Q&A Repsonse 1)Mmmm Cheese

Cheese! 

This is the topic of today's short, but sweet Blog!

Ione asked me "What Cheeses are good? and which ones are bad?"

Well Ione!

Cheese is packed will calcium, a mineral that is needed massively in the diet of everyone, but for those who are still growing, but calcium is also needed by older people as it helps the bones to fight against osteoporosis. The calcium we find in cheese will helps us to promote strong bones, and teeth as well as heart, nerves and muscle contractions. Yes! its true, calcium can make you big and strong!

Now cheese obviously comes in many different, shapes sizes and tastes. The one big rule I will say now I will stand by 100%.

No cheese from a can is good for you!

Rule One, avoid over packaged cheese, your baby bells, American style cheese singles you put on your BBQ burgers, Velveeta or anything else that is packaged. This is because if it is put in a package and left on a shelf it must have some form or life lengthening preservative in there to allow it to stay on the selves for as long as it can. Supermarkets are not going to place a product on the self they have to change over every day, as it is too much work for them. So! Stay away from heavy packaged products.

Rule Two, go natural. The more natural the cheese the better it is going to be for you. If you can go with grass fed, 100% organic cheese, not only are you going to get the best tasting cheese, its going to be the best for you! The nutritional benefits from 100% organic food is mind blowing! if you can cut out the middle man, and stop all of the processing and alterations then the end product will still have all of the hundreds of minerals in it that it should have, and thus making it the best for you! Also buying from local farms, farmers markets or deli shops will also mean you are supporting the best forms of trade in your local area and helping to keep the real food alive. This is the way we should eat, processed and pre packaged food will never be as good as the raw product itself.

Finally Rule three, moderation, this doesn't mean you can now go away and eat a wheel of grass fed cheese everyday! You must balance it out in your diet with other nutrients. No matter what you eat, you need to have some form of moderation, sure the odd cheese platter isn't going to kill you but going through one every night surely isn't going to do your digestive system any favours!

If you are looking for actually cheeses (names/brands) its hard to tell as I don't know what each brand puts into its cheese. But when ever I eat cheese it will normally be:

• Matured Cheddar
• Feta
• Haloumi
• Brie
• Or Blue cheese

I hope this helped answer your question, and if anyone else has any questions they want answering then feel free to email them to me @ matthewgrant_pt@hotmail.com or equally write them in the comment section below

Now...what happened to all the cheese Gromit!?

-Matthew Grant

Personal Trainer and Nutritional Adviser 

Section 4- Why YOYO is a NONO!

Diets, friend or foe?

When you think of a diet what do you think?…take a second and really think about what that word triggers in your mind??

Eat tiny meals? Eating food you hate? Always feeling hungry? Try to reduce the amount of calories you eat each day? - This is exactly what I think of and I'm sure you probably thought of at least one of those. This is not healthy. This will not get you the results you truly want and most importantly it is damaging your body on a level that cannot be seen.

So where do I begin? The word. Diet what can you see. Look at the word and what can you see?

DIET

Those first three letter, its there, written out for us all to see, its telling us what is happening and we blindly look past it in the ever constant battle to look our best and impress people, to gain acceptance from society about the way we look.

STOP IT! PLEASE!

You cannot diet, you have to change your lifestyle, its about making small adoptions to our eating habits in our day to day lives that will allow those Lb’s to just drop off us.

And now for the Science bit!

If we look at restricting the amount of calories we need each day in order to lose weight what will happen?  I'm sure you have all seen it, a friend goes on a diet and loses a shed load of weight in the first couple of weeks, they start to look amazing, really thin and you start to think that maybe you should try that diet? Don’t! and I shall tell you why.

If we restrict the amount of calories we eat a day by over 250cals our body if the first two weeks will not really realise or understand what is happening

“what's going on?”

“I don’t know!”

“well just carry on as normal and we’ll see if anything changes?”

So Yay for you! You have tricked your body into losing loads of weight in those initial couple of weeks, but! Now your body is starting to clock on to what you are doing.

