Some general musings on the likes of Herbalife/juice+/body wraps etc

Whenever you see the opening line "i'm often asked..." the writer is probably fabricating that bit and just using it to flex their knowledge or simply push their services. Now this is no different for me right now, so "i'm often asked...." about herbalife, juice+, raspberry ketones, body wraps etc and whatever other fad type diet is out there at the time, my response is to send them a few links to read from other people i respect, whats the point in me typing out what's already been said so many times.

I have refrained from commenting publicly and writing an article on these for a good few years now, despite being asked by magazines or online publications, so many people, some who are just regurgitating what they read without understanding, have an opinion on these types of companies and love to shout about it, love to be seen as being against these companies, like it's some sort of credibility badge. Deal with these people the same as you deal with reps, push them on their reasons, their knowledge and understanding, it is up to you to gather all of the information and make an informed choice. Chances are a high % won't actually understand and most will just say "Errr pyramid selling" but is that worse than 'regurgitated information shouting' not in my eyes. The person who needs to understand, who finds themselves in a situation where they are considering these products, probably through desperation or insecure feeling is actually no better off.

So what about my sell? Well consider this. Herbalife and the such cost you around £100 per month. Envisage paying that for the rest of your life, well you wouldnt would you? So you're already subconsciously stating you're looking for a quick fix and in agreement that it's not a long term solution to your current situation. Let's go one step further, what after that quick fix? Do you know anymore, understand any better about your body or food, do you think you'll have made progress in any way other than losing some weight? No you probably wont and you won't have advanced your knowledge that you could pass on to your family and friends either. You'll understand that one aspect, be it a shake, juices, detox or wraps. But you can't and won't enjoy living like that for the rest of your life. Plus your partner, kids and family won't benefit from it (unless you become another rep and push it hard on them. Seriously don't do that).

"So i get asked a lot..." do i do nutrition and training plans and what do they entail. The amount of people on my friends list i get messages from, sometimes 2, 3 or even 4 times over a number of years, all people i know i can help hear my prices see my explanation of it not being a quick fix but a lifestyle change and then just don't even say thanks or reply, well i've lost count. Do you think i don't check their progress every time they message me again?! I always do and zero improvement has been made. Sometimes these are the same people who will post up asking their friends about herbalife/juice+ etc, you can almost read the desperation.

So they're happy to pay £100 a month for a fad, something that has loads of negatives written about it, but when i quote £150 a month for full nutritional coaching which will change the way you eat, arm you with recipes to suit any situation, change the way you look at food, won't sell you shakes, juices or supplements, will positively impact your families nutrition, give you an education you can pass on and definitely won't wrap you in cling film. I have a proven track record with an academic background and can get the results you want. I'm also pretty well respected by my peers. People still compare me to the fad diets?!

Now i'm not the only one who can do that for you, there are plenty of other highly qualified people out there who can coach and help you make the changes you want or need to in your life. It really is just about finding the right person for you to work with.

So when you need to sort your nutrition out ask yourself whether you need to go and see someone who knows about all aspects of nutrition including shakes, juices, detoxing, low carb, performance nutrition, paleo, gluten free, atkins etc or do you go to someone who understands and is 'selling' just one option.

The reason not to use one size fits all, fad options is because by the end of it you'll actually be no better off and the money invested helps only you for the time using it.

The key 'good' nutritional habits to implement

One of the key aspects of any nutrition plan i work on with clients is to initially break and form new habits.

A habit is defined as a regular tendency or practice, hard to give up.

We obviously do not want to break good habits, we want to form new one's but bad habits are one's we need to break in order to make progress. The reason for this is because a good nutrition plan focussed on goals should always have an underlying base of good healthy nutritional habits.

The key habits i always initially work on with clients are:

1) increase fruit and vegetable intake - Predominantly from green veg to begin with. It is evident with many people that they are not eating enough fruit and vegetables, the notion of 5 a day being enough is dated and misunderstood, if you train hard then you'll need more than a granny, but the government still recommends the same amount, go figure?! Aim to eat vegetables with every meal to begin with, usually 2 palm sized amounts. Fruit can follow a meal as a dessert and is great with crushed nuts and some greek yoghurt.

2) Hydration - make sure you are drinking enough water. This is simply the most important nutrient for the body above all others, you'll die sooner without water than without food! Males aim for 2 litres per day and females 1.5l as a starting point. Add 0.5l per hour of training.

