Let’s Get Physical

If you work in an office, or in any job which involves sitting down all day, you might have experienced back or shoulder pain. This is often caused by a bad chair, a non-ergonomic desk set up or poor posture, but it can make your life a misery.

One great way to relieve this pain is try a little basic yoga. It helps you to improve your posture so that regardless of shoddy office furniture, you stay sitting properly and remain pain-free. Either head to a class or try it on the Wii Fit, and you’ll amazed at the difference it makes!

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When taking up fitness classes or a fitness routine it’s essential that you listen to your body during the activity.  For example when taking a fitness class you must be aware of your heart rate so it doesn’t shoot up too rapidly as well as your body starts over heating. there are symptoms which you should look out for such as dizziness or feeling faint, headaches, chest pain and cramps. If you suffer from anything like this or are in any doubt when carrying out your fitness class, or the gym then you must stop immediately until the condition goes away and seek help if needed.

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When your pregnant  keeping fit and healthy has additional benefits in the sense it can help alleviate some of the symptoms and pain which pregnancy brings on.  For example – a common concern is feeling tired , gaining weight and back pain.  Fitness during pregnancy will ensure that some of these conditions are helped i.e. – some kind of exercise everyday for upto 30 minutes will help things like reducing backaches, bloating and swelling.  Other benefits include helping control weight gain as well as helping with your overall mood and energy. Exercise can consist of walking, swimming and yoga which all helps keeping you fit.

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Depending on your individual health conditions there are exercises which are recommended and exercises and fitness routines which are to be avoided. For example if you suffer from asthma then health experts recommend that you take up swimming which helps your condition. Similarly if your pregnant swimming is a great fitness activity as the water holds body weight helping take the strain of the joints and back.  On the other hand activities which should be avoided during pregnancy are racquet sports, diving and skiing as well as a lot more which should be checked out before taking part.

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In a attempt to keep fit there are times when we should take it easy. For example if your starting to exercise after a long time then it’s essential that you start of at a steady pace. For example if your starting at the gym then its unwise to start off doing 5 high level fitness aerobic classes in the first week.  Your better off starting with and trialling fitness activities such as 30 mins in the gym followed by 30 mins in the pool  rather then working out in the gym for 2 consecutive hours.  long term this would probably mean that you get bored quickly and start to loose interest.

I had my first mince pie at the weekend!! Eek there are one of my BIGGEST downfalls at Christmas. My mum has a constant supply and if you ever utter the words ‘I’m a bit peckish’ a hot mince pie will appear in front of you almost instantaneously! So here is a low fat recipe to make some of the guilt go away!
Ingredients:
•    300g of Filo pastry
•    Cooking oil spray
•    350g of Mincemeat
•    Icing sugar
Instructions:
1.    Unroll the raw Filo pastry
2.    Cut the pastry into small squares big enough to cover one section of a 12 cake patty tin. Cover 3 patty tins in this way. Spray a very small amount of cooking oil on each piece of pastry; repeat this action 4 times for each pie.
3.    Add 1 teaspoon of mincemeat into each case and then use 1 square of pastry to make a top.
4.    Scrunch each case at the joins and spray a small amount of cooking oil .
5.    Preheat the oven to 200 ̊C and bake the mince pies for about 8 minutes or until golden brown.
6.    Dust with icing sugar

I love roast potatoes but they are a BIG sin when it comes to healthy eating - try these ones though, each roast potato has only 6g of fat compared to the usual 14g! And is only 201 calories per serving.
Ingredients:
•    Roasting potatoes
•    1 clove of garlic
•    200ml of vegetable stock
•    Olive oil
Instructions
1.    Quarter 800g of potatoes and put in a roasting pan
2.    Slice the garlic and add to the pan
3.    Pour over vegetable stock over the potatoes
4.    Brush some olive oil over the tops of the potatoes
5.    Season with salt and pepper.
6.    Pre heat the oven to 200 ̊C and cook the potatoes for 50 minutes.
7.    Brush the potatoes again with some more olive oil then cook a further 15 minutes until all the stock has been absorbed and the potatoes are brown and crispy.