In our adipose tissue (fat) there is a chemical hormone called leptin, leptin levels are directly proportionate to that of our adipose tissues levels. Now, when we lose all that fat due to our calorie restricted diet our leptin levels are going to plummet. The Hypothalamus (Hype-o-thal-a-mass) which is a detector in our brain, this will then sense the rapid fat loss in our body and initiate the “Starvation Response”.

This means our brain realises that we are starving ourselves, and our body will try and keep us alive for as long as it can (it’s pretty smart like that), which is why our body will then decrease our BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate (how many calories we burn at rest)) which means we will hold onto the food more, making us store more fat in our adipose tissue from all of our food, making us put on the fat we have lost. It will also increase our hunger, which means obviously we will want to eat more. Now our body is getting its own back! What will happen now most likely is you start to eat slightly more than before, and the more you eat, the more you store in the event you decide to starve yourself again. It’s a vicious cycle that ends with you weighing more than you did in the first place.

Now you say to yourself: “That diet was rubbish! I haven’t lost any weight! Hmmm what one shall I try next!?”

I'm sorry to say this Ladies and Gentlemen.

There is no Pill, there is no Diet, and there is no secret ingredient to making you super skinny with your perfect abs, or bum or legs. It’s hard work! Its dedication! Its looking at what you are eating and questioning its values to you and your lifestyle.

Now get out there and spread the word, nutrition is coming back and we are the ones to lead the way! We will make a fitter, healthier and happy generation then those before us and it all starts here!

Information is the biggest weapon!

For any more info, or questions you have about what is said, leave a comment in the comment section below and I will be sure to answer it as soon as I can! 

Matthew Grant

Personal Trainer & Nutritional Adviser

Section 3- Fats:The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Lipids

Fats and Oils belong together in the same family, as they are both organic compounds scientists and nutritionists have decided to use the term "Lipids" to describe them both.

Lipids are feared by the majority of the population because they are afraid that eating fats will make you really fat, and that if a product in the supermarket has a product that is high in fats, especially saturated fat, that we shouldn't buy it, and instead by the low/free fat product instead (great marketing ploy by the way!).

Now I'm not going to tip toe around it, if you only eat fat, of course you are going to get fat, you don't have to be a genius to figure that out! But eating fat is more beneficial to your body then you probably realise. Did you know? That:

• Lipids virtually make up all of the cell membranes in the whole body (without lipids we wouldn't be function, at all)
• Lipids form the majority of the Central Nervous System (that means without consuming lipids we become less sensitive and our senses will not be able to function at optimal levels).
• Lipids transport, store and utilise vitamins A,D,E and K, which in turn builds and boost our immune system (which means without lipids we would constantly be ill).
• Lipids are a major fuel source of the body, yielding the greatest amount of energy per gram of fat consumed (without lipids we would not have optimal levels of energy).

At room temperature lipids which are liquids are known as Oils and lipids that are solid at room temperature and known as solids.

Most lipids will consist of chains of Carbon atoms that join together with other atoms, primarily with Oxygen and Hydrogen. Oh my! he is talking about chemistry! why does this matter!? it all seems very complicated!! It's not complicated at all, just think about lipids as keys, there are many different lipids as there can be many different keys. Different keys unlock different doors, just as different lipids unlock and and store in different cells. We gain the different structures due to a double bond in the chain we spoke of a minute ago, this double bond changes the shape, which mean the cell will have a specific job in a specific part of the body.

Saturated Fats

Theses fats are made from chains of Carbon atoms that are highly 'saturated' with Hydrogen atoms. These fats don't contain any double bonds, which means that saturated fats are tightly packed together. This will mean that at room temperature saturated fats are solids. 

