Age also affects flexibility – especially if we lead sedentary lives. However, the body is a continual learning machine and increase in flexibility can be achieved at any age. We tend to be more flexible later in the day because on waking our muscles will have shortened slightly from having been in a fixed position for sleep. Warm muscles are more elastic (make the blu-tak comparison – this stuff stretches when warm, but breaks if pulled when cold) and it is therefore a good idea to warm up before attempting any stretching.

Flexibility in the hamstrings (muscles at the back of the upper leg) and the hip flexors (muscles that articulate the hips) are often shortened as we spend so much of our time sitting down. These muscles are contracted when we sit. Therefore these are good muscles to consider stretching. Flexibility in the hamstrings and hip flexors will reduce the risk of lower back pain as well as facilitating squatting down.

Flexibility is only missed when it’s gone! However keeping flexible will enable you to perform all those everyday tasks without a thought – from getting down on your hands and knees to get that biscuit under the sofa, to cutting your own toe nails to reaching that packet of cereal on the top shelf at the supermarket

In order to get the most out of swimming as an exercise – rather than relaxation – some effort needs to go in! I am not a great lover of the breaststroke because most people do not perform this accurately. Swimming with the head permanently out of the water puts enormous strain on the neck muscles. The leg action is not great for the hips – especially the lower back and sacroiliac joint (where the hips meet the lower spine). If you suffer from lower back pain, the breaststroke will often increase instances of pain. Backstroke is a much better option because it keeps the spine straight and articulates the shoulder muscles, easing shoulder and upper back pain, often caused by stress. Crawl is also fine, but the head does need to go in the water and is a great stroke for speed. So is butterfly, but you need to be quite fit to perform this well!

Have you tried walking in figures of eight in the shallow end? Start with the water at waist height and build up to walking in water at neck height. The figure of eight action causes the water to swirl, giving added resistance and as you go deeper you will need to add in some arm action, thus performing an overall body exercise. Rocking horse (one leg forwards and one leg back moving in a rocking movement) is also a great way to work out. Make sure you change the leading leg! You can also rock from side to side which challenges your waist and outer thigh muscles. And for those of you who would like an unusual challenge try running in the water in the deep end! This will increase your heart rate, test your balance and work your stability muscles! And lastly a classic tummy exercise. You need to be in water that comes up to your shoulders. Go to the side of pool and with your back against the wall, use your arms to hold onto the side rail. Keeping your back as close to the wall as possible, bend your knees and lift your legs out in front of you, straightening your legs out at hip height, hold and then holding your tummy in towards your spine (the small of your back does not have to touch the wall, but be close to it) lower your legs, either with knees bent (easier option) or with straight legs. Speeding this exercise up creates waves and makes it hard

Nuts are a whole food and are packed with nutrients that are often processed out of refined foods. Some of the nutrients on offer are magnesium (healthy teeth and bones and muscle contraction), niacin, (DNA repair), Vitamin E, (important in cellular repair) and resveratrol (reduces heart disease).

Eating a variety of nuts is the best option, for example almonds have a little more fibre than cashews, walnuts have a little more polyunsaturated fat (healthy fat!) than hazelnuts and peanuts have a little more Vitamin E than walnuts. The calories in a handful of nuts, about 30g varies slightly. Macadamia and pecans nuts offer 200 calories for 27g which equates to about 13 nuts whereas 23g of cashews, 7 nuts, equals 160 calories and 30g of peanuts, at 160 calories for only 5 nuts! Here are some ideas with nuts: Try peanut butter spread on celery sticks for a refreshing crunchy snack. Add a dessertspoon of ground almonds to a fruit smoothie. Eat an apple with walnuts as a fruit snack. Toast cashew nuts and add to coleslaw. Sprinkle a few chopped macadamia nuts over plain yoghurt to which you have added slices of orange or peach.

In order for us in the 21st Century to equal the self-propelled movement (walking or cycling) of Mr & Mrs Average in the nineteen sixties we need to move a marathon a week – that’s over 26 miles -. If we were to do this, instances of obesity and its ancillary problems would virtually disappear.

The average home in 1970 was heated to 13 degrees Celsius. The average home is now heated to 18 degrees Celsius. The warmer you are the fewer calories you need to keep warm. Therefore we need 300 calories a day less. We are of course, all eating far more than we did in 1970. Conversely, the Americans who use a lot of air conditioning units, are falsely lowering their body temperatures encouraging them to eat more. They are already seriously overeating!

We did not have an obesity problem before Government Nutritional Guidelines were brought in.

