Archive for March, 2010

Low GI vs High GI

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

The Glycemic Index (or GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. In simple terms, the GI is a measure of the carbohydrate quality, in all foods.

The Glycemic Index was developed in approx 1980, as a new method of classifying carbohydrate foods. This proved once and for all that there is a range of different sugars, and are absorbed quickly into the blood. Understanding the GI is really simple

  • Carbohydrate foods that break down quickly during digestion, releasing glucose quickly into the blood stream, have a high GI with a value of 70 or more (less of these)
  • Carbohydrate foods that break down slowly, releasing glucose into the blood stream gradually, have a low GI with a value of 55 or less (more of these)
  • Carbohydrate foods that break down at a moderate pace, releasing glucose into the blood stream neither slowly or quickly, have a medium GI with a value of 56 to 69 inclusive (some of these are ok)

The easiest way to use the Glycemic Index every day for your meals is to substitute lower GI foods for the higher GI foods that you may be currently eating.

There are more benefits to the lower GI carbohydrates than the higher ones. The lower GI carbohydrates give you a sustained energy over a longer period of time and will be more useful to your body. The high GI carbohydrates tend to move and out of the body at a much quicker rate, leaving you feeling hungry quicker and does not pack the same nutritional value as the slower release carbohydrates.

To find your favourite food and the GI go to: http://www.lowgihealth.com.au/glycemic-index-list-of-foods/

Scott Williams

Succeed Personal Training

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Posted in Nutrition | 105 Comments »

Can Healthy Foods be bad for you?

Monday, March 29th, 2010

It is as easy as, if it’s not available, it’s not a temptation.

Even “healthy” foods can be a problem for many people?  There are certain foods-and it’s an individual thing-that once you start eating them, it’s very hard to stop.

pasta

For me, it’s pasta. I’ll cook the whole wheat variety and sit down to a “healthy” meal, but unless I specifically portion out the amount I’m going to eat, I can easily end up having two or more serves.

You see, if I’m not careful, a healthy serve of “healthy” pasta can easily turn into a massive calorie overload sent straight to my waistline.

These foods-those “Salt and Vinegar Chips” -are what I refer to as “trigger foods” and if you’re going to consume them, you need to do so with a little bit of caution.

Here are just a couple of tips to help you with your trigger tips:

1. Only consume trigger foods as an “individual” meal, not with the family. This allows you to cook (or reheat) and individual portion, and not be tempted by a huge serving bowl in front of you.

2. If you are cooking one of your trigger foods as a family meal, measure out a single portion and place the rest in the fridge. Tell your dining friends “I’m not having seconds; hold me to it.”  A little accountability goes a long way.

3. Always measure out a specific portion and then store the rest.

Do you have a “healthy” trigger food? Let me know in the comments section below!

I’ll bet you anything it’s a carbohydrate of some sort 😉

Scott

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Posted in Nutrition | 83 Comments »

Have you Stuck to Your Guns?

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

As the third month of 2010 comes to a close, I thought now would be a good time to see where you are all at with your New Year’s resolutions? 

Are you still on the path or did your motivation sizzle out?

Most people wait around for motivation to strike them like a lightning bolt. Well, I’ve got news: motivation isn’t something that happens to you – it’s something that you create for yourself.

If you don’t feel motivated to achieve your goals, it is likely due to mental roadblocks that hold you hostage. Read the following 21 Mindset Tips and prepare your mind for success.

  1. Success comes first in the mind, so visualize yourself accomplishing your goals.
  2. Remember, you are the only person who can hold you back.
  3. Forgive yourself and love yourself despite past failures.
  4. Decide what is important in your life, and focus on that.
  5. Conquer each negative thought the moment it enters your mind, when it is weakest.
  6. Give up the idea that things won’t go right unless you worry about them.
  7. If you bring the body of your dreams to the point of resolve, then you’ll soon be living in it.
  8. Look towards your future, if you believe the best is yet to come then it will be.
  9. You become what you think about most.
  10. The margin between success and failure is very small and easily bridged by determination.
  11. Start your day by accomplishing your hardest task first.
  12. Set small attainable goals, rather than one monumental goal.
  13. Convince yourself that exercise is fun, and it will be.
  14. Know your big reason why.
  15. Create a motivating play list of songs to use as the sound track to your workout sessions.
  16. Every decision you make leads you either closer toward achieving your goal, or farther from it.
  17. If you think you’re a fat person, then you’ll stay fat. If you think you’re fit, then you soon will be.
  18. Once you’ve set your goal, your attitude either pushes you toward accomplishment or failure.
  19. If you don’t know exactly where you want to go, you will likely end up someplace else.
  20. You can have the body of your dreams, but first you must give up the belief that you can’t.
  21. You can only have two things in life: excuses or results.

