So there I was after adding a generous coating of paprika to this evenings dinner, along with just the right amount of hot chilli for a cold winters evening, and then I taste test.
Sooooo...
Funny story,
it wasn’t paprika..
It was chipotle chilli. 
I don’t normally use sour cream with my Mexican style dinners, but I will be this evening, because that'll balance the flavour and reduce the heat a little.

Moral of the story? 

Make sure your spice jars are clearly labelled 😂😂

Bigger picture moral of the story? 

There are few mistakes that can’t be sorted out when you know how to correct them; if you keep making the same mistakes with your diet or fitness, maybe it’s time to talk to an expert..

How A Personal Trainer Can Help You Lose Weight Fast

With summer just around the corner, thoughts are turning to the holidays. This leads to the beach and the prospect of removing layers of clothing, which somehow manages to fill us with both delight and dread at the same time, and before you know it you're googling "how to lose weight fast" and things like "beach ready workout" or "summer shape up". I really hope you're not looking for things like "starvation diets for beginners"!
The good news is that is possible to achieve surprising results in a relatively short period of time, and without going on some crazy bloody diet!.

Food standards

It's been quite an interesting week in the world of food here in Ireland. Yesterday, it emerged that 'beef' burgers on sale in all the major supermarkets can contain up to 29% horse-meat  as well as some meat from pigs. Beef burger my ass!

Today comes an absolutely disgusting image of some of the food being served to patients at the Coombe hospital in Dublin.

So lets go back to basics. You are what you eat. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. Every cell in every part of your body is short term. It fullfils its function, dies off and is replaced. The best example of this is in the lining of your mouth, your cheek cells. They have a lifespan of about 3 days.

What about my bones you say, they last more than three days..
True, they do. Are they the exact same as they were yesterday? Nope. Calcium is constantly being leached out of the bones, and topped up. This is an ongoing process.

You are what you eat.
Every cell, corpuscle and fibre of your body is made from the food and drink you have consumed. Food and drink gives us the building blocks for new cells. Healthy food and drink begets healthy cells.

This sausage roll with potato wedges and a blob of tomato  ketchup is, in my educated opinion as a health and fitness professional, shit on a plate. How any hospital administrator could permit this utter garbage to presented to a human being in a hospital is beyond me. Good nutrition is crucial to healing & growth. You are what you eat.

Burned food contains acrylimides, which are carcinogens. The sausage roll is made of saturated fats, refined white flour, and more saturated fats, with the possibility of some protein (most sausage rolls are made with what a butcher friend of mine calls BLS, or barely legal sausage; they contain only the minimum pork required to allow them to be classified as a sausage; thats 4% pork, allowing a total protein content of about 1%).

And this crap is supposed to help people to heal?? Gimme a break! There's nothing in it except calories and cancer!

What the hell happened to getting your 5-a-day?

Whenever I hear about incidents like this one, it convinces me more each time that here in ireland, we don't have a HEALTH CARE system, we have a SICKNESS MAINTENANCE system.

Eat well to lose weight, gain weight or stay slim

Eating well isn't a case of eating caviar and kobe beef everyday. How do you know if you eat well? Take out a sheet of paper, and answer the following 5 questions honestly. It won't give you an exact solution to your nutrition, but it'll allow you to identify which areas are the ones you should work on improving first for the greatest effect.

1.What do you eat?

This is the obvious one. Do you eat a lot of deep fried food, fast food or take out? Do you get your 5-a-day of fresh fruit and veg? Do you eat 'treats' such as biscuits, cakes, milk chocolate, sweets/candy several days of the week. Do you eat a lot of ready meals, microwave dinners, or instant (just add hot water) foods? Do you choose lean or fatty meats? Do you trim the fat/skin off, or leave it on? Do you eat a lot of refined carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta or white rice? Do you drink plenty of water? The key thing here is to identify the foods you eat several times per week.

2.When do you eat?

Do you eat breakfast? Do you regularly skip meals? Do you frequently allow 6 hours or more to go by without eating, and then eat until you feel stuffed?
We've all heard that you should never eat after 'X' in the evening. The time seems to change every few months, depending on what fad diet is popular. A good guideline is to never eat a large meal within 2 hours of going to bed; make it fit your own lifestyle. 

3.How do you eat?

This isn't a case of knife & fork or chopsticks! Eating infront of TV leads to more calories being consumed due to delaying the onset of satiety. the brain body connection is important in experiencing the colour, shape texture and flavour. Without experiencing the meal, it's unlikely we will be satisfied by it. 
Example - in the cinema, you can taste the popcorn until the movie captures your attention. After that, the next time your brain is engaged by the popcorn is when your hand reaches the bottom of the container. 

