Eating on Holiday

As mentioned previously, I believe that holidays are for holidaying, that means you may want to relax a little with your nutrition programme. However, it is still advised that you follow the 80/20 rule, this works really well when away. Eating on holiday also ties into spending time chilling out with family and friends; on holiday you will eat and prepare your meals as a group or family; how often does that happen at home? Obviously this is easier when staying in a villa or gité where you can prepare many of your own meals; but when eating in hotels and restaurants you just have to have a little will power and make sensible choices. If you wouldn’t normally have a three course meal at lunch and dinner then being on holiday isn’t really an excuse to start.

Being in a different country is a fantastic opportunity to try different foods and immerse yourself in different cultures. If you are near the coast you should try the array of fresh fish on offer (just think about the healthy omega 3 oils, we keep being told about), I’ve tried sardines for the first time and really enjoyed them; I was put off fish at an early age by my mum frying kippers. Take the opportunity to try local specialities and get plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads.

I’m currently in France on the outskirts of a village in the Vendee. We have eaten lunch and dinner as a family every day, taking it in turns to prepare the meal (breakfasts are taken at leisure dependant upon when you wake up). Most lunch times we have been having bread with a mixture of local cheese, meats and a large salad. I’m away with people who normally feel bloated and uncomfortable when eating bread, but they are not here. I go to the local boulangerie each morning to buy fresh baguettes (they do not stay fresh for longer than 24 hours because they have no additives or preservatives in). I have spoken to the shop owner who explained that everything is prepared and baked fresh every morning; her husband gets up at 3am to get started; he also prepares a vast array of pastries and individual cakes (very tasty), all from scratch with nothing added, even preparing his own Chantilly cream. She told me all ingredients are sourced locally and the flour they use for their products comes from a local mill.

The fact that the flour used isn’t heavily processed and the bread is baked fresh every morning could be the reason why it isn’t causing them a problem. I have spoken to many trainers that have also noticed the same with their clients when eating fresh local breads. Two of my clients have told me that eating chapattis in England can make them feel uncomfortable, even when preparing them freshly; but when visiting India they have no problems at all. They explained that part of the culture is to take your own wheat to the mill to be ground to use for baking. I often point out that the more processed a food is, the less likely your body will recognise it as a food and you may suffer adverse reactions to eating it.

I know a married couple who when ever they travel one of them puts on weight and the other loses weight. They eat in the same proportions and quantities that they do at home while maintaining their weight; but they still manage to slide in opposite directions on the body fat scale when on holiday. There are many factors that could contribute to this, which I will go into in more detail in later posts. The important thing to remember is that we are all different not just on the outside but also on the inside. The way we react to different foods depends on our biochemical make up; this is why some people feel bloated after bread (I’m not meaning to pick on bread, but it’s the food most people have had a reaction to at some point in their lives), yet their partners don’t. To learn more about this read Biochemical Individuality by Roger J. Williams and The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott.

One of the easiest ways to consume too many calories is with liquids. We know that beers, soft drinks and wines are reasonably high in calories but they get knocked off the scale by most holiday cocktails, which are designed to make you drink more. Having a few cocktails next to the pool at lunchtime, a refreshing soft drink mid-afternoon and a bottle of wine to share with your meal can add up to your recommended daily calorie intake before you have even counted the food you have had.

As I’ve said holidays are for holidaying and you should enjoy your break, but if your goal is fat loss you should try to limit the damage done by the phrase “it’s alright I’m on holiday, I don’t have these at home”. I once read a cheesy line that sums this up, “we sacrifice what we want most for what we want at the moment” (I can’t remember where I read it but feel it portrays attitudes towards holiday eating really well).

Here are some quick guidelines for surviving your holiday without putting on the average 10lbs in 2 weeks:
Try new activities, don’t just spend time lying on the beach. Have a walk down the coast, try the water sports, actually go in the sea and have a swim, jumping through waves is great fun and fantastic for your legs and core strength.
When eating out, it is not obligatory to have three courses just because you’re on holiday.
When eating your meals, start with the meats, then the vegetables and finish with the carbohydrates; remembering to focus on the meal, savouring the flavours and most importantly stopping eating when full.
Limit liquid calories in the daytime, use the time on the beach and by the pool as an opportunity to rehydrate and drink plenty of good quality mineral water. If you really fancy a cocktail, use it as a treat and only have one.
If you can’t stick to these simple guidelines remember that you will have to put some serious work in when you return home just to get back to where you were before you went (10lbs can take 10 weeks if you don’t follow an effective plan).

Be strong, eat clean,

Darren Checkley

Exercise on Holiday

I’m often asked about exercising on holiday and the best exercise to do when you are away, so I thought I’d answer these questions as I overlook open fields in the Vendee region of France.

