I Wanna Do Bad Things....With Carbs

I Wanna Do Bad Things...With Carbs

I'm not gonna lie, I love all things made with white flour, pasta, bread, cake, biscuits...mmm donuts, & all things sugary & sweet, chocolate, sweets & ice cream. So, naturally all of these things should be enjoyed as a treat every so often, rather than everyday, as they're the wrong kind of carbohydrates we need. 

I know what you're thinking, how could some taste so good, be so bad for us? 

Well it's all a case of Simple vs. Complex carbs. The above mentioned yummy foods are unfortunately examples of simple carbs. This means that the smaller molecules of sugar are absorbed & digested quickly into our bodies. This energy is turned into glycogen & is stored in our cells. If it's not used it immediately turns to fat.  Simple carbs have usually been stripped of most of their nutrients & made more consumer friendly, their high glycemic index (GI) will cause our blood sugar levels to rise quickly causing a sugar rush, once this has ended it was cause our blood sugar levels to dip, & then we begin to seek out more sugar.

Complex carbs, are our friends. They may not taste as great & we may not always be in the mood for them, but they are good to us. Complex carbs can be found in a more natural state foods, this means they haven't been tampered with or processed. These foods are high in nutrients & lower in calories. They're also low GI foods which means our bodies have to work harder to break the food down, to get the glycogen which means that our blood sugar levels are more stable throughout the day. 

Before I started changing my lifestyle I used to eat mainly simple carbs in abundance & not worry about it, I'd never really thought about the nutritional value of the foods I was eating before. Now, I realise how much of the simple carbohydrates turn to sugar, & this is is probably one of the causes of my own obesity, from this I have learnt the error of my ways I now eat complex carbs & because not only are they good for you, they're more dense more so you don't need as much as they fill you up. 

From being educated on carbs, I could then implement an eating plan with my training program for results. I've previously blogged about the Team Dynamix Alkaline/Acid eating plan & about Macro counting, because I'm an endomorph & my goal is for fat loss, I limit my carbs throughout they day, I also don't have any carbs with my evening meal on non-training days. However, it is important to stress that you should never cut one food group completely from your diet, the consequences not only physically but also mentally could be detrimental to you. 

As I am determined to reach my goal, & I show great willpower to be able to say 'No' to the simple carb foods, but don't get me wrong I know my history of being an emotional eater, & if I'm having a particularly bad time I could quite happily sit with a cup of tea & smash a whole packet of chocolate hobnobs, no question. But, even then I still don't display this behaviour because I understand my triggers, & willpower is a wonderful thing...

Plus, now I'm in the habit of eating well & looking after myself, I like to save my simple carb treats for something special as I love Italian food or a G&T or wine. 

Food Glorious Food

Food, Glorious, Food 

When I was using Slimming World, I found it quite a useful tool as it taught me portion sizes, to set limits to things like dairy, sweets, chocolate; it taught me about delicious new foods,   & swap sugar for sweetener & making low-fat or no fat choices; it still allowed me to eat a little bit of what I fancied by using the syn system. 

When I started Team Dynamix, it used the acid/alkaline diet, which was completly new & terrifying to me but actually it wasn't that bad; it actually made me think more about what I was putting in my body, and that I needed the right nutrition to fuel my body for the exercise I was doing. 

It works on the principle that the body is made up of alkaline cells, and that if we eat more acidic foods our cells will swell & bloat with the acidic foods because it takes longer for our bodies to process them, where as if you eat mainly alkaline foods, our bodies will return to & maintain at an alkaline state.

For this I had to give up all man made processed foods, anything white, caffeine, alcohol, all refined sugars & sweeteners, and red meat (but only for the first two weeks) & I went gluten free. 

This is a food diagram of what you can eat, you should aim for 80% alkaline 20% acidic.  

So, I swapped my breakfast for gluten free granola with almond milk, my builders tea (milk & 2 sugars)  for  green or herbal. You could have one portion of fish & one portion of poultry a day, so I alternated my lunches & dinners, with a portion of complex carbs so I used sweet potatoes, quinoa & couscous. For my morning snack I had one portion of fruit to stabilise my blood sugars throughout the day, eventually I cut this out. The good thing about this diet is that you could have some full-fat products such as yoghurt, houmous & milk, the reason for this is you need fat to break down fat. If you have low fat & no fat products basically it's had  all the good fats taken out and replaced with several "ingredients" or chemicals that you can't pronounce. The basic rules are, if it has more than 5 ingredients don't eat it & if it has anything in the ingredients list that you can't pronounce, you probably shouldnt eat it either.

                                        

For the first 3 days I was walking around like a zombie, I was lethargic, had a headache & chills. This was my body's response to going cold-turkey to my caffeine addiction, I like drinking tea; only I used to drink it in bucket style mugs, several times throughout the day.

I now had zero caffeine & it was awful, I now see why drug addicts don't quit, it's bloody horrendous, however, after 3 days I felt fantastic I had all this energy, because of this diet & no caffeine meant that my body was using energy from my fat stores (yay!).

I think I got away lightly as some other members of my group not only drank loads of coffee, they drank coke so some of them had to ween themselves off of it which took a few days longer, so I would cut the fizzy drinks out as soon as possible.

At home we have steak night once a week, it's like an unwritten law. So for the first two weeks of Team Dynamix I could've cried everyone else was eating steak & I had chicken, it sucked. However, after that you could have it once a week, so having a steak for dinner became my treat meal of the week, with sweet potato wedges & cheesy 'slaw.

