Tag Archives: healthy eating

10 Tips for Cleaner Eating

1. Avoid all processed, refined, chemically treated packaged food as much as possible.

2. Avoid white bread, pasta, rice, cakes etc…

3. Cut down milky tea and coffee. Replace it with green tea or a pre-workout coffee.

4. Add more protein to your meals, alongside green leafy veggies.

5. Drink between 2-3 litres of water a day.

6. Choose coconut or almond milk over regular milk if having porridge or similar.

7. Start your day with a protein-rich breakfast like eggs with asparagus and lean bacon.

8. Cut out or cut down on alcohol as much as possible as it causes havoc with your hormonal profile.

9. Add nuts and seeds such as almonds and flaxseed to your daily menu- sprinkle them on salads, add them to porridge, mix them in your vegetable smoothies.

10. Eat 5-6 small meals per day, in place of three big meals. Eat little and often and don’t allow yourself to get hungry.

Throw in some recommended supplements and you won’t know yourself after a few weeks!

We sell a Four Week Fat Loss plan which will really help you on your new Clean Eating Path. You can buy it here!

Good luck guys 🙂

santa claus

Happy Fitmas and How to Eat Clean over the Christmas Holidays

Just a quick post to remind you as to what kind of hours we are open so you can stay healthy over the holidays:

Dec 24th- Christmas Eve- Open for group classes only – Just a few places remaining!

Dec 25th- Christmas Day- CLOSED

Dec 26th- Stephen’s Day – CLOSED

Dec 31st- New Year’s Eve- Open as normal

Jan 1st- New Year’s Day- Open as normal

santa claus

 

Some clean-eating tips for the Christmas Holidays

If, like us, you love your food, don’t avoid everything you love or you will spend your quality time off feeling very sorry for yourself.

We do, however, ask you to watch your portion size, maybe not for your Christmas Day lunch but here are some hand tips to help you choose the healthier option!

1. Swap your regular potato for sweet potato and your turnip for butternut squash mashed with sauteed red onion, a little real butter and some  salt and pepper- delicious!

2. Try frying your Brussel Sprouts in coconut oil with some  lean turkey bacon- savage with some poached eggs for breakfast!

3. Try having your turkey without the skin and opt for homemade cranberry sauce instead of pre-mixed gravy or better still, use the juices from your lean meats.

4. If you have a sweet tooth, keep a stock of 85% dark chocolate at hand. This is also delicious as an alternative and healthier hot chocolate! Mix one cup of heated almond milk with three squares of 85% Green & Black’s chocolate and add some mint oil for flavour if you like too. Finish off with a little blob of cream, as it is Christmas after all…

 

When the gym is closed, here’s a little Body Composition routine you can try at home over Christmas, to help ease the post-lunch guilt:

 

How to do the perfect Burpee

how to do burpees

 

The perfect Squat Technique

how to do squats

– 20 Crunches

– 10 Burpees

– 20 Body weight squats

– 20 Leg raises

* Repeat this sequence four times and finish your whole exercise routine with a 1 minute plank and 50 jumping jacks to get your heart racing!

Cool down with a gentle jog to get your heart rate back down again 🙂

We are fully stocked for all of our supplements, but we do recommend that you grab your Infinity Fuel, Probiotics and Fish oils while you can and as soon as possible as these do tend to sell out quickly for the January gym-goers looking to detox!

Should you need anything over the holidays, drop us a line here

From all of the team at The Edge: Clontarf, have a very Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year for 2014!

 

 

chocolate cereal

Childhood Obesity- make the change

chocolate cereal

Up to 327,000 children are either obese or overweight with experts warning that Ireland is heading for a US-style epidemic, with 33% of our children now suffering from weight issues.

This hasn’t happened over night, this has been coming for a long time and we have no one to blame, but ourselves.

While weight shouldn’t be used as the only measurement for our children’s health, it is still something that we, as parents, need to be aware of. The girth of your child’s stomach, the size of their trousers or dress you have to buy to fit them, where they store fat- all of these aspects and more must be taken into account.

As they say, the first step to recovery is, firstly admitting you have a problem. This itself seems an issue for Irish parents with an alarming statistic showing that 1/3 of parents of obese teenagers thinking their teenager’s weight is “fine”. 3/4 of parents of overweight teenagers think their teenager’s weight is fine. While this can be a tricky subject to discuss with parents, it is ultimately up them to change their families eating and lifestyle habits.

If your child is obese by the time they are 5 years old, they are at a 25% chance of being an obese adult and struggling with weight and the problems that come with that. Even worse, if they are obese when they are over six years old,  this increases to 50% and obese adolescents are 80% more likely to become obese adults.

All this is hardly surprising when you considered an estimated 25% of their calorie intake is supplied by biscuits, cakes, confectionary, sugars, fats and desserts everyday!

As a new parent, I understand the demands of daily life can interfere with your own eating habits, as well as your children’s. However, if you have certain rules or guidelines in place then it might help make life a little easier when deciding what your children should or shouldn’t be eating!

So what can we do for our children to introduce them to healthy eating and healthy habits for the rest of their lives?

Tips for introducing healthy eating habits for your children!

Portion Control – smaller plates at dinner time is part of a national program to address child obesity.

Add Green Veg to meal times. Make it fun by letting kids help cook it. Make it an activity. If they don’t like veg then make a juice or a smoothie together instead.

Remove sugar from breakfast time– Add Porridge, Eggs & Wholegrain toast, Homemade protein Pancakes and museli to their weekly breakfast plan routine. Try to limit or ideally eliminate all the popular cereals like coco pops, shredded wheat etc…

Eliminate fizzy drinks- replace them with no-added sugar drinks or water with a slice or lemon and lime,- showing kids how to make “their own lemonade” can be a great way of getting them to take it

Avoid sugary treats- replace chocolate or sugary treats with homemade oat cakes or  homemade protein cakes

You don’t need your child to have the “perfect” diet, but, as parents, we should address the fact that we are responsible for our childs’ nutrition and consequently, their health. By introducing some or all of the tips above, your child will feel better, have better digestion, better concentration and, ultimately,  a better quality of life.

Obviously, it goes without saying that these nutritional habits should be combined with daily activity, lots of running around, bedtime stories and lots of hugs to maximize the benefits!

Dave- Co-Owner of The Edge: Clontarf

Sources

Irish Health.com, What’s eating Ireland? 2004. Available at http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html

D O’Shea, The Obesity Challenge, 2006. Available at http://www.ncnm.ie/inca/publications/Obesity

Irish Universities Nutrition alliance (2006), National Children’s Food Survey, Available at http://www.iuna.net

Irish Universities Nutrition alliance (2008), National Teens Food Survey,