February 15, 2016 by Zoya Hett
This white cruciferous vegetable was once over shadowed from its much greener brother broccoli. However, recently cauliflower is slowly making its way into more shopping baskets and here is why:
It is bland…but that is a good thing Some would say that cauliflower is boring, I would say it is more of a blank canvas. The simple cauliflower is great for taking on flavours and has endless potential for dishes. Cauliflower has been used for making cauliflower rice, pizza bases, cous cous and even bread amongst many things. The use of this vegetable is only limited by your imagination. It’s part of a very special family As previously mentioned cauliflower is part of the cruciferous family, alongside broccoli, cabbage and Brussel sprouts these vegetables have great nutritional benefits. This group of veggies are rich in nutrients including, vitamins C and K, folate, beta-carotene and phyotchemicals. These nutrients have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant proprieties which can help decrease the effects of oxidative stress from our environment and lifestyle, decreasing the risk of developing some types of cancers and diseases such as cardiovascular disease. 4 ways to enjoy cauliflower Mash it: Mash boiled cauliflower for a tasty low carb alternative to potato. Try adding garlic, butter and herbs for flavour. Bare it: Try eating cauliflower raw. Add it raw to a salad or cut up florets and use them instead of crackers for dip, this makes for a great snack. Roast it: Try roasting the whole head of cauliflower, using a marinate or a spiced rub. This makes for a great vegetarian alternative. Grill it: Heard of cauliflower steaks? Well you have now. Cut the cauliflower in thick slabs, and place on a hot grill with olive oil and seasoning.
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 Traditional exercise programs such as walking, jogging, and other forms of aerobic exercise are dull and very inefficient when it comes to burning fat from your body. Long hours of training often results in tired, overworked muscles that only burn a little fat which can be quickly restored if you do not keep it up day after day. Fortunately, there is a proven method that not only burns more fat, but it takes only a fraction of the time compared to traditional aerobic exercises. This type of exercise can be done alone, but many use a personal trainer to get the best results. It is called high intensity interval training and today more people are using it to burn body fat.  What is High Intensity Interval Training? High intensity interval training (HIIT) is an exercise program that alternates between very intense periods of exercise and much lower, less intense stretches. For example, you may alternate between sprinting for 30 seconds and then walking for 60 seconds. This can be done with both aerobic and anaerobic forms of exercise which includes weight training.  How High Intensity Training Burns Fat: This form of exercise burns fat over the course the training because the higher levels shock the body into tapping into fat cells. By alternating between low and high intensity workouts, your body will actually burn fat in a quicker manner because you can maintain the high intensity training for longer periods of time. Basically, because you are repeating the high intensive workouts such as sprinting several times over the course of 15 to 20 minutes for example, your body will burn greater amounts of fat than if you just walked over that period of time or sprinted for one to two minutes and stopped. In addition, the body continues to burn the fat after training which means that the effect continues for up to 24 hours. In addition, you will enjoy these benefits as well; Greater Aerobic Capacity: Your body increases its capacity to use oxygen Higher Threshold for Lactic Acid: You do not tire as quickly Less Sensitive to Insulin Reaction: The glucose gets burned instead of becoming fat Anabolic Result: You will get lean, toned muscles. So if you haven't already, it's time to add some High Intensity Interval Training into your weekly routine if you want to get rid of that unwanted body fat. Choose your favourite exercise and then add the High Intensity Interval Training Principle to it and HOORAY you're well on your way to looking and feeling slimmer and more toned. Watch the video I've put together below for a deeper insight.. Got Questions? Ask Below!
