Are you tired because you're not getting enough rest, or does your fatigue have a more serious cause?

 

For many of us, the boundless energy of childhood is just a distant memory. As kids, we fired on all cylinders all day, every day. But as adults, keeping energy levels up can be more challenging. Working long hours, poor diet, lack of exercise and medical conditions can all lead to fatigue. But how do we know if lethargy is due to bad habits, or something more serious?

 

Fatigue is often a body's way of crying out for help. Often people can simply push themselves too hard. They get to the point of exhaustion and don't give their bodies a chance to recover. Shoring says a poor diet combined with inadequate sleep or exercise will eventually take its toll.

 

 

 

The symptoms of fatigue can be physical, mental or emotional, and include:

• chronic tiredness or sleepiness
• head and muscle aches
• slower reflexes
• poor concentration and memory loss
• irritability
• loss of appetite
• lack of motivation

Fatigue can also be the result of an unhealthy lifestyle, relationship problems, financial worries or work stresses. Often, the key to getting over fatigue is getting back to basics. Do a stocktake of your life: are you paying attention to your diet? Are you getting enough sleep? Do you do regular exercise?

Getting active can be a cure for fatigue. Rather than tiring us out, exercise gets our cardiovascular and respiratory systems in shape for more exercise, and everyday life. When you increase your fitness, you increase the efficiency of your body to work. It allows you to do your day-to-day activities, such as tolerating long meetings or running up stairs, with less stress.

An honest assessment of diet is also very important. Then there is the big factor: sleep. A lack of sleep is the number one cause of fatigue, and that the average adult needs eight hours a day to function properly. But what if you've got all of those boxes ticked, and are still feeling exhausted? It's time to consult an expert. Call a doctor if you feel any of these symptoms: confusion, dizziness, blurred vision, unexplained weight loss or gain, swelling, constipation, insomnia, depression or headaches.

Kick-start your energy

A good diet is second only to sleep when it comes to boosting energy levels. People need to remember that food is our fuel.

 

 

Here are her top 10 dietary tips for boosting energy:

1. Kick-start your energy levels by eating a nutritious breakfast.
2. Space your meals out evenly throughout the day. (Of course you're going to run out of energy if you haven't eaten for six hours).
3. Cut back on tea and coffee (especially at meal times), which decreases your absorption of iron.
4. Avoid high-GI foods such as lollies and sugar: they may give you a short-term energy boost, but it's followed by an energy slump.
5. Change to wholemeal or wholegrain bread, which contains more iron than white bread.
6. Have a glass of milk before bed - it contains tryptophan, which helps you sleep better.
7. Avoid going to bed on an overly full stomach, which will disturb your sleep.
8. Drink at least two litres of water each day, as dehydration decreases your energy.
9. Avoid fad diets that cut out important food groups and will leave you feeling tired and run down.
10. Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol is a depressant and will decrease energy levels.

Having a healthy routine that you can stick to is the best way to control weight

Strict diets and relentless training sessions are not usually linked to successful long-term weight control. The daily habits we exhibit when it comes to our health and fitness tend to differentiate those who keep their weight stable and those who do not. It takes at least three months for a new habit to be cemented. However, more often than not we give up after a few days or weeks of trying something new, deeming it a failure and searching for another new gimmick or weight-loss package.

Here are the top five health and fitness habits proven to support long-term weight control. Over the next 12 weeks, see how many you are able to adopt so they become your lifestyle norm.

Eat breakfast

Eating breakfast means you are less likely to snack on poor-quality food during the day. It also boosts your metabolic rate for the remainder of the day. And with a variety of breakfast-on-the-go choices available now, there really is no excuse for skipping this important meal.

Weigh yourself regularly

Knowing whether your weight is creeping up is often all you need to put a stop to it. Aim for a weekly visit to the scales. If that is too daunting try tracking your body measurements regularly.

Always have a snack with you

The power of planning - carrying a small, nutritious snack - means that you are less likely to visit the vending machine and blow 1000 kilojoules on unhealthy processed foods such as potato chips, chocolates and confectionery.

Cut the fat

Of all the dietary research available, cutting back on excessive fat is one of the most important things you can do on a daily basis. We are not talking about good fats, but saturated fats found in foods such as biscuits, cakes, pastries, fries, burgers and fast food. Limit high-fat treats to once a week and you'll be on the right track.

Eat more vegetables

Eating brightly coloured vegetables is linked to a reduced risk of developing some types of cancer. In spite of that, it is still an area many of us need to work on. Remember, you need two to three cups every single day, no excuses.

