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We have decided to ring the changes so for the next three weeks the theme of our Newsletter will be based around a variety of subjects in an A – Z guide to diet, health and fitness. We hope you will enjoy it. This week I have covered subjects A - D and Mary has written E - H.
 A is for Aerobics
The word ‘aerobics’ means ‘with oxygen’. Aerobic exercise is any physical activity that causes us to breathe more deeply because our body requires increased amounts of oxygen in order for us to do that activity. Walking, swimming, cycling and running are all aerobic exercises.
Aerobic exercise is vitally important to our good health as it exercises our heart and lungs, and as our heart is a muscle, keeping it strong is critical to our general fitness and wellbeing. And for further motivation, aerobic exercise burns fat – so it is clear to see that aerobic exercise is really important in helping us to keep our body trim and fit.
So how does aerobic exercise work? If we were to go on one of Mary’s fast-paced walks we would become slightly out of breath within a few minutes because our heart and lungs are demanding more oxygen from the air we are taking in through our mouth and nose. The deeper we breathe the more oxygen goes into our lungs.
Once the oxygen arrives in our lungs, oxygen moves across the paper-thin wall to tiny blood vessels (called capillaries) and into our bloodstream. A protein called haemoglobin in the red blood cells then carries the oxygen around our body to our active and hungry muscles. Simultaneously, and very cleverly, carbon dioxide is dissolved in the blood and comes out of the capillaries, ready to be breathed out.
While all this is happening, our heart is beating faster and pumping the oxygen-rich blood around our body to our muscles that are obviously working harder while we exercise. As they do so, they are using up plenty of fuel which is partly provided by the fat in our muscles hence the understanding that aerobic exercise burns fat.
Click here for Aerobic Exercise videos on our website
B is for Breakfast
Some people love breakfast and others just can’t face it. There is no right or wrong so it all comes down to personal choice. Personally, I love breakfast. It is the one meal of the day I don’t have to think about as it remains the same for almost every day of the year: muesli, oat milk and a small glass of orange juice. On the other hand, my hubby Mike just can’t face eating anything first thing and will take a Weetabix drink from the fridge sometime during the morning and possibly a banana.
As the name suggests, break-fast does exactly that. It breaks the ‘fast’ that has naturally occurred since we ate our meal the night before. We may well have gone 10-12 hours since last eating and that is a very healthy practice, as Mary will explain later in her piece on Fasting.
Having written so many diets in my lifetime I have tried to give as many alternative options as I could dream up for breakfasts. Readers can then find a breakfast they really enjoy – and which is healthy. Once we find the breakfast we like, it is often easier to stick with it as it saves thinking time and we can shop accordingly.
 Whilst some cereals are significantly healthier than others, if we choose one containing whole grains, nuts, seeds and fibre, it will give us a great boost to our gut which thrives on plenty of fibre. If you are buying bread, always choose wholegrain brown bread rather than white bread which is low in fibre. Foods high in fibre will keep you feeling fuller for longer so it will hopefully keep you going till lunchtime.
High protein breakfasts containing either eggs, yogurt, meat or fish, also keep you feeling fuller for longer.
C is for Calories
Whilst counting calories these days is looked upon as a bit outdated, calories still count. They are a scientific measure of energy. When you look on the nutrition label on food packaging, you will still find the calories stated per 100g of the product, as well as for a portion of the content of the pack, under the heading ‘Energy’.
The label will also state kilojoules which is a European (metric) measure of energy. The difference between kilojoules and calories is 4:1. So just divide the kilojoules by four and you will arrive at the number of calories in that portion size.
The critical fact is:
- Eat more calories than your body needs and you will gain weight.
- Eat fewer calories than your body needs and you will lose weight.
Of course, there are healthy calories and unhealthy ones so we have to be sensible as we select our foods. If we are trying to shed a few lbs it pays to have more low-calorie vegetables to fill our plate, and fish and chicken rather than less healthy, high-calorie foods like sausages and pies!
If you wear a FitBit or a smartwatch, that will give you an idea of your daily calorie spend. Most of our daily calories are spent in just being alive – keeping our body functioning, including our heart beating, lungs breathing, liver and kidneys doing what they do, and digesting and processing food etc – but the rest of our daily calories are spent by moving around.
