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As I have mentioned earlier, food is of the utmost importance in our lives.

Food is our fuel and without the correct fuel, we cannot expect to live long, fullfilling and diease free lives.

Food and water are the essence for survival, so the next time you think you don’t have time to prepare a healthy meal because other things are more important, remember this, food supplies the fuel to power your body, with the wrong fuel, you will get sick. Be it obesity, diabetes, A.D.D, irritable bowel syndrome, heart disease, cancer or something else, a weakened immune system through poor nutrition will result in something bad. Oh and on that note, let’s just remember that cancer is not caused through bad luck, contrary to popular belief.

But, despite all the information out there about how important food is, it just doesn’t sink in for the majority of people. In actual fact, most people take better care of their car than their body. So I have prepared a couple of little analogies which I use on my clients.

“Would you set out on a road trip up the coast without any fuel, oil or water in your car? NO?
Then why do you set out to take on the day’s challenges without putting the correct fuel and water into your body?”

“Perfume smells great, but put it in your petrol tank instead of petrol and your car won’t run properly.
Junk food tastes great, but put it in your mouth and your body won’t run properly!”
When you wake up feeling crap, thank about what you ate yesterday.

“Would you take your car to the mechanic for regular servicing and then pour methylated spirits into the fuel tank? NO?
Then why do you visit the gym regularly or even see your personal trainer but then put crappy food in your mouth?”

I think you get the message, please be aware of what goes in your mouth. I am not saying to eat alfalfa sprouts all day long, but it is really so easy to make healthy, tasty, nutritious food and just limit your junk food to weekends and takeaway dinners to once a week.

Troy Shispey

Fitta Bodies Personal Training

Group Training Centennial Park, Sydney

To join our group training simply visit Group Training

I am sure you are all aware of the impact that food has on our long term health. We are all made up of living cells. Those cells renew themselves from the food that we eat. Without the correct nourishment, our immune system will suffer and disease will set in. Think about the food you eat and what it is made from. Then think that those ingredients are what is making up your living cells. 

Now that you can think of food as a fuel for your body, not just something you eat every few hours, you might make a few changes to what goes in your mouth.

I believe a diet rich in vegetables and protein will help to promote a healthy body, in a healthy weight range without feeling bloated and tired.

Here are a few tips to incorporating more vegetables into your diet. When I refer to vegggies, this incorporates salad as well.

* When shopping, choose your favourite vegetables. It is quite often easier to buy carrots and brocoli because they are cheap and miss out on the more exotic veggies you really like because they cost a bit more, only to get out of the fruit shop and go and spend $4 on a coffee.

* Variety!

* Have a plate of cut veggie sticks on the fridge ready to snack on daily.

* Don’t overcook your veggies. Steam or stir fry them, they will have better flavour, colour and texture.

* Try a new veggie along side a familiar one.

* If you find something you don’t like, don’t eat it. Try something different next time.

* Don’t think of veggies as just an evening meal ingredient, tomato, mushroom and spinach are all great breakfast veggies. Mixed salad is easy to prepare in the morning to take to work. Veggie sticks are great as snacks.

Here are few tips to incorporate more protein into your diet

* Firstly make a list of all the protein foods you like to eat.

* Secondly write down beside the protein all the foods you like to accompany it.

* Thirdly write down what time of day you would prefer to eat that food.

* Now plan your week’s food plan and shopping list.

* Be sure to vary your diet. When you write down your accompanying foods, make sure you have several options for each protein.

Healthy eating and happy living go hand in hand, so eat well and enjoy life!

Troy Shipsey

Fitta Bodies Personal Training

Group Fitness Centennial Park, Sydney

With the growth of the health and fitness industry due to an ever growing obese population, there are so many underqualified and very under experienced personal trainers out there. It seems every second person is a personal trainer or does a bit of “personal training” on the side…

Even the education providers are advertising easier and faster ways to get qualified. Each one is trying to outdo the next by making it easier to get qualified just so the other college won’t get the business.

And so, the standard of education and experience gets lower and lower due to the increased competition of education providers. Maybe this increased competition should improve standards by advertising who can give you the most experience and highest qualifications to convince you to train with them, rather than who can get you in and out of the door the quickest. Which by the way is a bit of a joke really, because these days you don’t even have to get in the door, you can do the whole thing at home by copying your friends assignments and case studies (oops, I mean via correspondence or “distance learning”). I saw enough of this when I worked at Australias largest gym chain which is home to the largest population of inexperienced trainers around, they don’t even need the minimum qualificatiosn to work there!
It is making the industry somewhat of a joke.

So many times these day, I see a personal training session being conducted but I cannot tell who is the trainer and who is the client!

Here are a few things to think about when choosing a personal trainer;

* Are they fatter than you? I think this is the most important! Why go to a trainer to lose weight if they can’t even lose weight themselves.

* Do they practice what they preach? Do they drink plenty of filtered water and eat a diet rich in fruits, veggies, lean protein and nuts. Limiting junk food to treats on weekends. How can they tell you to do something yet not do it themselves?

* Do they chat to you about how drunk they got on the weekend? Or are they trying to convince you that alcohol should be strictly limited.

* Can they answer your health and fitness questions? And not fumble through it like they are making it up.

* How much experience do they have? How many people have they helped so far?

* What is their client retention like? Are they constantly looking for new clients all the time? This is a sure fire way to know how good a trainer is by whether their clients stick with them, people are pretty savvy these days and when they see a cowboy, they either move on to another trainer, or give up because they have lost faith in the industry.

* Do they try to put you onto the latest gimmick or fad diet to get you to your goals?

* Do they tell you what you want to hear to get you onboard rather than the truth?

* Do they focus on your form and technique, ensuring your safety? Or are they just counting the reps and minutes to the end of the session? Do they even know what the correct technique is, or are they just re-enacting something they saw another trianer do?