Eat Breakfast. What they say is true. It is the most important meal of the day. Eating a good breakfast with slow release carbohydrate, protein and fibre is the perfect way to start your day. Slow release carbohydrate, such as porridge, and protein (think poached eggs on whole grain toast) help keep you fuller longer so you’re much less likely to snack on rubbish!

Smart Snacking. Munch on a banana, apple pieces or a handful of almonds. These foods con-tain natural sugars which will give you an instant pick you up, and almonds are a great source of ‘good’ fat—just watch your ‘handful’ size.

Eat less, more. Eating regularly helps regulate your insulin levels & keep your metabolism fired up throughout the day. Have 3 light meals & 2 - 3 small snacks between them to keep your body burning and avoid that mid afternoon lull.

Be supermarket smart. Don’t buy unhealthy snacks—if you don’t have them, you can’t eat them. And never, ever, shop on an empty stom-ach. It’s the fastest way to start launching ‘snacks’ into your trolley.

Superfoods. Blueberries contain loads of anti-oxidants which help protect against the damaging effects of free radicals & chronic diseases associ-ated with getting older. Throw some on your cereal for a great breakfast. Tomatoes contain powerful antioxidants that can improve skin col-our & texture, lower cholesterol, improve blood function and protect against cancer.

Lower fat. Always try to choose lower fat al-ternatives, ie. low fat mayo, semi skimmed milk, skinny latte rather than full fat with topping. It all adds up!

Preparation. Plan your meals ahead of time & prepare what you're going to eat. Always take your lunch—if your salad’s there you’re less likely to hit the chippy when you need some fuel. Have a variety of healthy snacks at hand to keep you fuelled up.

Dining out. When dining out ask for a healthy menu, or order a side salad or fresh veg rather

than chips. Always order your salad dressing on the side, and use sparingly. Also watch portion sizes—most restaurants are usu-ally too generous. Stick with steamed veg and grilled or poached lean protein. You can

also ask for your meal to be prepared without oil or butter.

Fizzy = bad! Out with the fizzy drinks, & in with fresh juice. Fizzy drinks are full of sugar (which gets stored as fat if it’s not burnt off) & can leave you feeling bloated, whereas fruit juice is natural, healthy & counts towards your 5-a-day. Limit yourself to one per day to keep your calorie intake under control.

Cooking Methods. Altering how you cook food can have significant influence on the effec-tiveness of a diet. Swapping the frying pan for the grill is one of the easiest ways to drop calo-ries out of your meal.

Top tips… Smart Nutrition

E D E N M O R E G O L F & C O U N T R Y C L U B

Country Club News

September 2009 Health & Fitness Team

Half the cook books tell you how to cook the food. The other half tell you how to avoid eating it.

P A G E 2

“No amount of

fancy gimmicks or

equipment or

adoption of

alleged time-

saving ‘fads’ will

substitute for a

long term

program of hard

work”

LSD or HIIT—which is best for you?

Heart Rate Ranges … How to find yours.

Cardio War — LSD vs HIIT How confusing right? Actually no. There are many ways to do cardio, & all of them have a valid place in any fitness or weight loss program - what sort depends on your goals.

LSD (or Long Slow Distance) is cardio performed over a longer period at a lower heart rate, generally between 60 & 70% of your Maximum Heart Rate. It has long been thought to be ‘the thing’ to burn fat & get you to your weight loss goals.

Then HIIT came along. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Train-ing) is cardio performed in short bursts at near 100% effort, with recovery periods in between. Sounds hard right? Well, simply put, it is. Yes, it’s tough, but it’s also a sure fire way to significantly improve your fitness & rev up your results.

LSD is great for those with

bad joints, heart conditions & special populations. Basically the more overweight & less fit you are, the more LSD would be the right thing to start you off with. Yes, LSD does burn a greater percentage of total calories as fat, but it takes a long time to get there. With today’s hectic lives we lead, do we want to be in the gym for any longer than necessary? No. Didn’t think so.

HIIT sessions are generally well over and done within 30 minutes - if you can stick it that long. I said it was tough.

The maximum intensity bursts increase your heart rate & intensity and kick up your calorie expenditure. HIIT also has a greater ‘after burn’ effect than LSD; so you’ll keep burn-ing calories longer. HIIT pushes your metabolism through the roof and you get super fitness benefits to boot. HIIT is just the ticket for any-

one who gets bored easily, is short of time or likes to push themselves. Although you’ll burn less fat as a percentage of your total calorie expenditure than with LSD, chances are your total calories will be about the same as, or even above your LSD session. Just in half the time.

The graph below illustrates my point. These are the sessions:

LSD Session - 40 minute walk - 4.50km (6.7kph). Aver-age Heart Rate: 62% (121bpm).

T o t a l C a l o r i e s : 2 3 0 Fat Percentage: 50 Fat Calories burnt: 115

Sessions to burn 1kg fat? 39

HIIT Session - 30 minutes interval running, 2.5km. Aver-age Heart Rate: 93% (181bpm). T o t a l C a l o r i e s : 4 4 7 Fat Percentage: 20 Fat Calories burnt: 89

Sessions to burn 1kg fat? 20

The LSD workout was 10 minutes longer, but burnt 217 less calories, despite the higher percentage of fat calories burnt through the session. Why’s this important? Weight loss is all about calorie balance - the more you burn the more you lose!