We will finds saturated fats primarily in animal products such as:

• Beef
• Pork
• Lamb
• Venison 
• Chicken
• Duck
• Milk
• Cheese
• Yoghurt
• Cream
• Butter
• and Eggs

non-animal source of saturated fats are:

• Palm Oil
• Coconut Oil

Unsaturated Oils

These oils get their name because some Hydrogen atoms are not found within the chains which will cause 2 things to happen:

1. a double bond will occur between one or more Carbon atom
2. the fatty acid will bend at these sites

Why should it matter if it has a bend in or not?

Well it basically all comes back to the key theory, the different bends will mean the chains will now fit into different spaces and help to unlock and store energy etc. within a variety of cells.

Unsaturated fats will come in two different forms:

• [Mono]unsaturated- meaning it only has a single double bond in the chain 
• [Poly]unsaturated-meaning it has several double bonds in the chain

Monounsaturates

It has been shown that diets high in monounsaturated fats lower a certain type of Cholesterol and a thought to contribute highly to the reduced risk of Coronary Heart Disease.

Sources of Monounsatured fatty acids are:

• Olives and Olive oil 
• Lard
• Beef Dripping 
• Peanut Oil
• Rapeseed Oil
• Avocados
• Nuts
• Seeds

Polyunsaturates 

Polyunsaturates are broken down once again into two different categories. These categories are: 

• Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3)
• Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 6)

These are both incredible important to consume because the body cannot in fact synthesise them its self (which means it has to be eaten by us, because we can't create it).

Omega 3 fatty acids found within oily fish are particularly beneficial. They have been proven to reduce tendency of blood to clot and lower total cholesterol levels, which means that they are able to lower the risk of Coronary Heart Disease.

Omega 3 can be found within:

• Oily Fish
• Flax Oil
• Walnuts
• Pastured reared eggs

Omega 6 can be found within:

• Sunflower seeds
• Sunflower oil
• Safflower oil
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sesame seeds

And Finally...THE BAD & THE UGLY

Hydrogenation and Trans Fats

Hydrogenation is a process in the food industry by which they take a quantities of unsaturated vegetable oils are manufactured into more solid fats at room temperature, like margarine (which is actually one molecule away from being plastic...little fun and horrific fact for you).

What happens when you hydrogenated a oil is the oil is heated and pumped with hydrogen which will form the unsaturated fatty acid into a saturated fatty acid. Now just taking a moment out...you know its not a good start when you are trying to take something that naturally is liquid and you have to pump it with a chemical formula to make it a solid...you are playing the nature...and it doesnt need to be played with. The double bonds we could find in the unsaturated fatty acids  have now been altered and replaced with single bonds making it more of a solid at room temperature, like margarine.

Just to give you an idea of why trans fats are so bad for us. If we us the key theory for one final time, we know that each lipid has a different shape and structure to fit a specific hole in order to unlock it and store energy in it. When that energy is stored the body will send round enzymes to unlock these cells during exercise. But, if due to the fact a cell has been altered like that of a trans fat what will now happen is a key that previously didn't fit the lock now does, but when the trans fat is stored in a cell it shouldn't be it won't be able to be used by that cell. Think of this scenario!

A janitor at a school has a store room (a cell) and within that store room they have all of the cleaning supplies to clean the whole school. Now if someone over night forced their way into the stored room (such as a trans fat) and replaced everything the store room with schools supplies such as books and pencils and pens how is the janitor meant to clean the school the next day? he has nothing to clean with (which is our energy source) but instead has only implements he can't use...therefore he can't and won't do his job (cell is rendered useless).

Common foods containing trans fats:

• Many margarines
• Biscuits
• Cakes
• Take away food
• Pies
• Pastries
• pre-prepared foods
• Many "low fat" processed foods

Consumption of hydrogenated fat is associated with cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, immune system dysfunction, low birth weights, birth defects, sterility, difficulty in lactation and problems with bones and tendons.

So there we have it! The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Please feel free to comment and share this around, would love to get feed back to help make this series better.

Now get out there and spread the word!

Information is the greatest weapon!

-Matthew Grant

Personal Trainer & Nutritional Adviser 

Subtle yet Substantial Part 2

As promised I will talk about the other Micro-nutrient Minerals today

So, what are Minerals? What do they do? Why do we need them? and where do we get them from?