Handy food tip

The natural digestive process sees food and drink consumed, then progressively digested over three to four hours, which links to our hunger and satiety signals. However, many of us eat all the time; sipping coffee or grabbing a biscuit can equate to more feeding occasions than we are meant to have. Monitor the number of occasions that you ingest food or drink each day and try to reduce this to just four to five times, with two to three hours in between each occasion. This helps you to really feel your hunger signals and promotes fat-burning.

 

Why you're not losing weight

Losing fat isn't easy, but many of us simply need to address certain issues to find the key to success.
If fat loss was easy, most of us would be five kilograms lighter, but as many of us know, fat loss is hard, and keeping it off once you have lost it is even harder. Firstly, the human body is not programmed to burn excess energy; it is programmed to store it. Secondly, it is much easier to overeat than it is to undereat. Finally, if you have carried excess body fat for some time, it takes time to burn it off again, time many of us are not as keen to donate to the process as our bodies need us to. If you are ready to commit to weight loss, answer the following questions to make sure your diet, body and mind are all on the same page.

How committed are you?

People's definitions of commitment vary widely. For some, a trip to the gym three times a week represents the ultimate level of commitment, while for others, commitment is training at the highest level every day for an hour-and-a-half. The truth is that neither of these examples is relevant to anyone but the person setting it. The level of commitment required for fat loss will differ considerably between individuals as each of us has a different body type, genetic background, level of fitness and long-term goal. For some, it will mean weight training each week in addition to high-intensity sessions with a trainer; while for others, two or three aerobics classes will be adequate. If you are serious about losing body fat for good, do whatever it takes for you to achieve your goals as an individual.

What do you really eat?

Try writing down all the extra food that slips in during the day and you may well have the answer as to why you are not losing weight. Cakes at work for office celebrations, the office biscuit tin, lollies at night, picking before dinner and energy-dense snack foods such as 97 per cent fat-free muesli bars and sugar-loaded drinks are the most common culprits. Write down everything you put into your mouth for just one or two days and you will see how easy it is to identify the extras so you can work towards eliminating them.

Is your diet balanced?

The less weight you have to lose, the more precise the balance needs to be between the quantities of protein, carbohydrate and fat you are eating. A simple thing such as having too much carbohydrate in the morning or too little fat can prevent fat loss. The best way to identify your nutrient balance is to have a nutrient analysis completed by a professional. Generally speaking, a good balance for fat loss is 40 per cent energy from carbohydrates, 30 per cent from protein, and 30 per cent from good fats. This regime is more sustainable than strict plans such as the Atkins diet (10 per cent carbohydrate, 50 per cent fat, and 30 to 40 per cent protein).

What time do you eat?

The ability to burn fat depends on what different fuels the body has available to it. Within a mixed meal of carbohydrate, protein and fat, the body will always utilise the carbohydrate before the fat. This is merely an evolutionary adaptation for humans to store extra fat for times of famine. What this means in terms of fat loss, even if you eat a very low-fat nutritionally balanced diet, is that if you eat the bulk of your kilojoules in the second half of the day, you are unlikely to burn body fat. This is because the body will spend its time digesting the carbohydrate and protein content of your food and is unlikely to get to the fat stores before you eat again the next day. For this reason, a key step in fat loss is to shift your food intake forward. Aim for a carbohydrate-protein breakfast, morning tea and lunch, and then taper off the carbs and stick to meat and vegetables for dinner. Rewarding yourself with chocolates, biscuits or lollies late at night is not a good idea as it is likely to prevent fat stores being broken down.

Have you had your hormones checked?

Medically, there are not many conditions that directly impact on weight status, but insulin resistance is one of them. Insulin resistance is a state in which the body has trouble processing carbohydrate-based foods because the hormone secreted by the body to break these foods down, insulin, is not working properly. Symptoms of insulin resistance include an inability to lose body fat despite following a strict diet and exercise program, skin pigmentation, fatigue, bloating and a family history of infertility or type 2 diabetes. Talk to your GP if you have any of these symptoms and are having a significant amount of trouble losing body fat.
 

Food tip

If you are serious about weight loss, it may be time to have a cupboard clean out. Throw away anything you know should not be there and do a fresh shop this week.

 

Let's Hit The Pool

Using water as resistance is good for your bod: it tones and challenges muscles and is gentle on joints.

Why are aqua workouts good for you? Water offers more resistance than air, so your muscles have to work a little bit harder, but it reduces the impact stress on your joints, which means it's great for heavier people or f you're recovering from an injury.

