So what is going on here? Either the store (or multinational corporation that owns or franchises it) is ignorant of healthy eating – which is terrible for a food retailer – or they are trying to mislead, trying to get people to buy things that aren’t good for them hoping to sell more of this stuff as a result. Which is probably worse. Either way, it’s either ignorance (from those who should know better) or deliberate deception.

Mind you, right next to it is a stand for Krispy Kreme. Which adds more temptation to buy some more very unhealthful stuff. As you can tell, I’m not a fan of that particular service area and want a Welcome Break from that unnamed retailer.

By they way, on Krispy Kreme – If you can’t trust a manufacturer to spell even simple words correctly, can you trust them on supplying products of nutritional value? Answer – they don’t.

Have a great week, eating more healthily than at that service area!

Fitness TV time…

Snapshot - 101Interested in fitness on TV?

The TV documentary about me – ‘Fat To Fit at Fifty’ – is being shown by the Community Channel tomorrow. It tells my fitness transformation story and how I’m helping others down the same road. There’s contributions from some of my Personal Training clients, magazine editors, plus fitness professional Rob Riches – who is my own inspiration and the guy who introduced me to fitness in the first place. There’s also views from top local PT Russell Lee, celebrity fitness photographer Simon Howard, and my workout buddy, fitness model Alex Hughes.

It is being shown at the following times on these channel numbers:

Tuesday 17 June – 11AM

Wednesday 18 June – 5AM

The Community Channel is on Sky 539, Virgin Media 233, Freeview 63 and Freeview-HD 109.

I hope you get the chance to watch!

Hobby, Addiction or Obsession?

315One of the interesting questions I ponder relating to myself, my clients and professional contacts in the fitness world is how far to take fitness in terms of life’s other priorities. It’s a huge topic, and I think the subject can be opened by considering three questions – how much time should you devote to exercise, how closely should you follow a mega-healthful diet, and how upset do you become if you own objectives on both if those previous points are not met.

Everyone has their own answers to these of course. The fact that the UK has an obesity crisis, with alarming rises in the rates of diabetes and other diseases which have an unhealthful lifestyle as contributory factors, suggests to me that far too many have fitness as too low a priority in their lives.

And there are those at the other extreme. Virtually living at the gym or heath-club, and sacrificing other social activities in order to do so, perhaps creating difficulties with family or friends on the way. The body may be healthy, but maybe the mind is less so. This is a much smaller group than the first – but there are significant numbers, I’ve met a few and there are times when I’ve been guilty of heading towards this route.

If you want to be good at the fitness game, and take it to levels beyond that needed purely for optimal health, the you’re taking it into a sport or competitive activity – even if that competition is only with yourself. To do this requires effort, dedication and time commitment way beyond the amounts most people would put in. But this is the case with any sport, you have to put the effort and time in, and remove or minimise distractions if you’re going to achieve success in your sport. I have t-shirt lurking at the back of my wardrobe somewhere that says ‘Obsession is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated’, a true statement but not one I actually choose to wear often these days.

The proper answer for most is somewhere in the middle. Certainly, for most of my Personal Training and Fitness Consultancy clients, they have no plans to follow me to the competition stage and be judged in a fitness, muscle model or physique competition. Most are keen in reducing fatness levels and increasing fitness levels, and to that end, I advise that they follow a decent nutrition regime and adhere to an appropriately designed exercise programme – and would realistically expect them to follow this for maybe 50% of the time. But those that choose to take enthusiasm for fitness activity to beyond the level needed to maintain or regain optimal health will decide to apply more.

Let’s look at my own approach. I try to keep to my nutrition and exercise goals in excess of 75% of the time. But I’m not so fitness-focused that I will turn down a social engagement, or a few pints of decent ale or good restaurant meal. I think this puts me in the ‘Addicted’ camp rather than ‘Obsessed’. But I do monitor my bodyfat amount and percentage, and if I find either creeping up, then I turn up the heat and move the devotion needle a little to the right beyond that notional 75% mark.

Does this make me obsessed? I hope not. I like to be at below 9% bodyfat for contests and professional photo-shoots, and to ensure I’m not too far off that my target is to keep at 12% or below year-round. I only take remedial action and move towards that ‘Obsession’ end once I hit that 12% number – then the pub and restaurant trips have to take a lower priority for a little while.

I mentioned earlier that I’ve been guilty of heading down the route of obsessed in the past. I think I’m good at spotting if commitment to fitness and sporting activities are taking over too much of my life, but it creeps up insidiously on you – well it does in me, anyway. To ensure it’s under control, I’ve given Jenny, my wife, a notional electric circuit with a big red warning light connected to a button under her control. The ‘obsession button’ is rarely pressed by her, but we keep it ready. It doesn’t really exist, of course, other than as an agreed concept between us.

There is an exception to my self-imposed rules. In the final four weeks leading up to a contest or pro photoshoot, by agreement with Jenny I de-wire the obsession button. That t-shirt also probably needs to come out at that time. But that’s only twice a year, and having won my last contest in April, the fictitious circuit is now back enabled for the next few months.

In reality, everyone will have their own levels of priority setting for fitness depending on their own goals and other activities they enjoy. Anyone who has a least a certain level of enthusiasm for fitness either as a hobby, leisure pursuit, sport or competitive activity may find it interesting to ask themselves those three questions I posed at the start, and ensure that the level of priority for this in their lives is where they want it to be.

Have a fitness-building but obsession-reality-checked, sunny weekend!

Meet Dan…

Life has many good feelings. And one is when you help generate interest in others for something that you are passionate about.

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

This has just happened to me. I met a young guy at a trade show recently and somehow infected him with my enthusiasm both for fitness generally, and more specifically for standing on stage in a Fitness Modelling competition. I’ve been committed to a fitness-focussed life for six years now, and having collected a few championship wins on the way, I know how great a lifestyle this is.

The chap in question – Dan Wynes – was already keen on fitness. Indeed, before I met him he had developed an interest in the teachings, approaches and training strategies of fitness professional Rob Riches. Dan and I have that in common, as Rob was my original personal trainer and is a guy for whom I continue to have massive respect.

A 15-minute chat with me bolstered Dan’s enthusiasm levels. So much so that he decided at the end of our conversation to committing to step up his fitness activities substantially and progressing sufficiently over the next six months and that he would enter his first Fitness Model contest organised by Pure Elite in November. Dan asked me to help in whatever ways I can, and requested that I mentor him right up to the contest date.

Well, I’ve never been a mentor before, indeed I had to check in the dictionary exactly what was involved. However, the combination of me knowing just a bit about the subject, my keenness to pass this knowledge on, and Dan’s desire to learn and put this information into practice, seems to be the perfect recipe for mentoring success. So I accepted, and as a result I will be doing what I can to help him get into the best shape of his life so far. I say ‘so far’, because at age 21 he has many more ‘best shapes’ to come.

The term ‘journey’ is over-used on the fitness world, but I think it’s appropriate for Dan as he plans for the time up to his first contest. I am relishing being his guide for the trip – and I rather suspect that I will learn much from him too as we work together and he heads towards that appointment with the stage.

I am very honoured to be asked, and I will endeavour to repay the trust and confidence Dan has placed in me. I hope Dan finds me a good mentor – but if he slackens at all (which he won’t) he will find me morphing into a tor-mentor instead!

Dan will be blogging his own progress over those months, and I invite you to read and subscribe to his blog on www.DanWynesFitness.wordpress.com – and we’ll both let you know how we get on!