Why should health & fitness professionals be recommending bone broth?
As health and fitness professionals we can sometimes be quick to recommend supplements to our clients. Supplements should be an addition to a healthy sustainable diet and only used when needed. If the nutrients we need can be obtained from food sources, we should be promoting these first. Mother Nature designed out food to contain an abundance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and co-factors that are essential to our survival. Processed foods are often void, or very low, on these nutrients and this is why so many people are deficient in key nutrients. As health and fitness professionals we should be helping our clients make smart dietary choices and adding foods such as bone broth to their diet.
Is there such a thing as an essential carbohydrate?
We’ve all heard of essential fatty acids. We’ve all heard of essential amino acids. But is there such a thing as an essential carbohydrate? Essential macronutrients are required in the diet because the body can't produce them. Chemical reactions in the body can provide non-essential macronutrients.
It’s important to note that ALL carbohydrates in food are broken down and converted into pure sugar (glucose and fructose) or indigestible fibre. Although glucose, fructose, and fibre are all technically carbohydrates, they each have a different effect on the body.
Women's Health: Diet, Training and Hormones - Part 2
In part 1 of this women’s health post, I talked about the importance of nutrient density, diets, carbohydrates and the need to talk to your female clients about premenstrual syndrome (PMS), polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), insulin sensitivity, pregnancy and breastfeeding. The unrealistic media images and social pressure to look a certain way comes at a cost to our health, happiness, and longevity. Women need to be especially careful because their hormones can be particularly sensitive to lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, sleep, and stress. The overuse of specific diets and training methods can create serious hormonal issues in women and impact fertility.
DAY 30- COCONUT CRUSTED COD
A fantastic alternative to breaded fish fillets! Courtesy of our friend @alessia_beltrame
DAY 28- GEORGIAN AUBERGINE ROLLS
Georgia is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever visited, and its cuisine is as unforgettable as its sceneries.
DAY 27 - PLANTAIN CHIPS
This month the team at TSTM are publishing health Paleo recipes. Our professional chef Helena is leading the way with the Paleo challenge we’ve set, but she has asked me to add a couple of recipes in the final week. How can I compete with a professional chef?
Paleo snacks are often a struggle for most people, so I was thinking my first recipe should be a snack. Plantain chips can be eaten hot or cold. You can make up a large batch and save them for snacks. Green plantains are a resistance starch, which makes them suitable for diabetics as resistance starch does not raise insulin levels. Resistance starch is also very healthy for the gut microbiome, you can read more about it here.
DAY 26 - Paleo Banana, Carrot and Walnut Muffins
These Paleo Muffins are an old favourite. Back in the day when I was competing in marathons, triathlons and Ironman events, I was always looking for healthy snacks to eat. These Paleo muffins were high on my list and a batch of 10 would never last long.
These muffins are loaded with bananas, shredded carrots, and walnuts. These easy muffins have NO added sugar – they’re sweetened entirely with bananas! They’re the perfect on-the-go snack.
Women's Health: Diet, Training and Hormones - Part 1
As the saying goes “men are from Mars, and women are from Venus.” So should we eat a different diet? It’s not that simple, but there are some valid reasons why specific diets have different gender outcomes. Body image and social pressure affect both men and women in terms of health and happiness. Unfortunately, many health and fitness professionals make the problem worse by encouraging unrealistic goals that can have detrimental impacts on the wellbeing of their clients. This is especially true for female clients as their hormones can be easily disrupted by the wrong diet or training methods.
Give your clients a licence to eat carbohydrates
Is there a nutrition secret to going harder, faster, stronger, and longer? There is a whole mythology built up around “eating to perform": protein powders, carbohydrate back-loading, intermittent fasting, post-workout macronutrient ratios, etc. We've been told that carbohydrates are bad for us? But don’t we need carbohydrates to fuel our high-intensity training sessions? One of my teachers used to say, “most people don’t deserve carbohydrates, you can have carbohydrates in your diet, but they have to be clean carbohydrates.” The best way to determine if it’s a clean carbohydrate is to ask the questions, “did a caveman have access to it?”