Is it healthier to drink spirits over beer?

With Liverpool having one of the best social scenes the country has to offer it is hard to escape the fact that this City loves to party. As a Liverpool Personal Trainer this makes my life difficult

when trying to teach clients not to party so much but this job also makes me a focal point when anybody wants to ask me about health & fitness so I am frequently asked a whole host of questions on different areas relating to health. 

I am now going to share with you just one question that I was asked just last week...

“D’ya know when I got out on a bender, will I lose weight if I drink spirits instead of larger”?

Once I had regained my composure after falling about laughing I looked at this person who was actually deadly serious and I answered his question and just about managed to keep a straight face. This is how I answered his question..

You are right to think there are not as many calories in spirits as there are in beer however it’s not calories that are the issue here. You’re liver will only process one unit of alcohol per hour therefore it will take 2 hours (roughly) to process 1 measure. If you like a good swig do you really think you will drink 1 measure over 2 hours.... hardly. 

Even for a lightweight like, myself, who could probably drink 1 an hour, that would mean my liver could not handle any more for at least another hour. The toxins then enter your system and intoxicate you!

You might be thinking what has that got to do with fat? Well, your liver is the amazing organ that not only processes the toxins in your system keeping you alive but it also metabolises fat. So faced with a choice of burning fat or processing the harmful chemicals in your body it will always favour keeping you alive therefore your ability to burn fat will be significantly hindered.

If you want my top tip on how to help alleviate this when going

out then try to reduce the amount you have (obviously) but then after every drink have a glass of water. Yes I know it’s not cool to drink water but it will give your liver a break and help you burn fat.

So try that and I hope it works out for you.

Keep healthy

The shocking truth about your food!

Following on from my last blog, where I briefly discussed the overview on how bad food is and the reasons why, I would now like to list a few simple and shocking facts to make you think differently about the food you buy. To read my last blog click here

As a personal trainer it’s my job to find out exactly what is going on with food so I can best inform my clients and these are just some of things I have found over the years. So get ready for a few uncomfortable truths:

1. A small bottle 200ml bottle of Robinson’s fruit shoots contains 5 teaspoons of sugar, not to mention the rest of the junk it contains! Think wisely when making your children’s pack lunch.

2. A bowel of kelloggs Frosties contains 6 teaspoons of sugar, Grrrrrrreeeaaaatt – yeh thanks Tony!

3. One can of coke contains 11 teaspoons of sugar – When you see coca cola think great taste with a short trip to the diabetes clinic!

4. Hydrogenated fats are present in margarine, biscuits, cakes, frozen meals, fried foods, sweets and crisps. This fat is full of hydrogen which allows it to remain solid in warm temperatures. This means it clings nicely around your artery walls. When eating the above think – do I want my artery walls plastered?

5. McDonalds Milkshakes – Ever wondered why there are over 50 different chemicals and ingredients in a strawberry milkshake but not one of them is strawberry??? Will leave you with that!

6. On average, in a ready meal beef lasagne there is only 11% beef (or horse depending on where you shop) so what is in the rest of it???

7. Did you know the FDA in the states accept one maggot contained in 250ml of citrus fruit as safe?

8. A few years ago an experiment was done on rats for breakfast cereal. They took a leading brand which must remain anonymous for legal reasons however the brand sounds like Telloggs. Two sets of rats, one was fed the cereal and the other was fed the cardboard box the cereal was contained in (mixed with milk of course as dry cardboard is just cruel). After 30 days they monitored the health of the rats and the ones eating the cardboard were in better health than the ones eating cereal... Thanks again Tony!

I could go on but I would be here all day writing this blog. So hope you have taken this on board and if you don’t believe me then go and research it. However it is the truth and because it is the truth I would like you to share this with all of your friends and family, everyone should read this! If you want to find out more or if you want to become an Elite member then email me on lewis@elitefitnessconsultants.co.uk or simply follow me on facebook or twitter and you will receive plenty of free health and fitness information.

Keep healthy

Exercise could be bad for you......Really?

I recently watched channel 4’s programme the Food Hospital which, I am a big fan of. However, I was disappointed when watching the recent episode which covered an experiment on how exercise can have adverse effects on the body. My obvious reaction to this being a personal trainer was “what a load of rubbish”. But as there was scientific credibility behind this, my curious mind forced me to look at a number of scientific papers that covered these shocking but “scientifically proven” claims.

My search did not take long, I went straight to PubMed to see what papers and studies had been published. For those of you that are not aware of PubMed, it is a database which holds thousands of medical literature and analysis papers, which, is a highly credible resource for medics, personal trainers and members of the public to access. I then found a recent paper which covered six different studies on 1687 individuals. The name of the paper is “Adverse Metabolic Response to Regular Exercise”. I won’t bore you with all the details of the paper so I will give you a brief synopsis.

The paper looked at the effects of exercise on the following; blood pressure, HDL levels (cholesterol), triglycerides and insulin was quantified. This study shown 10% of the people within the experiment had an adverse reaction to regular exercise over a number of weeks. So according to this research the scientist are right to say Exercise can be bad for you......or are they?

If you read the whole paper and the six studies, you may or may not notice 2 big holes in this research. Firstly, there is no consideration on what each individual is eating and drinking during this period and they categorise a healthy individual as someone who is not taking any medication. So does this mean that every person who is not taking any medication is healthy.....I think not! Secondly, there is no evidence to show if the individual’s are affected by medical drugs. In 4 of the 6 studies a great number of individuals were taking medical drugs for high blood pressure, hyperglycemia, or dyslipoproteinemia (abnormal lipoprotein).

The problem here is a tunnel vision approach on trying to prove how one element can have a negative impact. In this isolated capacity they may be right however there are so many factors that affect the human body that it is actually very difficult to prove that one single component can cause certain problems for certain people and this undoubtedly gives the wrong message to the general public, not to mention making every personal trainer across the land justify their existence. 

The fact still remains that regular exercise is good for you! The people trying to disprove this are scientists looking for a promotion or scientists wanting to promote the latest medical drugs. Regarding the 10% with the negative outcome, what do they suggest these people do - sit on the couch all day and eat crisps and chocolate?? Seriously, what are they thinking? The one thing scientists cannot deny is the human body, by design, is made to move. So is exercise really the problem?? Or could it be the way some individuals live their lives? 

Rather than get bogged down with all these confusing and often misleading studies and TV programmes, just try keeping an open mind. The topic of living a healthy lifestyle is not rocket science and if you can answer the common sense questionnaire below you know how to live healthily:

Q1. Is eating McDonald's and other fast foods good for you?
Q2. Is drinking Alcohol and smoking good for you?
Q3. Is regular exercise good for you?
Q4 Is eating a Chicken Salad good for you?

If you have answered these questions correctly you have the ability to look after yourself and greatly reduce the risk of many life threatening diseases (should you follow up on the answers).
We in the personal training world are big advocates on not just exercise but also, nutrition and lifestyle. A multi-layered approach is needed when improving your health and changing your body shape. Should you need any help with a healthy lifestyle then see a personal trainer within your area or download our free healthy living e-book.

Should you require any advice relating this article or anything regarding health & fitness then please do not hesitate to contact me on lewis@elitefitnessconsultants.co.uk I would be delighted to help you.

Keep healthy