Hey, sugar

I've blogged before about the hidden sugars that lurk in unsuspecting foods, but even I was shocked and caught unawares today.
While at the supermarket the other day, I grabbed a packet of the Food Doctor's new Spicy Stir Fry Seed Mix, mainly to throw on salads and give it a bit of a crunch and some added protein.
When I came to try it though, it tasted suspiciously sweet and when I checked the nutritional content, sure enough, it contained sugar. Why a brand that's tried to set itself up as a natural food source that's good for you feels the need to add sugar to something that blatantly doesn't need it I'll never know.
it got me to thinking of which other so called 'health' brands contain hidden nasties. I'll be on the lookout for any shocking hidden nasties that you wouldn't expect but if anyone else comes across any too, let me know.

Kate Hudson's bikini body plan

When it comes to celebrities, it's easy to imagine that they are naturally slim, and toned, as if they're produced on some factory line like some kind of Stepford Wife.
But the reality is, just like the rest of us mere mortals, they have to watch what they eat, as well as exercise to stay looking fantastic.
In this issue's US Weekly, trainer to the stars, Ashley Conrad has revealed a typical week's diet that her client, Kate Hudson follows.
One look at the plan shows the importance of sticking to a slow releasing energy breakfast like porridge, and an evening meal consisting primarily of proteins which helps prevent bloating. And rather than snacking on carbohydrates, Kate supplements her diet intake with protein snacks produced by Conrad.
Protein snacks are great as the body takes longer to digest this source of food, so it satisfies you for longer. But there's no need to shell out on expensive protein bars and shakes. Try a handful of almonds, a natural yoghurt or even some cottage cheese.
As celebrity diets go, this seems pretty well balanced and you certainly won't starve but it's good to see, purely to show that everyone has to work at keeping in shape.

DAY 1

BREAKFAST
One-half cup oatmeal in water
4 egg whites with 1 cup steamed spinach
One-half cup mixed berries
1 Clutch supplement pack

SNACK
1 Clutch Snak-Pak

LUNCH
6 oz mahi-mahi filet (never farm raised)
mixed greens salad (garbanzo beans, one-half avocado, tomatoes)
-1 tbsp. vinigarette dressing
One-half cup steamed brown rice
1 Clutch supplement pack

SNACK
Clutch Protein Shake

DINNER
6 oz organic chicken
Three-fourths cup quinoa
2 cups grilled vegetables your choice (no carrots or corn)
1 Clutch supplement pack

continue reading more for all 7 days worth of the menu

DAY 2

BREAKFAST
1 cup Go Lean Crunch cereal
1 cup unsweetened almond breeze milk
topped with one-half cup of mixed berries
Clutch Protein Shake
Clutch Supplement Pack

SNACK
Apple with 1 tbsp all natural almond butter

LUNCH
4 oz. grilled salmon
2 cups of mixed vegetables
One-half cup baked sweet potato
Clutch Supplement pack

SNACK
Clutch Snak-Pak

DINNER
6 oz baked halibut
Three-fourths cup barley
2 cups steamed spinach and brussel sprouts with garlic
1 Clutch Supplement Pack

DAY 3

BREAKFAST
Clutch protein shake with one-half of a banana, one-half cup pineapple, one-half cup mixed berries
Clutch Supplement Pack

SNACK
Clutch Snak-pak

LUNCH
6 oz. black Cod
2 cups steamed vegetables
1 cup brown rice
1 tbsp. low sugar low sodium teriyaki sauce
1 pack clutch supplement pack

SNACK
1 medium grapefruit

DINNER
4 oz. organic chicken
One-half cup wild rice
mixed greens salad with vinigarette dressing
1 pack clutch supplement pack

DAY 4

BREAKFAST
One-half cup oatmeal cooked in water with 1 tbsp agave nectar sweetener
4 egg whites with 1 cup grilled vegetables
Clutch Supplement Pack

SNACK
Clutch Protein Shake

LUNCH
Salad
3 cups mixed green salad leaves
6 oz organic chicken
One-half avocado
1 cup vegetables of your choice (not corn or carrots)
1 pack clutch supplement pack

