Body Express

Tip of the Day : Curb your hunger, stop overeating and get summer ready!

‘I’m hungry, but I just had lunch an hour ago’ 

‘ Its hard to stay on a diet when I’m hungry all the time’ 

‘ I’m eating so much, I’m never going to lose this weight!’ 

Sounds familiar? Panicking by the second because summer is coming and you still can’t lose the excess weight? Don’t fret. This is probably because you are not reading your hunger cravings the way your body wants you to. You see, our body is  pretty resilient and stubborn. Despite it being used in a way it is not supposed to, you body still strives to provide you with the energy you need to get through the day. So it is about time for it to gain some respect from you. Yes, that’s it. Respect your body, and it will return the favour. Insisting on the opposite, and what you will get is a body that is both weak and unsightly to behold because it is not functioning at full capacity.

Hunger cravings, is a sign that your body is deficit in a certain essential nutrient. And when it needs it, it sends signals to your brain to inform you that it needs to get the vital nutrients outside of the body. Here’s an interesting fact. Vitamins was derived from “vitamine,” a compound word coined in 1912 by the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk. The name is from vital and amine, meaning amine of life, because it was suggested in 1912 that the organic micronutrient food factors that prevent beri-beri and perhaps other similar dietary-deficiency diseases might be chemical amines. This proved incorrect for the micronutrient class, and the word was shortened to vitamin.

So where can we get vitamins from? Fruits and veggies of course. ‘But they’re so unappealing, besides, a cupcake looks prettier, and tastes better!’  Okay, lets take a step back from that and have a closer look at them veggies and fruits. Notice something? They seem to resemble parts of the body. Now take it from there. Maybe they have something that part of the body needs. A carrot slice seems to resemble the pupils in your eyes. Bingo! Carrots contains Vitamin A, that protects the surface of they eye,ensuring good vision.

Below is a diagram of other vegetables and fruits that brings benefits to the body. So now instead of force feeding yourself to have your ’5 serves a day’ think of how amazing you are going to look by eating these on a regular basis!In just 35 days, you literally become what you eat! ( refer to above picture). Just in time to spring into your summer body!

Body Express Membership – how it works

The Body Express Team has heard you! From the feedback we have received over the last month, we have decided to do away with our old pricing system of categorizing treatments and setting the amount of treatments you should receive so that you can decide how you want your treatments to be spaced and done with one easy system.

Here’s an example:

Anna buys a $500 Membership package. With the membership, she receives $900 value program

• $50 added to her membership so she gets $550 worth of credit
• nutritional guide and advice worth $150
• workout and lifestyle program worth $100
• welcome gift worth $100

In addition she also receives lifetime discounts for future promotions, members-only access to events, seminars and courses.

So, she starts her personalised treatment program:

Her problems are cellulite on the thighs and she will be leaving for Bali in 2 weeks for her holiday .

The therapist recommends 2x 60 mins of the Infrared + Wrap , 1x 40 mins Vacuum/Lymphatic Drainage and 1x 40 mins RadioFrequency done over a period of 2 weeks

So Anna has $550 worth of credit because she bought a membership pack. The treatments will cost her

——————————————————–         

Anna has saved herself $ 250( including $50 free credit ) on treatments, she had treatments recommended according to her needs to achieve the best results, free gift, and nutrition and training program to supplement her weight loss routine.

She will also be in place to receive further members only discounts for future promotions.

Join our exclusive club to receive all the benefits.

Our membership starter pack is half price ($250) for 1 week only! Click here to claim this great offer!

Get Started on that Summer Body Now!

When the temperature starts to rise, so does the hemline. In some cases, so does the stress.

“Oh no! Where did my waistline go?”
“Ugh! How did cellulite start getting here?”
“I wonder if my clothes shrank…”

You get the picture. (pun unintended)

Are you starting to panic? Fear not, it is still not too late to get a kick start on your summer weight loss. Here we present a couple of handy tips to get rid of those ‘winter warmers’. However, it is useful to know that it takes up to a month to notice a significant change in appearance from making lifestyle and dietary changes so why not start now?