3) Increase the protein you eat. To make this easy eat some protein at every meal. It should be the first nutrient that you think about when putting your meal together. Prioritise this and vegetables and your body composition will naturally improve as will your energy levels. Protein helps boost metabolism, keeps you feeling fuller for longer and helps with recovery and building of lean muscle from strenuous work outs. Males aim for a fist sized portion with each meal, half of this for females (3-5 meals per day). Most people are hugely under eating protein too and the research which suggest eating too much protein is bad for your health is actually incorrect and always fails to stand up to the scrutiny of real science.

4) Embrace fats - Healthy fats that is, just like people not all fats are created equal. Avoid artificial trans fats, usually found in processed foods. Eat mainly oily fish, nuts, seeds, avocado's, eggs and real butter. Not only will these fats give you plenty of nutrients they will also help improve body composition. The old adage of all fats being bad is dated and incorrect.

5) Learn to love the kitchen again - This one is key, way too many people have detached from the kitchen and are cooking only a few meals from scratch each week. Overhaul your kitchen, fill it with single ingredient (non-processed) and whole foods and buy some good healthy recipe books. Making the kitchen a place you enjoy being is a habit that will serve you well for the rest of your life. If you can't cook, don't worry, a good recipe book along with Youtube instructional videos will see you competent in the kitchen in no time. Confidence comes from consistency.

6) Sleep - you can eat the perfect diet for you, train as hard as you like but if you don't rest enough your body will never run optimally and stress will become a limiting factor. Aiming for 8 hours a night is a great starting point. If you have trouble sleeping you may notice this changes when you move to other healthier eating habits as vital nutrients used to aid sleep are no longer deficient. However like all other habits, you have to be consistent. This means going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time each morning, allow your mind to relax before bed too, minimise distractions such as the internet, your phone or TV at least 30 minutes before bed.

Habits generally take 3 weeks to adopt and become a 'habit' therefore take your time implementing them, there's no rush to adopt all the one's listed above immediately, remember eating healthy is a lifestyle choice not a quick fix. The results you get from adopting healthier habits will last you longer than any fad diet will.

What about breaking bad habits? I'll cover that in the next article.

An insight in to what i will cover is:
Have a go at implementing the good habits and watch the old bad habits drop off.

If you have any questions about the points above or your own nutrition in general then please feel free to ask.

David

Introduction to Sports Nutrition workshop - Saturday 6th September

This one full day workshop will introduce you to the science of sports nutrition used in order to promote exercise and sports performance. You will learn how to use diet and nutritional strategies to optimise performance and look at ways to enhance your/clients sporting goals.

Having studied Sports Nutrition at degree level I have worked with many different athletes of varying levels and capabilities, using sound scientific research I have always delivered for my clients. From working with professional boxers needing to drop weight fast through to professional footballers coming back from injury. What I have learned over the last decade since I started studying nutrition is that the level of misunderstanding across the board around key sports nutrition strategies is huge, with physios, S&C coaches, and sports coaches in general being influenced by their own surroundings. This has led to many conflicting practices, with the athlete being the one losing out.

This one day workshop will give you the tools to assess athletes and make recommendations where you see fit. I have brought together all of my experience of achieving results and my own learning and research techniques to put together a course which not only gives you a great underpinning knowledge or sports nutrition but also acts as a spring board to constantly improve your knowledge. Had this course been available to me when I started out on my journey of studying nutrition my learning experience would have been much quicker.

My aim is to empower you with real world, usable skills and knowledge that you can instantly implement in to your own diet or that of your clients. An understanding of the basic principles of nutrition is required, however this is not a barrier to entry, you will be supplied with your own reading list for before the event.

The one day workshop will include, presentations, discussions, case studies and post course reading with 1-2-1 feedback.

The workshop will take place over a full day (9am-6pm) and all food will be included, this will be held at Nourish in Sheffield.

The workshop programme has been constructed and reviewed by leading nutritionists and dietitians. By the end you'll be confident to understand sports nutrition's key principles and how to apply them.