This was sent to me by someone else (have forgetten their name), but thought it was appropriate for all of wonderful clients to read through.

If you’re sick and tired of making excuses, then contact us today to get started on one of our fitness programs.

Leave me a comment in the section below and let me know how you have gone with your resolutions?

 Scott Williams

Succeed Personal Training

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Posted in Fitness Articles | 105 Comments »

What do you Want?

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

question-mark

Most people don’t get what they want in life because they don’t know what they want. They may have a vague idea, but they can’t articulate clearly what true success means for them. In fact, when I ask people what they want, nine times out of ten they tell me what they don’t want. They say things like:

     

    • “Well, I don’t want to be broke anymore.”
    • “I don’t want all this credit card debt.”
    • “I don’t wanna argue with my husband.”
    • “I sure don’t wanna be fat.”

    Those are good answers to the question, “What don’t you want?” But I’d asked them, “What do you want?”

    There’s a big difference between knowing what you don’t want, and knowing what you do want. That distinction is going to be the key to your success.

    If you’re thinking about what you don’t want, that’s what will show up in your life. What we think about, we bring about. So if you think consistently about what you don’t want, then that’s what will manifest in your world.

    Another thing that people do in response to the question, “What do you want?” is to tell me not what they want, but what they think they can get. This can also limit your results for two reasons. First, it may set your standard very low and put in motion a pattern of negative thinking. Second, it may not be what you really want, so there’s no passion in the dream!

    The human spirit will not invest itself in mediocrity, and you need that human spirit to achieve what you want. Your goal should be so exciting that you have butterflies in your stomach! That’s how you unlock the power of the mind and put it to work for you!

    Scott Williams

    Australian Fitness Expert

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    Posted in Personal Development | 73 Comments »

    Facts on Soft Drink

    Friday, March 19th, 2010

     cokeAs I am looking over a host of my clients nutritional in take over the last week, I am noticing an alarming trend of ‘dite soft drinks’ in their lists…

     Now I am not to sure what mis conception people are on here but, surely we all know any diet soft drink is not the healthiest thing  you can put in your body… the nasty chemicals, the fattening high fructose that your body can’t digest, and the problems caused by this carbonated cocktail is obviously something many of you are not aware of??

     Since you’re one of my valued clients and subscribers, I know that those reading this, actually do care about your health and the appearance of your body.

     After going over my clients food intake I though I better set the record straight…

     There is NOTHING healthy about drinking diet soft drinks. In fact, if you doa bit of research you will see there are studies that show dedicated diet soft drinkers got FATTER than people drinking normal soft drink…

     An excerpt from a study author at Texas Uni:

     “What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,” Fowler tells WebMD. “What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.” 

     “There was a 41 percent increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day,” Fowler says.

    Ok, as if we didn’t already know how bad regular soda was for us, and now they’re showing us studies that diet soda makes us even fatter than the already bad stuff!soft-drink

    There’s a lot of complicating factors as to why this occurs but a few stand out reasons are:

    • 1. the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas create a negative hormonal response in the body that increases fat storing hormone production and increases cravings for more sweets and refined carbohydrates in the time period after consuming the diet drink.

     

    • 2. people subconsciously think that because they are drinking a diet soft drink with less calories, that gives them more leeway to eat more of everything else, hence consuming more calories overall.

    I’ve said this all along, but the bottom line is that if you’re serious about your health and body, soft drink of any kind (and artificial sweeteners in anything for that matter!) should be avoided at all times, except for very rare occasions when you can’t avoid them.

     Scott Williams

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    Posted in Nutrition | 94 Comments »

    Visualising is the key!!

    Monday, March 8th, 2010

    What is it that separates the highly successful individual from the average or even successful individual? Why is it that one person seems to achieve extraordinary results on a consistent basis and another, with nearly the same training, hits and misses their accomplishments?

