Category Archives: Things I want to show you

Cholesterol Confusion – Eggtastic!

I’ve been keeping a food diary recently.  I had a bit of a shock when I looked at the analysis of my day, the app (MyNetDiary) was giving me a warning to say that I had consumed nearly twice the recommended amount of Cholesterol!

food diary

Yep, it *looked* like my love of a Boily Egg had lead me astray and I was a bit confused because I was sure that Eggs were ok to eat.   Some time ago I qualified for an NVQ in Nutrition and Weight Management but truth is that I haven’t really kept up with things, however I was *sure* that eggs had been given the Thumbs up.  I decided to do some research.

It seems that the UK and US nutritional advisors do not agree.  In the UK all major heart and health advisory bodies have removed the previous limits on egg consumption due to their cholesterol content.  Whilst our friends over the Pond are still suggesting caution. My app is obviously using US data.

Here is some of the  info I found:

  • Over 30 years of prospective epidemiological surveys of CHD risk have consistently found no independent relationship between dietary cholesterol or egg consumption and CHD risk.
  • Dietary cholesterol is only responsible for about 15 percent of total blood cholesterol. The rest is manufactured by the body. Other factors that contribute to blood cholesterol levels include smoking, obesity, physical activity and the consumption of saturated fat.
  • There is a lot of confusion surrounding cholesterol because the amount we eat in our diet does not necessarily translate to the amount in our body.

So, I’m not stressing about the eggs in my diet, I’m going to try and focus more on my evil enemy – sugar – arrrrghh!

Want to know more?  These are the pages I looked at:
http://www.egginfo.co.uk/nutritional-value-eggs
http://www.egginfo.co.uk/cholesterol-eggs
http://www.livestrong.com/article/254182-how-many-milligrams-of-cholesterol-should-i-have-a-day/

 

 

Meet the people I teach

When people are thinking about coming to a group fitness class they are often concerned about ‘fitting in’.   Some are concerned that they are not fit enough, or perhaps worried about what to wear, they think they don’t have the right gear etc.  So I’ve started a little movie project to allow you to meet some of the people I teach.  Today at the Meths church I filmed Lilian, Lesley and Lesley.  As you can see they are all lovely and quite Normal!

Sitting is the new Smoking

A Pilates client mentioned to me that her Consultant and told her that ‘Sitting is the new Smoking’.  I remembered seeing this info-graphic, it makes me want to leap up off the sofa!
sitting-is-killing-you

Info-graphic supplied by medicalbillingandcoding.org  I image that some of the stats come from the US but we wont be far behind.  Makes for chilling reading doesn’t it? 

Behind the scenes with Santa

christmas greeting

Remember the Christmas card I gave out in class and on Facebook?

Some people accused me of Photoshopping it!

Well, yes, some photoshop was involved but me and Sam from Saddleworth Studios did go up to Hartshead Pike in October to shoot me jumping and planking.

I thought you might like to see the Behind The Scenes photos . . .

 

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Plank, my feet and hand are lost in the grass.

 we dropped the plank idea!

Nope, still not working, we dropped the plank idea!

Failed jump

Failed jump, feet totally lost, we have a lot of shots like this.

We caused a stir with cyclists and walkers

We caused a stir with cyclists and walkers . . .

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At last, we nailed it, this is the shot I used.

Of course I did add additional ‘me’s’ and a snowy sky, but we really did go to Hartshead Pike!

Any suggestions for next years Christmas photo-shoot?

Learning to Fly

As part of my on going Birthday celebrations I found myself in front of a large helicopter fan learning to skydive, I have to say it was totally awesome!  Whilst flying, the spine is in extension and the chest is opened, shoulders retracted.  I was a little worried that I might get a sore back, my spine and extension are not Best Friends!  Actually my glutes were the main thing that complained (they always want to “take over” don’t they?).  I felt a little beat up the day after but completely worth it for such a fantastic experience.

I was curious to know what the cardiac response to throwing oneself in front of a helicopter fan might be, so I wore my heart rate monitor.  Check out the screenshot, as you can see not much effect at all!

Myzone graph whilst indoor skydiving

Thank you to Cilla for the fab gift and for flying with me along with Mike, Janine and Margaret.  We flew at Airkix near the Trafford Centre, it was the perfect day – Skydiving and shopping!