Take baby steps

Exercise – If winter has been stopping you from getting active and you are finding it hard to dive into a full intensive workout regime, start small. If 30 minutes sounds like a lot, try 5 minutes here and there throughout the day. It adds up. If the couch and the remote sounds more alluring, try doing exercise during ads (think situps, squats, planks, leg lifts, push ups ) instead of hunting for snacks, and rest when your favourite show is on. The key here is, get moving a bit at a time. It all adds up.

Food – ‘I’m on a seafood diet. When I see food, I eat it’. It is so easy to indulge and hide the bulge during winter, but when summer rolls along, it doesn’t seem as easy to hide the winter excesses. Going on a complete dietary overhaul is not only drastic; it also creates a sense of deprivation, especially when food groups that you love tend not to be on the good list.  Instead, why not make small changes to your diet on a gradual basis? Simple steps such as having one less bite of the chocolate bar, or one less extra snack a day, or even having one less ‘bad’day a week? That way, you still get to indulge, not feel deprived and also get yourself on the right track to a slimmer, healthier body in time for summer!

Water- ‘Don’t falter, Drink water!’ Water is your best friend, when it comes to keeping the weight off. Feeling peckish? Have a glass of water! It maybe you’re just dehydrated, and your body needs water. Sluggish? A good ol’glass of water may just boost your circulation and give you that hidden energy. Calorie counting? Having a glass of water before eating fills you up, so you will eat less at a meal. Even more, Water helps with digestion so you don’t get a bloated belly. Need more convincing? Well, water doesn’t cost much, and it doesn’t require too much effort to get it into your diet, and an added bonus is that you burn calories running to the bathroom as well!

Quality vs Quantity – So you have stuck with the program, kept your activity levels up, and you think it is time to reward yourself. So why not get yourself a luxurious trip to the spa, or buy that dress that you’ve always dreamt of owning? That way, not only it will keep you motivated to stay with the workout or the diet, you will also be more inclined to stay on the wagon instead of falling off easily. Food wise, if it’s chocolate or that sinful indulgence that you have always wanted to have but can’t, go ahead and spend a little bit more on some gourmet foodstuff from your local specialty store! Not only you will be satisfied with just a little, it will also keep you from overindulging and thus lesser the empty calories you ingest. However, it is wise to keep in mind of your goal to lose the excess weight, so therefore treat yourself in moderation!

Think Positive – Last but not least, it is all about mind over matter. When you are faced with an over ambitious resolve coupled with an utter lack of motivation to start losing weight, think, what benefit do I get from this? This could be the determination to head to the gym, or go out for a walk, or maybe even getting your gym gear on. It even could be just heading into the kitchen to prepare a healthy meal! Chances are, once you have given a thought to it, you will realize that you have nothing to lose by attempting the task, only those excess baggage that you’ve always wanted to get rid off!

Belly Fat, Be gone!

Whatever you are doing must not be working. If it is, then why would you be reading this?

          First of all, lets look at some facts. For a man to have his abs pop out from the shame of his spare tire, his body fat must fall at or BELOW 10 percent. For a woman’s abs to appear like a forest out of a fog, she has to have her body fat at 12 percent or LESS. Some women’s abs could appear at 14 percent or less, depending on the thickness of their abdominal muscles.

Now, don’t throw in the towel, you’ll need it soon enough! If you are still light years away from achieving the figures stated above, worry not, below are some tips to ensure that the journey there is not an uphill battle of eternal futility. All it takes here is some dedication and elbow grease to get you closer to your goal, wherever that maybe.

#1 Watch your Sodium Intake -This is probably the easiest, unless you’re swimming in it. Sodium increases water retention to the abdominal region, so if you have a high salt meal one night, expect to notice a difference the very next night. Fortunately, the reverse occurs just as fast. Based on this fact, reducing your salt intake is a very effective way of looking leaner almost overnight if you have a special event or function coming up.

