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This time of year is always similar. Many people try to get themselves into shape and reclaim there health and physique. If you are one of them, it probably means that work, family and life in general have taken such a huge chunk of your time and energy you have neglected yourself and your physique, and likely your health too have suffered.

You may have had a moment of clarity such as “wow I look like that”? After seeing a photo or possible a friend kindly informed you that you “look like you haven’t been to the gym in a while” like one of my recent clients shared with me.

Whatever the trigger something has made you want to make a change and get back a body you remember from years ago. It may not be your first time trying this. It may be the first time you’ve needed to. Either way, there are some things you need to raise your consciousness to before getting started that will improve your chances of success THIS time.

This is a three part article:

• Part one discusses getting your mentality right for a change.
• Part two discusses getting your environment right to support your change.
• Part three discusses getting your training right for the change.

If you get these things wrong, as so many do, you will set yourself up for a hard time and probable failure. Get them right and you make success easier and way more likely.

Part one:

Get your mind set.

This time will be different, I guarantee it.

I’m going to show you how to set yourself up for success in your attempt to get your health back and reclaim your physique. But first a warning. I’m not pulling punches here. There are some things you have to hear about this venture that you may not want to hear but you need to. I’m going to do the right thing by you by being brutally honest.

A great mentor of mine once told me that “acceptance of reality opens the door to great achievements”. There are a few realities we all must accept about the nature of health and good physiques. I’m going to share them with you here in the hope that you can recognise the opportunity for achievement they hold.

Truth number one:

You either love cake more than you love abs or your love abs more than you love cake. This statement works many ways, I could say “you either love carbs, beer, wine, deserts or croissants more than you love being lean, looking great or not having diabetes” the underlying message still rings true. Sometimes we have to choose between two things we like because, excuse the pun, we can’t have our cake and eat it. If that’s the truth then we must accept it.

When you accept this you will realise something; in order to achieve the change you want to see, you must accept what it takes to achieve that change. If you are not willing to do what is necessary to achieve that change, you must accept that you love cake more than abs and accept that you will not, at least for now, achieve abs.

If you choose that you love the abs more, it will become easier to make the sacrifice, compromise or change necessary to achieve them.

Be honest and kind to yourself here. Some people will find it easier than others to get lean. Your physique will be a direct reflection of the point at which you are comfortable living for it. Don’t lie to yourself by telling yourself you want to be lean if you aren’t willing to change in order to get there. More honesty about how much you are willing to do to get lean and healthy will make you reflect on past efforts and make conscious choices this time round that you can feel comfortable with.

Truth number two.

This change, this time must be for life. When making a change for the improvement of health you must change for good. Dieting for a few weeks or months invariably ends with gaining back the weight or feeling unhappy due to being at odds with who you are inside.

In order to make permanent changes to your outside you need to make permanent changes to your inside.

Here’s an example. Person A makes a great mental switch. She decides she really does value health (see previous truth). She accepts that she has been living in a way that it incongruent with that value and wants to change. She starts making choices based on this new value and feels comfortable with those choices because they are consistent with her new truth: she values health and physique more than she misses the foods that robbed her of both in the first place.

Person B wants desperately to get lean and convinces himself that he can stick to a diet for 12 weeks to do it. Inside he hasn’t made a real shift in values and has set his happiness on seeing results quickly. He may succeed, he may get bored or disheartened and fail. Either way his internal values will eventually win and he will begin to behave in a way that is congruent with his inner self. He will return to is normal ways and his pre diet physique or worse.

Do you see how the external change must come from a fundamental shift in values in order to really be a permanent improvement?

Also consider this:

“Whilst it may be hard to give up the things you love initially i.e. carbs your tastebuds do change and after a while they aren’t that appealing anyway and you don’t miss them. I actually feel so great now NOT eating them I don’t really have any desire to. At first it’s hard, but after a few weeks the change becomes normality and it’s like you never ate them in the first place?”

That’s a direct quote from a client of mine. A real person like many of you.

