Eddy’s five health tips
With the year coming to an end, celebrations with overeating and –drinking are common. Edwina Griffin shares five things everyone can do to stay healthy and feel and look great.
The start of the festive season means plenty of celebrations, champagnes and canapés, so how do you stay healthy through all that? Thankfully the warmer weather makes it easy to jump out of bed in the mornings and head out for a walk or run at your local beach or park. Making conscious choices every day around food, exercise and allowing for some down time can create the balance you need to stay healthy and look fantastic throughout the holiday period.
1. Spend at least five minutes per day on your mindset and focusing on your goal
It takes two to three weeks to establish a new habit, therefore visualising your goal every day enables the neural pathways for a healthy lifestyle to be strengthened. It takes approximately 28 days for a new neuronet to be created, so keeping the mind focused in the first month of setting your goals is very important. In the same way that your muscles get stronger with exercise, neural pathways also become more efficient when the same thoughts are repeated. Strengthening positive neural pathways is an important step towards successfully achieving goals.
2. Consider your carbohydrate, protein and fat ratio in both meals and snacks
Many busy and tired people have a diet high in carbohydrates, and this is partly due to the convenience of carbohydrate snacks. Aim for 30% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 30% essential fatty acids in your diet and to have a higher source of plant fats than animal fats (with the exception of fish oils). It’s a good idea to have high protein and essential fatty acids (EFA) in your breakfast (e.g. Chia seeds, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, animal fats, nuts, eggs or protein shakes) for insulin control, high energy and brain food. Eating complex carbohydrates with some protein at lunch is a great option as you will burn that energy through your day, and dinner should be mostly protein and vegetables. Aim to keep snacks balanced in proteins and carbohydrates to maintain stable sugar levels.
3. Drink plenty of water
Dehydration is often mistaken for fatigue. Water is needed for all the chemical reactions in our body and brain function. Our brain uses 30% of our water intake with 5% dehydration reducing brain efficiency by 30%, and 10% dehydration reducing it by 50%. You may have thought your lack of focus was due to being tired or stressed when the main contributor was dehydration!
It is recommended you have 39 mm (0.6 ounces) of water per kilo of body weight.
4. Consider the acid/alkaline balance of the foods you eat
It is a widely known fact that western diets are highly acidic due to the high number of meats and processed grains we eat. High acidic levels will contribute to fat deposits around the stomach and increase the risk of disease in the body.
Starting your day with lemon juice in water or a green vegetable juice is a great way to bring alkaline foods into your daily diet. Other alkaline foods are papaya, apples, pineapple, blackberries, raspberries, lemon, grapefruit, lime, cranberry, passion fruit, kiwifruit, cherries, citrus fruits and green vegetables.
5. Exercise according to stress levels and mix it up!
It’s important to factor in your current stress levels when working out your exercise regime. If you are stressed and not getting enough sleep, then choose yoga and meditation with a good diet over exhausting yourself with an intense workout. An intense workout when you are highly stressed will only contribute to high cortisol levels and stress on your body. On the other hand, if you have a bit of stress and need to shift that mood, then punching a boxing bag or going for a run can be the best medicine!
When stress levels are normal and you are ready for a good workout, choosing the most effective exercise depends on your own physiology and exercise history. The body becomes efficient at any one movement pattern; therefore to keep getting results in weight loss and fitness improvements, you want to keep changing your exercise regime.
Edwina Griffin is a vitality and energy expert professional with over twenty year’s experience in the health and fitness industry, specialising in women’s health and focusing on the interconnection of our physical, mental and spiritual bodies. As the founder of Fitwomen, Fitmum and FitExecutives, her programs provide simple, cost-effective ways to transform your body, mind and energy and enable you to operate at your peak level. Eddy has more than 20 years’ experience in the health and fitness industry, developing the “original” concept of Fitwomen after identifying a market need for a service beyond just fitness. As a former elite athlete who went on to suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, her interest in the mind-body connection started around the age of 16. Her Kundalini awakening in 2006 then lead her to explore quantum science and a greater understanding on training the mind and she introduced meditation courses, energetic healing, NLP training and hypnotherapy to her work. She has a degree in Social Sciences and qualifications as a Corrective and Exercise Kinesiologist, Lifestyle Coach, Personal Trainer, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Energetic Healer, Shamanic Practitioner and is currently studying her Masters in Negotiation. Eddy has received numerous accolades and awards, and has featured as the host and expert advisor on many television programs, talkback radio, magazine and newspaper articles and online mind-body programs. Eddy won the NSW Exercise Professional of the Year in 2010 in the prestigious Australian Health and Fitness Industry Awards and has won several business awards. As an internationally recognised speaker and mentor, Eddy has coached thousands of clients in achieving their personal goals and is passionate about giving back to the community through her involvement in a number of charity and business related organisations.