#2 Add Instability to your Workout Program - Simply because when you reduce your stability, your abdominal muscles will be forced to react (contraction occurs) to maintain balance. Andengaging your abs this way helps to strengthen and build the muscle fibres, thus creating more definition to give you that ripped look. This can be done by incorporating an exercise ball or a BOSU ball in your weights routine. However, note that you shouldn’t do ALL your exercises on the ball as you also do want to lift as heavy as possible most of the time, but doing one or two per session would be beneficial .

#3 Drop your Carbs -Carbs work the same way sodium does to your body, so by dropping carbs you will also drop water weight. In addition, the gut flora digesting carbs increases bloating so in tandem with losing water weight, you will also reduce bloating.

Keep in mind that in the first few days of carbohydrate reduction, you might experience higher levels of fatigue in your workouts and feel slighty dizzy as your body tries to adapt to the lower carbohydrate level. Within a week or so, you will feel better provided that you are getting sufficient energy intake in the form of proteins and healthy fats. Examples of carbs that you should be reducing would be grains and wheat based carbs (pasta, bread)  as these have a higher fluid retention factor than leafy greens.

#4 Reduce your Rest periods to 30 seconds – By reducing your rest periods between workout sets, you will be engaging your muscles more often in a shorter period, thus increasing your muscle development potential. The more muscle you have, the more active tissue, resulting in a higher metabolism and higher fat burning potential.

#5 Take ONE week off cardio -If the cardio machines are your best friends, consider taking a week off your cardio routine. In many cases where cardio forms the bulk of a weight loss program, the body actually retains more water than it should. Once cardio training is reduced, the muscles start to look leaner, despite the lower calorie expenditure.

Another thing that may be occurring with this is that since you are creating a large energy deficit with the diet and exercise, your body may be slowing down its metabolism, which doesn’t help much with fat loss. By taking a break from cardio and sticking to a diet, you reduce the calorie deficit and your metabolic rate speeds up again, allowing weight loss to take place once more.

One thing to keep in mind is that when it comes to getting six pack abs, there is nothing more important than sticking to a good diet combined with smart weightlifting. Once you get that down to an art form, then you can move on to some minor details that you can play around with to take your progress to the next level.

Supplement of the day : Chia Seeds

            Chia seeds have been used as food for humans for many thousands of years. They were so good, that the Mayans and the Aztecs used it as one of the staple foods in their diet.

            In recent years, they have been rediscovered and the health benefits of this forgotten crop have not gone unnoticed by the FDA, classifying it as food and placing no recommended limits on its consumption and part in a normal diet.

So how exactly does chia seeds aid in achieving that elusive weight loss goal? Here’s how.

Firstly, the nutritional value of the seeds alone will contribute to a healthier body, and therefore more energy. Understandably, a person with more energy will be more inclined to pursue more physical activity such as getting out of bed for a run in the morning than an individual who feels fatigued. This is due to the abundance of nutrients found in these seeds.

The nutrient values of chia seeds compared to some common foods are astounding.
Chia seeds contains :-

15x  MORE Magnesium than Brocolli
8x    MORE Omega 3 than Salmon
6x    MORE Calcium than Whole Milk
3x    MORE Iron than Spinach
30% MORE Antioxidants than Blueberries and
25% MORE Fibre than Flaxseed.

As such, it is undeniable that supplementing your diet with these seeds will feed your body with nutrients it may otherwise lack, resulting in better health and more energy. Not convinced? The table below shows how calcium, magnesium and iron, which is abundant in chia seeds, would help in giving you that bang for your buck when you partake in physical activity.

Secondly, chia seeds can assist in weight loss because it acts as a bulking agent when mixed with water, forming a gel-like compound. This chia gel can either be consumed prior to meals to reduce overconsumption and also be used as a substitute in various recipes as a low calorie thickening agent.

The chia gel functions as a hunger suppressant and a satiety agent by slowing down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates in the system, thus ensuring that you stay full for a longer period without sudden peaks in blood sugar. Therefore, feeling full for longer, without highs and lows in energy, will certainly help in keeping excess weight off as it reduces the need for unhealthy snacking to ‘keep’ energy levels up.

