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While we were boxing, a Fitmate “Tina K” made a funny fitness comment while she was focus padding, she was day dreaming about chocolate.

On average our Fitmates burn between 450-750 calories so based on a 55 gram block of branded chocolate (mmmm, have they reduced the size from 60 grams???) containing 292 calories, this means that for our Fitmate, she will need to work hard for 45 minutes to burn off the chocolate bar.

Chocolate seems to be very popular theme with a Fitmate late year saying that after burning 800 calories during our bootcamp session, that he can now eat a mars bar.
Mmmm, sounds good in theory but why waste all of that hard work by putting back all those calories into the body plus the trans fats as well.

Well if you’re looking for chocolate you cannot beat Belgium, or even better still in Bruges where they have the most amazing selection. So how many squats and burpees will need to be performed if you went crazy in this shop?

Very funny fitness quote this morning about a Fitmate who went to the supermarket and deciding weather to buy the Godzilla style strawberries, her reaction was “eat mutant strawberries or starve” Meaning that there weren’t many other options available.

When we look at today’s strawberries, they are the big, steroid versions from California called the “Albion” which has a patent, “United States Patent PP16228″

I guess when it comes to production, a bigger strawberry means less strawberries per punnet, which means less picking labour and packing labour, less chances of damage while in transit.

The downside is that you have this mutant looking strawberry that has less taste than smaller varieties.

Unfortunately today’s typical strawberry cultivation techniques involve a lot of chemicals if you buy the non-organic variety. Strawberries are in the top 10 of fruit and vegetables most likely to contain pesticides and chemicals.

Consumer magazine, Choice did a study into strawberries in January 2008 and the results were very disturbing with a staggering 11% containing chemical residue above the accepted level as government by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore out of the 27 samples, 63% contained residues from more than one pesticide.

Some of the nasty chemicals included:
Boscalid
Captan
Carbaryl
Chlorpyrifos
Dimethoate
Endosulfan-beta
Iprodione
Pirimicarb
Pyrimethanil

While there are set “safe” limits of chemical residues, maximum residue limits (MRLs), there is some conjecture on whether even consuming these low levels of chemicals in quantity over a long period together with all the other food types containing other chemicals leads to the gradual poisoning of our bodies. Many of these chemicals are NOT removed through the bodies regular processes and build up over a period of time.

Recently a study in Europe has documented the link between phosphates and Parkinson’s disease study so it’s alarming to the extent we have exposure to these chemicals.

So the best thing is to go organic, better still pick your own strawberries with the season commencing in October as strawberries like the more temperate climates of 20º days and overnight temperatures of 10º.

Often when we think about weight loss, we think of changing the ratio of energy consumption verses energy expenditure which is great however if you are truly not committed and truly believe it will happen then your chances of success are very low.

When you get down to the nuts and bolts of weight loss, it’s more like 20% based on the frequency and intensity of exercise, 20% about what you consume, the amount and the frequency but more importantly 60% is based on what you are thinking.

Think about the Yo-Yo diet, you get weight loss results then just as quickly you get weight gain, how can this be? Well if you don’t have the belief systems in place and the right mind set then old habits will return very quickly.
It’s like a children’s seesaw, one day you are in perfect balance where everything works, both children are of similar weight and contributing equally then the next day a different kid sits on the other end of the seesaw who is heavier or lighter or maybe isn’t contributing to seesawing by just sitting there or is pushing off too hard and making the other kid fall off.

If you don’t have everything in sync with the kids on the seesaw, ie the right weight (nutrition), the right level of exertion (mind) and contribution (exercise) the seesaw doesn’t work.
You can compensate on the seesaw if one kid is heavier or not contributing enough by one person working harder but this can only be sustained for a short period of time BUT if one kid does nothing and just sits there, guess what? nothing happens no matter how hard the other kids tries.

So if your scared of the seesaw, you don’t believe you have the skills to use it or you were forced to play on the seesaw by mum nothing will happen, similarly you wont lose weight.

I like the analogy of the hole in the footpath, you can either keep walking into the hole every morning or change your thought patterns and beliefs by choosing a different street with a different footpath.

The mind plays a massive role in everything that happens in our life, what we do, how we do it etc so get the mind in tune and the weight loss will follow:))

The government is exploring the possibility of making it mandatory that all fast food outlets include the amount of calories on their products.

With no immediate solution to Australia’s obesity problem, a range of measures need to be introduced. With Australia’s fast food consumption increasing by 109% from 1999 – 2009, there needs to be more education and information regarding what people are eating.

Even as we speak McDonalds are advertising their “Family Dinner Box”, but walk into McDonalds and try and get some nutritional info, mission impossible.

The City of Melbourne have taking leadership with regards to food vendors in Melbourne’s QV food court who can voluntarily adopt there Traffic light system of food labeling with Red, Amber and green denoting what is good, ok and to not so great.

The traffic light system was also introduced as part of the tender process for the new Royal Children’s Hospital.

By having these labeling panels or nutritional information available, people can make more informed decisions about what they consume.

We all know that home cooking is a healthier options yet with parents under stress from longer working hours, the humble home cooked meal is becoming an extinct animal.

With people renovating there kitchens every 5 years, buying all the latest kitchen gadgets and watching restaurant TV and cooking shows, we spend more time contemplating than doing. The consumption of take away food is growing substantially every year.

With Australia’s obesity levels at epidemic levels, are we contributing to the problem by placing our reliance on fatty, sugary low nutritional value takeaway as a cheap and fast alternative?
It disturbing to see an advertisement about giving mum/dad a break from cooking by getting a “Family Dinner Box” from McDonalds.
Geez, getting a bunch of burgers and fries must be better for the family nutritionally than steamed vegies, brown rice and grilled chicken. Mmmm, I don’t know about that, there website saying “spend less time in the kitchen and more time with the family”, well nice premise but what is actually happening, kids glued to there computer screen or mobile, parents watching TV or cable or just chilling out after a stressful day at the office, worrying about being able to meet the next mortgage payment.

So promoting the consumption of energy dense, fatty food the only way to free up the parents time in the evening?

Secondly how much time is actually involved in cooking a healthy meal, try cooking something special, why not get the kids involved in the process of cooking and cleaning up.

It’s scary that McDonalds promotes the process of cooking a home meal negatively with there website showing words associated with cooking such as “Cook, clean up, wash dishes, rush, prepare, scrub, burn”, well if people were so concerned about the preparation and cleaning process why are home coffee expresso machines so popular, you could use the same words as mentioned above when making a coffee yet it doesn’t stop people from preparing there own home cappuccino.

The modern supermarket is full of “just add water”, “ready in 5 minutes, just place in microwave”