Reduce Stress with Meditation

Jan 6th

Posted by Funkster in Meditation/Spirituality

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Weight gain can be caused by stress. What do most of us do when we feel stressed? Turn to smoking or junk food to release our feel good endorphins. Okay, chocolate tastes nice and, dark chocolate in moderation is extremely beneficial for heart health, but sugar is sugar and it causes the blood sugar levels to raise to give a feeling of happiness. It is the downside, however, that is the nasty bit.

This is when the body can feel sluggish and turn to more junk food to keep it on an even keel. One of the best ways to calm the mind and, therefore de-stress the body is through meditation. Many of us forget to breath properly. Correct breathing is a fantastic rejuvenator and can stop kill off stress in an instant.

I meditate a lot, usually at night and I use crystals to help me on my spiritual path. With meditation, it is important to focus on your breath and how you feel. Slowly, you will start to feel your mind calm. Meditation is also excellent for insomniacs.

If you feel stressed, do not start on painkillers or anti-depressants, try out meditation too. As well as a stress reducer it may also help you to lose weight. A positive mindset will make you feel good and may help you to make healthy lifestyle choices, such as changing the diet to include more fruit and vegetables.

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Easy Ways to Lose Weight

Jan 5th

Posted by Funkster in Hints and Tips

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Here are some easy ways to lose weight. I have never dieted in my life but have always managed to stay slim so I am going to let you in on my secrets.

  • You do not need to calorie count – This can become obsessive. Calories are listed on every single supermarket item except fruits and vegetables, and we all know that they are the lowest calorie foods and also the healthiest.
  • Start weight training – Weight training will NOT build up the muscles in the body, it only aims to make you look leaner overall. Now that is sexy! Adding just one pound of lean muscle tissue will boost your metabolism and burn an extra fifty calories per day. This may not seem like a lot but it accounts for over five pounds of weight loss per year. Build up the weights gradually but if you want best results I would advise doing body weight training, like press-ups, sit-ups, burpees etc, and carry out weight training with free weights. Always tense your stomach muscles throughout any exercise to work the core muscles.
  • Eat regularly – I do not mean large meals but break up your meals from three to six smaller ones throughout the day. Just at least try it for a week. It will not cost more either because you are simply breaking up your normal routine and eating when your body feels hungry. When you start to eat regularly, the body has no option but to increase its thermogenic rate and burn calories. The body burns 10% of calories through thermogenesis, simply when the body has to break down food and digest it. If you eat more you can take advantage and burn more calories. Regular eating will soon keep your metabolic rate that high and you will feel hungry every three or so hours.
  • Eat Butter – Believe it or not and with all the hype out there about these rich omega 3 spreads like Flora Pro-Active, Butter is good for you. It contains a good amount of Essential Fatty Acids and Omega 3, which help heart health. Remember, everything in moderation. I find that Lurpak is the best butter by far. This might put you off margarines and spreads for life. They are actually grey before colorants are added. Look at the natural colour of butter next to flora. When I found out that was enough for me to change to butter forever.
  • Start Power Walking - A little faster than walking but not as fast as a jogger, Power Walking will shift fat stores big style. Expect to burn around 250 calories per mile, depending on your current weight. When the average jogger or walker burns 100-102 calories per mile, power walking can help to shift weight and FAST. How to practice? If you have a treadmill this is ideal or set yourself targets like your normal walking route minus ten minutes etc.

I’ll offer more weight loss tips later in the week but I hope these get you started on the right track.

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Music is my motivation

Dec 9th

Posted by Funkster in The Workouts

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After several weeks of not carrying out my short little workouts due to stresses at home, writers block, and pretty much feeling out of sorts with myself, I today finally set off to the gym with a mission in mind…to get sweaty in less than thirty minutes.

This workout took a little over 30 minutes including stretches afterward. It was tough, probably because I have not performed body weight training for a short while. When I pressed play on my iPod it was almost red (red when running out green when full battery power) and I hate working out with no music. Music is my motivator. Anyhow, weirdly the music stayed on. I had Eye of the Tiger, Heart’s on Fire, Creeps, bit of Bobby Brown, K Klass and a few other funky tunes and the best one of all, Take me to the Hospital by The Prodigy, my fav group.