SNACK
Clutch Snak-Pak

DINNER
4 oz fish of your choice (grilled, baked, or steamed)
2 cups steamed kale and broccoli with garlic
One-half cup wild rice
1 Clutch Supplement pack

DAY 5

BREAKFAST
One-half cup Nature’s Path Flax Plus Cereal
1 cup unsweetened almond breeze milk
4 egg whites with 1 cup broccoli, onion, and one-half avocado
1 pack Clutch Supplements

SNACK
Clutch protein shake

LUNCH
6 oz mahi mahi (not farm raised)
3 cups mixed greens salad with cucumbers, garbanzo beans, tomato
1 cup steamed brown rice
1 pack clutch supplement pack

SNACK
Clutch Snak-Pak

DINNER
4 oz organic chicken
1 cup grilled brussel sprouts
1 cup steamed kale
One-half cup mixed berries
1 pack clutch supplement pack

DAY 6

BREAKFAST
1 medium grapefruit
4 egg whites with steamed spinach
One-half cup oatmeal cooked in water with 1 packet of stevia sweetener
1 Clutch Supplement Pack

SNACK
Raw bell peppers spears
Clutch snack pack

LUNCH
3 cups mixed green salad leaves
6 oz organic chicken
One-half avocado
1 cup vegetables of your choice (not corn or carrots)
One-half cup quinoa
1 Clutch Supplement Pack

SNACK
Three-fourths cup mixed berries
One-fourths cup almonds

DINNER
6 oz baked halibut
Three-fourths cup barley
2 cups steamed spinach and brussel sprouts with garlic
1 Clutch Supplement Pack

Day 7

BREAKFAST
One-half cup oatmeal with 1 tablespoon agave sweetener
Protein shake (1 scoop whey protein powder, 8 oz unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze Milk,
One-half cup mixed berries, 1/2 banana, 1 cup ice)

SNACK
Handful of almonds

LUNCH
1 cup steamed brown rice
6 ounces black cod
2 cups steamed veggies

SNACK
Protein shake

DINNER
One-fourth cup quinoa
6 oz organic chicken
2 cups steamed kale with garlic

www.clutchbodyshop.com

Post race supper

I meant to blog about what you should eat following a half marathon. But by the time I'd made it and eaten it, I could barely get to bed let alone get out my laptop. So, here it is for anyone who is interested in knowing what to eat after a long race of 13 miles or more.
Sea Bream with lemon and caper sauce with assorted rainbow salad

Fillet of sea bream with skin on, salt and pepper to season
Place the sea bream in a frying pan, skin side down with 1tsp of olive oil.Place a pan on top to prevent it from curling up. Remove this after a couple of minutes and squeeze in liberal amounts of lemon juice and add 1tsp of capers. Keep on a low heat, and continue to spoon the sauce over the fillet until cooked. Takes about ten minutes.
You can grill the skin to make it crispy, which is delicious.

1st salad - Pea and cottage cheese
1tbsp of cottage cheese
1tbsp of cooked garden peas
1/4 diced avocado
1/2 roasted red pepper
Lemon juice
mixed together and dress with lemon juice.

2nd salad Spinach and raw beetroot salad
Shavings of raw beetroot
Fresh uncooked spinach
10g chick peas
Lemon juice, Dijon and vinegar to dress
If you've never had raw beetroot, try it - you will never go back. It's amazing! Combine all the ingredients, dress and use your hands to toss.
Serve.


This meal has an excellent mix of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Many people fall into the mistake of thinking that after a run like a half marathon - or sometimes even shorter - they need to carb up with huge platefuls of pasta and potatoes. Unless you're a athlete training every day, all this is going to do is make you put on weight.
yes, you burn through a lot of calories in a half marathon - 1800-2000 - but don't go overboard when you think of treating yourself after.
I've had many people ask me why they keep putting on weight, even though they're fitter and running more often. it's always due to diet, and the assumption that if you exercise you can get away with whatever you want to eat.
By all means, if you're aim is to get fitter and you don't care about your weight, exercising enables you to have a little bit more of what you fancy and you'll maintain your weight (or add to it depending how much you eat!). But if your aim is weight loss, don't forget that to lose just 1lb a week, you need to cut back 500 calories a day or 3500. That's the stark reality but a good thing to bear in mind.
A brilliant way to keep track of your calorie intake with zero effort is at www.weightlossresources.co.uk. it costs but it's so simple, it is a godsend if you're serious about wanting to shed the pounds whether your reason is to get bikini body fit, or because you're training.

