Hi everyone.

If you’re visiting for the first time, thanks for coming and a warm welcome back to all my other followers and clients.

With the sun disappearing and the winter blues finally settling in (after what has actually been a very mild Christmas season!) I though it about time to discuss Vitamin D. If you suffer from the blues this time of year, and I most certainly do, the following blog may be of some help.

Vitamin D comes in five forms D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5. The ones thought to be most important to humans are D2 and D3. In a study by the University of Minnesota, it was found that levels of Vitamin D present at the start of a low calorie diet predicted weight loss success!

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin naturally present in very few foods. It is most
commonly produced endogenously from the ultra violet light of the sun. When
sunlight comes in contact with our skin it triggers the synthesis of Vitamin D.

What do we need vitamin D for?

• It is crucial for the absorption and metabolism of calcium and phosphorous, which have various functions, especially the maintenance of healthy bones.
• It is an immune system regulator.
  
• It may be an important way to arm the immune system against disorders like the common cold, say scientists from the University of
  Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and
  Children’s Hospital Boston.
• It may reduce the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Multiple
  sclerosis is much less common the nearer you get to the tropics, where there is much more sunlight, according to Dennis Bourdette, chairman of the Department of Neurology and director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at Oregon Health and Science University, USA.
• Vitamin D may have a key role in helping the brain to keep working well in later life, according to a study of 3000 European men
  between the ages of 40 and 79.
• Vitamin D is probably linked to maintaining a healthy body weight, according to research carried out at the Medical College of Georgia, USA.
• It can reduce the severity and frequency of asthma symptoms, and also the likelihood of hospitalizations due to asthma, researchers
  from Harvard Medical School found after monitoring 616 children in Costa Rica.
• It has been shown to reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women.
• A form of vitamin D could be one of our body’s main protections against damage from low levels of radiation, say radiological experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
• Various studies have shown that people with adequate levels of vitamin D have a significantly lower risk of developing cancer, compared to people with lower levels. Vitamin D deficiency was found to be prevalent in cancer patients regardless of nutritional status, in a study carried out by Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

This table was taken from medicalnewstoday.com

Where can we get it?

• The flesh of fatty fish – Mackerel, Tuna, Salmon etc.
• Fish liver oils
• Beef Liver
• Cheese and Eggs
• Sunlight

So,if you’re feeling blue, or suffer from any of the above ailments why not consider increasing your intake of the above foods, and hit the great outdoors for some relaxation and exercise. If your condition is severe and you aren’t already, consider supplementation. Consult your doctor or pharmacist for doses. If you have the time and money, treating yourself to a relaxing holiday in the sun can work wonders for those energy levels, but be careful, sunlight is also a stressor! Wear protective creams at all times.

Thanks.

Yours in health

Simon

Hi everyone,

So here it is my first blog on the Local Motion site and where better to start than with nutrition right! I’m sure everyone has made some New Years resolutions, maybe some of you have already broken them! Well if you are looking to make some manageable tweaks to your lifestyle this year here’s some info and my top ten tips.

You are what you eat!

One of the fundamental elements of Health and wellbeing is Nutrition. Whatever you think you may be achieving in the gym or when playing sport it can easily be unravelled in a single snack/meal!

I always try and advise my clients to follow the 80/20 rule. We all like a treat from time to time and hey…. we all deserve a treat from time to time! The important thing is that we tip the balance as much as we can in favour of quality nutrition so we can function at
optimum capacity, and with optimum vitality!

The famous analogy is that if you were to put Diesel in a petrol car you wouldn’t get very far, and eventually the car’s engine would seize up and stop working. Exactly the same principal applies to diet. Your body may take a longer time to seize up, but the damage is being done slowly and surely and will eventually manifest itself in signs and symptoms, some of which may already display. These can include constipation, dry skin, eczema and asthma and the list goes on! Most of these can be treated through diet. Research also shows a link between diet and cancers, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes and other serious illnesses.

Whenever we put any type of food or drink into our mouths it creates a hormonal response in the body. These hormones are very powerful and cannot only have dramatic affects on how we manage digestively, but also impact on our mood and how we feel. We often hear the phrase ‘food coma’ after a big Sunday lunch or assign the blame for hyper active kids to too many sweets and fizzy drinks. We associate coffee with being a ‘pick me up’ and warm milk as a ‘help me sleep’ drink. We are to some degree very aware of how certain foods affect us, and all we really need to do is dispel some of the myths and pay a little bit more attention to how certain foods make us feel. By paying closer attention, we can tweak our diet to achieve a greatest sense of wellbeing. So here are 10 top tips to get you started:

1)     Drink plenty of water – body weight in KG x 0.033 = … litres

2)     Eat Fresh – Fruit, vegetables, and good quality meat (free range/organic)

3)     Avoid all processed/man made foods! This includes cereals. Most cereals have 45-55% sugar!

4)     Avoid refined foods such as table salt, white flour, white sugar & white milk. If you are going to drink milk you’re better off having small amounts of Organic Whole milk. Milk that has been pasteurised has literally had all the good bits killed off!

5)     Eat natural. If it’s man made, or man has tampered too much with it avoid it.

6)     Avoid foods with lengthy sell by dates. These will be packed full of chemicals including stabilizers, emulsifiers, preservatives, colourings, flavourings and most likely sweeteners etc.

7) Shop every 3-4 days to get fresh food

8 ) Go organic. Organic food will have higher levels of macro and micro nutrients and will not have been grown using pesticides,herbicides, and fungicides therefore you will not be ingesting these chemicals every time you eat! (Free range and corn fed meat are good too).

9) Avoid soda, fruit juice and energy drinks. Theyare packed full of sugar and devoid of any nutritional value.

10)  Don’t avoid good fat!  These include Olive oil (below 180°c), coconut oil, ghee, flax oil, peanut oil, almond oil, sesame oil and organic butter.

Try applying some of these to your New Year’s resolution list. Start small and drip feed these tips in.  Trust me it will change your life!

Good luck and have a great day!

Yours in health

Simon.