Exercise can make you fat

Yesterday I booked into a Zumba class but it had to be cancelled and instead we were given a 'vive' class. On paper it probably appeared to be the same sort of class with some aerobic exercise to music but there was one very big difference.

Chronic stress leads to adrenal fatigue and your body functions differently in this state. As far as your primitive brain is concerned there are only three reasons for chronic stress: war, flood or famine.

An exercise class that involves lots of running type movements tells your primitive brain that it is correct because you are 'running away' from something bad. It gets your body to produce more stress hormones and instead of loosing weight you gain weight (because of the chemistry and biological changes that occur with stress).

When you dance your primitive brain interprets this as 'all is well' because who dances when they have to run away or survive a war, flood or famine? People dance when they are happy, at celebrations and when they are at a party.

And this is why an aerobic class is different to a Zumba class.

If you want to stay slender and are prone to feeling stressed and/or anxious the best types of exercise classes are fun ones like dance classes, and relaxing ones like yoga, Pilates and body balance. These reduce the amount of stress hormones produced and your body will switch from burning muscle to stored fat.

Have fun and stay relaxed
Sarah

A happy liver helps keep you slender

Last night I had to give a short speech and ended up giving a speech about drinking responsibly. I was not and am not suggesting that any one stops drinking alcohol. Personally I enjoy a good quality bourbon, especially since I had to stop drinking wine because I developed a sensitivity to it.

The message with alcohol is all about how much you drink, both in one sitting and in total during any given week. There are two reasons for this:

1. When you drink too much your thought processes change which can cause you to make choices that you would never consider when sober
2. Alcohol is a poison that your liver has to process and then pass on to other organs to excrete. If you drink too much it can destroy brain cells permanently, cause liver damage and a host of other health related issues.

One of these health related issues is body fat, and drinking lots of alcohol can lead to obesity and the health issues related to obesity.

When you drink alcohol your liver will process it first because your liver works on a 'most dangerous always gets to the front of the queue' system. This helps your body to excrete toxic substances as quickly as it can. Whilst your liver is busy processing the alcohol there is a slow but steady build up of other substances that need to be processed. These include things like cholesterol and estrogen. These might be able to enter the liver for phase one but have to wait too long for phase 2, so your liver sends them back into your blood stream without processing them. You now have additional cholesterol and estrogen in your system creating havoc.

Caffiene and nicotine also require processing by your liver and are put to the head of the queue after alcohol.

Alcohol can mess up your body's ability to maintain a healthy balance of insulin production, fat storage and hunger signals. Because your liver is busy with the alcohol your body ends up storing more of the energy you eat as fat. But your body needs to use instant energy so it uses the easily available glucose in your muscles. This adds up to less muscle and more fat storage. It can also lead to insulin resistance, which means that your body has to put out more insulin to be able to use the sugar in your blood.

Alcohol is very high in sugar, which means that any energy available from the alcohol will be utilized first and sugar from other foods and drinks will also be stored as fat.

As you can see drinking alcohol can make it difficult for you to stay slender unless you follow some basic rules:

• No more than 2 standard drinks per day
• To stay slender chose 2 days/evenings a week to enjoy a drink of alcohol and have 5 alcohol free days
• Plan your week (where possible) so that you can enjoy a drink with friends or at social occasions if you wish

• Now and then there will a surprise occasion where you drink when you had planned an alcohol free day. As these happen rarely enjoy the occasion and continue as before. If these occasions start to happen frequently you need to plan them into your week. 

Love and care for your liver and it will help to you to stay slender.

Sarah

Less sleep can equal more weight

A recent study showed that women not only work out of the home, but once home they undertake twice as much childcare and three times as much housework. I don't think that we needed a study to show us that. We already know!

It is not surprise that women can become so tired. There just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. Something has to give, and usually it is quality sleep. Even when you get to bed your mind is racing thinking of all the things that you still have to do, or haven't done that must be done by yet another deadline.

In most households everyone comes to you. Broken shoe laces, missing socks, forms that need signing, sore throats, insufficient phone credit... and the list goes on. "MUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?"

20% of road fatalities are caused by fatigue. These aren't all tired women, there are many tired men out there as well. Being really tired is the equivalent to being drunk. It has similar neurological effects including being unable to make good decisions, being emotional, slower responses and quick to anger. Does any of these signs and symptoms ring a bell with you?

This blog is usually written in the morning, or even the day before, but I have been busy. I could have stressed myself out and either stayed up late or got up extra early to write it, but I chose not to. I know what physiological and psychological consequences either of those actions would involve. So I am writing it late in the afternoon, feeling nice and relaxed and enjoying the potential of helping some of you to say "NO!" I am not going to take all of that on today, this week or even this month.

When you go to bed tonight you will sleep so much better if you:

• eat before 7pm or only eat a very light meal before 8pm
• no coffee after 5pm (or cola)
• go to bed at a reasonable time, which is any time before 10pm
• once in bed read a book or a magazine but no television, phones, ipads or any other device unless you are reading a book from it
• keep the room cooler than during the day because our body's need to cool down to feel sleepy
• acknowledge yourself for all the things that you achieved today, including getting something partially done
• set the alarm for 10 minutes before you have to get up so that you can wake up slowly 

Enjoy a quality sleep of 8 hours as many nights as you can manage.

sweet dreams
Sarah

Hilarious!

You Know You're a Mother When ...

You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal.
You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
Your kid throws-up and you catch it.
Someone else's kid throws up at a party. You keep eating.
As you cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons; your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun.
You hope ketchup is a vegetable, since it's the only one your child eats.
You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches into cute shapes.
You hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth when you say, "NOT in your good clothes!"
You stop criticising the way your mother raised you.
You donate to charities in the hope that your child won't get that disease.
You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, then spend half the night checking on the kids.
You use your own saliva to clean your child's face.
You say at least once a day, "I'm not cut out for this job", but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything". 

When we laugh our brains know that there can't be any danger around. It can relax and let your body go back to burning fat instead of readily available glucose.

What a great way to stay slender. Find ways to have a good laugh every day. In addition to jokes there are funny films, youtube clips and cute things that young children say. Even better have a laugh at yourself now and again, in a loving and gentle way. Trying to be perfect is stressful, and you know what happens when your brain becomes aware of stress.

Please share one of your favourite jokes below in the comment section.

best wishes
Sarah