Great ideas for the working Yoga lovers

 The great thing about Yoga is that you can do it virtually anywhere; in the comfort of your own home, at a class, outside or anywhere that takes your fancy. In this day and age it can be tough trying to get everything right, we all know it can be tough trying to eat healthily and continue your exercise regime. Many of the people we meet who practice Yoga have the same thing in common; a busy life style and often ask us how they can make fast healthy snacks, our answer to this is juice!

When you’re on the go, tired or just too busy to start cooking why not make a juice and reap all the benefits of having a healthy nutritious meal. If you haven’t got a juicer already investing in one will be one of the best decisions you can make. Below you’ll find some of our personal favourites.

Early Morning Energiser

For a natural boost of energy in the morning or before your Yoga routine, why not mix yourself a scrumptious energiser juice. Not only will this tingle your taste buds and revive your senses it will pleasantly surprise you with how easy it is to make. All you need to make an ample serving is:

• 2 Apples

• 2 Pairs

• 2 Sticks of celery

• 1 large orange

• 1 sweet potato

Hello Hydration

When you haven’t quite drunk enough and your feeling a little dehydrated then a cold glass of Hello Hydration is for you. This juice will give you that boost you need before, after or during your Yoga practice. Again this is nice and simple to prepare taking just a few minutes before you can enjoy the rejuvenating juice, which consists of:

• 3 Apples

• Half a cucumber

• 2 Sticks of celery

• 1 juicy orange

• 2 handfuls of romaine lettuce

Fatigue Fighter

Fatigue can rear its ugly head sometimes at any point. If your feeling tired out from the days events or exhausted from your work then treat yourself to this empowering juice. All the ingredients carefully selected to help fight fatigue this juice can give you that life you may need. To make the Fatigue fighter you will need:

• 1 Cup of fresh spinach leaves

• 2 Tomatoes

• 2 Sticks of celery

• 2 Pealed carrots

• Half a green pepper

• A small handful of parsley

The Detoxifier

Maybe you’d just like to feel cleansed on this inside and outside. This is a great simple and detoxifying juice than can be enjoyed on any occasion you choose. Its tasty, light and extremely refreshing to the senses with kick. All you need for this delicious delight is:

• 4 Apples

• A generous handful of strawberries

• 1 lime

Do you have any favourite juice recipes you’d love to share? Please comment below.

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Inspired?

 Yoga practice improves your body and mind, so make sure you are eating the right things to enhance and improve your practice

 So, you’re here maybe because you love the practice of Yoga, your passionate about improving your practice or possibly because you are totally new to it? Whatever your reason may be, everyone can benefit from the points in this post. What’s different about Yoga is it is not just a focus on the physical body, but the mind and soul too so its important you nurture all components. Whilst your body becomes, fitter, healthier and more ample so does your mind as you learn to explore your inner tranquillity through focused meditation.

As you begin to enjoy your better more improved self, as many of our readers do, you tend to want to keep on improving, especially with what you consume. You are what you eat after all, so continue to improve you body and mind with foods that will replenish your brainpower and nurture your inner self.

Oily fish for effective omega-3 fats

We have all heard how great fish is for you, but do you know why? EPA and DHA are 2 of the most effective omega-3 fats and both of these can be found in oily fish. Great examples of such oily fish include salmon, kippers and sardines to name but a few. These fatty acids are essential for great brain function, general well being, and the heart. Low DHA levels have in fact been linked to being at a higher risk of developing memory loss and Alzheimers.

The small but mighty blueberry

This super fruit is packed full of antioxidants which can help protect against cancer and heart problems, but that’s not all. The mighty berries have been found to lead to improved spatial learning and memory. Sometimes not the most palatable berry on their own, why not try adding them to your breakfast cereal or blending them into a healthy juice.

Anyone for a cup of Green Tea?

A small alteration to your drinking routine can have huge changes. Due to the actual way they are processed, the tealeaves in green tea are supposed to be richer in antioxidants. There are many, many benefits of drinking green tea, especially as part of a balanced diet and Yoga regime. Some of these benefits include weight loss, lower cholesterol, a healthier heart and many more. Drinking green tea will make you feel great on the inside and out!

An apple a day…

There’s a reason for the saying ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ Apples contain a super source of quercetin, an antioxidant that protects your brain cells subsequently keeping your mental juices actively flowing! Be sure to stick to your apple a day and eat that skin too because that’s where you will find most quercetin.

Spinach…Not just for those growing muscles

The tasty leafy green can be eaten naturally as it comes, cooked or in salads. To reap the benefits spinach has to offer which include vitamin E, vitamin K and folate, it’s suggested you eat a cup full of the tasty leaves a day. A neurology study revealed ‘eating three servings of leafy green, yellow and cruciferous vegetables a day can delay cognitive decline by 40 per cent.’

Above you have our favourite 5 super foods for the mind. Why not try selecting one and incorporating it into your eating and drinking routine, then being to add more to your balanced diet and exercise routine.

What’s your favourite mind food? Do you have any recommendations? We’d love to know!

Online Yogalates offers all official Yogalates DVDs for members to watch, the whole award winning series of 8 DVDs. Plus the new release DVD9, exclusive for online yogalates website.