Working out in the water is not just a little bit more fun during the water months, but it's also a good way to mix it up if you're a regular runner or cyclist.



More on water workouts

Aqua marching warm-up

Start with 60 seconds of slow aqua marching. Then do two minutes of fast and slow aqua marching, Aqua marching warm-up.

Start with 60 seconds of slow aqua marching. Then do two minutes of fast and slow aqua marching, swapping from one to the other every 10 seconds.

Why? This is a great whole-body warm-up. Do this as soon as you get in the pool at a depth where the water is about chest high.

How? Stand tall with good posture. Raise your left knee up until it reaches hip height, at the same time driving your right arm forward and left arm back. Repeat on the other side.

 

Noodle knee raises

Do 10-15 repetitions.

Why? By holding your torso upright you are working your core and the knee raises hit the six pack muscles.

How? Hook the noodle around your back, with the ends coming through under your arms. Trying to keep your torso tall and stable, slowly raise your knees up towards your chest. You should feel this in your abs. Then slowly lower for about 4-5 seconds before starting your next rep.

Noodle running

Do 10 seconds of slow running, followed by 10 seconds fast. Repeat for two minutes.

Why? The noodle takes all the impact out of running.

You can use this as a warm-up, for endurance cardio or for interval sprints.
How? Wrap the noodle around your tummy and hook your arms over either end. This will have you floating vertically. Move to a deep part of the pool where your feet can’t touch. Start with slow running to get comfortable with the movement and buoyancy.

 

Side knee lifts

Do 10-20 repetitions.

Why? The straight knee lifts hit predominantly your six-pack muscles, while these also target your obliques.

How? Situate yourself on the edge of the pool, as shown, with your arms spread, holding onto the edge to support your weight. Your body will hang straight down the edge of the pool. Squeezing through your abs, lift both knees up and towards your left armpit, before slowly lowering. Then raise both knees up and towards your right armpit.

Prone kicks

Start with 30 seconds of slow kicks where you bend and extend from the knee. Follow this with another 30 seconds of slow kicks but this time use a whole leg kick that originates at the hips. Then do 30 seconds of each but faster.

Why? It works the core, hip flexors and glutes. It’s good cardio, and can also be used as a warm-up.

How? Hold onto the side of the pool, float your body up to the surface, then kick.


 

How to boost your metabolism

 

It's an unfair fact that some people burn kilojoules faster than others. But if a slow metabolism is holding you back, you can change it. Genetics are the most important factor in basal metabolic rate [or BMR, the amount of energy we expend while at rest] and there's nothing we can do about that. But building muscle, staying active and increasing the quality of food you eat all increase your BMR.

Perhaps the number one strategy is increasing your muscle mass. Muscle burns kilojoules at rest; fat does not. Muscle is eight times more metabolically demanding than fat cells. This is why lean but well-muscled people seem to be able to eat anything without putting on weight. The BMR of well-muscled people is like a raging inferno.

On average, our BMR drops two per cent each decade, but building more muscle will combat creeping weight gain. But it's important to be assessed and listen to your body. If you are unwell or stressed, you may need regular eight-hour blocks of sleep or a yoga class to help your BMR work more efficiently.

So getting enough relaxation time is probably also important for increasing your BMR.  Of course, regular aerobic exercise and a healthy diet are also important for weight control. While BMR is calculated by attaching electrodes to your body and then finding out how fast electrical current runs through it - muscle is less resistant than fat - you can estimate your rate by using our BMR calculator.

Ways to raise your BMR

• Hit the weights. How much and how often will depend on how active you have previously been. One muscle cell weighs twice as much as one fat cell, but takes up one-fifth of the space. Therefore your overall weight may stay the same, but your clothes size will come down.
• Reduce stress. It can interfere with the efficiency of your metabolism. Try meditation.
• Raise your body temperature. BMR increases by about seven per cent for a 0.5-degree increase in body temperature. This may be why it's easier to stay slim in summer.
• Exercise in the morning. You will lift your metabolic rate by 10 per cent for four hours.

Eat your way slimmer

• Try eating smaller, regular meals to get the maximum thermal effect (the increase in metabolic rate during digestion) and don't fast. Fasting can reduce metabolic rate by 30 per cent as your body prepares itself for starvation.
• The quality of food is important. Fat is easy to process and has little thermic effect, while protein is hard to process and has a larger thermic effect. Your body works harder to break down the fibre and complex carbohydrates in wholegrains and vegetables than it does to break down refined flours or simple carbs such as sugar. You also need two to two-and-a-half litres of water and vitamins such as B2, B3, B5, B6 and vitamin C.
• Metabolism slows down during the afternoon and evening, which means that food has less of a thermogenic effect when eaten late in the day. If you must eat late, go for lean protein and vegies, and make sure your carbohydrates are complex.