The course content includes:

• Basic Nutrition - The importance of being healthy first

• Hydration - 
• Factors influencing fluid needs
• Calculating fluid needs
• Achieving optimal hydration

• Macronutrients - 
• Carbohydrates 
• Debunking CHO myths
• Why CHO is important in sports nutrition
• Requirements for different settings/disciplines
• Carb loading, depletion, cycling and timing 
• Protein 
• Understanding the role of protein in the diet
• Sport specific requirements
• protein turnover
• optimising recovery and timing
• Fat 
• Understanding the types
• The role of fat in athletes diet and health
• High fat diets - recent research
• Nutrient timing and the importance in sport

• Assessing the needs of an athlete
• Looking at the methods used to assess the needs of an athlete
• What data is required
• Physiological assessment 
• Interview and questionnaire protocols 

• Nutritional strategies - what, when and how to use them (Myth debunking)
• Competition prep and optimising recovery

• Supplements - what, when and how to use them

• Meal planning - case studies and discussions, putting it in to practice 

Once completed you'll know how to get better results with yourself or clients, apply and implement the scientific knowledge you've gained in to real world settings instantly, improve your professional development skill set and set yourself up to understand the growing field of sports nutrition and it's importance.

This workshop is aimed at:
PT's
Sports coaches
Osteopaths
Chiropractors
Physio's
Nutritionists 
Any therapist who works with clients who exercise - from casual gym users to elite athletess 

This will be an intense day of learning, with breaks for food. You will be expected and encouraged to discuss your own views and beliefs around nutrition. There will be limited places available in order to keep the interaction levels of high quality. Questions will be encouraged.

You will also be given a list of recommended reading as well as a blog, social media and journals list to keep your knowledge updated. Please note the workshop will be recorded, if you wish to not be in the recording then please state so at the time of booking. 

Dates:

Saturday 6th September (early bird book by 9th August)

Future dates TBC

Cost 

Early Bird booking (4 weeks before date) is £80 (£10 donated to Archer Project Sheffield)

Standard booking £100 (£10 donated to Archer Project Sheffield)

Webinar booking

This option will be available later in the year. Once you have attended one of the workshop dates you will be given access to one of the following dates streamed webinar 

To book your place simply email me david@totalbodydevelopment.co.uk

Payment
50% non-refundable deposit will be require upon booking with the remainder to paid on the day.

If you have an interest in sports nutrition and want to accelerate your learning and your clients results, then this course is for you. Do not wait to book on until the last minute, strictly limited numbers.

Updated client packages - July 2014

Having now worked with many clients of all levels, i have of late found myself taking on clients in need of a quick fix, results within a matter of weeks or client enquiries with unrealistic goals. This i believe has sprung up from the countless dehydrated, carb depleted fast turnaround photo's which social media seems to be full of. 

In the past year i've been so busy with Nourish that my client work has had taken a back seat, in that time i've worked with many of clients to get great results, of which i'm very proud. The one's i really enjoyed working with were the one's i worked closer with to achieve their goals. Some have been the type of clients who want to show their photo's off, others it's been about changing their life for the better. I've also worked with a handful of clients i'd consider to have 'slipped through the net' and by that i mean if i'd have been solely doing client work i would have not taken them on, i have chosen to learn from these clients too though. The one's who make excuses for not sticking to a diet, for prioritising their unhealthy habits over making real change, the one's who thought payment alone equalled results. In essence the one's who wanted it but didn't want to do what it takes to really change. Those are the people i'm moving away from working with.

All of this has lead me to assessing how i view client work, my working day is long and my main goal is Nourish, my healthy fast food restaurant. But i will always enjoy working closely with clients and so i have decided that i will limit the number of clients i work with at any one time, i'll be more selective and each client i work with must have an understanding of what it will take to achieve their goals. The important bit is they must have a real goal. I do consider myself to be above the usual PT, i have achieved a lot more than the average trainer or even nutritionist, i put that down to the fact i work hard to constantly improve and i'm a believer in the science, not the fiction of nutrition. I do not want to become another guy that just sells 6 pack packages and makes this a numbers game. It's not and never has been about turning out programmes for as many people as possible. I'll leave that to the cookie cutter/copy & paste trainers.

This is why from now on the only rule i will have with clients is we get the job done. It's not about programmes at arms length, i do that with my elite clients who don't get paid if they don't perform so have to stick to my nutritional plans, it's about working with more real people who really need to change.

My whole ethos and outlook has changed. If you want to get ripped for a holiday hit google, have some discipline and stop whining. If however you want to be the fittest you've ever been, get out of a rut, feel the best you can, enter a race or competition you never thought you could even enter or you simply want to live a much better life and want my help on that journey then that's what i want to do more of.

The only package available from now in will the guaranteed results package. Minimum packages will be £2000 for 6 months.

David