Always check with your trainer first!

factors. A general rule for finding your MHR is to use the following calculations.

Male: MHR = 220 - age.

Female: MHR = 226 - age

Although these calculations aren’t 100% accurate, it’s a good starting point. By moni-toring your HR you can train at the level you want to, and

Your heart rate (HR) is a great indicator of how fit you are, and how hard you are training. HR is expressed in beats per minute (bpm) or as a percentage of your maxi-mum heart rate (%MHR). There is a great variation in your resting heart rate, and your max heart rate depend-ing on age, gender & genetic

get to your goals faster.

HR training zones are ex-pressed as %HRM. See the table to the left, then

calculate yours.

Heart Rate Monitors make finding your ranges easy and are a great training accessory to make sure you’re on the right track.

E D E N M O R E C O U N T R Y C L U B N E W S

Calorie Expenditure Comparison

230

447

115 89

0100200300400500

LSD HIITTr a i ni ng I nt e nsi t y

Total Calories

Fat Calories

Healthy Nosh: Asparagus Risotto (from Mens Health magazine).

P A G E 3 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9

Healthy doesn’t have to mean uninspired, bland, or boring food.

Asparagus is very low in calories & sodium and contains no fat or cholesterol. It’s high in soluble fibre, folic acid & rutin (keeps your heart healthy) and contains potassium to keep your muscles functioning well.

What you need: (Serves 4)

500g British asparagus spears 1 onion, finely chopped 300g Arborio rice 750ml chicken or vegetable stock 75g butter 25g freshly grated Parmesan cheese Freshly ground black pepper

What you do:

1. Gently fry the onion in the butter until it becomes soft and translucent.

2. Add the rice and cook for a couple of minutes on a medium heat, stirring so it gets a good coating of butter. Add a ladle of hot stock at a time and stir each until it

has been absorbed. Keep the consistency smooth and glossy.

3. Meanwhile, microwave the asparagus in a dish of water on ‘high' for three minutes or until tender to the point of a knife. Chop roughly once it is cooked.

4. When you're out of stock and the grains are softened and nutty to the bite, add the butter, asparagus, parmesan and a good grinding of black pepper to the pan. Cover and leave for four minutes.

5. Serve the risotto in warm bowls with a liberal sprinkling of black pepper and a handful of rocket.

Sinead’s Detox Diary, Week one:

After one week on the Ultralife Detox drinks I have noticed that I’m not feeling as tired and stressed as the weeks before. I have been making more frequent trips to the toilet, probably as I am now consuming more water. I have also become ‘more regular’.

Sinead is taking the Ultralife De-tox, Orange flavoured drink as a supplement to her current diet & to support her nutritional needs while she’s training & trying to get into shape.

Sinead is aiming to lose weight & improve her fitness levels and is currently attending the gym 2 - 3 per week around her busy Sched-ule.

Sinead’s Detox Diary, Week two:

I still feel as though I have more energy than before I started taking the detox. I also do not feel as bloated after a meal as I would have previously. I’m not feeling as tired in the afternoon & feel better, maybe as a result of being better hydrated through the day.

weights. Building healthy muscle tissue requires lifting weights that are tough. Without it you will just build endurance. Forget about toning, sculpting or shaping if you don’t have the muscle there in the first place.

3.You will not bulk up. Women simply do not have enough testosterone in the body to pack on the muscle. Men have roughly 3 times more testoster-one then women - and even they

struggle to build lean muscle.

4.Hard work = Results. The further outside your boundaries you push the more your body responds. I’m not saying go over-board, but unless you have a pro-gressively overloaded program - you’re going to hit a plateau.

5.Consistency is key! Consis-tent effort is the key to results.

For advice or a new program see a trainer.

Women out there - listen up. There’s some new ground rules about women & weights. Time to get you sorted out & on track.

1.You need muscle. Simply put, without healthy muscle tissue, your body will not look lean and athletic, no matter how much weight you lose.

2.You need weights to build muscle. Put down those Barbie-bells & grab hold of some real

Healthy & Hearty Nosh: Asparagus Risotto

Women & weights - getting it sorted.

Supplement your nutrition...Ultralife Detox

Ultralife Detox - detoxifying drink.

“You can’t

‘shape’,

‘tone’, or

‘sculpt’

muscles you

don’t have”

7. Attend a circuit class

8. Pyramid row sessions

9. 1000m row

10. 10k cycle.

Women’s workout Wedensday:

This month we’re encouraging more women to participate in health and fitness related activi-ties. You can bring along your fe-male friends for free workouts on a Wednesday. So bring your favour-ite woman in and we’ll whip her into shape!

Program Reviews

You should be having frequent reviews of your program to help keep you on track. Speak to a trainer to organise yours.

Monthly Challenge:

September is Gym Decathalon month here at Edenmore. We’ve come up with 10 activities or work-outs that you can do in any order, to accumulate points and prove your dedication to the cause.

The workouts are designed to be a fun alternative to your current pro-gram & will incorporate activities that will challenge your body & boost your results. The winner will receive either a free PT Session or massage. Your choice.

1. 3k run/walk

2. Dumbbell Bench Press—10 rep max

3. 5 x 5 strength workout—Upper

4. 5 x 5 strength workout—Lower

5. 1 - 10 - 1 burpee ladder

6. Attend a spin class

Stuff you need to know