These five vitamins to help build muscle strength and keep you toned

Did you know certain vitamins can increase muscle tone? It’s true, there are some vitamins that aid in the muscle-building process of protein metabolism (breaking protein down into amino acids and combining those amino acids into new proteins).


An array of B vitamins are essential to muscle strength and tone:

• B1 is important for protein metabolism and the formation of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to muscle cells. Find it in cereal, bread, meat, rice, and nuts.
• B2 is involved in energy metabolism, glucose metabolism, and the oxidation of fatty acids, with some effects on protein metabolism. Find it in cheese, eggs, milk and peas.
• B3 is essential for energy production. Find it in milk, eggs, fish, legumes, and potatoes.
• B6 is important for protein metabolism, growth and carbohydrate utilization. Find it in soybeans, butter, brown rice, and fish.
• B12 is important for the maintenance of nerve tissue and is essential for the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates, energy metabolism, and cell regeneration. Find it in milk, poultry, eggs, meat, and liver.
• B7 is important for amino acid metabolism, and amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Find it in mushrooms, egg yolk, beef liver, and brewer’s yeast.

Vitamin C is important for our muscles, and we need it to function properly. Vitamin C is required for collagen and elastin synthesis, and it is also an important supplement to take daily because it’s responsible for the health of the blood vessels, which support the muscles’ needs for oxygen and nutrients. Good sources of vitamin C include broccoli, tomatoes, strawberries, and grapefruit.

Vitamin D plays an important, essential for overall muscle and immune system function. Studies have shown that proper vitamin D levels (4,000 to 6,000 IU daily) in the body are associated with muscle strength and performance. Vitamin D is also required for the uptake and utilization of calcium and phosphorous—and both of these minerals are required for muscular contraction and function as well as bone growth and strength.

Vitamin E is a very important antioxidant that helps cell membrane recovery from oxidative stress. Cell membrane reliability is essential for cellular function and growth. To add vitamin E into your diet, try almonds, spinach, carrots, and avocados. It’s also found in olive oil, corn oil, canola oil and sunflower oil.

Fish Oil or the omega-3 fats in fish oil may decrease muscle protein breakdown. This may be through improvements in insulin sensitivity, and insulin resistance is associated with muscle breakdown.

Why do my feet smell? Foot odour explained, plus cheap and effective ways to combat stinky feet.

Keeping your tootsies warm this winter can come with an unpleasant downside: smelly feet. Yet the trick to beating the pong could be lurking in your kitchen cupboard.

The main cause of smelly feet is sweat which, although it has no odour in itself, creates an environment for bacterial growth.

Each foot has 250,000 sweat glands and produces about a cup or 500 ml of sweat daily. Excessive perspiration, combined with bacteria, causes the offensive foot odour.

It's actually the waste products from these bacteria that create the pong. The soles and areas between the toes smell more because bacteria thrive here on dead skin. The bacteria that grow on the soles of feet actually produce gases similar to those released by bacteria used in producing cheese.

What's good for feet is anything bad for bacteria, which enjoy warm, moist environments. These bacteria use warm damp places to live and thrive. Inside your shoe is an ideal breeding ground, as it's the darkest and warmest and most moist area on the body.

Getting rid of smelly feet means reducing sweat and providing ventilation. Wear cotton or wool socks (which absorb more perspiration) and canvass or leather shoes rather than synthetic ones. Don't wear the same pair of shoes over long periods; they should get a regular 24-hour airing.

Natural ways to treat smelly feet

Corn flour

Sprinkled in shoes and socks absorbs excess moisture and neutralises odour. Well, here don't recommend talcum powder as it contains aluminium, which can be a harmful heavy metal if it builds up to certain levels."

Tea

Tea contains tannic acid, which will dry your feet out, reducing the amount of sweat and odour. Soak your feet for 30 minutes in a litre of cooled water containing two teabags left to thoroughly infuse.

White vinegar

This kitchen essential doubles as a disinfectant. It combats bacterial growth and reduces smells, and is as good for your feet as your kitchen counters. Dilute half a cup in enough water for a footbath and soak for a few minutes.

Apple cider

Adding a splash of this into a footbath is another good remedy. The acid content of apple cider kills bacteria and dries excess sweat, the two main causes of foot odour. It's a really good, effective and cheap cure.