This little workout can be performed at home or the gym.

Items required:

  • Skipping rope
  • Boxing gloves
  • Punch bag
  • Mat
  • Medicine ball

The Workout

  • First off, start with a little skipping for three minutes. Pick out a funky track and skip non stop. Finally finish with ten double unders if you can.
  • If you’re at the gym and you have a punch bag to hand, put on your boxing gloves and perform jabs, uppercuts, and straight jabs at the punch bag. Remember to keep your guard up and when the arms are fatigued stay on the balls of your feet to keep the heart rate up. Time yourself for three minutes or a short song length. If you do not have a punch bag perform three minutes of shadow boxing. With the sit-ups, throw punches with every crunch.
  • Grab your mat beside the punch bag and try your best to raise your body and punch the bag with every sit-up. After a minute or two the abs will start to ache heavily. Use a mantra to push yourself through the pain. Your abs will thank you for it with strength and burn off fat.
  • Take a minute break. Grab your barbell or free weights and perform thirty weighted squats. Push the weight into the ankles and keep the back straight. Your back should not feel any strain, only your buttocks. Perform it in front of a mirror to view your posture.
  • Thirty chest presses with 10-40 kg if you can.
  • Grab your mat again and perform thirty press-ups on an incline to make it that little bit tougher, just like I love it.
  • Straight into thirty squat thrusts.
  • Grab a medicine ball and pick it up while in the squat position and use your arms to pull it slightly over your head. Keep the arms slightly bent and keep the back straight as you bring it back down and perform twenty.
  • Using the medicine ball again start off in the middle and bring the medicine ball up to the right of your head, slightly using your torso to twist to the right but keep your body facing the front. Perform one on the right and then the left. Try to perform twenty on each side.
  • Perform thirty high jumps non-stop.
  • Use the medicine ball and holding your arms out slightly bring the medicine ball as fast as possible to your left hip and then swivel it to you right. Perform twenty on each side. Boxers usually work with a partner on this and throw it backwards after spinning it round and then picking it up from the right side to spin to the left again. This works the oblique and hip muscles.
  • At this time, Hearts on Fire from Rocky came on so I had to skip to this motivating music. I skipped non-stop for four minutes and finished off with ten double unders.
  • I grabbed the medicine ball and performed twenty side bends.
  • Finished with twenty lunges on each leg holding the medicine ball straight to tire the arms. After the twenty I pulsed my legs for another ten lunges to kill my leg.
  • Finally stretch out the legs and arms.

Drink plenty of fluid throughout. This workout uses body weight exercises, cardio, and works the entire body. Eat well afterward and rest for a day or two before another workout. Give the muscles time to grow stronger.

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Tasty Bacon Risotto

Nov 22nd

Posted by Funkster in Recipes

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This is a wonderful quick meal that will feed up to four people. I like to use basmati rice rather than risotto rice. You can make it as spicy as ever or reduce the spices if you are not a fan of hot foods. I use the spices that go into a normal curry. The taste is extravagant and does not require salt.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of garamasala
  • 1 teaspoon of tumeric
  • 1 tablespoon of cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon of chili power or flakes
  • 1 onion
  • 7 mushrooms
  • 1 red/yellow/green pepper
  • Pack of back bacon (remove fat)
  • Mug of basmati rice
  • 2 vegetable or chicken stock cubes
  • 2 mugs of boiling water

Method of cooking

  • Add the oil to the pan and let it heat up.
  • Cut the onion and add to the heated oil.
  • Add the tumeric, garamasala, chilli, and cumin and coat the onions in the mixture.
  • Cut up the mushrooms and peppers and add to the pan.
  • Add a little water to the pan if the paste has already soaked up the oil.
  • Cut up the bacon into strips and add to the pan.
  • Measure the basmati rice and add to the pan. Crumble the stock cubes over the rice.
  • Heat some water in the kettle and pour out two mugfuls of boiling water.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked or has absorbed the water.

This is a quick healthy nutritious meal that contains three of the daily fruit and vegetables, adds healthy protein from the bacon, and supplies carbohydrates from the basmati rice. The spices boost the health of the immune system and boosts the metabolism slightly. You could add different vegetables. Others that work well in this recipe is celery, broccoli, and potatoes, or add them all for a healthier kick.

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