As a nation we are in fact, just about hitting the Government Nutritional Guidelines. However the statistics are gathered using only the meals consumed within the home. This is of course, was appropriate in the early eighties when these guidelines were set up. Nowadays, we eat about half the amount of meals in the home. Consider then how many more calories we are eating if the true figure were available.

The scientists involved in determining nutritional guidelines agree that nutritional advice alone will not lower obesity rates. Exercise plays a key role in achieving a healthy lifestyle.

The only good news is that the statistics for childhood obesity are levelling off.

Somehow I found these facts encouraging as they underline the work I am trying to achieve.
Eat healthy food and take exercise to encourage a healthy lifestyle that will look after you for the whole of your life!

Body image is very emotive. There are basically three images. The one you see in the mirror, the one your friends, family and colleagues see and the one the camera sees. Which of these can be manipulated and which of these is the real you? The answer is that they can all be manipulated and, at the same time, they all represent the real you!

I have had many people come into my clinic and have a totally unrealistic goal for weight loss. Few people take into account their natural shape and most of us, to a greater or lesser degree believe the advertising images we see in magazines and on television to be real; when in fact the image you see has been manipulated, usually by computer, to provide the “perfect” image the advertiser is trying to achieve.

Recently, one of my trade magazines consisted of articles about the damage unrealistic body images has on all of us. Examples of the articles included attitudes of girls and young women on body image; impact of body image on diet and children’s views on body image. The magazine was promoting a campaign for airbrush free advertising. To see real people advertising beauty products rather than airbrushed models; to change the emphasis on impossible bodies to healthy bodies - How wonderful that would be!

So this Spring as we all dust off our summer clothes in the hope that we might get a chance to wear them this year, think “Healthy me is the way I’m going this year!” Be kind to your body and feed it the foods it needs to keep it healthy. If you need to lose a few pounds to be more comfortable with yourself, be realistic about how much and how quickly. Remember 1kg
(1-2lbs) a week is achievable and will stay off. Cut down on your evening snacks. Research has shown that cutting down 200 calories in the evenings promotes an easy and steady weight loss. You need fewer calories in the evenings as you burn less overnight. This is a really easy way to cut down your daily calorific consumption and waking up hungry the next morning will encourage you to eat breakfast which as we all know, is the most important meal of the day!

Consider that the breath in your lungs can stay in there for up to two weeks! Test your lung capacity by placing your hands on the bottom of your rib cage and breathe in. Can you move your hands apart? And what are your shoulders doing? Are they right up in the air? Try again and this time, keep your shoulders relaxed and try and expand your lungs gently. This is best attempted sitting down the first time, just in case you feel a little light headed. Breathe in through your nose and then let the breath come out long and slow through your mouth. Try this outside, sitting on a bench and really breathe in that fresh air!

Learning to breathe more deeply will also help your voice, especially if you have to talk in public or make presentations - something we all have to do from time to time. When speaking to an audience, speak to the back of the room, so that your voice carries over their heads. If you practise deep breathing beforehand, this will relax you and you will find that you will be able to talk smoothly and clearly.
Here is an exercise for those of you who have a very small voice. This is a voice strengthening exercise that I used when I was a Tourist Guide. Best done in private though! Sit tall and take a deep breath in, filling your lungs from the bottom; now as you let your breath out, let your voice join in too. It sounds rather like a long drawn out groan! This will help to deepen the voice and help carry your voice further.

Muscle weighs more than fat. 5lbs of fat weighs the same as 5lbs of muscle tissue, however the density is different. 5lbs of fat tissue will be larger in volume that 5lbs of muscle tissue and this is why two people who weigh the same will look quite different. If you are struggling to lose weight, you may be losing fat tissue and putting on muscle tissue, you will however be smaller. Let you clothes be a clearer indicator of your body shape than the scales of your body weight.

Muscle turns to fat if you stop exercising. This is complete bunkum! They are two completely different types of tissue. If you don’t exercise you are going to have more fat tissue than muscle tissue and if you stop exercising you will lose muscle tissue and gain fat tissue. Fat is the body’s insulator and protector; it is the last thing the body gives up! It will burn protein (i.e. muscle tissue from any muscle source, skeletal, cardiac or smooth= intestinal) for energy if there is not enough calories coming in.