So here’s my advice:

• Decide wether you really value what you are asking for more than you value what you are going to have to remove in order to achieve it.
• Decide what extent you are willing to change at this point in order to achieve what you are asking for.
• Make a serious commitment, born out of a change in values, to do what is needed in order to achieve the rewards you ask for.

Still with me? Read part two to learn how to set up your environment for change and how to make it easy on yourself.

Well as you are probably aware, we are not ones to sit on our behinds for too long at Hands on Health  - Todd doesn’t like it, and Naomi is no exception either. In August 2012 she’ll be aiming to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest free standing mountain, to raise money for Practical Action. If you’d like to sponsor her then have a look here!

Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is an injury of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems that may be caused by repetitive tasks, or sustained or awkward positions. But, as Naomi, one or our Chiropractors explains, by employing a few simple tactics you can help reduce problems when it arises…

• Look into practical ways of adjusting your work set-up so as to reduce strain.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs have usually been recommend although recent studies suggest that simple painkillers such as paracetamol work just as well.
• A referral to a manual therapist such as a chiropractor who can give advice to help with posture and how to strengthen or relax the muscles involved.
• Some people find relaxation techniques, and regular general exercise (such as swimming) to be useful in easing the symptoms.
• Regular massage and stretching of the affected muscles is important and alongside a strengthening programme can  reduce symptoms and prevent reoccurance

Symptoms often ease with the above measures. It is then wise to review your work or other activities to prevent further bouts of RSI. For example:

• If you work with a computer: is your seat, keyboard, mouse, etc, positioned in the correct way with the least strain likely on your hands and fingers?
• The RSI Awareness website has practical suggestions on how to reduce strain from repetitive tasks – for example, how to set up your computer and workstation to reduce RSI.
• Do you work with a good posture? Do you sit correctly if you have a desk job?
• If you do a repetitive task at work, do you get enough breaks?
• Is there anything your employer could do to improve your working environment?
• If you are under stress at work, is there anything you or your employer could do to improve this?

If you would like more help and advice on coping with RSI do give us a call and we can talk through any of the above in more detail.

The most common problem that people come to Pete Edwards (our resident nutrition expert) with is chronic poor body composition. They carry too much fat and have done for years. They’ve tried countless “off the shelf” diets and often exercised religiously for years.

Here’s his top ten myths and mistakes that hold people back from their best physique and health.

1. Being overweight is a product of sloth and gluttony, people are fat because they overeat and don’t exercise. (Myth)

People overeat because they are fat. They don’t get fat because they overeat they get fat because they eat the wrong things, eating the wrong things causes fat gain and fat gain causes you to eat more.

Losing fat is about redeveloping the ability to tap into your energy reserves (fat stores). This can only be done through lowering insulin production and improving insulin sensitivity in muscle cells. When you approach this problem properly, you will lose weight without hunger or depriving yourself. The issue is that most people do not know what the real problem is to start with!

2. Reducing calories is the only thing that works (Myth)

Reducing calories will help you lose fat, sure, but only until your metabolism down regulates to match your intake. Fat is far more complicated than just a simple balance sheet.

Reducing calories will slow down cellular metabolic rate and normally reduce energy levels – causing less energy expenditure. Meaning this approach will only work in the short term, then make it harder to lose weight in the long run.

3. High volume, low level cardio burns fat. (Myth)

It’s not very productive to do hours of cardio, not for reducing fat and not for fitness. The truth is that low level cardio is catabolic, so over time it will reduce the amount of muscle mass a person carries. This in turn lowers metabolic rate and strength. A study done on runners who subscribed to Runners World showed that regardless of  the distance run per week (some averaging over 40 miles) all runners get fatter year on year. Training will help you lose fat, but only certain types of training are effective, and in the long run (no pun intended) steady state cardio is not one of them!

