Weekly Health Bulletin 17.02.09

Benefits

Beyond Vitamins and Minerals -
Importance of Fruits and Vegetables

By increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables, you can reduce your risk for chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Nutritive components like vitamins and minerals are important to good health but aren't the only reason to eat a good variety of fruits and vegetables. Non - nutritive compnents like fiber, antioxidants and other phytochemicals may help prevent chronic diseases. This classifies fruits and vegetables as "functional foods".

Antioxidants
Some vitamins and mineral can act as antioxidants (vitamins A, C, E and selenium), but there are thousands of other plant components that have the potential antioxidant properties. Scientists are still trying to discover and categorize all of them.

Phytochemicals
The term "phytochemical" simply means any compound a plant makes. These compunds are important for colour, taste, scent, growth, and defensive mechanisms of the plant. There are probably hundreds of thousands of different phytochemicals and scientists have only begun to examine a few of them. So far, phytochemicals appear to have unique beneficial effects on human health.

Fiber
Fruits and vegetables contain fiber, which helps to prevent constipation and other conditions including heart disease, cancer, diabetes and kidney stones. Fiber from fruits and vegetables adds bulk to your meals which prevents overeating and helps you feel full on fewer calories. Fruits and vegetables contain both soluable and insoluable forms of fiber.

Additional Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables add a lot of volume and only a small number of calories to a well-balanced eating pattern. This helps reduce the intake of other calorie-dense foods eaten at a meal. Fruit juices and canned fruits are more calorie-dense than their fresh and frozen counterparts and should be eaten less often. Fresh, frozen and canned vegetables are great anytime.

Fruits and vegetables add variety, texture and flavour to every meal. If you are not accustomed to eating fruits and vegetables, you may need to try them a few different ways to find something you like.

Portions

Most people should aim for at least nine servings of vegetables and fruits a day, and potatoes don't count. Examples of portion sizes of fruit and vegetables are given below:

• 1 portion = 80g=3oz=1/2 cup=3 tbsp
• 1 medium piece of fruit apple, pear, orange, banana)
• 1 handful of grapes of cherries
• 2 small fruits such as plums, apricots
• 1 slice of large fruit e.g. pineapple, melon
• 1 glass of fruit or vegetable juice
• 1 small packet of dried fruit e.g. prunes, raisins
• 1/2 an avocado or grapefruit
• small side salad
• 1 large tomatoe or 6 cherry tomatoes
• 1 small tin of fruit (150-200g)
• 3 large tbsp of vegetables
• 3 tbsp of pulses - chickpeas, beans, lentils
• 1 corn on the cob
• 1 bunch of watercress or rocket

What to eat

Go for a variety of kinds and colours of produce, to give your body the mix of nutrients it needs. Include dark leafy greens, cooked tomatoes, and anything that's a rich yellow, orange or red colour.

Reference
www.helpwithcooking.com
http://efed.aces.uiuc.edu
www.hsph.harvard.edu

Weekly Health Bulletin

Hi all,

Health is multidimensional, encompassing the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of health. This weeks health bulletin is food for thought, a quote from Rumi a medieval philosopher:

There is a force within
Which gives you life-
seek that

In your body
Lies a priceless gem-
seek that

O wandering Sufi,
if you want to find
the greatest treasure
don't look outside,
Look inside, and seek that.

Rumi

Nooglers Gym Tour

New to Google?

Have you found the gym yet? - 1st floor Gas Works Building.

Would you like to see our facilities, would you like to know about the services available to all Googlers?

Take the tour and find out everything you need to know about getting started....

Google Gym Open Day - Friday 9th January 2009

Hi Everyone,

To mark the season of New Year Resolutions we are holding a Gym Open Day on January Friday 9th. The Open Day will be especially suitable for those Googlers who are new to exercise and for those who are lapsed gym users. The open day is meant to encourage new gym users to incorporate exercise into their daily routine.

Timetable of Event’s

8.00am – Introduction to Group Exercise (30 mins)
• Group Fitness Studio
• Demonstration of all classes on Group Exercise Timetable

8.45am - Introduction to Resistance Training
• Gym Floor
• Activity based workshop on Resistance Training


9.30am – 12.00pm Gym Tours (15 mins)


12.15pm – Introduction to Group Exercise – New users only (30 mins)
• Group Fitness Studio
• Demonstration of all classes on Group Exercise Timetable

1.00pm – "Eat more, weigh less" Seminar (30-45 mins)
• Gym Floor
• Numbers limited to 20
• Activity based workshop on back care.



2pm - 4pm – Gym Tours (15 mins)


5pm - "New Year Health Challenge" Seminar (30-45 mins)
- Gym Floor
- Numbers limited to 20
- Explanation on new health challenge program


6.15pm- Introduction to Group Exercise – (30 mins)
• Group Fitness Studio
• Demonstration of all classes on Group Exercise Timetable


7.00pm – Introduction to Resistance Training
• Gym Floor
• Activity based workshop on Resistance Training

The Gym Team is looking forward to seeing lots of new faces over the course of the Open Day.

Yours in Fitness,

The Google Gym Team.

What constitutes a successful approach to reaching your health and fitness goals?

In essence treating each and every person as an individual is crucial if you want to reach your health and fitness goals.

What motivates one will demotivate the other. Think of the gender and age differences, level of athletic ability, starting points for the programme. These all have to be taken into consideration.

However, there are several key principles that must be adhered to if you want success with any health and fitness programme.

1. Tailor Your Goals and Establish a Time Frame – at Sphere Fitness this is established from the beginning and displayed in 12 week time frames. Each 12 week block is split into defined training phases. This allows us to keep momentum with your progress by allowing consistent and never-ending improvement.

2. A successful approach will have regular and on-going assessments throughout. This allows the trainer and the client to review progress, aid with compliance and identify quickly any issues that may be arising from nutrition, lifestyle and training. Ideally weekly and at a minimum, monthly.

3. A successful approach will have a tailored exercise programme geared to the client’s goals. This is reviewed and changed every 3-4 weeks.

4. A successful approach will have the client work through the programme with 90% compliance i.e. not skipping sessions, training with purpose rather than ‘going through the motions’.

5. A successful approach will recognised that as a trainee you are learning how to train rather than become baby-sat throughout the session. This will then stay with you for the long haul.

6. A successful approach will provide a habit based approach to nutrition centred around 10 habits. These are worked on 1 at a time by the client in a progressive manner. 90% adherence to the plan is required for it to succeed in the long run. There are tools to measure this rate of progress. You will be asked to keep a food diary and a compliance chart score.

7. A successful approach will use supplements that are geared to the client’s goals and assessment. Why? Because they work.

8. A successful approach will recognise the need for balance in one’s life and address this with tools that give calm and inner balance. Stress management is crucial to the success of all health and fitness programmes. Sphere have a range of tools that we offer the client in this area.

Hopefully this gives the client an idea of what is expected in bringing success to the programme. This is project you! With that draws individual components that rely strongly on one another. If your training is excellent but your nutrition and supplement compliance is poor you will struggle. Likewise if you are a stressed bunny 24-7, results will be hard to achieve.