NUTRITION

Nature dictates that once we start to increase our activity levels we also need to increase our carbohydrate intake - the fuel for exercise. Of course I am talking about complex carbohydrates as in pasta, brown rice, and wholemeal bread. Yes its okay to eat carbohydrates but the big deal is the amount. We need to eat 6 to 12 portions of carbohydrate per day where one portion is one medium slice of bread, one Weetabix or one egg sized potato.

Atkin devotees have very little energy for exercise as they are already deleting these food groups from their diet. There are other dangers with following a high protein diet over a prolonged period. Beware, as the kidneys find it hard to excrete all that excess protein and the high protein intake leads to the accumulation of ammonia in the blood which is toxic to our brain cells.

Weight loss requires us to maintain a calorific deficit so that energy expenditure is greater than its intake. The best way to make a deficit is with ACTIVITY. Yes, we can watch what we are eating but we must not curb the amount of calories so that we are consuming less than our Basal Metabolic Rate (the minimum amount of calories that our body needs to survive, omitting activity). If we do eat less than our BMR the body will go into survival mode, and whatever energy is available will last longer so that major organs such as the brain will be protected. As a result our BMR will drop and we don’t want that. Within my personal training I encourage clients to keep food diaries for my examination and I refer to the healthy eating pyramid for general dietary recommendations.

Therefore the only way forward is with a healthy balanced diet where, on the whole, no food groups are restricted. In conjunction with exercise this is the tool for long term weight management. Here are some guidelines to a healthy eating regime:

• decrease our total fat intake including saturated fats
• eat less simple sugars
• eat less animal proteins
• eat more fibre rich foods
• eat less salt
• drink more water

Of course we also need to eat more complex carbohydrates and eat more fruit and vegetable and experiment a bit more with our food. Hence the focus on papaya. The fruit is native to the American tropics, and was introduced into Africa and many other tropical countries. The fruit is quite large and best eaten fresh with a squeeze of lime juice. It makes a delicious drink or nectar and is readily available tinned.