Learning a lesson

Sorry for the lack of posts recently but my other job as a features journalist took me to Vegas covering the mad and the sad of the wedding world!
Anyway, I'm back and over the next month I'll be starting new posts including a killer exercise move of the week, celebrity workouts as well as a plan on how to get in bikini body shape by spring.
Today, I have to confess that I learned a lesson that I thought was worth sharing for anyone who is training for an endurance race.
After procrastinating for days about whether to take my place in the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon today,(www.sussexbeacon.org.uk/halfmarathon/) I decided to go for it. I've spent the last three weeks flying across two separate time zones, and have hardly done any running training, but I usually train so much I was confident that I'd be find.
But I didn't hydrate properly. I got up early enough to have porridge and fruit, a slow releasing carbohydrate that would get me through the 13 miles. What I didn't do was drink water.
It was all going so well, and I was on track for a personal best of just under 1hr 40mins. Then I hit the wall at 12 miles. it's never happened to me before, and it was not pleasant.
I had blurred vision and my legs felt like they weren't my own. Although I secretly wanted to duck out of the race so no one would see me shamefully crawling in over the finish line, I persevered and still got over the line in under 2hrs. But it was not a pretty sight.
So, just how much should you drink before a race of this distance? The advice I always give my clients (and totally ignored myself) is to drink at least 1 litre up to an hour before the race. Then, sip on a half a litre in the 30mins leading up to it. Of course, if you know you tend to want to run to the toilet after you've had a drink, change the pre-30min drinking accordingly.
Everyone talks about carb loading before a half or full marathon, but all too often hydration is missed. And this is just as vital - if not more so than nutrition.

Brazilian Bodies

One thing I never expected of Salvador is just how seriously they take their fitness - and their partying. I managed to get out and run most mornings in the 34 degree heat, and almost everyone I passed wore heart rate monitors. And then there's the supermarkets...forget packs of chewing gum and chocolate at the supermarket tills. Here, it was huge vats of Whey Protein.
You've got to wonder how they stay so lean as it's not that they don't enjoy themselves. By 11am most mornings, everyone was on the beach sipping on a beer and their food is not exactly low in the calorie stakes.
Moquecca, a big stew like dish is made with vast quantities of palm oil and coconut. And it's accompanied with rice, beans and a huge vat of polenta type meal. I didn't take to it.
Street food, acjarje was a little harder to resist but no less lethal for your thighs. Bought by West African slaves to Braziil, it's made out of a bean paste that's deep fried in palm oil. This is then split and is loaded with vatapa and caruru, pastes made from shrimps, peanuts and palm oil, as well as shrimps and hot chilli pepper sauce.
But it is easy to eat healthily wherever you are in the world - I'm off to Vegas next week to interview wedding couples marrying on Valentines. From there, I'll be blogging about the latest US fitness crazes and the food!

Salvador, Sun and Samba

After six days, several (hundred) Caipirinha, I finally got back from Salvador on Wednesday having had a fantastic trip.
I was out there with the charity, Bottletop, who raise funds for sexual health education in Brazil and Uganda, as well as funding ground roots initiatives to help local people. It may sound worthy, but the way the guys Cameron Saul and Oliver Wayman run the charity is an inspiration, as they use music and fashion as an avenue to generate interest.
During my stay, I interviewed many of the women from a local favela on the outskirts of Brazil who make amazing, intricate bags from discarded ring pulls which are sold in Fenchurch in Covent Garden. Amazing to think how another person's rubbish can prove to be a goldmine for these women whose lives have been changed since their involvement with the charity.
It wasn't all work though while I was there. I managed to fit in several nights of dancing at clubs that seemed miles out of the city. You'd buy a ticket through a tiny hole in the wall, be searched for guns on the way in, and then the hall would open up into a huge, pulsating mass of heaving bodies. And god, can the Brazilians dance. I felt like a granny at a wedding in comparison.