The Optimise Health Blog

 Here in the UK many still practise the Christian tradition of Lent: the discipline of giving something up to consider living simply, frequently a food item and for health benefit. The idea is to mimic the 40 day fast undertaken by Jesus in the wilderness, when he was tested by the devil and tempted to prove he was ready to start his mission. In England we start by making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday - to use up the sweet stuff in the larder so we are not tempted to eat it again for the duration of lent and to fuel the fast. Today the focus may be more about the challenge of reining in appetite or curbing bad habits like smoking or eating treats to excess and less about Christs' 40 days and nights in the desert being stalked by satan. Interestingly most ancient traditions held in them the concept of feasts: I.E. celebrating a particular event or time of year with a party and food. This meant eating special luxuries or taking pleasure in rarer foods or harvest time...

So you're eating breakfast and starting the energy "boiler" on a fast burn every morning. The boiler needs regular stoking to keep burning at this pace, with stimulation from regular exercise alongside regular food and fluid intake to keep the fires burning. In the old days when men worked the land they might eat up to four times a day without getting fat because they were constantly exercising in daily life, walking to work, hefting loads and digging etc. These days we have to trick our sedentary bodies into running at a higher metabolic rate by eating smaller portions, more often, while catching exercise where we can. So have smaller meals and healthy snacks imbetween with fluids, while increaseing exercise. A days food/fluid intake might look like this: 0730 get up drink 1 pint cold water 0745 eat small bowl of low sugar muesli and drink black coffee or tea 0800 cycle to work 1100 eat a banana and drink more water 1300 eat a sandwich and drink pint o...

It seems your mum was right about one thing - breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Imagine your body metabolism is like a boiler. You light the boiler first thing in the day and it burns more energy throughout the whole 24 hours, supplying the body with what it needs. If you don't eat breakfast you don't light the boiler - your body remains in "starvation mode" and you will only start burning energy when your energy levels slump having used up all readily available glycogen stores in your muscles -these are broken down into sugar for the bloodstream to the brain and other essential organs. When your energy slumps you crave sugar fast and reach for the wrong snack at elevensies. If your body is in starvation it immediately saves all energy intake in the form of fat because it is uncertain when the next meal will come. Now you don't have to eat half a pig and ten eggs to light the boiler - just some slow release carbs in bread or cereal (get...

So you drink stuff through the day. How much of it contains sugar or caffeine? How much pure water do you drink? So why do we need so much water? Because our body cells are made up of 98% water. Its the stuff of life. Often your brain gets confused between dehydration / thirst and hunger/ appetite. If you want to kickstart your metabolism to lose weight drink a pint of cold water on waking. Then drink a pint BEFORE every meal - you will be surprised to find you eat less as your thirst is slaked and your true appetite remains. Initially you may pee more, but the kidneys soon get used to it. If your wee is yelllow you are chronically dehydrated, so drink water till the wee is clear - as they say at LIVESTRONG.COM - KEEP IT CLEAR. You should aim to drink 2-3 L of water or around 6 pints a day, more if working in heat or a physical occupation. Any less than this and you're into tension headaches, mood swings, poor concentration, energy slumps and overeating to slake y...

So are you up to the challenge? This one launched at The CVM Gathering 2011 #TG2011 today where 36 guys and counting stepped up to commit to lose weight by Christmas. This next challenge is to help us guys get the belly fat off - we want to reduce our waist at the widest point breathing out, so we are healthier, have lower risk of heart disease and cancer and can live to see our grandkids grow up. The challenge is to #BEATTHEBELLY and lose a stone in 6 months by Christmas 2011. The longer timeframe means that this is aimed to be a sustained change, not a crash diet! Regular tips on how to do this will follow in the blog - feel free to comment and give feedback on your experience and if you have any other tips to share please let all of us know -we need all the help we can get. So follow on twitter #BEATTHEBELLY or follow this blog and to accept the challenge send an email to me at info@sinclairhealth.co.uk Good luck and lets hope we are all a little more trim come Chr...

Men traditionally dont like going to the doctors. We dont like admitting a problem or that we need help and we will try anything else first to avoid a visit to the doc.  From the 20's onwards any physical or mental symptoms generally should be taken seriously.  When we are younger we need to suck up abit of pain, but as we age we need regular checkups to maintain the body we inhabit. For example on average men take 10 years to come forward and get diagnosed with diabetes compared to women.  That means ten years of suffering symptoms such as weight gain, fatigue, erectile dysfunction and urinary frequency in silence.  It also means ten years of damage to the heart and organs and years off your life which could be avoided. Our comprehensive health checks screen for serious disease symptoms and signs with an online assessment backed up with clinical tests with a doctor at your workplace. A stress busting lifestyle review is central to the Whole Man Health C...

So you decide to go to see the GP. You arrive and get an imaginary gold medal for trying to get through the front door, past the scary receptionist and surviving the cacophony of the kids, toys, coughs and old ladies in the waiting room. Your name is called and you go in, sit down and say " I don't want to bother you, but I just wanted to ask you to have a look at my ear" knowing full well you have a secret list of 3 other things; you really need to check out the GP and make sure you can trust them with your secret list. The GP looks in your ear, says you have wax and gives you an excellent 8 minute advice session about ear hygiene and wax treatment.  Then he ushers you towards the door "very nice to meet you.."- but "hang on" you think, " I haven't got out my secret list yet"! As you near the door you blurt out - "There are a few other things..." but you're too late, the GP has other patients to see and is already r...

This is my all time hero, Bill Young. He obtained this position for a few reasons: At 96 my Grampa was the last surviving member of the Triple Crown winning Scotland Rugby Team of 1938 . He met king George VI and was a living legend. He was a doctor and went to Kenya as a missionary during WW II, surviving torpedo attacks on the long sea voyage, stitching tribal warriors scalps back on and running a hospital in a remote mountainous area for many years. I wanted to become a doctor because of his stories of adventure serving faithfully in the roles he was called to, from wing forward to father, from missionary to mentor. I encourage men everywhere to step up like my Grampa and become living legends: to be inspirational role models to sons, fathers, brothers and boys everywhere; but specifically in the area of their health. Us men are especially bad at getting things checked at the doctors. We think that big boys don't cry and try to ignore symptoms in the hop...