Minerals are used within our bodies to help with metabolism (how many calories we burn at rest and when exercising), hormonal regulation and nervous interactions. In very simple terms. Minerals help out bodies to function correctly from day-to-day.
Minerals don't in fact give us an energy, but allows us to utilise energy. If you think about minerals as the key to our body, it allows us to open up the cells in our body to absorb and use our main energy sources, so we can actually perform the day to day tasks we need without feels under fatigue all the time.
Minerals in fact make up around 4% of our overall body weight, which is pretty crazy considering they only help other nutrients and enzymes in our body to work!
Minerals as you may or may not have guessed are found within plants, the plants will extract the minerals from the soil they are planted in, which means that when we then eat these plants the minerals will be transferred into our own bodies. So when looking at what fruit and veg we are buying in the supermarket, although it will be slightly more expensive! we should really look at getting organic fruit and veg, as this means the soil they are planted in and surrounded by is not tainted with all the pesticides and chemical rubbish which can then be transferred onto and in to the plants themselves if not careful. You can find 29+ different minerals in foods and hundreds of different trace minerals, but obviously i'm not expecting people to go out, research each of them, find where to get them from and then go out and buy them, because, well, that's just a hassle! What I will do however is quickly give you 7 macro minerals (minerals you need in slightly larger quantities then anything else) and where you can get them from!

Calcium :-Dairy Products/Fish/Green Leafy Vegetables 
Chloride :-Natural Unprocessed Sea Salt/ Coconut Flesh
Magnesium  :- Natural Unprocessed Sea Salt/ Fish/ Dairy Produce/ Nuts
Phosphorus :- Animal Produce/ Whole Grains/ Nuts & Legumes
Potassium :-Natural Unprocessed Sea Salt/ Nuts/ Vegetables
Sodium :- Natural Unprocessed Sea Salt/ Meat Broths/ Zucchini
Sulphur :- Cruciferous Vegetables/ Eggs/ Dairy Products

Now its quite nice when you think, oh! I actually eat most of those things! If you don't, don't worry! You aren't going to fall apart over night! Just try adding them in slowly with you diet. If you have salt with your dinner, try replacing your normal table salt with some Natural Unprocessed Sea Salt (it will taste much better! and is better for you!...2 birds=1 stone).

If people have any queries our questions about anything that has been written, or would like to give an opinion or even want to request the next topic to be spoken about! Please leave a comment and I will get onto it straight away!

But for now, go spread the word!

Information is the greatest weapon!

-Matthew Grant

Section 2- Subtle yet Substantial

So last week we spoke about Macro-nutrients, the 3 nutrients that are need to be consumed in fairly large quantities in our diet in order for our bodies to perform and work at optimal capacity on a day to day basis. So it only seem right that we now talk about Micro-nutrients! 

But Matt! What are Micro-nutrients?

Well. Micro-nutrients are the last two remaining nutrients that are needed in our daily dietary intake to keep our body functioning as it should. These two nutrients need to be consumed in much small quantities compared to our Macro-nutrients, this is not because they are any less important but just because they are not used as a energy source, but instead have other capabilities which you might argue make them just as important if not more!

Our two Micro-nutrients are:

1. Vitamins 
2. Minerals 

Vitamins are a major part of our diet as without the correct intake of vitamins we simple just wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning, because we would always be ill! Got a friend that always seems to be under the weather? always has a cold? or maybe a constant cough? (that isn't related to smoking). Maybe you should take a look at what sort of Vitamins they have in their diet? 

We get our vitamins primarily from plants which synthesise the vitamins themselves, as well as animal products which have been fed on plants. Ever wondered why grass fed meat tastes better and is better than meat that has been pumped full of steroids and hormones?