4.Why do you eat

Serotonin levels are linked to blood sugar levels, in that when blood sugar rises, so does serotonin. High GI foods that give the quick sugar spike will boost mood in the very short term, but lead to a double dip when both blood sugar and mood drop, causing us to reach for more. 
Example - any sugary sweet/candy. Toasted white bread, when was the last time you had a single slice? 

5.Who do you eat with? 

There's a significant amount of research that tells us that birds of a feather flock together; we will tend towards the norm for our peer group. If our friends are mostly overweight, chances are we will be too. 
There's a school of thought that we are the average of our 5 closest friends, in terms body composition and physical health. Next time you're out with friends, thats something to think about..

Is That It?

There's more to eating well than just these 5 questions of course, as the different demands of our lives will place different demands on our nutrition (I hate the word diet).  Those looking to increase weight will have different requirements from those trying to lose it. I'll go into more detail on those in other posts, and link back to them from here.

What's wrong with how we eat

I'd love to hear everyones thoughts on this video, I hadn't realised how much food and eating have changed in the last 100 years. After watching this thought provoking presentation, it's hardly surprising that there are so many more food related fatal illnesses now than 30 or 40 years ago.

Personally, I've consumed red meat less than 5 times in the last 18 months. The reason? When I returned to college to finish what I'd started many years before, one of my assignments involved researching the links between what we eat and what kills us. What I learned while plowing through research articles in medical and nutrition journals sealed the deal.

Eat more veg and less meat or die a painful death at a younger age.

With that kind of motivation, I found making positive changes to eating habits a lot easier. If you want to make some changes to the way you eat, but aren't sure where to start, have a look at my top 7 healthy eating tips.

Mal Kelly's Top 7 quick n dirty healthy eating tips

It can be difficult to establish good habits when it comes to eating wholesome food, especially in todays fast paced world, where many people feel they don't have the time to prepare healthy meals. Does this sound like you? If so, try some of these hints and let me know which ones work for you...

1. Read the packet

Recent research has revealed that people who read the nutritional info on the back of the packet are more successful at managing their weight, even if they don't really understand it!

I have 2 other rules when it comes to prepackaged food, and they both involve reading the ingredients list.

• If I need a chemistry book to decode the ingredients list, that product is not going into my stomach.
• If I can't list most of the ingredients in one breath, it's probably best left on the shelf.

I should point out that the only things worth reading on a packet are the ingredients list and the nutritional info. These are usually on the back or side panels of the box. Ignore everything else written on the pack as the rest is usually marketing half truths designed to separate you from your hard earned cash. Also, it will never, ever look as good when cooked as it did on the packaging.

For more nutrition info, and what the technical terms in the ingredients list mean in plain english check back soon for a post dedicated to this topic

2. Eat more protein and fiber

So now that you're building the habit of reading the info, always check the protein and fiber content of what you're about to eat. Foods with a lot of fiber or protein are a lot more filling than those loaded with sugar or fat. Plus they are much better for you. I call that a win-win!

3. Portion control

If you supersize your meal, you will supersize your waist, its that simple. In your main meal, avoid having more than a fist sized portion of 'bulk' foods. Bulk foods include potatoes, rice and pasta. If you find it's not filling enough, try substituting in whole grain rice or pasta instead of the regular versions. 

4. Taste the rainbow

Look at the wide variety of colour next time you're in the supermarket. Aim to eat a portion* of fresh unpackaged fruit or veg from each of the colour groups every day. Red, orange, yellow, green and blue. Just one of each and thats your five-a-day covered. Don't like fruit? Really? You've tried every kind? 

5. Variety is crucial.

If you eat the same thing everyday, it gets very boring, and you'll eventually grow so sick of that food you'll never want to see it again. The best way to make a 'boring' dish more exciting is to always have a variety of colours, shapes and textures on the plate. Experiment with new ingredients to keep things interesting. Herbs and seasonings are essential for adding favour and excitement. 

6. Slow down.

About 20 mins after eating begins, our brains get a signal from the stomach saying 'I'm full' . So enjoy your food. Chew your food well, and take a breath between mouthfuls. Getting air to the taste buds helps us to experience the full flavour of what we are eating. Never, ever eat in front of the T.V.

7. Drink more water

We're made up of about 80% water, and even 1% dehydration hinders both physical and mental performance. Fill a bottle every morning and keep it within arms reach. Take sips regularly throughout the day. More in this post.

* A portion of most fresh fruits is one small cup. For seeds & nuts it's a handful