    The success technique to which I am referring is visualisation. I guarantee that “visualising your results is the key to realizing your results.” Visualising is one of the most important techniques you will ever learn and one that is utilized by all high performers.

    Visualising is your key to success for two reasons: Your mind thinks in pictures and images; Your unconscious mind drives your behavior. visualisation

    Your unconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between something that is real and something vividly imagined. Whatever picture (goal) you consistently think about will drive your actions to create that exact picture. When you continually see yourself in possession of your goal, your unconscious mind will move you into actions that align with the mental image you hold.

    Here’s a quick visualisation overview to assure your goal achievement:

    1. Create a clear mental picture. You must associate a picture to your goal. You should picture yourself in your vision, rather than watching yourself achieve your goal. This “fine point” separates the masters from the masses. You must create a picture that is so real you believe you already have achieved your success.
    2. You must “experience” your vision. You must be in your picture, looking through your own eyes… seeing, hearing and feeling everything as if you have already achieved your goal. You must create the emotion of the moment in your own body.
    3. Visualise your goal at every opportunity. Bring up your mental picture while waiting at a stop light, when you’re on a break, before your next meeting. The more frequently you plant your picture into your unconscious mind, the more rapidly you will begin to realize increased results in your life.
    4. Visualise first thing in the morning and last thing at night. The best time to visualise is in the morning right after you wake up and just before you go to sleep. These are the times when your unconscious mind is most open to influence. When your conscious mind relaxes, your unconscious becomes very receptive to your thoughts, dreams and ideas–particularly ideas with high emotion.

    So make a commitment right now to create your picture of achieving your goal. All great masters have taught that we become what we constantly think about.

    For me, I personally believe that a basic meditation C.D is the best way to sit and relax and visualise. Head to your local music or go to itunes to purchase. If you are in Canberra I would head to the Heirophant at the Griffith Shops for a huge range of C.D’s to choose from.

    Scott Williams

    CEO, Managing Director

    Succeed Personal Development

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    Posted in Mind, Personal Development | 82 Comments »

    Are Carbohydrates Making you FAT!!!

    Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

    fat-personIn short, yes they are… In my opinion anyway. This is why I have devised a complete nutrition and training program that I have been running as a guinea pig trial with 15 clients for the last few weeks.

     

    Just wanted to give you a quick update on how everyone is going thus far with my training & nutrition trial.

    To give you a rundown every single person that has stuck to it has lost at least 2kg in the last two weeks. I think that is a fantastic effort guys well done.

    Some of the more notables are:

    Narelle – 1.8kg (only been going ONE week)

    Jules – lost 2.8kg in two weeks

    Craig – lost 2.6kg in two weeks (with AC/DC concert in the middle)

    A.J – lost 3.6kg (still to be weighted this week)

    Myself –  88.2 NOW 85kg (lost 3.2kg in two weeks)

    Here is a bit of insight into why this meal plan is working so well:

    Humans are genetically conditioned to store fat. It’s part of the survival mechanism to see us through times of famine. The problem now is that we rarely experience famine. As a result, we store fat and never burn it off.

    Most of our excess weight comes from the highly processed carbohydrates found in baked goods, breads and other sweet snacks that we all love so much. Simple equation, you eat too much of these you store body fat.  Eat too many of these foods and your body starts to change the way it processes food.  The insulin you need to convert carbs to energy becomes less effective and instead of burning the food you’re eating, you start to store more and more fat.

    The goal of my eating plan is to get your insulin level back under control, which is done by cutting carbs in your meal plan. Not all the carbs, just the ones your body uses the fastest. This means saying goodbye to a list of foods you generally eat all the time: potatoes, most fruit, bread, pastries, rice & some cereals.

    Now don’t think you have to give these foods up forever, just for a few weeks here and there. Just long enough to lose some weight and recondition your body to use insulin more effectively.

    Things you should be looking for are: salads, zucchini, tomato, peas, beans, broccoli, asparagus, cucumbers, lean meat cuts, turkey, chicken, fish, eggs, raw peanut butter and seafood.

    All of these foods are have a less effect on blood sugar, and hence they break down slower in your body.  As the weeks progress you then start to incorporate other carbs back into the diet.

    I have found it has given me much more energy on a daily basis, and I am creeping closer to viewing  the six pack that has been hiding underneath all those years….

    fat-stomach

    Scott Williams

    Australian Fitness Expert 

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    Posted in Nutrition | 103 Comments »