Lastly, the action of the chia gel in the digestive tract acts like a broom, cleaning out your intestine as it makes its way through the system. This action helps to clear the body of toxins as well as foodstuffs that may be slow in passing through the system, like meats and dairy products which are low in fiber. Despite eating healthily on a daily basis, your digestive tract may still contain remnants of unhealthy food from past bad food choices (think pasta, pizza, chocolate, ice cream, the works!). A cleaner body is a body that sends clearer signals. Over time, you may find that you do not get so many cravings for bad foods simply as a result of a cleaner body that doesn’t desire such foods.

People have noticed the health benefits of eating chia seeds by taking as little as 1 teaspoon a day of the seeds. Generally, the recommended dosage would be 1-2 tablespoons per day.  When taking chia seeds as a weight loss supplements, most individuals find that 3-4 tablespoons taken throughout the day confers steady and effective weight loss results.

So if you find your weight loss progress have stalled despite doing all the right things and eating all the right foods, maybe the addition of chia seed/gel to your daily diet may help in getting things ‘going’ again in more ways than you can count!

Supplement of the day – Fish Oil

Fish oil has been mentioned time and again in various publications about its benefits as a supplement to achieve your weight loss goals.

This is due to the key ingredient found in fish oils, which are Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3s are a type of polyunsaturated fat found primarily in seafood. When taken as part of a healthy diet or as a supplement , omega 3 fatty acids confers several benefits to the human body, such as hormone regulation, improving bone health and cardiovascular profile, preventing the incidences of cancer by acting as an antioxidant, and also promoting fat loss efficiency.

One of the key reasons as to why omega 3 fish oil has such a powerful effect on fat metabolism is its effect on insulin levels.

Insulin is a hormone that reduces the use of fat for fuel, while also promoting fat storage in the presence of excess calories.It increases the activity of an enzyme known to promote the storage of fat and inhibits the action of hormone sensitive lipase, which is responsible for breaking down stored fat and preparing it for use as energy.

Insulin also activates an enzyme, which, along with fatty acid synthesis, is responsible for converting carbohydrate into fat.

Simply put, high levels of insulin make it less likely that your body will use stored fat as a fuel source. However, when fish oil is added to the diet, various study subjects have shown up to a  50% reduction in insulin levels, resulting in an improved utilization of fat as energy.

Rich sources of natural omega 3s can be found in fatty fish such as salmon, trout, some species of tuna and also sardines. For vegetarians, omega 3s can be found in avocados, flaxseed oil and also chia seeds.

So in conclusion, if you have been doing all the right things when it comes to diet and exercise but are not seeing the results that you expect, fish oil may be the key.

Hormones and loosing weight

Do you feel like already have tried all possible diets, exercise programs and gyms around and still carry extra fat?! There is a little fat-loss secret – our hormones are the key to losing those last kilos of stubborn fat. Hormones determine if you gain fat but also where you do it and whether you are able to lose it from those areas.

The most common type of fat storage that we can notice in women is the pear shape. This body type is heavily dependent on the female sex hormone called oestrogen. High level of this hormone makes really hard to lose fat especially from your lower body.  In this case we need to fight oestrogen with the hormone testosterone. The best way to release more testosterone into our body is heavy weights training. I recommend also consuming more quality protein in our diet; eat a small protein source at every meal, such as lean meat, fish, nuts, eggs. Add zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 supplements to your diet as they promote testosterone production and increase your muscle building capacity.

Problem with love handles? Again the reason of this stubborn fat is how your body reacts to certain hormones. The people who store fat in the love handles and lower back are generally very insulin-resistant. Insulin resistance makes very hard to lose fat storage from these areas. To understand insulin resistance let’s start from explaining insulin sensitivity. It’s a term used to describe people who require relatively normal or low level of insulin to process glucose (sugar). People with insulin resistance, on the other hand, need a lot of insulin to process glucose and this lead to health problems. These people don’t deal well with carbs and anything other than a low-carb diet means that they are going to hang on to some excess fat. The good news is that again certain types of training, changes in diet and reducing stress level can help to increase insulin sensitivity. The type of foods you put into your body greatly determine your chances for developing or preventing insulin resistance. Processed foods that are low in nutritional value and high in sugar can greatly increase your insulin levels. Try cutting these foods out of your diet and replace them with fresh fruits, vegetables, and organic foods. Substitute foods made with whole grains, such as brown rice and whole wheat pasta, for those created from processed flour.