The more you sweat the harder you are working. There are many factors governing the amount of sweat any person produces. Age, gender, fitness level, weight, genetics and environment all play a part. The body has between two and four million sweat glands, so different people sweat at a different rate. To gauge how hard you are working, keep an eye on your heart rate.
Crunches and sit-ups will help you gain a six pack. ‘Fraid not! Well defined abdominal muscles are a combination of quality eating habits and exercise to decrease fat tissue around the tummy area. Doing 50 sit ups every day won’t work if eating habits are poor. The bottom line is 90% diet and only 10% exercise!
Stretching prior to exercise reduces the risk of injury. It used to be normal to warm up, stretch and then exercise. This theory has now been blown out of the window. In fact some sources maintain that stretching before weight training actually weakens the muscles! It is certainly true that if you warm up, stretch and then perform some cardio exercise, running, swimming or cycling for example, all you are doing is lowering your heart rate which is taking you backwards! The heart-rate needs to be raised in order get the heart going. So save the stretching until after you have exercised. This is just as important for those going for a run as those who are walking the dog. 5-10 minutes stretching out, after exercise, will stop stiffness and soreness later on.
Eating before bedtime will increase fat storage. Eating late at night will not affect fat storage, if the total calories consumed are within daily guidelines, but overeating will. Eating late at night will affect digestion and keeps the body in “working” mode which will keep you awake; when really it is time to be in “resting” mode which enhances sleep.

I have listed below some ingredients that you may find in your shower gels, shampoos, face products and anti-perspirants.

At the present time there is no legislation to give the percentages of ingredients, so just because an undesirable ingredient is third on a list of twelve does not mean it is present in a large quantity. However, if you have very sensitive skin or have had cancer, you should be more diligent in your choices. For example Euxyl k100 and Kathon CG are brand names of methylcholoroisothiazolinone and methliosothiazoline and were developed in the States in the 1970s as highly effective preservatives. However they are both potent allergens and are now used mostly in rinse off products in low dosages. For those with very sensitive skins a face cream (a product which is not rinsed off) with even a low dosage of Euxyl k100 or Kathon CG may bring a reaction. Changing the face cream may not solve the problem as both products widely used.- albeit in low dosages-. Armed with this information, it is possible to find a cream without these products which will usually solve the problem.

Aluminium Salts Aluminium hydroxychloride, aluminium chlorohydride aluminium sulphate. This is widely used in anti-perspirants as it blocks the pores, but has been linked with Alzheimers. It is also used in leather tanning. If you react to wearing a leather watch strap, it is the aluminium that is causing the problem. Try a hypoallergenic strap instead.

Acqueous Cream – paraffin and water in suspension

Paraffin/petroleum products Prevents absorption of vitamins, clogs pores and may be carcinogenic.

Spermataceti cetaceum obtained from the head of the sperm whale

Silk Amino Acid from dead silk worms

Mineral Oil blocks pores, acts as a barrier (which may be desirable ie on babies’ bottoms! Or because of weather conditions). However it will suppress normal skin function.

Further reading:
“A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients” Ruth Winter
ISBN: 0-609-80367-0
“Don’t Go The Cosmetics Counter Without Me” Paula Begoun
ISBN: 1-877988-28-6
“Cosmetics Watch” Maurene Charlwood & Cheryl Robertson
ISBN: 0-7160-2141-2

Peel the avocado and remove the stone. Place in the goblet of a liquidiser and add the mustard, chilli sauce and lemon juice. Turn the liquidiser on and slowly pour the olive oil down into the goblet of the liquidiser. You want a glossy dressing. Almost like a mayonnaise. When you have achieved this, stop pouring in the oil, turn the machine off and taste. Add salt and pepper to your liking and pour the dressing over green salad leaves. Serve immediately

Here it is:
150g of fresh young broad beans
70g of radishes
2-3 tablespoons of fresh herbs – use a mix of basil, parsley, marjoram/oregano, mint, thyme.
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Grated rind of a lime and the juice of half a lime.
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
This will serve 2 people as a side salad.
Shell the broad beans and if they are on the large side you need to slip them out of their outer coat. I then like to steam them for about 3-5 minutes (either in a colander over hot water or in a steamer). Refresh under cold water. And allow to cool.
You can leave the radishes whole if they are nice and small, but cut them into halves or quarters if they are bigger than your thumb nail.
Prepare the dressing by chopping up the herbs. I find that the easiest way to do this is to put all the herbs in a mug and scissor them. You can then add the olive oil directly into the cup along with the grated lime rind and juice. Give it a good mix with a fork or a small whisk.
Mix the beans and radishes together. This looks particularly nice on a platter rather than in a bowl and pour over the dressing. Enjoy!