Home Exercise Routine

Tips for choosing healthy snacks

Choose snacks carefully. Plan ahead and make sure your fridge and cupboards and drawer at work are stocked with plenty of healthy snacks so that you are not tempted by less healthy options.
Which snacks should I avoid?
Limit sugary salty, snack foods such as crisps, cakes, pastries, biscuits, sweets and chocolate to once a week.
Limit take-away foods such as pastries, pizza, fried fish, hamburgers, hot chips and creamy pasta dishes to once a week. Healthier take-away choices include sushi or sashimi, Asian stir-fries (ask for low salt), tomato based pasta dishes, grilled fish, chicken and lean meat.

Healthier snacks ideas:Healthy snacks include a piece of fresh fruit, a handful of dried fruit, up to a cup of canned fruit or a handful (30 grams) of plain unsalted nuts. Other choices include rice cakes and non-confectionery bars, such as plain nut bars, seed bars and cereal bars that heave earned the Heart Foundation Tick.

Feel like……..                                                  Try instead……
Sweets                                                               Fresh or dried fruit
Crisps and dips                                               Toast, rice cakes or breadsticks
Roasted salted nuts                                        Plain unsalted nuts
Sugar coated cereal                                        Wholegrain breakfast cereals
Chocolate biscuits                                           Plain biscuits
Full fat yoghurt                                                   Reduced, low or no fat yogurt
Cupcake                                                             A slice of raisin toast or Tick cereal bar
Ham and cheese sandwich                           Boiled egg


Healthy Heart Tip:
Keep biscuits, cakes, chocolate and crisps as a treat rather than a regular part of your diet and choose lower fat options.  Avoid giant sized cookies and muffins or share them with a friend!

Nutrition Tips =D

Nutrition and sports performance is a complex and essential relationship for serious sports men and women to understand and it can help them achieve success in their chosen sport. Sports nutrition also aids injury prevention and speeds up recovery times from an injury. The correct diet and fluid intake coupled with appropriate training is the difference between winning and losing. Fuelling the body with the right nutrition can be key to success.

Good sports nutrition promotes brain function and muscle activity. Physical training and performance requires the right diet (quantity and quality) that will provide the athlete with energy. Each sport has its own individual requirements as does each individual sports man and woman. These requirements dictate the nutritional demands of training and competition. Sports nutrition applies scientific methods to the applications of the sport to provide a diet that meets the needs of both athlete and discipline.

Sports performance is fundamentally affected by dehydration. The importance of water and fluid replacement in sports nutrition is paramount to supporting the activity of tissue cells in the body. These cells carry nutrients and oxygen around the body, eliminating toxins and removing excess body heat. During physical exercise, body heat increases and water is lost through evaporation or sweating. In hot environments, sports activity can attribute to sweat losses of 4-5 pints an hour. Water loss is partly offset by metabolic water produced from proteins, carbohydrates and fat metabolising in the body. However, sports nutrition dictates that hydrating the body properly requires fluid intake before, during and after activity.

A sports nutritionist will calculate fluid losses by measuring body weight before and after a session to determine how much fluid is required. Optimum levels should never be exceeded as overloading on fluids can lead to stomach discomfort and breathing difficulties during the activity. Modern sports nutrition recommends special carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks for intense activity that has a longer duration but water is typically recommended for low to moderate level activity.

A diet rich in carbohydrate and low in fat improves long-term and short-term sports performance. High-intensity exercise requires more carbohydrates to ensure the liver and muscle glycogen levels are high. High liver and muscle glycogen levels improve performance and glycogen present in the liver is a source of glucose for the brain (important for concentration, alertness and reaction time). A wide range of carbohydrates are required to ensure essential vitamins and minerals are present. Potatoes, bananas, pasta, bread, vegetables, cereals and porridge are a good source of carbs for sport.

Protein plays an important role in sports nutrition by building muscle and repairing it. Athletes should aim to eat a range of foods that will provide the necessary levels of protein. Foods such as lean meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses, milk, yoghurt, cheese and cereals will provide protein needs. High protein sports nutrition does not necessarily lead to greater muscle mass as excess protein in the body is metabolised or excreted. The extra amount of food required for sport is usually enough to provide the correct intake of protein without resorting to increased portions or protein supplements. High-protein diets can be expensive and will decrease the bank balance before increasing muscle mass. A good sports nutritionist can ensure there are adequate nutrients and calories for an athlete to support the requirements of their sport.

It is important to maintain a healthy everyday diet, but the thing is, where can we get good and fresh fruits?!

Our recommendation is to wake up early and make ur way into the
major supermarket, most fresh fruits comes early in the morning and will be placed on the shelf before the store opens. If you get there early enough, they are all your~ =]

Good luck!

Another Recipe For Your Healthy Life!

Pumpkin Pizza??! It's Healthy! =)

What the first thing come up to your mind when you hear the word "PIZZA"? Is it "Yum?" or it just constantly makes you droll?

Now, Let's try the word "PUMPKIN PIZZA". What does come to your mind? Is it " Ewww??" or " Gross??". But do you know that actually it's tasty and healthy?

Most of the ingredients come from the nature, such as vegetables. What does better than food that come from  our mother nature? 