You should also cut down on the amount of saturated fats you consume. Try replacing meats high in fat with leaner cuts. Fish is also a great source of protein with very little fat. Consuming a diet high in protein and fibre and low in saturated fat is one of the best ways to increase insulin sensitivity.

Another way you can increase insulin sensitivity is to maintain an active lifestyle. Routinely exercise or take part in mildly strenuous activities. Aerobics and resistance training which involve using more than one muscle group at a time can go a long way toward helping you decrease insulin resistance. In addition to making necessary changes to your diet and increasing physical activity, reducing stress levels can also greatly increase your insulin sensitivity. An increase in stress hormones produced in the body can lead to insulin resistance. Learning how to reduce or eliminate high levels of stress is vital to increasing your insulin sensitivity. Make sure to get an adequate amount of sleep each night and maintain a healthy diet. Other methods of decreasing stress levels include deep breathing, yoga, and meditation.

The most common type of regional fat storage is belly fat. If this isn’t you, it’s someone you know. Abdominal fat storage obviously has a lot to do with diet and overall body fat level but it’s all about hormones as well. The one I am taking about is cortisol, called also as a “stress hormone”. Your body will produce this hormone under conditions of nearly any type of stress. Long duration cardio and extended lifting session are what produce the most cortisol so in this case very short but intense training sessions with minimal rest periods would be the best. They release a hormone calledGrowth Hormone (GH) which helps to counteract the effect of cortisol. Also stress-less food like high in vitamin C watermelon, broccoli, spinach, avocado, and blueberries may help lower cortisol level the same as fatty fish containing omega-3 or nuts.

Losing weight can be challenging, make sure you give yourself and your body time to adjust to your new lifestyle. More hormones are released when you are active. They help to break down fat, build muscle mass, strengthen bones, increase your metabolism, regulate blood sugar, and elevate your mood. If you increase your activity levels, your body will work with you to help lose weight. However, if you suspect there might be a problem with your hormones after trying to lead an active and healthy lifestyle make sure to talk with your doctor.

Supplement of the week- Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice use in various dishes for flavor.

But did you know that cinnamon aids in losing belly fat? 

Here is a fact : Cinnamon helps to enhance insulin sensitivity and reduce blood sugar , triglycerides and cholesterol levels. This is important as high blood sugar and insulin    levels promote fat storage, particularly in the abdominal area.

The fat cells in your abdomen are particularly sensitive to high insulin levels, and are very effective at storing energy – far more than the fat cells you’d find in other areas such as the lower body (i.e. hips, rear end, thighs). Because abdominal fat cells are so close to your digestive organs, and there is an extensive network of blood vessels circulating in the abdominal area, it’s even easier for fat cells to store excess glucose there. In short, cinnamon helps with targeting the stubborn fat around your abdominal area.

About ¼ to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon added to your daily meals is enough to produce some results. However, too much of a good thing is never good so it is advisable to keep your intake to 2 teaspoons or lesser.

There are many tasty and simple ways you can enjoy cinnamon, such as:-

• Adding cinnamon to your breakfast cereal or oatmeal
• Sprinkling on roasts or adding into meat marinades
• Adding cinnamon to butter or cream cheese
• Adding cinnamon sticks to your favourite herbal tea for an added taste,

To get the most out of the cinnamon you add to your recipes, make sure it is fresh. The best test is to open the jar in your kitchen and sniff. If the smell is strong and sweet your cinnamon is fresh. If the aroma is weak or non-existent, it’s time to throw it away and restock your spice rack. To keep cinnamon, seal the container tightly and store it away from the light. Alternatively, if the taste of cinnamon doesn’t thrill your senses, you can take a cinnamon supplement to reap the benefits of cinnamon too!