Happy New Year and welcome to 2012! This month's newsletter is going to help you get that Christmas belly under control!

• News from Fitbiz Training
• Lifestyle Tip: How to Start a Detox
• Seasonal Foods
• Recipe: Roasted Parsnip, Lentil & Watercress Salad

And as ever, please feel free to forward this to family or friends, or alternatively point them in the direction of the sign-up box on the website - remember they'll get a free copy of my article Myths of Fat Loss when they subscribe!

News from Fitbiz Training  [back to top]

• I'm looking at booking the first 30:30 course for February. I'm looking at it being 9.30am on a Thursday for 4 weeks during which you'll learn what foods you should be avoiding in order to achieve fat loss, what foods to eat, how to set goals and key lifestyle factors too. Each week we teach you some exercises along with a way of putting them into a workout designed to get you maximum results too. If you think you'd be interested in this, register your interest.
  
  
• The Advanced 30:30 course will follow on a couple of weeks after the first course, again probably on a Thursday morning. This advanced course will go into more detail on the nutrition front, including discussing supplementing and hormones. This will likely be a 4 week course again, and will teach you more advanced workouts including how to progress what you learnt on the last course. Again, if you might be interested in this, let me know.
  
  
• We've had loads of enquiries from people based in Farnham after the last newsletter. Lucy can't wait to help everyone make 2012 their healthiest, fittest and leanest year ever! If you'd like to join in, get in touch!
  
  

Lifestyle Tip: How to Start a Detox   [back to top]

This is a piece I wrote for Etc Magazine this month - follow the tips in here and you'll shift that Christmas belly in no time!

That’s it – Christmas is over, time to get started with that detox you’ve been promising yourself. But what should you be doing to get the best out of it?

In my view (as a foodie!) cutting out all proper food in favour of juices for a couple of weeks is depressing. Not just this, but I know as soon as I start eating normally again, all the weight I’d painstakingly lost will be gone. Detox means to reduce toxins so your body will work better, re-balance your hormones; leave you craving less junky food, feeling less grumpy and catching less bugs.

Here are some tips to give you a real head start this year, and get results which will be the envy of all your friends!

1) Cut out the following foods:

Wheat – this is anything containing flour, including bread and pasta. It puts massive stress on your digestive system, leaving your metabolism sluggish and your stomach bloated.

Sugar – the more you have, the more you want. Sugar can lead to fat gain on your back and around your hips.

Dairy – eggs are fine. Milk isn’t a problem, pasteurising is. Pasteurising removes all the bad stuff from the milk, and all the good stuff too – meaning we find it difficult to digest.

Alcohol – this stresses your liver, kidneys and adrenal glands. It also plays with your insulin levels, leading to fat storage on your hips, and encouraging you to crave junky foods. Perhaps most shockingly, alcohol essentially stops your body burning fat for three days after drinking it!

Caffeine – increases production of your stress hormones, which leads to fat gain on the centre of your stomach. Anything processed.

2) Start as you mean to go on!

I don’t go for the “ease yourself in” lark. We all know we don’t stop at one chocolate, or half a glass of wine. Just cut it all out from day one! The only exception to this is caffeine if you’re having a lot of it.

3) Keep a food diary!

If you’ve got to declare the rubbish you’re about to shove down your throat, you’ll think twice about eating it!

4) Plan!

Get your recipe books out and decide what you’re going to eat for the next few days. Write it down, go to the shops, then stick to it. This way, when you get in at 6pm, starving, you won’t end up reaching for the biscuits to keep hunger at bay while you decide what to cook.

5) Healthy doesn’t mean fat free!

Remember you’re not avoiding fat. Fat does not make you fat. Have a steak once a week if you want, make dressings for your salads with olive oil, cook in coconut oil or butter (saturated fats are less likely to break into a trans fat on heating) and ALWAYS choose the full fat versions – low fat is usually full of sugar.

6) Drink water!

This will really speed up your detox. Go for bottled mineral water or at least filter your tap water. Aim for 2 litres a day.

These are great principals to eat by anyway, but once you’ve done about 4 weeks, follow an 80:20 principal. Eat well 80% of the time, and allow yourself to have treats the rest of the time. This works out at about two treat meals each week.

Seasonal Foods  [back to top]

Vegetables around in February are:

Beetroot, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, leeks, parsnips, salsify, swede, shallots, turnips

And February's fruits are:

Apples, clementines, lemons, oranges, passion fruit, pears, pineapple, pomegranate, satsumas, tangerines

Recipe: Roasted Parsnip, Lentil & Watercress Salad  [back to top]

My new favourite cookbook is Hugh's River Cottage Veg - there are so many yummy sounding recipes in there which I'm already making my way through. This is my favourite lunch one so far.

Prep: 15 minutes minutes

Cook: approx 1 hour minutes

Serves 4

• 5 medium parsnips
• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 125g puy lentils
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 onion
• Large bunch watercress, tough stalks removed
• Salt & pepper

Dressing

• 1 garlic clove, crushed with a little salt
• 1 teaspoon English mustard
• 2 teaspoons clear honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons rapeseed oil

  Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C
     
     
  2. Peel the parsnips and halve them lengthways. Cut the wider top parts in half again - make chunky pieces all about the same size. Put the parsnips into a roasting tin, scatter with some salt and pepper and toss with the oil. Roast for 40 minutes, or until tender and starting to caramelise
     
     
  3. Put the lentils in a pan, add plenty of water and boil for only one minute. Drain. Return the lentils to the pan with just enough water to cover them. Add the bay leaf and onion and bring to a very low simmer. Cook slowly for about half an hour - until the lentils are tender but not mushy
     
     
  4. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together thoroughly with some salt and pepper
     
     
  5. Drain the lentils, pick out the bay leaf and onion and while still hot, toss the lentils with the dressing. Taste.
     
     
  6. Scatter the lentils, parsnip chunks and watercress on serving plates and eat warm
     
     

  

  Until next time, enjoy staying healthy!

  Best wishes,