4. Wholegrain is good for you. (Myth)

Grains, especially wheat, in general are not great foods. They contain two main anti-nutrients that cause damage to health: Phytates that block the absorption of iron and B vitamins and Gluten.  Gluten causes inflammation in the GI tract and contributes to food intolerances through increasing permeability of the villi in the intestines. It erodes the brain and can lower thyroid function in people who are intolerant. Grains aren’t part of the natural human diet and are best left for the birds!

5. Fat makes you fat. (Myth)

Fat cells in the body are regulated by hormones, namely insulin. Insulin is spiked by carbohydrates and actually blunted by fat. If insulin is lower, less is stored, if insulin is higher more is stored. I could write a whole article on this one topic, but in a nutshell, anything that spikes insulin causes you to store fat, carbohydrates do that, not fat. In fact the right kinds of fat, particularly omega 3’s will help you to reduce the amount of fat you carry by lowering insulin production by as much as 30% when consumed with a meal!

6. Eating “diet” foods. (Mistake)

Processed food is processed food no matter how much the label shows fields and screams “healthy”.

7. Approaching fat loss as a temporary project. (Mistake)

Approaching fat loss from a rapid, short term perspective works, but usually only in the short term. If you want to be lean and strong for the rest of your life you have got to make permanent changes to your lifestyle, nutrition, exercise and way of thinking. In order to do that your plan has got to be sustainable and rewarding, not restrictive and depriving!

8. Meat is fattening and carcinogenic. (Myth)

Read the top three books on the original human diet and you will find mountains of research showing that for two million years the human genome has thrived on animal fats. Cancer has only been an issue for the last few hundred years and the correlation is not strong. We see a correlation between processed meat intake and colon cancer but red meat and colon cancer has a very low relationship.

Dietary fiber has been shown to lower colon cancer risk. A good diet with plenty of fish, vegetables and real meats (organic, free ranging and wild meats) does not increase risk of colon cancer. A diet low in vegetables and high in processed meats certainly will!

9. “It worked for my friend so it’ll work for me”. (Mistake)

We are all as different on the inside as we are on the outside. Meaning that we’re all mostly similar (two arms, face, two legs all in the same place) but with subtle differences (height, build etc). There are factors that I can assess such as insulin sensitivity and thyroid function that have huge implications for what effect a particular strategy will have on our body.

Many diets thrive off the fact that it works for some people and market those successes for profit. Some people succeed on the plan and others fail. My system is based on the science of individuality and working with our evolution. It works for everyone because it takes into account the characteristics of the individual and provides solutions to the challenges that the individual is battling.

10. It takes discipline. (Myth)

There’s a choice to make here. Do you love pastries more than you love abs? Or do you love abs more than you love pastries?

It’s normally a choice of  which you love more and not discipline? Do you want to look and feel great or eat something that’s going to have the opposite affect?

Each of us will love the thought of looking and feeling great to a point, and that point will be the same level at which you love eating the things that hold you back from further progress. So make your choices honestly with yourself first.

Did you know you don’t have to have a sports injury to reap the benefits of sports massage? You may be surprised to hear that most of our clients don’t have any specific injuries.

Most of us experience tension in our muscles casued by everyday life. Factors such as stress, work and posture can all cause discomfort but sports massage gets into the deep tissues and helps reduce pain, relax the muscles and aid posture, mobility and strength.

Without doubt sports massage is great for athletes (which is why Gemma is a regular face with The Panthers)  but it’s also of benefit to the average active personFor example are you a keen golfer? Or used to playing a bit of football with kids? Perhaps you’re a regular gym user or runner? All your muscles work hard when staying active and sports massage can help keep you at your best.

Not only that, it’s also an ideal compliment to chiropractic treatments as they work in tandem helping to reduce pain.

Well, it’s all change here at Hands on Health, not only have we launched our new website and e-newsletter but we’ve also invested in a brand new digital  x-ray suite. With this fabulous new piece of kit we’ll be able to capture much better images and paitents will even be able to have a copy on CD if they wish.

But that’s not all, over the next few months we’re upgrading to an electronic booking system complete with digital paitent notes, and text message reminders, so you never have to miss an appointment ever again!