 How many calories we spend depends on our age, weight and gender. Men burn more calories than women and the younger we are the more calories we naturally burn just by being alive. As we get older, we need fewer calories which is why older folks often have a tendency to gain weight. We can lose weight by eating fewer calories in food and burning extra calories by being more active.
D is for Determination
Whether we wish to become fitter or slimmer, determination is the key to success. Life is full of knock-backs and bumps in the road and it’s easy to make excuses because we are busy - but that doesn’t mean that we can’t achieve our goals. We can – with determination and persistence.
A wonderful example of determination came during the time when we had our magazine. My favourite job was meeting and dressing the successful slimmers for our photoshoots.
 Looking at their ‘before’ pictures and then witnessing how they had transformed their body and lives, always gave me a tremendous thrill. When I asked how they achieved their success the word that kept cropping up was ‘I was determined to do it this time!’
Whilst I have seen men and women who had lost more weight than Kerry Pillai, Kerry stands out as my all-time ultimate success story. Kerry wanted to lose weight so that she and her husband could have a family. In just over a year, she lost 10 stone 6lbs and utterly transformed herself with diet and lots of exercise.
In 2010 she became our
Super-fit Slimmer of the Year.
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I wouldn’t have normally have asked if we could photograph one of our successful slimmers in their underwear but when I saw Kerry in the changing room, trying on different outfits, I was amazed at how toned she was and how she had achieved such a flat stomach! I said so and she told me that every day she did 100 sit-ups to tone up her tummy. That’s determination for you!
And I am delighted to be able to tell you that Kerry and her husband have three beautiful children and last time we were in touch, Kerry told me she was still slim!
 E is for Exercise
Now, not everyone can afford a Personal Trainer, but I do believe it is possible to seek out the right instructor, or the right group of people, and the right place to enjoy exercise. You just need to find it, and these days with the aid of the internet it isn’t that difficult.
Exercise is one of the most important factors for slowing down the ageing process. Both aerobic and strength training are valuable but particularly strength training. Our website has many resistance training workouts, often using toning bands or weights, designed to offset the effects of what is termed Sarcopenia – which is the term used to describe ‘the loss of muscle tissue’.
We lose 15% of muscle strength every 10 years after the age of 50 and this loss accelerates even more after the age of 70. That is why it becomes even more important to increase the amount of exercise we do as we get older, not decrease it.
Exercise helps to prevent depression and dementia too. It keeps us fit and healthy and it is never too late to start. You will get stronger and reduce your level of sarcopenia no matter at what age you start! Motivated? I do hope so!
F is for Fasting
The word 'fasting' is not one of my favourite words, I have to say. It has connotations of severe restriction and starvation, which is certainly not what we are suggesting, as well you know! However, it is now very clear that evidence is mounting regarding the value of doing it the modern way, which is far less restrictive and has certain health benefits... and it's called Intermittent Fasting.
We have known for a long time that calorie restriction prolongs lifespan. In Rhesus monkeys, for example, after 20 years of eating less than half a monkey's normal food intake, the fasting monkeys are much younger-looking with more hair, a more youthful appearance generally and more energy than monkeys of the same age... and they live 30% longer! For we humans, the halving of our food intake would not be a popular health message, but what is possible and well-documented is that to leave one decent gap of not eating during a 24-hour period does have enormous health benefits.
It helps if we don't snack between meals as the chances are we may have had a meal only around 2 hours earlier (not much of a gap there!) but our best chances are when we are sleeping, so finishing eating earlier in the evening and delaying eating until later the next day can be really beneficial to our health.
G is for Genes
We are born with a fixed number of genes - our DNA - but did you know that some of our genes can be switched on or off by certain factors? For example, it depends on how healthily we eat, how much exercise we take and how well we cope with the stresses of life, including our attitude to life in general.
You may be only 47 years old (your chronological age) but due to a poor lifestyle, or possibly being overweight and very stressed, your body may be ageing far too quickly and you are more like a 65-year-old (your biological age).