Click here to enjoy a 0$ 7 Day Free trial.

Inspired?

By Guest Contributor Jason Diprose one of the UK’s most successful personal trainers and gym manager.

Before and after any exercise it is highly important that you eat the right things, not only get optimal performance out of your body and mind, but also make sure that your being kind to your body and giving it the nutrients it needs. You would not run your car without petrol so don’t run your body without food.

Avoid at all costs to exercise without eating as this is the worst thing you can do – training on an empty stomach means that your body goes into a mode known as “catabolic”, whereas it eats into it’s own muscle stores to sustain it self whilst training, thus seriously diminishing the return the participant is likely to get from the exercise session it self.

Lean muscle is as vital a part of Yoga for skeletal integrity as it is for an Olympic athlete in their respective event. By adhering to the following simple nutritional guidelines you will not only be able to fuel your body for a demanding workout, you’ll also find that you can increase the amount of lean tissue in your body thus reducing overall levels of body fat whilst also leading to enhanced strength, and subsequently balance and overall muscular synergy.

Perfect Protein

• Ideal for muscle growth and recovery pack in as much protein as you possibly can.
• Protein shakes
• Chicken
• Foods in the legume family are good sources of vegetarian protein such as alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soybeans and peanuts.

Careful Carbs

Carbohydrates are a fantastic addition to any meal when used to fuel the body first thing in the morning, in the two-hour window before training and during the two-hour window after training.

They have long had a bad reputation in the health and fitness sector largely due to mis-use of the UNHEALTHY carbohydrate types when in actual fact, healthy carbohydrates are a staple part of a balanced eating plan. They are split into two types, known as refined and unrefined carbohydrates.

The simple principle is that the refined variety are man made and often digest so fast within our digestive system that they contain too much energy for our body to access in one sitting, where un-refined types digest at a much slower rate meaning the energy they contain can be accessed over a controlled period and energy levels are sustained instead of shooting up then rapidly dropping.

These are the carbohydrate types you should look out for when constructing healthy meals in conjunction with a healthy protein and fat source:

• Rye bread
• Whole-wheat spaghetti
• ANY type of dry bean or pulse
• Chickpea’s
• Grapefruit
• Apple’s
• Any type of berry
• Long grain brown rice
• Red split lentils

If you want to guarantee safety, simply check something known as the GI scale – this measures the digestion rate of carbohydrate food types. The lower on the scale the food is from around the 60 mark and below, the slower it digests – eat everything above that level in moderation.

Glycogen (our body creates glycogen when any carbohydrate we have eaten goes through the digestion process) is actually our brains primary fuel source – no carbohydrates means diminished mental functionality including terrible mood swings and feelings of depression, lethargy and a general sense of emptiness.

Healthy fat

Much like carbohydrates, fat has gained an ill-placed reputation for being an unhealthy artery clogging substance that only damages our health and needs to be avoided at all costs.

This isn’t strictly true, now SOME fats are indeed terrible for our health and should be avoided at all costs, but the truth is that fat is utterly essential…If it’s the right type.

Fat actually plays a vital part in the formation of our immune and nervous system – if we don’t get enough of the right fat types in, we SERIOUSLY risk making ourselves chronically ill.

The effects of a low fat intake don’t just stop there either, whether it’s your nails, complexion, hair or even vision – you’d be amazed at how badly you can harm yourself if you don’t ingest healthy fatty acids as part of your eating regime.

UN healthy fats are also known as trans fats – trans fats can be found in pastries, cakes most processed food and the vast majority of ready made baked goods.

Trans fats are the prime reason fat has been given such a bad name in general (in conjunction with an incredibly higher than normal intake of saturated animal fat) – it is literally useless for your body, and when studied at a molecular level is actually one molecule away from being plastic.

That’s right – your body doesn’t know the difference between trans fat and plastic and can’t use it for any practical purpose…so if it isn’t being digested, where IS it going? And more importantly, what’s it doing to you? Check out these healthy fat types and include them in your diet regularly:

• Nuts of all varieties
• Olives
• Avocado
• Eggs
• Oily fish

Healthy fats also increase your cholesterol – this isn’t necessarily a bad thing!
There are two cholesterol types – LDL and HDL. When we get our cholesterol checked we can often be told we have high cholesterol, but we are often not told which one we are high in.

There IS a massive difference – LDL is unhealthy whereas HDL is healthy, and the above food types increase our HDL count. You can have “high” cholesterol but actually be healthy, as long as it’s not the LDL variety.

Basing your meals on all of these food types will ensure that you are helping to not only fuel but also improve your body as part of a regular exercise program. Every meal should contain a healthy protein and fat source in moderation (according to the daily calorie intake relating to your height, weight and age) – the majority of your carbohydrates should be consumed at breakfast within the first half an hour of waking up, the two hour window before exercise and the two hour window after exercise for the best results and to ensure unwanted storage of body fat.

Online Yogalates offers all official Yogalates DVDs for members to watch, the whole award winning series of 8 DVDs. Plus the new release DVD9, exclusive for online yogalates website.

Click here to enjoy a 0$ 7 Day Free trial.

Inspired?