I personally believe that holidays are for holidaying and should be a break away from your normal routine. I’m not saying to do nothing on holiday but to have a change; for example, I teach advanced spinning and rpm sessions every week. However, I will not be seeking out classes to participate in while I’m here, although I will go out for regular bike rides around the local area and my mother-in-law has informed me that I’m on fresh bread and croissant collection duty in the mornings (about a 4 mile round trip). Judging by the size of the spider I’ve just seen I think they’ll also be a bit of screaming and running away! We’ll be taking some long walks, some swimming in the sea and I’m going to set up a badminton net as soon as the rain calms down (apparently it’s going to be hot tomorrow). I will also be trying chi gung while here in peaceful surroundings.

When we were last away with friends, I played tennis, table-tennis, beach volleyball, I swam in the sea every day and laid some serious moves down on the dance floor for a couple of hours every night. The only time I do structured exercise on holiday is when I’m training with a specific purpose, I ran and swam a lot in Portugal last summer because I was competing in a triathlon shortly after our return. I just made sure that I was sensible about the time of day I went out and the amount of fluids I was taking in. If you are going to a hot country and will be participating in structured exercise like running, the best time to go is early in the morning, before the temperature starts picking up and the traffic starts getting busy. This meant in Portugal I was heading out for a run around 7am and it was already getting hot then, it also means you can’t afford to drink to much alcohol the night before, avoiding further dehydration.

I know trainers that still try to maintain their training programmes while on holiday and they encourage their clients to do the same. Many modern hotels now have fantastic fitness facilities which make this easier to do. They are often air conditioned making the time of day you exercise less important. However, you also need to remember that holidays are for spending quality time away with your family and getting a little rest and relaxation. Recovery is a massive part of achieving your goals and as the old adage goes ‘a change is as good as a rest’.

If you really feel that you can’t miss your workouts on holiday, keep them short, and intense; interval circuit sessions that can be completed in less than 20 minutes are really effective if you know what you’re doing (if you would like more information on this email darren@achieve.me.uk). This way you don’t miss out on time spent with your friends and family chilling out.

In my experience it isn’t the lack of exercise on holiday that stops you reaching your goals, but the abundance of extra calories. I will tackle this subject in my next post but for now I’m going to go and have an ice cold Kronenbourg and help my in-laws prepare dinner.

Be strong, eat clean

Darren Checkley

80/20 Rule

Many of you may be familiar with the 80/20 concept. It basically means living 80% good and allowing 20% to be not so good; however this still needs to fit into the bigger picture of your goals. Its not an excuse to go on a binge every 8 days, ‘not so good’ remember not ‘woo hoo, its takeaway and cake time, lets sit on the sofa and do nothing but eat for two days’. It just means you don’t have to be regimented 100% of the time.

Done correctly, the 80/20 rule means maintaining a healthy lifestyle doesn’t seem as hard when you can have an occasional treat. For example, if you have had a good week of exercise and nutrition, your body can cope with a glass of wine and a dessert on a night out. You can still make good choices for your starter and main; maybe fit some activity in to the weekend that you wouldn’t normally do. But, remember it is only 20%; it is easy to let treats slip in unnoticed, so keeping a food and exercise journal regularly is important.

To put it in to numbers; if you eat 3 meals per day, that is equal to 21 meals per week, only 4 of these could have a cheat element (it doesn’t mean it’s ok to get a kebab 4 times per week). This is the same for your snacks, 4 snacks might not be perfect (a matchbox chunk of cheese would be ok). The important thing to remember is being aware of the food you are eating and stopping when you are satisfied rather than when the plate is empty. Use leftovers for snacks later in the day, or refrigerate over night.

Be strong, eat clean,
Darren
PS How to be strong coming soon.

How to Eat Clean

I advise that all of my clients eat clean for the first 30 days of any programme they start with me, this helps to get their body functioning properly and improves their ability to achieve their goals.

So what exactly is eating clean?
The aim of eating clean is to reduce the amount of toxins you take in to your body. Many of the foods we commonly shop for contain ingredients that our bodies find hard to process and are considered to be a toxin by your system. Your body will then store these away in fat until it has time to process it. We know the effects of some of the obvious toxins without being told; the reason many of us drink alcohol is for the toxic effect of being drunk, however we then complain when the toxic effect of hangover hits us.

The main things that may cause our systems a problem are:
Alcohol, Sugar, Wheat and Gluten, Dairy (except butter and natural live yogurt), Caffeine and all Processed Foods. I will go into more details of why each of these causes our system a problem in later posts.

The standard response I get when suggesting this programme is: ‘What will I eat?’ My answer is always the same, ‘Foods which are natural, wholesome and supportive to your body’. We always focus on what we can’t have rather than everything else that is available. The basic rule of thumb is; if you can pick it, dig it, catch it and eat it, then it should be okay, obviously there are exceptions to the rule and common sense should prevail.

It is hard to begin with but if you follow my eating clean advice 100% you will feel great, lose tons of fat and inches, sleep better and have better skin. My fat loss groups achieve fantastic results following this programme 100% for 30 days and then using the 80/20 rule (more to follow).

If you would like more information regarding my programmes or eating clean, please send me an email: darren@achieve.me.uk; if you would like to read more on the subject Paul Chek's book How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy is fantastic and does exactly what it says on the tin.

Be strong, eat clean
Darren