 Heard that before? Good, the marketing is working then (ha). Chances are you have considered joining a fitness program. Whether you achieved what you wanted to achieve is another article but for today, I’m going to shine some light on exactly WHY online personal trainers and face to face trainers run these sorts of fitness programs. Hopefully at the very least, this helps you gravitate towards a fitness program that suits you :)  1. The Best Goals have Deadlines. Whether it be a business, financial, personal OR fitness goal…they become infinitely more achievable when you implement a deadline or a time frame to give 100% of your efforts from start to finish. So you want to go on holidays? You’ll have to save money for that and as soon as you have enough saved I’m sure the first thing you’ll buy is early plane tickets to save cash right? You’ve just created yourself a ‘time-based’ goal. Obviously you want to have as much spending money as possible before you board the plane so you’ll save hand-over-fist before you eat out or buy that dress. This is the sole reason a lot of online personal training programs and challenges have a strict ‘time-based’ window to work within, such as the ever-popular 8, 10 and 12 week challenges. This makes your commitment to fitness easier by not having to continue indefinitely.  2. A lot can change in 8 Weeks The Human Body is a marvel of science in itself. Whichever ‘time based’ online personal training program you choose to follow, thousands upon thousands of changes will occur not just physically but chemically within your body as well. You start to release ‘feel-good’ endorphins more regularly, your blood chemistry changes and your metabolism speeds up, but more often than not the biggest changes that people see are the significant reductions in body fat, the increases in lean muscle tone and the increased athletic performance as well. All of this is made possible by giving the average person a ‘time based’ window to work within so that they can give 100% of their efforts in that timeframe.  3. Got a Wedding coming up? Some of the best online personal training clients I’ve ever had have been women wanting to lose a bit of weight and tone up for their wedding or women that have been selected as a bridesmaid. I should really be paying the groom a commission for putting a ring on it (ha) because the dedication, commitment and focus these women have is out-of-this-world. But the point I’m making here is by having an upcoming event can be the ultimate motivation to work towards and by default is a ‘time-based’ goal.  3. Some people want structure. Still to this date I have women re-enrolling in my 8 Week Body Toner Program because they enjoy the results they get and love learning more about their bodies. As an online personal trainer, I’m sure I speak for most personal trainers when I say some of our best and most loyal clients complete a ‘time-based’ challenge and continue to train with us on the notion that they want to see how far they can go in the next challenge. To you it may sound insane, even mad but when you’re given the structure and tools to achieve some EPIC results, you can’t help but repeat the process to see just how far you can go. The Sky really is the limit! Anyone that has committed to a 14 day, 30 day, 6 week, 8 week or 12 week challenge before will tell you how great it felt to finish and celebrate with family and friends. I encourage you deeply to try one out if you haven’t already. Ask one of the trainers at your local gym about a challenge they might be running or find an online personal training program that is more affordable. Got Questions? Ask Below!
 What is an online personal trainer? Yes, an online personal trainer is in fact a personal trainer. You can get thin, put on muscle, get faster, jump further all with the guidance of a personal trainer, only this one you may never meet in person. There’s a lot of scepticism surrounding online personal trainers and rightly so, you don’t know them and they ‘assumingly’ don’t know you. However, a good online personal trainer, just like a regular personal trainer, will ask all the necessary questions and prescribe the correct program to ensure that you will achieve your fitness goal as efficiently as possible.  An online personal trainer similarly to a regular personal trainer has the ability to:
I guess the only thing missing here really is the having the physical presence of a personal trainer and as a result, online personal trainers are a much cheaper than hiring regular personal trainers. But if you can bare the thought of not having a personal trainer on your back then you might just save yourself a quick buck ;) Why not get started today for only $10? Click here Got Questions? Ask Below!
 PRESS PLAY Calculate your BMR here : http://www.mydr.com.au/tools/basal-energy-calculator I've touched on this particular subject just briefly in my blog "Why High Intensity Interval Training Is Good For Burning Body Fat" but today I'm going to cover specifically HOW you can use a heart rate monitor to scientifically boost your weight loss and toning fitness goals. Rather than mindlessly exercising and eating less in the hopes of losing weight, as always there is a much more efficient way of going about it. One of the ways I give all of my face to face clients immediate feedback and progress from our personal training perth sessions is by having them wear a heart rate monitor. This not only gives them some interesting insight into their own bodies but also provides some of the best motivation you can get for exercise. Here is the setup I use with my weight loss personal training clients:  Pictured above: Scosche Rhythm heart rate monitor and Garmin Vivoactive. With this equipment I'm able to detect a client's max heart rate (HR), average HR, resting HR and calories burned. You might think this all sounds like a headache, so send me an enquiry at info@revsfitness.com.au if you need assistance. Then once I have all of that data I can see which exercises are burning the most calories, which exercises are not whilst also keeping the weight loss client at a sustained intensity so that they get the most out of their session. So by being able to consistently see which exercises burn the most calories, I can personalize the client's personal training sessions and the weight loss training program that I write for them. Now for a lot of my online personal training clients, I utilize the same data but I have them send me their results from the workouts I've constructed for them and with that I can review and speed up their results by honing in on the exercises that do the most for them. Taking into account nutrition for weight loss and toning becomes a lot easier too. Having a grasp of how many calories are going out via exercise then gives you an idea of what needs to be going in. Here is a simple explanation of that:
