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December 2009 Newsletter

Season's Greetings to all of our loyal readers, and a warm welcome to the last newsletter from Fitbiz Training for 2009!

This special festive edition includes:

• News from Fitbiz Training
• Lifestyle Tip: Interesting Facts About Water
• Seasonal Food Reminder
• Recipe: Winter Vegetable Crumble

As ever, please feel free to forward the newsletter to family or friends - and help them make the best possible start to the New Year!

News from Fitbiz Training

• I'm excited to announce that I've got two new personal trainers starting with me in the next couple of weeks. They'll be working with me to cover the Haslemere area, which is great news as I've had very limited availability for quite a while! Together now, we'll be able to help even more people get the fantastic results everyone else has been achieving with programs such as the 28 Day Challenge!
  
  
• Our ladies-only fitness group in Churt takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9.15am, and now has a couple of openings for new people to join. Sessions are brilliant fun, and the results the ladies have achieved so far are testament to the benefits of taking part. Get in touch if you'd like to come along!
  
  
• The article, "Surviving Christmas Without Putting On A Dress Size" is now available on the website, so please feel free download it for some seasonal advice and healthy eating tips.
  
  
• Have you become a fan of the Fitbiz Training facebook page yet? If not - do it now! This month I've added interesting discussions about the health benefits of basil, about the effect wheat could be having on you, and how fizzy pop is contributing to obesity.
  
  
• The tips I was asked to write for Life in Haslemere magazine about staying healthy in the New Year has been published in this month's edition. Copies are available in Tesco Haslemere, as well as a number of other places in and around Haslemere.

Lifestyle Tip: Interesting Facts About Water

The other day I listened to world-renowned fitness expert, Paul Chek, speaking about the seemingly simple subject of water. I found it very interesting so thought I should share the key points with you:

In any one second, there are over 10 billion chemical reactions taking place in your body; many of which are dependant on water. Indeed, approximately 60 percent of your body IS water! As such, when you become dehydrated, your energy will decrease and your system will start to collapse - your body starts slowing down, and eventually shutting down different systems. Which would you prefer to lose first: your immune system? Digestive system? Nervous system? Circulatory system?

For a rough guide of how many litres of water you need each day, take your bodyweight in kilograms and multiply it by 0.033. For a 60 kg adult (approximately 9 stone), that works out as around 2 litres daily, or 8 eight-ounce glasses. As another target, you should be producing roughly 1.5 litres of nearly colourless urine, per day.

If you find the amount of water you've calculated you need has you living in the toilet, it could be that it's a big change for your body, or it could be that the water is lacking in minerals; de-mineralised water will pass through your body much quicker than "real" water. Add a tiny pinch of natural sea salt to your water to re-mineralise it - the trick is to never be able to taste it.

Paul recommends you should avoid tap water where possible. Tap water contains chlorine which kills bacteria, particularly the good bacteria we have in our bodies. You should also avoid water which has been over-filtered, as it may dissolve minerals already present in your body, and pass them out - essentially sucking your system of minerals you need! Furthermore, biological dentists say that drinking large volumes of de-mineralised water will cause spontaneous cracking in your teeth.

Take a look at the bottle of water you're buying - you're looking to see a total dissolved solids (TDS) level of at least 300. Mineral springs can provide TDS levels of up to 1300, but artesian water, which is pushed up from beneath by the Earth, is best.

The last point is something new to me. Paul suggests that water in each region of the world provides you with a homeopathic dose of viruses, fungi, parasites and bacteria from that area. Check the quality, but drink local water (i.e. UK water) where possible, and you'll develop antibodies to help protect you from all these nasties! Clever, right?!

Seasonal Food Reminder

The team at Gregg's Veg are continuing their offer for readers of the Fitbiz Newsletter. Simply visit GreggsVeg.co.uk and use the discount code "5%OFF" when ordering a family box of fresh, seasonal vegetables - delivered straight to your door!

The seasonal vegetables for December:

Beetroot, sprouts, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, horseradish, jerusalem artichoke, kale, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, radishes, shallots, swede, turnips, watercress.

And the fruits of the month include:

apples, clementines, cranberries, passion fruit, pears, pineapple, pomegranate, satsumas, tangerines

Recipe: Winter Vegetable Crumble

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 1 hour

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 350g parsnips
• 450g carrots
• 500g swede
• 2 onions
• 25g butter
• 575ml organic vegetable stock
• 30ml tomato puree
• 30ml horseradish sauce

For the topping:

• 50g butter
• 50g ground walnuts
• 50g sesame seeds
• 50g wheatgerm
• 60g mixed, fresh chopped herbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Dice parsnips, carrots, turnips and swede. Slice the onion.
   
   
2. Melt the butter, stir in all the vegetables, cover and sweat for 10 minutes. Pour in stock and bring to the boil, add tomato puree and horseradish sauce.
   
   
3. Cover and put in oven for 30 minutes. Melt the topping butter, add the nuts, sesame seeds, wheatgerm and herbs and put pan aside.
   
   
4. Remove vegetables from the pan and place in a large pie dish. Scatter topping over crumble and bake for 30 minutes.

With best wishes for a merry Christmas and very happy, healthy New Year,

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