This has to be my favourite of all the Christmas treats – I only ever have one slice as I find it really rich but if you enjoy more than one slice here is a slightly less fatty version to make.
Ingredients:
•    75g of Currants
•    75g of Saltanas
•    115g of seedless Raisins
•    50ml of Brandy
•    75g of Glace cherries
•    75g of white Self raising flour
•    ½ tsp of cinnamon powder
•    50g of Breadcrumbs
•    50g of light Muscovado sugar
•    1 tsp of lemon peel
•    1 tsp of orange peel
•    115g of sliced Apples
•    115g of grated Carrots
•    1 tsp of lemon juice
•    Zest of one lemon
•    2 medium eggs
•    60ml of skimmed milk
•    2 tsp of Molasses
•    1 tsp of Mixed spice
Instructions:
1.    Soak all of the dried fruit (currants, sultanas, raisins, lemon peel, orange peel) in 50ml of Brandy overnight.
2.    In a large mixing bowl add the flour and mixed spice and cherries. Shake this around, then mix in the cinnamon, breadcrumbs and sugar.
3.    Stir in the lemon juice and zest, apple and carrot and the soaked dry fruit.
4.    In a separate bowl beat the 2 eggs together with the milk and molasses.
5.    Add this egg mixture to the main fruit mixture slowly but making sure that it is stirred well.
6.    Place the mixture into an ovenproof dish and cook using one of two methods. Either cover with a plate and put in the microwave for 10 minutes leaving to stand for 5 minutes in between; or cover with a cloth and steam for 3 hours
7.    Once cooked and fully cooled down wrap in foil and put in a cool, dry place until you need it.
8.    To reheat, pierce the pudding and pour some brandy over it then steam for 1 – 2hours or microwave for 10 minutes.

Just to warn you – as you are only using one egg yolk it looks a bit pale when it is finished, if you don’t mind then leave it as it – if you are serving it at a party you could out some yellow food colouring into it. Secondly it you aren’t drinking this Christmas then add rum extract instead of the rum/brandy.
Ingredients:
•    6 oz of Sugar
•    ¼ tsp of Cinnamon
•    ¼ tsp of grated nutmeg and extra to garnish
•    1 medium egg
•    4 medium egg whites
•    12 fl.oz of skimmed milk
•    12 fl.oz of single cream
•    1.5 tsp of Vanilla extract
•    2 fl.oz of Rum/Brandy
Instructions:
1.    In a large mixing bowl add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, the egg and egg whites and whisk with a mixer for approximately 4 minutes.
2.    In a large saucepan heat up the skimmed milk, with the heat still on gradually stir in the mixture from the bowl. Make sure you stir all the time so the mixture will thicken. Add the vanilla extract, stir and take off the heat.
3.    Cool the mixture a little then in a blender add the cream. Cover this final mixture and out in the fridge to chill.
4.    Just before you serve add the alcohol and grate some nutmeg on top.
This will serve 4 people and each serving contains about 272 calories and 2.9g of fat.

With Christmas literally on our doorsteps it can be really hard work sticking to your healthy eating and exercise routine in the festive period. All we seem to want to do in the winter is stay indoors and stock up on warm, stodgy, fat filled food. And if we were like bears that hibernate that would be great but we aren’t and I know that I personally hate getting back into the regime in the New Year, it always seems harder as well if you are carrying a few extra pounds. Plus it always feels a be demoralising knowing that you have undone all your hard work so easily because you couldn’t say no to an extra mince pie or chocolate! So I thought I would give you some low fat recipes for some Christmas favourites so you can enjoy all the festive goodies like everyone else but know in your mind it is fairly low in fat. See the next 4 installments for all my favourite low fat christmas receipts