Got Questions? Ask Below!  The best kind of fat loss is steady fat loss. And while a slow-and-steady approach to weight loss will ensure that you keep the weight off for good, I have a few tricks to help you burn fat as fast as possible. So if you’re ready to speed up your fat loss (and are willing to do the work necessary!) keep reading... Rapid Fat Loss Habit #1:Bottoms Up! It’s not always easy to get to the water cooler or the sink. But if you’re going to shred pounds, you’re going to have to keep a tall glass of water nearby. There are many perks to drinking down plenty of water. Doing this helps you feel fuller, which keeps you from overeating or thinking you’re hungry when you’re actually thirsty. Drinking water instead of other drinks also keeps you from ingesting additional, unnecessary, and worthless calories. And finally, if your body is going to perform at its peak, it needs to be well hydrated. Drinking plenty of water helps all your bodily functions operate well, which prevents you from holding onto water weight and suffering avoid constipation, while also giving you what you need to push through the final stages of a difficult workout. Rapid Fat Loss Habit #2: Be a Planner Like flying by the seat of your pants? Then you’re going to struggle to shave off pounds in a fast or even slow manner. Burning fat fast requires you to be disciplined. The beginning of discipline is a good plan. Know when you’re going to the gym, how many calories you’re going to eat and what foods the calories will come from, and how you are going to avoid giving in to that tempting piece of chocolate cake. Once you have your plan, you’ve got to do the hard part: stick with it. If you’re willing to do this, your fat stores will burn away in no time. Rapid Fat Loss Habit #3: Get Intense with Your Routine Maintaining a steady pace on the treadmill will help you improve your overall health, but it isn’t the best tool for burning fat quickly. To speed up your fat-burning process, you’ll want to add some HIIT into your exercise regimen. During a HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout, you mingle bursts of intense exercise with lighter exercise. This could involve running, cycling, swimming, or other aerobic exercises. Whatever exercise you choose to do, do it hard for 30 seconds, take it easy for 60 to 90 seconds, and then go full force again for 30 seconds, repeating the cycle for 30 minutes. You’ll be exhausted when it’s all said and done, a sure sign that you’re burning fat! Rapid Fat Loss Habit #4: Lift Weights Think you can burn fat fast by doing nothing but aerobic exercises? You can. But you can do it faster and better by mixing in some weight-lifting sessions. In fact, if you don’t add weight lifting into your regular routine, you may begin to lose muscle. The scale may go down, but if you’re dropping muscle mass, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. When shooting to burn off fat, nothing helps more than extra muscle. Added muscle helps you feel better and perform tasks of daily living with greater ease, while improving your metabolism and ultimately helping you burn more of that pesky fat! Rapid Fat Loss Habit #5: Eat Right You know that what you put in your mouth is either going to fuel you to get through the day or simply add some pudgy inches to your waistline. So choose wisely! Fresh fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats all give you the upper hand on burning fat. But it’s not just the foods you eat. It’s how you eat them. Chew slowly, use a smaller plate, and leave the food dishes in the kitchen. When you’re finished with your plate of food, relax and give your brain time to figure out that your stomach is full. Then take the cue and stop eating. These small steps may seem significant, but they will boost your fat-burning potential exponentially. Got Questions? Ask Below!
 How Stress Becomes Physical For millions of years, humans were forced to protect themselves from environmental factors. From the earliest days of dinosaurs and cavemen, nature has proven its ability to put fear in human beings. Life and death circumstances have evolved around the ability to understand danger, and seek protection and survival. If you were being chased by a predator, your adrenal glands initiated a “fight or flight” response, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into the body. These hormones provided extra physical energy and strength from stored carbohydrates and fats. While most of our stressors are not the same a our earliest ancestors, the body’s natural course of evolution has maintained this original fight-or-flight stress response. But whether we are being physically threatened or not, with any increased stress our body looks to its stored fuel, and then replenishes it when used. Also, with increased levels of cortisol, our body also does not respond as well to leptin, the hormone that makes us feel full, so we eat more. Here’s where it gets interesting. Scientists have discovered that fat cells actually have special receptors for the stress hormone cortisol, and there are more of these receptors in our abdominal fat cells than anywhere else in our bodies! Here are some tips to overcome stress - Eat 5 'snacks' per day, Eat at regular intervals, supplement a multi-vitamin into your routine, exercise, sleep more and take some time to heal your mind. Got Questions? Ask Below!