We are however able to synthesise some of the B Vitamins (biotin, riboflavin and vitamin k) ourselves due the action of bacteria that takes place within our Gastrointestinal Tract (GI Tract). Throughout evolution our bodies have adapted and are now starting to be able to assemble small amounts of certain vitamins and start to sythesise them into 'whole vitamins', but only in the correct circumstances, with correct amounts of other nutritional and dietary resources. An example of this would be Beta-Carotene, this a pro-vitamin which is quite commonly spoken about (its the thing we tell kids to eat to 'make them see in the dark'...but it isnt actually found in carrots on the contrary to popular belief), which can be found in yellow and dark green vegetables which our bodies (under correct circumstances) can synthesise into Vitamin A.

But just to confirm, its a very hard process for the body to go through and you will not get anywhere near the daily Vitamin A requirements just through this process and should look at consuming whole sources of Vitamin A.

Now going back onto knowing people that always seem to be ill. We sometimes find that these people we know who are constantly ill are making sure they eat lots of vegetables and they take multi-vitamins and really just shouldn't be ill because they eat such 'healthy food'. I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here.

FAT!

Yes you read correctly, Fat. We have 4 Vitamins in our diet that can only be absorbed, transported and utilised in the presence of Fat, these Fat Soluble Vitamins are:

• A
• D
• E
• and K

so in all the new 'Fat Free' diets we are actually creating a severe deficiency in the amount of Fat Soluble Vitamins that can be absorbed into the body. You see, you can throw as may multi-vitamins at your body as you want but without the presence of Fat to utilise it, you are merely just going to excrete it out again. Ever wondered why Berroca make your pee bright yellow? (probably due to the fact 1 tablet is like 200% of your GDA on Vitamin C!)

In a section later in the series I will speak about Lipid and Cholesterol, which is the mother of all hormones. Now several chemical reactions must take place within our bodies in order to complete the production of vital hormones. Within each of the reaction there is a mass demand for Vitamin A. Now if we take out that Vitamin A, because we aren't eating enough Fat (Oh my god he wants us to eat more fat?! Yes, Yes I do!) our bodies capacity to produce necessary hormones like testosterone, oestrogen and cortisol will diminish. Causing decreases in muscle mass, ability to menstruate and remove toxins from our body...now you know why they are ill!

But we also have Water Soluble Vitamins, which as I'm sure you can kind of guess, are absorbed, transported and utilised within water. These are Vitamin B and Vitamin C. They are absorbed along the length of the digestive tract and will have a direct effect on the cells themselves. But as the Vitamins are not really able to be stored within our body, its paramount that we are to include them in our daily diet.

This is a table to provide an understanding of the Purpose of Vitamins and their Vital Sources:

FAT SOLUBLE VITAMINS

Vitamin A Purposes:

• Needed for Digestion of Protein 
• Helps to Build Bones
• Helps Produce Rich Blood
• Help RNA Production (coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes along with DNA)

Sources:

• Butter From Grass Fed Cows
• Pastured Whole Eggs
• Liver
• Seafood
• Cod Liver Oil 

Vitamin D Purposes:

• Needed to Absorb Calcium and Phosphorus 
• Helps Form Strong Bones and Teeth
• Appears to Protect Against Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis

Sources:

• Butter From Grass Fed Cows
• Pastured Whole Eggs
• Liver
• Seafood
• Cod Liver Oil

Vitamin E Purposes:

•  Aids Blood Circulation
• Helps with Tissue Repair and Healing
• Slows Aging Process
• Powerful Antioxident
• With Certain Trace Minerals Protects Against Cancer and Coronary Heart Disease 

Sources:

• Unrefined Vegetable Oils
• Butter
• Organ Meats
• Whole Grains
• Raw Nuts and Seeds
• Dark Green Leafy Vegetables

Vitamins K Purposes:

• Important Role in Blood Clotting
• Aids Bone Formation

Sources:

• Liver
• Pastured Whole Eggs
• Butter From Grass Fed Cows
• Whole Grains
• Dark Green Leafy Vegetables 

WATER SOLUBLE VITAMINS

Vitamin B Complex Purposes:

