Let’s Get Physical

It can be hard to motivate yourself to put in some solid hours of dedicated exercise, especially if you work hard or have a very busy life. Luckily, there are ways you can tone up and generally be more active, with the minimum of effort!

• Take the stairs. Just get into the habit of using the stairs rather than the lift, and remember tense and clench your muscles with each step.

• Get off the bus a stop early. Depending of course how far apart the bus stops near your work/home are, it will only take you an extra few minutes to power-walk the rest of the way.

• Clean the house – and do it energetically!

• Lift those shopping bags. Even if it’s just from the car to the house, use your heavy shopping bags as weights and tone those arms.

Getting regular exercise and sticking to a training regime is easier for some people than others. If you are a person that has to force yourself to do some exercise, it may be time to try a different approach.

By doing something you enjoy, i.e. playing a sport or a game, you can get in shape without even realising. Try rounding up a few friends and hiring out a badminton or tennis court, or making a Sunday five-a-side football match a regular thing.

You’ll be surprised at how willing you’ll be to run around and get out of breath – much better than sweating away in a gym!

In an attempt to save money on gym membership fees and exercise classes, our household invested in a Nintendo Wii and the Wii Fit Plus program. But is it any good? More importantly, does it actually help to get you fit?

The following are a few plus points:

• It offers a wide range of different exercises, from yoga and muscle workouts to aerobic exercises and balance games

• You can record everything you do, set yourself goals and really have something to aim for

• It allows you to get fit in your own home, without feeling self-conscious about exercising in front of other people

• If you use it all the time, it does work out cheaper than paying gym fees

• It’s actually quite fun, and occasionally doesn’t even feel like you’re doing exercise

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

Staying fit can be addictive. You start off by taking regular walks in the park and eventually, before you know it, you’re attending regular fitness classes and attempting to go swimming and play a game of football too.

But these activities can all be made a lot more difficult if you wear glasses. Going swimming as a glasses wearer is not fun. The glasses come off and suddenly, you’re confronted by a blurry version of the pool, unable to see the people at the other end.

It’s the same when it comes to team games. If you’ve ever tried playing a game of football or basketball with the glasses on, you will know how easily they can be knocked off or broken.

This is the reason why so many people are choosing laser eye treatment these days. Laser eye treatment can completely transform the way in which you play sports. Your vision is corrected, so now there is no need for glasses and you can take to the swimming pool like everyone else – without the blurry vision. You can also play team games without the worry of damaging your glasses.

With laser eye treatment, as well as your vision, your fitness regime can be completely transformed.

Kickboxing is a great, fun way of keeping fit and I’ve listed some tips below which will help you in the right direction.

• Ensure that you warm up and stretch off properly so your muscles don’t cramp up and cause you pain
• Focus on the basics. Don’t try to run before you can walk, so aim to perfect the jabs, kicks and other moves before adding power or moving to more complicated moves
• Don’t overdo it. If you’re tired, that’s your body telling you to stop. Have a drink of water, rest for a minute and start back where you left off.