 More often than not, our busy lives and obligations take priority over the simplest of necessities. Eating Breakfast is one of those necessities. If you are an individual who takes his/her health & fitness journey seriously, then breakfast should be the meal you get right every day of the week. There are numerous benefits for not only just eating breakfast but making sure you are eating what is going to move you closer towards your goal. Increased Metabolism - You know this, you have heard of this, but let me put it in easier terms. The earlier you get sustenance from food upon waking, the earlier your metabolic furnace starts ticking over. For most, this simple change could mean this 'metabolic furnace' starts 4-6 hours earlier than ever before and that translates to more calories burnt through-out the day. Increased Appetite - Further on from making an effort to eat earlier, most will find their appetite for food also increases and this is in no way a bad thing. An increased appetite basically means that your body is using more food as energy than you are putting in. Depending on your fitness goal, this can make a world of difference if you are struggling to get your 5 meals a day in. Decreased Muscle Breakdown or Catabolism - When your body enters into a sort of starvation mode whilst sleeping, it will use either carbs, fat or proteins stored within muscle fibre as energy to function normally. When your carb and fat stores are used up your body will start to break down muscle fibre, this is something everybody should try and avoid. The more muscle fibre you possess, the more calories required from your body to keep it which helps tremendously to keep bodyfat off in the future. So by not skipping breakfast you are basically fortifying your muscle fibre to preserve it and limit its breakdown to be used as energy.  All in all, it only really takes 15mins to boil an egg and microwave some shredded oats and that is about as basic as it gets. Do your fitness goals a world of good and EAT BREAKFAST! Got Questions? Ask Below!
 Eating strategically can ease pain and minimize future damage So what exactly is joint pain? Joint pain is the result of swelling in a particular area i.e. The Knee. The cause of the swelling is the body's immune response : meaning that it detects a problem area and responds accordingly to fix damaged tissue or fight off unwanted bacteria/virus. Now that you understand this, the key is to create an anti-inflammatory environment in the body. WHAT TO EAT Omega 3 Fatty Acids - Salmon, Mackeral, Herring and most coldwater fish. A good dose of this is 1000mg (an iphone size piece of fish). Flaxseed Oil - A tablespoon of this goodness delivers 700mg. Mix it into your food or slurp it down if you're up for it! Eggs and pastured eggs - Hens lay eggs with more of the healthy fatty acid if they’re fed flaxseeds, fish oil, or algae. Sulfur - A building block of connective tissue, including cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. Eggs, poultry, fish, legumes, garlic, onions, and leeks. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. Experts recommend a daily serving of these sulfur-rich veggies. Calcium and Vitamin D - Dairy (milk, yogurts, cheeses), egg yolks, fatty fish (mentioned earlier) and finally kale all complement vitamin D and calcium intake. Got Questions? Ask Below!
 I have no doubt you have heard that there is a particular HR (heart rate) 'zone' that you can sit in to optimize weight loss etc etc But here are a few key points to remember: Monitoring which HR zone you are in is a great way to keep the intensity high! Whether you do this by wearing a HR monitor or by using the pulse monitors on the cardio equipment is up to you. If for example your fitness goal is weight loss, there is a specified HR Zone that you can stay in to burn fat. Similarly, if your fitness goal is to improve your cardio there is also a spot for that too. Take the number 220 and then minus that number by your age.. You now have your maximum Heart Rate. From here you can harness the power of HR Zones to more effectively reach your fitness goals.  Pictured above is how you can use your Maximum HR to stay within a particular zone. For example: By calculating 60-70% of your Max HR you will get your ideal Fat burning zone. The figure you get is the 'beats per minute" or "BPM" that you should monitor to stay within that zone. The Aerobic Fitness Zone is more so for improving cardiovascular fitness and endurance where as the Anaerobic Intensive Zone is more for short bursts of exercise like sprinting or weight lifting. The Peak Performance Zone is something an individual might test in order to find their VO2 Max. I must stress that although there is a specified HR Zone for Fat Loss, it will not burn the most amount of calories over time. Working at 60-70% of Max HR is a fairly low intensity, to burn say 400 calories at this intensity might take up to an hour or longer. High Intensity Interval Training has shown multiple times that is it a far more efficient way to burn calories throughout the day whilst the time taken to train is far shorter. I posted a blog about Calories and Weight Training which depicts the effectiveness of High Intensity Interval Training. Also check out my Best Cardio for Weight Loss blog which explains which exercises burn the most calories and the shortest amount of time. Got Questions? Ask Below!
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Author : Revel LoughlinWeight Loss Specialist Archives
June 2018
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