To complete, Here is the recipe! Enjoy everyone! :D

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 40g unsalted butter
• 1/2 butternut pumpkin, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1/2 cup (125ml) chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tbs dark brown sugar
• 100g baby spinach leaves
• 2 large ready-made pizza bases
• 125g Taleggio* cheese, sliced
• 1 tsp thyme leaves, chopped
• Olive oil, to drizzle

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large frypan over low heat, add the pumpkin and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until just tender. Add stock, 1/4 cup water and the sugar, then bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated and pumpkin has caramelised. Add the spinach and stir until just wilted.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
3. Scatter pizza bases with pumpkin mixture, top with Taleggio and thyme, then drizzle with oil. Bake for 10 minutes or until base is crisp and cheese is bubbling. Cut into wedges to serve.

Notes

• * Taleggio is an Italian washed-rind cheese available from delis and specialist cheese shops.

10 Smart Workout Tricks To Do At Home

Dreaming about building your body but you too worry about spending money at gym? Or maybe you don't have enough time and chance to any gym even the one who only next door? 
If you one of those people who keep hoping about perfect body but tied with too much stuff, now you can deep breath because these tricks are what you always looking for. Moreover, some of them allow you to do the exercises at the same time you are doing your work!

1. STAIR CLIMBING

You can get the same benefits at home as you would in a step aerobics class at the gym. If you have a staircase in your home, you can get a great workout by simply climbing the stairs. To start, stand at the bottom of the stairs and walk in place for about one minute to get your leg muscles warmed up. Next, step up onto the first stair, and then back down. Repeat this move on the first stair only ten times. Walk in place for fifteen seconds. Next, walk up the first two stairs, and then back down, then walk up one stair and back down. Repeat ten times. Then go up three stairs, come down, walk up two stairs, come down, and walk up one stair and come down. Repeat ten times. Continue the pattern up ten stairs. You will definitely feel the burn by the end of this step routine. I don’t recommend going up more than ten stairs because it will get tricky to walk back down after that point. If you feel winded or dizzy, start slow. Stick with the first three stairs, and gradually build up your endurance over the weeks and months to come.

2. COUCH KICKS
You can work out your thigh and gluteus muscles by using your couch as a piece of exercise equipment. Stand up facing the couch, with one of the couch arms in front of you. Bend forward, supporting your weight on the arm of the couch. Keep your head down so that you do not put stress on your neck muscles. Kick your right leg back, so that the bottom of your foot is parallel to the ceiling, and then bring it back down. When you are doing the exercise properly, you should feel it in your thigh and butt. Do fifteen repetitions on your right leg, and then repeat with your left leg. Continue switching back and forth between your legs until you feel like you have to stop. You will get results after a few weeks of this “uplifting” workout.




3. LAUNDRY LIFTS
A laundry basket full of clothes can be more than a household chore it can be an arm sculpting piece of exercise apparatus! Hold the basket above you head, and lift upwards and back down. Do at least three repetitions of fifteen lifts each. If it is too heavy for you, all you have to do is take out some clothes. This exercise will work your shoulders, upper arms, and upper back muscles. Vary this workout by laying flat on your back, and lifting the basket up and down from your chest.




4. WORKOUT VIDEOS
There are some excellent workout videos on the market today that can get you into tip top shape. The 8-minute video series has editions for the arms, back, butt, thighs, and more. Tae Bo, which features the fat-blasting and energizing moves of host Billy Blanks, is a great home workout option, and there are many videos in his series to choose from, including a beginner’s video. Visit your local video rental store, and check out their collection of exercise video rentals. This way, you can try out workouts before you buy a video, and you can get a diversified workout.




5. COMMERCIAL BREAKS
If you are a devout couch potato, and you love vegging-out in front of the television, then commercial break exercise bursts are right for you. While you are watching, do some curls with five or ten pound weights. When a commercial comes on, get up for a burst of intense exercise. Do some sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, or crunches. Get your heart rate up. When the show comes back on, you can go back to the light exercise. Continue the cycle throughout your shows… every little bit counts! You will hardly realize that you are getting a workout.




6. CRUNCHES COMBO
You don’t need an expensive membership to a fitness club or a personal trainer to get some killer abdominal muscles. Crunch routines can easily be done from the comfort of your own living room. If you have problems with neck pain when you do crunches, you might opt to invest in an “ab roller” machine because they cushion your head and neck. If you are doing crunches correctly, your neck should not be strained, but many people have a hard time getting them right, so the head cushion is helpful. Start with some isometrics. Take a five-second count to come up, and five seconds back down. Do five reps. You will feel the burn. Next, do three reps of fifteen crunches at a normal pace. Next, you will turn onto your side, with your upper back and shoulders still facing upward. Do the same workout that you did for the standard crunches (isometric, then at a regular pace) on both of your sides. This will work your oblique muscles, also known as love handles.




7. ROLLING CHAIR PRESSES
If you have an office chair with wheels (a swivel chair), then you can do some arm workouts right at your desk. Just hold onto the edge of your desk while you are seated in the chair, and use your arm muscles to pull yourself close to the desk, and then push yourself back away. This will work your biceps.




8. MARCHING DISHES
Life is busy, so try to multi-task if you don’t have time to fit in a proper work out. When you are stuck in front of the sink doing dishes, march in place. You can also try some calf exercises: just lift yourself up and down on your tiptoes. You should try to incorporate exercise into your daily tasks whenever possible.




9. TREADMILL TIME
If you can afford to get just one piece of workout equipment for your home gym, it should be a treadmill. Walking and jogging on a treadmill will give you an excellent cardiovascular workout. Try to get in a minimum of thirty minutes a day. Experiment with different speeds and inclines.




10. BUST A MOVE
Dancing is a great way to burn off pounds, and it also great fun. Turn on some off your favorites tunes with a fast and energetic beat, and break it down. It doesn’t matter what you look like, all that matters is that you are burning calories, and loving every minute of it.