My sweet tooth has got better over time, I still have days where I could totally eat a whole cake, but I have a new love now, Green & Blacks dark chocolate is divine. Dark chocolate that uses 70% cocoa solids is also good for you! As it's a purer form of chocolate is has some fat burning properties, and also because it's bittersweet you don't need much to satisfy your cravings! 

I've also tried doing this diet on the 5/2 theory for 2 weeks after I completed bootcamp, so every other day I ate 600 calories after 2pm, to shock my body again, it did work & the first day is always the hardest, I drank water & green tea until 2pm & I found the trick is to have your first meal prepped ready to go, so I had my porridge ready to go for 2pm on the dot, that way I knew I wouldn't binge on my first meal. 

The thing about the alkaline/acid diet, it may have a funny name & the word diet in the title but really it teaches you to eat clean. By not having any man made processed foods & it teaches you to be more wise about your food options throughout the day, to actually think about what you're going to eat next. 

I've found from being on this diet, well it's not really a diet to me anymore it's my lifestyle now & over time my tastes have really changed, I can no longer stomach a takeaway, as all I can taste is the grease they've cooked it in, I also no longer have extreme cravings for sweets & chocolate.

I contantly think about food but for the right reasons, about my next meal what can i make next, I have a pinterest board dedicated to health food inspiration, which really comes in handy. https://uk.pinterest.com/emmalbrown87/healthy-foods/

Becoming Dynamic....

Becoming Dynamic

Before I had made the decision to leave Slimming World, the gym that I go to frequently has open days so that members & non-members can come & try various classes etc. I went to an open day at my gym July 2013, to try out a course that I'd seen advertised & one of my friends told me about...I was unsure about the diet that went with this course but it wasn't that bad in the end. On the open day, we met the lovely Chris who runs the Team Dynamix course. He gave us a brief overview of the diet & sorts of food you can eat, then we did a short exercise session, so basically it was a mini class. The next course would start in 2 days time on the Monday...so naturally I signed up straight away as I felt it was time for something new. 

Team Dynamix

Is a 4 week course, 3 nights a week; it's a small class of about 16 people & it runs for about an hour, you have sometime a the beginning & end of class to discuss food etc. 

The exercises are timed, the first week I think is 30 seconds on, 30 seconds recovery, the next week will be 40/20 and so on, as your condition will improve each week.  The circuit is set so you'll have between 4-6 weight resistant stations (depending on how big the class is & what room your in) each of those stations will have a core workout attached, as usually buddy up so whilst one does the weight resistance the other will do core. Now, either before or after the circuit you also have to do your cardio round this can be either shuttle runs with body weight exercises at the cones or a combination of six cardio exercises such as high knees, squats jumps & the dreaded burpees. 

The exercise for this course is all High Intesity Interval Training (HIIT) it works by you working to your maximum throughout the class, resulting in a higher fat burn & faster metabolism. To some people reading this, this course sounds horrendous & people will probably wonder why I did it, Slimming World was a good eating plan to start me off but my weight loss was starting to plateau as after a while your body becomes used to your new lifestyle, therefore it's good to give it a shock every now & then. 

When I started Team Dynamix I was 14 stone 1lb (89.5Kgs/197.4lbs) when I had completed the course I weighed 12 stone 6 (80.5Kgs/177.4lbs) I had lost 9Kgs in four weeks it was amazing, I couldn't remember when I had weighed that amount before. From attending the classes 3 times a week, for four weeks & following the eating plan (I'll do another blog for that) I had lost a lot of weight, I wish I had started Team Dynamix sooner so that I could reach my goals sooner. 

(I'm in the middle at the back)

TD Bootcamp 

A few months after my brilliant Team Dynamix course, Chris had developed the next phase...bootcamp, like Team Dynamix only heavier weights, more stupid cardio exercises (Spartan flips) & more core workouts, same time frame as before 3 nights a week for 4 weeks, same food plan. Since doing Team Dynamix I had kept the same food plan, as I felt healthier & less bloated so sticking to it wasn't a problem, & I had only gained 0.2Kg during the gap between Dynamix & Bootcamp I had regular gym reviews with Chris to develop my gym program.  However, as much as I loved bootcamp the scales didn't really move I lost the 0.2Kg that I had gained but again my body had got used to the healthier eating, & the range of exercise I was doing. 

If any of my lovely readers feel like they want to give Team Dynamix a go, please follow the links for my gyms webpage & the Team Dynamix Facebook page for more information. 

http://www.balancehealthclubs.co.uk & https://www.facebook.com/teamdynamixweightloss?ref=ts&fref=ts

Chris is a fantastic instructor,  I can't recommend him enough; he really gets you motivated in class (He also laughs at you when your in agony) & he's really helped me over the last 18 months with teaching me new techniques & training programmes in the gym, giving me new

food ideas & making me do cardio (which I hate with a passion) & convincing me to try new classes at the gym such as Functional Training (like bootcamp) and Strength & Conditioning (which was good apart from the bloody cardio). 

I've completed Team Dynamix & completed bootcamp twice & completed a 6 week course of PT, along with various gym programmes & classes in between, you can probably tell I'm not a cardio fan, my lungs aren't that stong because I'm an ex-smoker but I make myself do it because I know I have too! Again it's another situation where I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't of started with Team Dynamix.