This is a fast-growing area of research where it is thought that very soon it will be possible to exactly predict our biological age through various tests. Only recently we heard a media report that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now predict the 'age' of our heart in a way that the human brain cannot. The reporter was 61 years old and the result came back as 63 – he seemed to think that was quite good but I have to say I hope my result would be considerably less than my real age! Now this kind of technology may be all the motivation we need to eat well, exercise more and relax! Exciting stuff!
H is for Happiness
I have chosen the state of happiness here as I believe it is one of the strongest predictors of a long and healthy life. Happiness varies from one person to another of course but, generally, it can be described as involving positive emotions and being satisfied with our life.
One important thing to remember is that happiness is not a state of constant euphoria but is instead an overall sense of experiencing more positive emotions than negative ones. It might be described as coming in 'waves' with just moments, perhaps, of real happiness and a feeling of great satisfaction. I think we can all identify with that, as every one of us will have had difficult times in our lives when we would hardly call ourselves happy, but with a generally positive attitude to difficult situations, we do get through and begin to feel a sense of overall happiness once more.
Interestingly, Denmark has most consistently topped Europe's ‘happiness rankings’ for the past 40 years! It comes from the Social Progress Index which determines the quality of life for that country. What makes Denmark unique is that ageism does not exist. You are able to pursue work and leisure activity irrespective of how old you are and, as a consequence, their life expectancy is one of the highest in the world and is consistently growing year on year. Fascinating!
Some key signs of happiness are:
- Feeling like you are living the life you wanted
- Taking life as it comes
- Enjoying positive and healthy relationships
- Feeling positive more than negative
- Open to new ideas and experiences
- Living life with a sense of meaning and purpose
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This Week's Fitness Challenge
- Make strength training a real priority this week to offset the dreaded Sarcopenia. Do 3 strength workouts as a minimum and try adding a heavier weight or do each exercise more slowly for greater effect!
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On every daily 30+ minute walk this week try to seriously quicken the pace for a 1 - 2-minute stint or find the perfect incline to up the energy spend. Let's make your heart a 'younger' heart!
- Find one more activity that you enjoy and you are 'happy' to do. An exercise class with other people would be perfect.
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Serves 1
Per serving: 200 Calories, 2g fat
Prep time: 3 mins
Cook Time: No cooking involved but this delicious Austrian breakfast dish needs to be prepared the night before to allow the oats and the dried fruit to swell in the live yogurt overnight.
20g (half a blue Portion Pot®) Luxury Muesli
100g Live Plain Yogurt
1 teaspoon runny honey
- Mix the muesli with the yogurt and the honey in a small cereal dish.
- Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.
- Serve chilled for a nutritious breakfast.
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Did you know... 
An alphabet is the visual record of a spoken language. Alphabets pair the sound of a letter (a phoneme) with a unique graphic representation (a grapheme) and it is this partnership of sight and sound that allows us to read and write spoken languages.
What we think of as the English alphabet is actually the Roman/Latin alphabet. Christian missionaries brought Latin to British shores in the 7th century, and it quickly displaced the Anglo-Saxon language.
The Latin alphabet (A-Z) is the most widely used writing system in the world being present in Europe, America, Australasia, Africa, and some parts of the Middle East.
In the modern world there are still many different alphabets that are used including Armenian, Bassa, Coorgi-Cox, Cyrillic, Fraser, Georgian (also known as Mikhedruli), Greek, Kayah Li, Korean (hangŭl), Latin/Roman, Mongolian, N’Ko, Ol Cemet’/Ol Chiki (Santali), Oirat Clear Script, Pollard script, Tai Dam, Thaana and Tifinagh. Japan has three alphabets just in one country: hiragana, katakana and kanji!
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And finally...
I was fascinated to read about the happiness of the population in Denmark. What a wonderful thing that there is no ageism.
Whether we are working or not, it is vitally important for us to look after our bodies by eating healthily, being active, keeping busy and making time for social activities.
Enjoy your week and keep smiling.
With love and best wishes,
Rosemary Conley CBE DL
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LIVE LONGER | LIVE HEALTHIER | LIVE HAPPIER
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