• Works to Promote Healthy Nerves, Skin, Eyes, Hair, Liver and Muscle Tone
• Prevents Fatigue 
• Vital Role in Metabolism 
• Helps Produce Cholesterol 
• Helps Maintain Iron Levels in Blood
• Maintains Fertility and Normal Growth

Sources:

• Whole Unrefined Grains
• Fresh Fruit
• Fresh Vegetables 
• Raw Nuts
• Legumes
• Seafood
• Organ Meats

Vitamin C Purposes:

• Aids Tissue Growth and Repair
• Strengthens Capillary Walls
• Supports Lactation
• Supports Adrenal Gland Function
• Vital for Formation of Collagen
• Helps in Healing of Wounds
• Powerful Antioxidant

Sources:

• Fresh Fruit 
• Fresh Vegetables
• Some Organ Meats 

Thank you for reading...

But the more observant of you will realise I have actually only done Vitamins here...

Well just so I don't lose your concentration too much I will post Info on Minerals tomorrow.

Now go and spread the word!

Information is the biggest weapon!

If you want me to answer and questions or want to debate anything said in this article then be sure to leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

-Matthew Grant

Personal Trainer & Nutritional Adviser 

Section 1- The Foundation Layer

Nutrition...

What should we eat? What shouldn't we eat? How much of this? How much of that? 

It leaves a lot of unanswered questions I feel, and due to this I have created this blog to try and help you along the way.

First of all we need to look at: What composes Nutrition? 

Well, our basic diet (our normal eating habits on a day to day basis) is composed of 5 different areas. The first area we are going to talk about know are known as  the Macro nutrients. Macro Nutrients are called so because they are needed in larger quantities in our diet. To most of us we will be aware that these Macro Nutrients are made from:

1. Carbohydrates (CHO)
2. Protein
3. Fat

These 3 key nutrients will make up the bulk of our diet, and are needed within the body for numerous reasons. CHO is needed as a prime energy source, as when it enters the body it is broken down in Glucose which will be saturated into our bloodstream in order to give us energy to perform day to day activities. 

Protein is used as a primary repairer, its job is to help repair microfiber tears in our muscle mass. This is why we see Body Builders and Athletes alike banging on about "what protein do you take?... how much protein do you take?...man I love chicken!" and to be fair to them it is needed to help them make muscular gains, but is it going to be needed by 'average Joe'?? (will talk about that later in the series). But, protein will also be used as a reserve energy source, and will be utilized when stores of other energy sources are running low or scarce.

Fat is used at a insulator for our bodies, but don't let this put you off eating fat (which is something i will be banging on about in this series)because fat is 100% a necessity in our diet, we need it as a energy source for slow to moderate intensity exercise, so things like walking our dogs, going for a light jog etc. It actually gives us more energy per gram consumed then any other nutrient:

• Carbohydrates-1g = 4k/cals of energy
• Protein-1g = 4k/cals of energy
• Alcohol -1g = 7 k/cals of energy
• Fat -1g = 9k/cals of energy

so as can be seen its a pretty big deal! Along with this the majority of our brain and our nerves are made up from fat, which is quite scary when you think about how all of the big companies are telling us to "eat low fat" products. Well if we cut out fats from our diet (theoretically speaking) it means we are more likely to have optimal functioning of our nerves and senses, as well as a huge increase in the chance of depression and anxiety. Finally, Fat is used as an absorption device. In our diets we have 4 fat soluble vitamins :A,D, E and K, which are need to optimal functioning and stability of the body and its well-being. Now just just sit back and ponder over this for a second. Why is it that the population of this Country (UK) seems to be so damn miserable and under the weather all the time? why is it the our grandparents, and their parents never seem to be unhappy? is there a direct link to the fact that all of these 'Low...' products are actually doing greater harm to our body then good? (well once again keep following these and you will find out). 

Next time we will talk about Micro Nutrients and what they do for us.

But for now, spread the word!

Information is the Greatest Weapon!

- Matthew Grant

Personal Trainer & Nutrition Adviser